Facades

Chapter Twelve

"The Coventry conundrum," Mycroft's Voice rings out and Sherlock turns sharply, meeting the eyes of his brother inside the plane.

"What do you think of my solution?" he asks almost softly, out of respect for the dead bodies around him and Sherlock gazes around the cabin, still taking it all in.

"The flight of the dead,"

"The plane blows up mid-air. Mission accomplished for the terrorists. Hundreds of casualties, but nobody dies," Sherlock mutters.

"Neat, don't you think?" Sherlock smiles slightly and glances at his brother "You've been stumbling round the fringes of this one for ages – or were you too bored to notice the pattern?"

Sherlock thinks back in his mind to the two little girls sitting in his living room.

"They wouldn't let us see Granddad when he was dead,"

He lifts his head a little, remembering the creepy guy sitting in the same chair on a different occasion, holding a funeral urn.

"She's not my real aunt. I know human ash,"

"We ran a similar project with the Germans a while back, though I believe one of our passengers didn't make the flight,"

Sherlock then remembers the car with the body in the boot and the passport stamped in Berlin airport.

"But that's the deceased for you – late, in every sense of the word,"

"How's the plane going to fly?" He answers himself almost immediately "Of course: unmanned aircraft. Hardly new,"

"It doesn't fly. It will never fly. This entire project is cancelled. The terrorist cells have been informed that we know about the bomb. We can't fool them now. We've lost everything. One fragment of one email, and months and years of planning finished,"

"Your MOD man,"

"That's all it takes: one lonely naïve man desperate to show off, and a woman clever enough to make him feel special,"

"Hmm. You should screen your defence people more carefully," Sherlock raises his eyebrow slightly

"I'm not talking about the MOD man, Sherlock; I'm talking about you!" Mycroft's voice raises harshly and he slams the tip of his umbrella on the floor.

Sherlock frowns, genuinely confused.

"The damsel in distress," he lowers his voice and smiles ironically "In the end, are you really so obvious? Because this was textbook: the promise of love, the pain of loss, the joy of redemption; then give him a puzzle ... "his voice drops to a whisper while he twirls the end of his umbrella in the air "... and watch him dance,".

"Don't be absurd,"

"Absurd? How quickly did you decipher that email for her? Was it the full minute, or were you really eager to impress?"

"I think it was less than five seconds," Irene's voice echoes through the plane and Sherlock spins suddenly, taking in her appearance. She was dressed beautifully, fully made up and with her hair perfectly coiffured. This is The Woman at her immaculate best.

"I drove you into her path..." Mycroft sounds regretful, pausing slightly "I'm sorry. I didn't know,"

Sherlock is still looking at Irene as she walks towards him "Mr Holmes, I think we need to talk,"

"So do I. There are a number of aspects I'm still not quite clear on -"

"Not you, Junior. You're done now," she walks past Sherlock and towards his older brother. Sherlock turns and watches her go as she activates her phone and holds it up to show Mycroft.

"There's more ... loads more. On this phone I've got secrets, pictures and scandals that could topple your whole world. You have no idea how much havoc I can cause and exactly one way to stop me – unless you want to tell your masters that your biggest security leak is your own little brother," Mycroft can no longer hold her gaze and he turns away in shame.

"Perhaps we should take the conversation somewhere else..." he looks around at the dead bodies

"I think that would be wise," Irene smirks and leads the two men out of the plane, the American from her home and from before Sherlock bored the plane is standing at the bottom, next to another dark figure. Sherlock looks at them with curiosity and instantly realises it's a woman as there's a high ponytail.

"I hope you don't mind if someone else comes with me...I know how the Government can be, I would like some protection,"

"Of course," Mycroft nods reluctantly.

"Come along pet," as Irene reaches the bottom of the steps, she turns to the American and the other figure.

"You could just use my name," Luna says with a hint of a smile and Sherlock and Mycroft's eyes widen.

"You chose your assistant as protection?" The American laughs and Luna digs her elbow into his ribcage, as he tries to grab her, she punches him square in the Jaw. The man stumbles backwards and Luna uses the side of her hand, which is still in a fist, to hit him on the head and he falls to the floor, unconscious.

"I do hope he wasn't important," Luna smiles politely at a horrified Mycroft and silent Sherlock. Irene smirks, walking away.

"Come along boys,".

{----------&----------}

a/n: votes and comments are heavily appreciated.