How could he say such a thing?' thought Katie as she stormed out of the black door in a rage. She knew that he kept his feelings private, that he often came across as arrogant and complacent towards his fellow human beings. But the fact that he was so icy cold shocked her. Actually, she thought that there was something between them. At first, like some of the others who worked with him, she was not very taken with him, but that evening, when he accompanied her to the hotel, she met a completely different Sherlock. He was very different from the way he was described. Attentive and somehow caring. He really wanted to help her and she trusted him. Trust, that was it. That was the mistake. All her life she found it hard to get involved with other people, to give them her trust. But with Sherlock, with him it was different. Sherlock awakened feelings in her that she thought were deeply hidden. She just could not yet interpret which ones they were.

"Such an arrogant ass," she murmured angrily as she walked along the street.

Unsuspecting that she was being followed.

It was evening by now. Slowly the lights of the street lamps filled the city.

One hour to delivery', she thought as she looked at her watch.

It wasn't far to the meeting point, so she decided to get something to eat in a nearby bistro. Not far from Hyde Park she found a cute little shop where she bought a sandwich and coffee and went to one of the tables. From here she had a good view over the park and the agreed meeting place. The park was very busy. There were people everywhere. Some suits, who probably took this way home from work, others who devoted themselves to their sports activities or other people who simply relaxed in the meadow.

A good place, here with all these people or witnesses, you couldn't do anything else to her or her brother`, she thought. The thought of her brother made her shine. At last she would be able to take him in her arms again and no matter what it took, she would do everything to save him. After all, he was her family. She always felt responsible for him and felt guilty that when he really needed her, there was nothing she could do. It was him who saved her life.

What have you done, Adam? He was about to kill you, so I beat him to it!

They stood in silence in front of a pool of blood and THE man who had his hands around Katie's neck and squeezed them tight.

The thought of it sent a chill down her spine. Yes, her brother had saved her from her own father.

He was drunk as a skunk again and Katie was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Since she was in the middle of her studies and had no money for her own flat, she still lived at home. Her brother couldn't live under the same roof as this man and so preferred to live on the street. He knew that her father often fell off the wagon but none of the things he did to his sister. Katie had never told him anything about it. She didn't want to worry him, let alone see her brother do anything worse out of anger. Adam had always been very impulsive.

So one night her father, led by alcohol, took hold of her again. But when Katie, as always, tried to fight back, he became even angrier and began to beat and kick her. Lying on the floor, he pounced on her, grabbed her neck and squeezed hard. Katie thought then that it would be over now, until her father suddenly collapsed on her. There he stood - her brother Adam. He stood bent over him, a crowbar in his hand, blood dripping from it.

Katie could not really realise what had just happened. She was dazed. Eventually, however, she stood up and saw her father lying on the floor bleeding. She immediately went over to him and felt for his pulse. NOTHING. HE WAS DEAD.

Adam just stood there motionless, staring at the dead man lying in front of him. Katie knew it was self-defence and wanted to tell the police but Adam was scared and asked her not to call the police. But Katie refused and when she picked up the phone she suddenly heard a door slam. Her brother was gone, fled. She looked briefly at the door where he had just stormed out and finally called the police and the ambulance. When they arrived, the ambulance could only determine that her father had died. She told the police that her father had surprised a burglar, who then knocked him down. She hid the strangulation marks on her neck with a thin cloth.

There was no trace of now and then he would call her or leave messages. The period of time in which the news came, became bigger and bigger with the time. First it was days, then weeks, then moments. And then one day she heard nothing more from him. She didn't know where he was or if he was even still alive.

Then after 5 years a sign of life. One night he went to her flat. Katie couldn't live there any more after that incident with her father and so she looked for a good paying job in addition to her studies and moved into her own flat in Leeds. She wanted to leave everything behind and start a new life in the city.

His visit came as a surprise but for a very specific reason.

"Katie, you have to help me. I've really fucked up," he begged her. He looked quite worn out and emaciated.

"What's wrong, what happened?", startled at the sight of him but not at all angry because he hadn't checked in for years, she implored him to come in.

"Surely you remember that I had spent a lot of time on the street at that time. Money was getting scarcer and scarcer and at some point I was forced to do certain things."

"What kind of things?", Katie now asked in shock.

"I," he stammered, "Well, I started selling drugs."

Katie, stunned by his testimony, took a deep breath before turning to him:

"Yes, so what?" she asked, slightly annoyed but also worried.

"My business was going really well. I had many, well paying customers..." Katie had to sigh annoyed at this sentence. Business, then. I see.

"Yes, and then one day, there were three men They weren't from around here. They were part of an organisation in South America and were able to gain a foothold here in England with help. The main business of this organisation was mainly the sale of drugs. Well, they had heard about me and my... let's say... success and wanted to recruit me. They promised to get me off the streets if I worked for them."

"So now you're a drug dealer for a Brazilian drug mafia?!", she added.

