Pɪʟᴏᴛ (4)
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Everyone sat in John B's backyard. JJ sat on a table as he threw rocks toward the water.
"Look, I'm callin' it off. All right?" John B says, "Peterkin said, if I stay out of the marsh, she'll help me with DCS."
"And you believed her?" JJ scoffs
"Yes, I believe her, JJ."
"An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop." He chuckles humorlessly
"All I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days, and she'll help me out. It doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun."
"You know what I should have done? Just let Topper drown your ass." He says as he throws another rock
"Topper was gonna drown me?"
"Sure looked like it."
Estrella sighs as she puts her head in her hands.
"Funny."
"I mean, have you looked in a mirror?" JJ says standing up and walking towards everyone
"Tell me some more. Come on."
"They always win, don't they, man? Kooks versus Pogues. They always, always win!" He says punching a ball handing on a string
"Look, it's okay!" Kie says
"No, it's not okay!" JJ exclaims as he turns to her. "It is not! They don't want us to go down into the marsh. That means there's something valuable down there, and you know it, man." He says pointing to John B
"I know you do. And I understand why you don't wanna go." JJ says gesturing to Pope, "You're the golden boy. You got way too much to risk. And you..." He says to Kie, "I mean, you're already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother?"
"But you, me, and Star, man, we got nothin' to lose!" He says, "We really don't, all right?"
"JJ." John B sighs
"And I know it didn't use to be that way for you."
"I don't want to talk about this. I don't want to talk about it." He says trying to walk past him
"So that's it?"
"Just get out of my way, bro." He says pushing past him
"John B, listen to me." JJ says putting hand on his shoulder as they face the water, "I have a plan. You got the key to Cameron's big boat, right?"
"No."
"There's scuba gear. We borrow that, and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon, and that is what's gonna save you, man." He says, "You don't see rich kids going into foster care, do you?"
John B looks to JJ who raises his brows at him. John B shakes his head turning back to the water.
Estrella knew then that JJ had convinced John B to poach the scuba gear from his boss.
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The teens now sat on John B's boat in the marsh. They were checking the tanks for John B to dive.
"This is empty. You took empty tanks?" Kie sighs
"I.."
"Okay, this one's a quarter full. It's enough for one of us."
"Love it when a plan comes together." Pope says sarcastically
"Does anybody know how to dive?"
"Uh..."
"Anybody?"
"It's kind of a Kook sport." JJ says as Kie sighs
"I... read about it."
"Great, Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die." Estrella nods
"Look, y-you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" JJ shrugs
"If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends."
"Bends like, bend over and..." JJ says as he starts to bend over
"The bends kill you." Pope deadpans
JJ stops, "Right."
"I can... I can dive." John B says
"You can dive. I'm cool with that." JJ says
"Since when can you dive?" Kie asks
"I'll do it. It's fine."
"Let me do some calculations real quick." Pope sits up
"You serious?" Kie mutters to John B as Estrella stands up on the bow
"That boat's about 30 feet down, right?"
"Okay."
"So it'll take 25 minutes at that depth."
"Twenty-five."
"Which means you need to make your safety stop at about... ten feet. All right? For two minutes."
Kie looks over as Estrella starts to take her shirt off.
"Yeah, yeah. Ten feet, two minutes. Got it."
The all turn as they notice Estrella. She then jumps in with her shirt in her hand.
"Uh..." John B says
"What was that all about?" Pope says
"I don't know, but I liked it. A lot." JJ says almost entranced before clearing his throat as John B shakes his head standing up.
Kie rolls her eyes as she steps aside by Pope.
"Uh, so..."
"All righty."
"Yeah. Uh, when you... uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold. You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?" JJ explains to John B
"Stick in, twist, pull."
"Yeah."
"My dad moved weight back in the day."
"Who didn't?" Pope says as he sees Estrella come back up
"Hey! I tied my T-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop." She says as she swims back toward the boat
"Cool."
"Keep an eye on this. You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress." Pope says
"Okay, how much do I need?"
"Unclear. Breathe as little as possible."
"Zen. Think Zen, you know?" JJ says imitating breathing through a mask
"Yeah. Got it." John B says
"Hey, if we get caught in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so... better get a move on." Pope says as Estrella comes up the ladder
"Copy that."
Kie walks up to John B on the bow. She leans in and kisses him on the cheek, "Diver down?"
"Diver down." Kie nods as she steps down.
Estrella comes up beside JJ as she, Pope, and JJ share a look of confusion.
"Diver down." John B says as he pulls on his mask and jumps in the water. He salutes to them before going under.
"All right." Pope says
"See ya, dude." JJ mutters
It's only a couple of minutes before Estrella turns around and sees a boat coming toward them. Pope turns as their sirens go off.
"Shit. JJ." Pope says as the blonde turns
"Guys, that's the police." JJ says
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me." Pope says standing up
"Yep, that's the police."
"Just act frickin' normal." Kie says adjusting her seating on the bow. The siren blares again as the boat approaches them.
"Evening, officers." Pope says sitting back down.
"Evening." The officer says, "Here." The other officer says handing them a rope
"JJ, tie this off." Pope says handing it to JJ.
"How you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?"
"No."
"No. Wow."
"I didn't know that."
"Why- why is it closed?" Estrella asks
"Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down."
"Oh."
"Seen anything?"
"No." JJ shakes his head
"No boats. No."
"Where's your friend you always hang with? He here?"
"He's working." Kie says
"Hm." He nods, "I'm gonna check your little boat out."
"Yeah."
"Yeah, hop aboard. You wanna check... uh, check her out." Pope says standing up
"Thank you."
