John's phone started to ring on the metal table.
"Oh my God. Finally. For a second there, I thought your Sherlock was an idiot, really and truly. They really should have tried tracking your phone faster. You think I should pick it up? It's-" David picked up the phone and glanced at the caller ID "DI Lestrade. Ah yes. He is, afterall, a very important man. What do you think?"
John was tired, his wrists were aching from being tied back so long and he simply wanted to leave. He stared at David and rolled his eyes. David laughed at him and played with the phone in his hands. It continued to ring. To John's surprise however, David picked it up. Why? Was the immediate thought that lightly burrowed itself into John's head.
"Hello? No I don't want money." He winked at John, "Yes, no I won't tell you where he is. Though I do know you'll find out soon." He laughed, "No, no, I won't hang up. How long does it take to trace a call? A few minutes? I don't really know. Though I'm sure those crime shows are wrong. The show 24 says 60 seconds. Other ones say 5 or 10. Though I think the phone company would know. It must be different in this new digital age of IPhones and-" he paused, "He's not hurt, for Gods sake. Why would I hurt him? No reason. He's a good guy. Anyways, gotta go, sure you've got my location by now." He hung up the phone. Then he lolled his head down, came to his knees and looked straight through John Watson's blue eyes.
"Do you think that was enough Dr. Watson?"
The silence was deafening. When John spoke it was small, and echoed, reverberated, prodded and peered into his and David's ears.
"Why? Why would you let them have my location? Is it a game? Are you going to move me? Leave clues? What's your end game? Give me something to go on." The words came out fast and nearly desperately. He didn't want this again- he didn't want another Moriarty. David smiled and it was oddly kind.
"I'm not moving you. Yes, it's a game. I don't know what the end is- I don't believe anybody really does. My job isn't this, I'm not meant to taunt people or terrorize through words I'm meant to torture. My boss knows that, however they ignored it anyway. I'm sorry, John Watson." He took another syringe off the table, "I've never heard the voice of the boss before, no one has. I can't offer you any information. I simply don't know" he stabbed the syringe into a small glass container and sucked up the clear fluid. It was significantly less then before, maybe a fourth or fifth of what it had been. He walked up to the doctor and sighed. Bringing his face closer and closer to him, he had his mouth by John's ear. John tensed- and held himself strong. When David whispered, "Pax vobiscum" Then John fell into a sleep.
Sherlock had been very silent. Through everything, as they had watched the video he made no brilliant deductions, he'd said nothing.
"Call John Watson. Trace his phone." It was as simple as that. There was no spark to his words or any sort of excitement, it slightly confused the Yard for him to act so unbelievably apathetic. They at least expected him to get angry, perhaps throw a tantrum or even get excited he tended to do that. This was however very different.
When they had called the man Sherlock asked if he could speak, it took some persuading but Sherlock had eventually through his cold logic convince them "I'm clever, you know that. I can tell you who he is, where he is, where he's from. Even if the call doesn't last long enough."
Then the call had begun.
Hello?
"What are your motives. Do you require money, or-"
No I don't want money.
"Will you tell us where John Watson is?"
Yes, no I won't tell you where he is. Though I do know you'll find out soon.
"If you believe we'll find out, do you have any intention of hanging up?"
No, no, I won't hang up. How long does it take to trace a call? A few minutes? I don't really know. Though I'm sure those crime shows are wrong. The show 24 says 60 seconds. Other ones say 5 or 10. Though I think the phone company would know. It must be different in this new digital age of IPhones and-
"Shut. Up." The anger startled many of the officers, it startle Lestrade, "Is he hurt. Have you done anything to injure him?"
He's not hurt, for Gods sake. Why would I hurt him? No reason. He's a good guy. Anyways, gotta go, sure you've got my location by now.
The call ended abruptly.
"We've got the location, services are heading there now."
It was all very simple really. Sherlock had gotten in a police vehicle with Lestrade, Donovan, and a few other officers. He was still rather silent, unless spoke too, even if spoke to he only spoke when he found it necessary.
They arrived and everything seemed to be too simple, everything was easy. They came into the empty vacant lot and found John Watson in the middle, his head was lolling up and he squinted at the dim shadows that came towards him. One looked like a superhero, coat, hair, suit.
"Sh-" the word wouldn't come out properly "Sher- Sherlo-" he failed to mumble it correctly and closed his eyes to try and make things clearer. It didn't work as much, rather it gave him a large headache. He could feel his hands suddenly released and his body slumped forward. The sounds around him were awfully dimmed and the voices sounded like they were covered by a thick sheet.
"John? Are you alright? Are you okay? John?" he could make out a deep voice. He cleared his throat and tried to speak. No words came out so he simply nodded and let them drag him away.
Sherlock sat in the end of the paramedic bus and waited for John to come out of his reverie. He had come to the conclusion before the paramedics had told him, John had been drugged by some type of animal sedative and it would be clear of his system in a few minutes.
"Hey, Sherlock. Nice seeing you here." John's voice was humorous. In order to convince Sherlock he was okay. Sherlock was rather quiet for a moment before he spoke,
"I've already come to the conclusion the man is from Bristol, 50 to 56 years old, is a sort of minion. I've estimated he has been a torturer under the influence of a gang for about 20 to 23 years and kidnapped you under the influence of another that isn't directly connected to his gang. I haven't looked into it yet, but I believe that I have seen the man before- probably deleted it or stored it away somewhere. The information I've gathered from where you are only tells me that this is simply as it seems, and abandoned lot that was chosen at complete random. I also know he dragged you here from a white van, you haven't been hurt and only drugged. Also you should probably put some cream on your wrists when we arrive back at 221B Baker Street. What did you gather from the man?"
