Chapter Eight: The Black Lotus
Sherlock had called John quickly, bringing him from 221B to the museum. All of the Baker Street residents were gathered around Soo Lin and a table. They were waiting for her to speak.
"You saw the cipher," Soo Lin finally said. "Then you know he is coming for me."
"You've been clever to avoid him so far," remarked Sherlock.
"I had to finish... to finish this work. It's only a matter of time. I know he will find me?"
"Can you tell us who he is?" Alice asked. "Or if you've met him before?" Soo Lin nodded.
"When I was a girl, living back in China. I recognise his... 'signature'."
"The cipher," Sherlock said.
"Only he would do this. Zhi Zhu."
"Zhi Zhu?" John asked out of confusion.
"The spider," translated Sherlock. Soo Lin put her right foot on her opposite knee, undoing the laces to her shoe. She pulled it off. On the bottom of her heel was a tattoo of a black lotus flower inside a circle.
"You know this mark?" Soo Lin asked.
"Yes," answered Alice, much to everyone's surprise. "It's the mark of the Tong." There was silence. "They used to commence their operations close to where I was raised. A horrible place to have a bunch children, really."
"What's the Tong...?" John asked.
"An ancient crime syndicate based in China," Sherlock answered. John nodded.
"Every foot soldier bears the mark," Soo Lin continued, "Everyone who hauls for them."
"Hauls?" John asked, once again left out of the loop. Soo Lin looked up at him. That's when he finally got it, given by the shocked expression John gave. "Y-you mean you were a smuggler?" Soo Lin lowered her gaze as she slid her shoe back on.
"I was fifteen. My parents were dead. I had no livelihood. No way of surviving day to day except to work for the bosses."
"Who are they?" Sherlock asked.
"They are called the Black Lotus. By the time I was sixteen, I was taking thousands of pounds' worth of drugs across the border into Hong Kong. But I managed to leave that life behind me. I came to England." Soo Lin smiled a little. "They gave me a new job here. Everything was good. A new life."
"But then the Black Lotus and Zhi Zhu came looking for you," Alice concluded. "Right?"
"Yes." Soo Lin swallowed something as tears brimmed her eyes. "I had hoped after five years… Maybe they would have forgotten me, but they never really let you leave. A small community like ours-they are never very far away." Soo Lin wiped away a few tears that had fallen off of her face. "He came to my flat. He asked me to help him track down something that was stolen."
"And you've no idea what it was?" John asked.
"I refused to help."
"Er…" Alice muttered, trying to rack her brain for a question. "I'm guessing you knew him well back in China, then?" Soo Lin nodded.
"Oh yes." She looked up at the three. "He's my brother." Alice blinked in surprise at the statement, her eyebrows raised a bit. "Two orphans. We had no choice. We could work for the Black Lotus, or starve on the streets like beggars. My brother has become their puppet, in the power of the one they call Shan – the Black Lotus general. I turned my brother away. He said I had betrayed him. Next day I came to work and the cipher was waiting."
Once her story was done, Sherlock dug out the photographs from before, laying them on the table. The closest one was Sir William's portrait.
"Can you decipher these?" he asked. Soo Lin leaned forward. She pointed at the number beside the portrait.
"These are numbers."
"Yes, we know." Soo Lin pointed to another photograph.
"Here. The line across the man's eyes. It's the Chinese number one."
"And this one is fifteen," Alice finished, pointing towards the other photo. "Do you know what the code is?"
"All the smugglers know it. It's based upon a book-" Before Soo Lin could finish her sentence, the lights were cut off. Soo Lin's face filled with dread. Sherlock straightened up, looking around. Alice tensed up.
"He's here," Soo Lin said softly, her voice filled with terror. "Zhi Zhu. He has found me." Before anyone could speak again, Sherlock was off as he raced out of the room.
"Sherlock," Alice called out softly. "Get back here!" But Sherlock was already out of the room. She sighed. John turned to the two females. He grabbed Soo Lin's hand.
"Come here, both of you," he ordered. John pulled Soo Lin across the room, with Alice following behind. He took them to a cupboard, large enough to fit the three. "Get in. Get in!" John, Alice and Soo Lin climbed inside, waiting in stressed tension. Alice felt adrenaline rush through her body. Sweat began to prick the back of her neck. This was the only emotion she couldn't hide. Fear.
