Hi! For third time this April, I am posting yet another chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it :)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything from Sherlock except my OC, all credits to A.C. Doyle and BBC Sherlock.

Chapter 4 - Tracing down the tracks

SARAH WINSTON

I put down the cute stuffed animal and suddenly, I heard a loud thud and some noises behind my back. I turned around to see what Sherlock was up to and my eyes widened in shock when I saw him struggling to fight off a man choking him with a white cloth wrapped around Sherlock's neck. I screamed Sherlock's name and I ran to help him, charging at the assailant, but I received a strong kick to my stomach and it threw me to the wall, knocking my breath out and discombobulating me for a while. Sherlock took the advantage of the unknown man being busy kicking me away to shake him off. He tried to call for John's help, but it didn't seem like he heard him, plus the opponent grabbed hold of Sherlock again and tumbled him to the ground, choking him with the silk scarf. I shakily stood up, trying to breathe normally and I angrily charged at the man knowing that Sherlock could lose the ability to breathe any time now. I managed to kick him off for a while, but this time the attacker roughly shoved my head to the wall, everything went black and I lost consciousness.

SHERLOCK HOLMES

I was so disorientated. I didn't know what happened to Sarah, I just saw the attacker shoving her to the wall for the second time and then he focused all his attention to me. I just hoped she was alright, Lestrade would probably have my head if something happened to her. As I still struggled to loosen the cloth around my neck, I heard John shout something about my massive intellect angrily and then suddenly, the choking stopped just after I started to lose awareness of everything around me and little black spots appeared in front of my eyes. When I opened them, the man was gone. I coughed, my throat still sore and quickly untied the scarf from my neck and I crawled to Sarah, who was still lying on the ground, the side of her head already bruising and bleeding a little. God, this is exactly what I didn't need right now.
"Sarah? Sarah! Can you hear me? Are you hurt?" I felt my croaky voice raise in mild panic. 'Relax, she's going to be fine... well, probably...' I had to keep reminding myself to keep my composure, panic was no good to me. On the other hand, it wasn't exactly good that she wasn't responding and that she was bleeding. I checked if she was even breathing which, thankfully, she was. I pressed my palm to her cheek, gently slapping it, asking her to wake up. I felt like an idiot, I wasn't sure what to do with her if she doesn't wake up. Thankfully, her eyelids fluttered open and she groaned in pain. I felt myself breathe out in relief a little, my throat still burning.
"Sarah?"
"Hey," she smiled up at me weakly, closing her eyes in pain. I helped her stand up and I eyed her up and down for more injuries.
"You have to tell John to check for concussion, that was a hard hit you took," I told her, steadying her on her feet. I barely finished the sentence and I broke into a coughing fit.
"Yeah, I feel like my head just had an earthquake," she pressed her hand to her forehead. "But are you okay? Your voice is so hoarse. And you neck-" she reached up to touch the red marks from the cloth on my neck.
"I'm fine," I cleared my throat, grabbing her wrist and putting it down. "Come on," I told her, still steadying her with one of my hands and I put the other one in the pocket of my coat. I felt something that wasn't there before and I put in out to have a look at it. Surprise surpise, it was a black origami flower exactly the same as Van Coon's and Lukis'. I showed it to Sarah who reached into her pocket and she pulled out another one. We both exchanged meaningful looks. Now I was only wondering, what made the killer change his mind and not kill us? What was different?

We finally arrived at the door in front of John who was glaring at us angrily.
"The, uh, milk's gone off and the washing's starting to smell. Somebody left here in a hurry three days ago," I said, my voice weak and squeaky. I felt Sarah's concerned eyes on me.
"Somebody?" John asked and I nodded.
"Soo Lin Yao. We have to find her," Sarah told him, her own voice still weak, she was pale and obviously still in pain.
"But how exactly?" John asked and I bent down to pick up an envelope from Soo Lin's mail. There was writing on the back: Soo Lin, please ring me. Tell me you're ok. Andy. A concerned friend? Boyfriend, maybe? I unfolded the envelope and at the bottom the origin of it was revealed - National Antiquities Museum.
"Maybe we could start with this," I said to John and I closed the door behind us. "But before that - Sarah's bleeding and probably has a concussion," I told John who looked over at Sarah who nodded with a forced smile and John's eyes widened when he noticed the side of her head slightly bleeding.

