The Other Side - BBC Sherlock Fanfiction

Chapter 4 - The First Step

Angel

We pull up to the audition venue at 10:30, with about half an hour to spare. Jim spends this time rehearsing his I’m-not-a-criminal-I-love-kids act. It is very odd, and I am slightly alarmed by how easily he adjusts, having said that though, I’m not much different.

When 11:00 arrives we clamber stiffly out of the hired Peugeot we have been sitting in and begin to make the short walk into the building. Once inside it is show time, we both act nervous so as to blend in with the rest of the people there. Jim notifies the girl at the front desk that he’s here and is directed to a seat. Carrying on our performance I mutter, supposedly words of encouragement, into his ear – of course, really I am pointing out all of the embarrassing and poorly hidden secrets of the other interviewees.

Eventually, what seems like hours later, Jim is called in. I give him a kiss on the cheek, a very strange sensation, I doubt many people have done that before. I try by best not to snicker at the look of dread on his face. When he is out of my sight I take the chance to check my phone, which has been buzzing relentlessly for the past 15 minutes.

As suspected there is a string of angry messages from Moran who seems to have been caught, as planned between me and Mycroft. There is also a missed call from Mycroft, he never likes to text. This is all the confirmation that I need to know that Operation Roulette is fully underway.

Jim

Inevitably, the audition is dreadfully boring and it takes all of my self-control to restrain from killing someone. I try to sound as nice as possible and I know that they buy it and look impressed. Although every bone in my body wants to run away and avoid having to read stories about princesses to three year olds I know what I have to do in order to accomplish my goals.

When I’m finally excused I am greeted by an oddly sombre looking Angel, she doesn’t say anything, just hands me her phone. I put it to my ear and mutter a “Hello.” I am met with a rushed response,

“Moriarty, it’s Moran. I hate to bother you but I may or may not have gotten myself caught.” He takes a nervous pause, waiting for my response. I sigh in disappointment, this is an inconvenience, and I quickly assess my options: I can either get him out or leave him there to sort out his own mess – it’s not as if I don’t have anybody to replace him. Being the heartless man that I am, I go for the latter option. I raise the phone back to my face and voice my decision calmly to Moran. He starts to protest but I hang up, not wanting to listen to him whine. I glance at Angel and say “What an idiot! I suppose I should’ve anticipated it, right?” She silently agrees before suggesting that we head home, I willingly oblige.

In the car we run through the potential replacements for Sebastian; this takes most of the journey. We eventually settle on a bloke called Jason Atkins. I’ve known his for a number of years and, though I wouldn’t say that I trust him – he is an assassin after all – I know that he is reliable. Angel has the task of telling him the good news as I am driving and he is rather cool about the whole affair.

I remember that when I first employed Moran, he spoke about how honoured he felt for a good few minutes after he found out. One of the reasons which I dislike him so much is that he tends to do that sort of thing, he talks and talks forever. He is a good shot, though, and has proven to be useful on other occasions too, or else I would’ve gotten rid of him long ago.