The Deep End » Outer Banks [JJ Maybank] BOOK ONE

XI: Sink

sink
verb. go down below the surface of something, especially of a liquid; become submerged.

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They woke up with the sunrise the next morning. Lee waited with John B and Kiara while JJ and Pope went to get the Heywards' boat, which was significantly more substantial than the HMS Pogue. The sky was still slightly ominous and Pope encouraged them to wait a few more days to use the drone camera in hopes that the weather would improve, but the majority had ruled against him. In Lee's professional opinion, waiting left too much risk that the weather would only get worse or, with their luck, that someone else would get to the Royal Merchant before them.

By the time the sun was reaching over the horizon, Pope and JJ had arrived to pick up their friends from John B's dock and the group was soon cruising towards the south end of the island. Lee wasn't familiar with the area that they were heading to, but she had heard several rumors that there were nasty shoals near the island's southern tip. She crossed her fingers that the rumors weren't true—if they ended up needing to navigate shoals in bad weather, they were doomed.

"All right, JJ," John B called from the back of the boat. "Pin it here."

JJ nodded from inside of the cockpit. "Roger that! X marks the spot." He slowed the boat, bringing it to idle in the water.

Lee walked towards the stern of the boat, unsure what John B and Pope needed her to do but prepared to help in any way. She patted Kiara's shoulder as she came up next to her friend, smiling encouragingly when Kiara gave her an uneasy frown.

"All right, ladies and gentlemen," John B said, picking up the camera as Pope watched warily. "To going full Kook," he continued, one eyebrow raised, as he lowered the camera into the water.

John B passed the tether off to Kiara, who gestured for Lee to help her unravel it into the water.

"I don't wanna be holding this thing alone if the weather gets bad," Kiara explained.

Lee nodded in agreement, gently grabbing onto the tether as Kiara began to lower the camera steadily.

"All right, JJ, we're right over it," John B called to the cockpit. "Ten seconds northwest."

JJ yelled back in confirmation, rotating the boat just slightly as they tried to maintain their position.

"A hundred feet!" Lee said as she and Kiara passed the first red marker on the tether. "What's it look like, Pope?"

Pope hummed, frowning at the screen before answering. "Uh, some fish."

Lee raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. When Pope suddenly gasped a moment later, her grip tightened on the tether and she looked up towards Pope.

"What?" she asked, her hands trembling with adrenaline.

"Uh, nothing. I just thought I saw—" Pope started to explain.

"Don't do that to me man!" JJ called from inside the cockpit, glaring at Pope over his shoulder.

Lee sighed. "Do you guys want to hear the speech?" she asked, continuing to thread the tether through her hands alongside Kiara.

"No!" her friends chorused in response.

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You people have no taste."

"To quote The Hobbit," Pope said, "'Down, down, to Goblin Town. Down, down, you go, my lad.'"

Lee looked between her other friends in annoyance. "He's allowed to nerd out and quote The Hobbit but I'm not allowed to perform a speech from Independence Day, the greatest movie of all time?"