Alice almost jumped up when she heard a gunshot ring throughout the museum. Her dark blue eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. John looked up and turned to the two girls.
"I have to go and help," he said. "Alice, bolt the door after me." The child nodded. John stood and hurried off to find Sherlock. Alice could hear gunshots ringing as she got up. Soo Lin grabbed her by the wrist. Alice looked down at her.
"I'll bolt the door," the woman stated. Although she was terrified, Alice nodded. The young child sat back down while Soo Lin took a breath. She slowly began to crawl out from the cupboard. Alice peeked out from her hiding place. Soo Lin peered over the top of it before slowly standing up. Behind her, a Chinese man a little older than her silently walked up and stopped just behind her, staring at her intently. Alice gripped the edge of her coat tightly to keep herself quiet.
As if sensing him, Soo Lin turned slowly around, and then gazed at him
"Liang," she said, hesitating for a moment. "Dàgē." She reached out, cupping his face in her hands. "Qǐng nǐ." Alice shut her eyes as the man raised a gun he had securely in his hand. There was a gunshot. Alice's hands flew up to her ears, an old habit she had bulit up when she was but a small child. She bit her lip to the point where it could draw blood. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes. There she was. Soo Lin Yao, her hand was outstretched on the table.
She was dead.
Alice pushed open the cupboard door, getting out of her hiding place. She stood there for a moment. If only she had gone to bolt the door. The probabilities ran through her mind. Her hand shook.
Alice only returned to reality when the door to the room then burst open. It was John. He made his way carefully around the room. Alice ran over to him. The man groaned when he saw Soo Lin's body.
Sherlock arrived in the room soon after. Not only was he frustrated with Soo Lin's death, but he was angry at the gunman. Or the fact that Scotland Yard had not caught him yet. Thus sparked a trip to New Scotland Yard.
John, Sherlock and Alice stood away from D.I. Dimmock. He had his back to them as he rummaged through paperwork on a desk.
"How many murders is it gonna take before you start believing that this maniac's out there?" Dimmock turned and walked in between Alice and Sherlock, heading for another desk. Alice narrowed her eyes.
"Someone was gunned down tonight, Dimmock," she hissed. "A young girl. Your body count's up to three in three days." She whipped around to face the man. "Your job is to find him. And you haven't been doing that, have you?" Sherlock walked across in front of his shadow. Alice moved closer to John as Sherlock walked to Dimmock.
"Brian Lukis and Eddie Van Coon were working for a gang of international smugglers," he stated. "A gang called the Black Lotus operating here in London right under your nose." Sherlock leaned a little closer to Dimmock, finally getting the D.I. to look at him.
"Can you prove that?" he asked. Sherlock straightened up. Alice sighed. He shouldn't have asked that.
For whatever reason, Sherlock sent Alice home afterwards back to 221B. The girl wanted to put up a protest, but it was to no avail. Sherlock had made his decision.
Alice took off her coat when she arrived back at the flat. The first thing she did was head for the kitchen. It was late, and she needed food. Sherlock may not eat while on a case, unless he was forced to by either Alice, John or just plain fatigue, but that doesn't mean Alice didn't.
Alice had just begun to sit down when Sherlock and John returned. She pulled the utensil that was in her mouth out of it as John sat down in his chair.
"That was quicker than I expected," she remarked. "Did you find what you wanted?"
"More or less," John answered.
"Not just a criminal organisation," recited off Sherlock. "It's a cult. Her brother was corrupted by one of its leaders."
"Soo Lin said a name."
"Yes, Shan. General Shan." Alice sighed, running her hands through her already messy dark hair.
"Neither Scotland Yard or us are even close to finding them," she said with disappointment. "I'm starting to-"
"Wrong." Alice up looked with confused look.
"Wrong? How am I wrong?"
"We've got almost all we need to know." Alice was still confused, giving Sherlock a quizzical look. "She gave us most of the missing pieces." Sherlock looked around to the other two, as if he was waiting for them to reply. There was a minute of silence.