SARAH WINSTON

After a short stop at Baker Street when John cleaned the wound on my head and forced me to lie down, which I disobeyed, after all, it was just a small concussion, not a big one. My head was still hurting and I could hear ringing in my ears, but I really wanted to continue. I assured Doctor Watson that I would lie down as soon as we moved forward with the case at which he only furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head in disapproval. I knew that I would regret this decision later, but right now all I could feel was adrenaline still pumping in my veins after the unpleasant encounter. We decided to track down Soo Lin Yao at the National Antiquities Museum.

When we arrived and found the boy, Andy, who wrote the note and left it at Soo Lin's door, Sherlock paced around the display area of one of the rooms in the museum.
"When was the last time you saw her?" Sherlock iterrogated him.
"Three days ago, um, here at the museum. This morning they told me she'd resigned just like that... Just left her work unfinished."
"And that wasn't like her, was it? How much did you know her?" I asked Andy and Sherlock gave me a pointed stare, apparently only he got to ask all the questions.
"Um, well we met here at the museum as co-workers, and I um, you know... I started liking her," Andy admitted and his face gained a shade of pink.
"What was the last thing that she did on her final afternoon?" Sherlock questioned and Andy led us to one of the big archive and storage rooms and the lights lazily flickered as he turned them on. I looked around as we walked trough the room, taking it all in, it wasn't everyday you got to explore rooms like this.
"She does this demonstration for the tourists, a tea ceremony. So she would have packed up her things and just put them in here," Andy explained and he turned one of the handles to widen a gap between the stacks. John and I waited for Andy to show us what Soo Lin was working on, but I noticed Sherlock had wandered off further in the back of the room, something probably catching his interest. The two of us and Andy turned to see what Sherlock found. There was a statue on a stand of a nude woman and across her chest a yellow graffiti. The cipher.

It was nighttime, when we walked out of the museum, the London sky painted in dark blue with a few clouds scattered here and there.
"We have to get to Soo Lin Yao," Sherlock told us as we made our way further away from the museum.
"If she's still alive," John noted sceptically and I closed my eyes at the thought. God, I hoped the girl was alive.
"Sherlock!" A voice yelled from the distance and in a while, Raz was standing in front of the three of us.
"Oh look who it is!" John snarled angrily at him.
"Found something you'll like," Raz announced, ingoring John's remark and we followed after where he was leading us. We walked across the Hungerford Bridge, heading towards the south side of the river. The cold february breeze pinched at my cheeks and the wind had ruffled my hair. I was grateful there was no mirror around, I must've looked terrible after this whole day. My head was still pulsating with pain, but I tried not to focus on that. I was still a bit spaced out after the attack of the killer we were chasing, so I didn't pay much attention to what were the three men walking with me talking about.
"Tuesday morning, all you've gotta do is turn up and say the bag was yours," John instrutced Raz and I quietly laughed at the conversation.
"Oh forget about your court date," Sherlock rolled his eyes and we continued to walk. This wasn't exactly a nice part of the city, so there was no wonder I felt like someone was watching us, even the old Chinese lady with dark sunglasses nearby. Maybe I was too paranoid after our killer encounter with Sherlock. Speaking of which, I looked over at him to subtly check on his neck without him knowing. There were still visible red marks, but his voice seemed fine even though I noticed he sometimes still cleared his throat. The detective noticed me staring at his neck and he saw right trough me. To hell with subtlety with this man, it was no use when he saw everything.
"I'm fine." He said softly, so that only I could hear him and I stared back into his blue eyes.
"I was just checking."
"Why?" He tilted his head and I shrugged.
"I don't know. It's a decent thing to do, isn't it? I mean, you looked after me when I got knocked out, so I think I should repay the favor." I told him and he didn't say anthing else, he just continued to stare at me as we walked. It was unnerving just like the first time he stared at me like that. Like he just knew everything. I tried not to pay his gaze any attention, and finally, we reached the destination Raz wanted to show us. We arrived at a long mural wall with graffiti sprayed all over it.

