Dust.
Where had all the dust come from?
Mycroft was lying on his back on the floor, looking up at the plumes of dust that seemed to be coming from every angle. He closed his eyes and tried to think back, to work out why he was lying down and where he was.
There had been screaming and shouting at one point, but now all he could hear was high-pitched ringing. A blast of some kind, then.
A bomb, Mycroft realised with a shock. There had been a bomb and he was lying in the wreckage. It had been a deliberate attack on them.
He tried to sit up but was stopped by a heavy weight covering his body from the chest down. The weight seemed to move and then there was Anthea, looking down at him with worried eyes. She was bleeding, he slowly realised, reaching up to touch her face.
'Stay still.' Anthea urged in quick sign language, 'You're injured.'
Mycroft frowned a little and thought about her words. He didn't feel injured or in pain.
'Adrenaline.' Anthea signed, 'You'll start feeling the pain soon.'
Mycroft nodded a little, that made sense. Adrenaline was known to mask pain in varying degrees.
Why did Anthea have to explain it to him? Shouldn't he have already deduced everything he needed to know? His head felt like it was spinning and his thoughts were jumbled and slow.
Head injury.
Possible brain injury.
'Calm down.' Anthea ordered in sign language, 'You hit your head, it's probably concussion.'
He wanted to scream, but what if it isn't?
"So that was the bomb going off?" John asked as they watched the footage from the helicopter in Cairo. They were sat in Mycroft's secure, underground surveillance room beneath his large house.
"Yes, it's not the best angle, but the smoke coming from the building confirms it." Sherlock replied, tapping away on the computer.
"So how can we see where Mycroft and Anthea are?" John asked.
"That's them." Sherlock said, pointing to one of the monitors that had two flashing dots on.
"They're still in the building." John said with worry.
"Yes, they're probably in the wreckage somewhere but they're together and still alive." Sherlock replied.
"How do you know they're alive?" John asked curiously.
"The dots wouldn't be flashing if they were dead." Sherlock explained.
"This is crazy, Sherlock. They're probably injured and we're just sitting here watching like it's reality TV." John sighed.
"We can't interfere." Sherlock replied, "Lady Smallwood sought me out for a reason. She believes someone in MI6 is a mole. Our job is to track Mycroft and Anthea, nothing more. MI6 are focused on investigating the mole."
"When you say track them...they're bait aren't they?" John asked with a sigh.
"Possibly." Sherlock replied with a apologetic smile.
Mycroft swallowed, dust coating his mouth and throat, and suddenly the ringing stopped. His hearing seemed to have had a rest and was back online again.
"Anthea?" he spoke quietly.
"Can you hear me now?" Anthea asked with a smile.
"Obviously." Mycroft murmured, "What's the damage?"
"I'm no doctor so don't sue me if I'm wrong." Anthea warned, "You hit your head when we were thrown across the room in the blast. You've got a nasty gash on your forehead and I think you've got concussion."
"My thoughts are slow. Something's wrong." Mycroft said.
"You don't know that." Anthea replied gently, "Please stop worrying about it. We need to focus on getting out of here."
"There's more, isn't there?" Mycroft murmured, pain beginning to sear through him as the adrenaline began to wear off.
"You've got glass in your leg and a pretty big chunk of metal in your chest." Anthea admitted.
"Is that why you're lying on me?' Mycroft joked.
"It's not a move to seduce you if that's what you were thinking." Anthea teased, "I'm trying to use my weight to stop you from bleeding out. You've already lost a lot of blood."
"How badly are you injured?" Mycroft asked.
"Not as bad as you. A few cuts, some broken bones." Anthea replied with a shrug.
"All in a day's work." Mycroft muttered with a weak chuckle.
"Here we go. Movement." Sherlock declared as the two flashing dots began to move across the screen.
"They're moving pretty quickly for two people who have just been in a bomb blast." John admitted, watching the dots move through the building.
"I think they're being carried." Sherlock said, "That means that our bait has been taken."
"So who is taking them?" John asked, his worry building again.
"Only one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the region." Sherlock replied with a smile, "This tells us that the MI6 mole has direct links to the group."
"It also tells us that Mycroft and Anthea are in a lot more danger." John sighed.