CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: I NEED TO DO THIS, JJ.

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"you sure he got everything?" kiara looked at john b. apparently, he visited the crain house early in the morning, and ward took all the gold. so there we all sat, in complete and utter disappointment. 

"every bar, the whole enchilada," john b responded as he pulled off the cast from his wrist. "look, it's not like i expected a happy ending or some shit."

"john b-" kiara scolded. 

"what, kie? it's a hairline fracture. who cares?"

"you should care, your arms gonna be messed up for life," kiara told him. 

"it's fine, see?" john b held his hand in the air, wiggling his fingers. "besides, elsie's not wearing her boot either."

"thanks for snitching jb," i laughed lightly, my head pounding from a hangover. reaching in my back pocket, i pulled out a blunt. i lowered my voice as i spoke quietly to jj, "just to take away from the headache. just one."

"look, princess. it's okay. i just don't want it to get to the point where it kills ya," he gestured, holding a cigarette himself. 

"guys!" a familiar voice screamed from a distance. 

"holy shit," i commented, noticing a dressed-up pope running down the dock towards us at full-speed. 

"oh, oh god, i ran all the way here," he panted. 

"you all right?"

"how was the interview pope?" jj turned around. 

"don't ask. jb, look, i'm sorry dude. about everything."

"it's fine," john b replied with his eyes closed. 

"but, i don't have a lot of time," he continued. "and, i have information that is tactically relevant. so, before i had my interview, my dad said he was going down to the private airstrip to cut palms for cameron's big plane. because it was too heavy, and it needed a longer strip. so i'm sitting there in my interview, thinking to myself, 'hm, why would cameron need a longer airstrip to take off?"

"are you saying what i think you're saying pope?" i looked at him immediately. the plane had the royal merchant in it. 

"yep," he nodded. "what could be so heavy to weigh it down?"

"gold," jj came to the realization. 

"that's right."

"exactly!" pope huffed. "guys, this is our chance. but it leaves tonight, and we have to go."

"guys, we can't give up now," kiara chirped, excitement growing within the group. 

"what's the plan, big man?" 

"we're gonna steal that shit back," john b stated. 

"hell yeah!" i cheered as we all began to run.

"let's do this."

"let's go pogues!"

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"we go in there, gun's-a-blazin', make ward cameron beg for mercy, abscond with as much gold as possible, and vámonos, get the hell out of there," jj rattled on as we drove to the airstrip where everything was about to go down. we all knew it'd be crazy, but not in the way it turned out to be. 

"send that shit right down the intercostal," john b turned to kiara. 

"wait for the weather."

"and exit to cuba."

"cuba?" we all asked pope in unison. 

"no man, xcalak, jewel of the yucatan. lobsters so thick, mangoes, and no word for money," jj described the place he talked about so often as he loaded the gun in preparation in case we needed it. 

"let's do this shit," john b grinned. 

"g-game is back on!" i added. 

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about ten minutes later, we pulled up to the airstrip. standing behind an electric fence, i attempted to figure out how we'd get onto the private property. 

"so what's the plan?" kie asked as we hopped out of the volkswagon. "broad strokes."

"i don't think we got that far," john b replied as the five of us looked at the huge plane and the people around it. 

pope held up binoculars to get a better look of the scene, "they're loading up the gold." he handed them to john b for him to get a look as well. 

"there's ward." john b noted. after a moment, he lowered the binoculars with a bewildered look on his face. 

"what?" kiara and i asked in sync. 

"it's sarah," he answered. 

"she's with him?"

"wait a minute," john b stopped, "he's hurting her."

"what?" we all asked. 

"holy shit," john b said as he ran back to the van, hopping in quickly. 

"wait so she- what?"

"john b, where are you going!?" the four of us ran towards him, but it was pointless. 

"john b, you can't!"

"hold on!"

"dude, stop!"

"don't be a hero, dude! john b!" we all tried to change his mind, but instead, he drove through the electric fence. "what are you doing john b?!" jj screamed at the top of his lungs as we sprinted behind. 

"john b!"

"what are you doing man!"

"hey!"

"come back!"

we watched as the van drove at high speed towards the moving plane. before we knew it, john b was alongside the the huge plane that had sarah, ward, and the gold inside of it. pope and kie clung onto one another as jj and i just stood there watching the chase go down. 

john b pulled the van in front of the plane that was still in motion. i felt around in my back pocket, and i surprisingly felt something that i hadn't used in ages due to the power outage-- my phone. 

i knew what i had to do. 

my instincts taking over, i snatched the gun from jj's hand. i had to be stealthy and quick; otherwise jj would stop me. running at the fastest speed i possibly could, i knew how i was going to get john b out of this mess. 

"elsie! no, don't!" jj's voice called from behind, much like i expected. naturally, he caught up to me. "you're not getting into this mess."

"jj," i stopped, holding the gun firmly so he wouldn't take it from me. "please trust me. goddamnit, just let me do this one thing. i'll be okay, i promise you." we heard sirens in the distance. "go, go. get out of here."

"please tell me you know what you're doing," jj panted in nervousness.

"i need to do this. i'll meet you guys soon. i love you," i connected my lips with his for a brief kiss. "now go."

"be the badass you are, angel," he said, running away. 

taking my phone out of my pocket and putting the gun there instead, i shakily pressed record. i was going to get this entire thing on video, whatever went down. ignoring any pain shooting through my foot, i continued to sprint up to everyone. i wasn't going to get too close. if i was seen with the gun, i'd get in trouble.

the sound of the police car got louder as it pulled up to the scene. out came sheriff peterkin, one of the police officers that i was acquainted with. she pulled out a gun, and i gasped quietly. was john b about to be shot in front of me?

much to my surprise, the gun wasn't pointed at him. it was at ward instead. the man was busted. he put his hands on his head and knelt on the concrete. 

a loud ring that happened to be a gunshot was heard, and for a split second, i thought with relief: it was about damn time. 

but it wasn't ward that was shot. it was peterkin. that's when everything changed for the worse.

"holy shit," i muttered, the phone still recording everything going down. 

out came a familiar face from behind the back of the plane. rafe. 

no fucking way. 

apparently, either john b or sarah saw me. i heard jb's voice call out to me. "elsie, you have to leave!" 

now why the hell would he do that? nobody knew i was there, and now rafe was going to be after my ass. 

the blonde kook looked in my direction, and i immediately hid my phone so he hopefully wouldn't know. i heard a gun shoot in my direction, but luckily he didn't have good aim. 

he was going to have his eye on me, me being a witness of it all. my gut was telling me to go up there and shoot rafe and ward, but my brain was telling me to leave. running as fast as possible, i ran away from the airstrip, making my way to the meeting spot with the other pogues. 

it didn't cross my mind until i was walking down the streets of the outer banks, catching my breath, that i had witnessed someone get killed. again. 

but they were going down. i didn't care if it killed me. 

the camerons weren't going to be some rich, perfect kook family when i was done with them. 

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{1470 words}

okay shit's gonna start to get interesting :) alsoooo,,, i have a new rafe cameron book i've been working on, as well as an unreleased drew starkey one! the first chapter, the preview, to the rafe book is out on my page, i'd love if you checked it out :)) also, thank you  for 4.7k reads, much love <3333

ally