Hello! Enjoy this july's last chapter. Thank you for any kind of support, or just for reading!
(I don't own any of this except my OC, all rights go to A.C. Doyle and BBC)
:)))
Chapter 7 - Nine, mill...
SARAH WINSTON:
We returned to Baker Street, everyone still a bit shaken up by our latest escapade. Sherlock hurried over to the pictures of the cipher, which were hung above the fireplace. He took off his coat and threw it on the armchair. I grabbed it and put in on a hanger along with my grey one. John threw his hands in the air.
"They'll be back in China by tomorrow!"
I shook my head and Sherock turned to us from the fireplace.
"No, they won't leave without what they came for. We need to find their hideout, the redezvous. Somewhere in this message it must tell us," he told us, turning back to the cipher. He stared at it so intensely, I felt he might burn a hole in the picures if he tried a little harder. His fingers were brushing over the pictures slightly. I could feel John's date, Sarah, shift next to me uncomfortably and she walked around the living room for a while.
"Well, I think perhaps I should leave you to it," she said with an awkward smile.
"No, no, you don't have to go... does she? You can stay," John quickly said, while at the same time, Sherlock blurted out:
"Yes, it would be better to study if you left now." He turned to give her a cold look and John glared at him. I did agree with Sherlock that it would be better for us to get back to work without any distractions, but on the other hand, John seemed to like her and we did sort of ruin their date night.
"He's kidding," John tried to save the situation. "Please stay if you'd like," he told Sarah, turning to me with a pointed look, urging me to say something supportive. I looked at him, then at Sarah. God.
"Uh, sure, you can stay if you want to," I told her and I put the biggest smile I could get out of myself at the moment. Sarah nodded and then there was just tremendously awkward silence. I slowly paced over to stand next to Holmes who was still glaring at the cipher.
"Is it just me or is anyone else starving?" Sarah quipped and I exchanged an annoyed glance with Sherock.
"Oh God," Sherlock closed his eyes in exasperation.
The two of us decided to sit at the living room table, grasping on straws trying to solve the cipher, while Sarah quietly watched us from the couch. John was in the kitchen trying to find anything to eat. I had a suspicion there wasn't much of that in there. John's date apparently grew tired of the silence, so she stood up and walked over to see what we were looking at.
"So this is what you do, you and John. You solve puzzles for a living," she said lightly.
"Consulting detective." Sherlock answered shortly.
"I don't know if I count in, though. I only met these two about... three days ago? But I too like the puzzles," I gave Sarah a quick smile.
"You do." Sherock stated.
"Wait. Three days? I thought you were dating?" Sarah asked with a confused look. Sherlock froze but then we both remembered we did pretend to be on a date not to crash John's date completely. Just a little. We were both quiet.
"We're not, really. We just didn't want to ruin your night out with John so Sherlock and I pretended that we wanted to do a double date, so we could investigate. Turns out we ruined it anyway, so... sorry." I explained to her shortly.
"Oh. And what are these squiggles?" She asked curiously, pointing at the pictures. My patience with this woman was slowly but surely wearing thin. I rolled my eyes and glanced over at Sherlock, who raised his head, looking straight in front of him. I could sense he was just barely controlling himself not to snap at her and say something rude.
"They're numbers. An ancient Chinese dialect."
"Oh right! Yeah, well of course I should have known that," Sarah chuckled. I noticed Mrs Hudson step into the kitchen and handing John a tray with tea and biscuits. Sarah picked up a photograph from the table and Sherlock glared her out of the corner of his eye. I was just hoping he had enough patience in him. Sarah seemed to be utterly oblivious to our annoyance with her.
"So these numbers - it's a cipher," she stated.
"Exactly." Sherlock said trough gritted teeth and I almost laughed.
"And each pair of numbers is a word," she said and Sherlock and I looked up at her with suprise on our faces.
"How did you know that?" Sherlock asked.
"Well, two words have already been translated here." Sarah said and put the picture she was holding back on the desk. Sherlock took it and we both looked at it.
"John." Sherlock called.
