Sherlock - The Game Is On!

The Final Problem- Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Third POV

"That's my wife!" He stares at the screen as Eurus turns her head to look into the camera. "Oh, God, that's my wife!"

- - I'm going to shoot the governor's wife. - -

Mycroft turns away, putting his hand up to his mouth. "Please, no." He gestures vaguely towards Sherlock as if begging him, though he keeps his eyes on the screen. "Please. Help her!"

- - In about a minute. - -

She turns to the camera again while the woman struggles behind her.

- - Bang. Dead! - -

"Please don't do that."

- - Well, you can stop me. - -

"How?"

- - There's a gun in the hatch. Take it. - -

Sherlock walks over to the hatch at the side of the glass. It slides open as he approaches and he bends down and picks up the pistol from inside.

- - You want to save the governor's wife? Choose either Doctor Watson or Mycroft to kill the governor. - -

John turns away, a bitter smile on his face, while Mycroft lifts his head from where it had been resting on his hand. The governor half-cries, half-gasps: "Oh... Oh God!"

John turns back towards the screen, his face grim. Mycroft stares at Sherlock wide eyed. Sherlock looks at the governor and takes a step towards him from behind.

- - You can't do it, Sherlock. If you do it, it won't count. I'll kill her anyway. It has to be your brother or your friend. - -

The governor turns round to look at Mycroft. "You have to do this." Still wide eyed, Mycroft shakes his head. The governor turns to Sherlock: "Eurus will kill her." Sherlock looks down for a long moment, then releases the grip and tosses the gun a little into the air before catching it by the muzzle. "Doesn't appear we have a choice." He starts to walk across the cell.

- - Right, then. - -

Eurus smiles.

Sherlock walks towards his brother, holding out the gun's grip towards him.

- - Countdown starting. - -

Sherlock stops a few steps in front of Mycroft and gestures with the gun, urging him to take it. "How long?"

- - No, no, no. The countdown is for me. - -

The governor stares at Mycroft. The brothers eyes are fixed on each other as Sherlock continues to hold the gun out. Nearby, John has his head lowered and his eyes screwed shut. As Eurus continues he unscrews his eyes and shakes his head:

- - Withholding the precise deadline will apply the emotional pressure more evenly. Where possible, please give me an explicit verbal indication of your anxiety levels. - -

Sherlock turns his head towards the glass but doesn't look directly at the screen.

- - I can't always read them from your behaviour. - -

In front of him, Mycroft shakes his head. "I can't do this." Sherlock turns to look at him. "Can't. It's murder."

"This is not murder. This is saving my wife." The governor states anxiously. Mycroft looks across to him nervously, running his tongue along the inside of his lips.

- - I'm particularly focussed on internal conflicts, where strategising around a largely intuitive moral code appears to create a counter intuitive result. - -