"What do you mean 'she's been taken'?!" John demanded the second Sherlock picked up. John had phoned as soon as he read the message and Sherlock had picked up on the first ring, but it still wasn't fast enough for the panic flooding through him.
"A man broke into her apartment earlier, searching for me presumably since he didn't take anything. And now Molly hasn't returned from work. Never ignore a coincidence, John. Moriarty's men must have suspected and taken her in for questioning. And when I say 'taken her in for questioning' I don't mean the way the police would" Sherlock told him, cold and detached.
John pulled the phone away from his ear, letting out a few choice swearwords. "I thought they weren't watching Molly, you said Moriarty overlooked her!"
"They weren't watching her, they were watching you. Two of my former associates suddenly start spending a lot more time together, one of whom had gone unchecked all this time, of course they'd feel the need to check it out. My fault, I underestimated the people watching you. I thought surveillance would just be low level, grunt work, but Moriarty must have put someone with a little more intelligence in charge of the operation." Sherlock said, excitement and frustration warring in his voice.
"Well that's just great, so what are you going to do to make this right?" John replied with barely restrained anger. "I presume you have a plan, you've had nearly a minute, that's usually enough time isn't it?"
"Come to Molly's. Keep your cover in place, you're surprising Molly with a date, bring flowers or something. Not your gun." Sherlock instructed, then hung up.
John swore a few more times then grabbed his coat, rushing out the door. He jogged down the street to the corner shop, which had no flowers so he bought a bottle of wine instead, an acceptable thing to surprise a girlfriend with. He hailed a cab, giving them Molly's address and tried not to get too worked up on the drive over. Sherlock was on the case, it would all be fine, he kept telling himself. The journey felt twice as long as normal. When the cab stopped he took a second to compose himself, calmly gave the driver the money and plastered a smile on his face, trying to appear natural as he walked up to the door.
He got nearly to her door before two men appeared out of the shadows and grabbed him, causing the bottle to fall to the floor and smash. John struggled and tried to yell but they kept a tight grip, covering his mouth to muffle his cries. They led him up the steps to her door as two other men stepped out of the shadows, one picking the lock, letting them into Molly's apartment. They pulled John in, pulling out a kitchen chair which the two holding him forced him into, while the other pulled out a cable tie to tie Johns hands behind him.
The last man just stood in the doorway, watching. John didn't need Sherlock to tell him this was clearly the man in charge. His hair was short, he had a scar running down one cheek, and about a weeks' worth of stubble. He wore a black shirt with the top 3 buttons undone and a leather jacket, and he stood with authority, tall and intimidating, hands behind his back.
"Dr Watson." He greeted him with a slight Russian accent "I am Dimitri Moratov, Moriarty left me in charge of your surveillance, although I'm sure you already worked that out as I'm sure Sherlock will have told you that you were being watched. Where is Sherlock?"
"What do you mean where's Sherlock? Sherlock's dead, where's my girlfriend?" John replied, hoping his face or voice wouldn't betray him. He looked anxiously around the flat.
"Don't worry, she is safe… for now." Dimitri told him "I do prefer not to have to harm women, but really it's up to you. I am not really convinced she is your girlfriend though, something about your relationship seems off. Seems strange to me that you never paid much attention at all to each other until just over a month ago. You went to jump off the roof of St. Bartholomew's and suddenly changed your mind and decided to start going out with Miss Molly."
"She pulled me back from the ledge, convinced me not to jump. I saw her in a new light, we started dating, and that's it." John rattled off the alibi Sherlock had given them.
"No, I don't think that is it. I think Sherlock is involved somehow. I don't think you really care for Miss Molly that much at all, but I'll happily let you prove me wrong." Dimitri added with a sly smile "Tell me where Sherlock is, if you do not want us to start questioning the girl."
"He's dead! He jumped off St. Barts, I saw it myself, I took his pulse. He. Was. DEAD!" John shouted, willing them to believe him and leave Molly alone.
Dimitri shook his head "One more time Dr Watson. Where is Sherlock?"
"Kensal green cemetery! Six feet under!" John shouted. He felt tears welling in his eyes out of fear for Molly and didn't try to restrain them, hoping they would add validity to his claims.
Dimiti sighed. "I am disappointed, Dr Watson. Come on boys, we have a woman to question." He waved a hand and his men started to file out of the house.
"No! No, you leave her alone! She doesn't know anything, you've got to believe me. We don't know anything!" John yelled after them, struggling again his chair.
Dimitri advanced towards him, then walked past into the kitchenette. He dug in the drawers pulling out a small kitchen knife, which he pressed into John's bound hand.
"I suggest, once you have cut yourself free, you go visit your friend at his supposed grave. Maybe he'll have some answers for you." He said, then also left, closing the door behind him.