When he entered the gun room and realised that several rifles and pistols were missing, Vine immediately knew that Gareth was dead serious; he meant no jokes. The man was very well trained; and Vine's heart was pieced by anger upon realising that the man whom he had sent for training was now turning against him.
He called Dream, ordering for bullet proof vests, the silencers and all the necessary items needed for war. When he was satisfied with the full armor, Vine went to update his grandmother.
"Gareth has made a mistake of involving Vincent Lisandro in this. For the sake of my son, I will have to find him, and with my own bare hands, I will kill him. I sent for people to check at the Noels' house; they said they never saw Kiara and the baby. And to confirm that Gareth was not lying that he is holding them hostage, he himself sent me a picture of my son and his mother in a room." He fumed.
Lady Pinkerton was silent; processing the words which her grandson had said. She tried to imagine a physical fight between Vine and Gareth, and she felt that the possibilities of the latter overpowering the former were very high. The lady highly valued her grandson; the thought of losing him was not an option.
"I would suggest that you let Dream lead a team that will follow Gareth and get Kiara and the child. If you yourself go, I would never be able to forgive myself should anything bad happen to you."
"Grandma, this is my son we're talking about. I am his father, and I know I might not be the best father around; but for him; I will have to do anything." Vine's voice was low and horse, slightly shaking due to immense anger.
"Have you considered that you may die at the hands of Gareth?" the grandmother said.
"I thought of that, but trust me; I know how to go about this. I know how this man thinks. I will have to go and get my son."
The old lady tried everything, yet her grandson was adamant. Not wishing to waste any more time, Vine and Dream started to work. The first step was to send out teams to search in all the places that Gareth was likely to go. Any and all hideous places were also checked; for there was no stone to be left unturned.
Meanwhile, as the men went out in groups, Vine and Dream were sitting in an office, analyzing the picture that Gareth sent. The picture did not show much. It was Kiara, looking very scared; holding the child in her arms. She was sitting on a bed and on the wall behind them was a framed picture of a lion. That was all. The bed itself was covered with white and gray stripped linen. The picture, in short, showed only a mother and her son, a bed, a wall and a picture.
"There is no hint whatsoever. Where can this place be?" Vine asked impatiently.
"It can be a lodge. We will have to look out at all the lodges around, and hotels too," Dream responded.
"Right, send out more teams to dress in executive suits, look very professional and visit all the lodges and hotels around here. They shall go with the picture of Kiara and Vincent Lisandro. Kiara shall be reported as a young wife who just disappeared from home, and we believe that she is being held hostage." Vine gave his instructions.
"I'm on it, my young master," Dream immediately stood up and began to dispatch a very clear picture of Kiara and Vincent Lisandro, together with the detailed instructions.
"In the mean time we shall not sit here and wait. Let's go. I am going to speak to Gareth's parents. I will scare the daylights out of them. They will have to talk." Vine stood up.
With drivers and eight other bodyguards, they drove all the way to Gareth's parents; a home which was a long distance from the Pinkerton mansion. Since the drivers were occasionally over-speeding, it took them a shorter time to arrive at the place.
Vine led the way as he went up to the front door and knocked.
"I'm coming!" an elderly female voice responded.
Soon enough, the door was pulled open. A smiling woman looked at the two men standing at her door, and her smile froze. It disappeared and fear was written all over her entire being.
"The young master Vine Pinkerton? Why are you here? Is Gareth well? Is my son well?" the woman spoke in a frail voice.
"Who is there?" the husband called from within the house.
"The young master Vine Pinkerton."
"What! Let them in. Is there a problem?" Gareth's father asked as he hurried to the room.
Vine and Dream entered and sat down. As soon as he took his seat, Vine started looking around the room, and he asked,
"Where is Gareth Patrol?"
The elderly couple exchanged glances, and the father responded, "we thought he was with you at the Pinkerton mansion. We have not heard from him in the last two or three weeks."
"Search the house!" Vine gave an order to Dream.
Promptly, Dream called in the eight bodyguards, and they started turning the house upside down. Vine remained rooted to his spot, for he never brought himself down to the level of searching for anything or anyone.
"What is going on? Why are you doing this?" Gareth's father asked in desperation.
