I.
25 December 2014
4:22pm Twilight
City offices closed due to holiday. Emergency services still in operation...
II.
This is a disaster of a scale that ...I have no idea how to fix this. Think!
III.
Witnesses. Helicopter operator Randall Thomas. Response Team commander ...
IV.
"Take us back to the airport, and have my car standing by."
V.
Call Agnes. Tell her to initiate protocol 6 containment. Leave a message for my mother telling her that Sherlock and John have been located, but that we will not be able to return. Arrange for Mary to be returned to her home, and that homeless person to be removed. Perhaps he should be searched. That punch should certainly be taken in for analysis. What did I ingest?
VI.
Who owes me favors that I can use in this instance. The prime minister, but he has his own troubles now. Keep him out of it. Sir William has contacts with media channels. If we could find the right spin we might be able to minimize the damage. Lady Smallwood. She will certainly sympathize with Sherlock's actions after her husband's suicide...
VII.
CAM industries. Next in line would be Ingolf Laursen he would take up the business operations, but the blackmail, that was always handled by Magnussen personally. His main enforcer is Carl Drover. Without Magnussen to command him, he will probably try to find a way to secure his income. We could use that to our advantage. We could freeze his assets using that sexual assault case as an excuse and...
VIII.
Sherlock and John will be taken to a holding cell. They will be searched and x-rayed, their coats removed, pockets emptied and the contents stored. No photographs will be taken under this protocol. They will be placed in separate cells to await orders. I must send ahead for John to be released after a warning that this incident is to remain classified.
.
IV.
The helicopter landed, and Mycroft climbed out. He walked over to the waiting car.
II.
Should I go to see Sherlock?
What is there to say? I don't have a plan. Not yet.
He will have to be content where he is until I can find a way to navigate through this mess.
IV.
"To the office." Mycroft said through the intercom. He watched the driver nod his head through the soundproof glass.
II.
It's like the snake all over again. The coils were too tight. I couldn't pull them off, so I worked my hand under them cupping my palm over his tiny chest to give him room to breathe while I distracted the snake with everything that I could find. Eventually I was able to unwrap the snake from Sherlock and carry him back to his room. He looked so small. His tiny chest was rising and falling so fast. His voice a squeak as he said my name. I thought that I had lost him then. I'm not going to lose him now.
But I'm going to need help.
IV.
Mycroft pulled out his phone.
"Hello, this is Mycroft Holmes. Patch me through to the head of M.I.6."
.
.
.
IV.
Mycroft walked into the gray interrogation cell and looked around. A table, two chairs, not much else.
He carried the chair over to the wall, climbed up on it, and unplugged the feed to the camera. Then he stepped down and brushed off the dirt before putting the chair back beside at the table. He walked around the table then, and sat down.
The door opened and Sherlock was led in. His hands were uncuffed, and the men left closing the door behind him.
"So," Sherlock began, "What is my fate to be? Is it prison?"
"Good afternoon, Sherlock. Why don't you take a seat?"
"No, thank you," he said as he began to pace around the room. He glanced up at the disconnected camera.
"You've got yourself into quite a mess."
"Nothing I can't handle."
"Sherlock, do you have any idea of the gravity of the situation that you are in?"
"I do. And you've already decided what will happen to me, so don't keep me in suspense. What is it?"
"Charles Augustus Magnussen was killed by an unknown gunman in his home, Appledore, on Christmas Day. Investigators have found no leads to suggest who may have broken into his home."
"That won't stand up to close scrutiny."
"There won't be any scrutiny. Most people with enough power to question it are so pleased that he's dead, they aren't asking any questions."
"Then, I'll be freed?"
"Unfortunately no. State secrets were removed and a task force was used. Too many people know the truth to hide it from the government. We can, however, classify the information, make your involvement a state secret if..."
"If?"
"If you take the assignment in Eastern Europe."
"The one that will kill me in six months."
"Yes."
"So, It's a life for a life. How very Old Testament of you, Mycroft."
"Did you expect any less? You knew what you were doing when you pulled that trigger. Murder, especially of someone as powerful as Charles Augustus Magnussen, can't simply be swept under a rug."
"I see, this way you can keep it out of the newspapers that your brother is a cold blooded killer. How good for you."
"It took a great deal of effort to negotiate this deal. Would you prefer a trial? another media circus, an investigation which would bring public attention to John Watson and his wife, not to mention dragging Mother and Father through that all over again?"
