The Soldier, The Messiah & the Pariah

Chapter 14

Over the road, Sherlock bent down to observe the Yellow Pages. The plastic wrapper still had drops of water on it, and the top of it had broken open a little. He ran his fingers over the top of the wet exposed pages of the directory.

"It's been here since Monday"

"Then that means..." Lex trailed off, hearing him as she came to a halt next to him.

Sherlock straightened up and pressed Soo Lin's doorbell. He only waited a few seconds, then looked to his right and headed off. There was an alleyway beside the flat and the trio walked towards it.

"No one's been in that flat for at least three days" he finished for her.

"Could've gone on holiday" John hypothesized.

"Do you leave your windows open when you go on holiday?" Lex asked, pointing at the open window on the floor above them.

John lifted his hand in surrender, having no other say in the matter. The duo watched as Sherlock took a short run and jumped up, dexterily grabbing the end of a metal fire escape. He pulled it down towards him until it touched the ground, then ran up the steps towards the open window of the flat. 

Lex quickly followed but before he could reach him, he had reached the top and the ladder swung back to the horizontal position behind him.

"Sherlock!" John shouted, realizing the duo was too short to be able to pull the ladder down again. He turned and ran back along the alley to the front of the building.

Lex stayed there and waited for John to leave. Then, she double-checked for any eyes before taking a few steps back. She rushed and jumped, trying to reach the same ladder but her fingers were missing it shortly.

"Bloody hell". She passed a hand through her hair. "Fine"

She checked once again and even went to the side, making sure that John would not show up any time now. He had gone inside and she quickly went back into the alley. She cracked her neck and pressed her back on the opposite wall of the building she was aiming for.

Then, with a deep breath, she rushed towards the wall. She jumped and placed one leg on it and then quickly the other. Bringing the first leg forward again, she stretched her right arm and managed to grab the ladder.

She started to swing her body, placing her other hand on the metallic structure and pulling it down. She wasted no time climbing up and heading for the open window, only to stop once she spotted a shadow.

She pressed her back at the side of the wall and slowly peeped into the open window.

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Sherlock had been inspecting around while John waited and shouted from the other side of the closed door. The genius man concluded the shoe size of the acrobat and even noticed a fingerprint on the picture of two Chinese kids; a boy and a girl.

He then came to realize that not only wasn't the first one to enter this apartment but also, he wasn't alone in there. The killer was there, and he wasted no time wrapping a silk scarf around Sherlock's neck.

Sherlock started to fight back, trying to release himself from the attacker while his oxygen supply was dropping fast. However, he failed to do so but before he could fully lose, consciousness, the pressure was on his neck loosened.

The attacker placed something into his pocket but before he could fully release our hero, he was yanked back.

Sherlock fell on the floor, his eyes half open while he could hear the ongoing sound of battle. However, he could not focus as his mind was still recovering from the lack of Oxygen.