Duke’s castle (Dover, England)

The Colonel surveyed the monitors as his men went out, trotting to the front door. A slight snowfall began to fall. The mission of these soldiers was to intercept the black cats that had broken the security perimeter. Each group leader gestured for his team to take a defense position, which meant they had to bend on one knew and point their weapons outside.

"What are the instructions, Sir?" asked one of the team leaders.

"The order is clear, Lieutenant!" reinforced the Colonel, "Nothing and no one shall pass! Understood?"

"Affirmative, Sir."

The Lieutenant moved his right hand and instantly the two drill commands prepared to shoot the black shadows running towards them.

"Wait, wait until you have them in sight, and... Fire!"

***

I reached near the main entrance, where I was stopped by two guards. Agent Chang was right at my heels, carrying her Israeli-made weapon.

"Inspector, you must stop here. No one goes through; Colonel's orders" one of the officers barked.

"Soldier, I must get in! We have to take the prisoner out of there. He is going to escape!"

"Dog one, here Dog seven, I repeat, Dog one."

"What is it, soldier?" Agent Chang asked while looking at him with concern.

"Where's Dog one?

"It can't be!" yelled the soldier.

"Where is Dog one?"

"Dog one is in the cell of the Duke, but..."

"But what, soldier?" Agent Chang demanded firmly.

"It is not possible, sir!"

"Dog one reports that some shadows are attacking him, sir!"

Before the soldier uttered another word, I ran straight to the front door, followed by Agent Chang and, further back, the two soldiers who still couldn't believe what they heard through their earbuds. About 16 meters from the door, a surprise explosion threw us back a few feet.

Dust, dirt and the screams of those inside broke through my dizzy mind. Immediately, several truckloads of soldiers arrived, heading to the main entrance of the castle.

Inside, a dense cloud of dust accompanied by groans had settled over everything. I could hear the transmissions though the speakers of the main monitor.

"Eagle seven heading to the left wing of the castle."

I grabbed the Colonel by his uniform jacket. He was paralyzed due to this disaster.

"I need an intercom and a machine gun! Now!"

"You are not authorized to enter. We must wait until the commands have custody of the Duke."

"Idiot! Every second is vital to get him, don't you see? The Duke had it all planned!" I said while pointing at some monitors that were no longer displaying images.

"Inspector, I am not authorized to let you pass!"

"You have the authorization now, Colonel!" A General, who had been holding a cell phone, apparently to receive orders, entered. He put his hand on my shoulder "You can go, Inspector! You have my permission!"

***

I entered the castle holding my two golden pistols, ready to shoot. Right when I stepped in to the dark lobby, I got several red light dots on me. I put my guns away and showed my two palms to avoid nervous reactions. One of the soldiers came to meet me. I heard him asking for instructions. In that moment entered Agent Chang and gave me a bulletproof vest and a 5.56 caliber M-16 rifle that the General had sent.

We went right to the reinforced security steel door that was holding the Duke. Several soldiers placed some devices in different parts. I took the intercom earbuds they were handing me and stepped aside, thinking that those were explosives, but as I heard the countdown, none of the soldiers stepped aside. I understood then that they were not going to detonate the C-4 charges but then I heard "three, two..." and Agent Chang yelled, "Close your eyes!"

It was too late. There was an incandescent explosion from the C-4 charges taking down the doors. The light blinded me for a few seconds. To everyone's surprise, we didn't receive only flashes of light, but also a rain of bullets coming from the cell where the Duke and his assistant were. The gates of hell were now open!