"Why did he need to visit his sister?" Sherlock began to explain out of impatience, "Why did he need her expertise?"
"She worked at the museum," said John.
"Exactly."
"An expert in antiquities. Mmm, of course. I see."
"Valuable antiquities, John. Ancient Chinese relics purchased on the black market. China's home to a thousand treasures hidden after Mao's revolution."
"And you think that the Black Lotus is selling them?" Alice asked, finally understanding what Sherlock was saying. Sherlock ignored her.
The detective got out his laptop, sitting at the dining room table with it. Alice abandoned her food and went to stand by him along with John. Sherlock had pulled up an auction website.
"Check for the dates…" Sherlock muttered as he found what he was looking for. "Here." He gestured over to a picture of two vases. "Arrived from China four days ago." Sherlock ran a finger down the list of details before stopping at the sale information. The source was stated as Anonymous.
"Anonymous. Vendor doesn't give his name. Two undiscovered treasures from the East."
"There was one in Lukis's suitcase," Alice said slowly as the pieces fell into place in her mind, "The other one was in Van Coon's." Sherlock nodded as he searched among the website.
"... antiquities sold at auction..." he muttered as the results came up. "Look, here's another one. Arrived from China a month ago: Chinese ceramic statue, sold four hundred thousand." John grabbed Lukis's diary, flipping through the pages before stopping at an entry. He looked up at the screen.
"Ah, look: a month before that – a Chinese painting, half a million," he read off to Sherlock. Alice took control of the website, scrolling through the list.
"All of these are from anonymous," she stated, "They were stealing them from China. One by one, they snuck them in the country." John looked at Lukis' diary again before looking at a copy of Van Coon's calendar.
"And every single auction coincides with Lukis or Van Coon travelling to China."
"So what if one of them got greedy when they were in China?" Sherlock asked. "What if one of them stole something?"
"That's why Zhi Zhu's come." Before the conversation could continue further, a knock on the door interrupted the three. They turned, facing Mrs. Hudson at the door.
"Sorry," she said, "Are we collecting for charity, Sherlock?"
"What?" Sherlock asked.
"A young man's outside with crates of books."
Alice watched from her spot on the sofa as police officers carried another crate in the living room. This added to the maze of crates already in there.
"I am not going to question what you're doing, Sherlock," said Alice. "I'm only asking why you're doing it."
"Soo Lin said that the code was based upon a book," Sherlock explained. "So, the numbers are references." Alice sat up, leaning up against the back of the sofa. She looked at him with the same look she had given him multiple times in the past few hours.
"To books?"
"To specific pages and specific words on those pages."
"The first numbers were fifteen and one. What does that mean?"
"Turn to page fifteen and it's the first word you read."
"Okay. So what's the message?" John asked.
"Depends on the book. That's the cunning of the book code. Has to be one that they both owned." John looked at the crates around the room, either labelled "Van Coon" or "Lukis". Alice put her face in her hands. She didn't dislike reading, it's just that this was going to be a very long night.
"Okay, right. Well, this shouldn't take too long, should it?" John walked over to the nearest crate, opening it up before sighing. Sherlock opened another crate, taking out the books and observing their covers. John took a handful from his crate and carried them over to the dining table and sat down. Alice pulled a crate up next to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Dimmock walking in the flat. He held up an evidence bag to Sherlock.
"We found these, at the museum," he said. Alice stood up and walked over to him, getting a better look at the contents. It was the photographs they had shown to Soo Lin Yao. "Is this your writing?" Alice snatched up the bag from Dimmock.
"No, but they are my photographs," she said. "Thank you for returning them."
"Uh, we hoped Soo Lin could decipher it for us," John explained as Alice returned to her spot on the sofa. Dimmock nodded and turned back to Sherlock, who was still unloading his crate.
"Anything else I can do?" Alice looked up at the D.I. with a confused look on her face. "To assist you, I mean?" Alice grinned. Now he was getting it.
"Some silence right now would be marvellous," Sherlock said without looking up from his work. Dimmock stared at him, then looked across to John, who shook his head apologetically. After a second, Dimmock turned and left the room. Alice put the photos down beside her, pulling up a crate. She opened it and began to assist the boys in their search. She heard Sherlock repeat off two words that were in two pair of books.
