Pɪʟᴏᴛ (2)

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After getting back to land, the teens went to the coast guard to report the boat. Or at least tried to. No one was listening to them seeing as it was crowded with tons of people after the hurricane.

"Well, that went well." John B says as he and JJ walk out to the others. JJ rests his arm on John B's shoulder.

"So, what's the plan?" JJ asks

"I know how we're gonna find the guy who owns that boat." John B says holding up the key

"We don't know whose room that is. It could be anyone." Pope says

JJ takes the key from John B and tosses it to Kie, "I'm in."

"Come on. I'll be lookout." Kie smiles as she and JJ walk toward the boat

"Finder's fee. Just sayin'. And, hey, at least you'll only be an accomplice." John B shrugs

"Man."

"Come on, bubba." He says as he follows JJ

Pope turns to Estrella and sighs. The girl smiles before grabbing his arm, "Come on."

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John B slowly pulls up to the motel that the key led them to.

"I thought the Château looked bad." JJ says

"This place is a shitshow."

"Motel or meth lab?"

"You be the judge."

"Doesn't look like a place somebody with a Grady-White stays." Estrella says

"No. Looks like a place someone with a Grady-White would get killed." Pope says

"All right. Here we go. This is your captain speaking. HMS Pogue comin' in for landing." JJ says as they reach the motel. He jumps out to tie the boat off.

"We good?"

"Yeah, we good."

"All right. Here goes nothin'." John B says as he and JJ get out

"Hey." Pope says

"Yeah?"

"Don't let him do anything stupid." Pope says pointing to JJ

"Oh, we will." JJ nods

"I'm not making promises." John B shakes his head

"Yeah, I know." Pope sighs

"Don't get killed, JJ." Estrella says

"Of course not, gotta come back to you." He smirks. Estrella rolls her eyes playfully before sitting on the bow.

"Uh, be careful." Kie says handing the key to John B, "I mean it."

"Yeah. Yeah." John B chuckles, "Let's go." He says jumping out and patting JJ's shoulder. The two walk off leaving Pope, Kie, and Estrella to wait.

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Estrella laid back on the bow as Kie and Pope sit on the edge. It had been about 5 minutes since JJ and John B left to check the motel room.

"Biggest pet peeve?" Kie says

"Yeah."

"Easy. Giving one percent to the environment."

"What's wrong with that?"

"We only have one Earth, Pope. We should be giving it 100 percent, bare minimum."

"Right. That's not fiscally sound."

"Neither is destroying the planet we have to live on."

"Kie, not everyone cares as much as you, unfortunately." Estrella mumbles

"Hey, hey, cops." Pope says. Estrella jumps up.

"Shit. Call them." Estrella says frantic

"I can't. Towers are down." Kie says

"If I lose my merit scholarship, I'm gonna kill someone." Pope says as they watch the cops get out. They carefully get out of the boat to walk toward the window.

"Maybe they're not going up. Maybe..." Pope says

"There's a 1000% chance that they're going up there." Estrella says

"Maybe they're looking for a room."

"They're going up." Kie says

As soon as the cops turn to go up the stairs, the three run toward the window of the motel room. Pope reaches down to pick up a rock.

"Okay, do something. Do something." Kie says

"Go, go. Stand back." He says to them.

"Okay. You got it."

They step back as Pope throws the rock at the window, but it misses.

"What the hell, Pope?" Estrella says

"Didn't you ever play baseball?" Kie sighs

"Dude! I was on the math team." Pope says.

"I forgot about that." Estrella groans as she picks up a rock. She steps back and throws it at the window successfully hitting it.

"Yes."

Kie picks up a bunch of rocks, "A mathlete?"

"You know what?" Pope grunts

Kie tosses a couple of rocks at the window. Estrella throws another rock before they see John B open the blinds. They jump up and down pointing towards the door.

"Cops!" They whisper harshly. They see John B leave the window before they rush to the boat.

"Should we peel?" Kie says

"You never leave a Pogue behind." Pope says as they watch John B and JJ come out onto the window sill right before the cops enter the room.

"No, seriously, should we peel?"

"Maybe."

"No." Estrella says waving them off.

"What are you guys doing?" Pope whispers to John B and JJ

"Oh, my God." Kie says as she rubs her temples.

"What the fuck, JJ?" Estrella whispers as JJ smiles at them. The two look into the window watching the officers go through the room.

JJ turns and something falls before hitting a trash can. Estrella throws her hands up as JJ and John B hurry to sit still. Pope and Kie turn away as the blinds open quickly. Kie faking a conversation as the officer looks around.

The officer turns away as John B and JJ let out a sigh of relief.

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"Well, that was fun. Could have warned us a little sooner." JJ says

"We would have, except Pope was on the math team." Kie says

"You were on the math team?" JJ asks

"Yup." Estrella says

"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene." John B says

"Did you guys find anything?" Pope asks as JJ sits up from beside Estrella

"Did we find anything? No, I don't think so." He says as he pulls out a wad of cash and a gun, "Oh, yeah, we did."

"What the hell?" Pope jumps up as JJ stands

"Dude, what?" Kie says

"JJ." Estrella says

"Dude, chill. Come on." JJ says walking up to Pope

"Why take that from a crime scene?"

"Better than cops having it."

"You serious?" Kie says to John B

"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." Pope sighs

"Hey, hey, hey. Sh, sh, sh. sh, sh." JJ says holding the gun up to Pope lips, "At least you have us, right?"

"I'm living the nightmare." Pope says sitting back down. JJ turns to Estrella with confusion written on his face. She raises her brows as she shakes her head.

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The group found out that someone everyone knew around the island, Scooter, was dead. They also found out that he somehow was able to get a Grady White. This made them suspicious seeing as the boat they saw in the marsh was a Grady White.

So, they went back to Château. Everyone was sitting on the porch as Pope ran back in.

"Okay. So, um... we didn't see anything. We don't know anything. We need to have total and complete amnesia." He rambles as he looks around at everyone.

"Actually, Pope's right for once." JJ says standing up, "See, I agree with you sometimes. Deny, deny, deny."

"Guys, we can't keep that money." Kie says

"Okay. Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara." JJ snaps

"We don't even know whose money it is." Estrella sighs, "We can't just go pass it off to anyone. All heads turn to us."

"We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs. Otherwise, it's bad karma."

"Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too. We gotta go dark." Pope says

"If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree." JJ says

"I don't agree." John B says

"What? Why?"

"Just think about it. This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about. Same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole. Shit, one time I saw this dude begging for change in the Save-A-Lot parking lot because he needed gas."

"We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden, he's got a Grady-White?" He says before throwing his hands up, "Just sayin'."

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"All right, so think about it, Pope. How does a marina rat get a Grady-White?" John B says as he sits on the dock

"Prostitution."

"Square groupers, bro." John B says, "Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean? JJ?"

"They were straight smugglin'."

"Smugglin'. And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in that wreck." He says turning to Kie and Estrella.

"Hell, yeah." JJ says before standing up straight with his fishing pole, "Fish on!"

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Now, they all sat around John B's room. He was still trying to convince Pope about his theory.

"For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it..." Pope starts

"Mm-hm?"

"...it probably belongs to someone else."

"Minor details." Kie says

"They could come looking for it. Taking it would be catastrophically stupid."

"Right. Well," JJ says taking the money back from Pope before fanning it out, "stupid things have good outcomes all the time. All we need to do is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then, we just lay low. Just act normal."

"Right. And how exactly do we do that?"

"Kegger?" Estrella suggests. John B points to her as Kie smiles.

"That's my girl." JJ says patting her leg

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