The Syndicate

Neat.

SCOTLAND YARD. Greg hands a sheet of paper to Sherlock as he leads him and John into the department’s main office.
LESTRADE: This fax arrived an hour ago.
(There is a large handwritten note on the paper saying:
HURRY UP
THEY’RE
DYING!
Sherlock hands the note to John.)
LESTRADE: What have you got for us?
SHERLOCK: Need to find a place in the city where all five of these things intersect.
(He hands a piece of paper to Greg, who reads it aloud.)
LESTRADE: Chalk, asphalt, brick dust, vegetation ... What the hell is this? Chocolate?
SHERLOCK: I think we’re looking for a disused sweet factory.
LESTRADE: We need to narrow that down. A sweet factory with asphalt?
SHERLOCK: No. No-no-no. Too general. Need something more specific. Chalk; chalky clay – that’s a far thinner band of geology.
(He calls up a map of London in his head, overlaying it with the names of the towns, then begins zooming in and out of various areas.)
LESTRADE: Brick dust?
SHERLOCK: Building site. Bricks from the nineteen fifties.
LESTRADE (rubbing his face in despair): There’s thousands of building sites in London.
(Sherlock looks exasperated at the distraction.)
SHERLOCK: I’ve got people out looking.
LESTRADE: So have I.
SHERLOCK: Homeless network – faster than the police. (He smiles snidely.) Far more relaxed about taking bribes.
(Sitting at a desk nearby, Anderson looks up and rolls his eyes. Sherlock’s phone trills a text alert, followed by several more alerts. He brandishes his phone triumphantly at Greg as the messages continue to pour in. Smiling smugly, he lifts the phone up high and calls up his mental London map in front of him, flicking his eyes across to the phone to look at each photograph and then transfer it to the map. One of the photos attracts his particular attention, being a close-up shot of some purple flowers.)
SHERLOCK: John.
(He holds the phone out to show him the picture.)
SHERLOCK: Rhododendron ponticum. It matches.
(He goes back to the mental map and scans around it to the only places in London where such a plant grows, then finds the one place that contains the other elements as well.)
SHERLOCK: Addlestone.
LESTRADE: What?
SHERLOCK: There’s a mile of disused factories between the river and the park. It matches everything.
(He turns and hurries out of the office with John in hot pursuit. Greg turns to his team.)
LESTRADE: Right, come on.
(Sally hesitates.)
LESTRADE: Come on!
(She jumps up and hurries after him.)

ADDLESTONE. Several police cars race to a disused factory and the police officers, together with Sherlock and John, run inside the dark building. Everyone switches on flashlights and Sally coordinates the police as they start to search in all directions.
DONOVAN: You, look over there. Look everywhere. Okay, spread out, please. Spread out.
(Greg leads another team, including Sherlock and John, into another part of the factory. Greg directs his officers.)
LESTRADE (softly): Look in there. Quietly. Quietly.
(As they make their way deeper into the factory, Sherlock finds a large number of empty sweet wrappers scattered on the floor around a candle on a plate. Sherlock touches the wick of the candle.)
SHERLOCK: This was alight moments ago.
(He calls out loudly.)
SHERLOCK: They’re still here.
(The search continues all around.)
SHERLOCK: Sweet wrappers. What’s he been feeding you?
(He picks up one of the wrappers and looks at it more closely.)
SHERLOCK: Hansel and Gretel.
(He holds the wrapper closer to the beam of his flashlight and sniffs the paper before touching the tip of his tongue to it and grimacing at the taste. He looks at the wrapper in startled realisation of what he has just tasted.)
SHERLOCK: Mercury.
LESTRADE: What?
SHERLOCK: The papers: they’re painted with mercury.
(John groans.)
SHERLOCK: Lethal. The more of the stuff they ate ...
JOHN: It was killing them.
SHERLOCK: But it’s not enough to kill them on its own. Taken in large enough quantities, eventually it would kill them.
(The police continue searching the building but Sherlock is now locked onto his thoughts about Moriarty.)
SHERLOCK: He didn’t need to be there for the execution. Murder by remote control. He could be a thousand miles away.
(Nearby, Sally sees something in the light of her torch. She moves closer and sees a little girl sitting on the ground with her brother’s head in her lap. His eyes are closed. The girl looks around at Sally.)
SHERLOCK (softly, to himself): The hungrier they got, the more they ate ... the faster they died.
(He grins.)
SHERLOCK: Neat.
JOHN: Sherlock.
DONOVAN (calling out): Over here!
(Everyone runs in the direction of her voice. Sally and other officers reach down to the children.)
DONOVAN: I’ve got you. Don’t worry.

SCOTLAND YARD. Sherlock is pacing outside an office while John sits nearby. The door to the office opens and Sally and Greg come out.
DONOVAN (sarcastically to Sherlock): Right, then. The professionals have finished. If the amateurs wanna go in and have their turn ...
(John stands up and walks over to the others. Greg looks seriously at Sherlock.)
LESTRADE: Now, remember, she’s in shock and she’s just seven years old, so anything you can do to ...
SHERLOCK: ... not be myself.
LESTRADE: Yeah. Might be helpful.
(Sherlock looks round to John and, doing everything but roll his eyes, reaches up and unpops the collar of his coat, folding it down flat before leading John and the others into the office. The little girl is sitting at a table looking down into her lap. A female liaison officer is sitting beside her stroking her arm reassuringly.)
SHERLOCK: Claudette, I ...
(He gets no further as the girl lifts her head, takes one look at him and begins to scream in terror.)
SHERLOCK: No-no, I know it’s been hard for you.
(She continues screaming and scrambles to get away while pointing at him.)
SHERLOCK: Claudette, listen to me ...
LESTRADE: Out. Get out!
(Grabbing his arm, he bundles Sherlock out of the room as the girl’s screams continue.)

Vompatti has been randomly eliminated, k? It is now Night 9. You have 24 hours.

TWIST #3

For those of you not keeping score, Dharmahelper/Bullzeye and Snow Dog/A Person are the only two intact teams left. Mongoose, Lizzy, and now Epignosis are all alone.

But now, let's play a game.

PANDORA'S BOX

You all know the tale, I have a box, if you want it, just post. That's it. Toooooooootally not a trap.