"If you want to hide a tree, then a forest is the best place to do it, wouldn't you say?" Sherlock asked me quietly. "People would just walk straight past, not knowing, unable to decipher the message."
I glanced at him. "The cipher," I stated and he nodded. Raz pointed his finger to a yellow graffiti on the wall - indeed the cipher.
"They have been in here. And that's the exact same paint?" Sherlock asked Raz.
"Yeah."
"John, Sarah. If we're going to decipher this code, we're gonna need to look for evidence."
"So we split up? You know, that's how people die in horror movies." I joked and he rolled his eyes at me. We did, in fact, split up and now it was just me wandering around under the dark sky. It wasn't exactly helping that I didn't have a torch like Sherlock, who apparently has endless coat pockets. How was I supposed to find anything? After a while I started following an old railway and I noticed a small light furhter away from me. There was a silhouette crouched down on the track, my heart skipped a beat and I stopped moving, not sure what to do now. I observed the person, still in place. Not moving. Then the silhouette stood up and I noticed the coat and the curls in the dim light. It was Sherlock with his fancy little torch. I almost laughed at myself for being so stupid for not recognizing him. He seemed to find something on the ground and I ran to him.
"Look," he said as he turned to face me, not surprised to see me here at all. He handed me his discovery - a spray can.
"D'you think that's theirs?" I asked him.
"I do. Come on, we have to look carefully, the cipher must be close," he grabbed the sleeve of my coat, pulling me along with him. We walked together along another mural wall with so many posters on it, that we could barely see the mural underneath. One of the posters seemed to attract Sherlock's attention and he tore off the bottom corner, putting it in his pocket. I took a glance at the poster that had caught his interest. Chinese Yellow Dragon Circus. Interesting. I noticed that John had finally caught up with us, it seemed that he was searching for us in a hurry, he was a bit out of breath.
"Answer your phone, Sherlock! I've been calling you! I've found it."
Sherlock and I exchanged a quick glance and we both followed after John Watson. He led us to a tunnel near the railway with brick walls, pointing at one of the walls. When our eyes fell on it, we stood in surprise. There was nothing. John gaped at the wall with his mouth open.
"It's been painted over!" He exclaimed, clearly shocked. Sherlock walked closer and he shined his torch at the wall, only now letting go of my coat's sleeve. I didn't even realize he was still holding it until now and I felt my cheeks turn a bit red.
"I don't understand. It- it was here... ten minutes ago. I saw it! A whole load of graffiti!" John shouted in disbelief.
"Somebody doesn't want me to see it," Sherlock murmured to himself. Suddenly, he turned around and he grabbed John's head in both his hands.
"Hey, Sherlock, what are you doing?" John asked him, quite sure his friend had gone crazy.
"Quiet John. Concentrate. I need you to concentrate. Close your eyes," Sherlock ordered the doctor firmly.
"No. What? Why?" John frowned and I grinned as Sherlock grabbed John's upper arms. "What are you doing?" John asked again as Sherlock started to spin them both around on the spotm staring into John's eyes. I started laughing at the sight.
"I need you to maximise your visual memory. Try to picture what you saw. Can you picture it?" Sherlock asked firmly.
"Yeah."
"Can you remember it?"
"Yes, definitely."
"Can you remember the pattern?"
"Yes!"
"How much can you remember?"
"Well, don't worry-"
"Because the average human memory on visual matters is only sixty-two percent accurate."
"Yeah well don't worry, I remember all of it."
"Really?" Sherlock asked in disbelief and he even stopped spinning.
"Yeah, well at least I would... if I can get to my pockets! I took a photograph," John pulled himself free from Sherlock's grasp and he took out his phone. I leaned forward from all the laughing. This was one of the most hilarious things I've ever witnessed. Sherlock seemed a bit embarassed when he took John's phone in his hands, getting a look at the cipher. In the cab on our way back to Baker Street, I took a look at it as well. There were yellow graffiti sprayed all over the wall and when we arrived at 221B, we printed out the photographs of the cipher and we added them to those which were already on the wall. This time, we wrote the English equivalents of each number near the Chinese version to have a better perception of the cipher.

