Tʜᴇ Gᴏʟᴅ (3)

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The teens were now on their way to who they thought flew Ward's plane. Kie driving, Pope in the passengers seat, and JJ and Estrella in the back seat.

"If this guy flew planes for Ward, he's gotta be pretty tight-lipped." Pope says

"So then direct approach gets my vote." JJ says cocking his gun

"JJ, no."

"No."

"What?" Estrella exclaims

"Put the gun down, man."

"Guys! We gotta keep this simple, or else we'll never get John B off." JJ says

"Or we just tickle the wire." Pope says holding up Kie's AirPods

"What?" Kie says

"We tickle the wire. I plant my phone in his car, and then we listen in on your AirPods." He says putting them in his ear. He then holds his phone out to Kie, "Say something."

Kie shrugs, "Something."

Pope listens to the phone and nods, "Okay, we have audio." Kie then stops in front of a house, "I think that's his house over there. All right, honk or, uh... or yell or something if you see anything suspicious."

"Don't do anything dangerous." Kie says

"Come on. I'm not JJ." He smiles as he gets out

"Funny, Pope. Love third-wheeling. It's my favorite thing." JJ says

They watch as he sneaks onto the property. Estrella was fully expecting it to be silent in the car, but of course it wasn't.

"How's it been going, you know, with Pope and all?" JJ asks

"It's good." Kie says still watching Pope

"It's good? All right." JJ nods as it goes quiet again, "In the bedroom, is he, like, kinda freaky, 'cause it's Pope, you know?"

Estrella and Kie both give him an expression filled with confusion.

"Why are you asking?" Kie says

"I don't know. Just kinda curious." He says shaking his head and looking out of the window, "Just- spitballing here."

Kie looks away still feeling awkward about the question, "You don't need to spitball. We could sit in silence."

It's silent again as Kie and Estrella keep their eyes on the house.

"Ranking-wise-"

"Oh, you're still asking?" Kie says turning to him

"Yeah, I was just curious."

"You're still curious."

"Is John B better?" JJ stutters

"What?" Kie exclaims

"Okay." JJ says as Estrella chuckles. Before they know it, Pope is opening the passenger door.

"Okay. Phase one is complete." He says as he gets in the car. He looks around noticing the awkward tension in the car, "Everything- Are we all good?"

When he realizes he wasn't getting an answer from Kie or JJ, he turns to Estrella. The girl just nods holding up an okay sign with her fingers.

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They sat outside of the house for hours. It was now dark outside and Estrella definitely would've left by now if it weren't for John B.

"God, it's so hot in here." Estrella says as she sighs

Kie turns to her, "Take your jacket off."

"I can't." She says as Kie turns back. JJ eyes Estrella as she adjusts herself in her seat. Pope hands Kie the phone.

"Why does she get to tickle?" JJ says

"She's the best."

"Should I do an accent?" Kie says

"Definitely disguise your voice." Estrella says

"Disguise my voice how? How would you like me to talk? Like this?" She says in an English accent

"Not like that." JJ says shaking his head

"No." Pope says, "Batman."

Kie deepens her voice, "Batman."

"There you go."

"Amazing." Estrella nods

"Spot-on. Let's do it." JJ says as Kie calls them

"Hello?"

"Hello." Kie tries with the deep voice, "I can't."

"Just talk." Pope whispers

"Hello?"

Kie clears her throat, "Is Gavin there?"

"This is Gavin. Who's this? Hello?"

"I know what happened on the tarmac."

Gavin chuckles nervously, "Um... who's this?"

"It was Rafe Cameron. But you already knew that, and you lied about it."

"Okay. Who is this?"

"We're gonna prove it."

"You're gonna tell me who this is now."

"You could have saved her, Gavin, and you didn't. And you're not getting away with this."

"Listen to me! Who is this?" He yells, but Kie hangs up on him.

"How was that?" Kie says looking between them

"Yeah." Estrella nods

"Yeah, I was scared. Good job." JJ says

"All right. We tickled the wire. Phase two complete." Pope says, "Now we wait and listen."

"Okay."

The car goes silent as they wait for the man to come out. JJ catches Estrella pulling at her sleeves, but never taking her jacket off. He furrows his brows slightly as she keeps adjusting her jacket.

"All right. Hey, here he comes. Stay down." Pope says as they all duck down. The man gets in his car and drives past them.

"He didn't see us. Hit it." JJ says as they sit up

"Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go." Pope says as Kie starts the car

"My seat belt." Pope says

"Are you seriously buckling up now?" JJ says

"Yes, I am."

"You don't need it right now." Estrella says as Kie follows behind the man. Pope puts the AirPods in as Estrella and JJ scoot up toward the middle console.

"He's talking to Ward." Pope says

"Are you serious?" Kie says

"Yeah." Pope starts to shake his head, "Get clo... get closer. I can't hear."

"Okay." Kie says as she speeds up

"He's talking about negotiating something. Re... renegotiating." Pope says. Estrella tries to watch Pope's expressions to see if she can get anything. "Gavin's got the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin." He says. Estrella's eyes widen as Kie sighs.

"Holy shit."

"I think he's trying to use it as extortion, as leverage."

They follow him for a little longer, but he starts to slow down.

"Wait. He's pulling over." Kie says

"Shit. He's panicking." Pope says

"Do I pull behind him? What do I do?"

"Go around the block." Estrella says

"Yeah. Yeah, just go." Pope says as Kie drives past him

"We're gonna lose him." Kie says

"Go, go, go." JJ says looking back toward Gavin's car

"I'm going. I'm going."

"I can't hear anything. shit. I'm losing the signal. I can't hear him." Pope says as Kie turns the corner. They then come face to face with a sign saying the road is blocked off.

"What the hell is this?" JJ says

"Stop. Just stop and turn around now." Pope says

"Okay. Okay." Kie says as she slows down

"Pull in here and back up." JJ says

"I'm just gonna back up." Kie says as Estrella turns

"Wait, Kie. Stop." She says as she notices a tractor pulling up behind them

"What are you doing?" JJ says turning back

"Are you kidding?" Kie says

JJ opens the door and stands up, "Hey! We were about to back up."

"What are you doing?" Kie yells. Pope gets out and runs off

"You literally had to do that now?" JJ says until he notices Pope, "Wait! Pope!"

"We gotta know where they're meeting." Pope yells back

Estrella groans as she hurries to jump out of the car. JJ gets out after her as Kie opens her door.

"We're going after him, right?" JJ says as Estrella runs after Pope

"Yep." Kie says, "Estrella!" She and JJ follow after her and eventually catch up.

"Pope!" She yells as they round the corner of a backyard.

"Go! Go!" Kie yells

"Pope!" JJ yells

Estrella groans as she sees Pope hop a gate, "Seriously?" She says before she makes her way over the gate.

"Estrella?" Kie calls out

"I'm fine. Come on." She says as they climb the gate. She runs after Pope and sees some kids they know in a pool.

"Sean? Ah, this is where you live, you Kook." JJ says as they follow Estrella. Estrella breathes heavily as she finally catches up to Pope. She approaches as he stands up from by the bushes.

JJ taps him on the back as he stands next to him. Pope turns to them wide eyed.

"What does that mean?"

"Did you hear something?" Estrella says

"He... he's meeting Ward right now. We gotta go." Pope says as he starts pushing them back toward the car, "Come on."

"Okay, come on." Kie says as they run off

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