Carefree || JJ Maybank

Chapter Seventy-One

Their sweet moment was ruined by banging on the vent, "Hey. Hey. Open it." Pope says.

JJ climbs up quickly, removing the vent again as quiet as possible.

"You need help?" Everleigh asks Kiara as she climbs in.

"I'm good." She replies as she jumps in.

"We thought Rafe got you guys for sure." Everleigh sighs, watching Pope climb in.

"No we're chill." Pope grunts as he pulls himself through.

Next John B squeezes through the hole, trying to to fall through.

"Alright, let's put the grate back on." Everleigh says, holding it up to JJ.

"No, wait." Pope stops them. "Hold it."

"Pope, we can't just leave it open, put it back." Everleigh quietly argues back, but he holds the vent down, stopping her from giving it to JJ.

A woman appears, "Jesus Christ! I kill you, John B." She says quietly when she sees Everleigh and JJ along with the rest of the Pogues.

"Just come on." John B whispers.

"Who is this?" Everleigh asks, pointing at her in confusion.

"Just relax, just relax." John B tells her, putting his hands on Everleigh's shoulders. "I told you I had a surprise right?"

"Who is she?" Everleigh asks, looking at the girl who was entering their container. "What's going on? John B!"

"Hey, hey, hey. Everleigh, relax." He says, trying to calm her down. "Remember I told you about the girl we met in the Bahamas that saved us?"

"Uh, Cleo? Yeah?" Everleigh asks him curiously.

He nods and looks up at her, "Cleo. She's gonna help us, alright?"

"Next time, ask me." Cleo says quietly, looking down over the teenagers.

Everleigh pulls John B in for a hug, he chuckles and hugs her back for a second before they both let go.

"So, do we have a plan?" JJ asks him, breaking the moment between them. "Did you get into the armory?"

"No." John B answers quietly, wrapping an arm around Everleigh, hoping she would have his back.

"You seriously didn't grab nothing, not one single gun?" JJ asks him in disbelief, rolling his eyes.

"We tried, okay? I got attacked." John B argues back, shaking his head.

"This is why I should've gone with." JJ scoffs, throwing his hands in the air in annoyance.

"Okay, let me get this straight." Cleo interrupts the arguing, "You five, with no weapons, decided you were gonna hijack this tramp steamer on your own?" She asks, looking around. "Do you have any idea who these people are? Eberhimi, if he catch you, he's gonna kill you. Dead."

They all look at her with embarrassment spread across their faces. They hadn't really thought about how dumb they sounded.

"Cut off your fingers." She continues, playing with a knife.

"Okay. What about waiting until we get to port?" Kiara asks. "At least then, if something goes wrong, we have a place to run."

"That won't work." Everleigh says, pulling her brothers arm off of her shoulder and standing in front of JJ.

"We can't do that." Pope agrees.

"Why?" Kiara asks, looking at Pope.

"Because I've run the scenario over 1,000 times in my head, and our best chances are on this ship. There's 15 crew members and six of us." Pope explains. "About 3-on-1 odds, that's the best it'll get. If we wait till we get there, they'll trap us."