It Started With Stealing | Sherlock Holmes

95 - The Fall Of The Forty Elephants

John and Crystal were sat in the lounge, hands taped behind their backs and silver duct tape covering their mouths. The masked gunman watched them while Moriarty messed around.

"Sebastian!" They heard the Irishman call from somewhere in the house.

The gunman glared at their two hostages, hesitating before he left.

And the second he left John took his chance, quietly murmuring through the tape to Crystal, trying to get her to understand the first step of his plan. She shuffled herself so that John could lean his face towards his hands and her free fingers grabbed a corner of the tape and pulled.

The army doctor took a breath, whispering, "We are getting out of this. I promise."

Crystal nodded in reply.

John then stood, albeit a little shakily without the use of his hands to balance himself, but managed to do so without falling. He didn't know when they would come back but he would see this through - he would get Crystal out, he would get them both out. His hands reached out and Crystal leaned forward to have the tape removed from her mouth too, inhaling a large gulp of air when it was peeled off.

"I have a letter opener, in the drawer by the china cabinet." She whispered to him, "Top left."

So that's where John headed, opening the drawer with his back to the cabinet as Crystal now tried to stand. His fingers slid across smooth metal and so he grabbed it, tiptoeing back to his date. God, first getting one of his exes almost shot with a bloody arrow and now trying to save one from death again, he thought, would it ever stop? Manoevering the letter open in his fingers, he began to cut the duct tape binding his hands, wary and alert.

There was a little snap of tape as he cut the last part and he tore his hands away from each other, bringing them back round to his front where he pulled off the tape that was still stuck to his wrist. By this point, Crystal had gotten to him and had turned around for him to cut her bonds too.

"I have a spare key for the front door." She said, starting to edge towards the door to the kitchen.

"Crys, be careful!" John hissed.

The receptionist raised her hand to quieten him and, seeing no one in the kitchen, she hurried over, reaching her arm past the door to grab the extra set of keys from her little, wooden, wall-hung key holder. Crystal then beckoned the soldier to follow her to the front door.

She slid the key in, turning it gently in the lock.

"Leaving so soon?" The Irishman sang behind them.

"Go!" John yelled.

Panicked, Crystal whipped open the door, taking merely one step out, gasping as she found that they were confronted by two women, one of them also armed with a gun. The frizzy-haired woman grinned as she saw the cogs turn in John's head, his mouth falling agape.

"But you - "

"Get back in the house."

"You're Elizabeth's - "

"Get in now." Cleo snapped, "No messing around."

John looked at the gun that the other woman held and lightly grabbed Crystal's arm as he threw a look back to see that Moriarty's gunman had his weapon trained on them again too. Crystal's chest rose and fell wildly as she stepped back into her house with John.

Cleo and Amber followed them in, shutting the door behind them. Amber sent a glare to Seb and Jim, not forgetting what they did last time.

"Good to see you are ambidestrous after all, Amber." Moriarty teased.