From her room, lady Pinkerton heard the singing, and she ran to wake her husband up.
"Let's go, we have to leave now!" she said.
"What is happening?" the man asked.
"I will explain later. Come."
The elderly man fumbled for his clothes, and he pulled on his trousers on top of his pajamas.
Lady Pinkerton called the pilot, "get the helicopter ready!" she said.
"I cannot do that!" the man panted. "An army of men is surrounding the helicopter; there is no way I can get inside of it."
"An army of men? From where?
"Your own employees, lady Pinkerton."
The lady quickly dialed Vine's number. The call had barely begun to ring when it was answered,
"Grandma!"
"Where are you? The employees are striking!"
"What? I'm on my way!" Vine said.
"We can't use the helicopter. They surrounded it."
"Try and get out using the grey gate. I will pick you up from there."
"Ok I will do my best." She said.
"Have they all turned against us?" Vine asked.
"It looks like that. I don't know who is for us." Lady Pinkerton said, her heartbeat at an insanely fast rate.
***.
In her room Kiara woke up because of the noise. She grabbed her son and started running. She bumped into Jessica, and asked what was going on.
"Check your phone!" Jessica responded while running off.
"I don't have one! They took my phone, show me!" Kiara screamed.
Jessica came back and showed Kiara the video. She only managed to read three comments before Jessica said she needed to go.
"My parents! My parents are in the mansion cell! Please hold my child for me please, I will come back now. I have to get them out!" she cried.
"Come with me! I will show you an easier way out!" Jessica said.
They ran outside, where they saw people singing. Some maids, cleaners, housekeeping and kitchen staff were holding up placards. Kiara could not help but wonder when they had done the placards. They held huge papers written with mighty markers:
BRING BACK TESSA.
Other placards were written:
WHO KILLED ROSALINE?
And another one was written:
DID GARETH DIE A NATURAL DEATH?
Kiara realised that the situation was much worse than she had anticipated. She ran faster, following Jessica.
"Come downstairs, there's another floor under the basement."
"Really?" Kiara was breathless. She ran on, her son in her hands.
Once they arrived downstairs, Jessica pointed,
"This is the door! It leads directly to the mansion cell!" she tried to open it, but it was locked.
"Mamma!!" Kiara screamed at the top of her lungs.
She heard her parents' voices,
"Kiara what's happening? Help us!"
Kiara looked around for anything to use to break the door. She was already crying. Reading her mind, Jessica informed Kiara that the door could not be broken that easily; since it was a metal door.
"Check around the big room you will see a frame with the picture of a lion!" Kiara informed her parents.
"Yes, yes I see it," Aletha's voice came.
"Remove that frame! That frame is covering a tunnel. Go through that tunnel and I will meet you in the room where it leads you!"
"We're on it!" Travis' scared voice shouted; he was doing his best to appear brave.
Kiara and Jessica started ascending the stairs, going back to the basement. Kiara looked around and in the corner, just behind the silver Mercedes, there was a brown couch. The couch was well hidden; Kiara had seen it countless times and wondered what it was for. It was a bit old and had a few grease and oil stains.
"Sit there! Please Jessica, help me. Sit on that couth with my son. I will come to get him from you as soon and I help my parents out!"
"I…I'm scared, ma'am. I really want to go home."
"Jessica please, please help me out. Sit there and wait for me. I won't be long."
"I will wait," Jessica took the junior master in her hands and she ran to sit on the couch.
There were some among the bodyguards who chose to remain loyal to the Pinkertons. Even among the staff itself, some, after watching the video, still chose to remain loyal to the Pinkertons. One such bodyguard, who was adamant that no matter what; he chose to die for his masters, was a young man who was eyeing Dream's position. He picked his phone and called the police. Soon after that, he ran to the security room and picked three tear gas tubes.
The man ran and threw one, falling right in the middle of the protesting employees.
"How dare you! How dare you throw this thing on us! We wanted to do this with a bit of respect; and now we're coming full force!" one of the senior gardeners said.
