◜ 　　　　　                                                     ◝

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗜𝗫𝗧𝗬 𝗙𝗜𝗩𝗘
𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒔𝒕

◟ 　　　　　                                                      ◞

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

The Pogues were able to board the boat to Wilmington without any problems, much to their surprise. The only thing they didn't have was a piece of transportation other than the boat they were currently on, which would definitely cause problems for them since the cross definitely wasn't anywhere near close to being light.

"Honestly, the hardest part is gonna be security, all right? So most of the guys are gonna be at the rail yard," JJ spoke as they all sat at a round table on the deck of the boat, trying to think of a decent plan.

"Right, so we're gonna need to find some place and guard it, maybe a little further down the line, like a whistle-stop or something," Pope thought.

"Yeah," Kiara agreed, nodding her head slowly.

"You guys are getting ahead of yourselves per usual. We don't have a way to transport the cross," Cleo reminded them. "What you think? On JJ's motorcycle?"

JJ groaned, taking his cap off. "That's not my fault."

"We didn't say it was," Kyla told him and JJ pursed his lips, glancing downward.

"Okay, so other options..." Pope trailed off, seeing if anyone else could think of anything.

"Oh, my God," Sarah voiced, placing her hands up to her lips as she leaned her elbows on the table.

"Oh, my God, what?" Cleo questioned, raising her eyebrows.

Sarah gestured her head over to the bar area and all the Pogues looked over, seeing Topper standing there and talking to some people. "Is that Topper?" Pope asked.

"Why...is he everywhere?" Kiara breathed out in annoyance.

"Oh, shit. Does that mean Tara's here, too?" Kyla brought up, her eyes going wide in worry since she didn't want the girl ruining their plan.

"Nah, she's probably with Rafe since they're always attached by the hip," JJ assumed and Kyla shrugged and nodded at that, having to agree with him since he was pretty much right.

"Perfect," Pope realized after a second. "Hey, Jayj. I bet you Topper has a way to transport the cross."

"Actually, Pope's right. He does have a rig," JJ pointed out, a smile beginning to form on his face.

"No," Sarah immediately said.

"Yes," JJ replied back.

"No."

"Yes, come on."

"Absolutely not."

"Sarah, you already got him whipped anyway, all right? So why don't you just take one for the team?" JJ suggested, raising his eyebrows at her.

"What would John B say?" Sarah queried.

"I think John B will completely understand. Think about the circumstances. It's about treasure," Pope said.

"We can handle John B," Kiara assured the girl. "Just talk to him."

"You don't have to if you don't want to..." Kyla began to say before all the Pogues gave her a look, "...but it's preferred that you do," she quickly added, forcing a grin onto her face.

Sarah looked at all the Pogues, seeing their faces before she sighed and got up to go over to talk to her ex.

She got him separated from the other people and took him over to an area near the stairs, where the Pogues stood below so they could see if her manipulation was working.

And it had since Sarah was able to convince Topper to let them use his dad's truck for the night, making their plan commence.

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

Topper drove them where they needed to go, which, unfortunately, had thousands of trains that Kiara had taken note of once they had gotten on top of one of the trains as Topper stood down below.

Kyla had also made sure to demand him not to tell Tara about any of this since she definitely knew what Rafe and his dad were up to by selling the cross. She was able to make him pinky promise, but she wasn't sure how much that would do. But if Sarah was in the equation...then he would probably keep the promise.

"Well, we know it's care 750X on the track to Raleigh," Pope reminded them.

"Yeah, so now we just gotta find it," JJ said.

"Easier said than done," Kyla muttered and JJ just shrugged.

"Well, news flash. We're not getting out of here unnoticed with a giant cross," Kiara pointed out.

"We won't have to. We can nab it somewhere further in the country. Just gotta figure out how to stop the train," Pope explained.

"Right," Kiara replied even though their plan was becoming increasingly more complex.

"Leave that to me," JJ voiced.

"How you gonna do that?" Cleo questioned.

"Well, I got an uncle up in New Bern, right? When he got tipsy, he would just throw an old chain across the tracks, just for shits and giggles. And, uh, that old little chain would stop all the train traffic in coastal Carolina," JJ enlightened all of them.

"A chain?" Kiara said in disbelief.