"Uh... you got another one of these?" Shoupe says holding up a life vest
"Yeah."
"Yeah, yeah. Of course. It's, uh... it's in the hold." JJ says
"Yeah."
"Show him." Kie says standing up
"Okay." JJ says before walking past Estrella and opening the hold, "Yeah, here we go."
"All right." The officer nods looking to Estrella. His eyes linger a little too long for her liking before he looks away.
"Yeah." JJ says putting the vest back. As he stands back up, he picks up an extra shirt that was lingering on the boat and hands it to Estrella. She puts it on as he stands in front of her.
They watch as the officer makes his way onto the bow.
"Uh..."
"Be careful." JJ says
"Be careful. You don't wanna slip."
The officer puts his glasses on and looks into the water. Kie looks to the others as they watch him step onto the edge.
"All right." He says
"All right." JJ and Pope say
"Beautiful day isn't it?"
"Sure is."
"Very." Pope says
"Let us know if you see anything on your way out." The officer says as he starts to untie his boat
"Will do. Will do." Pope says as they start to pull off
"We'll be gone soon, sir." JJ says
"Yes, you will." He says before they leave. The teens wait for the coast to be clear before rushing to the edge to look over into the water.
"He's definitely out of air." Pope says right before John B comes up. Estrella lets out a deep breath.
"There he is!" JJ says
"Oh, God! Jesus Christ! Don't scare us like that!" Pope says
"How'd it go down there?"
John B puts up an okay sign before swimming toward the boat. JJ rushes to him.
"Did you find anything?" He says as John B takes the mask off
"Did I find anything?" John B mutters before tosses a bag to JJ.
"Yeah, there we go! That's my boy!" JJ chuckles as he pulls the bag onto the boat
"Jeez, dude!" Pope says
"You okay?" Kie says
"Yeah, I ran out of air." John B pants
"You scared the shit out of me."
"Yeah, the cops were up here, but, uh... took care of 'em." Pope nods. Estrella furrows her brows as she squints. She could be going crazy, but she swears she sees another boat coming toward them.
"My bad."
"You're all good."
"Yeah, you kinda missed the show, brother."
"Hey, guys? Guys, there's another boat." Estrella says
JJ looks up quickly, "What?"
John B stands up as Pope sits by the steering wheel.
"Do you recognize that boat?" He asks
"I've never seen it." Kie says
"What are they doing here? The marsh is closed." Estrella says
"I don't know, but let's not stick around to find out." JJ says
"JJ, get the bowline." John B says eyeing the boat
"Yeah."
"Should we wait on 'em?" Pope says
"No, we're not. Go get the stern. Go!" John B says tapping his shoulder
"Are you joking?" Kie says
"Jay, you gotta hurry."
"Guys, don't wait for me. Go." He says pulling up the bowline
"Let's go!" Kie says
"Pull out the stern." Pope says as John B starts the engine and starts driving off
"I don't like this."
"Are they coming for us?"
"Maybe they're fishing."
"Go, go, go, go!"
"Go into the marsh."
"John B, faster." Estrella says
"I'm going."
"Act natural. Act natural." Pope says as John B turns into the marsh. The boat speeds up and follows them.
"Hey, guys, they're following us." Kie says
"This can't be good. Shit."
"Dude, you gotta go faster!" JJ says
"I'm going!"
"Gun it!"
"I'm going!" John B yells again before speeding up. Before they know it, they hear a gun shot. They hurry to drop down
"What the..."
"Holy shit!" Kie says
"What the fuck." Estrella says as JJ's hand goes on her back
"John B, get down!" JJ yells. There's another gunshot that makes Pope jump.
"Oh my god, we're gonna die!"
JJ groans as theres another gunshot.
"Shit." Estrella says before she sits up, "Pope, move." She stands up and hurries to pick up some netting. John B ducks again as there's another shot.
"Star, what the hell are you doing?"
She goes to the back of the boat and throws the netting into the water. They shoot at them again as she ducks down. The boat gets caught on the net causing them to slow down.
Everyone sits up as they get further and further away. Estrella lets out a sigh as she uses the edge of the boat to stand up.
"Oh, my God!" JJ yells, "Whoo!"
"Whew!" Kie yells
"Booyeah! Pogue god, man! See you, guys!"
"That was insane!"
"Holy shit!" Estrella breathes
"Whoo!" JJ says high fiving her as Kie laughs
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They make it back to the dock by the Château. John B gets off first with the duffle bag as JJ ties the boat off with Pope helping him. Kie steps off before JJ walks back toward the boat to help Estrella off. She takes his hand as she gets off before they both walk over to John B.
"What do you guys think it is?" Kie smiles as John B starts to open it
"Gotta be money, right?" He says
"That or a couple of keys with street value to the low-to mid-mils!" JJ jokes with John B
"Can we please just open the bag?" Pope exclaims. Everyone stops as they look at him.
"Jesus, Pope." Estrella chuckles
"Wow, Pope. That's a rare outburst of emotion from you." John B mutters as he continues digging through the bag
"Okay. You guys are literally killing me with anticipation. Open the bag."
"Jeez."
"We almost died over this." Pope says as John B pulls out a canister. He opens it and shakes it towards his hand. They hear clanking as a compass falls into his hand. John B freezes before he opens it.
"Oh, wow. Yup." Pope says as Estrella sighs running her hands through her hair, "That's about right. Good job, everybody. We found a compass."
JJ takes his hat off noticing John B's gaze on the compass, "Dude, what? It's not worth anything."
"This was my father's." John B chuckles softly
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