The Art Of Corruption ~ A BBC Sherlock Fanfiction {Book III}

Chapter 8- Personal Preparations

Millie's POV

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Emily's sitting on one of the sofas, hunched over her laptop and frowning, deeply. She looks up at us, about to say something, but stops when she sees our expressions.

"What happened?"

Sherlock pulls off his scarf with unnecessary force, and throws his coat onto the floor, frustrated-

"We're dealing with a criminal who knows what he's doing. Who's watching us. And I want to know why."

Emily looks at him blankly. John explains on Sherlock's behalf-

"He wasn't in the warehouse. He knew we were coming, and changed location. Then he started shooting at us, and Sherlock got a phone call from one of the hostages who asked if you were with us. When we said no, the shooting stopped, and we-" John breaks off, suddenly edgy, "We think another hostage is dead."

Emily says nothing; she doesn't look particularly shocked. She looks more thoughtful than anything else. I sit down next to her, and ask-

"What were you going to show us?"

She shakes her head, as if to clear it, then opens up her laptop-

"So I was analysing the code of one of the messages that came through, and I think I recognise it. I'm sure I've seen it before, somewhere. It's of an exceptionally high standard, too; no novice could have done this."

"So we're dealing with an armed killer who is also a pro-hacker in his spare time? Fantastic. Bloody fantastic," says John, looking over Emily's shoulder at the rows of green code.

"That's the thing, though. He's not."

We all look at her, confused. Sherlock sits down on her other side, and takes the laptop from her, scrolling through the digits, eyebrows pulled together as he reads through the code. Emily continues-

"He didn't code it. Someone else did. I know that because it's on a loop; the killer has effectively stolen and repeated it, using it to transmit a message to Mycroft. But I recognise it, and that's what's bugging me. I remember seeing it before, on a client's computer- I have a feeling I was retrieving information on a government, or something. I remember being shocked because that code is not something you see every day; that's the kind of hacking that can topple whole nations. I would know. However, the question is, how did our criminal get his hands on something like that?"

 I think it over in my head, and say-

"Are you sure you don't remember where you've seen this before?"

Emily shakes her head. Suddenly, Sherlock slams both his hands down on the laptop lid, and stands up quickly, knocking it off his lap. Emily grabs it before it hits the ground and cradles it, glaring up at Sherlock for his carelessness. He strides over to the desk on the opposite side of the room and rips a piece of paper out from a discarded book. His searching fingers find a pen, and he begins scrawling something rapidly.

"Sherlock-" begins John, but he's interrupted with a harsh 'shh' .

We wait in silence. He finishes writing and rejoins us on the sofa, showing Emily the paper-

"Is this the same code?"

"What?"

"Is this the same code that was used on the message you were just analysing?"

She pauses, taking the paper from him and studying the numbers:

"Yes, I think so. Why?"

Sherlock swings his legs over the edge of the sofa, standing up and then sitting back down again, unable to stay still-