Sherlock Holmes in 2012: LORD OF DARKNESS RISING by Mohammad Bahareth Read Free Book Online Page A

”.”
    “Well then, I would suggest that you stop pussyfooting around and ask her if she would consider accompanying you to Wellington.”
    Sherlock joined the tips of his fingers in front of him and began flexing his hands rhythmically. “Do you think she would prefer accompanying me as opposed to staying in Washington and looking after the house?”
    To say that Mycroft was taken aback by the suggestion, would be an understatement – he was literally outraged. “How could you?” he uttered, getting up from his seat. “Irene Adler is a lady, Sherlock – not a housekeeper!”
    “I would not think of her that way, Mycroft, and you know it – but who is there that I could trust with the house? I would want to return to it and find it in the same state as I left it, not transformed into a guesthouse or lodging of some sort…”
    “Hold it right there,” Mycroft blurted, returning to his seat. “I will personally see to it that your house is well looked after, Sherlock – that’s not a problem. However, I don’t want you to use the house as an excuse not to ask Irene to accompany you.” He took his Cognac snifter from the table and drank from it. “As you know by now, I can travel to Washington as I please and as quickly as a five-hour flight would take me, but I would not be able to do the same if you were to live in New Zealand. Air transport these days is fast and reliable, I grant you, but Wellington would be some 20 hours’ away in any given condition.”
    Sherlock nodded. “And I still don’t know anything about New Zealand. Perhaps it would be good for me to have a companion in this venture,” he said musingly. “I wish Watson was here,” he added, thinking of his friend. Where would he be now?
     
    An hour later, Sherlock had decided, once they were back in Washington, to ask Irene to help him furnish the house in Baker Street, and then accompany him to Wellington. Mycroft, although pleased with the decision, was somewhat sad. After finding his brother again, he secretly felt as if he was about to lose him once more. He quickly shrugged the feeling away, reminding himself that New Zealand wasn’t that far after all, and that correspondence was only seconds away.
    If Sherlock had not many choices in the matter of going to New Zealand, Irene had not either. She had spent the rest of the evening pondering the possibilities offered to her. She could return to 1890 and resume her life on the stage or she could stay in this century and remain in Washington –  doing what? was the question – or she could accompany Sherlock to Wellington. But would he be willing to have a woman at his side? was another question that needed answering.
     
    At about 3:00AM that night, the silence enveloping the hotel was shattered by a loud explosion of some sort nearby. The horrendous noise was soon followed by a series of whining sirens from fire-trucks, ambulances and police cruisers. It didn’t take long for Mycroft to be on his feet, and looking out the window, for his worst fears to be confirmed – Broadway was alight with security and safety vehicles of all kinds. He slipped in his trousers, shirt and jacket in a hurry, grabbed his keys and phone from the night stand and made his way down the stairs to Sherlock’s room. He was not as worried about what Irene would do as he was about his brother’s possible reactions to this latest turn of events.
    Sherlock was about to shot out of his room and rush down the hallway, when he was stopped by his brother who pushed him roughly back into the passage. “Don’t even think about going out there, Sherlock,” Mycroft ordered, keeping both his hands on his brother’s shoulders.
    All the while Sherlock was hollering, “What do you think you’re doing? I need to see what happened… . Let me go, will you… ?”
    “No, you don’t!” Mycroft shut the door behind him with his foot and literally forced Sherlock to retreat into a chair beside the