LONDON
They all gathered in what appears to be a private instalation of a hospital. There is no other patient in the building aside from the one allowed to enter it.
There gathered, Sherlock, John, James, Lady Elizabeth, and Mycroft who is still in a wheel chair.
"How is she?" Sherlock asked.
"Weak but alive. She has a little bit of mall nutrition, probably because living in the outback with minimum contacts with source of food. The gas makes her more weak, and also.. the stress of the journey, while carrying baby everywhere, must have take a toll on her. But other than that.. just give her a time to heal." Lady Elizabeth said.
"It's time we compare notes, is it?" she said again.
"Where should we begin?" Mycroft asked. He sitting down in a wheelchair.
"Right from the moment you try to fake her death." Sherlock said
"Correction, she is the one who fake her own death." Mycroft replied.
"Alright, do jump in if you need so. So it's started on Valentine's day, she faked her death, made us believe.. well made you guys believe that she killed herself." Lady Elizabeth said.
"That probably the whole picture." John said.
"Did you lads ever wonder, how I am able to helped you on the right time that night?5" Lady Elizabeth asked, not shy from exagerating the fact that the men owed her their life.
"Please, enlight us." Mycroft said.
"It was her who alarmed us. She send me a note, asking for cooperation." Lady Elizabeth explained.
"How did she do that?" John asked.
"With this." Lady Elizabeth shown them a picture of a little bucket of rose, the one she received from Mycroft.
"The roses!" Mycroft shouted.
"You sent roses?" Sherlock disgusted.
"There was a note inside it, informing what might happened and asking for assistance too. Therefore, I sent James to investigate, but.. James also has personal reason, aren't you James?" Lady Elizabeth looks at his subordinate dearly.
"I'll explain myself when the right time comes." he smirked.
"What will you gain by helping her?" John asked.
Lady Elizabeth meaningfully smiles and look at Mycroft. "Power over one or two things."
"Here's a question. So all this time, those riddle password, puzzled treasure hunts.. who helped her with that? Is it.. Moriarty or is it you guys?"
"I think, Moriarty did made an appearance to her, but before he exposed himself to her. She already consulted to Hercule Poirot, with me." James said surprising everybody.
"And when Moriarty finally asked her to lured out Sherlock and John out of London, she already knows what to do."
"About this guy, is he really Moriarty or..?"
"Fake." Sherlock said. "I told you Moriarty is dead right. This guy is.."
"Indeed Moriarty. Only not the same one you encountered before." Lady Elizabeth cuts in. She presented a photo. "Moriarty has a brother. He might instructed his brother to do this after his death. And.. I think Moriarty also composed it with a help."
"By who?" John asked.
"Eurus." Mycroft answered. "Those five minutes unsupervised visit must have orchastrated all this."
"So, Ms. Hooper came to Hercule Poirot asking for advice. All the puzzle password must have come from Moriarty, engineered by his brother and Eurus."
"How about that guy in the outback, with all those boys?" John asked.
"Part of Moriarty's plan." Sherlock answered.
"There's something bothering me." John said. " At the warehouse, when you strapped into the operation table.. how did you know she's faking it? After she jammed a knife to your chest."
Sherlock smiles. "Picture of Dorian Gray." he said.
"What?" John confused
"Remember when we came to Molly's apartment to investigate her death.. and there's a big bookshelf on her flat?"
"Yeah, sure."
"The books on the shelf were all brand new, untouch, except one.."
"Picture of Dorian Gray." John guessed.
"That's right. So I read it, as you know, a couple times. And that night at the warehouse when I was tied to the table, she recited it. A quote.. actually two quotes from Picture of Dorian Gray. As you know Dorian Gray has a secret painting, in which his true self was hide on that painting. And the one he presented in front of everybody is the fake one. That's what Molly had been doing back then."
"So the book was a code and a message for you."
James summed up.
"That and the fact she slipped a scalpel under the operation table so I can set myself free." Sherlock added.
