Entanglement | jj maybank

tracked

I nearly lose my balance when JJ grabs my hand and jerks me in the opposite direction. "Run!"

We take off, running as fast as we can. The docks are semi-crowded, and we're dodging people left and right as we try to get away from the Coast Guardsmen. He's pretty fast, but the adrenaline makes us faster. JJ pulls me into a deserted alleyway when it seems like we lost him. We duck behind a stack of pallets to catch our breath.

"Fuck," he pants. "How'd they find us?"

"I don't know," I answer between deep breaths. "There's no way they tracked my phone. I turned off my location as we were leaving Kildare the other night, and I haven't had service since we left Tybee. And in between, it's been on for like five minutes."

"No, I don't think that's it, either. What if the money was bugged?" JJ suggests.

"You can bug money?" I ask.

"I dunno, just spitballing," he says. Shouting voices ring out at the other end of the alleyway. "Shit."

"Come on, lets go!" I say, and we get up and start running again. We bob and weave through different alleyways, dodging vagrants and the occasional random stroller as we make our way through the backstreets of Key West. We slow down again when we're away from the heavier crowds.

"In here," JJ says, nodding his head towards a small used bookstore.

We head inside, and I desperately wish we were here under different circumstances. While I didn't do it much anymore, I used to spend hours upon hours as a child devouring books while curled up in the hammocks outside. I longed to look through the shelves to see if they had anything I enjoyed as a kid, or maybe take the time to find something new. But time wasn't on our side right now. Time was dwindling, and I could practically hear it ticking away.

We head down one of the aisles and I lean back against the shelves to steady my breathing. JJ gingerly sits on the edge of one of the shelves and leans forward, balancing his weight on his knees. He looks up at me. "I think we're fucked," he says, pushing a few locks of hair off his forehead that were stuck there with sweat.

The bell on the entrance rings, indicating another customer has entered the quiet store. "You seen two kids come in here? Late teens?" a man's voice asks the clerk at the front desk.

My eyes widen as I look at JJ. We frantically search around us, looking for a way out, but without revealing ourselves to the man, we have no way to exit the store. We duck down another aisle to buy us a little more time.

"What do you think they'll do to us?" I ask in a panicked whisper.

"I don't know," JJ says, sounding as frantic as me.

"Maybe if we keep moving, he'll give up looking for us," I say. JJ nods and grabs my hand. We both turn to head further down the aisle and run smack into a Coast Guardsman.

"Should've moved sooner than now," he says. We both instinctively take a step back. "My buddy's in the store, too. Outside is surrounded. No way out. It's best if you guys come with me."

JJ looks at me, and all I can do is nod. The jig is up. Our goose is cooked. Stick a fork in us, we're done.

The man we've run into grabs me by the bicep, and another man comes around the shelving to grab JJ. We walk silently with them outside of the store. A small crowd has gathered out front to see what all the commotion is about. The Coast Guardsmen load us into the back of a police car

"Remember your fifth amendment rights," JJ whispers to me as the doors are shut on us. I nod in understanding.

Despite the fact that we ran from the Coast Guard, we weren't cuffed, so I was under the assumption we weren't actually arrested. I want to ask the officer driving the police car, but I'm not a hundred percent sure what is going on, so I decide to keep my mouth shut. I sit back against the seat and sigh.