The Hundred Year Wait Page 9

  After handing the case back to his driver he came towards her and lifted her bundled up body into his arms in such a way that she couldn't even remove her arms to hold onto him. In this state he bore her outside and to his car with Daniels hurrying to beat him to the door.

  As soon as she was shut up inside with him she felt the comfort of the familiar wash over her and knew she could allow her body the sleep it craved. While Myron used the extra phone his chauffeur had also thought to bring, Amelia closed her eyes. For a few seconds the gentle drone of his deep voice lingered in her mind but even that couldn't stop her from drifting asleep.

  ***

  As Mycroft finished speaking to the police commissioner he glanced over at Amelia. Still wrapped in the blanket, she'd fallen asleep and now rested with her face turned towards him. Although this wasn't the first time he'd seen her asleep it struck him how peaceful she was. If it wasn't for the bandages there would have been no indication of her ordeal at all.

  While staring at her face he phoned his brother, but the call went straight to his answer phone service. He hung up without leaving a message. Sherlock only turned his phone off in the rare circumstances of being out on a case where being disturbed would endanger the success of his solution and that meant he had located the North Koreans and was already hunting them down. By the time Mycroft got back it would likely be over. Even the police commissioner was confident about catching the Russians on the boat.

  During the journey, Mycroft ran through the events once more in his head but noticed nothing he hadn't the first time around. He knew it was pointless to try again. The memory became less accurate with each pass through.

  Greater London flashed by in a blur while he thought, until the streets in Central London came into focus. About ten minutes away from Baker Street Mycroft received a text from his brother.

  North Koreans all taken care of. You'll find them waiting for you at office tomorrow morning. I'll be awake if you want to come discuss it. S

  Just as he'd expected, his brother had managed to follow the men and find them. London was safe again, at least for a few more weeks and, if he was lucky, maybe even months. A small amount of guilt plagued him at how caught up in the cross-fire Amelia had been, but Sherlock was the most to blame on that front. He'd summoned her back to London to join in again and she'd not known what she was getting herself into. It occurred to him that she might wish to stop their game herself, now she had some more experience of their lives.

  When the car pulled up on Baker Street and Amelia still slept peacefully he decided to leave her there, under the watchful eye of Daniels, while he talked to his brother. He whispered these intentions to his chauffeur and strode inside, omitting to knock as he always did.

  Sherlock reposed in his usual armchair with his violin perched nearby. Mycroft could only hope his younger brother didn't play until Mycroft had left.

  “Ah, brother of mine, welcome back. I see you are no worse for wear.”

  “Of course not. I was stabbed, but the wound disappeared long ago.” Mycroft sat down opposite. Sherlock opened his mouth to speak but he anticipated the question. “No one saw.”

  “Good... Where's Amelia?”

  “Amelia's in my car, sleeping. How did you catch the Koreans?”

  “It was easy really. If you'd had the opportunity you'd have managed it as well. The lock they removed in the door was done with a very specific cutting device, which had a manufacturing kink. Between that and the footprints I'd found at the lock, it wasn't hard to trace them to a particular road and a quick look at utility bills provided the house number.”

  “You checked the address before informing the police?”

  “Naturally. One can't be too careful with these sorts of criminals.”

  “It sounds like we're done then. Thank you, brother of mine.” Mycroft got up again.

  “You're not going to forbid me from seeing Amelia again?” Sherlock stood as well.

  “No. Why would I?”

  “Because she got hurt. You usually object to us getting civilians hurt, remember. Or is it all right when it's you leading someone into danger?”

  “I didn't lead her into danger, Sherlock, don't be ridiculous.” Mycroft felt his temperature rise at his brother's line of enquiry. “And it was you, who invited her to join us on Saturday.”

  “Yes, but it's you who is taking her home with you.” Sherlock grinned in the usual smug way when he'd worked out something Mycroft didn't want him to.

  “She has nowhere else to go. I'm not leaving her in this filthy flat with you and at this time of night she won't be able to get a room at her usual hotel, even if she could walk well enough to be left by herself. It's the only solution, so I will bear it.” He frowned at his brother but Sherlock laughed and sat back down.

  “You could send her home to Bath. You have a driver who would take her there and see she got inside. Or you could take her to a hospital. Admit it, you like her. You've had to wait a hundred years to find someone, but you like her.”

  “Only in the way a child likes a toy and plays with it until something bigger and better comes along or he grows bored with it. She's less dull than most.”

  “If you say so, Mycroft. Do ensure our secret remains that way, won't you?” Sherlock picked up his pipe and the nearby pouch of tobacco, while Mycroft frowned. His younger brother was enjoying quoting his own warnings back at him. With a roll of his eyes, Mycroft decided they'd talked enough.

