Chapter 52: Wrong Place, Wrong Time

by: Ismira Daugene & QueenoftheSlayers

Marie finished doing the lunch dishes and Elise dried and put them away in the cupboard. "You guys didn't have to do that," Dawn Summers commented as she finished her cup of tea. "I do have a dishwasher, you know."

"Yeah, but you're letting us stay here for free. We gotta do something to pay you back," Marie said as she dried her hands.

Dawn rolled her eyes, but didn't argue. "Well come on then. The next train to London leaves in twenty five minutes."

The three women hurried to grab their things and get to the train station only a couple of miles away. A train bound for Paddington Station in London left every half hour, making the trip from Oxford to London easily done. It took an hour to get to Paddington Station, and in that time, Elise and Dawn chatted about Dawn's work at Oxford University while Marie read a book on her Nook. They then hopped on the tube and after a few line transfers, were walking into The British Museum. Dawn confidently led the way towards the visitor's desk where an older man in a navy blue uniform sat. He smiled as they approached. "Good afternoon!" he said with a thick northern accent. "What can I do for you today?"

"Hello, we were wondering if we could get tickets for the night tour tonight?" Dawn asked as spokeswoman for the group.

"I'm sorry," the man frowned. "We're sold out for tonight, but I think we have a couple of spots open for tomorrow night?"

"That will be fine," Elise spoke up.

"Three tickets then?" he asked as he clicked the mouse for his computer a few times.

"Yes please," Dawn smiled.

A few minutes later, each woman had paid for their ticket and they were off to wander through the museum on their own for a normal day-time self-guided tour. The British Museum was huge, and each woman had a section in particular they wanted to visit. Marie needed to visit the Ancient Greece and Rome gallery (Elise was half convinced that she would marry Artemis if she could). Dawn really wanted to see the Rosetta Stone and the rooms dedicated to Mesopotamia. And Elise was excited to see mummies in the Ancient Egypt gallery.

They started with the Rosetta Stone as it was closest. Dawn and Elise both marveled over the stone with strange unfamiliar markings etched into it. Marie, meanwhile, admired the bronze heads of past Akkadian kings. Next they moved on to the Ancient Greece and Rome rooms. There were several rooms dedicated to the pottery and statues of gods. All three stared in awe at the delicate stone work creating textures soft as skin that curved to create realistic human bodies frozen in time. Finally, they visited the rooms dedicated to Ancient Egypt. Elise was a little sad over the mummified cats until Marie reminded her that they were mummified because they were revered so much.

When they finished their tours, they walked back out the main entrance with its rows of Ionic columns. "That was so worth it," Elise commented, a large grin on her face.

"Agreed, except now we have to wait like a whole twenty four hours until our night tour," Marie replied.

"I'm sure we can find some things to do," Elise said.

"Actually, I had some errands I wanted to run while we were in the city," Dawn said. "You're welcome to tag along."

A sudden idea struck Marie and a smile lit her face. "No thanks, Dawn. We're headed to the morgue!"

Dawn's face fell and her eyebrows rose towards her hairline. "The morgue?"

"Yup! We'll catch up with you back in Oxford!"

"You'll be okay finding the train?"

"Yeah, we travel a lot and we've been to London before," Marie insisted.

"Okay, shoot me a text when you're on your way," Dawn said before waving and heading off on her own.

"Will do!"

With that, Marie and Elise hailed a cab and told the cabbie to take them to Saint Bartholomew's Hospital. It was only a ten minute drive and soon they were knocking on the door to the lead mortician's office. A small mousy woman in a white lab coat opened the door and her face split into a large grin upon seeing who it was. "Marie! Elise!" Molly Hooper exclaimed. She leaped forward to hug both women. "What are you doing here?" She pulled away slightly.

"We're in town staying with another friend for a bit," Marie explained. "She had some errands to run, so we thought we'd stop in and say hi. Maybe see if you were free for dinner?"

"Of course! That would be wonderful! I was actually just about to pack up for the day. Just need to put Mr. Banerjee away and then I'll be ready!"

It didn't take long for Molly to put Mr. Banerjee back in storage, and soon they were walking down the street towards a "great little Indian place with the best curry." And Molly wasn't wrong. The place had some of the best curry outside of India that Marie and Elise had ever tasted. The three caught up on the goings on in daily life and where Marie and Elise had traveled since they last talked and Molly's new boyfriend. They decided to walk for a bit afterwards to get rid of the overly-full feeling they all had, and Molly led the way down the darkening street.

