Elizabeth walked with unsteady steps towards the living room, ignoring what she noticed the first time she walked past.
'it might work, it may not, I have nothing to loose' she thought.
"I've got what you want....now let her go" she said, the moment she stepped her foot into the living room.
"Hand it over"
"No....let her go"
"fine" William said after eyeing her momentarily and let Bertha fall to the ground.
He lifted his palms up in a surrender gesture, smirking.
Elizabeth threw the box aside and quickly ran to her daughter.
She blew her wet kisses and whispered in her ears .
One of the men retrieved the box and handed it over to William.
"honey go upstairs and tell Annie to help me get my phone okay... mummy will be right behind you" she said with a tight smile.
"stop crying momma" Bertha said, using her little fingers to wipe the tears off her mother's face.
"okay baby I will...now run along... I'll be right there....you go help her find it for me okay"
"Yes mama"
Bertha nodded and pranced out of the living room.
She did not head upstairs, but stood at the door peeking at the side out of curiosity.
Elizabeth watched Will rummage through the contents of the box.
She knew he would find nothing. She had personally made sure of it.
After sometime, William realized he had been tricked.
He flew into a fit of rage.
"You bitch" he yelled, and slapped Elizabeth hard across her face.
"how dare you!" he yelled.
Elizabeth let a slow tired cunning smile play on her lips.
"oh the look on your face....it's priceless" she smirked and earned herself a foot on her abdomen.
She doubled over and coughed out blood.
"I always knew you were like this.... envious, greedy but unfortunately stupid.... I bet I got you real good huh" she said smiling.
William angrily struck her across her face again.
She kept on talking, playing with his emotions, getting him more riled up to buy her kids more time.
"I'm glad I saw it first hand and walked away from you earlier and I wonder why Adam was too blind from love for you to see it" she smirked.
"if he did, we wouldn't be in this mess" she said, and clucked her tongue.
"shut up bitch" William cursed, landing her more kicks to the abdomen.
Elizabeth felt her vision going dim and a loud ringing sound was in her ears. She felt like using the toilet.
In her heart, she prayed her kids were safely away from the Hart estate.
"if there is a higher power somewhere up there.... please let them not fall into harm... please let them be safe" she prayed.
"Enough of the games Will" Shaun, one of the five men said.
"There's been enough time wasted as it is" Griffith added.
William turned to each of the men, then faced Elizabeth and shot her square in the head.
She fell back, eyes wide with shock and urine, slipping through her dress, mixing with her blood pooling around her on the floor.
"fuck fuck fuck" William screamed in anger.
"Search the entire estate!" he yelled to his men.
"Find me the damn thing and the children"
The men trooped out of the living room one after the other.
Annie stayed silent from her vantage point behind the marble statue at the entrance to the living room.
She saw her mother walk past and knew her mum had seen her and had made a splendid effort at making sure she ignored, in order not to draw attention to her.
She saw her mother go back and Bertha walk out the door.
"that stubborn child" she muttered.
She had been in the midst of helping Jonathan get dressed when she turned around and Bertha was nowhere to be found.
After making sure Jonathan was sitting quietly put close to the entrance of the passage way, she came in search of Bertha only to find her in the company of Uncle Will.
A situation she did not find in the least bit prompting, for her to go get her sister.
Well not while she still had a gun pointed to her head.
She recognized the other men seated also. Men whom she had seen on numerous occasions with her father. When she asked, she was shooed along with her siblings and told they were on business but Uncle Will was different. He was like family.
Fresh hot tears dripped down her cheeks anew as she remembered her father lying in his own blood and how he had been mercilessly shot.
She remembered the times he came to visit them with gifts whenever he returned from his long travels.
The times he played with them and even quarreled her father sometimes, when he was too strict with discipline.
'How did it come to this' she wondered.
None of the unfolding events made sense to her.
When she saw Bertha come out, she began to gesture at her but Bertha took no notice.
She watched her uncle strike her mother and fought the urge to run in there to her defense but she knew she was powerless against such people.
She bid her time in the darkness waiting for the perfect time to take advantage and get her sister who was hiding by the door post and peeking through to the scene playing out.
Another gunshot reverberated the house and Annie dashed to her sister under the cover of the sound and placed her hands over Bertha's mouth.
Bertha thrashed and kicked as she sobbed, but she held her tight and together they retreated into the shadows.
Annie carried her up the staircase two at a time until they got to their parents' bedroom with the trap door. Only then did she let her sister down.
"momma....daddy.." Bertha pointed in the direction of the door as she cried.
"shush it" Annie said eyeing her.
" they're gone and nothing is going to bring them back" Annie replied agitatedly.
"it's not her fault you know, I heard the shots too. What's really happening where's mum and dad" Jonathan said.
" No time to explain" Annie said as she opened the trap door and passed a flashlight to Jonathan.
"Remember what Mum said.... now go down first, ask questions later"
Annie threw their bags ahead into the darkness and turned to Jonathan, gesturing towards the opening.
