CHAPTER 4

"Sherlock," John said worriedly, forgetting his quarrel with his younger friend. "Merlin's vanished."

"What do you mean he's gone!" Sherlock yelled. "Where did he go!"

"Calm yourself brother, he can't have gotten very far. I'm sure security cameras in the area will have seen him leave," said Mycroft calmly, and with that he walked over to a large computer which John hadn't noticed before. The system loaded and began to show the several rolls of CCTV footage in the area, including an image of a dark haired young man sitting on a swing in a park.

"See, now all we have to do is-"

Suddenly, the screen began to flicker before dying. The image was replaced by a giant M.

"Moriarty," John said breathily. "As if this day wasn't strange enough."

"Wait, isn't that the name of that guy who told us all you were-"

"Dead?" Sherlock interrupted Arthur. "Precisely. And now he is no doubt on his way to Merlin."

"Well, what are you all waiting for!" Arthur yelled impulsively. "We have to go get Merlin. Come on!"

With that, Arthur rushed over to the door, only to find the door jammed.

"This place has electronic key coded locks that activate when the door is closed, as it was when Merlin ran away. Moriarty has hacked them, am I right brother dear?" Sherlock said aloofly to Mycroft, who had the decency to look bashful.

"Wait, so that means-"

"We're stuck here until Moriarty chooses to let us go."

Merlin stood frozen as he stared at the deranged man in front of him. "You're-"

"Yes, it seems a lot of people don't seem to be staying dead when they should. Take your brother for an example." Merlin visibly flinched at the mention of Sherlock. "He and I both went back on our promises, but I had a fair reason. And by that I mean, he wouldn't call me! But then your brother has always been considered rude by people. I mean look at the way he treated you, my pet," Jim declared, practically spitting the last word. "He cast you aside the moment he was done playing with you!"

Moriarty then gave a sinister looking smile. "If I had someone like you, to keep company and share things with, I would never let them go." Merlin swallowed reflexively, uneasy at the hidden message within those words. "I mean, think of all the things we could do together. All the crime we could bring, the terror and the thrill swirling around you. Everyone, everywhere, fearing the very mention of your name!"

As Moriarty rambled on, Merlin adeptly slid his phone out of his pocket. Years of practice at hiding his texting from teachers, along with some lessons from Sherlock when he was younger which had been permanently imprinted on his eidetic mind, meant he had no trouble with sending a plea for help to Arthur's phone. He only prayed that Arthur, and by extension his brothers, would find him and save him, before Moriarty would figure out what he had done.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you it's rude to text whilst in conversation?"

Too late.

A heavy slap on his cheek sent Merlin sprawling along the floor, catching his head on the concrete pavement as he went. He took a gulping breath as a boot to his stomach swiftly followed.

"It really is a shame you won't help me Merlin. I'm afraid now the only thing you're good for now is bait. Hope you don't mind hanging around," Moriarty declared and before Merlin could try and figure out what he meant, a swift heel to his forehead knocked him out cold.

As one of Mycroft's techies furiously tapped at keys, trying to break through the encryptions on the computer in front of him, the eldest Holmes himself was glaring at his own computer, and appeared to be having what could only be described as a bellowing match down the phone to him.

"What do you mean all our cameras have been hacked! Nobody, not even Moriarty, can hack through all the government's cameras. And even then, surely it can't take-", he glared at his watch, "-nine hours to fix this mess." A pause followed, with Mycroft's face growing redder as the person on the other end said something that was unintelligible from where John and Arthur were sat, although judging by the smirk on Sherlock's face it was something derogatory. "Listen to me," Mycroft hissed, interrupting whatever the other person was saying. "I have the power to make sure that not only are you fired, but that you will never work again, your house will be repossessed and you will be placed under a heavy fine. When I say find a solution, you find one! Is that clear?"

A very pregnant pause followed, before a rather timid reply came, followed by Mycroft placing the phone on speaker and sitting back down on his chair. "There, now we just have to wait."

Minor position in the government my arse, thought John.

No sooner had John thought those words, the computer screen began to flicker off the image of the M. "See," he said to no one in particular, picking up the phone carefully. "Good work."

