The Duke’s castle (Dover, England)

I went down the stairs with the officer in the middle of a dust cloud that made breathing difficult. We reached the hallway where a group of soldiers was clearing the debris from the explosions. A British Army lieutenant was coming from a three-feet-wide gaping hole on the right side of the hallway.

He approached the major, wiped the dirt from his face and said, "We decided to blow up certain points to finish off the snakes. Unintentionally, we demolished this fake wall and what we found..." The lieutenant paused, and ran nervously his hand through his hair.

We went through the opening and found ourselves in a stone chamber of around thirteen feet high and sixty-five wide. Several torches illuminated it, allowing us to see seven red stars engraved on the polished black marble floor with a bloodied medieval-style torture device on top of each one. In the middle of the chamber, there was a human sacrifice table, belonging to the Duke, no doubt. The blood on the table flowed through reliefs of diabolical faces into a drainage. One of the agents came closer.

"We found a secret passage that leads to a putrid tunnel," He said with a disgusted face.

The major signaled the Special Forces soldiers to go in first in an assault formation. The major and I followed them, wary and ready for anything. The tunnel was dark and smelled fetid, and its ceiling was rocky and low enough to make me hunch or risk hitting my head. The pungent smell seemed concentrated and made my eyes water. We walked for a few minutes until we reached a blinking light at the end of the passage.

The room we were in now was circular with six doors made of steel and wood. Each one sported in the middle an inverted five-pointed black star with bloody borders.

The soldiers were in position, each one pointing their laser scope to a door. They put explosives in the locks and hinges, and we moved back, still watching the doors, expecting another one of the Duke's surprises.

The detonations went off simultaneously and the heavy doors fell down slowly, raising a cloud of dust. As it settled, numerous foul figures began to appear. In front of us, there was now a mixture of rotten eye sockets and ribcages that confirmed that the Duke was not only a vicious terrorist but also a sadist psychopath with one of the sickest and most disturbed minds ever.

In each cell there was a body in an advanced stage of decomposition, crucified upside down with rusty nails protruding from their swollen and purple limbs. Their jaws were open as if they had died screaming in the darkness and silence of their cells. A picture of each of the Duke's victims was under the crosses, bathed in dry blood and black candle wax. It was the same satanic ritual used by the damn Duke.

The major pointed at the cell that was behind me. There was something moving towards us in the darkness. I zeroed in with the laser scope and a filthy rat came out, running to a gap in the wall and getting lost in the darkness. That was frightening. I advanced slowly to the cell and saw the picture of the president of the United States and his sons. However, the thing that caught my attention was the circle-shaped relief that was on top of a black totem. Judging by its silhouette and the traces of candle wax left behind on the floor, it seemed that the relief held once some sort of necklace with a medallion. Perhaps that was what the fucking Duke came looking for.

The macabre scene made some of the soldiers vomit. The sound of them puking their guts out was drowned by the voice of Agent Chang in my earpiece.

"Inspector, where are you?"

"Agent Chang, I need to see the video you showed me at my place again." "But—" she said surprised.

"Now, Agent Chang, call Charles now!" I turned to see the major, whose complexion was a little yellow. "Have the forensic team send me the pictures."

"Yes, sir," said the major lowering his gun.

Once in the hallway, I met up with Chang, who was checking her weapon. "And the video?" I asked her.

"It's in the monitoring room. Charles's waiting for us. Inspector, thank you for saving my life."

***

Several intelligence officers were stationed in the monitoring room. The colonel was searching desperately for the Duke in the monitors.

"Colonel, tell your men to leave the room. This video is a confidential matter," said Chang.

"You're crazy! We're in the middle of an operation—"

"Get your men out of here, colonel," a dry voice interrupted. "But, general!"

"Go away, colonel. You've done enough damage for today."

The colonel stared angrily at the stone-faced general, who didn't seem at all surprised by the Duke's escape. The colonel saluted the general and left the room, nudging his assistant's shoulder on his way out.

Charles looked at agent Chang, waiting for her approval to play the classified video. Meanwhile, Chang was watching the general, who was settling comfortably into an armchair.

I was standing impatiently, my eyes already welling up, waiting to see again the same scenes that made me lose consciousness at my cabin in Caracas.

The image of my wife laying on a bed came into view. She was shaking and covered by the sheet my mother gave us before we got married; her beautiful eyes were bloodied and filled with tears. The sheet was burning little by little, getting stuck in the burns appearing on her skin. She convulsed, whispering something too softly to hear. Little lines of blood were running from her lips.

"Stop!" I yelled at Charles. "Close up on Migdalia's face"

"She's saying something, inspector."

"Tell me what!" I shouted, scowling at him.

Charles grabbed a piece of paper, set the video to slow motion, and wrote down:

Go to the Camerlengo.

"I knew it!"

"Wait, sir, there's something else."

"What is it?" I gripped the lapels of Charles' plain suit.

"I love you, Peter."

I pushed Charles to the floor, dried my tears and tried to stop my hands from shaking.

"We need to go to Rom, right away."