His Last Vow (Sherlock Holmes X OC)

THREE- Keep Your Eyes Fixed On Me

That night, Anita met John at the entrance of the skyscraper, CAM Global News. The two of them entered the place and saw a TV screen broadcasting the company's news channel, which was showing a breaking news story about the arrest of MP John Gravie. John and Anita walked through the revolving doors and approached the security barriers which needed an electronic keycard to open them.

"Magnussen's office is on the top floor, just below his private flat, but there are fourteen levels of security between us and him, two of which aren't even legal in this country. Want to know how we're going to break in?" Sherlock asked as he approached the pair.

"Is that what we're doing?" Anita asked, rolling her eyes at him, still playing the role of 'pissed off ex-girlfriend.'

"Of course it's what we're doing," Sherlock replied and walked away. Later, Anita and the boys were walking towards an escalator and got on as Sherlock started to talk.

"Magnussen's private lift. It goes straight to his penthouse and office. Only he uses it and only his key card calls the lift. Anyone else even tries, security is automatically informed. Standard key card for the building. Nicked it yesterday. Only gets us as far as the canteen," Sherlock said as the trio got to the top and walked towards the lift, him holding out the card.

"If I was to use this card on that lift now, what happens?" Sherlock questioned, looking over at John and Anita.

"The alarms go off and you'd be dragged away by security," Anita replied.

"Exactly."

"Get taken to a small room somewhere and your head kicked in," John continued and Anita bit her lip, trying to hold back her laugh. Sherlock looked over at the two of them.

"Do we really need so much color?" he asked.

"It passes the time," John remarked. Sherlock gave him a look before pulling out his phone.

"But if I do this..." he pressed his mobile phone against the card.

"If you press a key card against your mobile phone for long enough, it corrupts the magnetic strip. The card stops working. It's a common problem- never put your key card with your phone...what happens if I use the card now?" Sherlock questioned.

"It still doesn't work," John responded.

"But it doesn't read as the wrong card now. It registers as corrupted," Anita said and Sherlock hummed at her.

"But if it's corrupted, how do they know it's not Magnussen? Would they risk dragging him off?" Sherlock said.

"Probably not," John and Anita replied.

"So what do they do? What do they have to do?" Sherlock pushed.

"Check if it's him or not," Anita stated, shoving her hands in her pockets. Her ring was back in it's pocket; John would have definitely noticed if she had an engagement ring on.

"There's a camera at eye height to the right of the door. A live picture of the card user is relayed directly to Magnussen's personal staff in his office- the only people trusted to make a positive ID at this hour, almost certainly his PA," Sherlock stated.

"S-so how's that help us?" John asked him.

"Human error. I've been shopping," Sherlock replied as he patted his breast pocket and made his way towards the lift.

"Here we go then," Sherlock whispered as he reached the lift doors, Anita and John following after him, and he pressed the corrupted card to the reader. John turned to Anita and she leaned over slightly to him as he did the same.