Sherlock Holmes in 2012: LORD OF DARKNESS RISING (5 page)

Knowing that Adnan would probably never be back at the Majestic, Sherlock and Irene exited the theatre only to be grabbed by two FBI agents that had been waiting for them by the front entrance. Not appreciating being manhandled in such a fashion, Irene dislodged her arm from the man’s grip and promptly slapped him across the face.

“Hey, lady, what did you do that for?” the agent yelled, while putting a hand to his cheek.

“If you were not so rude as to grab my arm for no reason whatsoever, sir, I would not have slapped you,” Irene replied under Holmes’s amused gaze. “I’m not some sort of criminal – and if you wish to talk to me then the least you could do is introduce yourself before you put your paws on me!”

Meanwhile, the other agent, who had stopped beside Holmes, was now observing the exchange with astonished hilarity. “Come on, Spanker,” he cut in, “we’ve got no time to waste on the woman”—he turned to Irene—“Sorry, ma’am, but my partner is a bit rough around the edges when it comes to meeting ladies…”

“
I’ll
say
he
is
!” Irene retorted. “Why don’t you keep him on a leash and put a muzzle on him before he bites someone?”

To that, Holmes erupted in laughter. Obviously, Irene’s Bohemian blood was steaming to a boil and these men had no idea who they were dealing with. “Gentlemen, if I may,” Holmes said, still chuckling, “why don’t we go in the lobby or somewhere more comfortable than the middle of the footpath to discuss what ever you have in mind?”

“Okay, Mr. Holmes, have it your way… ,” the agent who seemed to be in charge replied, pushing the entrance door open and letting Irene through. “I’m Special Agent Lancaster,” he added, taking a seat beside his partner. “And this is Special Agent Spanker.” He turned his head to him. Holmes and Irene took a seat on the sofa, facing the two agents. “We’ve been asked to advise you, Mr. Holmes, to leave New York as soon as possible and…”

“And why would that be?” Holmes asked.

“Because, as I’m sure you’ve gathered by now, our suspect is well aware of your meddling in his business and you’ve become a liability – along with your lady here.”

“This ‘lady here’,” Irene interjected, “has a name and would very much like to be addressed with it, if you wouldn’t mind, Agent Lancaster.”

“Well… , yes, of course, ma’am, and what would that name be?”

“This is Miss Irene Adler,” Holmes put in.

“And what were you doing in these premises,
Miss
Adler?
” Spanker asked. He was dying to know what this elegant-looking woman was doing at the Majestic at that hour and how she went in the theatre without any of his colleagues being the wiser.

“I don’t know that it would be any of your business, Agent Spanker, but I will satisfy your curiosity: I was looking for something I had misplaced during the Preview a couple of nights ago…”

“And how did you get in here? Every door has been under surveillance since early this morning – I don’t see how you could have passed unnoticed.”

“I guess your colleagues were not at their posts when I entered the loading dock…”

“Why did you go through there and not the main entrance?” Spanker asked, more than annoyed now.

Irene was about to answer, when Holmes interrupted this impromptu interrogation saying, “Let me… , Miss Adler… .” Irene nodded. “Miss Adler is a friend of mine, Agent Spanker. She came to my rescue, as it were, when she learned that I was attempting to spend the night in company of our fugitive, Mr. Adnan, in this theatre.” Holmes looked at Spanker and Lancaster in turn. “Will that satisfy either of your misplaced curiosity, gentlemen?”

“I supposed it will have to do for now,” Spanker replied, looking more dissatisfied than ever.

“Thank you, Mr. Holmes.” Lancaster paused and shot a disapproving glance at his partner. “Well then… , as I was saying, you and Miss Adler here are in danger. Our man, Adnan, knows that you’ve been meddling in his affairs and although we doubt very much that he’d be staying around to plant any bomb anywhere on Broadway anytime soon, Agent Denver of our office in Washington would prefer if you didn’t stick around New York for now.”

