void ThreadCritical::release() {

  {- -------------------------------------------
  (1) (assert)
      ---------------------------------------- -}

      assert(lock_owner == -1, "Mutex being deleted while owned.");
      assert(lock_count == -1, "Mutex being deleted while recursively locked");
      assert(lock_event != NULL, "Sanity check");

  {- -------------------------------------------
  (1) 
      ---------------------------------------- -}

      CloseHandle(lock_event);
    }