The path to the top proved to be more challenging than Raziel had estimated only minutes before. The cracked rocks seemed to crumble at the lightest touch, and each step made the young detective nauseous and dizzy, forcing him to concentrate even more on his movements. Part of this was due to the increasingly clear vision of falling into the depths of the lake below, but just as much it was due to the constant pain in his right knee. Raziel knew he shouldn't put too much strain on that joint, but what were a few steps to climb when faced with the mission at hand? The thought hadn't left his mind for quite some time, a source of motivation of sorts, but when Ruth turned her attention to the distant sounds of the storm and the drops of water increasingly obscuring her view, the 23-year-old was close to giving up all hope.

- Maybe we should come back here another day? - the brunette's strong voice broke through the wall of rain as Raziel struggled to find the driest surface of the cliff face, his only support after the wet railing had proved to be more dangerous than the slippery marble steps.

- No need for that, we're almost there.

The man stopped carefully, squinting his eyes and staring at the distant point with maximum concentration. He was surprised to find that his words could be quite close to the truth, so after a while he moved forward again, almost jumping over water puddles formed in the hollows of the bright surface.

- Let's just say I believe you! - Ruth shouted in the direction of her partner, whose back covered everything that was happening above, while allowing the woman to focus on the short distance she had to follow Raziel.

- See! The last two ste~

A loud groan of pain and surprise cut through the harsh air as the man's figure contorted violently and his pale hands began to slice through the air, desperately searching for any anchor point that might keep their owner from losing his balance completely. Raziel was losing control of his slipping body, caused by a severe wave of acute pain that had been announcing the arrival for several long, nagging hours by now. Down below, at the sight of her partner's futile efforts, the image of two bodies inertly rolling down the marble steps paralyzed Ruth's mind, whose dilated eyes seemed to overlap with a misty, thick coating, and the desire for immediate escape filled her every sense. When the sudden desire to jump into the lake caused all the woman's muscles to tense instantly, the younger detective clenched both fists on the stair railing with the last of his strength, and the black, wet boots began to slide inertly downward to the accompaniment of sharp curses thrown out through teeth clenched in exertion.

The faint hope of getting out of this problematic position melted away with the next hard wall of rain, and the blond man, losing strength, began to make a decision about the complete release of the handrail and handing over the further developments of events to the fate's mercy. Raziel lowered his head, searched the frightened eyes and was about to nod at the brunette in a gesture of silent warning when a sudden flash of light burst into his consciousness, followed by a deep voice in which amusement blended with curiosity:

- Rough day, huh?

Raziel used the last reserves of energy to direct his gaze towards the source of the mysterious voice, while Ruth abruptly turned her head towards the outline of three tall figures standing just at the edge of the cliff.

- Hey! Help! - the woman began waving toward the strangers, covering her eyes from blinding, intense light passed seamlessly from her figure to Raziel, who was barely able to maintain his position. After a brief moment, two ropes were thrown down the rough wall, one of which luckily landed within reach of Raziel's free arm, whose left hand had long since given up in the struggle to keep the slippery handrail in grab.

After grasping the ropes, only the legs of the helpless detectives could push off the surface they encountered, and the resulting breakout force significantly accelerated their transport to the top. Once both were on safe ground, all three men, without much sign of fatigue after such a demanding effort, presented themselves as patrol of the entrance gate to the asylum's area.

- So can you take us any further? - Raziel tried to keep the remnants of his dignity by putting on the most professional attitude he could, which the heavy breathing and shaking shoulders did not help with in any way. Ruth seemed to be in better condition; the woman merely pushed her wet hair back, covered her eyes with steady hand and began to stare intensely at the tall gate secured with chains and a massive padlock.

- Private Investigator Ruth Murphy - brunette slid drenched piece of cloth with a silver engraved mark under the spotlight without taking her eyes off the undefined point behind the metal bars - and this is...

- Raziel Torres, Criminal Intelligence Center - the piece of silver engraving flashed again in a bright streak, at which one of the uniformed men turned to his companions and began to articulate words in a language not entirely understood by the other two, pointing once at Raziel and then at the locked gate.

- I understand that procedures are important, but we need to inspect all of your subordinate facilities on this island and we would like to do that before midnight - the blond man tried to keep his sarcastic tone in check, but fatigue, annoyance and nervousness before what awaited them were not conducive to his self-control. The man's intuition used to be activated very often when working out the motives of betrayed partners or locating missing, quarter-century-old bodies, and usually combining all the subconscious hints and threads into a logical, coherent whole came without much difficulty. In this situation, on the other hand, he encountered a certain blockage between what he saw and what he felt, completely unable to separate his suppositions from facts and rationality from imagination. This condition had persisted since his conversation with Joseph, and Raziel sincerely hoped that it was due to the mere fact of having a new and significant assignment, rather than his lack of experience.

- Follow me - said the man dryly, and after passing the information to his silent companions, he took a bundle of keys from his leather belt and began to unwind the thick iron chains holding the gate together. Ruth assumed a wary posture, placing her hand on the bulge in the cloak where - as Raziel guessed - the firearm was, and together they followed the three guards.

- You can wait here - the same man pointed them to a covered area, connected to a small wooden shed, and then went inside, leaving the detectives under observation of his colleagues. Raziel tried not to show undue curiosity about what was going on inside, but the small, unglazed window seemed to invite his anxious gaze to analyze the bright interior. Ruth walked past him and stood off to the side without changing the position of her right arm even a millimeter, scanning her surroundings with an investigative eye.

- Ruth, how much time do we have allocated for this visit? - Raziel gently turned to face his partner so that his back was placed towards the two guards and reached out to touch the wrist of the woman, who did not take her eyes off the high, spiked fence and the stone-paved path that stretched down the bushy slope.

- Hm? - the brunette muttered inquiringly, wanting this time to focus on the question posed to her, but Raziel had already gotten what he wanted, so he unhurriedly looked at the soaked watch whose hands had stopped at 7:20 probably about half an hour earlier.

- Never mind, I already know - the man turned once more, standing sideways to the watching partner, retracted his three middle fingers and smoothly raised his hand to scratch behind his ear with his thumb. At first Ruth seemed extremely confused and concerned about the younger man's behavior, but when he made a slight movement towards the wooden structure, the woman quickly understood what was going on and, laughing in her heart at the overcautiousness of her less experienced colleague, casually looked through the window to her right. All she had time to see was the man putting down a black phone and heading for the tattered, low-hanging door.

- Don't worry, they won't eat us - she smiled at the stunned Raziel, whose every sense was screaming for maintaining precautions from the moment he had stepped through the metal gates. It seemed to him that Ruth cared about the same thing, at least that was what he inferred from her earlier behavior, but she was now more preoccupied with admiring the view than with an actual danger that their unexpected saviors might have turned out to be.

"It doesn't make sense, they got you out of..."

"It doesn't mean anything yet"

"You're overreacting"

"Shut up, I need to think"

- It's all right, we'll take you to the main building - a calm, deep tone interrupted Raziel's inner monologue and, shaking off his momentary state of limbo, he followed the other four towards something that, he was more than sure, would get them nowhere in one piece.