“I can certainly understand his concern,” Holmes said, “but I wouldn’t be too sure that the man has left the city for good. In fact, I would suggest that he’s counting on you and every other agent on the case being gone by tonight…”

“That may be so, Mr. Holmes,” Spanker piped-up, “but we need to appear to have left the premises for him to feel free to act again.”

“You are planning to leave some agents to survey the place then?” Irene asked.

“Yes, ma’am, that’s the plan,” Lancaster said. “How much good will that do, we’re not sure, but it’s better to cover all angles, wouldn’t you say?”

“Alright then,” Holmes said, getting to his feet, “we’ll be on our way back to Washington tonight as you wish.”

“But, Mr. Holmes… ,” Lancaster hesitated, “we’ve been ordered to accompany you to the train station and see you safely on board the Acela Express…”

“NO!” Irene exclaimed, rising from her seat, “we’re not going anywhere under escort, Agent Lancaster. If you want to be discreet about this – to save us from Mr. Adnan’s possible reprisal as you described – I suggest you don’t make a show of where we’re heading tonight. Letting Mr. Holmes and I decide the best course of action from now on, would be better for all concerned.”

“Okay, yes, I can see your point – let me call Agent Denver to let him know… ,” Lancaster concluded, taking his cell phone out of his pocket.

An hour later, Holmes and Irene were checking in at the Hilton Hotel. They needed to wait for Mycroft’s arrival later that afternoon and then make their way back to Washington the next day. Since neither of them had brought a change of clothes and since Irene had noticed that Holmes was in desperate need of a coat – the weather in late November on the Eastern Border was far from pleasant – she decided to take him shopping a few blocks away from the hotel. Apparently reluctant, Holmes nevertheless agreed that he wouldn’t last too long outside in the current weather conditions. He already regretted having left his coat and cap in the cab that morning. For the next two hours, Irene led him through a couple of men’s wear stores and bought a few items for herself along the way.

While resting for the afternoon, Irene decided she had better take stock of the situation. Since her arrival, she had been involved in a whirlwind of circumstances that brought her very much closer to Holmes and his tireless desire to chase the criminal elements everywhere he went. She also noticed that he had not allowed himself a day’s rest since he arrived and had put himself in harm’s way because of his lack of knowledge or understanding that this century was much more evolved than anyone could have foreseen. Holmes was acting – mostly reacting – as if he were still living in the 19
^th
century and that, Irene concluded, could ultimately cost him his life.

As soon as Mycroft landed, he called Irene from the taxi to let her know that he was on his way to the hotel and to ask her how her investigation of the Majestic stint had gone.

“To tell you the truth, Mycroft, I don’t think Sherlock is going to survive too long if he continues to chase criminals and terrorists the way he’s going about it at the moment.”

“How do you mean?” Mycroft asked; sounding instantly alarmed.

“Simply this: he’s acting as if the world was the same as the one he left – he has not given himself time to adapt to all the changes and improvements. He doesn’t realize that criminals in this century will have the upper hand sooner than later if he doesn’t study the means they have at their disposal to counter his efforts.”

“Give him time, Irene. He’s probably doing precisely that – studying the new parameters I mean – and be up-to-date, as it were, very soon.”

“Not soon enough, Mycroft. Even this morning, he had no idea that this Adnan fellow would know exactly where he was and when. Sherlock was simply lying in wait for him, as he would have done a hundred and twenty years ago. He didn’t realize that Adnan knew exactly where he was in the theatre and he could have killed him when he – Sherlock I mean – showed up on stage.”

“Yes, that was obvious from the conversation I heard on your phone. As you said, Adnan had the advantage…”

“Exactly, Mycroft, and that’s what is scaring me.” Irene didn’t want to admit it to Mycroft then, but she was very much in fear for Sherlock’s life.

“All right, my dear, I’ll be at the hotel in about an hour – given this insane traffic – and we’ll review the situation then.”

