Carry On | A BBC Sherlock Fanfic

The Investigation Goes Sideways

Despite his initial reluctance, Jacob proved to be an adept inside man and performed his role without a hitch. The Holmes and Watson duo made smooth progress with their investigation into Charles Mundungus, uncovering a sticky web of criminal activity, but a recent development in said activity made them hold off on having him arrested just yet—there was a new base for his human trafficking operation and once they found it and passed its address onto the police, they could arrest the man and free the victims of his criminal trade all at once.

It was an overcast Tuesday evening when Sherlock was pinged by his homeless network that Mundungus was heading out. By now Sherlock had narrowed his search down to three possible areas after analysing dirt from Mundungus's tires combined with the time he took on his outings, and today the network had found which direction he was travelling in, narrowing the list of possible places to one. So that evening the duo found themselves in that place.

They stood before a large abandoned warehouse somewhere to the south of London, or as John would describe it: 'the middle of nowhere'. The entrance was wide open like a dark gaping mouth and two overfilled yellow skips were just beside it, sinking into the soil with their weight.

"This place is abandoned," John said, a note of disappointment in his voice.

"No, it's in the process of being cleaned out. This isn't an existing human trafficking hub, but it will soon become one."

"If we don't stop it."

"Yes."

Determined, they walked forward, shining their torchlights into the gaping entrance and venturing inside. They were barely in the building for 10 seconds before Sherlock's phone went off. He glanced at the screen. Billy. "Sorry, I've got to take this," he said.

"Who is it?" John asked.

"Someone," Sherlock replied, already walking out into the night.

"Is it the woman?"

"No!"

John chuckled and continued looking, shifting his torch beam around the place. Despite the two full skips outside, the place was still a dump. Metal chains hung from the roof beams. Scraps of all sorts littered the floor and were hastily shoved into piles. Odd bits of equipment were propped up here and there, like the cylinder of a hand-operated cement mixture. John shoved things aside with his foot as he advanced through the mess. One such thing, a metal pipe clattered unusually after it was kicked aside. There was a faint splash soon after. Frowning, John inspected the floor and found a gaping hole to his immediate right. "Blimey," he whispered to himself. Inching closer, he shone his torch into it and speckles of light reflected back off of murky water. It looked like a flooded basement. After the water's cleared up, a hidden basement would make the perfect place for hiding people. "No wonder Mundungus chose this place," John muttered darkly.

He stepped back and a flash of red in his torch beam caught his eye. It was a red shoe, no two, attached to trousers and a shirt... Holy hell there was a whole slumped body in that corner.

"Sherlock!" John called out as he cautiously approached the man. He became aware of a faint beeping as he got closer but ignored it in favour of checking the man's vitals. No breathing, no pulse. John felt his heart sink. The man was dead.

And the beeping wasn't coming from the dead man, but the shelf behind him. Knowing there was nothing John could do for the man, he got up in search of the sound. It quickly became apparent that the source of it wasn't on the shelf, but behind it.

With a huff, John heaved the shelf and sent it crashing onto its side. He couldn't have guessed that such a simple action would both expose his fate and seal it.