7: In Which We Find Out Who's Behind It

Shmuuyaassyyy - Thank you so much! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long!

Disclaimer: See ch. 1

Warnings: Nothing that bad

This wasn't the first time John had been kidnapped before, but it was Parker's first. She tried to remain calm about the whole situation, but found herself forgetting everything she'd read and heard before about abduction. "Parker," John said calmly, "you need to calm down. Stop wriggling so much, the ropes will dig into your wrists if you do." Parker immediately stopped moving and took several deep breaths.

Parker and John were each in a chair back to back. Their ankles were tied to the chair's legs and their hands were bound behind them. "So…plans?" asked Parker. "Options? Anything like that?" She looked around the room. It was very bland to say the least. No windows could be seen except for a skylight on the ceiling. The room was fairly large, but not much filled it. The two chairs and a hard cot in the corner were the only furniture. The idea of getting to the skylight by climbing on the cot or a chair was discarded instantly. The ceiling was much too high.

A click at the door made the two captives look up. The door swung open and they both clearly recognised the figure in the doorway. "Shanna!" Parker called out. "Oh, thank goodness! Did you call Scotland Yard?" Shanna didn't reply, but merely stood in silence. "Did you call Sherlock?" asked Parker, with a bit less hope. No answer. "Shanna, what's going on?"

Shanna shrugged and stepped into the room. "Just a bit of fun, that's all."

"Fun?"

"Yes. Fun for my boss anyway. For me it's just strange," Shanna said with another shrug.

"Shanna…Shanna what are you talking about?"

"Really, Parker, are you that big of an idiot?"

Parker's face was red with anger. "Stop it! Just stop this! Shanna, this isn't funny!"

"My boss thinks it is," she said with a shrug. "And we all just go along with it. We have to. Anyone who defies him or insults him gets punished. And by punished I mean killed." She walked to the back of the room and looked around, acting interested.

Parker wanted to cry. "No…no, that's not true. Shanna, you aren't the kind of person–"

"All I want is money. It's always about the money. Money money money money money. That's all anyone ever does things for! And that's all I'm doing this for. I promised my boss a quarter of the profit, but still! Can you imagine what I'd do with three million quid?" She laughed to herself. "Just imagine that…"

"Profit from what?" asked John.

"The Zarflents case," explained Shanna. Both hostages looked confused. "Taylor Zarflents? He robbed a bank a few years back. He was killed in a shoot out with the cops. Two of his accomplices got away with four million quid. Those two accomplices were Zachary Twindle…and me. Zachary hid the money but got killed in a car accident on the way back. I don't know where it was hid. The coppers never suspected me because I was smart and wore a mask, gloves, and never spoke. I was still hiding though, frightened someone would catch on. My current boss found me and said he'd find me a flatmate so I could get a proper place to stay — I was always jumping from flat to flat belonging to people on vacation – and help me find the money if I kidnapped people of his choice and he got a quarter of the money." Shanna shrugged. "You gotta admit. It's totally worth it."

After a long pause, Parker stuttered out an answer. "So…So you mean…you mean you only became my flatmate so you could carry out this crime? Am I not even your friend anymore?!"

"I haven't had any friends since I was ten," snapped Shanna. "You were merely a playing piece in the game." She snapped her fingers and walked over to the door. A large, muscular man (presumably a body guard) stepped into the room. He took out a knife and stepped towards John and Parker. He sliced the bonds holding their ankles to the chair. He then moved onto the wrists and freed them. He pocketed the knife and stepped out of the room, Shanna slamming the door behind them.

The room became very dark once the door was closed. John turned to Parker. "You okay?" he asked.

"Been better," she muttered in response. Parker rubbed her red wrists where the rope had dug in. "Can't say I'm all that pleased with who's behind all this." She looked at the ground and put her head in her hands.

John put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey. We'll be fine. We'll be rescued and we'll be fine." Parker gave a sad, half-hearted smile.

"But what does her employer want us for?" she asked. "Who is he?"

John shook his head. "I don't know."

"Well what about the kidnappers breaking into 221B?" Parker wondered.

"A set up to help cover her tracks and erase suspicion." John sighed. "Parker, I am so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"Wait wait wait," Parker said. "How is this your fault? We were both victims. No matter where we were or when it happened, the outcome would be both of us becoming hostages. So if you beat yourself up over this I'll…" she trailed off, not being able to come up with a threat. "I'll…yeah…" Parker ended awkwardly. John smiled.

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Kaman watched Sherlock as he frantically ripped a map out from the shelf and laid it across the table. "Where could they be? Where?!"

"Sherwock, what happened?"

Sherlock glanced at the three year old. He hesitated. "Something bad." He turned back to the map. "You'll need to say with Mrs. Hudson for a bit, alright?"

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Sherlock barged into Lestrade's office. Lestrade looked up from some papers he was looking over. "Oh, Sherlock. I was just–"

"John's been kidnapped."

Lestrade blinked. "What?"

"Didn't you hear me? Do keep up! I said John's been kidnapped!"

Lestrade stood up, pushing his chair back. "When?"

"Within the past half hour. Not sure exactly." Sherlock began pacing back and forth across the office. "That new neighbour of our's has been taken too."

Lestrade shook his head. "Which one?"

"Viehof. The kidnapper, they're going in alphabetical order by last names. Allonge? Bonock? Viehof, Watson? Alert everyone with names that begin with Y or Z." Sherlock phone trilled a text alert. He pulled it out of his coat pocket and looked at it. For a second his mouth went dry. Only for a second though, he would never let emotions control him like that. Be that as it may, he felt the slightest bit of fear crawl into him as he read the text.

Lestrade noticed Sherlock's expression. "What is it?" he asked. Sherlock said nothing and showed him the text.

You should really keep a better eye on your pet.

Jim Moriarty x

Hehe…OOOOOOOH, I'm gonna have LOADS of fun… *evil grin*

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