Lucy-Ann jumped up in a panic and grabbed hold of the chain and started to climb up. Philip squeezed in beside her and quietly called Kiki to him, just as the handle of the door was being turned. Kiki flew down to Philip's shoulder.

"Go on Kiki, talk, talk, talk," whispered Philip and then he pushed her out of the hole and proceeded up the hole after Lucy-Ann. Kiki flew and landed on top of the door just as it was opened and the men came in. All three of them were there, but they didn't see Kiki.

"Whip your feet and shut the door!" cried Kiki from just behind them. The men thought one of the children were being cheeky and took another step forward.

"Say that again," said the man with the fang earring.

"Naughty boy, naughty boy… don't sniff!" said Kiki and the men looked around in amazement. They knew there must be someone in the room, but they couldn't see anyone and were confused.

"One two three GO!" suddenly yelled Kiki and gave a most realistic imitation of a starting pistol. All the men jumped violently and Kiki went off into a cackle of laughter. The men drew their revolvers and sent off a shot in the direction of Kiki, thinking that someone was firing at them. Kiki was startled and flew towards the hole and disappeared into it. She wanted to be with Jack again. The men saw her in surprise and anger and ran to the hole, which they hadn't noticed before, then and peered up it, just as Philip was climbing out of the hole at the top.

"Oi, you kids come back here!" Philip scrambled out of the hole at the top and peered down and was startled to see Gavin, the blonde haired man climbing up after them.

"Quick," Philip said turning to the others. "They are climbing up after us, we must hide."

"But where?" asked Lucy-Ann looking worried.

"Out of this room," said Jack. "Maybe we can get down the stairs I saw." They all hurried out of the room and had a brief glance around. Dinah ran to the stairs and started down them and the others followed some way behind. They were very large grand stairs, which had been covered in a red velvet carpet that was now rather threadbare. Dinah was just passing a window, which had threadbare curtains to match the stairs when she heard someone running up the stairs from the other end. She quickly turned around and gestured with her hands that the others should go back and hid herself behind the curtains, standing on the deep windowsill. The others understood Dinah's gesture only too well and fled back up the stairs.

"Where are we going to hide now?" asked Lucy-Ann almost in tears.

"This way," said Jack grabbing her hand and running with her along the corridor towards some more of the doors. He jumped as something landed on his shoulder and was relieved to find it was only Kiki. They reached a side door and Jack opened it and pushed Lucy-Ann inside hoping there would be somewhere to hide. He realised in panic that Philip wasn't with them. He glanced behind him and just saw Philip entering a room on the other side of the door they had first come out of. Jack shut the door and found himself in a bathroom and cursed his bad luck, as looking around he could see nowhere to hide. He didn't want to risk taking Lucy-Ann to another room, the men where probably on the landing by now. Lucy-Ann noticed a small wooden cupboard on the opposite side of the room and opened the door, to find it must once have been an airing cupboard. It still had shelves in and three moth-eaten looking blankets.

"Jack, quick climb in," said Lucy-Ann indicating the cupboard.

"Well done, Lucy-Ann," said Jack and climbed up onto the second shelf and covered himself and Kiki in one of the blankets. Lucy-Ann did the same on the lower shelf and managed to nearly shut the door by pulling it with her fingers.

"Now you just stay quiet Kiki," said Jack giving her a tap on the beak.

Meanwhile Dinah had listened to the sound of a man hurriedly climbing up the stairs and held her breath as he drew nearer, her heart beating fast. She hoped the man wouldn't realise that the curtain was slightly more drawn than before. The man didn't however notice and hurried on up. Dinah listened as he met up with another man on the landing, the one who had climbed up the chain after them.

"Seen anyone?" said a voice Dinah recognised as phone man.

"No nothing yet, don't worry though Ian, we'll find them." Dinah recognised his voice as Gavin's.

"We'd better," said Ian. "I don't want to tell the boss that we lost them."

"I'll search the loft if you search this floor," said Gavin.

"Ok, where's Luke?"

"I left him downstairs guarding that bloke," said Gavin.

"Good, now come on and make sure you find them!" Dinah listened to all this feeling excited. They now knew all the names of the men and she knew that Bill must be somewhere downstairs. She listened to Ian searching the landing and hoped the others were all safely hidden.

Jack and Lucy-Ann heard someone enter their room and obviously have a look around. They heard him turn to go and then he turned back and his footsteps came towards the cupboard. They both held their breath and tried to stay still as the door was pulled open. The man didn't look long and shut the door with a snap and they heard him leave the room, to their great relief.

Dinah listened and couldn't hear anything and so took a chance and peeped around her curtain. It just so happened that Ian was standing out on the landing and happened to be looking her way. He saw her and sprinted towards her. Dinah, startled, jumped down from behind her curtain and started to run down the stairs, but Ian was faster than her and soon caught up with her. He grabbed her arm and she cried out in surprise and he pulled her roughly round on the stairs.

"Where are the others?" he yelled at her.

"I don't know, let me go," she yelled back at him.

"Tell me!" Ian cried and shook her. Dinah gave him a kick on the shins with all her might and he let go of her instinctively. Seeing her chance to escape she gave him a hefty push and he started to topple backwards, outstretching a hand to Dinah as he fell.

Philip had hidden himself in a bedroom, when he heard Dinah cry out and the man's raised voice. He started to leave his hiding place to go and help her, when to his horror he heard the sound of someone falling down the stairs, a scream, a crack and then silence. He hurried to the door in a panic praying Dinah was all right. He knew they didn't get on well but if anything happened to her he would never forgive himself.