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𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗜𝗙𝗧𝗬 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥
𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒐

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・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

Someone whistled from outside, causing the two of them to break apart. "Hey. Hey. Open it," Pope whispered from outside, making Kyla loosen up a bit. For a second, she thought it was someone else. JJ quickly went over to it and took the window off. "Oh, thank God."

"You need help?" Kyla asked.

"I'm good," Pope answered, going through the little opening.

"I thought you guys were caught with how long you guys took," Kyla told them, shaking her head and trying to regather her thoughts since all of them were on JJ.

"No. We're chill," Pope assured her before John N climbed through, followed by Kiara.

"Okay, let's put the grate back on."

"No, wait. Hold it," Pope instructed.

"What? No. Put it back," Kyla argued, furrowing her brows.

A woman then showed up, her eyes wide. "Jesus Christ! I kill you, John B!" the woman exclaimed, an accent in her voice.

"Who is this?" Kyla questioned, her eyes wide.

"Just relax. Just relax, okay? I told you I had a surprise, right?" John B said.

"Who is she? What's going on, John B?" Kyla continued frantically. She didn't want to put trust in anyone else besides the Pogues, not wanting to be betrayed.

"Hey, hey. Ky, relax. Relax. Remember I told you about the girl we met in the Bahamas that saved us?" John B said, trying to jog her memory.

"Uh...Cleo, right?" Kyla guessed.

"Cleo," John B confirmed, looking up at the girl. "She's gonna help us, all right?"

"Next time, ask me," Cleo told him with a nod before she hopped through. Pope then quickly put the grate back on.

Kyla went over to her sister and asked, "Did you guys get anything?" Kiara's attention seemed to focused elsewhere, though. Kyla followed her gaze, which was planted on Cleo. She furrowed her brows before she nudged her sister, making her focus again.

"Oh, uh, no, we didn't," Kiara quickly answered, clearing her throat.

JJ scoffed. "You seriously didn't grab nothing? Not one single gun?" he asked.

"We tr — we tried, okay? I got attacked," John B told him.

"This is why I should've gone with," JJ argued, making Kyla give him a look. "Well, hypothetically, of course. I mean, yeah," JJ quickly corrected himself.

"Thank you," Kyla replied, exhaling.

"Uh...what?" John B and Pope said in confusion as Kiara was shushing them, trying to allow Cleo to speak.

"Let me get this straight. You five, with no weapons, decided you were gonna hijack this tramp steamer on your own?" Cleo asked. "Do you have any idea who these people are? Eberhimi, if he catch you, he's gonna kill you. Dead. Cut off your fingers."

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

"No. No, we can't do that," Pope said.

"Why?"

"Because I've run this scenario over 1,000 times in my head, and our best chances are on this ship. There's fifteen crew members and five of us."

"Exactly!" Kiara exclaimed.

"Three-to-one odds. That's the best it's gonna get. If we wait till we get there, they're gonna trap us," Pope explained.

"We have no chance," Kiara argued.

"No, Kie, there's something else," John B spoke up. "Ward's alive," John B revealed, making Kyla's eyes widen in shock. "He's alive, and he's on this boat."

"What?" Kiara exclaimed.

"Wait, you didn't see him when you were out there?" Kyla questioned her sister, her voice high from being shocked.

"No, I was with Pope the whole time!"

"You gotta be kidding me," JJ muttered angrily.

"Are you serious?" Pope asked breathlessly.

"It was all a setup. Blowing up the boat, the confession to Shoupe. Think about it. That was to clear Rafe's name. And he does what? Goes to the Druthers. And what's on the Druthers?" John B asked.

"Scuba," Kiara answered with a mock smile.

"Bingo."

"So, Ward's alive, huh? And he has the gold...and the cross...and Sarah," JJ listed, hopping down from where he sat. Kyla ran a hand through her tangled hair, trying to make sense of it all.

She had watched Ward blow up! So did Sarah — she watched her down estranged father die, only for him to have been faking it the whole entire time. Kyla felt extremely sorry for the girl, wanting to give her a giant hug once she saw her again.

"Thanks for rubbing that in," Kiara said sarcastically.

