Time Passed: 4 years
John trudged up the stairs after a particularly tiring case, Sherlock not far behind him. Opening the door John called out.
"We're back. Julie I can't thank you enough for watching the kids, if there's ever anything you need don't be afraid to come upstairs and ask."
When he didn't get an answer he poked his head into the kitchen, "Julie?"
"Shit! Alice! Hamish!" John started running up the stairs looking frantic.
"John what's wrong?" Sherlock asked as he moved to the kitchen to see what had put John in such a state.
The genius froze when he saw the dead body of their downstairs neighbor on their kitchen floor, a single bullet hole in her forehead, eyes frozen open in fear.
"Sherlock! I can't find them. Their not in their's or our room. I checked Mrs. Hudson and Julie's as well."
Sherlock was frozen in fear, someone had kidnapped their children. The two most precious things in his world. He wanted to crumble in despair, but soon the logical detective took over. Observing everything he picked up the one thing that was out of place, a crisp white business card on the kitchen table. He turned it over to find printed on it an image of a snake biting a bullet with a phone number scrawled under it.
John who had been quiet to allow Sherlock's mind to work in peace started cursing profusely.
"Shit Shit Shit! God damn buggering shit!"
"John?" The look John had told Sherlock everything.
"You've seen this before."
John nodded snatched the card out of Sherlock's hand and called the number on his mobile.
"Captain John Hamish Watson, as I live and breathe." A familiar voice purred after the third ring.
"Moran" John replied coldly.
"Oh now don't be so cold, you used to call me Sebastian. You know you still can Johnny, nothing's changed."
"Everything has changed" The look in John's eyes scared Sherlock; it was dead without any trace of emotion and very unlike his husband.
"You're right, otherwise we wouldn't be in this mess."
"Where are my children Moran!" John demanded.
"Oh they're close...Don't worry I won't harm a hair on their heads, especially pretty little Alice. You know she's the spitting image of you." John blanched.
"Let them go, this is between you and me."
"You see Johnny, that's where you're wrong."
"Then why are you doing this?"
"Because of a fall that went wrong."
"What?" John asked with horror.
"You know I asked Jim for the pleasure of shooting you had things not gone the way he planned it. I couldn't bear the thought of you dying by the hands of another."
"You're sick Moran." John replied with disgust.
"I know. Now tell that arrogant husband of yours to be on the roof of St. Barts tomorrow at 1500 and do the fall properly or some very nasty things will happen."
The other man had hung up on John. From the parts of the call Sherlock could hear, his fear for their kids intensified. John chucked his mobile across the room, Sherlock flinching when it shattered against the lounge wall.
John was fuming and Sherlock gripped his upper arms and made eye contact with the enraged blond.
"Who has them John?" Sherlock insisted. "You know who it is tell me!"
John took a deep breath to try and quell the searing fire within.
"Colonel Sebastian Moran. He was my CO in Afghanistan." John took another deep breath to get more control. Sherlock waited impatiently for his husband to continue.
"If you think I'm a good shot know he's better. He was a sniper in the army, the best in our company. Cunning, quiet, every trait you find in a good sniper. I idolized him and he took me under his wing. It wasn't until a simple recon mission on a small village in the middle of the desert that he showed his true psychotic colors."John paused as he recalled that dreadful night.
"He massacred that village. Killed every last man, woman and child and burned it to the ground. Some how he got out of it with only a dishonorable discharge. After that phone call I'm willing to believe Moriarty helped."
Sherlock pursed his lips. Everything John had said did nothing to make him feel calm.
"You once described Moriarty as a spider, well Moran is nothing like that. He's a snake, patient and sneaky. He waits to strike when you're most vulnerable. That's probably why he waited so long to do this."
"What does he want?"
"You to do the fall you were supposed to do 7 years ago."
Sherlock nodded. "You know him best, what do you want to do?"
xXx
Sherlock walked out onto the roof of St. Barts.
"You might as well come out. I have no patience for games today." Sherlock stated impatiently.
"Oh really, I thought you enjoyed a good game, at least that's what Jim always hinted at." Moran replied stepping around the roof's entrance, his SIG P226 leveled at Sherlock's heart.
Sherlock took a moment to observe the man that had his husband so worked up. The snake that had slithered away when he destroyed Moriarty's web.
Colonel Sebastian Moran was a broad shouldered blonde with a scar over his left eye and a tattoo of a snake biting a bullet wrapped around his right forearm, dull.
"Where's Johnny? I thought he'd be up here trying to kill me." Moran asked, dissapointment in his eyes.
"He's around. Now where are my children Moran!" Sherlock demanded.
"Jim was wrong you're no fun. You didn't think it'd be that easy? Maybe I should just kill you myself and end this boring exchange." Moran replied with a frown.
Sherlock smirked when Moran moved his finger to pull on the trigger of his SIG and a shot fired out.
To be continued
