Hello! About those monthly updates...hehe. I wasn't working this week. Lucky, innit? :D
I was writing this listening to Mohombi - Bumpy Ride. It's a bit strange for the Chapter, but hey, I'm strange. XD
CHAPTER 26
The road to Traralgon
Regional Victoria
Victoria
Australia
Church bells rang over the empty fields as ten o'clock struck and a white Bentley sped past the fields, making the cows, chewing on drying grass look up. Even this early, the sun was beating down, hot and dry over the Australian landscape and even with the air-conditioning on, the five agents in the car were still uncomfortably hot.
'Bloody hell," said John, unbuttoning his shirt one more button down and sighing as a cold wave of air hit him. Mitch had exchanged a shirt for a singlet and James had decided to skip putting any clothes on his upper torso altogether. Needless to say that they were getting a lot of looks from the few people they did see, through the expertly cleaned windows of the Bentley, as they drove down the empty, vast roads.
"Are we even close?" asked Lestrade, glad he had worn a T-shirt, as he glanced over at Sally, staring out the windows,
'We're still about an hour and a half away," Mitch replied letting go of the steering wheel altogether as he reached down to reveal a cask of soft drinks, "Want some?" he asked, "They're still cold," James growled about it not being alcoholic but took one anyway and passed it to the back seat, "Want one?" he asked Mitch and he nodded. John took his and passed the box back to the front. James opened it for Mitch who smiled and nodded to the holder to his left.
'So what exactly is the plan?" asked Sally, "We're just going to storm in there, guns raised and demand Sherlock back?"
"Of course not,' John said,
'Then what are we going to do?" Sally asked and the doctor frowned,
'Good question," he said,
'I was thinking," James started but Mitch cut him off with a laugh,
"Wait, you think?" his partner whacked him across the arm and Lestrade's heart jumped as the car swerved. John didn't even look troubled.
'Keep going," Sally said,
"Well, what if we say we're on holiday?"
"What?" John asked,
'Say we're on Holiday," James repeated,
'All of us?" Lestrade asked,
"Yeah,"
"And all of us came here without booking a house or anything?"
'Yeah, we're camping," James said, but he was starting to see the flaws in the plan,
"And not one of us remembered the tent?" asked Sally and James sighed,
'Fine. Alright. Shit plan. You think of something if you're all so damn smart."
"No problem," said Sally, She looked to all of them, "the three of us," she gestured to John, Lestrade and herself, 'Are carrying British passports, right?"
'Yeah," James said,
"Well, it's simple. We are from the British Embassy and you and Mitch have been chosen to escort us around. We're pains in your necks, but you live with it. It will allow us to go anywhere and let us see what's going on,"
"That's brilliant," John said, clapping Sally on the shoulder, and she smiled,
"It sounds a lot like the holiday idea," James grumbled, but he had to admit, it was a good plan,
"I agree. It could work," Mitch said, taking a right turn at the intersection up ahead. Silence fell on the car and just as Sally's eyes closed, Lestrade's tentative voice spoke up, 'Do we need posh accents?"
Every occupant in the car burst into laughter.
Holding Room
Traralgon
Regional Victoria, Victoria,
Australia
Sherlock wasn't finding anything funny as laughter floated in from outside his window. His head still hurt like hell and there was a growing ache in his stomach as he realised how hungry he was.
Damn it, Sherlock thought, kicking the bedpost to vent some of his frustration. The least they could do was give me some water. He sat up again and stared out the window. There was no one in his line of view and he sighed.
Come on, John. Sherlock thought, you never leave me alone. Please don't start now.
Traralgon
Regional Victoria, Victoria
Australia
The pulled up on the main street and got out of the car. Mitch had swapped tops with John and he was now wearing the shirt while John was in the slightly-too-big singlet. Mitch had pulled his shirt on and the two Aussie agents stood to one side and Lestrade, John and Sally got out of the car. They decided to keep their real names.
