Chapter 22
Full Circle
Sherlock
Sherlock came down hard and fast. As he came back to himself, the sight a woman greeted him, blonde with porcelain skin and blue eyes. She stared at him with an unreadable expression. This was her, the woman mentioned in Mycroft's report. AGRA agent. True name unknown, alias Mary Morstan. She was the missing link to John. Sherlock had taken a gamble and won. She had shown her hand when she had surfaced. John's disappearance could not have been a coincidence. It was connected to him some how and Sherlock was determined to find out how.
"How did you know I'd come here?" Mary demanded. Sherlock looked her straight in the eye and answered in a cold voice.
"I knew you'd talk to the people know one else would bother with." Sherlock admitted. While Irene gathered her intel in the bedrooms of powerful men, Sherlock had been leaving a trail of breadcrumbs throughout Kandahar hoping to catch a lead. It now appeared that his efforts had paid off.
"I thought I was being clever." Mary replied in a cold voice matching Sherlock's tone as she aimed the gun at Sherlock.
Sherlock took a steadying breath before replying. He was walking a tightrope and one misstep would result in him falling. The thought took him back to the rooftop of Bart's and Sherlock could not repress a shudder. Moriarty's taunts echoed in his mind. "Fallings just like flying except there's a more permanent destination. "But it's not the fall that kills you; it's the landing." Mary cleared her throat pulling him back to the present.
"You're always clever, Mary. I was relying on that. I planted the information for you to find." Sherlock goaded. John. He needed to find John and this woman was the key to finding him. Sherlock held her stare daring her to pull the trigger. He was unsure if she would, she was an assassin and no doubt had her marching orders, what those were remained a mystery. "A façade. Sorry, I could resist a touch of drama. How good a shot are you?" Mary smirked and replied.
"I suppose that was a fairly obvious trick and you're about to find out. It all comes back to you. What was it that he said? Oh, yes. I remember. 'I'll burn you, I'll burn the heart out of you.'" Sherlock blanched in shock as she repeated Moriarty's words from the pool. How had she known? Of course, it had to be Moran. He was missing link, the final thread.
"Sorry, not that obvious a trick." Sherlock whispered.
"I don't understand what is special about you, why you are worth all this effort and subterfuge. You were the end game all along. John Watson, he was the lure. I was to keep him alive. They knew you would eventually come looking. I have just received new orders. You're coming with me. They're not done with you yet, not by a long shot."
"John's alive?" Sherlock whispered unable keep his voice steady as hope overtook him. Maybe it wasn't too late.
"You're about to find out." She promised before pulling the trigger. Sherlock sucked in a breath as pain exploded. His last coherent thought was of John.