Sherlock: Lover Mine [Book II]

Domestic Afloat

"Excuse me, Darling?" Susanna questioned her boyfriend, her eyes flashing at him, "I thought you liked puzzles and clever games."

"Not where you are in danger." He replied lowly, so that their two guests wouldn't hear. Susanna sighed.

"Sherlock, I have to prove that I am useful and responsible. I've lived my entire life in some sort of danger and I don't expect that to change anytime soon. If the man is looking to use this vessel as a giant pressure cooker against another ship, we have to stop him."

"He could also be conspiring with hostiles, or planning to release any or all of the experimental specimens aboard the boat. In fact, there are ten different scenarios possible here where you get injured or worse!!"

As he raised his voice near the end of his exclamation, they heard a load groaning noise and the lights shuddered before shutting off, trapping them in darkness. Susanna let out a breath, "Don't worry. We may have lost power but I reprogrammed the security systems for the lab. Even with the power shut off, the doors are sealed and so are all the air vents. We're isolated."

"Get down!!" Sherlock hissed as he yanked her to the floor, pulling her out of the range of view of the door. Popovitz and Overstreet followed suit, "He'll try to break in, anyways. We're all loose ends to his overall scheme. He can't have excess baggage." His voice was so hurried and soft that Susanna had trouble hearing him, but she nodded.

Sherlock sighed and reached for his gun, sliding it across the floor to Overstreet. Then he sat down next to Susanna. Within five minutes, they heard heavy footsteps echo down the corridor. Metal toed boots, heavy grade non conductive rubber. Slight limp. Sherlock's breathing quickened as he deduced the crewman. Scare tactic. Could easily be stealthy, but he wants to make an impression. It's a game to him. Revenge? No. Power play? Perhaps.

"BANG!!"

Susanna jolted as the man began to beat on and wrestle with the doors. The sounds were deliberately shrill and loud, and Sherlock quickly recognized that she was fighting an oncoming headache and possible migraine. Her jaw was set, she was biting her lip, and her body was rigid. Her eyes were straining and almost twitching too, almost synchronous with her labored breathing. His suspicion was confirmed she gave up and put her hands over her ears, leaning forward. Her eyes zeroed in on an imaginary point in front of her and she stilled.

Finally their suspect gave up and they listened until his footsteps had been gone for at least ten minutes, when the lights started to flash. Trying to scare us out of the lab, now that he knows he can't get in. This does mean that he is in the power plant, messing with the electrical systems. Sherlock looked back over at Susanna, who was holding her head and clenching her eyes shut. The strobe lighting is triggering a migraine.

After another five minutes of strobe lights, normal lighting was restored. Susanna let out a shaky breath and opened her eyes with a hiss, "We have to do something or he'll turn the boat into a floating haunted mansion!" She bemoaned.

"He'll probably be coming back, Love."

"We need to tell Mycroft and my dad," She replied, "So we have to divert his attention." Sherlock scowled.

"We're not splitting up now that we know he's prowling." He protested. She pursed her lips.

"We have to figure out what he's doing and how to stop him. This is a large vessel and we'll need to cover a lot of ground in a short time. Splitting up is our best option, Sherlock." She jumped to her feet and massaged her temples while walking to the computer monitor. Instead of a video feed, she brought up a chat box and started typing feverishly. Once she'd informed Mycroft, she immediately retrieved her backpack and popped three advil. Sherlock stood up.

"We need to figure out what he injected them with, Susanna. We cannot leave."

"We can, though. We know this boat better than you. And we've already brawled with him." Overstreet piped up, rising to his feet with Popovitz. Susanna's eyes lit up with an idea and she snapped her fingers.

"I'll go with Sgt. Popovitz. If he's wired up anything, I can disable it. You can stay here with Lt. Overstreet and run the tests and keep Mycroft updated."

"No." Sherlock refuted. Susanna sighed.

"Sherlock, I know it's not an ideal plan but as far as I can tell, you don't know how to defuse a bomb or hotwire a device. I can. That's why we're here."

"We're not here for you to play with another psychopath. This man is a psychopath and he means to tie up loose ends- us."

"You're the world's consulting detective who loves playing with psychopaths! Normally you'd be jumping at the opportunity to confront the man."

"Not where you are involved." He responded.

"Sherlock, I'll be alright."

"There is only a small probability of that statement being accurate."

I almost scared myself writing this XD. Please let me know whether or not you're enjoying the story below! Thank you for reading!