Everyone ran in different directions, but most of them headed towards the main exit which led to the main road. People were coughing and chocking.
Kiara continued to run. She was just about to enter the mansion, when she saw the group of people headed towards the main exit, and she heard one of the junior chefs crying,
"Let's burn down the mansion!"
Hearing that, Kiara almost wet her pants.
"Don't! Wait, my parents are in there!" she cried.
Yet no-one heard her. The new chant became,
Burn down the mansion!
Burn down the mansion!
Burn down the mansion!
Kiara thought about running away; but she could not. Her parents were inside; and without her help, there was no way they were going to exit. She told herself that she was never going to be able to live with herself should they die inside the mansion. She cascaded up the stairs, and before long, she was in her former bedroom. Kiara ran into the bathroom and pulled the chest of drawers away; exposing the way to the tunnel.
"Mamma!!" she screamed her lungs out, looking inside the dark tunnel.
"We're coming!" Travis' voice was heard.
"Be fast! Be very fast!" Kiara urged.
She heard loud sounds, and then her father's head popped out, and he brought himself to the standing position; sweating.
"Where is mamma?" Kiara asked angrily.
"She's coming," Travis responded.
"Shouldn't you have made sure that she came first?" Kiara was very angry.
She bent and looked inside the tunnel.
"Mamma!! Mamma!" she called loud.
"I…I am coming," Aletha's voice was heard.
It took close to two minutes for Aletha to appear, yet to Kiara it sure felt like two whole days. As soon as Aletha came out, Kiara asked if she was OK, and since they were all unhurt, they started running.
"There is a fire escape route! Follow me!" she ran very fast, while holding her mother's hand.
Travis was running behind them, but that was only because he had no idea how to go about the mansion. Had he known the way through the huge maze, he surely would have left his wife and daughter to fend for themselves during such a crucial moment.
When they neared the exit, Kiara realised that a fire had started, but the fire marshals were already there. She wondered how on earth they had managed to come so soon.
"We need to exit the place!" Travis screamed, seeing that Kiara was not headed towards the exit, but rather going around the mansion.
"My son! I must get my son!" Kiara cried.
Travis looked at his wife and daughter running, and he looked at some employees going towards the gate. It was a huge mass; for the mansion, in total had over two hundred and fifty staff members. There were people in catering, housekeeping, nursing, people to care for the pets, chefs, waitresses, butler, laundry teams, garden staff, lawn and yard maintenance, electricians, gate keepers, bodyguards, security guards, cleaners, head gardener, household manager, nannies, a pianist and another musician, car cleaner, drivers, pilots and a doctor.
Travis watched them all running away, and since he had already experienced a share of the Pinkertons' wrath; he dared not stay around the place any longer. He followed them. Kiara and Aletha continued to run towards the basement.
"We're almost there," Kiara encouraged her mother, and before long, they had arrived.
"There, on the brown couch!" she pointed, panting heavily.
Since the couch was a bit hidden, it took Aletha a while to see it. She stood and leaned on the wall, watching her daughter running towards the couch.
"Jessica!" Kiara screamed.
"Jessica!" a trail of panic was beginning to lace her voice.
Aletha walked over to her child, "What happened?"
"She is not here. Jessica is not here! The couch is empty!" Kiara wailed.
"Was she here? Are you sure this was your meeting place?"
"Yes, when I left, she was sitting on this couch, with Ethan in her arms." Kiara said, her eyes becoming teary.
"Let's go and follow the rest of the staff. Crying over the empty couch won't help. Let's go!" Aletha said.
"Where did she go? What about my son? Oh Lord, why do things always have to happen in such a way?"
"Let's go, Kiara! We're wasting time."
"Where is daddy?" Kiara looked around, tears beginning to fall.
"Forget about him. Let's go find Vincent."
The mother daughter duo ran, hand in hand.
"Jessica!!! Jessica!!" Kiara called at the top of her lungs; yet her voice was swallowed by the chanting:
Where is Tessa?
What killed Rosaline?
Where is Tessa?
What killed Rosaline?