Alice looked up from her crate, watching Sherlock deposit two books on John's pile. She looked at the clock. It was barely even ten thirty. She sighed, running her pale fingers through her hair for what seemed like the third time that day. Alice was right. This was going to be a very, very long night.
Harsh beams of sunlight danced their way into 221B as a beeping noise ricocheted around the quiet, waking the only two sleeping residents.
Alice blinked before shutting her eyes completely at the light. She sat up, pushing off a book that was on her chest before yawning. She saw a tired John, waking up as well. Most of the crates had been shifted around and moved. Sherlock was still awake. After living with the Holmes man for as long as she did, Alice had learned not to question how long he could stay awake. The current record as about thirty-six hours.
John had soon left for his work, leaving Alice and Sherlock to look through the books.
Alice dropped the book she had finished in the slowly increasing pile next to her that had been growing for the past few hours. She rubbed her eyes before reaching over for another one.
"A book that everybody would own." Alice looked up at these words. Sherlock had abandoned the crates and pulled three books off of their own bookshelf. Putting them on top of the nearest crate, he opened the first book. "Fifteen. Entry one." He moved on to the another book he took down, and by his expression, he didn't find what he was looking for.
As Sherlock closed the book, there was a slam from the other bedroom. John was home. Alice sat up as John entered the room.
"I need to get some air," said Sherlock before his flatmate could even get a word out. "We're going out tonight."
"Actually, I've, er, got a date," said John with a smug smile. Alice blinked for a second.
"What?" she said, staring cluelessly.
"It's where two people who like each other go out and have fun."
"I know what a date is."
"And that's what I was suggesting," said Sherlock.
"No it wasn't… at least I hope not." There was a second of awkward silence left in the air until Alice cleared her throat, breaking it.
"So… er…" she said, trying to find the right words to break the silence. "Where are you taking her?"
"Er, cinema," John answered.
"Oh, dull, boring, predictable," Sherlock interjected. He took out a piece of paper from his pocket as he walked across to John. Alice raised an eyebrow. What was he doing? Sherlock handed the paper to John. "Why don't you try this?" John took the paper and looked down at it. Even with her limited perspective, Alice could see a telephone number on it, allowing access to the box office for the Yellow Dragon Circus. What?
"In London for one night only," Sherlock continued as John laughed. He offered the paper back to his flatmate.
"Thanks, but I don't come to you for dating advice."
About a few hours later, John was off to the circus with his date. It wasn't less than ten minutes later that Sherlock told Alice to get ready. Out of pure curiosity for whatever Sherlock was doing, Alice complied.
She followed Sherlock as they made their way down the London streets and the the theater where the circus would be performing. Now Alice got it. They were crashing John's date.
Alice followed Sherlock into the theatre.
"You know he's not going to be pleased," she said. "Why are we here?"
"I have my reasons," Sherlock answered before they walked up to the box office. John and a woman were already standing there.
"No, I don't think so," John told the manager. "We only booked two."
"And then I phoned back and got two for myself and Alice as well," said Sherlock as they approached the two. John looked up in disbelief and turned. Alice bit the inside of her cheek. She was right. John didn't look pleased with Sherlock's action.
Sherlock offered his hand to the woman John was with.
"I'm Sherlock," he introduced. "The girl beside me is Alice." Alice smiled faintly. The woman glanced at John momentarily, then turned back to the new arrivals before shaking Sherlock's hand a little nervously.
"Er, hi," she said. At least she wasn't the only uncomfortable one in the room.
"Hello." As soon as Sherlock was finished with his greeting, he turned and walked away. John followed after him, leaving both the woman and Alice alone.
Alice laughed nervously.
"I knew he wasn't just being nice..." she muttered under her breath before turning to the woman. "Should we go after them?" The woman nodded.
"Yes..." she said. She headed off in the direction the two boys went, with Alice following after. There was a weird pause for silence before the woman spoke again. "I knew John had a flatmate, but I didn't expect his flatmate to have a daughter." Alice turned bright red.
"Sherlock isn't my father," she corrected.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You two look alike, so I assumed-" Alice sighed.