"You need to tell us where Gareth is," Vine said.
It was after close to seven minutes when Dream came running, holding a picture frame in his hands.
"Look, young master! I found this frame in one of the bedrooms. Look, it has the image of a lion, which looks exactly like the one in the room in which ma'am Kiara and the junior master are held."
Vine looked closely at the picture and turned to face Garth's parents.
"A young lady and a child are being held hostage by Gareth, and I have every reason to believe that they are here in this house, because as per this photo," he flashed the photo in front of the couple, and continued to say, "as per this; they were in one of your bedrooms."
"No, no please young master you have to believe us. There was no guest here; no-one came here. That room that you're seeing in the picture could be any of Gareth's houses. You see, since he was a little boy, he was obsessed with lions. That bedroom, from which you found this lion picture, is his former bedroom while he was still staying here." The woman explained with tears in her eyes.
"Why is the picture of this lion looking exactly like the one in this picture where Gareth is holding the two hostage?" Dream asked angrily.
"This picture could have been taken anywhere. Gareth always loves hanging pictures of lions in his rooms," Gareth's father said. As he spoke, he was moving to stand in front of his wife, using his boy to shield her from the cruel men.
"Are you telling me therefore, that this picture could have been taken in one of Gareth's houses?" Vine asked.
Before the parents could respond, Dream leaned in and whispered in Vine's ear,
"Young master, I think it's true. In Gareth's bedroom back at the mansion, there are two pictures of lions."
Vine nodded his head. He himself, since he hardly ever went into Gareth's bedroom, had forgotten about the images of lions in the said room. But he surely recalled that Gareth was the one who bought the picture frame which was used to cover the tunnel entrance inside the mansion cells. And that picture, without any doubt, was an image of a lion. It all started to make sense to the young master.
He called all his team leaders, asking them whether or not, while they searched Gareth's properties, they saw pictures of lions hanging on the walls.
"I think I did, young master. There surely was a picture of a lion in one of the rooms," one team leader said.
The other team leaders also confirmed the same, except for one or two who said they could not remember. Such a response instantly earned them a demotion from their young master Vine. New team leaders were immediately appointed and asked to take over at that very same moment.
Vine put back his phone and proceeded to talk, "Kiara and Vincent Lisandro are being held in one of Gareth's homes. We know that Gareth has three houses, and as per our searches, the people we're looking for are not there. Now this can only lead to one conclusion: Gareth owns another house, or houses, which we know not about. Where are these houses?" Vine looked squarely at the couple, showing them no hint of mercy at all.
"What…what do you plan to do to my son?" the woman started to cry.
"Tell us where all his houses are?" Vine responded.
The elderly couple held each other, each depending solely on the other, for they were not sure for how long they were still going to be alive.
"I am talking to you!" Vine pointed a gun at the two, much to the terror of them both.
"My son, does it have to come to this?" the old man pleaded.
"I am not your son, old man; Gareth is. And I will ask you one more time; besides the house in Mayorline Street, and another one in Greystroke, and the third one in Lindle Avenue, where else does Gareth own properties?"
"We don't know of…" the man had not yet finished talking when Vine sent a bullet flying, making a hole in the ceiling.
"Start talking!" he barked, his nose flaring, eyes red, and looking fiercer than an enraged wild animal.
"He…our son has a house in Greystroke, yes. And…and in Lindle Avenue. Our son…our son also has a house in Mayorline. I…I don't know…"
As the elderly man was still stammering, Vine brought the gun to the woman's head and gave a command,
"If in the next five seconds you don't tell me where the other houses are, your wife dies!"
"Crescento Avenue! Out near the country's borders. Number thirty-eight Crescento Avenue!" Gareth's mother screamed.
"Anything else?" Vine asked, the gun still in the woman's head.
"Those are the four houses which he owns," she cried.
"Good. Let's go. If you dare tell anyone about our visit, you will both die. And your death will look so natural that no one will ever find reason to link it to anyone."
"We…we will not talk," the man shook in great fright.
"Dream, take their phones! Inform the teams, we're heading over to thirty-eight Crescento Avenue. Near the border; that's about six towns away from the capital. We have to take off right away! Call the pilot and let him get the helicopter ready."
"Yes, young master," Dream responded.