"So of course I said yes to him," Molly said as she finished telling how Ben, her new boyfriend, had asked her out. "He was just too adorable and pitiful to say no."

Elise giggled and wiped the tears of laughter out of her eyes. "Sounds like a keeper to me, Molly."

"Oh he is," she smiled. "But we've only really been together for a few months."

"Do you guys see that?" Marie asked nodding towards the alleway up ahead. There appeared to be several people shouting urgently back into the alley next to a jewelry store and one person sitting in a dark colored van ready to take off.

"Wonder what that's about?" Elise commented as they got closer.

However they very quickly figured out what it was about when a loud alarm started blaring, flashing lights strobed, and several people wearing black and carrying large sacks exited the jewelry store. Elise, Molly, and Marie probably would've been okay if it hadn't been for the driver spotting them at the last second. He pointed towards them and shouted something at the people in the back. The next thing they knew, four armed people dressed in black surrounded them and were pushing them into the back of the van! "What are we gonna do with 'em?!" one of the thieves growled to the driver. "Shoulda just shot 'em."

"That would've left evidence. Boss said to make this discreet. We'll let him decide what to do with them," the driver said as he turned a corner.

"Well we can't let 'em see where we're goin'" the first thief said.

"We promise not to tell anyone!" Elise said quickly.

"Not good enough," the thief replied. "Use the extra bags and put 'em over their heads. And tie their hands with zip ties."

Dark hoods were placed over their heads and their hands were roughly pulled together in front of them and quickly and tied together. Their ride lasted probably another thirty more minutes, but felt like an eternity to the three women. When they finally stopped, the thieves in the back pushed them out of the van. Marie, however, had been formulating a plan, and tightened her hand restraints till they were starting to be painful. The moment her feet hit the ground, she reached up with both hands, grabbed her hood, and brought both elbows slamming down around her hips, causing the tight zip tie to break. She threw the hood on the ground and looked around wildly. There was a burly man in front of her staring with wide eyes. With a battle cry that would make Xena impressed, she charged forward and tackled the man. He was too shocked to block her right away, so she got in two good punches before being pulled off. "LET US GO, YOU FUCKERS!" she shouted.

Two of the thieves restrained the struggling American woman. "Knock the bitch out!" one of them shouted. And Marie suddenly went limp as one of the thieves bashed the butt of his gun over her skull.

"MARIE!" Elise shouted. She couldn't see what was going on because of the hood, but she could hear the sickening thud. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!" She tried to do the same move Marie did to break her zip tie, but one of the thieves grabbed her arms and kept them still as they led her forward.

It didn't take long before Elise and Molly were shoved to their knees and their hoods were pulled off of them. They blinked against the sudden brightness coming from the naked light bulb swinging above them. Elise looked over to see Marie laying on the ground beside her. She wasn't completely out, but she wasn't really conscious of anything around her either. "What do we have here?" an Irish lilt drifted toward them.

Elise and Molly quickly turned to see a man in a navy blue Westwood suit glide in the room. He stuck his hands in his pockets as he rocked back on his heels. "I don't remember telling you to bring back any hostages," he commented, a sharpness to his voice.

"Sorry, boss. They just showed up and saw us loading up the van. We didn't want to leave any more evidence than we had to, so we brought them here," the driver of the van said.

The man studied the three women curiously. His sharp brown eyes drifting over them. However they widened upon studying Marie and Elise. "Oh isn't this interesting," he grinned. He turned back to the thieves. "Leave us," he commanded.

"But boss!"

"Now," he growled.

The thieves shuffled out quickly. Once they were alone, the man moved around the room until he reached one of the rusty metal chairs. He pulled it forward so it was facing the women and sat down, crossing one knee over the other. "I doubt you know who I am, so allow me to introduce myself. James Moriarty, at your service."

Molly sucked in a gasp in recognition. Elise's eyes widened and she stopped breathing for a moment. "Ah, I see you do know me," Moriarty grinned delightedly. "Good, that will make this easier then. You see I have a conundrum. You saw my incompetent henchmen stealing what will surely be known in the papers tomorrow as the largest jewelry heist in recent history. And I can't just let you go."

"But!" Elise started to interrupt.