"No, it's fine. But I'm positive that we are not related in any way." The woman nodded.
'If anything, I'm a stray cat that he took in off the streets...' Alice thought as they rounded a corner, hearing a familiar voice.
"... while I'm trying to get off with Sarah!" Yeah, that was John's voice. Alice and the woman, presumably Sarah, stood behind him and Sherlock as John turned. He smiled awkwardly. "Heyyy." Sherlock rolled his eyes before turning and heading up the stairs. Alice followed after him, hoping to avoid any more awkward conversations
Alice looked around at the performance area that had been set up. There was a stage in the back of the large hall with its curtains closed. However, it was apparent that the stage was not going to be used. A large circle of candles was set on the middle of the floor, allowing the room to be dimly lit. Anyone who had purchased a ticket gathered around it, since there wasn't any seating. To Alice's surprise, there was enough room to allow everyone a full view.
Alice stood in front of Sarah and John, whom were standing side by side while Sherlock stood behind them with his back to them. Alice could hear John's voice.
"You said circus," John said in a harsh whisper. "This is not a circus. Look at the size of this crowd. Sherlock, this is ... art."
"This is not their day job," Sherlock whispered back.
"No, sorry, I forgot. They're not a circus; they're a gang of international smugglers." Alice bit her lip. So that's why Sherlock was so keen on coming here.
Alice snapped to attention when she heard a drumbeat, starting to performance. An ornately costumed Chinese woman with a heavily painted face walked into the center of the circle and looked out at the audience before raising a hand in the air. The drumming ceased. The woman walked across the circle to a large object covered with a cloth. She pulled it back to reveal an antique-looking crossbow on a stand. She picked up a long thick wooden arrow with white feathers at one end and a vicious metal point at the other and showed it to the audience. She fitted it into place in the crossbow. Straightening up, she pulled a single small white feather from her headdress and again shows it to the audience. On the rear of the crossbow was a small metal cup. She gently dropped the feather into it. Instantly, the arrow was released and shot across the room. In an instant, it was embedded into a large board on the other side of the room.
Instrumental music began once again, and the audience applauded as a new character entered the circle, wearing chainmail and an ornate head mask. He held his arms out to the sides. Two men came over and started to attach heavy chains and straps to him, strapping his now-folded arms in front of him and then backing him up against the board and chaining him to it.
"Classic Chinese escapology act," Sherlock whispered. Alice looked up at him as John hummed.
"The crossbow's on a delicate string. The warrior has to escape his bonds before it fires." Alice looked forward again to watch the performance.
The Opera Singer loaded another arrow into the crossbow. The men attached more padlocks and chains to the warrior. One of them pulled a chain tight, yanking the warrior's head back against the board. The warrior cried out in pain as the men looped the chains through solid rings attached to the board and secured him to it., who cries out again. They stepped away. The music began building in intensity and cymbals crashed unexpectedly.
"Oh, Gawd! I'm sorry!" Alice heard Sarah apologize from behind. Alice watched as the Opera Singer picks up a small knife and displayed it to the audience.
"She splits the sandbag; the sand pours out; gradually the weight lowers into the bowl," Sherlock continued to explain.
The Opera Singer did then just what Sherlock predicted. She reached up to a small sandbag hanging on a long cable above the crossbow. She stabbed the knife into the bottom of the sack. Sand began to trickle out. The warrior began to pull at his chains. tugs at his chains. The sandbag's cable was looped over a pulley and a metal ball was attached to the other end. As the sand continued to pour out of the bag, the weight lowered towards the bowl at the back of the crossbow. The warrior soon managed to get one hand free. The warrior then got his other hand free and started pulling at the chains around his neck. The weight was now only a few feet above the bowl. The warrior cries out again as he pulled at his chains. The weight lowered even further downward. As it almost reached the edges of the bowl, the warrior managed to loosen the chains around his neck and struggled to free himself.
In an instant, the weight touched down into the bowl. The arrow streaked across the room. With a split second to spare, the warrior pulled free of the chains and dropped down. The arrow stuck into the board. The audience begins to applaud. Alice could hear John and Sarah's amazement from behind.
"Thank God."
