A Consulting Detective, Ex Army Doctor, and Child Mercenary Walk Into A Room

Chapter 8: The Reichenbach Fall

Sploosh! I woke up with water dripping down my just about everything. My eyesight was still blurry but I could make out the outline of a couple people. Sure didn't help that my drenched hair was covering one of my eyes. My ears were ringing and I felt pain that was blooming into bruises. "Wh-where am I?" I gasped. Slowly but surely, my eyesight was returning to normal. I blinked a couple of times and then assessed the situation. I tried to lift my arms but they were tied to a wooden chair. I didn't even try the legs assuming they were tied as well. Man they were thorough. I was in a building. An abandoned one at that. Big windows made of breakable glass but were covered on the outside. Not much furniture in here. I noticed a phone being propped up on a table in front of me. "What do you guys want?" I spat out the water in my mouth. I felt my hair being gripped and being yanked back with force. "You don't ask the questions around here Ms. Moriarty," a nasty voice whispered into my ear. I felt the touch of a gun being pressed to the side of my head. My face remained as neutral as it could possibly be. "Was it my father?" I continued to ask. A man came out of the shadows. "That's right, Ms. Moriarty. Your father sent us and we are the only ones keeping you alive, for now." I raised an eyebrow. "Oh are you? Please, do tell."

The man pressed the gun snugly against my head but I paid it no mind. Instead I focused my gaze at the man in front of me. Ah, he must be the ringleader. The one who could control these buffoons for now. The man gave the one by my side a curt nod and he put the gun away from my head. "James Moriarty offered us the rest of the code if we follow his instructions. That's all." "What instruction?" "You'll see for yourself very soon, Ms. Moriarty." "Do I have to wait till my father gives you the code?" I whined. This was getting boring. "There is another option. We kill you." "Really?" "One part of the instructions. Not hard to follow at all." I smiled a Chesire grin. "And what if I just told you? You know, the code?" The ringleader faltered for a second before returning to his normal composure. "Impossible. The only ones who know are James Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes." Oh I was going to fuck with their minds so much. What fun my father had given me. "And guess who's fairly intimate with both?" I could feel everyone around me waver. They wanted that key code. Needed it. But they feared Moriarty. He was the boogeyman in the closet. They just wanted the code and to get on with it.

"The universal key. A way to break into anything," I tempted. The words rolled off my tongue like candy. Sweet and tantalizing. "Sixty-four bits. Sixty-four bits of code. A series of ones and zeros. Without it the virus is useless. And I know it; so won't you help a girl out? You fear my father. All of you do. Everyone does. Do you really want to be under his control for as long as you need to?" My words were sickeningly sweet. I was getting to them and I intended to never let them go. The ringleader shook his head. "H-how can we believe you?" "How about I just tell you? I'll whisper it into your ear. You can even grab a pen and pad to help you remember." I could smell the sweat coming off of the man. Drip drip drip. The smell of fear and paranoia. Oh, it was amazing! The man came closer and out of the shadows. "Boss," the man beside me said. "Are you sure?" The ringleader gritted his teeth. "I don't want to be working under that sadistic man as much as I have to be. We'll get the code and leave." "But what if-" Another gang member started to say. "No! We take the code and leave." He whirled around and faced me. "Now tell us!"

I look at the ringleader with a sad frown. "Only if you come closer." The man stepped back immediately. "Are you kidding me. I'm not falling for such a stupid trick." I huffed. "Fine. How about just two feet away from me." He hesitantly did as I asked and I smiled sweetly up at him. "Now was that so hard?" "Just get on with it. And if you try anything they will shoot." I glanced around. About twenty or thirty men with their guns out, ready to kill at a moment's notice. I leaned as forward as I could while being bound. "Do you trust them?" I whispered as softly as I could. "The men around you; do you trust them? What's stopping them from running off with the code and backstabbing you the moment they get the chance because I said the code for them all to hear?" The man almost leapt back but I held him with my iron gaze. "You can't have been a good man for my father to hire you. Or maybe you are a good man. But it doesn't matter because what's the difference? There's always someone out to get you. Whether it's someone in this room or anyone else. So what happens if that particular someone gets the code? Your life will be ruined. So come here. Come a little closer so that I can tell the secret of the universal key." The man frantically looked around not quite knowing what to do. With fear and paranoia already seeped into their minds, doubt was just the cherry on top!