The Hounds of Baskerville (Sherlock x Female!Reader)

Chapter 7: Project H.O.U.N.D

Stapleton leads you and the boys into the area that leads to Major Barrymore's office. "John." Sherlock ordered as he pointed at the door you four came through. "Yeah, I'm on it." John said as he turns back to keep an eye on the door while Stapleton goes over to sit down at the computer.

"Project HOUND. Must have read about it and stored it away. An experiment in a CIA facility in Liberty, Indiana." Sherlock said and you nod at this as you vaguely remember reading about it somewhere as well. Stapleton types her User ID onto the computer as you and Sherlock stand behind her.

A request to Enter Search String comes up and she looks between you and Sherlock. "H, O, U, N, D." Sherlock said and she types the letter and hits enter. A message comes up saying "NO ACCESS. CIA Classified." and requesting an authorization code.

"That's as far as my access goes, I'm afraid." said Stapleton.

"Well, there must be an override and password." John said.

"I imagine so, but that'd be Major Barrymore's." Stapleton said as Sherlock spins around and walks into Barrymore's office. "Password, password, password." He mutters and he switches the lights in the room on and sits down at the desk.

"He sat here when he thought it up." Sherlock muttered as he folds his hand in front of his lips and slowly spins a full circle on the chair, looking around the office as he goes.

You and Stapleton walk to the doorway of the office. "Describe him to me." Sherlock said.

"You've seen him." Stapleton said.

"But describe him." You told her.

She looks over at you then looks back at Sherlock and starts to think. "Er, he's a bloody martinet, a throw-back, the sort of man they'd have sent into Suez." She said.

"Good, excellent. Old-fashioned, traditionalists; not the sort that would use his children's names as a password. He loves his job; proud of it and this is work related, so what's at eye level?" Sherlock asked as you scan the room as well. You gesture to the right. "Books."

Then you gesture to the left. "Jane's Defence Weekly--bound copies." You said then you look back to the right and look at some of the books on the shelf. "Hannibal; Wellington; Rommel; Churchill's 'History of the English-Speaking Peoples'--all four volumes." You said and Sherlock stands up and looks at a bronze bust on a shelf.

"Churchill--well, he's fond of Churchill. Copy of The Downing Street Years; one, two, three, four, five separate biographies of Thatcher." said Sherlock and you look down at the framed photograph on the desk of a man in uniform standing with his teenage son.

"Mid 1980s at a guess. Father and son: Barrymore senior. Medals: Distinguished Service Order." You said and you and Sherlock look over at John, who came up to the office door. "That date? I'd say Falklands veteran." said John.

"So Thatcher's looking a more likely bet than Churchill." You said as Sherlock nods at you and walks out of the office and heads back to the computer. "So that's the password?" Stapleton asked as you, her and John follow Sherlock.

"No. With a man like Major Barrymore, only first name terms would do." He said and he starts to type Margaret Thatcher's first name into the "Auth code" box but stops when he reaches the penultimate letter.

He narrows his eyes and deletes everything back to the first letter, then retypes it as Maggie. He hits enter and the computer beeps happily and announces OVERRIDE 300/421 ACCEPTED. Loading... You, John and Stapleton look over Sherlock's shoulder as information begins to stream across the screen as everything related to Project H.O.U.N.D. becomes available: