Hello :) Sorry, this chapter is a short one, it is an introduction in the following events, everything will be explained in the next chapters :)
"He is testing us" said Sherlock. "If he wanted us dead, we would be dead, but instead, we are a pair of white lab rats looking for an exit from a maze."
"I'm usually the one confining people; I'm not sure how I feel about the other way around." she observed him nervously pacing around her living room with his hands on his back.
"The first thing we need to do is find Moriarty and find out what he plans to do with us if he doesn't kill us. I'll pull some official and you could pull the under the table strings that you have as I am sure." He stopped for a bit, turning towards her with what might be called a concerned expression. "Once again I must insist that we put you somewhere safe until this is finished."
"You are rather boring when you repeat yourself" she rolled her eyes. "But you are also very sweet when you worry for me like that, it shows emotions."
"I thought so, asking again was a formality. We meet here again, in the evening latest." he was putting his scarf on and heading towards the door.
"I'll be in touch. Good luck, Mr. Holmes." She leaned forward and gave him a small peck on the cheek. Then she conveniently noticed that he had a lipstick mark, so she wiped it away with her long, thin finger. He had a blank expression on his face, but she knew he didn't mind at all; on the contrary.
After closing the door behind him, Irene glimpsed at the 'to do list' he left on the table for her. She memorized the points to which she agreed, and then threw the paper in the garbage can. Of course he was smart, she taught, but she was too, and she had an agenda of her own.
Sherlock wasn't any more confident in their cooperation then she was, so he phoned an ex college friend of Mycroft's to whom he had one important similarity: They both loved to keep things from Mycroft, for competitive reasons, or just to mess with him. To Sherlock's luck, this man was by chance the right hand of the Dutch prime minister. And by even luckier chance, he owed Sherlock a favor. Before dialing the number, Sherlock smiled when he remembered the nature of this favor.
Unknown to most people, Mr. Van Der Hoek had mild, kleptomaniac symptoms when he was extremely nervous, on occasions such as a formal visit to the English queen. By accident he put the wrong memory stick in his pocket which caused an alarm on the court, which was successfully and discretely put out by Sherlock who never gave away what happened, just to get on Mycroft's nerves. Before the man even said Hello, Sherlock began speaking in his typically fast manner:
"Hello, Sherlock Holmes speaking. Remember me? No need to reply, I'm sure you do. I'm in town and I need a favor. Could we meet, as soon as possible? And one more thing; could you send a very capable police officer of yours to follow my...girlfriend around? She tends to get into trouble and she won't let me help her. But it needs to be discrete...or she will punish me if she realizes."
The other man laughed to Sherlock's reality based joke and agreed to meeting with him and give him whatever he needed, expressing his eternal gratitude again.
The timing was perfect. A man approached Sherlock minutes before Irene came out of the building and started unlocking her bicycle. If Sherlock didn't know it was her, he would have taken a moment to recognize her: she wore dark jeans, flat over the knee boots, a leather jacket and an over the shoulder bag. Her hair was up in a ponytail and her makeup was more natural than the one she normally had on. Upon seeing her biking, no one would recognize her as a Madame of the gentlemen's club, or as a dominatrix; she was just one of the tourists. She took a quick look around before getting on her bike which Sherlock of course expected, so he positioned himself out of her viewing range. Sherlock said to the officer in civilian clothes:
"Don't lose her. And keep me posted on everything she does. I am a...very jealous person?"
The officer didn't notice Sherlock's small smile about the stupid explanation he gave, so he got up on his own bike and followed Irene through the crowd. Since that was taken care of, it was time for the consulting detective to get on with his plans.
He needed to accelerate the course of events in order to get ahead of Moriarty. First thing he needed to do was find Moriarty and set up all the participants and additions to the play he had in mind. Lestrade would come in handy now, but there were many inspectors to Mr. Van Der Hoek as there were many Lestrade like ones to Mycroft. The situation was too out of control for Sherlock's taste already, so he at least needed to control the parameters that he could. With a distracted expression he came into the black BMW that stopped right next to him.
Meanwhile, The Biking Woman had other plans. She trusted Sherlock's judgment, especially since Karachi, but she was not willing to play the damsel in distress for him too often; it might become a habit. She knew the part of his plan he didn't expose to her included her being put on a safe place, with or without her consent while 'the boys' play the game. She was also aware that she would never let him take the bullet for her, so she needed to keep him safe as well. Tough one, she taught while wrinkles formed on her brow from worrying.
She chained her bike next to a fence and stood next to it, pretending to type a text. A blond teenage boy approached her:
"I got your text. He is waiting for you downstairs."
Sherlock had his homeless network and she had her small gang network which was normally busy with pin pocketing tourists.
After a whole day of plotting schemes, they met again at Irene's apartment in the evening as it was planned. Both of them were so confident that they have a couple of surprises up their sleeves prepared for the other one.
Sherlock opened the front door to discover that something smelled delicious. It was evident she came in before him. Irene walked out of the kitchen, wearing a strapless red dress that made even Sherlock's heart jump a bit, although she stood to far to notice his pulse elevating. On the other hand, she was just close enough to catch his fast observation of her high heels and the necklace that elegantly pointed her neck out. Her hair was up and her lips were shining red. Walking a few steps towards him, she mischievously said:
"Tomorrow evening we might die. That makes tonight the end of the world, the very last night. You will have dinner with me."