39
No matter how agile Sherlock Holmes was,
He couldn't be faster than a pistol.
Mary, who was standing outside the factory, naturally couldn't climb over the window in a skirt. She watched Lieutenant Carter pull out his gun directly.
Mary made a prompt decision.
She made the most effective and only reaction she could do at this moment.
A sharp, exhausted scream pierced through the silent night sky of the factory.
Mary's scream out of thin air really startled all the men present. Even Holmes didn't expect her to do this.
When he jumped over the wall and landed, he was so shocked that he staggered and almost lost his balance.
As for Lieutenant Carter, who pulled the trigger,
He reacted instinctively.
As if in response to Mary's scream,
The deafening gunshot echoed in the empty room.
But Lieutenant Carter missed.
When he heard the scream, he turned sideways.
He hid behind the factory's machinery.
This action confirmed to Mary that he had indeed been on the battlefield. Those red uniforms near Meriton had never used real swords and guns. How could they react so quickly and professionally?
Taking advantage of this time, Holmes moved ahead of Lieutenant Carter.
He flashed and jumped directly in front of Lieutenant Carter. He poked the officer's wrist with his cane.
He knocked off his gun.
In an instant, the two entered a state of entanglement.
Lieutenant Carter, who got up, didn't say anything and directly attacked Holmes's face.
The detective slapped away the officer's attack.
He grabbed the enemy's arm in turn and caught the opponent's strength, causing the two to quickly change positions.
At the moment when he stopped, the detective's bony palm reached for the back of Lieutenant Carter's head. This action made Mary widen her eyes slightly.
He wanted to clasp the back of the enemy's neck.
And this attack action also existed in modern integrated combat MMA in the 21st century.
It was the Barton Technique!
She didn't expect to see Sherlock Holmes use the Barton Technique in actual combat.
His movements, which were extremely similar to modern fighting techniques, made Mary suddenly come back to her senses.
Now was not the time to watch the battle.
She hurriedly lifted her skirt.
He jumped down from the box.
Without looking back, he dashed toward the factory gate.
Fortunately, Mary's scream and the gunshots in the factory resounded through the air. There was no need for Mary to look for them. The supervisor who stayed in the factory hurried over with a paraffin lamp. "What happened?!"
"Someone, someone attacked Mr. Hamp," Mary said hurriedly. "It's Captain Carter!"
"Wha —"
What would happen if the boss was attacked?!
When the supervisor heard this, he immediately stuffed the paraffin lamp into Mary's hands. He didn't even listen to any other explanation and hurried into the factory.
When Mary followed into the room, the fight between Holmes and Lieutenant Carter was about to end, and the addition of the supervisor undoubtedly accelerated the pace of the end. They subdued the officer almost immediately.
With the help of the detective, the supervisor tied up Lieutenant Carter.
After repeatedly confirming that the room was safe, Mary hurried forward to help Mr. Hamp up.
Fortunately, Mr. Hamp was only frightened. He fell to the ground and didn't suffer any injuries.
Seeing that he was fine, Mary was relieved.
Although she had long felt that Sherlock Holmes didn't like this client, and his evasive attitude in dealing with things was particularly excessive — he fired Henry Dyke on the grounds of suspicion of theft, completely ignoring the life and death of a worker. But overall, the atmosphere in his factory was not bad. The supervisor knew that he was concerned about the survival of the workers, and the treatment was passable.
In an era without labor contracts, and even the legal system was not perfect, Hamp, as a factory owner, had many flaws and shortcomings, but he was still considered a "conscientious" owner.
"Don't worry," she comforted him. "The officer has been caught. If you're still worried about your safety, go to the office and calm down, sir."
"Okay, okay."
Mr. Hamp swallowed and accepted Mary's suggestion. "I'm going to have a drink."
He trembled and left holding the wall. Mary then got up. "Mr. Holmes, this —"
Holmes: "Don't come over."
Mary was stunned. She didn't know whether to put her feet down or not.
But when she saw Sherlock Holmes's cold and vigilant eyes, she immediately realized that this order was not to disdain or question her, but to protect her.
Lieutenant Carter, who was tied up, had his face on the ground. Naturally, he couldn't see Mary standing behind him, let alone know which lady this strange female voice belonged to.
The "professor" knew that Holmes was investigating the case, knew that he was a family friend of Mr. Darcy, and knew that Mr. Bentley was Hamp's partner. But he didn't know that since Sherlock Holmes left London and set off for Neatherfield Manor, a young unmarried girl had joined the team to track down clues.