"He's actually right. There's a low-voltage current that runs across all rail tracks. You throw a chain on it, you close that circuit. It would read as another train. Crossing lights come down. Science is actually pretty sound," Pope backed up JJ's story.

"Science. I knew my science," JJ bragged and Kyla patted him on the back proudly as Kiara just rolled her eyes at his antics.

"Well, we don't have a chain," Pope brought up.

"No, but I bet Topper's dad has jumper cables in the truck. Would that work?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah."

"Yo, what's going on?! Are we doing this or what?!" Topper called out impatiently, holding his arms out at all of them.

"All right, you all wait here. Me and Pope will go look for it and send a signal once we find it," Cleo instructed and Pope nodded at her.

"Do we actually have a plan right now?" Sarah questioned in shock.

"I think we do," JJ answered.

"That's impressive."

"Let's not jinx it while we're ahead, come on," Pope told them as he and Cleo started to make their way off the train.

"Nobody ever listens to me," Cleo joked, making them laugh quietly. The two then got off the train to go search for the correct car number, leaving the four of them on top of the train with Topper still waiting on the ground.

"What's taking so long?" Sarah asked after a while, but no one answered as they waited for the signal that Pope and Cleo said they would shine. A little after Sarah asked her question, she could see a figure climbing up a train in the distance. "Look, Pope."

They all looked over to see his body climbing up the train before he turned his flashlight on, waving it towards them. JJ put his thumbs up at him, hoping the boy would see it from that far away.

"That's it. We're green," Kiara spoke before the machinery on the train started to turn on.

"What is that?" Kyla asked, looking below them.

"You hear that?" JJ said at the same time before the train that Pope was on started to move. "The train's moving, the train's moving, the train's moving!"

"Shit, shit," Kiara whispered as they started to run along the top of their train, trying to get off of it quickly so they could help Pope and Cleo.

"Oh, hey, Sarah," Topper sardonically greeted as they started to make their way towards him after getting back on the ground.

"Do you have jumped cables in there?" Sarah immediately questioned without saying hello back.

"Here I am involved in illegal activities," Topper commented.

"It's not that illegal," Sarah brushed off as she opened his truck door.

"Wait, I'm not even close to being okay with this," Topper quickly told her.

"Okay," Sarah replied, shutting the door once she got the jumper cables.

"Jumper cables, what are we — what are we doing with these?" he questioned.

"Topper, if you don't wanna go, it's fine. And we'll take the truck," Sarah assured him, walking past him.

"The truck?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, I just wanna make sure everyone here is okay with ending up in federal prison," Topper said to them all, trying to get his point across that this was highly dangerous and illegal.

"Uh, if it gets to that, yeah, I'll do it for Pope," JJ answered as Sarah handed him the jumper cables.

Topper looked at him like he was crazy before he looked over at Kyla. "Wait, Kyla, you're okay with this?"

"Like JJ said, I'm doing this for Pope," she told him before she gave JJ a reassuring smile, to which he returned as the both of them hopped on his bike.

Topper let out a frustrated sigh as JJ revved his engine, driving the motorcycle so they could place the jumper cables before the train got too far ahead — followed by Topper, Kiara, and Sarah in the truck.

JJ drove him and Kyla a little while away from where the train was at, stopping behind a tree. "This should be far enough," JJ spoke as the two of them hopped off his bike.

"Yeah, I think so," Kyla replied as they started to run, which then caused JJ to trip. "JJ!" she whisper-shouted, her eyes going wide at him.

"My bad," he groaned as they kept on running towards the tracks.

"Are you okay?" she asked, a small chuckle escaping from her mouth since he always seemed to be falling everywhere they went.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said before they reached the tracks, hearing the train's horn blaring. "Oh God, you can hear it coming. Let's fry this sucker." He began to work on attaching the jumper cables to the crossing lights they were at. "Now, all you have to do...is change the current. Let's go, baby."

"Please don't get electrocuted," Kyla told him, watching him do his thing carefully.

"Yeah, no promises with that. Three, two, one," he counted down before he placed the cable on the tracks. "And red."

"Moment of truth..." Kyla trailed off as they watched the crossing lights, waiting for the green light to turn red.

