DUE TO a text, Rory was rescued from a very dark place. However, her reckless behaviour was still intact- she wasn't a Maybank without some mischief. She couldn't believe they were alive, after all this time. Aurora was exhausted, she had been all summer, due to her late nights and early mornings searching for clues about John B and Sarah. A part of her thought they were still in the OBX somewhere, maybe if she looked hard enough she would find them hiding.

"I never doubted them." Rory reminded smartly, "Just reminding you all."

"We'll never forget." Pope chuckled, "How many times did you wake up at 4am to search the Cut? 20 times?"

"More like 100." JJ added sarcastically, before getting shoved by his sister.

"So, are we going to the Bahamas or what?" Aurora asked, changing the subject.

"There's no way we're getting to the Bahamas." Pope replied.

"John B's gonna get nabbed sooner or later." Kiara added, "So, if we're gonna clear his name, we need to have done it yesterday."

JJ said confidently, "I'll tell you how we do it."

"So you have it all planned out?" Rory questioned curiously, exhaling smoke from her cigarette.

"As a matter of fact, I do." JJ replied, "We kidnap Rafe."

"I'm sorry, what?" Kie scoffed in disbelief.

JJ repeated, "We kidnap Rafe, tie him up, and stick a gun in his mouth and just wait til he starts squawking."

"You know, tortures a war crime?" Kie reminded.

"So, how exactly do you plan on clearing John B's name from a prison cell?" Pope asked sarcastically, "Because that's a felony."

"Well, do you have something better, Pope?" JJ questioned curiously.

"All we need is a material witness." Pope explained, "We saw Ward's plane fly right over our heads with the gold inside of it. He didn't fly it. If somebody else flew, they were on the tarmac. They witnessed Peterkin get murdered. We just need to find who it was and get them to confess, on record."

"And how'd we do that?" Rory frowned, "It's much easier said than done, Po."

"A little espionage." Pope smirked.

***

"If this guy flew planes for Ward, he's gotta be pretty tight-lipped." Pope explained, as Kie drove them to the location of the pilot.

"So then direct approach gets my vote." JJ replied, as he loaded the gun.

"JJ, no." Pope disagreed, "Put the gun down, man. We can just tickle the wire."

"Tickle the what?" Aurora questioned, "English, please?"

Pope explained, "I plant my phone in his car, and then we listen on your AirPods."

Kie parked outside the Pilots house, whilst Pope made his way out of the car, "Alright, honk or.. uh, yell or something if you see anything suspicious."

"Don't do anything dangerous." Kiara nodded.

Pope smirked, "I'm not the twins."

"Funny, Pope." Aurora replied sarcastically.

JJ added, "We love third-wheeling. It's our favourite thing."

Pope left the car and secretly ran to the Pilots front garden, whilst JJ questioned Kie, "How's it been going, you know, Pope and all?"

"It's good." Kiara replied quickly.

"Alright." JJ blurted out, "In the bedroom is he, like, kinda freaky cause it's Pope, you know?"

Kiara frowned, turning around from the drivers seat, "Why are you asking?"

"Just curious." JJ defended, then paused, "But like, ranking wise... is John B better?"

"What?" Kie raised her voice in disgust, pulling a face.

Pope sprinted back to the car, sitting in the passenger seat, "Phase one is complete.... Is everything okay?"

"Don't ask." Rory replied quickly.

The Pogues had waited in the car until it was dark, then decided to call the Pilot. The plan was to interrogate him, make him scared, then... clear John B's name? Rory knew it wasn't that simple. It always came with a cost.

"Should I do an accent?" Kiara asked curiously.

"Definitely disguise your voice." Pope agreed, he paused, "Batman."

"I'm Batman." Kiara mocked the deep voice, before ringing the Pilot, Gavin
Kie hesitated, "Hello..." She shook her head at her friends and whispered, "I can't do it."

Pope whispered, "Just do normal voice."

Aurora leant over the front seats to take the phone from Kiara, an impulsive idea to speak to the Pilot taking over. She asked sternly, "Is Gavin there?"

"This is Gavin. Who's this?" The man spoke back, "Hello?"

"I know what happened on the Tarmac." Rory said, "It was Rafe Cameron. But you already knew that, and you fucking lied about it."

"Who is this?"

"We're gonna prove it." Rory spat through the phone, "You're fucking guilty and you're gonna pay for-"

"Who is this!"

Rory snapped, "We know what you fucking did. You're a deadman!"

"That's enough." Pope whispered, before hanging up the call, "That's enough."

Rory took a shaky breath, calming herself down, "How'd I do?"

"I was shitting myself." JJ replied, a hint of sarcasm laced in his voice.

"Phase two complete, we tickled the wire." Pope nodded, "Now we wait."

The Pogues waited until Gavin finally left his house to meet with Ward. He was obviously scared about what happened on the Tarmac. He was scared of the truth, and the consequences he would face.

Kiara followed Gavin in their car, whilst Pope listened to their conversation on the phone.
"He's talking to Ward." Pope informed, "Kie, get closer. I can't hear."

Kiara drove closer to Gavin's car, as the three waited for Pope to explain what he was saying.

"He's talking about negotiating something. Renegotiating." Pope explained. He paused, before blurting out, "Gavin's got the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin."

"Holy shit." Kie worried.

"I think he's trying to use it as extortion, as leverage." Pope informed, "He's panicking."

"He's pulling over." Kie said quickly, "What do I do? What-"

The three said in unison, "Go around the block. Go around the block."

"We're gonna lose him." Kiara worried, as the Airpods couldn't reach the signal of the call.

"Go! Go!"

"I can't hear anything. Shit! Im losing signal. I can't hear!" Pope panicked.

Aurora looked through the front window, noticing the road work signs up ahead, "Back up, Kie. Turn around!"

"I'm trying." Kie stressed, as a vehicle  reversed behind them and blocked their way out.

"Are you fucking kidding?" Rory rolled her eyes frustratedly, before patting Pope on the shoulder from behind, "Pope, you need to go. Pope, run!"

As insisted, Pope ran out of the car and headed through people's back gardens to get to Gavin. Aurora followed close behind him, shouting at him to keep running. They entered a backyard, teenagers from their class were hanging out in the pool.

"Yo, Pope!" A girl greeted, "Hey."

"Hi." Pope turned around and smiled, but tripped over the swing set and collided face-first onto the grass.

Rory skidded to a stop, trying to pull Pope to his feet, "Come on, Pope! We're almost there-"

"No, no, no." Pope mumbled, "I lost it! I lost the Airpod."

"Sean?" The voice of JJ questioned behind Rory, as he ran past the pool with Kie, "This is where you live, you Kook."

"Did you find it?" Rory panicked, as Pope stood up, "What'd he say?"

"He's... he's meeting Ward right now." Pope panted, "We gotta go."