Sentiment {Sherlock BBC}

38. "Solving."

"Your parents?" John asked.

"In town for a few days." Sherlock said.

"Your parents?" John asked again.

"Mycroft promised to take them to a matinee of "Les Mis." Tried to talk me into doing it." Sherlock added.

"Those were your parents?" John asked once again making me giggle. John peeked out the window watching Sherlock's parents go.

"Yes." Sherlock responded.

"Well... That is not what I..." John began then looked to me and Sherlock.

"What?" Sherlock asked.

"I-I mean they're just... so... ordinary." John said with a smile.

"It's a cross I have to bear." Sherlock sighed, smirking. John laughed and stepped back toward the center of the room.

"Did they know, too?" John asked and I looked at Sherlock as well.

"Hmm?" Sherlock hummed.

"That you spent the last two years playing hide and seek." John added and I looked at Sherlock curiously.

"Maybe." Sherlock muttered.

"Ah! So that's why they weren't at the funeral." John said and I rolled my eyes at Sherlock.

"Sorry. Sorry again." Sherlock frowned at us. "Sorry." Sherlock said again, to me personally this time. "See you've shaved it off, then." Sherlock added motioning to where John's mustache once was.

"Yeah. Wasn't working for me." John sighed.

"Mm, I'm glad." Sherlock joked.

"What, you didn't like it?" John asked.

"No. I prefer my doctors clean-shaven." Sherlock smirked and I rolled my eyes.

"That's not a sentence you hear every day!" John said and I laughed.

"Okay you two..." I remarked. John sat down in his chair and I noticed a few cuts and such on the side of his face, surely from the other night.

"How are you feeling?" Sherlock asked.

"Yeah, not bad. Bit... smoked." John responded.

"Right." Sherlock nodded and looked over at me.

"Last night – who did that? And why did they target me?" John asked.

"I don't know." Sherlock responded with a sigh.

"Is it someone trying to get to you through me? Is it something to do with this terrorist thing you talked about?"

"I don't know. I can't see the pattern. It's too nebulous." Sherlock began as he walked over to his wall with papers and photographs pinned up. "Why would an agent give his life to tell us something incredibly insignificant? That's what's strange."

""Give his life"?" John asked.

"According to Mycroft. There's an underground network planning an attack on London – that's all we know." Sherlock responded. "These are my rats, John."

"Rats?" John asked, even I looked up in curiosity.

"My markers: agents, low-lifes, people who might find themselves arrested or their diplomatic immunity suddenly rescinded. If one of them starts acting suspiciously, we know something's up. Five of them are behaving perfectly normally, but the sixth..." Sherlock said pointing to the photograph.

"I know him, don't I?" I looked over Sherlock's shoulder and looked at the man as well. He was the man from the disappearing car on the train. The more I thought about it, I realized who it was.

"Lord Moran, peer of the realm, Minister for Overseas Development. Pillar of the establishment." I said. Sherlock raised an eyebrow at me as John pointed with approval.

"Yes!" John exclaimed.

"He's been working for North Korea since 1996." Sherlock said.

"What?" John asked.

"He's the Big Rat. Rat Number One. And he's just done something very suspicious indeed." Sherlock nodded. He grabbed his laptop and pulled up the footage.

"Yeah, that's... odd. There's nowhere he could have got off?" John asked.

"Not according to the maps." Sherlock said motioning to the wall.

"Mm." John nodded.

"There's something – something, something I'm missing, something staring me in the face." Sherlock said as he looked at the wall again and pulled out his phone that beeped. I stood up getting bored with them and walked into the kitchen. I was hungry. I looked around the flat and frowned at the lack of food.

"Any idea who they are – this underground network?" I heard John ask. "Intelligence must have a-a list of the most obvious ones."

"Our rat's just come out of his den." Sherlock replied.

"Al-Qaeda; the IRA have been getting restless again – maybe they're gonna make an appearance..." John tried.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES! I've been an idiot – a blind idiot!" Sherlock shouted excitedly.

"What?" John asked.

"Oh, that's good. That could be brilliant."

"What are you on about?" John asked and I walked into the living room standing behind John's chair staring at the two men.

"Mycroft's intelligence – it's not nebulous at all. It's specific – incredibly specific." Sherlock said.

"What do you mean?" John asked sternly.

"Not an underground network, John. It's an Underground network."

"Right." John said and I looked at them.

"What?" I asked confused.

"Sometimes a deception is so audacious, so outrageous that you can't see it even when it's staring you in the face." Sherlock replayed the footage again explaining his theory to John.

"Look – seven carriages leave Westminster... but only six carriages arrive at St James's Park." Sherlock said. My eyes widened,

"But that's... I... it's-it's impossible." John said.

"Moran didn't disappear – the entire Tube compartment did. The driver must have diverted the train and then detached the last carriage." Sherlock said.

"Detached it where?! You said there was nothing between those stations." I said.

"Not on the maps, but once you eliminate all the other factors, the only thing remaining must be the truth. That carriage vanished, so it must be somewhere." Sherlock said pointing to the train on the screen.

"But why, though? Why detach it in the first place?" John asked as Sherlock began pacing around the room.

"It vanishes between St James's Park and Westminster. Lord Moran vanishes. You're kidnapped and nearly burned to death at a fireworks par..." He stopped and I smiled knowing Sherlock figured it out.

"What's the date – today's date?" Sherlock asked.

"Hmm? November the... My God." John said and I looked between them confused. Sherlock walked over to his wall and looked around.

"Lord Moran – he's a peer of the realm. Normally he'd sit in the House. Tonight there's an all-night sitting to vote on the new anti-terrorism Bill. But he won't be there. Not tonight. Not the fifth of November." Sherlock said.

""Remember, remember."" John added.

""Gunpowder treason and plot."" Sherlock said.

_____________________________________________________

Sorry this chapter was kinda dry. Ugh.

Vote and comment! :)