"Hm?"
"Look at this. Soo Lin at the museum - she started to translate the code for us. We didn't see it!" he exclaimed. He read the words written across each of the first two symbols. "Nine, mill."
John squinted at the photo. "Does that mean millions?"
I nodded. "Nine millions."
Sherlock frowned, deep in thought. "Nine million quid. For what? We need to know the end of this sentence," he said and I stood up and took my coat, handing Sherlock his. He took it and the scarf from the black armchair.
"Where are you two going?" John looked at us.
"To the museum, to the restoration room. Oh we must have been staring right at it!" Sherlock grimaced.
"At... at what?" The doctor frowned.
"The book, John. The book - the key to cracking the cipher!" Sherlock exclaimed. „Soo Lin used it to do this! Whilst we were running around the gallery, she started to translate the code. It must be on her desk."
"She managed to do that for us just seconds before she died." I said quietly in admiration of the girl. Sherlock hurried me towards the door with a gentle push on my back and we walked outside.
We walked fast along the street, while Sherlock tried to hail a cab. We walked past a couple of tourists looking around with a London A-Z book. We walked past them so closely, that Sherlock crashed into one of them and the tourist dropped the book. The man started yelling at us in German and Sherlock quickly turned around to pick up the book and hand it back to the man, apologizing as well in German. I gave him a surprised look. Of course he spoke German. I bet he spoke at leat four other languages. This man amazed me more and more. Sherlock tried to hail a cab again, but it drove past us. He huffed and we walked further away from the 221B flat. Suddenly, he stopped and looked around the street and I raised my eyebrows at him. He got an idea, I just wasn't entirely sure, what it was yet.
"A book that everybody would own," he murmured quietly and I glanced at him curiously.
"What book do you mean?" I asked him, trying to look where he was looking and see what he was seeing. There were other tourists nearby. And they all were holding a copy of the London A-Z book. Then it hit me. I remembered the exact book was lying on Soo Lin's desk. Sherlock's mouth opened in realisation and he quickly turned around and he ran back to the German couple.
"Please wait! Bitte!" he shouted and they turned around with confused looks. When we got to them, Sherlock grabbed the book from the man's hands.
"Hey du! Was machst du?" the German asked him angrily what he was doing.
"Minute!"Sherlock told him hurriedly.
"Gib mir doch mein Buch zurück!" The tourist shouted at Sherlock for taking his book, while I gathered all my knowledge of the language and tried to apologise to the man in clumsy German. Sherlock ignored us as he quickly listed trough the book. The tourist waved his hand in exasperation at him and he and his wife started walking away, my attempt at explataion failing miserably. I watched Sherlock as he quickly flicked trough the pages of the book.
"Page fifteen, entry one. Page fifteen, entry one..." Sherlock murmured to himself. When he found the right pages, the book read: Deadmans Lane NW9. He lifted his head and he looked at me. "Dead man. They were threatening to kill them. It's the first cipher." He took the photograph of the brick wall with the two first words already solved out of his pocket and he handed it to me. "Read the next numbers for me." It wasn't that hard of a task, considering that the Chinese numbers had all their English equivalents aleady written next to them, so I started dictating the numbers to Sherlock, who always flicked trough the London A-Z book, looking for the words of the cipher. It was all finally tying up. After few minutes of solving the cipher, we finally got the whole sentence.
"Nine mill for jade pin dragon den black... tramway." Sherlock finished and he raised his head to look at me.
"We've got it!" I grinned at him.
"Yes, we do." he gave me a genuine, real smile.
"We make a great team, Holmes," I said and he nodded with a smirk.
"Alright, now we should head back to the flat, find their location." We both quickly ran from the end of the street back to 221B.
We opened the door of the flat and Sherlock jogged up the stairs with me right behind him.
"John! John! We've got it! The cipher! The book! It's the London A to Z that they're using-" Sherlock shouted and he stopped, noticing there wasn't anyone around in the flat. I stepped into the living room first, when I noticed the windows. There was a yellow graffiti sprayed across them, so they together spelled dead man. I covered my mouth in shock and Sherlock froze next to me.
