The Woman

15.Adler

"All right, John, you can turn it off now." I shout to him, he's done his job now I want the annoying alarm to shut off. "I said you can turn it off now." I say louder over the alarms.
"Give me a minute." He yells back, his voice
Just then the alarm turned off.  I look closely at the number pad on the front of the safe looking at the numbers she has pressed.
"Hmm. Should always use gloves with these things, you know. Heaviest oil deposit's always on the first key used – that's quite clearly the three – but after that the sequence is almost impossible to read. I'd say from the make that it's a six digit code. Can't be your birthday – no disrespect but clearly you were born in the eighties; the eight's barely used, so ..."
"I'd tell you the code right now but you know what? I already have." She smirks trying to test me. She has a ton of confidence, she uses that as her weapon. "Think." She repeats what I told her.
The door bursts open revealing a couple men,  the leader of the group, comes in and aims his pistol at me.
"Hands behind your head. On the floor. Keep it still." He commands the dark haired Irene.
A second man goes over to Irene and walks her nearer to John who is being bundled in by a third man.
"Sorry, Sherlock." John apologizes to me.
As I raise my hands, the leader looks round at Irene.
"Ms Adler, on the floor." He commands her as
His colleague shoves her to her knees beside John who has also been pushed to his knees and is doubled over with his hands behind his head and a pistol pointed to the back of his neck.
"Don't you want me on the floor too?" I ask playing around, even though this isn't the time to play. Annie would kill me if I got hurt or got John hurt. I don't know why but I can't keep that woman off my mind.
"No, sir, I want you to open the safe."
"American. Interesting. Why would you care?"
I glance across at Irene as she puts her hands behind her head.
"Sir, the safe, now, please." He grows more inpatient by the moment.
"I don't know the code." I admit truthfully hoping he'd by it.
"We've been listening. She said she told you." He waves his gun at me trying to scare me.
"Well, if you'd been listening, you'd know she didn't." I reply back quickly.
"I'm assuming I missed something. From your reputation, I'm assuming you didn't, Mr Holmes." Ah, so he is informed of me, he's done his research.
"For God's sake. She's the one who knows the code. Ask her." John pleads trying to save my back.
"Yes, sir. She also knows the code that automatically calls the police and sets off the burglar alarm. I've learned not to trust this woman." He informs us. Ah so he's been here before and she played him.
"Mr Holmes doesn't ..." Irene try's to defend me before getting cut off.
"Shut up. One more word out of you – just one – and I will decorate that wall with the insides of your head. That, for me, will not be a hardship." He yells at her with truth in his words. Annie would have said the same thing but would have given it a clever twist.

"Mr Archer. At the count of three, shoot Doctor Watson." He tells the man near John. Well played going after my weakness to get a point across.
"What?" John asks shocked.
"I don't have the code." I tell him once more trying to get my point across. John cowers down as Archer presses the muzzle of his pistol into the back of his neck and cocks the gun.
"One."
I then yell emphatically. "I don't know the code." I begin to grow frustrated with a twist of worry.
"Two." He stares at me waiting for me to crack.
"She didn't tell me. I DON'T KNOW IT!" I raise my voice so loud it echoes off the walls.
"I'm prepared to believe you any second now." He rolls his eyes with sarcasm.
I looks across to Irene who lowers her gaze pointedly downwards.
"Three!"
"No, stop!" I yell in haste.
The man holds up his free hand to stop Archer. John closes his eyes. I gaze into the distant while my mind works frantically, then I slowly turns towards the safe and lowering my hands. As the American watches me closely, I slowly reaches out a finger towards the keypad and punches the '3' and then the '2'. Hesitating for a moment, I then punches '2' and '4'. Pausing again, hitting  '3' and '4'. The safe beeps and noisily unlocks. Irene smiles in satisfaction as I sigh and close my eyes briefly. John sags lower on his knees and shuts his own eyes again.
"Thank you, Mr Holmes. Open it, please." The American smiles in victory. Twisting the button that will open the door, I glance across to Irene again who lowers her gaze to the floor and makes a tiny jerk with her head. I turns back to the safe knowing something is about to happen.
"Vatican cameos." I tell John urgently. Instantly John throws himself to the floor. At the same moment I pull open the door of the safe while ducking down below the fireplace.