"Come on, man. Come on, come on," JJ repeated, but the light was staying green. "Okay, that's what he would do. That's literally what my — So then it would change red — Oh, my God," he breathed out frantically as Kyla looked down at the cables, noticing something was off with them. "Think, think, think. Okay, what if I blockaded the track? That's what I could do. Maybe put like a tree?"

Kyla bent down, picking one of the cables up. "Uh, hey. The train touches both sides of the track," she reminded him as she placed the cable on the other side, watching the lights again. "Please, please, please."

They watched in anticipation before the light suddenly turned to red. "Oh, my God. Yes. Yes!"

"That's what I'm talking about!" JJ exclaimed excitedly as he turned her, pulling her in for a quick kiss. "You're literally a genius," he complimented admirably once he pulled away. "I was gonna do that, though."

"No, yeah," Kyla nodded her head at him — even though she knew he didn't think of that — with a relieved smile, looking over towards where the train would be coming from.

"And now we wait," he panted as they moved away from the tracks, crouching down near some bushes. "It's gonna work. It's gonna work." They watched as the train came closer, but it was slowed down by significant amount. "She's slowing down."

"We did it," Kyla smiled, looking over at JJ happily before the train came to a complete stop. "We actually did it."

"I know. I know we did," JJ nodded, surprised that one of their plans had actually worked. But, that excitement was soon dwindled when a police car came by. "Oh, shit. Ky, back up. Back up," he quickly whispered as he pulled her back with him, going further behind some bushes so the cops wouldn't see them. "Shit."

"No, no, no, no. That's not part of the plan," she voiced, watching as they got out of the car to go investigate.

The couple watched as the officers found the jumper cables, going to unhook them so the train could continue on its route again.

"Shit, shit, shit," Kyla continued to whisper over and over again as the officers undid what they just accomplished, waiting anxiously. The officers then seemed to step away after a few moments, giving a thumbs up to the conductor to let them know it was good to keep going. "They've had enough time, right?"

"I don't know. I think so," JJ responded, hoping that they did so this wasn't all for nothing. After another few moments of checking to make sure nothing else was tampered with, the officers drove off and the train began to start again. "The train's startin'."

"We have to go get them," Kyla said to him.

"There goes the plan. All right, we gotta help them," JJ spoke as they got up to run back to his bike. JJ tripped yet again, prompting Kyla to pull him up so they could keep going. "Okay, all right," JJ breathed as he stepped onto his bike, something falling out of his pocket.

"Hey, you dropped your..." Kyla trailed off once she noticed that it was her father's wallet that JJ had dropped. She looked down at it in confusion before she picked it up, looking back over at the blonde. "Why do you have this?"

JJ looked away from her, too embarrassed to look into her eyes. "If I'm gonna be accused of being a thief, might as well get something out of it," he answered.

"JJ, you're just giving them more of a reason to hate you," she told him.

"More of a reason?" he repeated. "They're already completely against me, so who cares?"

"They didn't have a solid reason before, but now they do," she argued.

"Who cares, Ky? You know what? We don't have time for this. Get on," he instructed, but Kyla just stared at him disappointedly. He stared back at her for a few moments, not knowing what else to say since he didn't have an excuse for why he did it. "Get on the bike, Ky," he said more forcefully since he was getting tired of the silence before they heard sirens, Topper's truck passing by them. "That's Top." JJ then saw the crate in the back of his truck with Pope, Kiara, and Cleo sitting next to it. "And that's the cross. Get on, get on!"

Kyla quickly hopped on his bike, even though she was still mad at him, and JJ started up his engine and followed after Topper's truck. They were able to make it onto the road right behind the truck with the cops on their tail.

"J!" Kyla warned him, seeing that the police were catching up.

"I know, I know!" JJ replied before decided to speed up so he was right next to Topper's truck.

"What are you doing?" Pope questioned over the wind.

"Top, keeping going straight!" JJ told him as he carefully put inched his bike closer to the truck.

"Hey, y'all be careful, all right?!" Topper yelled as he continued to drive.

"Get ready to jump," JJ said to Kyla.

"What?!" Kyla exclaimed, her eyes widening.

"What?!" Pope repeated in the same manner.

"Are you crazy?!" Kyla inquired frantically.

"Probably! Get ready to jump!"

