Carson Keller used to think her biggest problem was their rivalry against the Kooks, but that was until buried secrets rose to the surface. Now her biggest problems included a dangerous treasure hunt and a hot-headed teenage boy.
✰ season 1-3 ✰
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
IT WAS JUST THEIR LUCK to end up in another shitty situation. At this point, their odds of actually having something go right were basically slim to none. Granted they were probably in over their heads for most circumstances, but they've made it this far, so they had to be doing something right.
"What the hell was that?" Pope said. "Why would they want to kidnap Kiara? It doesn't make any sense."
"It's called bait," JJ stated.
"I am so sick of this," Sarah said. "Do you think there's any way we could trust the cops?"
"Because the cops have been so trustworthy in the past?" Carson pointed out. "Not even Shoupe was on our side."
"Besides, you seriously think your daddy hasn't called them already?" JJ added.
"I have a crazy idea. Why don't we call my parents?" Pope suggested.
"And say what, Pope?" John B asked.
"And say we're alive! I haven't seen my family in I don't know how long," he said. "They're probably worried sick about me. We can just call and maybe ask them to wire us some money or something."
"And put them in danger?"
"I got a better idea," JJ said. "And faster." He held up a wallet.
"Whose is that?" Sarah asked.
"You seriously think I'm gonna go through someone's backpack and not pinch their wallet? Jimmy Portis, 101 Cattle Wash," he read off. "I bet that's where they got Kiara. So, that's where we're going."
"Yeah, that's conceivable. But can we at least think this through?" Pope said.
"When has JJ ever thought anything through?" Carson said.
"You got a better idea, Pope?" he asked. "Come on, 101 Cattle Wash. That's where we're going." Carson sighed before pushing herself up to follow JJ. When he noticed her behind him, he slowed down until he was walking next to her. "It's not your fault. Sorry I got mad. Just tired of shit not going our way."
"That makes two of us," she said. She still felt like part of it was her fault, but there was no point in dwelling on that. If she had stayed behind to help the pilot, she would have been the one kidnapped. The only thing they could do now was try to figure out how to get Kiara back. Doing that wasn't the easiest but Cleo seemed to be familiar with how to go about it.
"101 Cattle Wash?" she called up to a group of men, who just pointed down the street in response. "Blue house? Thanks, man, appreciate you." When they got to the house, they snuck around the back to try to be discreet. John B climbed up to try to get in through the window, but of course, JJ was not going to be so discreet.
"Yo, get off." Carson turned to find him freaking out with a crab hanging from his fingertip. She rushed off and ripped the crab from his hand to try to shut him up.
"What are you doing? Does the element of surprise meaning nothing to you?" Pope snapped.
"It turned my thumb purple," JJ defended himself.
"It's just a crab, man," Cleo said.
"I'm being surrounded right now. Goddamn it. Damn little sea spider," he mumbled to himself. Carson just walked forward, ignoring his antics as they were nothing new, and pushed herself in through the window after John B and Sarah. They all crept through the house, calling out Kiara's name as they did so. It became evident that the house was empty though. What there was in the house, though, was a painting of San Jose. Before they could dig deeper, Cleo was alerting them that Jimmy had returned home.
"Do we run?" Sarah asked.
"No running. Time to mad-dog," Carson said. Just at the right time, they all attacked him and held him down. Cleo made it even better with a knife pressed up against his throat as a threat.
"Where is she, Jimmy?" JJ questioned him.
"Answer the man!" Cleo told him.
"You really don't wanna know," he said.
"Who took her? Was it Ward?" Sarah demanded.
"Ward? Who's Ward?" Jimmy said with a laugh. "You guys really don't understand who you're messing with."
"Then we'll call the cops."
"Sure, call the cops. See how far that gets you. This guy owns the cops. He's got eyes all over the island looking for you. All of you," he informed them. "He's a big man, the Kingfish." Pope walked forward then and revealed a wad of cash that he had hidden away, showing that the man was once again not telling them the whole truth.
"Is that the payoff for Kiara, Jimmy?" JJ asked.
"Hey, what's Vaux Hall?" Pope said.
"You really don't want to go there, man," Jimmy warned them. "That's the lion's den."
"Sounds like that's exactly where we should be going then," Carson said. They could have demanded more information from him, but they didn't have too much time to waste. Besides, they couldn't even trust him to tell them the truth anyway so there was only one way to find out.
✰
From the moment that the man on the tractor informed them that all of the property around them belonged to some man named Carlos Singh and that he lived right beyond the wall, Carson had a bad feeling about it. She didn't know what to believe from Jimmy, but she did believe him when he said it was the lion's den that they were trying to sneak into.
"I think I'm retiring from all this once we get Kiara back," Carson said quietly as they scoped out the yard that was fully of security with guard dogs.
"Yeah 'cause you love a quiet lifestyle, right?" Pope commented. She let out a short laugh because he was right. She secretly loved this all, minus the almost getting killed far too often. "Okay, Portis wasn't kidding."
"No, that's a fortress. This is much bigger than Ward," John B concluded.
"We got two towers, patrollers, ATVs, possibly snipers," JJ reported.
"There's no way we're getting past that," Sarah said.
"Where there's a will, there's a way, right, guys?" Carson said.
"We can take them if we stay towards the tree line," Cleo said. Carson nodded in agreement and the two girls hopped up to run towards the trees. They hid behind the bushes to try to get a better look. "Hey, there's an opening that way. As soon as the guards turn around, we just sneak in through the back way."
"You make that sound so easy," Carson said. Before any of them could think of another plan, they walked forward. They didn't get very far before a sudden beeping noise was triggered. They were too late to try to get the transmitter to stop because the guard dogs began barking and that's when they blew their cover. "We should probably run now." They sprinted back towards the wall with guards on ATVs speeding towards them and guard dogs being released to catch them. John B and Pope managed to get over the wall just in the nick of time but it was closer than they would have liked.
"Series of bad decisions," John B said. Carson let out an exasperated laugh.
