Find Me (BBC Sherlock Fan Fiction)

Chapter 21

Surprised, Sherlock groped in the inside pocket of his coat. 'I have it right here.' But his fingers came back empty.

Mycroft's expression, expectant for an instant, reformed itself into anger. 'For goodness sake, Sherlock. Again? Don't you ever think, or are you too busy making gooey eyes at her to ask about her motivations?'

Sherlock felt his forehead crease as he tried to follow Mycroft's reasoning. He could easily have lost the USB stick while walking along the street, or dropped it coming up the stairs, there wasn't an automatic connection to Irene as Mycroft was suggesting – or if there was he'd missed it.

His brother rose from the chair, paced the carpet in front of the fire, pausing to kick library books out of the way with unwonted violence.

'I will tell you what really happened in Karachi, shall I, and this was after you'd finished riding to the rescue on your white charger. It came to my attention that a British national had been beheaded, although the photographic evidence provided by the terrorists was quite convincing, there was no video to back it up. I investigated. I found the flight records of Yuri Gregarovitch, a prominent Russian assassin, who flew out of Karachi airport only a few hours after Miss Adler's purported death. I interrogated the terror cell, who readily volunteered that fact that she had been rescued by a man speaking Russian. I located the storage container hired in a Russian name. I tested the blood, the handcuffs, the hair samples, the clothing on the deck rail and concluded that Miss Adler was probably dead, and if not dead, then captured by our erstwhile allies.

And what do you think I did then, little brother? What do you think I did? I may not be able to read every scintilla of emotion that flies through your vapid head like Doctor Watson here, but to my extreme disappointment, we are still related. I extracted vengeance. She was one of ours, after all, but I confess I wasn't really doing it for her. I put pressure on my Russian counterparts to bring Yuri Gregarovitch to justice. When they wouldn't, I imposed sanctions – oh, I persuaded the UN to do it for a different reason but the murder of Miss Adler was my main motivation.

In the end Gregarovitch's body was found floating face down in a river in Moscow. They were forced to eliminate one of their best agents because of a deception that you put together and that I mistakenly believed. They've been looking for a way to get revenge on me ever since.'

He wheeled around. 'Doctor Watson. Are you familiar with the concept of a honey trap?'

John nodded, 'It's where someone is paid to put someone else in a compromising position.'

'Exactly. It's where a woman convinces a man to have sex with her to either blackmail him or in this case, to get him to do what she wants. My brother already has a history of taking this kind of bait.'

Sherlock was stung into a response, glaring across the room. 'That's not what happened. This was different.'

'Sherlock,' replied Mycroft silkily. 'Where is your phone?'

Sherlock removed it from his coat pocket, tapped it back to life. 'She didn't take it, I would have noticed. And anyway, this can't be related to your missing treaty, she sent me the key to the puzzle box two and a half years ago, whereas you only lost it in the last two months.'

The mobile was snatched from his hand.

'You make the mistake, once again, of thinking that the whole world revolves around you.' Mycroft drew out his own phone. 'Ah, here we are, right on cue.'

He tapped the screen once, and Irene's voice came rushing out of the tiny speakers, scratchy and coarse. 'I want your attention,' she said. 'While you are here I want your conversation, I want your trust and I want you to be honest with me. But most of all, I want to watch you when ...'