"Oh my God. They've got John." I said, still in shock and Sherlock swung into action. He pulled a map of London from the bookshelf and he spread it on the table. I rushed over to his side and I watched as he ran his eyes across the map.
"Tramway..." he murmured and his eyes swiftly moved from one point to another on the map, until he stopped and put his finger on one spot. "There," he said and without another word, we both headed out of the flat again, ready to find John. And his date.
JOHN WATSON:
I opened my eyes. I let out a groan of pain and I frowned, trying to figure out where the hell I was. My hands were tied and I was sitting on a chair. There were glimpses of light coming from behind me. No sign of Sherlock or Sarah Winston. I felt a stinging pain on the side of my head and a little stream of blood running down. In front of me, there was a woman. It was the same woman as the Opera Singer from the circus. She was oddly familiar to me even then, and then I realized she must've been the same woman I thought was just a tourist taking pictures when Sarah, Sherlock and I were trying to solve this case. She was staring down at me, her eyes covered with the same sunglasses she wore in public. She opened her mouth to speak.
"A book is like a magic garden carried in your pocket," the woman said with a smirk. I winced and turned away from the woman where I found someone else. Sarah. She was also tied to a chair with a gag in her mouth. My heart sank. This woman had nothing to do with any of this, and now she's in danger because of me. Because of Sherlock. Because of Sarah. Because of all of us. I sighed shakily and I slowly scanned my surroundings. We were somewhere that looked like a dark tunnel. Beside the woman, there were two other men standing just behind her like guard dogs. I guess after we all tried so hard to find the Tong gang, the gang found us. Or rather, just me.
"Chineses proverb, Mr Holmes," the woman said to me and I gave her a confused look. What the hell?
"I... I'm not Sherlock Holmes." I said.
"Forgive me if I do not take your word for it," she said as she reached down, pulling open my jacket and taking out my wallet. "Debit card, name of S. Holmes." God. The card I took from Sherlock a few days ago at the beggining of our case. This wasn't looking very good for me.
"Yes, that's not actually mine. He lent that to me." I desperately tried to save my situation.
"A cheque for five thousand pounds made out in the name of Mr. Sherlock Holmes," the woman continued. Shit. The cheque from Sebastian Wilkes I took for Sherlock at the Shad Sanderson bank.
"Yeah, he gave me that to look after."
"Tickets from the theatre, collected by you, name of Holmes," she concluded. Goddammit, even I would think that I'm Sherlock Holmes.
I chuckled out of desperation. "Yes, okay. I realize what this looks like, but I'm not him."
"We heard it from your own mouth," she said victoriously.
"What?"
"I am Sherlock Holmes and I always work alone because no one else can compete with my massive intellect."
"Did I really say that?" I asked unbelievably. "I suppose there's no use of me trying to persuade you I was doing an impressio-" I stopped talking. There was a gun pointed at my head. The woman probably lost her patience with me. I huffed in panic and the she grinned.
"I am Shan."
And I am John Watson, not bloody Sherlock Holmes, but here we are. "You're... you're Shan."
"Three times we tried to kill you and your companions, Mr. Holmes. What does it tell you when an assassin cannot shoot straight?" she asked and he cocked the pistol she was holding. I turned my head away and whispered don't, don't, struggling against the chair I was tied to. General Shan pulled the trigger and the gun clicked. I was almost hyperventilating. Shan smiled smugly. "It tells you that they're not really trying." Then she slid a clip into the pistol, she cocked it and she pointed it at my head again. "Not blank bullets now."
"Okay." I said, breathing heavily.
"If we wanted to kill you, Mr. Holmes, we would have done it by now. We just wanted to make you inquisitive. Do you have it?" Shan asked, staring at me pointedly.
"Do I have what?"
"The treasure."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I would prefer to make certain." Shan said and she turned at her men. One of them pulled the cloth off a large object in the tunnel, revealing the crossbow that we saw at the circus. The man loaded an arrow in it. I breathed out in shock and Shan turned back to me.
