The Things They Never Said

Chapter 16: The Escape

"Come on John," Sherlock said softly after what he considered to be an appropriate amount of time. "We need to get Lestrade and find a way out of here."

John nodded numbly; he knew it was time to move on. "Where is he?" He asked, thankful for the change of subject.

"Over here," Sherlock responded as he walked towards the wooden crate that he had carefully deposited the unfortunate detective inspector behind. "He was clever enough to get kicked in the head on the way in."

John nodded and kneeled down beside his unconscious friend and checked his pulse.

While John was inspecting Lestrade, Sherlock started pacing the room and thinking of a way out. "Mycroft are you still there?" He asked into his earpiece. A surge of static was his only response; they must have interrupted the feed.

"Right, ok then. We are just going to have to risk it." He said.

"Risk what?"

"I can see no other way out of this situation so grab Lestrade and let's go."

"Sherlock hold on," John said getting up and grabbing the detective's arm to prevent him from walking away. "Where are we going?"

Sherlock turned to face him, "Really? I'm surprised you didn't already figure it out." He said sarcastically, "We are going in the vents."

.~.~.~.

"Ouch! Geez this is tight." John exclaimed as he managed to hit his head for the fifth time.

"John shut up! They probably already know we're in here but we should try to avoid letting them know exactly where we are." Sherlock snapped back from up ahead.

"Okay okay sorry," John whispered back, rolling his eyes. "Why am I the one that had to drag Lestrade along though?"

"Because I needed to go first so I can try to navigate this ventilation system. I think the chances of me being able to find a way out are much higher than yours don't you think?" Sherlock said mockingly.

John's only response was another roll of his eyes and a soft grunt as he pulled his unconscious friend along behind him. They came up on another crossroad and Sherlock suddenly stopped crawling and laid flat on the floor of the shaft.

"Sherlock what-"

"Shhhh!"

John shut up, clenched his jaw, and waited for him to explain. After a moment of tense silence Sherlock slowly resumed his former position on his hands and knees and took a left.

"Sherlock-" John whispered after him as he tried to pull Lestrade as quickly as he could along the narrow passage way, "Sherlock wait!"

When he finally managed to pull the limp body around the tight corner he found, to his surprise, an open hatch in the bottom of the shaft just a few feet away. "Dammit Sherlock where did you go this time?" He whispered to himself as he slowly made his way over to the opening.

He reached the hole and cautiously looked over the edge, it was pitch black. He couldn't even make out any kind of shapes, just seemingly impenetrable darkness.

"Sherlock?" He whispered cautiously into the gloom.

"I'm here John," came the answer after a few seconds. "Drop Lestrade down to me but be as quiet as you can."

John turned halfway around and pulled Lestrade along beside him. These vents might not be tall but thank God they are wide, he thought as he pulled the inspector over to the hatch as quietly as he could.