It was February 28, and as the sentence dictated, the criminals were placed in the position of execution, when the lever was pulled as previously ordered by the knight of Luesia.
Alicia's neck was ready to receive the blade of the guillotine, when a shot rang out as she fell.
Incredibly, the only thing that those present could observe was how the guillotine blade flew through the air, but how could a shot have done something like that? they all wondered.
In reality, the shot was only a distraction, as one of the officers standing next to the device hit, as if it were a baseball, the guillotine blade with a piece of wood that at the same time grazed Alicia's head.
Aren who watched the whole thing was a little impressed.
"What a force."
Immediately, the sound of gunshots centered on that scary place on the floor. That officer who with colossal force had destroyed part of the guillotine took advantage of the time of confusion of everyone present to be able to free Alicia.
It was not known where it came from, but the quartermaster took action, and ordered the capture of the infiltrator and the subjugation of the condemned.
The next thing they saw was how the atmosphere was covered with a thick fog.
It's tear gas!" shouted one of the guards.
That 'officer' who had helped Alicia grabbed her and they ran, the other officers went after her leaving the stand. On the other hand, Aren was arrested again and immediately taken to a more reinforced prison.
The execution that day was cancelled.
- What do you mean they escaped?! Weren't there more than ten men behind him?! - asked a high-ranking and stoutly built officer inside a somewhat spacious office where the intendant Rubén Blades; the head of DIS, Vicent Veramente; and other officers were.
- What happened with the security, did the officers guarding the perimeter not notice? - spoke another officer.
- What do you mean they don't know who the infiltrator was! Where are the officers' records? - exclaimed yet another officer.
They kept shouting and making excuses as if they were trying to lay the blame on each other. At all this, Intendant Rubén noticed something strange, the constant smile on Vicent's face had disappeared which caused him to shudder.
Vincent suddenly left the office leaving the shouting that could be heard and as he walked a cold look could be seen on his face.
The news was going public about the incident at the execution and, more so, on Alicia Enid's escape.
As if the news report was coming out of a television, it was being watched by two people sitting in front of him.
- Part one turned out well ... it's time for part two. - said the woman sitting down.
- Why did you do that, Lois? - asked the other person next to her.
- I told you we were friends, didn't I ... do you think I would just let you die like that? On the other hand, don't worry about your friend, the officers will take a while until they do something. - he replied, Lois.
- I see. - replied, Alicia.
- The good thing is that everything is going according to plan.
- Plan? - asked Alicia, who was in high spirits as a result of her thoughts and the mental violence she had suffered in prison.
- Yes ... before you came, I was already being monitored ... so, I made a couple of plans in case the worst happened ... but when you arrived, I had to improvise two more.
- What ... you mean? - said Alicia.
- Plan A, B, C and D ... Plan A was the nicest, so to speak, it worked out if neither of us had been arrested; then there was plan B if I was arrested; plan C, which was that it happened, was if you were captured; and finally plan D was if we had both been ... you know ... But putting that aside, time is pressing ... it's time to act.
Things being as they were, Lois guarded Alice by not letting her leave for any reason, and though Alice feared endangering Lois, she remained silent.
The night arrived and, as agreed, the proposal indicated by Lois Valdelomar would be carried out.
Using that map she had, she would send a team to inspect one of the places, only people from the Valdelomar group would go; however, they would bring cameras to make a 'live' that could be seen by both sides. This action was an act of good faith on the part of Lois in order to show the transparency of her intentions.
Before the operation is set in motion, Lorenz who was next to Victoria, seeing through the monitor how one of the members of the search team was someone she knew, reminisced about a previous talk she had with him.
- From what you tell me, you knew that there is not enough evidence to find both our boss and her friend Alicia guilty, how then did you manage to get to this point, Lorenz? - asked Eric.
- The situation was more critical than you thought ... the high command and the whole town were going against Victoria ... if she did not manage to find the criminals in a period of two weeks, then she would be convicted of mismanagement ... you know well that although she is capable, but, because of her age and gender, there are not many people who are on her side ... that's why there was the idea of sacrificing someone to calm the waves.
- I get the point, but is that something she thought of herself? - Eric questioned.
