One afternoon in December, Russell returns to her lodgings to find Holmes, injured from a bomb and having defused another one set at Russell's door. A third fails to kill Dr. Watson. Their mysterious opponent stalks Russell and Holmes by savaging their cab and leaving a puzzling series of slashes on the cab seat. They deduce she is a formidable woman who knows Holmes's methods thoroughly and has infiltrated some of his secure boltholes in London. Faced with a powerful opponent, Holmes elects to frustrate her by leaving England entirely with Russell. The pair set off for Palestine for six weeks on a mission with two of Mycroft's spies (this interlude becomes the focus of King's later novel "O Jerusalem").