"So, where are we?" said John looking around at the people walking by. Some of them gave friendly smiles at the group, who returned it,
'Traralgon," James said gesturing around, "One of the many regional towns in Victoria,"
"Lovely," said Sally, "Do you think we could get a drink somewhere nice and cool?" she asked,
'Don't see why not," James and Mitch took the lead and the three Brits followed behind,
"So, we're going to sit and enjoy a drink and try to get any information out of the people about newcomers?" Lestrade whispered to John,
"Pretty much,"
"That's a pretty…erm…"
"Crap plan?" John asked and Sally sighed,
"We know," she said, "But at the moment, it's all we got,"
As the agents walked into the local pub, Timothy and Larry stepped out of the Ute that had borrowed for their time in Australia,
"It's so bloody hot down here,"
'Why the boss would leave Ireland for this place, I don't know," Larry agreed, walking to the door of the local pub and pulling it open,
"When's he coming, anyway?" Timothy asked and Larry shrugged,
"Who knows? The man's breaking out of prison, after all," The two took a seat at the bar and ordered a couple of beers.
John, sitting at a table about two meters away from them, stared.
"John?" Lestrade asked,
"Those two, at about two o'clock," he said and Lestrade turned carefully to spot the two men, taking a long drink,
"What about them?" asked Sally, watching as Mitch and James brought back a tray of schooners,
"They said something…" John trailed off,
'What?"
'They said the boss is going to break out of prison,"
Lestrade raised an eyebrow, 'they could be talking about anyone,"
"But," John paused,
"It's something, right?" Sally asked, looking at Lestrade,
"What's something?" Mitch looked between the three of them,
"We might have a lead,"
"Already?" James groaned, "I haven't had a good drink in a week,"
No one paid him any attention.
Timothy turned around and spotted the group of five in the corner, "George!" he called and the bartender turned around, "Who's the new group?" he asked,
"They're British nationals," he said, "Diplomats," Timothy nodded.
'Why are they here?"
"Just touring, I guess," the man turned back to polishing the glasses,
"British?" Larry asked, keeping his voice low, despite the quiet hum in the pub that would disguise his words.
"Yeah,"
"Perhaps…" Timothy looked around at them, contemplating his words.
"What are the chances, that they'd end up here?" Larry asked, thinking along the same lines as his partner,
"But…how could they possibly know?" Tim asked. "He's not even been missing long enough for a missing person's report,"
'He's got a very rich partner," Larry said, "a man who, no doubt, is of great use to the British government,"
"I know. Faggot," Tim spat the word out with disgust and then turned back around, putting his back to them
"We should move him,
"We can't without the bosses permission," Larry said, "You know that as well as I do,"
"So what, we wait and see what happens?" Tim asked and Larry nodded,
"Yeah,"
"What happens when then find us?"
'If," Larry corrected and took a sip of the ice cold beer in front of him, "If they find us, Tim, we do what we do best," Finally, his partner relaxed a little,
'Alright, but I get to do the eliminating,"
'They're all yours, mate," Larry smiled into his beer.
"So you're thinking it's them?" John asked. The group had watched the two men from their seats, talking about everything except them, and about half an hour ago, they watched them leave and take the main road out of the town, probably for one of the outlying farmhouses.
"It's got to be," James said. While everyone was talking, James took it upon himself to get information out of the locals. 'Getting information' involved flirting with nearly every girl in town, and, amazingly, James actually managed to get enough information for suspicion to fall on the two men.
"Their names are Larry McKenzie and Timothy Baron," he said, as they climbed into the oven that called itself a car. Even the white paint didn't seem to help with the heat.
"Can you run them through the police database in England?"
'From here? No," Lestrade said, "But I can call a friend who can," He picked up his phone and dialled, waiting for the answer on the other line,
'Hello?"
"Anderson? What the hell are you doing with the boss's phone?"
'Lestrade?" The Forensic investigator 's voice went up an octave,
'Put the boss on," Lestrade ordered as Sally exchanged glances with John,
'What's he doing in the bosses office?" she whispered,
"I'm entirely sure that I don't want to know," John said back and Sally had to restrain her laughter as the boss answered and Lestrade shot them a glare,
"Hi, boss?"