"Come on! Come on! I've got you, I've got you! Come on!" Pope urged as he held his arms out for Kyla.

"Ky, what are you doing?!" Sarah shouted as Kyla began to step up from the bike, trying to get herself into the truck safely.

"Easy, easy now. Be careful," Pope said before Kyla hopped onto the crate in the back of the truck, Pope holding onto her so she didn't fall off.

"You okay?" Kiara quickly asked her sister while the others did the same, wanting to make sure she was alright.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Kyla told them, looking over to see what JJ was planning on doing. She saw that he had stopped his bike abruptly, looking over his shoulder at the cops. "Oh, shit..."

"What's he gonna do?" Cleo asked.

"I don't know. I don't think he knows either," Pope admitted.

"He's trying to get killed," Kiara realized when she saw that he picked up a rock from the ground, looking over at her sister who just stared at JJ in shock.

"Okay, maybe he's just trying to get rid of the cops," Topper butt in, trying to think of the positive.

JJ then started up his bike, going straight towards the cops before he threw the rock at their windshield, making them switch gears to chase after JJ instead of them.

"He did it! They're chasing him!" Pope called out.

"Fuck," Kyla breathed out, knowing this wasn't going to end well. "Topper, stop the truck!" she began to scream, wanting to go back for JJ even though that probably meant the cops would catch them.

Everyone else began to yell the same thing, forcing Topper to stop the truck and turn around to go back for the blonde even though he really didn't want to.

They continued to force the Thornton boy to drive to JJ before they saw him on the other road, still being chased by the cops. "There he is! What is he doing?" Pope thought aloud.

"This wasn't the plan," Kyla muttered, shaking her head slowly.

"No way, he's up on the overpass," Sarah pointed out after a moment before something fell off from it, causing Topper to step on the brakes.

They all realized that it was JJ's bike at the same exact time, quickly getting out of the car to find JJ and make sure he was okay. "JJ?" Kyla panted as she looked down at his broken bike, seeing that he was nowhere it. "JJ?! JJ?! Where is he?!" she cried, running around the area to try to find him.

"Shit," Pope said as he also began to search for the blonde, the others joining as well.

"JJ! JJ!" Kyla continued to yell, not wanting to give up. She then stopped after looking in the same area, sucking in a breath. "Where is he?" she breathed out, her legs feeling like they were about give out.

"Maybe he's up on the bridge," Pope pointed out, wanting to think optimistically.

"No, no, no," Kyla began to sob as she fell down onto the ground, Kiara quickly going over to her to help her. "No, no, no, please..."

Kiara held onto her sister as she started to cry as well. Kiara has known JJ for a lot longer than Kyla had and he was basically a brother to her at this point, so seeing her sister like this and the fact that JJ may not have made it...she didn't know what to do.

The two sisters stayed in that position for a few moments, the others just standing around in shock and inner turmoil since they couldn't believe that this actually happened.

"I wish I could say I did that on purpose," a voice spoke up, causing all of them to look over to see that the Maybank boy was alive and standing right there, "but that was the gnarliest power slide I've ever done."

Kiara slowly helped her sister up from the ground as they stared at the blonde in total and complete shock. Pope started towards his best friend and shouted, "You're alive!" before he hugged him. "Dude!"

"I know, I know, I'm surprised too," JJ admitted as he hugged his friend back.

"Oh, shit, that was gnarly!" Topper complimented.

"That was trucking, dude!" JJ told him before Sarah went over to him and shoved him. "Oh, Jesus." She then enveloped him in a tight hug. "Oh God."

"We really thought you did it this time, Jayj," Sarah told him, sighing in relief.

"I fucking hate you, dude," Kiara breathed out after Sarah pulled away, slowly letting go of her sister after it seemed like she could stand on her own so she could make her way over to him.

"Then why you cryin', huh?" JJ teased, allowing her to hug him. She let out a laugh mixed with a cry, glad to see he was okay.

"The pleasantries are nice, but we should really get outta here," Pope voiced after Kiara had pulled away from the boy.

"Yeah, yeah, let's roll," Topper agreed, rushing over his truck.

After the others started to make their way over to the car, JJ was able to make eye contact with Kyla as the two slowly made their way over to each other.