Sherlock was now standing in front of the mirror above the fireplace with his back turned to us. I was lying on their dark brown sofa on the opposite side of the living room because I promised John to lie down and rest my head, which still hurt like hell. The spot was still red and there was a bruise forming. John was sitting at the table with his head in his hands, probably half asleep by now. I looked over to the window noticing the light starting to crawl into the room a little, it was almost morning now. I haven't slept in almost 24 hours. I thought about my hotel room in which I only managed to put down my suitcase before heading out for coffee with Lestrade yesterday morning. Has it really been only yesterday that I had met these two men? It felt as if I knew them for at least weeks, if not months, we have been trough a lot together today. From Van Coon's and Lukis' flats to the Lucky Cat shop and of course, the attack at Soo Lin Yao's place, up until the symbols on the brick wall. I was a lot, even for me and as it seemed, for John as well. As for Sherlock, well, he didn't seem to stop anytime soon, I was wondering where did he gather the energy to just go on and on, not resting until this case is solved, apparently. But I had to admit, I felt a connection slowly building up between myself and the boys. With John, it was a friendly acquaintance and he was a rather easy person to form a frienship with, and with Sherlock... there was something as well. Not a friendship, no. He was way too above that, for him I'm sure friendship was something trivial that didn't seem worth his precious time or attention. It was a miracle John put up with his whims, but I think I understand a little why he stayed around. One was never bored with Holmes and John was an adrenaline junkie. As for me, I do love the thrill of a case, but that didn't mean I enjoyed the danger we could potentially face, and which we have already faced. But it kept me going somehow. I can't really explain what had attracted me so much about Sherlock and his way of life and solving cases, I just knew I wanted more of it.
"Always in pairs," Sherlock suddenly noticed a pattern, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Hmm?" John squinted his eyes at Sherlock, barely managing to keep them open.
"Numbers come with partners," Sherlock explained, glancing back at John who was slowly dozing off.
"God, I need to sleep," John groaned.
"Why did he paint it so near the tracks?"
"No idea."
"Thousands of people pass by there everyday," he looked around at me and I opened my eyes from my micro nap. He seemed to be waiting for me to contribute to his thoughts, but I wasn't in the right state to form a sensible sentence at the moment.
"Just twenty minutes," I heard John's voice squeam. When Sherlock didn't get the contribution he wanted, he turned around to face the cipher.
"Of course! He wants information. He's trying to communicate with his people in the underworld. Whatever was stolen, he wants it back," Sherlock said, running his finger over the symbols. I slowly stood up, my head spinning a bit as I did so, and I walked over to Sherlock. "It's somwhere here in the code," he said and he pulled three photos off the wall and turned towards the door. He signed to me with his head to follow after him and he adressed John.
"Wake up John. We can't crack this without Soo Lin Yao." I exchanged a tired look with John. We didn't have much of a choice, so we went after him.

