Stereotypical (BBC Sherlock)

Chapter 24 - Ross

I packed my files into their respective folders and glanced to the side as Ross inched closer to me. Sherlock was occupied talking to a few lieutenants about some case. Ross sat on the table and smiled at me.

"So when can we get back to work?"

"You don't own me anymore."

He gripped my arm tightly. "I let you off when you ran to London. But you're back on my soil now. You're mine, Jordan, get that through your thick skull. You can't get away from me. You're running around in a world of sacrifice and thinking you can bring peace and happiness. You'll only end up with blood on your hands. I know. I started the same way. In this day and age you have to know your place. Yours is beside me doing as I say. I won't let you run off a second time."

"General Ross." I looked up and found Sherlock standing beside the table. "I'll ask you not to touch her. Ever."

Ross raised a brow. "Think you have authority over me?"

"No, but I do know that it would take me about ten seconds to kill you."

"In the Pentagon? How stupid are you?"

"They'd never know. Anyone watching the cameras would assume I was just talking to you."

"Sure, I believe you."

Sherlock smirked. "Shall I show you?"

Ross's eyes flicked back to mine. I wrenched my arm away and grabbed my bag. Sherlock kept one hand on my back as he followed me out.

"I don't trust him." Sherlock muttered. "As far as this ordeal with Nevermore, I don't trust him. And furthermore, what kind of name is Nevermore?"

I smiled. "It's a reference to Edgar Allan Poe."

"It's too dramatic. I can't take it seriously."

"Well maybe they just have a thing for being over the top."

"They're trying to start a war. I should think so."

I sobered quickly and looked behind us to see where Ross was. He was nowhere in sight. "I don't know how far he would go to get what he wants. Torture, fine. But world war? What's the point? It would make sense if we could trace this to a country that would stand to be a major world power if they could get us out of the way."

"But why would they use the Middle East to do it?"

"I don't know about the British but Americans get pretty riled up about terrorism. Especially when they have a target and it happens to be Al-Qaeda or something. All this mysterious country has to do is arm both sides, let them destroy themselves and the competition and boom - they're the next empire."

"So we should look at Asian countries? They're rising fairly quickly in power."

"No, everyone would expect them if the plan was figured out. They're European, most likely." I shook my head and rubbed my temples. "This is exhausting."

My phone buzzed and I picked it up. "Close."

"I'm emailing you a file." It was Jules. "Call me when you get it. We've had this all wrong."

I hung up and changed direction down another hallway. "I need a computer." Sherlock followed silently, assuming I would tell him in a minute. Getting into a data room, I sat at a computer and plugged in a flash drive Jules had programmed for me.

"It sets up your own corner of the internet almost." He'd said. "A secure network off someone else's wifi. The screen will flash when the code is finished running."

I waited for the blue screen to flash black before logging into my government account. Pulling up the email, I scrolled through. There were pictures of major scientific discoveries, artistic works, inventions, all sorts of things. On every picture was a tiny icon, a globe. It had lines running all across it. It looked like the Nevermore symbol but with continents underneath the lines.