"I...I thought I lost you," she spoke quietly, not bothering to wipe away the tears that were rolling down her face.

JJ looked at her meaningfully, seeing how she truly cared for him. He had never thought that anyone would care about him that way...which is why he knew that all of this was too dangerous for her to be entangled with.

"You can't kill a Pogue," he quipped, trying to make her feel better.

She let out a soft laugh as she finally wiped at her tears before she went towards him, wrapping her arms around him like she hadn't saw him in a million years. She thought it would be more meaningful to hug him instead of going in for kiss, wanting to be held by JJ more than anything right then.

JJ immediately took her in, pulling her body closer to him if that was even possible since he really needed to feel her touch. He almost lifted her off the ground with how tight he was holding her, but she didn't even care.

"Hey!" the officer called out from the overpass, making them pull apart and look up. "Hey, you kids, don't move!"

"Go!" JJ said, grabbing Kyla's arm and running with her to her back in the truck.

"Stay right there! I said, stay right there!" the officer tried halting them, but it didn't work as they were able to get in the car and make Topper drive away.

He continued driving down the road, all of them looking over their shoulders every five seconds to make sure the cops weren't coming. "Shit, they definitely called in," Topper said worriedly.

"Top! Top! Turn here, turn here!" JJ quickly told him, touching his arm to let him know.

"Don't touch — don't touch the driver, man," Topper snapped, shoving JJ's hand away from him.

"Topper, just turn around," JJ tried again, reaching his hand out.

Sarah slapped JJ's hand away. "Stop! He said don't touch the driver!"

"I'm trying—"

"It's a liability," Topper argued.

"Then go faster!" Cleo cut in frustratedly.

"If I go faster, that's gonna draw attention," Topper explained.

"Yeah, I feel like that ship has sailed at this point," JJ pointed out.

"You guys are a nightmare. Do you argue about absolutely everything?" Topper questioned in annoyance.

"Yes!" Pope confirmed.

"Put the pedal to the metal, boy!" Cleo urged.

"Maybe put it a little bit. You're going 65!" JJ shouted at him.

"All right, all right, screw it!" Topper began to say.

"Let's just go faster," Sarah told him, giving up.

The two sisters just looked at one another, not even bothering to be a part of the conversation since it was stupid and they were exhausted from the crying and all the panic.

"Here we go!" Topper exclaimed as he pressed on the pedal, the truck immediately going faster.

"There you go! That's what I'm talking about!" JJ said excitedly right before the truck jerked up and down, making them knock into each other.

Topper slammed on his brakes. "Stop, stop! We lost the cross!" Pope realized before he started to get out of the car.

"Really great, Topper," JJ said sarcastically.

"You guys told me to go faster!" Topper recalled as they all got out of the car, going over to the crate that had fallen to make sure the cross was okay.

Pope removed the top part of the crate that had broken off, looking inside to make sure the cross didn't break only for all of them to see that...it wasn't the cross.

"What the hell?" Kiara questioned.

"Shit," Cleo seethed.

"Wait, wait, what does this mean?" Kyla asked since her mind was too jumbled to even put the pieces together.

"It's fake," Pope stated darkly before he bent down, getting a closer look. "It's all freakin' fake."

"Of course, we did. Of course, we stole a fake," JJ exhaled, shaking his head.

"Pope, I'm so sorry," Sarah apologized.

Pope continued to look down in the crate, trying to see if it was just his mind playing tricks on him but that definitely wasn't the case. JJ pursed his lips together and went over to the boy, placing a hand on his shoulder comfortingly before sirens could be heard in the distance.

"Y'all hear that? Okay, I can't be here. My grandfather's a judge," Topper said to all of them.

"Dog, would you relax? They're not gonna think some dude in flip-flops is a part of a robbery, okay?" JJ insulted.

"Oh yeah, with the crate sitting right next to my truck. I'm sure we'll be fine," Topper sarcastically replied as the others started to make their way back towards the truck.

"Pope, we gotta go," Kiara said before she turned to her sister, giving her a look. Kyla swallowed hard and went with her sister back into the truck, driving away with no cross.

authors note
this is like really
really long but many of
u said u like long chapters
so hopefully this satisfies
you! thanks for reading!!
(also 134k reads? u guys r
actually the best)