"Everything in the West has its price, and the price for her life..." Shan said as she stared at Sarah. "... information."
Shan's two men walked over to Sarah and they picked up her chair. As she cried out multiple times, they carried her towards the crossbow. I only managed to whisper I'm sorry to her as I watched them put her in front of the crossbow, directly facing the crossbow. My heart sank even lower. She was going to die and I was about to witness it tied to a chair, unable to move. Shan turned to me.
"Where's the hairpin?" she asked with a glare.
"What?"
"The Empress pin valued at nine million sterling. We already had a buyer in the West, and then one of our people was greedy. He took it, brought it back to London and you, Mr. Holmes, have been searching."
"Please. Please, listen to me. I'm not- I'm not Sherlock Holmes. You have to believe me. I haven't found whatever i tis you're looking for." I pleaded. Shan did not seem very satisfied with my reply. She started to narrate loudly. "I need a volunteer from the audience!"
"No, please. Please." Shan mercilessly walked towards Sarah. "Ah, thank you, lady. Yes, you'll do very nicely." Shan smiled at the crying, desperate woman tied to a chair in front of her. Shan took out a knife, she reached up and she opened the sandbag hanging over her head. The sandbag poured out a small flow of sand. Shan grinned as she dramatically narated to her audience.
"Ladies and gentlemen. From the distant moonlit shores of NW1, we present for your pleasure Sherlock Holmes' pretty companion in a death-defying act."
"Please!" I shouted. But the General ignored me and she walked over to Sarah, putting a small black origami flower in her lap. "You've seen the act before. How dull for you. You know how it ends."
"I'm not Sherlock Holmes!" I screamed angrily at her.
"I don't believe you." Shan looked at me.
"You should, you know." A very familiar voice echoed trough the tunnel. Two silhouettes appeared at the end of the tunnel in the dim light. "Sherlock Holmes is nothing at all like him."
I breathed out in small relief. Sherlock Holmes and Sarah Winston found us.
SARAH WINSTON:
We managed to get to the tunnel, where the Tong were holding John and Sarah. One of Shan's men ran towards out silhouettes in the dark. Sherlock continued talking.
"How would you describe me, John? Resourceful? Dynamic? Enigmatic?" he asked and I snorted next to him.
"Dramatic." I whispered to him and he gave me a pointed look. I heard John scoff from the distance.
"Late?" he said sarcastically. Great, that meant he was okay. Sherlock decided to ignore our remarks, instead he focused on Shan. "That's a semi-automatic. If you fire it, the bullet will travel at over a thousand metres per second."
Shan didn't stop aiming into our direction. "Well?"
"Well..." Sherlock said, but he was interrupted by a Chinese man charging at us. He threw me the metal pipe he was holding, giving me a look of 'get rid of the annoyance that dared to interrupt my monologue'. At least that was what it looked like. I grabbed the pipe mid-air and hit the man with all my strength across his stomach. He grunted in pain and fell to the ground. Then Sherlock pulled me back into the safety of the shadows, continuing his speech.
"... the radius curvature of these walls is nearly four meters. If you miss, the bullet will ricochet. Could hit anyone. Might even bounce off the tunnel and hit you." he said to Shan and he bursted out of the shadows and he ran to a neaby burning dustbin and he kicked it over. Then, out of the darkness, I ran to John's Sarah who was tied to a chair, crying as she watched the sandbag pour. I squatted to her level and I started to untagle her ties. But then, the other man that was with Shan - Soo Lin's brother, charged at me and he looped a scarf over my neck, strangeling me. I fell backwards, fighting to breathe. I swore internally for leaving my gun at 221B. Sherlock jumped at Zhi-Zhu who turned his attention to Sherlock. I decided to leave them fight, hoping Sherlock would find a way to at least stall the man. I continued untying Sarah from her chair, she was panicking, because the sand was almost all out. I was struggling, but I almost had it, when Shan attacked me. While I was trying to shake off the General, John struggled against his ties and he managed to stumble forward on the chair a little, but he lost his balance and he fell to the side with his chair. He fought with everything he had and he got one of his legs free, kicking the crossbow. The crossbow changed its course just as the ball hit the bowl. The crossbow released an arrow and it flew across the tunnel, hitting Zhi-Zhu, who was fighting Sherlock, right in the stomach. Soo Lin's brother grunted in pain and he fell to the ground. Dead.