  “Good evening, brother of mine,” he said and went back to the car, taking Amelia's small suitcase with him. He got back to the car to find she still slept.

  As Daniels drove them both back to Mycroft's home he thought about the next code he would set her. After all her emotional restraint and cooperation he decided she deserved one last code to unravel, even if he did decide to heed his own words of advice afterwards and cut her off to keep her from being harmed.

  Amelia mumbled in her sleep as he carried her into his house and up the stairs to the guest bedroom. Less than a minute later his housekeeper was at his side, fussing over the injured, yet sleeping, woman. The guest room had never been used before, in that regard Sherlock was right, and even his housekeeper knew this was an unexpected change.

  With a great deal of patience and a good measure of frowns, Mycroft managed to calm his excited staff and get Amelia curled up under the covers so she'd be warm enough until morning. He then placed her suitcase and handbag somewhere where she'd notice it and ushered everyone back downstairs. On the way to his study he noticed the day's paper on the small table in the hall. Right in full view was a Sudoku puzzle. Within seconds Mycroft knew what he wanted his next message to be contained in and went to his laptop to design Amelia a sudoku with the numbers one to twenty-five in it.

  He printed out a grid of twenty five squares by twenty five so he could write in the starting numbers for her and an extra one for him to work backwards from. An hour later he had a sudoku for her to complete and he highlighted the boxes of numbers that would make up her message. It consisted of just two words but he didn't think she'd find it too difficult to work out with a little trial and error.

  As soon as it was complete he tucked it into an envelope and put it to one side. In the morning, once Amelia was awake and ready to be taken back to her own home, he could sneak it into her belongings so she found it when she unpacked.

  Mycroft knew it would be kind to let her stay a little longer but everyone's reactions to his accommodation of her had put him off that idea. It wouldn't be good to have other people think she was more to him than the student she'd requested to be. When it no longer amused him to create challenges for her he wouldn't hesitate to cut her out of his life, if he even continued past this final test. At the moment he was seriously considering letting this be her last challenge as a reward for her conduct in the last twenty-four hours.

  As he made his way to his own bedroom to sleep he passed the door to her guest room and stopped. Unable to resist the tempta
tion, he checked she was still sleeping soundly before carrying on to the master bedroom, the only room in the house that had kept the entire original style and decoration he'd put into it just over a hundred years earlier.

  While he removed his suit he realised he'd been a key part of the government on and off for over a hundred years and, just like today, had guided the British government and its agents to keep the country and its interests safe.

  He glanced in the mirror on his dresser. He didn't look a day older, and he never would.

  Epilogue

  Frustration filled Amelia. She'd been back in Bath for two weeks since her kidnapping and subsequent time with Myron Holmes, and she still hadn't worked out the next coded message.

  The massive sudoku he'd given her had been a nightmare to figure out. Not particularly because it was difficult. The logic was the same as the normal sized ones, just with more numbers and a lot more options to keep track of. But the time it took to explore all those options was very large.

  She'd wanted to solve it quickly and have an excuse to message him again but, with the re-writes of her novel and everything that went with her career, she'd not put the last numbers into the puzzle until today.

  Now she had a set of ten numbers to try and make a message with and didn't really know where to start. She didn't know what order they were meant to be in, let alone what they corresponded to. All she knew was that the numbers 2, 8, and 21 both occurred twice.

  After several hours of trying random numbers she grabbed the phone Myron had given her and sent him a message.

  Struggling with your latest challenge. I've solved the puzzle but not sure what the numbers mean, can I get a hint?

  Her stomach churned as she waited for him to reply, but nothing came through within the first ten minutes so she went back to trying to work out the numbers by herself. She couldn't be sure that he would even reply. Myron could be busy or might be deliberately ignoring her until she'd worked it out. She wouldn't know for sure unless she solved this challenge.

  Two hours later her phone chimed to let her know she had a message. Her breath caught in her throat as she picked it up to read the response.

  No. You're my pet for my amusement. I'm not going to do it for you.

  She sighed. It felt better to have him reply and gave her confidence that he'd not ignore her messages, but still didn't get her any closer to understanding. While she sat on her sofa, she remembered an old Bible verse that a woman had said to Jesus when he'd told her something similar. Something about dogs getting scraps from their master's tables.

  She leapt up and hurried to her bookshelf to find the tattered old Bible someone had given her once. She scanned through the gospels until she came to the right verse, but instead of just giving him the quote she decided to set him a code to follow and work out instead.

  9 780340 722190, 982, 2, 30-32

  Amelia grinned and looked at the time. Somehow it was already past midnight. It would be interesting to see how long it took him to figure out he had the ISBN code from the back of the book, the page number, column number and line numbers for the quote. Just in case it didn't work she went back to her numbers to try and figure out his message to her.

