A New Mystery at 221 Baker Street

Chapter 69: Even Exchange

Episode Transcript provided by Ariane DeVere/Callie Sullivan

***

Alice sat alone in an empty sitting room in one of the offices in Whitehall.

"Alice Whitmer," A danish voice said. Charles Augustus Magnussen entered through the door behind her alone.

Alice stood up and turned around to face the Napoleon of Blackmail. "Mr. Magnussen. Thank you for accepting my invitation,"

"I am never one to reject a polite invitation to tea,"

Alice smirked and welcomed him to sit down at the small table set for afternoon tea. Magnussen obliged and sat down in the seat closest to the window. "I invited you here to discuss two important matters at hand. I am sure you are prepared for both topics," she said as she handed him a freshly poured cup of tea.

"Does it make you feel safer to have the meeting here?" Magnussen asked, gesturing to the room and the view out the window. "Whitehall; the Cabinet Office,"

Alice took a sip of her tea before placing the cup and saucer down on the table. "Where we would have this meeting would make no difference to you. I trust your security detail is standing outside,"

"Naturally,"

"How kind of you to place such trust in me that you enter without them. So, have you found my pressure point yet?"

Magnussen pushed up his glasses and took a closer look at the woman before him.

Alice Whitmer

Freelance Worker (See File)

Finances: Unknown

Pressure Point:

Sherlock Holmes

John Watson

Nicholas Whitmer

Mycroft Holmes

Alice observed his stance. "Oh, I'm sure you could find it without those glasses,"

Magnussen let out a slight chuckle. "You are the first to notice. I must say, you have quite the list,"

"I am sure you know that technology happens to be one of my specialities. Now, back to why I invited you here,"

"Yes, I believe you would like to speak about Mrs. Watson,"

"No, I am sure Sherlock has already made a deal with you regarding Mary. I am requesting information on someone else: James Moriarty,"

Magnussen cocked his head. "Do you find yourself missing him? I do recall that he was rather smitten with you,"

"Whether or not he had feelings for me doesn't matter. I want to make sure my theories on him are correct,"

"And what are you willing to provide me?"

"Me. I am willing to offer my talents to you. I happen to be well respected by the American Government. Imagine what you could do with two of the most powerful countries in the palm of your hand,"

Alice smirked as she watched Magnussen weigh the pros and cons in his head before holding out his hand for her to shake.

"I'll only need the hard copies. They tend to be harder to procure compared to the information that resides in your mind palace," she said as she shook his hand.

"It may take some time to get them all in order, even with my name involved,"

"Naturally. You are a busy man, take your time,"

"Expect a package around November," Magnussen said as he left the sitting room.

*** NOVEMBER ***

Sherlock and John sat in their chairs, facing Alice. Her flash drive sat on the table beside John.

"I want there to be no more secrets about my past between us," She looked over at John, who had been staying in his old room for the past couple of months. "You may stop me whenever you feel uncomfortable,"

"As you know, I worked for the American department of defence from 2001 to 2005. I took some time off before working freelance in 2006. Within the first few months of doing freelance, I became part of a group,"

"AGRA," John responded.

"Yes,"

"Mary said it was both of you. What does that mean exactly?"

"There were four of us. AGRA stood for our names: Ajay, Gabriel, Me, and Ros-"

John held his hand up. "I want to hear her name from her,"

Alice nodded in understanding. "Those pen drives, we all had them. Each had our aliases, backgrounds, everything. There was supposedly absolute trust between all of us because we all had means to destroy the other,"

"Who employed you?" Sherlock asked.

"Anyone who paid well enough. Major governments, high profile officials. Each of us had our talents and specialities that could make us dangerous both in front of or behind the scenes. I was the youngest and the newest in the group. All of the members had a good number of years of experience in comparison to me,"

"What happened? Why'd you stop?" John questioned.

"There was an incident: a coup in Georgia. The British embassy in Tbilisi was taken over. There were lots of hostages and we got a call to go in and get them out. Nothing out of the ordinary. Apparently, there was a last-minute change,"

"Who from?"

Alice shrugged. "I don't know. I was told by Mary that it was just another voice on the phone with a code word: Ammo. We went in and something went wrong," She paused for a few seconds to collect herself. "We were betrayed. Tbilisi was messy. Many died, and those who didn't were tortured; myself included- me, Ajay, and Gabriel. It's not something I'd like to remember. The screams, the pain,"

John looked at her horrified.

"I got out after a while. I went home and got a job at a small book store- somewhere inconspicuous. Like I said before: it's nice and quiet. Nobody ever bothers to notice a girl in a shop. We just blend into the background hearing whispers and stories of the outside world. It was my grandmother who suggested that I go to a different country for a while. She suggested here since she grew up in England and has known Mrs. Hudson since they were young. I followed her advice and came here to try to clear my head. You two know the rest,"

"You didn't change your name, why?" Sherlock asked, intrigued.

"It is a way for me to come to terms with who I was and what I've done in my life. I think part of me buried the aftermath of Tbilisi in the depths of my mind. But memories can resurface, wounds can reopen. The roads we walk have demons beneath. I'm not perfect and I sure as hell am not innocent. And it pains me to say that six or seven years ago, I might have joined Moriarty. I'm not asking for forgiveness, I just want there to no more secrets about who I am,"

***

Thank you all for being patient. Going to school fulltime and working part-time hasn't provided me much time to write. However, all your kind comments and comments are very motivating.