"Bu-ut!" Moriarty sing-songed. "You also happen to be the subject of a No Touch order put out by a group I quite admire."

Elise crinkled her brow in confusion. Who would put a No Touch order on them? Who did they know who had criminal associations? It didn't take her long to figure out though and she felt a dual sensation of appreciation and terror race through her. The Leverage Team. They walked in both criminal and law-abiding worlds and would have influence.

"Do you see my problem?" Moriarty asked.

Elise nodded. "I do, but I'm also seeing an obvious solution."

"Oh? Do tell?" he leaned forward.

"You let us go. We don't tell anyone about you or the jewel heist, and we also let the Leverage Team know what an upstanding guy you are. I can't guarantee anything for the guy who knocked out Marie though."

Moriarty made a brushing motion with his fingers. "He's unimportant and replaceable. I could also just keep you to use as leverage. Wouldn't that be ironic? And don't think I don't know your friend's significance to a certain detective."

Elise glanced over at a pale Molly. "But I… He wouldn't… Not for me," Molly muttered.

"You underestimate yourself, dear," he smiled at the other woman then turned back to Elise. "However you do have a point. If I let you go, it would be less of a hassle, and the Leverage Team would owe me a favor."

"Why would they owe you a favor?"

"Because by letting you go, that means I honor their No Touch order and others will know that, making me an ally of the Leverage Team should anyone else try to touch you. And the name Moriarty still strikes fear into the hearts of many if they know what's good for them."

Elise swallowed the excess bile that had built up in her mouth. She was pretty sure Elliot was going to flip a lid when they got home, but at least they would be safe. She nodded along with what Moriarty was saying. "Yes, of course. No one would want you as an enemy," she encouraged.

"Oh alright! I'll let you go! But only because I'm such a nice person!"

Elise heard a slight grumbly murmur from Marie, but she quickly spoke up to cover it. "Thank you so much!"

Moriarty plucked his mobile phone out of his breast pocket and started typing rapidly. He hit the send button then stood from the rusty chair. "Someone will be by shortly to pick you up," he said as he walked around them to exit the room.

"Wait! What about our hands!"

"Not my problem!" he called out as he waved over his shoulder.

Elise let out a sigh and slumped. "I suppose we should be grateful we're alive," she said.

Molly nodded. "I rather think so," she replied. "So how do we get out of these?" she held up her tied wrists which were turning pink.

"Just bring them down fast and hard towards your hips. Might need to stand up," Elise replied recalling Natasha's training.

"Easier said than done," Molly mumbled as she wobbled. However the two women were quickly out of their restraints and Molly knelt down by Marie to examine the sluggishly bleeding wound on the back of her head. "She'll be fine. Just need to clean this out as soon as possible."

"Easier said than done," Elise mimicked. They propped their unconscious companion up into a more comfortable position and settled in to wait. At one point Elise wandered the building looking for cell phone service, but didn't want to get too far away from Marie and Molly. It took another hour and a half before they heard sirens getting closer. She could see flashing blue lights through the window near the ceiling. Marie had come around about twenty minutes ago with a splitting headache and several choice words. Molly and Elise explained what had happened. A story they had to repeat again to the police when they arrived.

The first to barge into the small room were D.I. Lestrade, Sherlock, and John Watson. They rushed over, John noticed Marie's wound right away and consulted with Molly. Sherlock examined the room, searching for clues to lead him to Moriarty. Lestrade helped Marie to her feet and led her out of the building to a police car and a med kit that Molly used to start cleaning her wound. All three women were interviewed extensively, but they could offer little to Moriarty's whereabouts. So Lestrade released them after taking their statements, and offered them rides home.

Molly was first to be dropped off, then they made the longer drive out of the city and to Dawn's home in Oxford. "You sure you'll be okay?" he asked as Marie clutched her now bandaged head.

"Yeah, fine. Just need some ibuprofen and some sleep," she replied.

"Okay, if you hear anything further from Moriarty don't hesitate to call," he handed them his card.

"I doubt it, but will do!" Elise said as she took the card and gave a mock salute to the detective inspector before heading up to the door, pulling Marie along.

Dawn stood waiting for them. Elise had texted her earlier and said she'd explain later. "Save it till morning, I think," Dawn said eyeing the exhausted women. "Your beds are ready for you upstairs."

The two friends thanked her and headed up to bed.