"Sir, it's not me, the encryption was triple coded, it would have taken me at least another hour to hack it," came the fearful reply.

The screen stopped flickering, before a loading bar began scrolling, Moriarty's grinning face as the cursor.

"It looks like Jim has a message for us," Sherlock said softly, his face impassive but John could see in his eyes the worry of the implication of his own words.

As feared, when the bar completed, the screen changed to a live feed, with the video showing a bruised and unconscious Merlin Holmes.

Sherlock was terrified. He would never admit it to anyone, especially his brothers and John, but the image in front of him was enough to jerk at his heart. A reddened bruise to the right cheek, most likely caused by a hard slap, which resulted in knocking him backward. Merlin couldn't have gotten far from the park when Moriarty found him, the screen had only been down an hour, indicating he would have been on a street when he was found, suggesting Merlin was got the large cut on his forehead from an impact with concrete or stone paving, although the reason for impact could have been caused by up to 37 different methods, the most likely of which was the hit to his face. There was also a bruise on his forehead, darker in colour and more prominent than the other bruise. Normally, this would indicate that bruise had been made first, however the fact the bruise actually consisted of three separate strikes, resulting in the strange shape and angle of the bruise. It was probably made by a shoe, size 11, of Italian make with leather soles, judging by the markings visible on the bruise.

And then there was the way Merlin was seated. Thick iron chains, most likely from a ship yard which appeared to be where Merlin was situated, suggesting they could have gone overseas, were strapped to his wrists and across his chest held him to a steel chair, all implied that escape would be very difficult. There was also a set of leather straps holding his ankles down, so that he would be unable to kick his captor. All in all, a bit not good, as John would put it.

Sherlock was snapped out of his deduction by movement in the background of the image, and out of the shadows grew a figure Sherlock had hoped he would never see again.

"Moriarty," he spat.

"Hello there Sherly, it's a pleasure to see you as well," Moriarty stated, and with a shock Sherlock realised that Moriarty could see them through the inbuilt camera on the computer. "And John and Mycroft, it's lovely to see you two too! And... you are?"

"Arthur Pendragon," Arthur growled, his eyes glued to the unmoving form of his room mate and best friend.

"Alright, no need to get touchy, we'll have plenty of time to get to know each other."

"What do you want Moriarty?"

"John, I'm hurt that you think I would want anything from you. Can we not just have a friendly chat-"

"What game are you playing Jim?" Sherlock asked.

"A game, now there's an idea!" Moriarty said, clapping his hands with glee. "How about a game of riddles?" he said, a pointed look at John as he said it, much to John's confusion. "If you win, you get to have Merlin back, but if I win, I will keep my prize."

"Merlin is not a prize," Arthur yelled.

"Tut tut, temper temper. But fine, if you don't want to play properly then I'll leave you just one little clue as to where Merlin is." Moriarty cleared his throat dramatically.

"Hickory Dickory Dock,
There are 36 hours on the clock,
When all the time has gone,
Then off goes a bomb,
So you better hurry up Sherlock!"

Moriarty cackled at his own game, before adding, "The clock's just started and so the game begins. Remember it's the taking part that counts, my dears, but I've given you a clue already so no more I'm afraid. Oh and Sherlock, it's a big world, so you better start searching quickly."

And with that the screen went black, leaving the four men standing there.

Thanks to Lady Ningrum, and my two guests for reviewing! :) the rest of you, thanks for reading but please try and review, I don't care if it's even just 'good' or 'shite'. Also thanks to this weeks beta my good friend Sophie Cooke, who has just found my pen name and will no doubt be harassing me on here :) Now bad news- I can't update next week as I am in centre Parcs :( however I promise I will be back in two weeks a new person :) (well I'll still be ginger but... :) so see you all in two weeks with Chapter 5 and don't forget to r&r :)

oooh IMPORTANT NOTICE before I forget to reply, it has been asked by one of the guests if Merlin will have magic, I haven't decided yet so feel free to review me with your thoughts as to that point! :)

I've also had a request for fan art, I'm happy for people to create fan art as long as they add that its based on my story - thanks :)