THE DIOGENES CLUB.
Mycroft walks across one of the common rooms, where an old man is fast asleep in an armchair, and goes into the smaller private room, reaching for the door handle to close it, but he stops when he realises that John is sitting in one of the armchairs with his back to him. John is still looking through Kitty’s file.
"She has really done her homework, Miss Riley – things that only someone close to Sherlock could know." John said.
"Ah." Mycroft said closing the door.
"Have you seen your brother’s address book lately? Three names: yours, Vaness' and mine, and Moriarty didn’t get this stuff from her or me." John said.
Mycroft walks across the room to face him.
"John ..." Mycroft begins.
"So how does it work, then, your relationship? D’you go out for a coffee now and then, eh, you and Jim?" John asked.
Mycroft sits down in the chair opposite and opens his mouth but John interrupts again. His voice is full of controlled anger.
"Your own brother, and you blabbed about his entire life to this maniac." John said loudly.
"I never inten... I never dreamt ..." Mycroft tried to explain.
John interrupted him again.
"So this ...th-th-this ..." he looks through the papers again "... is what you were trying to tell me, isn’t it: 'Watch his back, ’cause I’ve made a mistake.'"
He slaps the papers down on the table beside his chair and sits back, clearing his throat as he tries to stay calm.
"How did you meet him?" John asked.
Mycroft draws in a long breath.
"People like him: we know about them; we watch them. But James Moriarty ... the most dangerous criminal mind the world has ever seen, and in his pocket the ultimate weapon: a keycode. A few lines of computer code that could unlock any door." Mycroft told him.
"And you abducted him to try and find the keycode?" John asked.
"Interrogated him for weeks." Mycroft said.
"And?" John asked.
"He wouldn’t play along." Mycroft said.
"He just sat there, staring into the darkness." Mycroft continued.
"The only thing that made him open up ... " Mycroft trails off, as if he remembers.
"I could get him to talk ..." he continued. "... just a little, but ..." He trails off. John grimly finishes the sentence for him.
"... in return you had to offer him Sherlock’s life story. So one big lie – Sherlock’s a fraud – but people will swallow it because the rest of it’s true." John said ruefully.
He leans forward in his chair.
"Moriarty wanted Sherlock destroyed, right? And you have given him the perfect ammunition." John told him.
"You know, you should thank Vaness. I'm sure she has a plan. And she's going to save your brother." John said.
He smiles bitterly at him. Mycroft lowers his eyes. John pulls in a sharp breath and then gets to his feet, turning towards the door.
"John ..."
John turns back. Mycroft looks up at him.
"I’m sorry." Mycroft said softly.
YOU ARE READING
Fandom Traveler (Sherlock Holmes)
Fanfiction1st in the Fandom Traveler Series Vaness Miche has been travelling a lot. But not by cars or airplanes, she's been traveling through dimensions by portal. A portal she created to escape her life. It hasn't been easy, arriving in a dimension she know...