- ... No ... actually it wasn't my idea either ... but there is someone ... from the beginning of her government there was a person who gave us her support.
Young Eric was left waiting for the answer.
- The head of the Information and Security Department ... little by little he was advising us on certain complicated things and we were able to overcome various difficulties, but ... lately his behavior has been somewhat strange.
- Vicent Veramente, I have seen him in some conferences, but what does he have to do with this ... I still don't even understand how they were able to find Alicia Enid's record ... The Valdelomar group and the previous management agreed to eliminate all records of that girl ... How is it that now it is coming to light? - asked Eric with great emphasis.
- Vicent ... somehow when we started to review the records of people accused of identity fraud crimes, he brought us the complete record of her ... it was the same day she arrived in Luesia. We thought it was the usual thing, inspecting documents of travelers arriving here to find relationships with the leads we had ... for some reason, he was emphasizing that woman's record.
- I see ... but, still ... how did they get her charged if she wasn't for at least four or five years in Luesia? - Eric stated.
- That's what doesn't add up! So far everything was going well, that woman's background matched the clues, plus she was friends with your boss ... Lois Valdelomar was already under surveillance too because of what we found at Wilbur's department store, so everything was coming together ... but after we learned that she hadn't been in town for years and what you now tell me about what happened in that place, all our theories fell apart ... we got even more desperate ... and ... in that desperation was that Vicent appeared and told us that anyway the town would not wait ... we had to take action, and we decided, at least, to try to take Alicia Enid prisoner, but the worst came when her friend was found with the three corpses ... well, at least, two now ... At that moment, Vicent came and sent for the capture of both, from there, you know the story.
Lorenz's acquaintance did not ask further, but was left pondering.
Returning to the present, Lorenz, who was observing the beginning of the operation, hoped that, tonight, something could be found.
The search team consisted of a leader, Yoshida Hayato; a deputy leader, Eric Masías and fifteen fully armed men from the Valdelomar group who arrived at the location that was on the outskirts of the city, as it was a point where not many people went; therefore, a good place to hide.
In two custers, those men arrived at the indicated point. That place, unexpectedly, showed a kind of old and destroyed house with other similar establishments, but that structure was the one that attracted the most attention.
Only a group of seven led by Eric went to check the surroundings, while the other group led by Hayato went directly into the house.
There was no time to lose and before the night was over, they had to be able to find something, because Lois' head could be the next one on the chopping block; that was what she thought in the course of the operation.
The whole lot looked like a graveyard covered by the thick fog, all ruined as if they had tried to demolish it in the past. Eric divided his group in two; he sent four men in front of him as the vanguard and he with the rest would be the rearguard; this they did in order to react to the potential enemy attack.
They were all attentive not only to the terrain, but to their intercoms placed in their ears in case of any warning.
They then began to check the small buildings on the perimeter.
Upon entering the mansion, Hayato saw how it was a kind of orphanage; that was the first idea that came to his mind when he saw several toys on the floor and more things that children use. Everything was in disarray, the windows broken, the walls as if they were burned; the men wasted no time and split into pairs to inspect the place without getting too far away.
They began to check the upper floors, as they found no sign of anyone present on the first floor.
Hours passed and they found nothing. The cameras hidden in their suits showed everything that was happening; however, what they were recording was not very encouraging.
Minutes and hours passed and the first group returned to the first floor. The message of no findings by this team was received by Eric's team.
For his part, the young sub-leader was at their side, they had already checked almost a dozen abandoned houses, but nothing. However, that would change in the next one.
Upon entering another house, which was the only one with two floors still intact, they noticed strangely that unlike the others, the place was empty. It was as if everyone who had lived there had moved out.
The team suddenly positioned themselves as if they expected anything to happen. They walked slowly all together with their flashlights on the guns they had drawn as they surveyed the place.
In one of the windows, there was something dark blocking the view. One of them noticed it and gave signals to two who were close to him; they did not point their flashlights at that place, so as not to frighten what seemed to be the silhouette of someone who was watching them.
However, one of them immediately shot towards that place, although not exactly where the silhouette was.
Upon firing, no one noticed it move; they then aimed their flashlights and upon seeing it, they were stunned, for, as some of them came out, they saw a mannequin painted black hiding part of the window.