"My God!" As she applauded, Alice felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Alice," John whispered. "Have you seen Sherlock?" Alice turned. Only standing behind her now were John and Sarah. She shook her head.
"I thought he was with you," she whispered back. There was a pause before the applause ceased, drawing John's and Alice's attention back to the performance.
"Ladies and gentlemen, from the distant moonlit shores of the Yangtze River," said the Opera Singer, "We present for your pleasure the deadly Chinese bird-spider." As she walked away, a masked acrobat descended from the ceiling, rolling through the air as the broad red band wrapped around his waist unraveled. The audience applauded as he stopped a couple of feet above the ground, holding his body parallel to the floor.
Descending to the floor, the acrobat removed the band from around his waist and split it, revealing that it was made up of two strips of material. He wrapped it around his arms before running around the circle and taking his weight on the strips, lifting into the air and flying around in a circle several feet above the ground, the red bands soaring out behind him. Alice would be watching the performance if something didn't catch her eye. On the other side of the circle, the closed curtains on the stage begin to billow in one particular place. She kept her eyes fixated on it. She knew for a fact that fluttering curtains was a bad thing.
Suddenly, Sherlock was propelled backwards through the curtains, straight over the edge of the stage and onto the floor a few feet below. So that's where he went. Crashing onto his back, he struggles to get upright again but is too winded and can't move much as the warrior comes flying out of the curtains and onto the floor in front of him. John is on the move straightaway, running towards the warrior as he raises a knife and prepares to plunge it downwards. John charges straight into him, pushing him back against the edge of the stage but the warrior lashes out with one foot, sending John stumbling across the room.
While the rest of the audience fled from the fight, one person was heading towards it. That was Sarah, who had pulled the large arrow from the painted board. She came charging across the hall while John was still stumbling across the floor trying to catch his balance. Alice caught him before standing upright under his weight. Her eyes widened as they caught the warrior heading towards Sherlock who is still lying on the floor– and the warrior had a sword in one hand. As he raised the sword above his head, he failed to notice Sarah racing across the floor. She slammed one end of the arrow over the top of the warrior's head. He cried out in pain. Before he can react or retaliate to the attack, she swung the arrow sideways and smashed it across his ribs. She instantly delivered a second blow to the same area and he falls to the ground, grunting and almost unconscious.
As Sarah straightened up, breathless, Sherlock finally managed to sit up. He leaned forward to the warrior's right foot, pulling off his shoe to reveal a tattoo on his heel. Alice and John walked over to them. Although he could stand, John almost was doubled over in pain and was still trying to catch his breath. Sherlock scrambled to his feet as John grabbed Sarah's hand and started to pull her towards the exit. As the three raced off, Alice took a quick glance at the body before running towards the rest of them.
Their next location was New Scotland Yard. It appeared to Alice that they had been visiting this place a great deal recently.
Sherlock had been trying heavily to explain what had happened at the theater to a not-so-pleased Inspector Dimmock.
"I sent a couple of cars," explained the D.I., "The old hall is totally deserted."
"Look, I saw the mark at the circus – that tattoo that we saw on the two bodies: the mark of the Tong," Sherlock repeated for what seemed like the tenth time. Dimmock turned to face the small crowd of four that was following him.
"Lukis and Van Coon were part of a-a smuggling operation," John added. "Now, one of them stole something when they were in China; something valuable."
"These circus performers were gang members sent here to get it back."
"Get what back?" asked Dimmock. No one said anything. Sherlock even turned away.
"We…" Alice said exasperated. "We don't know what it was…" Two of her fingers locked together behind her back, looping around each other multiple times.
"You don't know," Dimmock muttered. Sherlock still hadn't turned to face him. "Mr Holmes…"
At this point, Dimmock had sat down at his desk.
"I've done everything you asked. Lestrade, he seems to think your advice is worth something," said the Inspector. At this, Sherlock lifted his head. Alice felt euphoria rush through her body as she returned her arms to her side. "I gave the order for a raid. Please tell me I'll have something to show for it – other than a massive bill for overtime."
Please excuse my long absence with this long chapter! School has gotten a hold of me. As my spring break is coming up this week, I do hope I'll be able to get the final chapter of the Blind Banker up and ready for editing soon!