When Harry rang at the front door, she saw one window curtain shift and then she heard movement inside. Frank Carter clearly wasn't expecting any visit today. Thirty seconds later, a yelp echoed from the back garden and hurried footsteps sounded inside the house.

She tried to open the door, but it was locked! She ran around the house and as she did so she heard Thompson shouting "Police! On the floor, face down, spread your arms and legs!" She doubted the man would obey and entered the house through the back door.

The table of the living room had been knocked over and as she entered further into the room she spotted the three men running in the stairs. Carter and Thompson were already at the top and Carter turned round unexpectedly, surprising the police officer. He hit him hard and before Harry could understand what had happened, the sergeant fell over the banister and landed on the ground floor with a thud. James froze a second, and bend over the banister to see the motionless body of Thompson, then he noticed his wife kneeling near him and he launched himself after Carter again.

He kicked a door opened and spotted the man trying to escape through the window. He grabbed him around the waist and pulled him back inside. Carter fell but stood up straight away, his fists before his face, ready to fight.

James, too, raised his arms and braced himself for the first blow as Carter's fist aimed at his face. He missed but punched James right in the stomach with his second blow. He was about to hit him again but Dempsey countered with a right hook that made Carter stumble a bit. But the man got back into the fight immediately thrusting his fist in his opponent stomach again. James gasped, he was too old for this kind of things. The man was advancing on him again, hitting him heavily on the head.

Little stars popped in front of his eyes and he tasted blood. He was leaning on the wall, trying to stay up; he knew he had to fight back but he didn't know how. Carter had gone to the other side of the room, he was fumbling in a drawer. James shook his head and stood up straighter but saw with a pang of fear he had a gun levelled at his chest. If Frank Carter fired his gun now, he was finished.

All of a sudden, Harry entered the room; it was just what Dempsey needed. Momentarily distracted, Carter couldn't avoid his hefty blow on the forearm. The weapon slipped from his grasp and slid on the floor. Carter tried to retrieve it but Dempsey took advantage of the distraction to whack him in the back of his head. Moaning, the man fell on all fours, and Dempsey didn't lose any time to immobilize him on the floor. He caught hold of both his hands behind his back and forced him up, flattening him on the wall.

With his free hand, he wiped off the blood on his lip and turned to look at his wife. He was glad to see she had Carter's gun in her hand but concern for the sergeant flashed back in his mind instantly. "Thompson?"

"He's unconscious but he's breathing evenly, he should be fine." She reassured him.

She was about to take her cell phone to call for an ambulance when Dempsey reached out and said "Give me that gun."

Harry frowned. "What for?"

Frank Carter whined "Don't shoot me!"

"Just gimme that gun!" James repeated.

"I'd rather not. I'm watching him, don't worry." She pointed her weapon towards Carter; there was a glint in James' eyes that made it impossible for her to trust him with a gun right now.

Groaning, James pinned Carter harder to the wall. "You and I are gonna have a little chitchat okay?"

"I ain't got nothin' to say."

"Wrong answer! Come on try again, tell us about your cousins!"

"Cousins?" the man feigned ignorance. "I ain't got no cousin."

Dempsey could feel anger rising in him; he turned the man so that he would face him. "Listen to me scumbag, I haven't got any time to lose with you, and you're already in big trouble! You've taken in dangerous people, helped them out, and now you've seriously injured a police officer, oh yeah, you also got a handgun when it's forbidden! Better not worsen your case by making me lose my time, you got it?"

"I don't know what you talkin' about. I'm an honest man now, I changed." The man whimpered.

"I don't care about your little pathetic life! I want you to tell me about Coltrane! I know he was here and I know you helped him! So either you tell me where I can find him, or we'll have a little problem! "

Frank Carter gasped. "I... I didn't... he threatened me, I had no choice and..." his voice came out in rasp breath. "I don't know where he is."

"Oh yes you know, and you're gonna tell me!"

"You don't understand. This guy's crazy; if I give him away, I'm a dead man."

"Well I hope you've got a good life insurance Frankie because if you don't tell me where he is, you're a dead man too!"

The man's eyes widened in fear. "No, you wouldn't,... you're a cop..."

"Nope! I'm the target!" he answered with a mad smile.

Carter looked around him wildly. "There's a witness!"

James glanced at Harry. Her face was impassive; he couldn't have said if she trusted him to scare the man to give information or if she thought he might cross the line. And honestly, he couldn't have said what he was about to do either. He watched Carter with a wry smile. "Her? She's gonna close her eyes!"

"I... I don't know where he is!" Carter repeated.

"You filthy liar!" Dempsey pushed him against the wall, his arm on his throat. "Come on talk!"

"I'm telling you, I don't know!"

"I think you misunderstood me Frankie." Dempsey incensed, increasing the pressure on the man's throat. "I want information and I want it fast or I'll hit you so hard that Coltrane will look like a pussy cat!"

"Calm down!" Harry warned. "Killing him won't get us information."

"He knows it." Dempsey said through gritted teeth, his eyes boring pitilessly into Carter's fearful ones.

"He knows it too." The man croaked.

Dempsey frowned "Knows what?"

"Where they are." Carter breathed "Coltrane... He knows."

"Who they?" Dempsey yelled, a hint of panic mingled with the fury in his voice.

"Your children. He knows they are in a kind of castle, outside London. He's going there and he's going to kill them."