Shan suddenly stopped fighting me and we both stood up in shock. Shan seized the moment to run away from me, shoving me back to the ground. so I couldn't follow.
Sherlock rushed over to Sarah who was crying in relief, still tied to the chair. He kneeled and started to untie her gag and he took it away from her mouth.
"It's alright." he said soothingly, while she was still sobbing. I stood up from the ground and I went over to John and I helped him to stand up. Sherlock continued to calm Sarah down.
"You're gonna be alright. It's over now. It's over," he ran his hands down her arms in a comforting manner. He was so... human. John came over to her with a soft smile.
"Don't worry. Next date won't be like this." If she ever let him take her out on a next date...
"Sherlock... Shan. She got away from me. I'm sorry." I breathed shakily.
"No. You were good. You did your best," he gave me a reassuring look and he stood up and but a hand on my back and he slowly ran it up and down. It was a small gesture, but it was so comforting right now.
"Definitely. You were both amazing. Thank you both," John said, smiling with relief. I nodded as a thank you. I felt all the adrenaline leaving my body, and only now I started to realize how tired I was from all this. I didn't care anymore, so I leaned my head on Sherlock's shoulder, whose hand was still on my back and I felt him stiffen for a second. I felt his gaze on me and then his hand continued to comfort me. I smiled.
About twenty minutes later, the police arrived. Dimmock was waiting next to a police car outside the tunnel, while John put his arm around Sarah's shoulders and he led her away. Sherlock and I stopped by the Detective Inspector.
"We'll just slip off. No need to mention us in your report." Sherlock said plainly.
"Mr. Holmes-"
"I have high hopes for you, Inspector. A glittering career."
"I go where you point me." Dimmock said with a frown.
"Exactly." Sherlock said, already leading me away.
We retunred to 221B that night, John told us that he'll stay to take care of Sarah for the night, to make sure she's alright. It was just me and Sherlock in 221B. John said I could stay in his room for the night while he's away, since it was late to return to my hotel. Sherlock and I didn't talk, we just quietly sat in the living room for a while after I made us tea. I headed up the stairs after saying goodnight to Sherlock. I lied down on the bed and immediately, I fell asleep.
In the morning, I got dressed and made my way downstairs to the living room. Sherlock was already sitting in his armchair. When he noticed me walking in, he smirked my way.
"Good morning," I greeted.
"Mm."
"Uh, everything hurts from last night. And the day before that. I took a lot of beating ever since we met, so it's obviously your fault," I joked.
"Obviously," Sherlock looked me in the eyes, the smirk still there. He hinted at the kitchen with his head. "I could use some tea."
"Oh yes! So could I," I said and I sat down opposite him into the red armchair, crossing my legs and he squinted his eyes at me. I eyed the detective for a while. "Something tells me you're expecting me to make the tea?"
"Excellent observation."
"You could've just asked me."
"I did!" he frowned.
"Uh, you didn't. That wasn't asking."
He kept glaring at me, then he carefully opened his mouth to speak. "Sarah... Could you... make some tea?"
I kept staring at him, expecting one more word. This was fun.
"... Please?" he added with a look as if he was being tortured.
"Well of course, Sherlock. Since you asked so nicely," I grinned at him and got up to the kitchen and I could feel him roll his eyes behind my back.
When I brought back the tea, John arrived at the doorstep and took off his jacket.
"John, hi. How's Sarah?"
"Well, she's... recovering," he shrugged.
"I bet she's never had a date filled with this much adrenaline," I remarked and John chuckled bitterly.
"No... don't think so," he said and looked over at Sherlock, then at the mirror above the fireplace, where the cipher was now fully solved. "So... nine mill."
"Million," Sherlock said.