"Stay where you are," Holmes said. "There's nothing you need to get close to here. I can hear you."
Mary was a little surprised. She looked at the surrounding environment almost reflexively, and then realized that this position was just right.
The machines and other facilities in the factory just blocked her figure. Mary was in a dark corner where the moonlight couldn't reach. If she took another step forward, she might be exposed.
"I'm not going," Mary responded seriously. "I'll stand here."
Hearing Mary's promise, the detective retracted his gaze.
He watched coldly as the supervisor picked up Lieutenant Carter from the ground. "You want to kill me after getting the contract. You're really an artillery soldier who came back from Afghanistan."
Lieutenant Carter was panting. When he heard Holmes's words, he suddenly looked up. "How do you know that I'm an artillery soldier from Afghanistan?"
Even Mary could see it!
If you're not an artillery soldier, which officer would be wearing artillery boots? Judging from your skills, you must have been on the battlefield before.
It was an insult to the detective to even ask such a low-level observation question.
Holmes was willing to explain his basic deduction method to John Watson, but he would never explain it to the enemy. He just sneered. "Was it also the instruction of the 'professor' to kill me?"
"…" Lieutenant Carter's eyes became extremely vicious, and he chose to shut up.
But silence did not mean that Mr. Holmes was at his wits' end.
"No, it's not his instruction," the detective denied himself. He looked up and down at Lieutenant Carter. "It's your own idea.
I already know the supplier on the contract. This is your dereliction of duty. In order to protect yourself, you can only kill Hamp and use his life in exchange for a chance to atone for your crimes. "
Holmes's words fell. The panic and anger on Lieutenant Carter's face told Mary that he was right.
But the opponent would not admit it. Instead, the officer laughed out loud. "You think too highly of yourself, Holmes. It's just a supplier. Do you know how many 'professors' have?"
"Just one?"
"Brooke, Greene, Hardy, Reed, and Armstrong," Holmes said with a sarcastic smirk.
Lieutenant Carter: "…"
"These are the factory owners who went bankrupt in the past two years because of the blind replacement of cheap foreign cotton suppliers, which led to the breakdown of the capital chain," the detective continued. "The factories went bankrupt one after another, and as many as thousands of workers lost their jobs. Even children selling newspapers on the street can notice the abnormality. Do you think this is just 'just one'?"
The officer clenched his teeth.
"And," Holmes didn't stop. "Follow this line and find the list of suppliers easily. No matter who the 'professor' is, just because he believes that you can do it quietly in London, he is greatly mistaken."
"You don't understand the professor's idea at all!"
Lieutenant Carter finally couldn't hold back his anger and struggled desperately. "You don't know what you are doing!
I'm telling you, Holmes, if you really want to do something good, stop immediately. The professor has a noble purpose for doing this! "
"What purpose can there be?!"
Holmes's words made the supervisor angry, "So many factories, thousands of workers have lost their jobs, and behind them are countless families and children. Tell me, what purpose can be more noble than human life?"
"What do you know?"
Even if the supervisor looked like he wanted to beat Lieutenant Carter, the officer just looked at him with contempt, "These are all necessary sacrifices. What the professor wants to do is to stop a world war that involves a wide range of countries!"
What?
What world war?
Captain Carter's roar was nothing more than a deathbed struggle for the overseer, but his words reverberated in Mary's ears, sending chills down her spine in the dark corner.
As smart as Holmes was, he would never expect that in the near future, when the era had just entered the twentieth century, the whole world would be involved in an unprecedented war because of the fundamental defects of the capitalist economy.
None of them knew, but Mary knew!
That was World War I.
"You said war, what war?"
Even if Holmes specifically reminded her, Mary still stood in place and couldn't help but ask, "Who is that professor?
You have to tell me, who is that professor? "
Lieutenant Carter heard a bit of nervousness in Mary's voice. He mistakenly thought that the lady in the shadows felt fear, so he laughed proudly.
"That professor?"
He replied, "It's Professor James Moriarty —"
When the last syllable landed, a sudden change occurred.
The sound of glass breaking broke all the stable situations, and the room fell into silence for a few seconds.
The first to react was Mr. Holmes. The detective who had always been cold and calm suddenly changed his expression. He pulled the supervisor and tried to protect Lieutenant Carter, "Sniper!"
But it was too late.