We returned to the museum, meeting up with Andy in the same display room as yesterday evening.
"Two men, travelled back from China were murdered, and their killer left them messages in the Hangzhou numerals," Sherlock said to Andy.
"Soo Lin Yao's in danger. Now that cipher - it was just the same pattern as others," John added.
"The killer means to murder Soo Lin as well," I told Andy and his eyes widened and he looked frustrated.
"Look, I've tried everywhere, um, friends, colleagues. I don't know where she's gone. I mean, she could be a thousand miles away," he frantically threw his hands in the air. Sherlock turned away from him and his gaze focused on the glass case displaying teapots nearby. John frowned at him in confusion.
"What are you looking at?"
Sherlock slowly walked towards the teapots, pointing his finger at them. "Tell me more about those teapots," he demanded.
"The pots were her obsession. Um, they need urgent work. If they dry out then the clay can start to crumble. Apparently, you have to just keep making tea in them," Andy explained as we all walked closer to the pots.
"Yesterday, only one of those pots was shining. Now there are two," Sherlock pointed out, leaning closer to observe the display.

We returned to Baker Street again and John immediately went upstairs to his bedroom, to get at least some sleep. Sherlock hung his coat up and he sat down in his black armchair. I sat in John's red one opposite him and I put my chin in the palm of my hand, my eyes barely open.
"Aren't you tired? We've been up all night," I asked him and he glanced over at me.
"Hmm, no. Sleeping's dull at the moment. More exciting things to do."
"Like?"
"Thinking."
"Okay..." I yawned tiredly and rubbed my eyes. Sherlock eyed the bruise on the side of my head.
"How's your head?" He asked suddenly.
"Still hurts a little and as you can see, there's a rather nasty bruise forming thanks to our friendly killer," I smiled sarcastically. "How's your neck?"
"I told you before, I am fine," he brushed me off.
"So I assume we'll be going back to the museum tonight after opening hours?" I asked after a while of silence.
"That would be a correct assumption, yes."
"Do you really think that Soo Lin will be there tonight?"
"Of course. You saw those teacups. And you've heard what Andy said: those cups were here obsession. She's definitely coming back to them," he smirked.
I nodded and I stood up from the armchair. "Good. Just tell me when to meet you guys there."
"Where are you going?" He frowned at me.
"To my hotel, I need to get at least some sleep. But don't worry, I wouldn't miss a moment of this case," I winked at him, grabbing my grey coat. We decided on the time of our meeting at the museum and I headed to my hotel, waving the curly-haired detective goodbye. When I reached my hotel room, I threw myself on the bed, taking off my shoes and just sinking into the pillows. I was so tired but the excitement still rushed trough my body from the whole day I've spent with Sherlock and John. I took a quick shower and then I ordered room service because I was starting to get hungry. The sleep felt so amazing, but it lasted far too short for my liking, and I was woken up after a few hours by my alarm. I swapped the clothes I had worn yesterday for a new white shirt and dark blue jeans. I decided to put my hair up in a ponytail, because I was expecting more action on the case, and this was a practical hairstyle for such occasion. I put on my grey coat again and my shoes. I knew heels would be a bad choice after the whole day running around with the boys, so I put back my ankle-lentgh boots without heels. After trying to cover up the bruise on my head with make-up and re-applying my dark red lipstick, I left my hotel room to meet Sherlock and John.

The three of us carefully made our way to the restoration room with the cups. The museum was dark and abandoned after it closed so we were alone. At least for now. When we reached the restoration room, there was a young woman sitting at a table, pouring some tea into the cups and she swilled the teapot she was holding around to cover outside of it with drips of tea. Sherlock approached her first.
"Fancy a bisquit with that?" he asked her with a light tone and the girl gasped and dropped the teapot. I was expecting the sound of breaking clay to reach my ears, but to my surprise, it never came. Sherlock managed to catch it just in time before it hit the ground and he looked up at the girl - Soo Lin Yao.
"Centuries old. Don't wanna break that," he said softly and he put it back into her hands. I don't think I've seen him this nice to a stranger before, it was interesting to see him like that. Sherlock turned on the light on the desk and he smiled at Soo Lin. John and I stepped closer to Soo Lin as well.
"Hello."