Jonathan took the flashlight and shone it into the dark. it was a 400mm by 600 mm space cut out close to the wall at the edge of the room with a ladder leading down into god knows what.
Apparently, it had been around a while, as the walls of the opening were full of cobwebs and were covered in dust. Jonathan shivered inwardly. With a glance at his sisters, he began to climb down the ladder which lead into darkness.
"Don't be a sissy." Annie warned Bertha as she wore the torchlight round her neck and and knelt down for Bertha to climb on her back.
She pulled the lightest chair she could find close to the door's entrance and gently climbed down carefully.
"What do you plan on doing now.... apparently you have failed woefully" Griffith smirked eyeing William.
"shut the fuck up I'm trying to think"
"well you had better think fast.... time is running out and the bosses are not going to be happy"
William eyed him and didn't give him a response.
"if anything, to the kids might have an idea... Elizabeth is one smart woman and her first Annie knows how to poke her nose where it doesn't belong"
He left the living room and walked upstairs to find the kids only go discover their empty beds and their rooms in a state of disarray.
He flew into another fit of anger and began to toss things around in the room.
He ran his hands through his hair in exasperation then he passed his hands over his face.
"Goth!" he screamed.
"get in here" he said as he sighted his man at the door.
"yes boss"
"find them.... search the room for clues. Anything. Three children don't just disappear into thin air from a fully guarded house in the middle of the night"
he said, hands akimbo.
"yes boss"
William went back and forth in the room.
In a short while, Goth returned with two more men together, they turned the room upsidedown but found nothing.
Goth walked across the room to the other door leading to the parents' bedroom and found it locked.
Then he took few steps backwards and pushed his full weight on the door yet it didn't budge.
Then he went back and repeated the same thing until the door gave way.
He walked into the room and glanced around, then he called the other men and together they began to search.
One man knocked over the chair Annie had used to obstruct the normal view of the trapdoor unintentionally.
Goth turned to him and his eyes caught sight of the trapdoor.
"boss you need to see this" he called.
William walked into the room and the moment he saw what they had found, he muttered under his breath.
"bloody bastards"
"well don't just stand there, find a way to get it open you morons" he cursed.
The men stomped on the door but could not get it open.
Goth went outside and returned with a hammer which he applied to the door and managed to pry it open.
He stood up and glanced around for a flashlight.
Finding one, he took it and shone it into the dark hole.
William peered over his shoulders.
"it's a bloody passage way..... why those ..."
he began and proceeded to unleash a string of colourful words.
"What do we do boss"
"What do you do?" William replied incredulously.
"why, bring out your fucking cocks and take a bloody piss in it " he replied.
Goth just looked at him without a word.
"arrrrgh .. I'm surrounded by idiots" he cursed.
"Get your asses down there you pieces of cunts"
He grabbed a flashlight and began to descend into the darkness.
Annie and her siblings walked the length of the passage, following the marks her parents had made. Marks designed for she and her siblings alone to find.
They walked for about 20 minutes and found a rusty old gate with a very rare old lock whose entrance led to an exit.
Annie remembered her mother's words and got the bunch of keys her mother gave her from her pocket and searched for the right one to fit the lock. It took her a while to find the right one.
She opened the door and stepped aside for her siblings to get through then she secured the lock back in place.
She knew it would buy them sometime.
She turned and faced the entire way to the back gates of the estate and was faced with a dilemma.
The men standing guard at various points of the property, then the lights. Her parents had made sure to install a lot of those.
"arrrrgh"she grunted.
Then she put her mental gears to work.
She gestured to her siblings to stay silent as she went ahead to check the possibility of them passing through the yard safely.
She checked and found no possible way.
At this time, her mental gears were going into overdrive.
They had to find a way out fast.
Getting caught wasn't part of her agenda for the night.
As if by providence the lights in the yard went off.
Annie looked up and thanked her stars before she carried Bertha and bolted across the field. she took care to avoid the areas men were lurking around.
She froze when one of the men on guard headed towards them.
She put her hands to her lips and turned to her brother.
together, the three of them lay down flat on the grass and waited for the man to pass by, but he didn't.
Instead, he unzipped his fly and began to pee, few centimeters from the kids.
Annie felt the stench of urine try to overcome her senses and she felt like pukeing.
After the man was done, he zipped up and turned away.
Just then, the lights came on.
"there they are" one man shouted, pointing at Annie and her siblings and in few seconds, others began heading towards them.
Annie sprang up and began to run.
She didn't look back but ran like a bat out of hell towards the back gate of the estate.
she looked at her side to make sure Jon was catching up, which he was.
As she ran, she brought out the bunch of keys from her pocket and began to fiddle with them.
She found the one she was looking for as they approached the gate and she had barely come close enough before she inserted it into the keyhole and instantly she was on the other side.
As Jon passed safety through, she jammed the gate and secured the lock back in place to buy more time.
she knew they had no keys to come after them so they would have to find another alternative.