The Game Is On, Moffat and Gatiss!

Chapter 2

"John, you take that compartment," commanded Sherlock pointing his a finger toward the compartment lying to his left, "And I'll take the one over here."

Sherlock was standing in the middle of the dining car, debating a new plan of action. Now that Sherlock and John knew that Steven and Mark weren't the authentic bombers, they were trying to make up for any of the time that they had lost in questioning them.

There were a few occupants scattered throughout the dining car, seated at various tables. They had all paused their meal's progress to stare at the four of them, their eyes wider than their plates. They looked as if they were scared of the four of them, and they probably were for Sherlock and John had yet to put away their guns.

Steven and Mark each had recently acquired a small notepad and were both madly scribbling notes. They both took down all the details such as, how did the two of them exchange conversations? What actions were common for them to perform? They both wrote as much as they possibly could so they would be able to compare their notes later.

"What about them?" asked John, nodding his head toward Steven and Mark who had their heads bent over their notepads.

Sherlock turned to them, furrowing his brows slightly as he puzzled over what to do with them.

"They can help you, John," said Sherlock simply after a moment of thought.

"Both of them? You should at least take one with you, Sherlock," insisted John. "They did want to shadow both of us after all, and you did agree to it."

Sherlock took a deep breath, slowly letting it out through his nose.

"Very well," he said.

He walked closer to the two of them, both of them lifting their heads up from the notepad to look at him as he approached closer.

"I'll take this one with me," said Sherlock pointing a slender finger at Mark. "I have a plan, and it'll require him."

"What plan?" asked Mark, scribbling down the fact that Sherlock could think up plans quite quickly.

"First you have to put that notepad away..." said Sherlock. When he saw Mark open his mouth to protest, Sherlock held up a finger to stop him, "...But only for a short while. I promise. Then you can record as much as you want on those pages to your heart's content."

Mark frowned slightly, but did as Sherlock asked, tucking the notepad into his pocket. Steven quirked a brow as he watched Sherlock slowly circle Mark like a hawk circling its prey.

"What plan are you having Mark help you with?" asked Steven.

"You'll see..." said Sherlock as he paused to stand in front of Mark once more, a small smile on his face. "How are you at acting?"

"Me? Acting?" asked Mark pointing a finger at his chest. "I'm pretty good at it. I've played a few parts now-"

"Perfect," said Sherlock, cutting him off. "You'll do perfectly. John, where are our bags?"

"We didn't bring any, remember? You told me that they would just get in the way of our investigation."

"Bugger," muttered Sherlock under his breath, tilting his head to the side as he lost himself to thought.

Sherlock's eyes wandered behind Steven and Mark to the shocked passengers who were still seated at their tables. Sherlock smiled slowly, moving to walk around Steven and Mark.

"May I borrow your suit jacket, sir?" asked Sherlock politely as he paused to stand in front of one of the passengers.

The passenger's Adam apple bobbed up and down for a second. He quickly gulped, nodding his head slowly.