“Yes, but I’d rather we talk about this privately first, if you don’t mind?”

“Very well then; I’ll give you a ring as soon as I have checked into my suite and we’ll arrange to meet before dinner.”

Left alone in his room, after spending a couple of hours shopping with Irene, Sherlock lay on the bed atop the comforter. His mind was abuzz with possibilities – any possibility of Adnan still being in the vicinity of Broadway and planting a biochemical device anywhere along that avenue. He couldn’t come to terms with the fact that Adnan had had the edge on him since Holmes had first laid eyes on his name or since he had gleaned the bits and pieces from the internet and any information he could ferret out of Weisberg. However, it was quite clear to him that Adnan was smart, and understood his adversaries very well. Holmes had to admit that he had been taken by surprise when he had found that the spotlight on stage was following him… .
Extraordinary,
he thought. He got up and searched his pockets – his cell phone was gone. He had left it in his coat. He swore under his breath.
Now
what?
Holmes had been reluctant to use his mobile because it was another gadget for which he thought he had no need. Yet, now and then, this small device had proven useful. He would have to get another one… . He already hated himself for his apparent lack of care or incompetence. This world, which he had longed to see, to experience, had become a technological labyrinth, a maze of incomprehension and a nightmare of which he wanted no part. Although Holmes was not a man to give up so easily, he had to recognize that he needed many more hours of studying and much more hands-on involvement with the latest technology if he were to continue on his quest of uncovering criminal conspiracies or terrorist activities in the twenty-first century.

When Mycroft reached his suite at the Hilton Hotel, he immediately called Irene and asked her to come up “for a cup of tea and scones, if you like.”

By the time Irene arrived, the tea trolley was already awaiting her visit.

“Come in, my dear, come in,” Mycroft exclaimed genially when he flung the door wide-open for her.

“Good afternoon, Mycroft,” Irene replied, entering the suite and making her way to the sofa in the sitting room. “How was your trip?” she asked.

“As any trip in this century could be, my dear,” Mycroft said. He took a seat in the chair across from her. “Would you like some tea now or later?”

“Later, thank you. For now, I am anxious to know what you would propose to do… . I mean, I am very worried about Sherlock, as you must have gathered… ,” Irene said, bringing her body closer to the edge of the seat.

“Short of sending him back to 1890, I can only see one solution to this problem…”

“Which is?” Irene asked uneasily.

“Well… .” He paused. “Mind you, I would have to make some inquiries in that regard, but at the outset I would suggest that Sherlock, and maybe you as well, move to New Zealand.”

Irene hadn’t been expecting such an outlandish suggestion. She opened and closed her mouth and then shook her head as if she hadn’t heard him correctly. “Did you say New Zealand?”

Mycroft smiled. “Yes, I did suggest New Zealand, yes. But at this point, it is only a suggestion based on the fact that Sherlock carries a New Zealand passport and his visa for the US will expire in the next two months, if I’m not mistaken.”

Irene was agape now. “But how… ? How did he get a New Zealand passport? Did you have anything to do with that?” she asked, already suspicious of Mycroft’s possible manoeuvres.

Mycroft waved a hand in front of his face. “No, my dear, I had absolutely nothing to do with it, I can assure you. The fact came to light when I first met Sherlock in this century during a meeting at the CIA headquarters in Virginia.”

“But how… , I don’t understand,” Irene repeated.

“I don’t know how it happened, but there it is – Sherlock is a New Zealander in this century.”

“I see,” Irene said resignedly. “Let me ask you this then: if I were to accompany Sherlock to New Zealand, I presume I would need a passport – I mean a new British passport?”

“Yes, you would, of course. But that’s not a problem. I can get you a passport from the Defence Ministry in a couple of days… . That is, if you wanted to go to New Zealand with my brother.”

Irene had no word of reply. She needed to think about this.

After a long moment of silence between them, Mycroft said, “Would you like a cup of tea now?”