Stereotypical (BBC Sherlock)

Chapter 27 - Home

Third-Person

Mycroft calmly put in the code and let the soldiers and medics stream into the safe room. He followed them silently. The case was collected and taken away. Prime Minister Strauss was strapped to a gurney and wheeled away. A medic said something about not having much time. Mycroft turned slowly to find Jordan curled up in a corner, staring down at her lap. He went to her, kneeling beside her. Glancing back at the broken table, he easily understood what had transpired.

Jordan had shot people. She'd put them through psychological torture. Yet, by definition, it wasn't even torture. She manipulated them and allowed them to think what they liked about the ordeal. All she did was keep the room cold, dark, and uncomfortable. The men who had taken her and demanded Miss Adler had gone to prison in good health. She had shot them in such a way as to be sure of it.

Jordan Close had never killed anyone.

Deciding to remain silent, Mycroft took a blanket from the waiting medic and wrapped it around his assistant's shoulders. She didn't move. The medic pulled her to her feet and led her away. Mycroft sighed and left.

Within hours, Jordan had been released from the hospital and briefed. Mycroft looked up from his desk in his office to find her standing hesitantly in the doorway. He set his pen down and leaned back. She stepped forward slowly. He studied the frightened hunch in her shoulders and the hesitance in her eyes.

"Sherlock and John are still in the hospital. The doctors say they'll be fine in a month or two..." He nodded, knowing this already. "Leddy." She murmured. He raised a brow and she swallowed. "I-I want access to her files."

"You have access. So either you're here to have me refuse to give them up or for me to talk you into moving on. I will do neither." He gestured to the stack of files on a table by the window. "Have at it."

She stared at the table. "Did she... Did she suffer? Do you know? I know there was a body but..."

"Yes." She winced but he saw the relief that he had told her the truth. "She was terrified. Her signal was damaged, we couldn't hear her." Jordan nodded and took the file. A CD fell out and she stared at it. Mycroft shifted. "It's the recording of her communications."

She nodded and tucked it back in the file. She took a second one, most likely Commissoner Ramsay's. He sighed as she left.

Jordan sat at her desk and flipped through Leddy's file as the CD played. Reports went back and forth and she tuned out the unimportant parts. It wasn't until she heard the static that she listened. Voices screamed over the com, faded by the shockwave. She heard Leddy's breath beating hard in her mic.

"Ground Two. This is Delta. We're down. I repeat, Delta is down. Generator detonation. I-I think..." She hissed suddenly and her voice came back choked. "I think everyone is gone. Two? Anyone? Mycroft? Oh god... Someone..." There was static for a long moment. "Someone help me. I-I'm bleeding heavily. Please." She was crying now, her voice thick with tears and shaky with fear and pain. Her voice dwindled to a whisper. "This is Delta. I'm wounded. Please, someone reply. Oh god, oh god, it won't stop."

Static returned and then Mycroft's voice came on. "All teams. This is Ground Two. Second generators are bombs. Disabling is similar, cut the green wire. Repeat, cut the green wire."

Leddy came back. "Ground Two. This is Delta. Oh hell." Silence. "Ground, this is Delta. Bomb is cleared." Her voice could barely be heard. "Ground... Mycroft. Jules? Why can't you hear me? It hurts..." She kept whispering, her voice growing quieter and quieter until finally, there was nothing. The recording ended. Jordan stared at the screen, tears streaming down her cheeks.