Hello Detective

The Empty Hearse Part 4

"Bought off?" Sherlock muttered. I nodded, thinking it would make sense.

"So if the driver of the train was in on it, then the passenger did get off." I suggested.

"There's nowhere he could go. It's a straight run on the District Line between the two stations. There's no side tunnels, no maintenance tunnels. Nothing on any map. Nothing. The train never stops and a man vanishes. Good, innit?" He asked with a smile.

"I know that face." Sherlock muttered, his eyes were now closed, deep in thought.

I leaned in closer to see him but stopped abruptly, an expletive rolling from my tongue.

"It's him, Sherlock. It's Sebastian Moran." I whispered. How did this actually turn out to be a lead? He was Sherlock's rat number one.

We had to get back to Baker Street, surely there's another connection here. I followed Sherlock out into the hallway. He was silent, obviously still deep in thought.

"The journey between those stations usually takes five minutes. That journey took 10 minutes. Ten minutes to get from Westminster to St. James's Park. I'm going to need maps, lots of maps. Older maps, all the maps." Sherlock finally spoke when I was descending the stairs.

"That can be arranged." I spoke, pulling out my phone and texting my current lackey. He was basically like an intern I could boss around, though the MI5 equivalent.

Sherlock opened the door and I could feel the bitter cold rush in. He held it for me as I walked before him.

"I know what you're doing, you know. Bringing me out on your cases, trying to make me forgive you." I spoke, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Is it working?" He asked hopefully.

"A little." I smiled.

"You know I'm sorry right? I knew that Moriarty would have slaughtered everyone I've ever cared about. He would have continued to kill innocent people... for fun. And that was a sacrifice I was prepared to make, but when I had to let you go, when I saw you grieving, I just... it broke me." Sherlock said, sorrowfully. I suddenly felt guilty.

"I'm sure it wasn't easy for you over the last two years either. The world has changed." I acknowledged.

"I know, you leave for two years and suddenly you leave the EU and Donald Trump is a president, what else have I missed?" He asked with a smirk.

"Oh, probably some other nationalist uprising." I laughed, he put his arm around me to help block out some of the cold. "But I'll be okay, we'll be okay. It's John I worry about. I tried to stay in touch with everyone else, but it just hit him really hard. He moved out, went back to his therapist. Which I'm assuming helped because I heard he met someone."

"Oh, yes, Mary Morstan, I met her. She seems good for him." Sherlock nodded.

"Mary Morstan, where do I know that name from?" I muttered, furrowing my brow in thought.

"She's a nurse I think, they work at the hospital together." Sherlock explained, my eyes went wide, realizing who she was.

"What?" Sherlock asked, he'd seen my face.

"Nothing. Jesus it's cold." I nuzzled into his side more, changing the subject, "Though I suppose it could be worse, have you ever been in Moscow in the winter. I swear it was like negative 30 degrees."

"Why were you in Moscow?" Sherlock glanced down to me and asked.

"I was on assignment there last winter." I explained.

"Mm. MI6? That's sort of shocking by the way. I leave and you become an assassin. Who would have guessed." He smirked.

"It was just a right fit I suppose. After you left I quit Scotland Yard, then after the baby I sort of fell off the rails. Mycroft straightened me out and there happened to be an opening. And I wasn't an assassin. I mean, yes, I did things I'm not proud of, but that wasn't all it was. I was gathering intel, fighting terrorism, and I suppose dismantling Moriarty's network at the end there." I spoke, reflecting on my last two years.

"Oh you did more than that." Sherlock said, cryptically.

"How so?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Le Chiffre, he was Moriarty's sponsor. Once you took him out of the game, you cut off the money supply. It made dismantling his network so much easier. Mycroft was the one that sent the case to MI6 for him to be taken out. I knew some agents had taken care of him, I just didn't know it was you." Sherlock explained to me.

"That was my first real case. As a double-0, anyway. That seems like ages ago now." I smiled. Glancing up at the building in front of us, I realized we were already back at Baker Street.

We entered the building and ascended the stairs up to the familiar sitting room. Standing in front of the couch and Sherlock's 'A Beautiful Mind' inspired display.

"What's he doing down there?" I asked myself.

I heard a frantic knock on the door but ignored it, figuring Mrs. Hudson would get it.

"Oh, Mrs. Hudson. Sorry, I think someone's got John." A woman's voice came from downstairs. I turned back to Sherlock who was standing up from his seat with his brows furrowed.

"Hang on, who are you?" I heard Mrs. Hudson frantically ask, rushing after the woman already halfway up the stairs.

"Oh, I'm his fiance." She said, before journeying the rest of the way up the stairs.

"Mary? What's wrong?" Sherlock asked, moving past me.

"Someone send me this. At first I thought it was just a Bible thing, you know, spam, but it's not. It's a skip code." Mary said, pulling out her phone to show Sherlock.

"First word, then every third. 'Save John Watson.'" Sherlock read, his eyes widening in shock. "Saint James the Less, it's a church." He looked up to me.

"Go, go!" I urged him and I stayed behind. They rushed out the door and I prayed they made it in time to save their friend.