Sherlock bowed his head. Then he looked straight into Mycroft's eyes.
"I want to see John. One more time. Before I go."
"Of course. I'll make the arrangements."
.
.
I.
28 December 2014
Sunday
III.
Good Morning! Dobro utro! Good evening Dobar Wecher! I'm fine, thanks! Dobre, mersi! and you, A ti? ...
IV.
They drove to the airport in silence. Sherlock was distracted looking out at his beloved London. Mycroft glanced at his brother.
II.
He accepted it so quickly, the assignment.
He thinks it a perfectly logical occurrence that his own brother would send him to his death. When did he begin to think me so heartless?
The deal with M.I.6. was to muddy the evidence and cover up Sherlock's involvement in exchange for finding an agent for the assignment in Eastern Europe. Sherlock will go, and he will do it brilliantly. He'll hold out for as long as he can, walking valiantly toward his own death, because at heart, Sherlock really is a hero even if he doesn't know it himself.
IV.
The car stopped and they stepped out to wait as another car drove up and John and Mary Watson climbed out. Mary came over and hugged Sherlock giving him a kiss on the cheek before going back to take her husband's arm.
Sherlock turned to Mycroft, "Since this is likely to be the last conversation I'll have with John Watson, would you mind if we took a moment?"
Mycroft raised his eyebrow and then motioned with his head for the others to follow him. He watched from a distance as they talked. Sherlock made John laugh. He resisted maudlin protestations of love, deciding instead on a simple handshake. No need for more than that. If John didn't know by now how much Sherlock loved him, then he never would.
II.
Love. Caring. If I ever needed an illustration of why it should be avoided, I have it here. What a mess of mixed loyalties and affections.
Love leads to loss.
It was an expensive lesson to learn, and a hard one, especially considering that I've known the answer from the start. Caring is not an advantage. It is a weakness. Even James Moriarty had fallen to it. If he had not cared about my brother, he might still be alive today.
But this is my fault.
I could have separated John from Sherlock at the very beginning. I saw this happening. But even when Sherlock went away, I allowed myself to dream. 'What harm could it do to fantasize?' I thought. It was only one small track of my mind thought of him. What harm could it do?
IV.
Sherlock walked away from John and went quickly up the steps into the plane without a word. Mycroft watched him go.
II.
Mother always thought that Sherlock had stolen her favorite kitchen knife. She never suspected that it was in the rubbish bin wrapped in a torn bedsheet and stuffed under some of Sherlock's dirty nappies.
I didn't expect that there would be so much blood. Oroboros bled and bled once I chopped off her head. I put her in the tub and let her life drain away while I used my bedsheets to mop up the mess on the bathroom floor. I told them that she had died of natural causes. No one thought to question it when they found me burying her body in the back yard. It was the last time I can remember crying. Because I had loved that snake, but I loved my brother more.
IV.
Mycroft went to his car to wait for the plane to leave. He looked across at Mary and John Watson standing hand in hand on the tarmac.
II.
Sherlock is leaving for his death as a hero. I on the other hand, am not a hero. I have no intention of accepting a valiant death when there is any means of escape. Long before his time is up, I will be there to remove Sherlock to a safer location. Sherlock will go on the run again. He may never be able to return to England, but he will be alive.
I will assure that my brother will be safe because Sherlock will never see John Watson again, and neither will I.
It was my...affection for John Watson that kept me from separating him from my brother. So many times I considered it, but I 'liked' him, so I let him stay. This entire track of my mind has been filled with narcissistic, frivolous thoughts of him. I should delete in in entirety. One last look, and I will close off my heart forever. No goldfish, no daydreams, no weakness.
Without John Watson, Sherlock and I will be free to become the men we planned to become so long ago.
'A body, a brain, and an intellect, without any trace of a heart.'
END TRACK
.
I.
28 December 2014
Sunday
Moon first quarter, skies overcast.
III.
Sherlock's itinerary: Private jet to Belgium. Change of identity, appearance. Commercial flight to Switzerland. Travel by land to Bulgaria.
IV.
The plane took off and flew into the air taking Sherlock away.
Mycroft leaned forward to tell the driver to leave, when he was interrupted by an urgent message on his phone.
"But that's not possible. That is simply not possible" he said stepping out of the car.
John Watson walked over to him. "What's happened?" he asked.
Mycroft looked up into his dark blue eyes, and cracked a smile.