"So he's just gonna get away with everything again, huh? Not happening. We're not watching this movie again, right, Pope? You said we need the win, and with her," JJ said, pointing at Cleo, "we're going to the bridge, and we're gonna take it right now. You with me?"

"Let's do it," John B agreed.

"I'm with you, and I wanna be the one to take that bridge," Pope spoke determinedly.

"That's what I'm talking about."

Cleo started to chuckle, making Kyla furrow her brows at her. "He's gonna take the bridge?" Cleo questioned, pointing at Pope.

"Yeah."

"He couldn't even take me, not even with the girl," Cleo pointed out, gesturing to Kiara, who pursed her lips.

"Okay, first of all, I was going easy on you," Pope started to say.

"Seriously?" JJ said at the same time.

"Hey, I went easy on you," Cleo argued, making Kiara, Kyla, and John B start to shush the both of them before they started to get into a full blown argument.

"Relax, all of you," John B instructed.

"If you're really with us, if we use that knife, we can go up into the bridge, hold it up against the captain's neck, then we go on the intercom and make him tell the rest of the crew to meet up in the forward hull. Once they're in the same place, bam, we lock them in there, and we take back what's ours," JJ planned out, looking at everyone to see what they thought of it.

"I like it. It could work," Pope told him.

"Yeah, that's honestly one of your best plans so far," Kyla teased, sending him a joking grin.

JJ gave her a look before he focused up, looking back at Cleo. "Are you with us, then?"

"No," she answered bluntly. "This is stupid!"

"All right, let's open these things up!" a man called out from outside, making them all tense up.

"They're checking the containers," Kiara whispered worriedly.

"Uh-oh," Pope muttered before Cleo quickly went over to the grate, trying to get it off. "Wait. No. Cleo."

"What are you doing?" Kyla asked quietly, not wanting Cleo to reveal all of them.

Cleo quickly shushed them before she climbed out of the window. "Piece of shit's stuck," a man commented from outside as he tried getting it open. Kyla held her breath, finding JJ's hand next to her and grabbing onto it.

"Macias!" Cleo shouted from outside.

"She's gonna tell them. Shit!" Pope said as Kiara quickly put the grate back on.

"Hold up! This one's clear, sir," Cleo told them, making JJ and Kyla send each other a look.

"Are you sure?" the man asked.

"Went through it inch by inch. Nothing but tubing and plastics in there," Cleo told him, making Pope nod his head with a growing grin on his face.

"What if the stowaway had been in there?"

"Well, he wasn't, so..." Cleo trailed off. "Come on, man. We got work to do. Move your bumper, man."

After a few seconds of silence from outside, Pope said, "Okay, she's on our side. That's good."

"Okay, Pope, you're up. We'll wait for your signal, okay?" JJ told him and Pope nodded before he climbed out of the opening, meeting Cleo outside.

"I like her," Kyla said after a moment with a nod.

"Yeah, me too," Kiara said almost immediately, making Kyla give her a suspicious look. "She's — she's cool."

"I guess," JJ muttered under his breath. "I'll agree when they get this shit done."

The four of them waited in the container for a few minutes, even though it felt like hours. Pope and Cleo were at risk of so many things going wrong, but Pope and John B were able not to get caught before so Kyla had faith that he and Cleo would be able to do it again.

"Attention, all passengers and crew, report to the tween forward hull," Eberhimi said over the loudspeaker, but it was faint from where they sat.

"Wait, did you guys hear that?" Kyla asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah," JJ answered breathlessly, scooting closer to the grate. The rest of them did the same, wanting to hear the announcement better to make sure they were good to go.

"Attention, all passengers, all crew, report to the tween forward hull. That's an order. Repeat. All hands and all passengers report to the tween forward hull immediately."

"They did it. They took the bridge," John B said excitedly, making the sisters share an optimistic look.

"That's our boy," JJ commented before her and John B began to pull the grate off. "All right, split up. Once they're all in the hull, Ky and I will lock them inside," JJ said, looking to Kyla, who nodded.

"Kie and I will find Sarah and get the lifeboat," John B said and Kiara nodded.

"And then we'll meet you, load the cross and get out of here," Kyla finished with a fixed look.

"Okay, let's roll."

The four of them then climbed out of the container, getting ready to do what they had planned.