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Being security detail for Mycroft Holmes was both an honor and a horror show.
All of Holmes’ security detail must run the minimum two-year gauntlet of the horror show of being on the detail for Sherlock Holmes before being rewarded to protect Mycroft and Anthea as space opened.
But Sherlock is not the problem for Agents Marcus Derrico, Anand Sajjadul and the others on their rotation. They were the part of the secrete security of someone else important to Mr. Holmes.
Detective Inspector Gregory Michael Lestrade.
Their orders simple: do not interfere or help with his job, and above all do not let Lestrade see you.
So complete is their noninterference, there were a few times where Lestrade had lost a suspect who outran him. Twice with Sherlock on the chase as well - that is not their job. Lestrade may never learn how they kept a criminal’s accomplice from nearly getting the drop on and assassinate him – that is their job.
It was fine until someone slipped up. Derrico and Sajjadul heard about the dressing down the discovered detail received before they were shipped somewhere to chill for their failure to remain invisible. It did not stop Mr. Holmes from keeping Lestrade protected. After a year, it was with a resigned détente that Lestrade accepted they were a secret part of his life to the point the guards now on rotation were certain Lestrade had forgotten they exist which was perfect.
Until tonight.
Accustomed to waiting on Lestrade as he chased leads, the two agents followed him to a warehouse. The old brick and concrete structure was abandoned, the ceiling had caved in places and had no power. One of the rooms had been the scene of a grisly crime. Forensic had documented everything and the scene released nearly a week ago. Neither agent knew why Lestrade would want to enter the building on a freezing cold day, this close to sunset, but there they were. They could not drive into the lot and maintain their illusion of invisibility. Thus, Sajjadul drew the short straw and followed Lestrade to the front entrance only while Derrico waited in their nice warm car a block away.
Sajjadul had heard Lestrade muttering to himself as a door closed loudly. Yes, Lestrade had his phone and his torch, but Sajjadul really wished he had not gone into an abandoned building at nightfall alone. It had been cold earlier and what little warmth provided by the sun vanished with its setting It was now bitter cold. Sajjadul knew Lestrade’s natural body temp ran hot and envied how the D.I. walked around bare headed when he himself would kill for another layer of warmth on his head.
“God! It’s gold as a witch’s tit out here! What the bloody hell is he doing?” Sajjadul pushed his earpiece in more, pulling his hat down further over his ears. The temperature had dropped to the point that awning that had dripped in the sun when he first stood at the entrance had refrozen into stalactites.
“Fuck all if I know. He’s no Holmes, but he's a damned smart copper. Probably following some obscure hunch.” Derrico responded. “Let’s hope he does it quickly get somewhere warm!”
“I haven’t heard anything, not even walking around. Something's not right.” Sajjadul said after a while of much too quiet. “I should go in…”
“We’re not supposed to interfere …”
“We’re not, we’re confirming he’s okay.”
“Sajjadul, wait! Remember Naer and Corley?”
Sajjadul gave a moment’s pause at the reminder of the two agents banished to a location that would make their current local feel balmy.
“YOU want to tell Holmes something happened to the man while we were debating Schrodinger’s Lestrade?”
“Christ no!”
“Establishing a visual wellness check...” Sajjadul pulled a torch from his coat pocket and went in.
It was as he feared– oh so cold, very dark, and much too quiet except for an odd thud as he walked.
“Wait… I think I hear somethi …” Sajjadul started to speak, then stopped. “Derrico…? Marcus..?” He heard nothing but silence and realized the concrete and brick obstructed even their communications. A quick check verified that his cellphone was also useless.
The thud he heard before now silent.
He began to worry as he carefully made his way to the crime scene.
“He’s not here?” He flashed his torch around the room. “Shite!”
The thud he heard earlier began anew. It was louder, and faster, yet weaker. He knew it was Lestrade.
He followed it to a room with a stuck door. The thudding stopped when Sajjadul slammed his body into it. It took a couple of tries before it finally opened.
The room’s ceiling was too high for Lestrade to reach. With no windows and no mobile reception even with the hole in the partially caved in roof, Lestrade had been trapped in the freezing room with no way to call and no heat source. There was little chance he would have survived the night.
“This is going to hurt.” Lestrade moaned painfully as he unfolded his chilled bones to stand.
Even so, Sajjadul did not enter the room. He slipped back into the shadows and pretended he did not hear the barely audible “Thanks…” whispered as Lestrade painfully made his way out of the room.
He silently followed Lestrade out of the warehouse, where Derrico had also broken protocol. Their sedan awaited them at the entrance.
A very grateful, Lestrade climbed into its waiting warmth and was taken home by Derrico while Sajjadul drove Lestrade’s car to be found in its parking spot when he awakened in the morning.
“I can’t tell…” Sajjadul sighed before their shift’s end. “Should we tell him?”
“I’m not…”
Neither Sajjadul nor Derrico reported the incident.
They realized Lestrade himself must have informed Mr. Holmes when each had received an unexpected increase in their pay and a month’s holiday in the nice warm Caribbean.