Sherlock rushed over to the spot where the tape player is. I stood in the same spot by the wall rubbing my wrist that was bondaged just a couple of minutes ago. I thought of seeing my daughter again and Mrs. Hudson. I am sure that they are both doing okay. I tilted my head for a quick second to get the tense feeling out. It's been a few years since I came back home in London from the Afghanistan War as a soldier/doctor. The feeling was as mutual when I was with Sherlock. He maybe the insane man everyone thinks he is, but inside I know he is still a great and stunning person even when being a complete, utter asshole.

Sherlock crept down once he got to the tape player. Then I could dimly see in the pitch darkness that he took out his glass square microscope from his long, navy blue coat to look for any details on who our kidnapper is and when he kidnapped us. I was about to say something when I was rubbing my wrist, but said nothing instead. I watched him as he worked. That man looked over the tape player carefully with such keen eyes. It would be impossible to see anything in the darkness. I thought about the gameplayer we had talked about earlier and wondered if this person was a consulting criminal like James Moriarty or a psychopath that had to be detained in a padded room. I popped the question for Sherlock.

"So, this gameplayer. You think this person is a man because of how he- or she," I added, "runs things in a very mysterious way?"

Sherlock didn't answer me. He just looked over the tape with the little microscope and his hands lightly rubbing the surface. I hoped he was almost done

with what he was doing. Talking would be nice right about now in this situation. It's a good way for two friends to actually connect, but that will never work for Sherlock. He was a different type of friend who I connect with solely for the fun of getting into the unsolved cases. He then finally answered after a few minutes.

"We have definitely been here for forty minutes and the kidnapper is a man." Sherlock said and then added, "I can tell that because the tape player has been used a lot and the grip is stronger, but here's something else. The grip is shakey from some type of disease... a cancer. The tape player hasn't collected as much dirt which would mean we haven't been here for too long."

"So our kidnapper," I pointed out, "is dealing with chemo or colon cancer."

I thought about this more as Sherlock went back to searching more details on the tape player. Maybe the kidnapper was more of a damaged man instead of a psychopath. Though why would someone with cancer go through all of this to chain us up in a dark room? I was more puzzled than ever and was aching for home, but also for battle.

I pondered as I began walking around the room. As I turned to where Sherlock was, he finally put his microscope away into his inside coat pocket. In place of it, he held the tape player. He was analyzing every bit of it, yet did not choose to turn it on. There may have been a cassette in there that was recorded. I moved closer to where he was. When I was moving, I cautiously placed each of my steps in front of me. I felt for anything until I finally touched Sherlock's arm. I quickly took my arms to my side. I looked at the tape player along with him.

"Aren't you going to turn it on, Sherlock?" I asked.

Sherlock had his eyes on the tape player then finally glanced at me. He said in a monotone, quiet voice, "I was waiting for you. Also I am wondering if

the person who did kidnap us wasn't the gameplayer. He may have been in charge of the kidnapper though."

I nodded with agreement. Probably the person who was in charge of the kidnapper couldn't have been able to handle putting the handcuffs in a nail then to kneel down and put the key behind us in the vent.

"But we can turn it on now." Sherlock said without waiting for me to say something. So I gestured him to be the one to turn it on. And that is when we heard the voice.