"The one thing that we missed is that, Moriarty actually targeting the older Holmes not the younger one." Lady Elizabeth continued. "He dreamed big, but he is not his brother, this Moriarty. All the good plan, but he lacked on the actual action, just look at all the fools he hired for guards. Thankfully it played well in our favor."
"Well then, we can only confirms all this to her later." Lady Elizabeth closes the meeting. "You might want to know, I've offered her a job. Since she already pronounced death, she might need a new life in here." she added.
***
A few days later Sherlock and John comes to the private hospital again to visit Molly and Mycroft. Before they enter the building, Sherlock suddenly stops.
"John, why don't you get inside first. There's something I need to do." Sherlock ordered. John leaves Sherlock outside the instalation park.
"You still haven't you know." Sherlock said as he approaches James who quietly standing out in the park.
He smiles. "I thought I could catch you here." he said. "I still haven't what?"
Sherlock sits on the bench nearby. "You still haven't explain yourself to us yesterday."
"Well, I thought I might consulted to you first, before I enter more deeply. But please, by all means, do what you always do." he said.
Sherlock sighs. "You're a British, or at least raised by Briton, there's no doubt about that. But.. you have those tan, I remember I once saw those tan somewhere. It wasn't just a holiday tan, you must have spent your childhood somewhere to gained those tone on your skin."
"And then I remember, where I saw that kind of tan before.." Sherlock looks at James straight in the eyes now. "It was Mary. She used to had those."
Sherlock stands up "And you seems younger than her, having the same career as a spy, but people in your field tends to avoid each other outside works, but you chose to get involved, so you're not her aquintance.. you are her brother, aren't you? You are Mary's plan for Molly and Rosie."
James laughs. "You really are as good as she told me."
"When the last time she contacted you?"
"When that AGRA thing blew over. She feared for Rosie, I guess people change once they had family on their own." James answered.
"This is the part where you explain the rest. I'm not psychic, I don't know everything." Sherlock demanded.
James sighs, he now has serious expression on his face. "Mary and I are not real siblings. We were.. orphan kids, stranded on a cargo ship, ready to be sold to any highest buyer. She was older, so she's kinda protected me, especially when the other kids on the ship died one by one.. Unplanned, the ships stranded in a far away continent, the crew decided to abort the mission and killed all the evidence, including us.. but, I guess fate brought us there. The ship was stranded in Africa, before the ship's crew tried to kill us, the local safe us. The local led by an English man, named Alan Quatermaine."
Sherlock eyes widen, and slowly he responded. "That name is well known, especially in his time."
James cheerfull manner is gone. "I think when we met him, the hunter in him already soften. He just burried his son and in deep mourned. He can't let two british kids died under his watch.. so he adopted us, teaching us the one thing that he is good at."
Sherlock subtly nods. "No wonder you guys so good at shooting."
"After his death, Mary tried to buy her way back into queen's arm. With her specialty off course, I guess she had this dream of having a family here. I'm glad she had it." James continued. "I'm on the other hand travel the world.. until she contacted me."
"So you're here for Rosie?"
"That.. and see the man she died for." James looks at Sherlock intensely.
Suddenly they see John comes out the instalation and running towards them.
"Sherlock, Molly.. she's gone."
"What?!"
"She asked the nurse what date is today and then she's gone."
Sherlock face turns pale. "It isn't over yet.. but how?" Sherlock looks at James. "James?"
James lift his shoulder. "Honestly, I don't know anything."
Sherlock grabs James jacket tightly, "If you want to avenge your sister that is fine. But don't take it on her."
James looks at Sherlock, "Why are you always assuming that people wants to have revenge on you?" Sherlock releases his grasps. He quickly thinks and search his memory.
"Sherlock?" John asked.
"Let me think, you just go back to Rosie, make sure she is alright."
John hesitantly leaves. Sherlock open his eyes.
"Why can't you came with us? Back then, on Sydney, you gave us Molly's whereabout.. You've been trailing us to Singapore, why stopped in Sydney?"
