Thalassophile // JJ Maybank

Chapter 47

Pope walks back over to the car. A piece of paper in his hands as he was walks over. He stares down at us as he crosses the sidewalk.

"Okay. All right, no."

"Pope, can you act normal?" Kiara asks from the driver's seat.

Pope walks around to the side of the car Kiara was on. "Okay, so, bad news. The ferry's closed, and there is this." He hands over the paper to Kie.

She glances at it, eyes widening. She hands it back to John B.

Panic evident in his eyes as he reaches for the paper. "What is that? What is that?"

JJ takes the paper from the brunet before he can look at it. "Well, John B, this is a good framer of you." JJ flashes the wanted sign over to the boy.

"Oh, shit." I mumble.

"Okay, So the whole island's lookin' for John B right now." Pope announces.

"That's a lot of money." Kie points out.

"Congratulations, John B. You're now famous."

"J, that's not helpful."

"Guys, we gotta get to the HMS. We need small, no running lights—"

"It's at the chateau, Kie." John B cuts her off.

"And I wonder if the cops got the entire place stakes out. Let me think, oh yeah, no. All I know is they definitely have that place locked down." JJ announces sarcastically.

"Yeah, copy that." Kie retorts.

"Let me think, just give me a second." Pope says frantically. He pauses a moment before speaking up again. "JJ."

"What?"

"Does your dad still have that boat? The cigarette boat, the Phantom. The one he used to race."

"Maybe." JJ voices. I could sense the nerves in his voice. I reach over and grab his hand.

"You could get right up the coast, no problem." Pope states, turning back toward the steering wheel.

"Okay, look." Kie says.

"It won't be easy, Pope." JJ tells him.

"The surfs running from three to four." Kiara continues.

"I don't know where the keys are." JJ stresses.

"Well, find them." Pope demands.

"Hey, hey. Relax, dude." I tell the boy.

"I'm thinking." JJ says.

"Why is nobody moving forward?" Pope panics. His head whips around as he looks for an opening in the traffic.

"Can you relax?" Kie stresses. "JJ, how much weed did you give him?" Kie asks.

"Guys." John B interrupts. "Guys, the car's on the poster.

Pope honks the horn impatiently. "Can we move it?" He yells out the front window.

"Pope!" Kie yells at him. "That's not gonna help."

"Alright, that's not necessary." I call out.

Pope honks again. "Come on!"

"Don't honk the horn." Kie orders.

I hear a younger voice speak up through the Pogue's arguing. My head whips around, looking directly at the kid.

"It's that guy! That guy right there!"

"Uh, guys. We gotta go, like now." I tell them.

"Shit." Kie mutters.

"We got a snitch, Pope. Turn the car on." JJ demands.

"We get $25,000 if we find him!"

A man starts banging on the car window. "He's right there!"

"Okay, dude we gotta go!" Kie yells. "Pope, turn the fricken car on!

"I am trying!"

"Okay, let's go!" I call out.

Pope presses down on the gas pedal, it clicks at it touches the floor. I jerk forward in my seat as the car surges forward. Pope slams into the car in front of us in line.

"Pope, geez." JJ calls out, his arm flying out in front of me, holding me in my seat.

"Dude, back up!" Kie demands.

Pope continues to hold down the gas pedal. Our car pushes the other car forward, the wheels sliding against the asphalt below.

"The other way!" Kiara snaps.

"It's okay. Just go!" JJ yells.

Pope finally turns the wheel, pulling away from the curb as he drives forward, and away from the crowd that has begun to accumulate around the vehicle.

"What are you doing?" Kie asks.

"Hey, it'll bump out." JJ says.

As Pope drives, he begins to drift toward a mailbox.

"Pope, watch out!" I call out. He slams into the mail box. Pieces of it going flying over the hood of the car, causing Pope to giggle at himself.

"Pope, what the fuck?" Kie questions.

"Oh, I'm livin' my best life now!"

"My mom'll kill me." Kie stresses.

"I should be the last person to say this, but you are not okay to drive. Stop!" JJ announces.

Pope slams on the breaks. The car screeches to a stop in the middle of the road. I slam against JJ's arm that he still had presses against my front.

"You good?" JJ asks me.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good."

"Oh, jeez." JJ exclaims.

"John B, get out." Pope says.

"He's right." JJ agrees. "We'll draw the cops, you run."

"Shit." JB sits up, reaching for the door handle.

"I'll get the rig, and I'll meet you in the dump tomorrow, okay? Three o'clock, okay?"

"Yeah."

"Three tomorrow at the dump." JJ repeats.

John B sits up, opening the back door to the car. He takes off running, not even looking back. He disappears into the bramble on the side of the road.