'Lestrade?"
"Yeah,"
'Good to hear from you,"
"Yeah you too, sir,"
"I'm getting a feeling this isn't a how-are-you call,"
'Unfortunately, no," Lestrade said, wishing he would hurry up and let him get to the point,
"What is it then?"
"I need a favour,"
'Ask away, my boy," he said, and Lestrade grimaced while the others laughed,
"I wanted to know whether you could run some names through the database,"
'Sure. What are they?"
"Timothy Barron and Larry McKenzie,"
"No problem, give it ten minutes,"
"Ten minutes," Lestrade said, covering the mouthpiece and the others nodded.
They waited around and Lestrade was forced to endure ten minutes of the boss's questions.
How he was doing (fine, Thank you), What he was doing (sorry, classified), How Sally was (good), Who he was working with? (ex-army doctor), Was the doctor any good? (yes), Could he look at his x-rays when they got back? (Yes. Fine), had Sally found a man yet? (What? Erm…no.) And through all of this, everyone sat, quite amused by the whole situation.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the database pinged, "Here we are," the boss said and Lestrade waited. "Why don't I just send the information over?" he asked,
'That's fine, thankyou sir," said Lestrade,
'No problem, no problem, oh and Detective?"
'Yes, sir?"
"Don't forget the Christmas party! You're invited!" Lestrade rolled his eyes and hung up,
"He's sending it over now,"
"Good thing you got a blackberry," Sally said, red from laughing that much,
'What questions was he asking you?" John asked, and Lestrade rolled his eyes again,
'The man's a nutcase. I have no idea how to got to the top of the Yard hierarchy,"
"Right, that aside, who are we chasing?" Mitch asked as Lestrade's phone flashed and he looked down, opening the e-mail,
"Oh God," he groaned,
'What?"
"Listen," Lestrade took a deep breath and started reading,
"Timothy Barron, arrested 2008, for drugs, weapons dealing and transportation, found to be a part of elite crime syndicate lead by James Moriarty."
John felt like whacking his head into something. Or just whacking something. Either way.
"Larry McKenzie, arrested along with Timothy Barron for same charges. Both, however, are suspected of many murders and other elicit business and detectives have been looking for years for more information about them. They both were bailed out of prison by a mysterious source"
"Moriarty," Sally and John chorused,
"And never returned for their trials. Police have no idea where they are now, but suspect they are once again working for James Moriarty, also a wanted criminal,'
Lestrade looked up, 'we're in a lot of trouble,"
"Yeah," Sally said. The three Brits looked downcast while Mitch and James exchanged glances,
"Sorry," James said, "But who the bloody hell is James Moriarty?"
Melbourne Airport, Tullamarine
Melbourne
Victoria
Australia
The man at the centre of their discussion stepped off a private plane at Melbourne airport. He knew that a manhunt was going on right now in the UK for him, but they didn't know he had left the country an hour before they noticed he was missing and they didn't know that a man fitting their description was, right now, setting a bomb of in Glasgow to draw their attention there. They also didn't know that he had a very real Australian passport and had touched down moments ago to a bright and beautiful day.
With whether like this he could really work on a tan.
With a smile he walked into the main airport, flanked by guards and breezed his way through customs. "Mr. Carlton, right this way," one of the security staff said and led him out the front gates of the airport to a view that matched his mood, "Welcome to Australia,"
"Thankyou," The soft Irish lilt appeared and Moriarty climbed into the waiting, air-conditioned, Mercedes Benz, E-class.
"Where to, boss?" his driver said, looking into the rear-view mirror.
"I hear there's nice scenery to be gained in the regional parts of Victoria," he said, "Traralgon," The driver took off from the curb as a second car, filled with the security contingent followed behind.
Yes. Today was a beautiful day.
There we go.
MORIARTY'S COMING! RUN! HIDE!
Or if you're a fan get pictures for autographs. Either way. :D
Aza
xoxo