"Yes but that's not all," he continued. "Well, I worked for these men for several years. They had really not promised me too much. I got my own flat, my own car and was often taken to meetings. I felt visibly comfortable and accepted."

"ADAM", she cried now. "You're not serious, are you?!"

"You must understand that after that incident with our father, I had withdrawn strongly. I couldn't talk about it with any of my friends, but I wanted to. Too scared that they would go to the police. And then the men came and at some point, as they bragged about their deeds, it burst out of me. They did not rat me out, on the contrary, I felt acceptance."

"AND I`M PROBABLY NOBODY?!", she cried now. Horrified by what he just said. She had lied especially about him.

"Of course I did, but I didn't want to burden you with this any more. You had already experienced too much with that bastard. And besides, they became like a family to me.

She snorted angrily: "YOU CAN`T BE SERIOUS! I AM YOUR FAMILY AND NOT THEM!"

Without going into it, he continued: "Anyway, they wanted to officially accept me into their organisation at some point. In return they told me about their next plans. Their next assignment was to blackmail a member of the military intelligence. They want some kind of data that can be used to control the entire military. You have to know that the men also have a lot of weapons and will stop at nothing and I sense that it will not only be blackmail. I... I didn't want to get involved in this. I also had a bit of morality. But when I told them this, they threatened me and threatened to go to the police with my story."

Sighing, he put his hands in front of his face. "What am I supposed to do now? I don't want to kill anybody, not again!"

"When is all this going to happen?" she asked and stroked his back comfortingly.

"Tomorrow"

Katie was thinking, not really knowing what to do or say.

"You have to go to the police with this," she finally said.

"I can't! Then I'll go to jail or the men will kill me," he sobbed.

Katie didn't want them to kill him by any means but neither did she want an innocent man to die.

"Look, I have an idea! You don't have to go to the police, I'll do it."

Even before he could say anything, she stopped him with a gesture of her hand and continued: "I have my day off tomorrow. You will write me the address. I will come there, hide somewhere and take the men in their that I will give the police a little tip. You just have to make sure that you stay in the background or make yourself somehow unrecognizable. And as soon as you hear the sirens, get out of there!"

Adam had calmed down a bit in the meantime and listened intently to his sister.

"But what if they discover you?"

With a playful roll of her eyes, she replied to him: "So please. For the most part I was able to hide from our father when he had drunk too much again. I guess that would be easy, since they would be distracted."

After they had discussed everything else, he said goodbye to his sister, not without turning around and taking her in his arms. "Take care, sis!"

The next day everything went as planned. Adam told his sister her address. She made her way there and quickly found a suitable place to hide. She found herself in a more upscale part of Leeds. The house itself was of impressive size. It was set in white stone with large windows. Behind the house there was a small but impressive garden. What surprised Katie was that there were no security guards or other employees anywhere.

Strange, such a big house should have employees, she thought.

What she didn't know was that the employees had already been put out of action by some means. After walking around the house for a while, they could already see the men and her brother. He stood, as agreed, a little aside. She quickly informed the local police and then started her recording. She could not hear what was being said but the smaller man pointing a gun at his victim seemed angry. Katie had to be careful not to tremble with nervousness, otherwise the recordings would become blurred. In the background she could see that another man and Adam were looking for something. Probably the data he was talking about yesterday.

´Where are the police?`, she thought, looking at her watch, the camera still pointed at what was happening in front of her. The next thing she saw was that the tall man who was searching for the data with Adam came back with something in his hand. And then, then everything happened very quickly. The smaller man with the gun, picked up the something and pulled the trigger.

Oh no, it was too late, she thought.

But before she could go on filming she suddenly heard a voice: "What the hell!?"

A tall man dressed in black suddenly came rushing in her direction. Katie ran as fast as she could, the mobile phone still firmly in her hand.

"The bitch was filming us!" she heard screaming. Then finally in the background, the approaching sirens of the police...Unfortunately too late.

Shortly after that day, her brother contacted her again. She had managed to escape because of the approaching police. He told her that they found out that he was her brother and that she was now in danger. After that she heard nothing more from him.

Katie, who was still sitting in the small bistro, had to swallow hard as she recalled the past.

Everything went wrong then. She should have gone to the police but she wanted to protect her brother. How she had come up with this stupid idea, she still didn't understand. But soon, soon everything will be over.

A quick glance at her watch reveals that it was already 20 minutes before the agreed time. Outside it was already dark. She packed her things, stowed the stick she had stolen from the house safely in her inside jacket pocket and another one in her jacket pocket, took another deep breath and finally went out the door.

She then crossed the road that would lead to Hyde Park and made her way to the meeting place. She was so excited that she did not notice that all the people she had been watching had already disappeared. No one was to be seen any more.

Only when she arrived at the agreed place did she notice the silence. It was almost uncanny. The path was only dimly lit. Some lamps seemed to be broken. Katie decided to go to a place where there was at least some light. She was completely alone. She had definitely not thought of it that way...