Fate Without Time

Chapter 36

When Sherlock and I came out of the flat, we saw the same homeless girl from before holding a paper cup by the railings on the other side of Speedy's. Just then, John stepped out of a cab and we walked over to him. "Alex Woodbridge didn't know anything special about art," said John. "And?" I asked. "And..." John trailed off. Sherlock and I walked over to the girl while we were still speaking to John. "Is that it? No habits, hobbies, personality?" asked Sherlock. "No, give us a chance! He was an amateur astronomer," said John. Sherlock and I both stopped and turned, pointing to the taxi. "Hold that cab," I said. While John went to the taxi, Sherlock and I went to the girl. "Spare change?" she asked. "Don't mind if I do," said Sherlock. The girl handed Sherlock a sheet of paper, and when opened, it read "VAUXHALL ARCHES". I gave Sherlock a high five, knowing that he just helped us find our next lead. Then, we walked over to John. "Fortunately, I haven't been idle," said Sherlock as he opened the door. "For the first time ever," I said as I got in. "Shut up!" Sherlock exclaimed as he got in. "Never! Come on, John," I said. Once John had gotten into the cab, we drove off.

A few minutes later, we had gotten out of the cab and were walking along Vauxhall. Sherlock and I were buttoning our coats as we looked up at the sky. "Beautiful, isn't it?" asked Sherlock. "I thought you didn't care about things like that?" I asked. "Doesn't mean I can't appreciate it," said Sherlock as we walked into the arches. "Listen: Alex Woodbridge had a message on the answerphone at his flat – a Professor Cairns?" asked John. "This way," I said. "Nice! Nice part of town. Er, any time you wanna explain," said John. "Homeless network – really is indispensable," said Sherlock. "Homeless network?" John repeated as he turned on his flashlight. "His eyes and ears all over the city," I said. "Oh, that's clever. So you scratch their backs and ..." "Yes, then I disinfect myself," Sherlock finished. I snickered a little as Sherlock and I turned on our flashlights. Our beams pick out homeless people all around the place, most of them settling down for the night. Suddenly, in the distance, the shadow of a man showed on a wall as he began to stand up. The man was incredibly tall. "Sherlock!" John and I whispered. "Come on!" Sherlock exclaimed. We ducked to the side of the wall while the man continued to straighten up for ages until he was over 7 feet tall. "What's he doing sleeping rough?" John whispered. Sherlock and I peered around the corner. "Well, he has a very distinctive look. He has to hide somewhere where tongues won't wag – much," I said. John looked down, obviously realizing that he came without his gun. "Oh shi..." Sherlock took John's pistol out of his coat. "What?" he asked. "I wish I'd..." "Don't mention it," Sherlock interrupted as he handed John the gun. The man broke into a run and hurried away down another tunnel. We chased across towards where he was and reached the tunnel just in time to see him climbing into a waiting car which immediately sped off. Sherlock punched the air in frustration. "No, no, no, no! It'll take us weeks to find him again," said Sherlock. "Or not. I have an idea where he might be going," said John. "What?" I asked. "I told you: someone left Alex Woodbridge a message. There can't be that many Professor Cairns in the book. Come on," said John.

As we ran into the theatre, we saw Professor Cairns being suffocated by the same tall man from the arches. John stopped and aimed his pistol towards the attacker. "Golem!" Sherlock yelled at the top of his lungs. The Golem looked up, grunted in surprise, then snapped Cairns' neck and dropped her to the floor. Her fingers drug along the mixing desk and the footage went into fast-forward, plunging the theatre into darkness. The Golem ducked down out of sight. "John!" Sherlock yelled. "I can't see him. I'll go round. I'll go!" John exclaimed. As John hurried off, Sherlock and I stared around at different ends of the room. "Who are you working for this time, Dzundza?" I asked loudly. Just then, I felt a hand clamp around my mouth and nose while gripping my neck with the other hand. I grabbed at the hand on my face, struggling to pull it free as I was slowly suffocated. John and Sherlock ran over and stopped in front of me and the Golem, John holding his pistol in both hands. "Golem!" John yelled as he cocked the gun and held it at the Golem's face, his hands and voice steady. "Let her go, or I will kill you," said John. I continued trying to pull the man's hand from my face. The Golem swung me around to the left and lashed out with his right leg during a moment of darkness, kicking the pistol from John's hands. He dropped me to the ground as he surged forward and tackled John. While that was going on, Sherlock quickly took me to the other end of the room and stuck an oxygen mask on my face as I was desperately trying to get air back into my lungs. "Take deep breaths, Alissa," he said. And after about two minutes, my breathing rate was back to normal as Sherlock removed the mask. "Why am I always the one getting hurt?" I asked. "I don't know," he said. Just then, we saw John fire two shots at the Golem, but he got away. Sherlock angrily slammed his hand down on the floor in front of him as the image of a supernova dramatically exploded on the screen behind him.