  Less than five minutes later her phone went off again. Her jaw dropped. He'd worked it out faster than she'd have thought possible.

  'Your request is granted.' But only for code 3 – M

  She bit her lip and frowned. If the message contained a hint, she couldn't see it so she waited another few minutes hoping a second text would follow, but nothing came through.

  After making herself a cup of tea she looked at the text again. The hint must already be there. As she noticed how he'd ended it she could have hit herself. 3 became an M which meant 2 was likely to be an L. Assuming the alphabet was in order like the first time she turned all her numbers into letters, she had her answer.

  Clever Girl

  Amelia couldn't decide whether to laugh or get angry. All that work and effort for such a short message, and she knew exactly what condescending tone he'd have said it in as well. It was a message meant to irritate anyone who didn't understand Myron and his nature.

  It didn't take her long to decide it was funny. Most importantly she'd solved another task and hopefully he'd had a moment of enjoyment from her indirect beg for more information. Although she'd been reluctant to refer to herself as a pet again, especially a dog, she knew it would amuse him given the way an owner might say clever girl to a dog learning to do tricks. She tapped out a response that would let him know she'd worked out the answer while also letting him know it hadn't annoyed her.

  Apparently I'm rather smart, and also young enough to be thought of as a girl.

  Only a few seconds later she had a reply.

  Well done, you've successfully jumped through hoop one. The next stage of your lessons will begin soon. And you shouldn't be drinking caffeine at this time of night. Go to bed, Amelia, you're going to need the sleep.

  A grin spread across her face as she rushed to do as he said.

  ~

  Thank you for reading The Hundred Year Wait. The sequel, The Unexpected Coincidence, is available on October 16th 2015 and can be bought or pre-ordered here.

  You might also like to try my fantasy works beginning with a free short, Wandering to Belong. If you would like to subscribe to the new release email to be notified when the next book is ready you can do so here.

  For a complete list of all works by the author and her pen name, separated by genre, please continue. If you have enjoyed the book you just read and would like to let the author know you can email her via books@jessmountifield.co.uk or alternatively leave a review at your place of purchase.

  Books by Jess Mountifield

  Already published

  Historical Adventure:

  With Proud Humility (#1 in the Hearts of the Seas series)

  Chains of Freedom (#4 in the Hearts of the Seas series)

  Fantasy (Tales of Ethanar):

  Wandering to Belong (Tale 1)

  Innocent Hearts (Tale 2 & 3)

  For Such a Time as This (Tale 4)

  A Fire's Sacrifice (Tale 5)

  The Hope of Winter (A short story in the anthology 'Flights of Fantasy')

  Sci-Fi:

  Sherdan's Prophecy (#1 in the Sherdan series)

  Sherdan's Legacy (#2 in the Sherdan series)

  Sherdan's Country (#3 in the Sherdan series)

  Sherdan's Road (A short story in the anthology 'The End of the Road')

  The Slave Who'd Never Been Kissed (A novella in the anthology 'The Kiss')

  Find purchase links here

  Coming soon

  Historical Adventure:

  Victorious Ruin (#2 in the Hearts of the Seas series)

  Fantasy (Tales of Ethanar):

  The Fire of Winter (#1 in the Winter series, Tale 6)

  The Tales of Ethanar anthology - containing:

  The Tales of Ethanar 1-5

  A History of Ethanar

  Maps of Ethanar

  A Note on Dragons

  A Note on the Humanoid Races of Ethanar

  Books under Amelia Price

  Already Published

  The Hundred Year Wait (#1 in the Mycroft Holmes Adventures)

  The Boy Next Door (A short story in the anthology 'The Bitten')

  The Unexpected Coincidence (#2 in the Mycroft Holmes Adventures)

  The Invisible Amateur (#3 in the Mycroft Holmes Adventures)

  Coming soon

  The Female Charm (#4 in the Mycroft Holmes Adventures)

  About the Author

  Jess was born in the quaint village of Woodbridge in the UK, has spent some of her childhood in the States and now resides near the beautiful Roman city of Bath. She lives with her husband, Phil, and her very dapsy cat, Pleaides.

  During her still relatively short life Jess has displayed an innate curiosity for learning new things and has therefore studied many subjects, from maths and the sciences
, to history and drama. Jess now works full time as a writer, incorporating many of the subjects she has an interest in within her plots and characters.

  When she's not working she can often be found with friends, enjoying a vast array of films, ice skating or trekking all over the English countryside.

  You can find out more about the author and her upcoming projects by following her on twitter or her fanpage on facebook or at her blog www.jessmountifield.co.uk