"Million, yes. Nine million for jade pin. Dragon den, black Tramway." John read the cipher.
"An instruction to all their London operatives," the detective explained. „A message, what they were trying to reclaim."
"What, a jade pin?" John asked.
I nodded. "Worth nine million pounds. Bring it to the Tramway, their London hideout."
The doctor frowned. "Hang on, a hairpin worth nine million pounds?"
"Apparently." Sherlock shrugged.
"Why so much?"
"Depends who owned it." Sherlock answered.
Later, I went back to my hotel to collect my things and Sherlock with John escorted me to the train station. After spending a really exciting time in London, it was time for me to get back to Liverpool, although I will miss this city with all my heart. I turned to the boys.
"It was really great to get to know the two of you, John, Sherlock. Though this is not a goodbye. I promise you'll see me very soon. I'll ask Lestrade to let me know when he'll get a good case, then I'll be here in no time. I'm not that easy to get rid of," I winked at them.
"I should hope so. Your contributions to the cases are quite welcome. Sometimes even helpful," Sherlock said.
"And that is quite the compliment, coming from him... It was nice meeting you too, Sarah. Take care," John smiled and he leaned over to hug me. I smiled at Sherlock over John's shoulder, who returned the smile.
"Bye, boys. See you soon. Crime never sleeps," I said dramatically and John laughed, while Sherlock rolled his eyes at me. The arrival of my train was announced and the boys said goodbye and walked away, out of the train station.
SHERLOCK HOLMES:
John and I made our way to the Shad Sanderon bank again. I explained to John who stole the hairpin the Tong were looking for. It was Van Coon, of course. I told John to wait for me, while I decided to break the news to a certain assistant. I dialed a number on my phone and a few seconds later, a woman answered.
"Amanda."
"He bought you a present." I announced to the phone.
"Oh hello," Van Coon's assistant - his lover - recognized me.
"A little gift, when he came back from China," I continued.
"How do you know that?"
I switched off the phone and I walked right into her office. "You weren't just his P.A. were you?"
Amanda gaped at me. "Someone's been gossiping."
"No." I smirked.
"Then I don't understand. Why-?
"Scented hand soap in his apartment. Three hundred milliliters of it. Bottle almost finished."
"Sorry?" She frowned.
"I don't think that Eddie Van Coon was the type of chap to buy himself hand soap. Not unless he had a lady coming over. And it's the same brand as that hand cream there on your desk." I finished explaining.
"Look, it wasn't serious between us. It was over in a flash. It couldn't last. He was my boss."
"What happened? Why did you end it?"
"I thought he didn't appreciate me. Took me for granted. Stood me up once too often. We'd plan to go away for the weekend and then he'd just leave - fly off to China at a moment's notice." Amanda said sadly.
"And he bought you a present from abroad to say sorry." I said as my gaze focused on a small hairpin in Amanda's hair. "Can I... just have a look at it?" I asked and held out my hand. Amanda gave me the pin.
"Said he bought it in a street market."
"Oh, I don't think that's true. I think he pinched it."
Amanda chuckled. "Yeah, that's Eddie."
"Didn't know its value. Just thought it would suit you."
"Oh? What's it worth?"
I smirked. Drumroll please. "Nine. Million. Pounds."
Amanda opened her mouth in shock. "Oh my God! Oh my G..." She screamed as she ran away, probably to faint or something else people do when they get big news, I guess. "Nine million!"
SARAH WINSTON:
The boys left. I grabbed my suitcase and I was about to board the train, when a woman in a sharp suit stepped into my path.
"Doctor Sarah Winston?" she asked me.
"Uh, yes?"
"Please come with me, he's expecting you."
I stood there, frozen. "I'm sorry, who's expecting me?" But the woman just smiled politely and glanced over her shoulder at the two men in suits standing in our close proximity.
I had a bad feeling I knew exactly who was waiting for me, if I went with them. I didn't feel like family reunion was in place today, but I guess you can never choose the day you'll die. Today was probably about to become that day, if I went with them. Which was not going to happen.