John smiled at Sherlock,
"Brilliant once again. Well he didn't give me very much information to go on, other then the way he looks which I suppose you already know, I asked his name and he told me to call him David." John's voice got quiet, as though he wished he didn't have to speak, "Sherlock I'm not entirely sure whether to believe him but he kept talking about this 'boss' of his. He claims that someone has started, or already has rebuilt Moriarty's web. He says that it's a game- some game that this pseudo-Moriarty is going to play with us. And before he drugged me, when I was here, he looked almost- regretful. Regretful that he had to do something, and told me he couldn't give me information about his boss because nobody had heard their voice. Then he whispered something to me, in Latin, I think before I passed out. Pax vobiscum."
"And also with you." he said lightly. John was confused,
"What?" he said.
"Pax vobiscum. It means Peace Be With You, commonly said by those of the Roman Catholic Church in Latin. The proper response is 'And also with you.'" he smiled, it was excited, but in his eyes John could see fear rising up, "John."
"Yes?"
"We have to talk to my brother."
When John had given them his account of events. And enough was gathered about the case, they were able to leave and finally head back to Baker Street. When John got there Mrs. Hudson looked at his wrists, and before he could even ask she offered to get him some cream. He nodded thank you and headed upstairs with Sherlock. When they had arrived Mycroft was already there, his hand was tight around his umbrella and he stood by the fireplace.
"You already know why I called you." Sherlock said as he sat down. "We need the information on the man who kidnapped John, more accurately we need information on that man's superior."
Mycroft turned around and revealed the file he had been holding, he handed it to Sherlock and sat down in John's chair. John didn't bother asking if anybody wanted tea, and instead opted to pull out a chair on the desk and sit cross legged towards them.
Sherlock opened the file and quickly flipped through it, "So he's part of unnamed an organized crime ring and has been working with them for 22 years. Yes, I've already made that conclusion. The ring was previously under the influence of Moriarty. Recently evidence of many gangs reassembling has been very apparent. Especially this one...all evidence suggests that somebody else is reorganizing. I suppose there is no information on whom?"
Mycroft tapped his umbrella lightly on the ground.
"No, this ones much less of a show-off as Moriarty. It has been very slow Sherlock, and very quiet the rebuilding of the web- but it's happening. They're coming under one leader again, many people believe that it is Moriarty who somehow faked his death, however it has been confirmed that it is not-"
"Confirmed?" John Watson piped in.
"Yes Dr. Watson, confirmed. I looked at the body of Moriarty myself."
"Is there any further information on the new 'boss'?" Sherlock questioned.
"We know the attitude of the leader, prone to keep quiet. Hasn't done anything risky the whole time the rebuilding was happening, we can confirm that they have the same materials as Moriarty once had. Same contacts. Same influences. It's as if immediately as Moriarty died, another waited three years and appeared once again. We didn't even notice much of anything until five weeks ago. We have been monitoring the situation ever since. We know that everybody calls the leader 'Moriarty'. We thought we had his voice, but it was confirmed later that this was only an actor. Hired to speak for him. We have no evidence of what this new Moriarty looks like, talks like, or where they are. After John being recently kidnapped, it has completely gone against what this new boss seems to stand for which is non-suspicion. I suppose they noticed that we noticed, and went after you- so it's now optimal to have you involved Sherlock. Welcome to the case." Mycroft twirled his umbrella and looked up as John Watson spoke.
"Why haven't you told us this before?" he prodded suspiciously, "Isn't it our right to know about these things? We got involved, your brother faked his death to end this organization and after 5 five weeks, it had to take me getting kidnapped for you to offer the case?"
Sherlock was silent.
"I'm deeply sorry John, but this was something out of my control. I couldn't get you involved until something personally happened, there was no point to before. We could have dealt with it on our own, but now we know this new Moriarty wants something to do with Sherlock." Mycroft's voice was level, and his apology obviously wasn't true. John decided to ignore it, and instead stood up.
"Bye Mycroft, I don't think we need you anymore."
Mycroft seemed slightly surprised but got up, and nodded to John,
"Absolutely, Dr. Watson." He walked out of the room, headed down the stairs and to his large black car. His umbrella swirling along the way.
"You're angry." John heard Sherlock say from his chair.
"Yes, of course I'm angry." The army-doctor was exasperated, "Mycroft hid from us this monumental thing. There's a new Moriarty on the loose! And he's ready to start playing games again, it's a new person Sherlock. We don't know about him, he's unpredictable, we have no useful information on this person at all. If we'd have heard about this earlier we could have been working on this for over a month!"
Sherlock was unusually apathetic about what his brother had done. Instead opting to take the purely logical unemotional route.
"We need to view this differently John. I can't let emotions get in the way of what this person may be doing. Last time I let it show and Moriarty knew all my weaknesses. It's as if he could look into my soul and tell me what was wrong with me. We don't know about this new contender, and we can't do anything until they pull another move. All we have to do is wait. If they want to play psuedo-Moriarty- I'll let them because that means I can solve the puzzle. If I can solve the puzzle, then I can stop more deaths from happening."
John was startled by the amount of logic that went into what Sherlock had said. John sat down in his chair, and felt the warmth that was already there from Mycroft.
"Alright. We'll wait."
It didn't take long before they heard Sherlock's mobile ringing.
Sherlock looked at the caller ID -UNKNOWN- he silently gestured towards John to listen. Answered and put the phone on speaker phone.
"Hello?"
"Hello Sherlock." a distorted voice was on the other line, though it was obviously an Irish accent. "Let's finally get to playing the game."
