Chapter 10 For The Family

"This has gone on long enough, Alex. It's time we end this."

"I couldn't agree more. Give me the money, or watch as I kill your sister. It's your choice."

"I propose, we make a deal."

"Very well. I'll hear you out. What do you want?"

"You let Grace go. Forever. You forget she even exists. In return, I'll find the money for you and you can have it."

"No deal. MEN!" On Alex's command, everyone stands up. "Look, Amanda. I have a loyal, overwhelming force. You have your wit and half-assed insults. You lose."

"Wait!" Grace shouts as she leaves the basement. She stands between me and Alex. Her arms sticking outwards, as if to protect me. "I won't let you hurt my sister."

"Grace? What the fuck are you doing?"

Alex walks up towards Grace. "How touching. The younger sister, doing her best to protect the older. It's pathetic." Alex grabs Grace by the shirt and tosses her onto the ground in front of me.

"Ahhh" Grace hits the ground and lets out a short scream. She tries to get up but the impact hurt her. Thankfully not severely.

"You've been nothing but trouble from the start. I knew I should have kept your mother alive. Hindsights twenty twenty I suppose."

"What? What did you say?" I say, shocked by what I'm hearing.

"You didn't know? Ha! Some investigator you are. What? Did you think it was a coincidence that I adopted Grace? I knew about the money from the start. An old associate of mine told me the magpie was retiring. All that money was going to waste away. So I tried to get it out of your father, but he got arrested too soon. I bet my associate had something to do with that too."

"Trevor Lane worked for you too?"

"Oh. Do you know him? Bastard played me.

Tried to get me caught, extorting your father. He paid the price in the end. The same for everyone that fails or betrays me. Just like your mother. The bitch wouldn't tell me where the money was. Said she didn't have a clue. Even after I threatened her precious daughters. She turned her back on me and I came up with a plan. If she won't tell me where the money is, maybe her daughters will. So I killed your mother and adopted Grace, hoping one day, she'll come into contact with the money.``

"You fucking bastard!" I yell as I charge at Alex, full of rage. I swing my arm in an attempt to punch his face. I succeed. With a heavy impact, my fist comes into contact with Alex's smug face. Unfortunately, he doesn't even flinch.

He grabs my wrist and squeezes it tightly. "You call that a punch? Ha! Try this on for

size." Alex lets go of my wrist and punches me in the face. I fall to the ground, next to Grace. "Looks like I'll never find the money. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted." Alex cracks his knuckles. "Time to end this. Say hello to your mother for me." His fist swings towards my head.

"Stop! That's enough." One of Alex's men intervenes.

"How dare you? What's your name, soldier?"

The guard takes off his helmet and I couldn't be more surprised. "Gregory Orson."

"Dad."

"Well, well. What a surprise. The Magpie ie here to rescue his kids. How touching. I'm glad we could finally meet face to face."

"Dad. What are you doing here? How did you find us?" I ask, shocked and relieved at the same time.

"I followed you here. You need more training, Mandy. Though I'm impressed and proud of how far you've come." Dad looks down at Grace. "Don't worry, sweetie. Dad's here now. You're safe."

"It's over, Alex. End this now, or I'll end you."

"Oh? You'll end me? Hahaha. Please. I have a loyal army. What do you have?"

"Loyal army? What army? All I see are F.B.I agents."

"What?" Me and Alex both say in unison.

All the men suddenly take off their helmets

and I can tell Alex doesn't recognise any of them. But I do. "David? What are you doing here?"

"Sophie called. Your father turned himself in and in exchange, we arrest one of New York's biggest drug lords."

"Dad?"

"I'll do anything to protect my family. Can you say the same, Alex?" Dad says, confident that he's won.

"You think you've won? Ha! I haven't lost yet." Alex takes a device out of his pocket and presses a button. Suddenly, a huge explosion occurs on the church roof. Alex had set bombs on the roof beforehand. All kinds of rubble fall down. I quickly get on top of Grace, shielding her from any falling debris.

By the time the chaos had ended, I find myself shielding nothing. Grace had disappeared. I look around for her. I see some F.B.I agents moving about, some not so lucky. I spot David helping some agents out of the building. I see dad, being guarded by two agents. Probably so he doesn't escape. I can't see Alex anywhere but I can see Charlotte. She was one of the unlucky ones. Her body was crushed under a massive pile of rubble. I suspect she didn't know about Alex's explosive plan.

I leave the building and walk up to dad. "Hey dad. I'm glad to see you're OK. Have you seen Grace anywhere? I can't seem to find her."

"No. With all these agents around, I'm not surprised if she ran off during the explosion."

"Amanda. A word, please?" David asks.

"Excuse me, dad." I leave dad and walk up to David. "Have you seen Grace? Or Alex for that matter?"

"No. I've not seen either of them. Could Alex have taken her again?"

"No. He's done with all this. His top priority at this point would be to run far away from here."

"He couldn't have gotten far. We found his helicopter a few miles away in an empty clearing. It's not going anywhere. And Grace can't get far either. I'm sure we'll find them."

"Sir." An agent approaches us. "Sir. Alex Meridian has been spotted in the woods.

He tried to escape on the helicopter but he couldn't get past our agents. We've got two agents chasing him now."

"Great work. Amanda, let's finish this."

"I'm right behind you."

Me and David run into the woods and soon, we catch up with the two agents chasing Alex. "What happened? Where is he?" David asks his agents, who are sitting down, trying to catch their breath.

