Sherlock: Lover Mine [Book II]

Shadows Called Moriarty

An hour passed and Sherlock didn't show. Jerome and Alexis grinned at each other. The latter hummed, "Shall we, Jay?"

"No need to wait any longer, dearest."

Alexis snickered and dug into the large duffle bag she'd carried in earlier. Susanna clenched her fists and took deep breaths, praying that Sherlock would figure it out soon.

Her captors produced two lighters and approached. Susanna gulped and Jerome sneered, "Fire. Fire is everything, for now."

"Wh-Why?.."

"Moriarty planned to burn Sherlock's heart out of him. It was his goal, and he almost achieved it. I am here to finish his mission."

"Who was M-Moriarty?" Alexis held the lighter to Susanna's inner arm and the hostage winced.

"James Moriarty was Sherlock's equal opposite. He was a consulting criminal who basically ran the underworld. They were each other's worst adversaries, yet also their biggest admirers. Genius tends to admire genius, whether or not it is good or bad, and both required an audience."

"H-He never told me about Moriarty-" Susanna yelped as Alexis brushed the flames down her arm.

"Moriarty blew his brains out to keep Sherlock from falling off the snipers that would have shot Doctor Watson, Missus Hudson and DI Lestrade. He's dead, but I am a surviving remnant of what was his great network."

"So this... is to settle a score?"

"Exactly! You catch on fast! I imagine he would want his significant other to be intelligent."

"I say we dig in, Jay." Alexis interrupted. Jerome nodded and activated his lighter.

"Agreed."

Sherlock ran from room to room in his mind palace. He triple checked everywhere for the missing piece to the puzzle and feared to approach the chasm that held Moriarty.

After two hours of scouring his mind palace he couldn't avoid it any longer. He opened the doors to the chamber and was hit with an overload of long suppressed emotions and memories.

John knew when Sherlock made a combination of a groan and a grimace that he had broached Moriarty at last. While it had been established more than a few times that the criminal mastermind was dead, many of Sherlock's more recent adversaries had emulated Moriarty. And each time they did, it pushed Sherlock to the edge.

With Susanna in the picture, John didn't want to know how Sherlock would react if the worst did happen to her. The detective loved Susanna almost more than anything else, and he had come very far in the world of sentiment. John also knew from experience that Sherlock had never been good with handling loss. Losing Susanna, for whom he had come out of his shell, would probably hurt him just as bad as if it had been John, if not worse.

Mycroft and Lestrade had sent people out to try and locate the abductors, but if the suspects were connected to Moriarty it wouldn't help much. There were only two and thus they could move locations easily. Even Sherlock's network was on the case but it was doubtful that they'd render help in time.

The army veteran took out his phone as it buzzed, hoping it was good news.

We've narrowed down a square kilometer where the two suspects could be holding Susanna. -MH

"Sherlock?"

The detective didn't respond. His hands were pressed against his temples and his eyes were squeezed shut. His breathing was deep and determined as he plunged further into himself for the information he needed.

It took Sherlock's own mobile sounding off an alert before the brunette emerged from his mind palace and opened the message. He scowled, "John."

"Are we going?"

"This isn't Moriarty. But it is someone who worked for him and feels obligated to finish Moriarty's mission. I destroyed Moriarty's network and thus ruined what livelihood they had working for the consulting criminal."

"Mission?"

"Moriarty at our first encounter said he would burn the heart out of me."

I'll burn you. I'll burn the HEART out of you.

"So shouldn't we be out searching for them and Susanna?"

"The perimeter Mycroft established is not where they are. Anyone who admired Moriarty this much would pick a place with sentimental value."

"Near the Thames?"

"Come, John, we haven't a moment to lose. I just got a text from our suspect, Jay, with an invitation. He is giving us one hour to find their new location and rescue Susanna. Apparently they moved because the Police were getting too close."

"So they know we're after them?"

"He requires an audience, John. He wants the attention as much as he wants revenge. And I will not let Susanna be harmed because of my past," The detective darted to the door, "Now, John!"

The doctor nodded and hurried out after his best friend. They locked up the flat and raced down the stairs, unwilling to wait for the lift, and burst onto the street to flag a taxi. Sherlock texted Mycroft and Lestrade to apprise them and rattled off possible locations as he mentally dissected the case.

John had an impulse to hug the upset consulting detective but knew that Sherlock wouldn't appreciate the gesture. So he kept quiet and hoped for the best, despite knowing that their new adversary was an incarnation of Moriarty and would kill Susanna without hesitation.

It took five minutes for Sherlock to deduce their destination, and he paid a painstaking amount to get the cabbie to speed up and get there faster.

John paled when he saw that they had arrived at the very same pool where Moriarty had strapped a bomb to his chest and used him as a mouthpiece to throw Sherlock off. He looked at his brunette companion and noticed immediately how much it affected him.

Sherlock had many demons and skeletons in his closet, but this pool was the origin place of the deep shadows that had haunted him for too many years. As they got out John placed his hand on Sherlock's shoulder, "It'll be okay, Sherlock. You've saved her before. You can do it again and beat this game."

Thank you for reading! Do you like the new cover I made? Let me know in the comments!