"James sighs, "If you must know, Lady Elizabeth called me to investigate the death of his ex-husband. You know, Lord Smallwood. He's been under suspision involved in some kind of child prostitution ring.."
Sherlock suddenly realizes something.
"Do you know where Lord Smallwood estate is?"
"If I do, what do you want me to do?"
"Let's go then."
James stands still at first, but then he finally follows Sherlock.
***
They arrived at huge mansions in London suburb. The entrance ia guarded by two man in black suit, and by the looks of it, is heavily equiped with surveillance camera.
"Like we planned, okay." Sherlock said while putting a wig and a hat.
James steps out of the car and calmly approaches the guard's station.
"Is this Lord Smallwood former estate?" he asked to one of the guard.
"State your business."
"I'm here on behalf of Lady Elizabeth Smallwood, she has some of her belongings she wants to acquired here."
"That will need permission."
"That is absurd isn't it? She was his wife, why would she need permission to enter her late husband's mansions?" James continued. "Here, look at this.." James shown something to both of the guard. Sherlock quietly climbs the side of the mansions unseen by the guards, but he know somewhere there's a camera caught his act. And that is why he needs to hurry.
He sneaks the huge mansions which is pretty quite. And he comes across a room with slightly open door and take a peeks.
He sees a man is talking to his maid.
"Take it downstairs." the maid follows his order without complaint. Sherlock hides as the maid walk outside the room to what appear to be a circular stair heading to the basement.
He follows the maid before someone grabs his neck and throw him to the ground. Now someone is choking his neck. Right before everything get blurry, the guy suddenly collapses. Sherlock quickly stands up and look what caused his attacker to fell.
The maid standing in front of him with a syringe in her hand. Only that maid is Molly. They look each other before she speaks. "Quick, hide him in the closet."
"You really need to explain a lot of things to me."
Sherlock said after they finished hiding the guy.
"Come on. Let's go." Molly replied.
"Where are you going?" Sherlock asked as Molly make her way down to basement.
"If you help me, I tell you later."
They sneak slowly in to the basement. The basement must've been a winery before, but now in addition to a rack of wine, there's a construction of big wooden boxes. And in the next minutes Sherlock realizes that big wooden boxes is actually rooms. Or more appropriate to call it a dungeon. In each boxes there's a small door and small window. Before they approach the wooden rooms, Sherlock already know what's in it.
"Clay.." Molly whispered. "Ethan."
"Who's there?" A man appears from behind a big drum.
Both Sherlock and Molly are surprised.
"Hhe told me to give you this." Molly said. Molly hands him a letter.
"6-7 years old huh. What do they think this is, an elementary school? I'll just give them the young looking one." He then takes a key from his pocket, and open one of the wooden room's door.
When his back is facing Molly and Sherlock, Molly quickly jammed a syringe into his neck. The guy tries to grabs her, but Sherlock quickly kick him to the ground. They stands there waiting for the drugs to kick in.
"What did you gave him?" Sherlock asked.
"Something from the hospital." said Molly as she searchs for keys in the guy's pocket.
"That is the second time I asked you that question." Sherlock mumbled.
"What?"
"Nothing. Who are you looking for here?"
"Clay and Ethan." she said.
Molly opens one door, and Sherlock finally see what he's been suspecting. The box room filled with kids. There are two to three kids in each box room. They looks at Molly and Sherlock in blank expression.
"They were drugged." Sherlock said while takes out his phone.
"What are you doing?" Molly whispered.
"How do you think we're going to get out from here without help? I'm calling Lestrade." Sherlock said.
"Hey, Mike! Is everything okay down there? What takes you so long?"
They can hear another man is coming down to the basement. Molly and Sherlock hides in one of the box room, the two kids inside it confusedly looking at them.
Sherlock put a finger over his mouth so the kids won't speak anything.
"Mike!" the man spotted the guy name Mike passed out on the floor.
"You still have those syringe from the hospital?" Sherlock looks at Molly.
"Sorry, I'm out." she said.
Sherlock has no other options but to face the man head on.