Organized Crime: Unorganized

Chapter 28

"Mr Croft" Marco greeted through the phone.
"Wondering about your agent Cameron are you?" Hunter challenged "She's alive. For now"
"We wanted to offer something up, a peace offering" Marco encouraged.
"What kind of offering?" Hunter asked.
"Food? Fast food from anywhere you like" Marco suggested.
"Fried chicken. And no games or we'll kill Grace" Hunter ordered before he hung up the phone.

Sadie slid the listening devices into the bottom of the food containers before Lorenzo turned them over and out the food inside.
"We need to get going. Four hours isn't long" James reminded them.
"Almost ready boss man" Sadie told him as they finished the last bucket. Marco wrote the same bucket across all of them 'Don't open until 9pm'

Lilly watched as the food containers were brought in and laid out on a table at the back of the church. She managed to get close enough to read the message on the lids on one of the containers.
"Like we're going to wait" one man joked as he pulled the lid off one of the containers and dug in.
"You can go. You don't have to stay" Hunter encouraged.
"I want to. This-" Lilly looked around her "What your doing here, it's important" Lilly told him.
"Well then, help us to prepare for our grand stand" Hunter encouraged, opening up one of the wooden boxes that his men had brought up, he took out a stick of dynamite and handed it to her "Join us, sister"
"May his strength guide us" Lilly nodded, taking the dynamite from him.

Grace jumped slightly at the sound of the door opening. Madge slipped in with a glass of water in her hands, she closed the door behind her before she moved towards Grace. Madge untied her hands from the bed post but they were still tried together. Grace sat up on the bed as Madge held up the glass to her lips and tilted it slightly, helping her to drink.
"Don't trust Hunter" Grace warned her.
"I don't" Madge admitted.
"He is planning something. Something awful. Amelia will be dragged down with him and she doesn't deserve any of it" Grace told her "I should know"
"She won't leave him"
"You have to try. My mother stopped loving me a long time ago, I can see that you love her, so much. Don't let her fall victim to him, you can still save her. You've at least got to try. I wish I had a mother that cared about me half as much as you care about Amelia" Grace admitted.
"I'm not a good mother" she frowned deeply "I let her marry him so that I wouldn't lose her, I let sleep him him, I-" Madge stopped herself as tears began flowing down her cheeks. 
"Your a good mom, and what you need to do now is get Amelia and Mary ready because their coming tonight at 9" Grace encouraged.
"That's 3 hours away" Madge nodded as she wiped away her tears.
"Get her and be ready" Grace encouraged "Make sure that Lilly knows too" Grace ordered earning a nod of encouragement from Madge before she quickly slipped out of the room once again.

"What are you thinking?" Marco asked James as he approached him.
"I can't lose either of them...I don't...I don't know what I would do" James sighed heavily.
"I feel the same. I know that losing Molly hurt a lot but, Lilly and Grace aren't her" Marco reminded him.
"Lilly can't even carry a gun and Grace- we don't know what she's capable of or what she can do in a crisis" James sighed in deep frustration.
"We all care about them which is why were going to do everything we can to get them out" Marco encouraged.
"I'm...especially invested" James admitted without explanation.
"We'll get them out" Marco nodded, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

The door to the room the Grace was in flew open as Madge rushed in.
"You were right, their rigging the church the blow" Madge told her as she untied her hands. I told Amelia that Hunter wanted her to gather everyone in the basement" she explained as she finally got Grace's hands free.
"Where's Lilly?"
"She's in the chapel with Hunter. We've got to hurry, it's almost 9" Madge told her, grabbing her before they both rushed out the door.

Hunter watched out of a window as the trucks headlights switched off when they reached the gate.
"What are they doing?" One man asked.
"They are testing us, we must stay strong in our endeavor" Hunter told him as he loaded his weapon.

Grace snuck along the hallway with Madge and everyone else. When they had finally got to the basement Marco and Lorenzo were waiting with the other members of the swat team.
"Grace are you okay?" Lorenzo asked, quickly moving to her side.
"Yes, yeah, I'm fine" Grace shrugged him off as they led people out of the basement and through the tunnel.
"What? Mom what is this?" Amelia asked, freezing in place.
"We're leaving. This place is rigged to blow!" Madge told her quickly.
"You lied to me!" Amelia shot back.
"We need to leave now!" Madge ordered.
"No!" Amelia shouted back defiantly.
"Amelia, listen to me. Hunter is not the man you think he is. He wanted us to be sister wives, he kills people with mental illnesses, he's a bad man that hides behind religion to commit sins. I wish I had a mother like yours that was willing to protect me" Grace encouraged "Hunter is willing to die because he believes he is god. Don't let Mary grow up without you" Grace encouraged. Amelia quickly grabbed her mother's hand with the one that wasn't holding Mary to her hip and they rushed down the tunnel with the others while Lorenzo headed upstairs with the swat team, disassembling the dynamite as they moved along.

"Mark 12:36. David himself said in the holy spirit, the lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies beneath your feet" Hunter recited as he paced in the church. Lilly sat in one of the pews away from him, her eyes following his movements "Redemption hour is upon us" Hunter preached. Suddenly, shots fired out sending Hunter and the other armed men to the floor, bleeding, dying.
"Where's Grace?" Lilly asked quickly as Lorenzo got to her.
"She's safe, we got her out" He told her moving towards the door as one of the wounded men reached out to grab the master switch "RUN!" He shouted, sending Lilly and himself hurtling towards the church doors.

Grace stood by Hunter's home watching as the church became engulfed in flames.
"Grace!" James called out to her as he spotted her in the crowd. He quickly moved to her side, wishing that in that moment he could hold her close and kiss her bruises away but, he couldn't.
"Lilly. I promised to protect her. She can't..." Grace watched the flames as Marco approached them.
"Lorenzo was with her, we haven't found them yet" he told them.
"It's all my fault. I should've been up there, not her" Grace frowned deeply, her eyes welling with tears just as Lilly and Lorenzo emerged from the flames, running towards them. Grace let out a sigh of relief as Lilly fell into her arms, careful not to hurt her.
"You kept me safe" Lilly whispered to her.
"I'm so glad your safe" Grace let out another soft sigh as she held Lilly in her arms.
"Why did you save me?" Came Amelia's small voice from behind her.
"Because I once had a man use me for his own gain and I had a baby too. Looking back on it all now, I just wish that I had a mother who wanted to protect me and keep me safe, like Madge does for you" Grace told her "God loves us all but, Hunter doesn't get to speak for him. You chose your own path, not Hunter, not God. We make our own path and our own choices. I wish I had someone to guide me" Grace admitted.
"Thank you for showing me, my path" Amelia smiled before she rejoined her mother.