- This ... was here before? - wondered one of the men.
Eric's only thought was "Damn!" then another message from the first group was received- Eric, come immediately ... we found something.
The group immediately went out to the meeting in that mansion.
Being all gathered, Eric and Hayato stood on the floor of the second floor and watched as part of the carpet was moved revealing a kind of narrow door that led to a possible basement. That small door was opened.
- Didn't they find anything before? - asked Eric worriedly.
- Yes ... we walked all over the place, as the whole floor is made of wood, everything was creaking ... but André noticed, as he passed by he stumbled on this place ... he noticed a gap and when we removed the carpet we found this ... when we opened it we thought we found a room, but as you see it's just a staircase, maybe a couple of meters deep. - explained Hayato.
Suddenly, a voice was heard on all the transmitters.
- Hayato, just you go with your team ... bring up the rear with Eric ... I don't want him to push himself any harder than he already did yesterday. - Lois ordered.
- Understood. - replied the man and commented- it looks like the princess cares about your arm, Eric ... was it too much when you sent that guillotine flying? - with a somewhat haughty, but friendly tone.
- Shut up ... at least, I'm not complaining about my job. - replied the young man.
That being so, the men led by Hayato went down one by one, as the opening of the entrance only allowed one person to go down at a time. As they descended into the place, they noticed something that pleased them: it was a room with greenish LED lights attached to the walls that were on.
This finding excited the men; their thought was the same "This is the right way." as they walked.
The room was spacious and had only one door facing them. Two on either side of the entrance, while one tried to open it; the rest stuck to the walls in attack position.
The skills of the man in charge were notorious, for within minutes he was able to open the door.
Everyone cooled their heads and when they opened the door completely, they saw a passageway like a prison, only that all the grilles were open. The group did not notice the presence of anyone and so they carefully inspected the place.
The surroundings were dirty and the grates rusted; but when they entered one of the spaces, they found another door of the same color as the wall. It was so plain without design, but it was of the airtight type that one might mistake it for a continuous wall.
The men understood that the odds said that something or someone was surely hiding behind it; adrenaline was rising in the hearts of that team.
However, all expectations were dashed when that door was opened; it was not because they found nothing, but because of what they could glimpse in the distance.
The place where they had entered was like a slightly furnished room which was dimly lit; everything was like a kind of labyrinth where they were going until they saw that.
In the distance there was a sort of entrance, but without a door that showed a person in profile who was not moving. A man in formal clothes; probably around 30 years old who was standing there looking at the ground.
No, he wasn't; he wasn't actually standing. As they approached, they realized that the man had a kind of rope tied to a wood nailed high above him and his feet were not touching the ground. The man's head was looking down.
Yes, he was hanging.
Then, they felt an icy breeze coming from that place they were looking at strangely.
They walked slowly, illuminating the place; all excitement turned to caution and fear, for as they went deeper, they understood that they had found only one of many.
Both Lorenz and Thomas covered their bosses' eyes as they knew that something grotesque was going to show itself after this.
A large number of hanging corpses, of similar ages. They all looked to be in their 30's or younger, both male and female.
And at the back of the room was a refrigeration machine that kept the bodies in low temperatures long enough to pause the putrefaction.
The entire room surveyed was devoid of other living beings.
- The number ...- said Hayato.
- What? - replied the other men.
- The number that appeared at this place shown on the map?! - exclaimed the leader.
One of the men replied- thirty-thirty-seven, sir. - concerned not because of his boss's shout, but because he realized as did Hayato something.
The number of corpses was thirty-seven equals to the number written about this place on the map Lois had.
It was already close to 3 a.m. when that horrible finding was made and the last order was given.
- Everyone returns at once ... that's enough for today. Patrols will be sent to your location immediately.- Victoria spoke.
Suddenly, another news was said over the transmitters- Hayato, I think we have seen ... someone ... a hooded man ... he was on top of one of the houses outside, but he has disappeared.- said Eric a little upset.
The whole team went outside and regrouped outside the mansion, then went into the custers and stood guard until patrol cars arrived where they were along with a forensic team.
It was about 6 a.m. when Hayato and Eric's group left the scene.