Chapter Two – The Game is Over
"I am sorry, I really am Sherlock… But there was nothing we co-"
"Oh Mycroft just leave it… I don't need a sympathy speech… especially from you" I glared at my brother's futile attempt at comforting.
"Sherlock! I fully understand that you refuse to believe me but you must know that this was one eventuality that I thought had been dealt with!"
"Check the morgue Mycroft because he is in there because you made a mistake!"
"We made a mistake Sherlock… I followed everything within the specifications we had organised. The sniper on John had been taken into custody! But no one could have known that there would be a second man!"
I looked away from him as I felt tears sting my eyes. "Mycroft you really are crap at trying to comfort people…"
I heard Mycroft sigh and walk towards me. "I'm not a comforting person brother dear… apparently I am a cold and emotionless shell…"
I couldn't help but chuckle at the words he had echoed from me after I had lost my Redbeard when I was a boy. "Very true… but at least you attempt it I guess…" I looked up at him with teary eyes. "I failed him Myc… and if that wasn't bad enough… He…" I could barely choke out the rest of the sentence and Mycroft awkwardly pulled me close to him, it was strange to be so close to him after so many years of hatred between us. I wouldn't have been old enough to remember the last time we had ever been physically close…
"You did all you could Sherlock…" I could tell he was uncomfortable at the embrace so I pulled away with tears streaming down my cheeks.
"Myc you don't understand! The last moments he had… he thought I had died… What have I done?!"
"Sherlock! Calm down… he would have thought that anyway for a year at least! Besides, you saved Mrs. Hudson, and Inspector Lestrade… I'd call that a victory…"
He really was crap at comforting… but he had a point. I nodded and cleared my throat. "Mycroft, I want to continue the plan… I don't want this all to be for nothing, even if it did fail…" I stood up and briskly walked to his desk to find the files I needed.
"Are you sure? Moriarty may be dead and unaware that you are not but his network knows – It is too risky!"
"No, they would think that I had been defeated and would stay in London… The last thing they think I would do is to continue." Mycroft seemed unconvinced, but nevertheless he walked to my side at the desk.
He sighed and scanned the various papers spread across the surface in front of us. "Where do we start?"
"The Italian side seems simple enough… Their strongest connections they had with him seem to be providing his suits…" I swore I saw Mycroft smile for a moment.
"Agreed… we can get you to Switzerland…" He stared down at the map before pointing at the south of the country. "Lugarno… I have agents there who can keep you under wraps, and then you can simply walk to the Italian border. Better than arriving by plane with the amount of security that is undoubtedly compromised by his network…"
"Agreed." I looked at my brother for a moment as he sifted through a file, for the next year he would once again be all I had – but this time I would definitely need him.
I will stop Moriarty's web. John Watson wouldn't die for nothing.