"We couldn't keep up, sir. He's not far. You could still catch him."

I immediately start running off after Alex and David stays behind to make sure his agents are OK.

I finally catch up to Alex as he exits out of the forest and into a clearing. It's a ravine. A large split in the earth, with no bridge connecting to the other side. "It's over, Alex. There's nowhere left to run."

"You know what. I've had enough of you. You're a real headache, you know that?"

"I know. I hear that enough from my ex wife. Should have killed me when you had the chance."

"Why not now? Better late than never, if you ask me." Alex takes a step towards me.

I pull out my gun and point it at him. I know I've got no bullets left but he doesn't know that. "Get down on the ground. Alex Meridian, for the last time, you're under arrest. Get on the ground, now!"

Alex ignores me and keeps walking closer.

"Stop or I will shoot."

Alex doesn't seem to care. He's dead set on killing me, one way or another.

"Damn it." I holster my gun and run up to him. If it's a fight he wants, that's what he'll get. I swing my fist and punch him directly in his face. I may not have the strength, but I do have a size advantage. If I keep attacking and dodging, I could win this.

Or not. Alex grabs me by the arm and picks me up. He walks over to the edge of the cliff. It's so dark tonight, I can hardly see down to the bottom. A dried up river bed at the bottom of an incredibly high cliff. "Say hello to your mother for me." Alex says as he prepares to throw me off the cliff.

*BANG!* *BANG!*

Two gunshots fire from behind us and hit Alex in the back. I take the opportunity to break out of Alex's grip as he collapses onto the floor. I turn around to thank my savior. "Dad!" I cheer in surprise, expecting David.

Dad walks up to me and hugs me. "I'm so glad you're safe."

"Thanks for saving me dad." I say as I hug him in return.

Me and dad share a moment, then break up the hug and start to walk away.

Suddenly, I felt a presence behind me. Alex had gotten back up. He tries to grab me but dad quickly pushes me away and grapples with Alex. Their fight pushes

each other back and forth, all while still holding each other tightly. "This is for my family."

Dad then trips Alex over and Alex loses his footing. He falls off the cliffside, still holding dad. If he dies, he's taking dad with him. They both fall off the cliff and plummet into the darkness.

"DAAAD!" I yell as they disappear from view. I fall to my knees and start to cry.

"Mandy. Little help?"

I hear a voice. Dad's voice. Coming from the cliff edge. I rush over there and see two things. Alex's body at the bottom of the ravine and dad, holding onto a crack in the wall. "Dad! You're alive."

"I won't be for much longer if you don't help

me up."

I reach down and attempt to help dad up, but I'm not strong enough. Especially with only one arm. "Argh! Fucking bullet wound." Suddenly another arm appears and helps me pull dad back up off the cliff. "David!"

"Need a hand, anyone?" David jokes, completely out of character. "We'll pull him up on three. Ready? One...two...three."

With a grunt and all our strength, we successfully pull dad up off the cliff. "You know, cliff diving wasn't on my bucket list. After that experience, I wouldn't recommend it."

"Hahaha" I start laughing. I miss dad's bad jokes. Still, I'm overjoyed. The case is closed and no matter what happens next, everyone is OK...hold on..."Hey, David? If you and your agents were in disguise this

whole time, who shot me?"

"We had to make it look real. Besides, I knew you'd survive."

"You shot me? Asshole."

"If we're confessing, Greg, where is the money?" David asks.

"Honestly, it was supposed to be at the bank, in the box. I guess Trevor found it and played one last trick on me."

"That's too bad. Lastly, Amanda. Where's Grace?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. If she's smart, she'd be long gone by now."

"And how exactly does she plan on running without any mon..." A smirk grows on

David's face. "Not bad, Amanda. Not bad at all." David starts walking away and me and dad follow him.

"Amanda." Dad whispers. "What did you do?"

Earlier, in the church basement.

"Grace. I need you to do something for me. Take this." I hand Grace a small envelope. "On the signal, as soon as you can, I want you to run. Run as far as possible, leave the country and never return."

"Mandy? What? Why?"

"They are going to arrest you once this is all over. Inside that envelope is your ticket to a new life. Please, look after yourself."

"But...no. I won't. I can't lose you again."

"Grace, please. Trust me. It's the only way. You deserve a second chance and what's in that envelope will give you that chance."

Grace opens the envelope. Inside is a credit card. "Mandy? Is this...?"

"Found it in a safety deposit box. The owner won't miss it."

"But how?"

"I found the bank and with help from a wiz with a computer I just happen to know, I got it the night before. Pretty cool, huh?"

Grace hugs me. "Best sister ever."

"I love you too, Grace." I hug her in return.

Cherishing the moment, in case it might be our last.

"Ok, Mandy. I'll do it. What's the signal?"

"I was looking around the church and noticed the moonlight shining through what's left of the roof. I noticed some wires and lights that didn't fit the old building. I think they're bombs. In fact, I'm pretty sure they are. Alex will probably set them off at one point. That's your cue to run."

"How will you get him to set them off?"

"I'll find a way. Never forget, I'm amazing. I can do anything. I saved you, I found the money and I'll stop Alex. One way or another. I promise."

"Amanda." Dad whispers. "What did you do?"

"That's a story for another day, dad." I look up at the moon and smile. 'Take care, Grace. I'll see you again, one day.'