THE TRIO FOLLOWED ROSE'S CAR TO A DOCK THAT HAD A BUNCH OF CARGO CONTAINERS. They followed a truck past the security gate and then crouched behind some barrels so that they could watch the loading of the cross onto a ship. JJ's eyes widened when he saw it. "Wait. The Coastal Venture. Dude, I know that ship. My dad did legs on her last summer. It's a total tramp steamer. I worked on her in port."

"There's the cross," Bree pointed out, gesturing to the container that Rafe was standing in front of that was being lifted onto the boat. "Right there. Look."

"God, I hate that guy," the Maybank boy muttered when he saw the boy. The Callaway girl nodded in agreement. She could not believe that there were people on the planet that actually liked Rafe Cameron, even if they did not know what he had done. He was a jerk and not a very great person to hang out with. The brunette girl had no idea how she dated him for so long. Oh, and he was nineteen. He was three years older than her, and she still dated him. That was really weird.

They watched as Rose's car pulled up to the dock, and she helped Sarah out of it. A man grabbed the blonde's arm and led her toward where she coil board, just to make sure that she wouldn't run away. John B said, "There she is. JJ, we gotta come up with a plan."

"I know. I'm working on it," the blonde boy informed him, and after a second of thinking, he continued, "If we get over to that barge, we go over. We'll have to get into the water, though. Then we're gonna be sitting ducks."

"Howdy," came a voice from behind them, and they all whipped around, scared. They sighed in relief when they realized that it was just Pope and Kie and not some guy that worked on the dock, ready to lead them out or turn them into the Camerons.

"Whoa!" the Maybank boy yelled, putting his fingers up as if they were fangs from a snake that was ready to attack its prey. "I was about to stab your eyes out."

Kie giggled at the fact that he practically jumped out of his socks. "You look scared as shit." -

"You okay? What happened?" he asked the Heyward boy after rolling his eyes because both of the girls were now giggling at him. He had noticed the blood mixed with mud that was dripping down the side of his forehead, and they all glanced at him in concern.

"Rafe, round three," Pope answered, and they all looked at him with raised eyebrows because it did not look like he won exactly because of the injuries he had received. "This was a tie. Is that the cross?"

As they all nodded to confirm his thoughts, John B informed the other two that had not been there for the drugging and kidnapping of the Cameron girl, "They're holding Sarah hostage."

"We have to get on that boat," the Carrera girl muttered, and all of a sudden, Bree wondered how the hell she rejoined them. She realized that that was not important right now, but she was curious since she was 100% sure that the Carrera parents did not let their daughter come to steal a cross back that had nothing to do with anything other than the fact that it meant so so much to her friend. Anna and Mike did not seem like the kind of people to care what Pope wanted.

The blonde boy nodded and gestured to the men that were walking around everywhere, checking containers and loading things onto them. "First, we gotta get past the goon squad."

"I have an idea. Just trust me," the Heyward boy announced, and despite all of their protests, he started to walk off anyway. "Trust me, man. Go. I'll meet up with you guys. Go."

They sighed as they watched him run one way, but they ran the other direction anyway, praying that he knew what he was doing. They crouched behind one of the containers and waited for whatever the hell Pope was planning and wondering if they would know when it happened.

They did.

A gunshot was fired, and then something exploded. The Pogues gasped when it happened, and all of the men around them went sprinting toward the scene, yelling things about the fire department and how they did not sign up for things exploding.

"It's working," Kiara muttered when she noticed that the distraction was doing its job, and they all turned around to face Pope when he came running back toward them.

John B questioned, "Pope, what was that? Huh?"

"Look. That container's going on the ship. We can get in that way," the other boy explained to him, pointing to a container a couple of yards away from them. "Are you with me?"

"You're a genius. Let's go. Hey, this way. Come on. come on," the Routledge boy waved his friends over so that they would follow him to the container. They leaned against it and looked out for guard people.

JJ and Kie seemed to think that they were going past the container because they seemed shocked when Pope and Bree climbed into the container. "Wait. Whoa. Did you think this through? That's a trap right there. We can't get out once we get in."

"Since when do you care if a plan is bad? You're, like, the king of awful plans," Bree pointed out, and that made him glare at her because of the reminder.

"You guys don't have to come," John B told the two that seemed hesitant about coming. He turned to Pope with raised eyebrows. "Right?"

Pope nodded, gesturing to him and the Routledge boy. "Right. This is our fight."

"Nothing to lose?" the Maybank boy questioned, raising his eyebrows as he glanced between the two girls, but Bree did not need convincing. She was already on board with the plan.

"Nothing to lose," the Carrera girl agreed, and JJ jumped into the container as John B helped Kie in as well. She muttered, "Guess it's better than boarding school."

They made their way to the back of the container and hid behind some crates while some of the men came and checked it out. Afterwards, they nodded at each other and gave their teammates a thumbs up. "Okay. She's good to go. Lock her up." There was some metal clanging, and they all gasped when the compartment started to move.

"We gotta be on the dock now,"

Finally, the container landed, and everything went still.

《✵》

"HEY, POPE, HOW DO YOU KILL A SNAKE?" JJ QUESTIONED. They were still in the container, and they were working on finding a way out now that they were secure and on the ship.

Pope furrowed his eyebrows at the blonde boy in confusion, wondering what the point of the question was, before answering anyway, "You go for the head."

"Exactly. But the head, in this instance, is the bridge. To take the bridge, we need maximum firepower. And I happen to know that there's an armory on this ship in case of pirate attacks," the Maybank boy explained to them, causing all of them to roll their eyes at him. "If we take that — I'm not just talking pistols. I'm talking knives."

"Killing everybody here is not a plan," Kie told him before pushing past him and walking toward the front of the container in annoyance since she knew that this plan was not the one that they were going to end up using.

JJ just waved her off and turned to the other Pogues that were still there and listening to him. "Ah, we lost her. I'm serious. If we get to the armory, I'm talking AKs, pistols, knives, double-barrels—"

"JJ!" John B cut him off, causing his best friend to look slightly offended by the action. "We gotta get out of here. We can't do anything if we're still stuck in here."

"If I get enough pressure, I can Spartan kick that thing open," the blonde boy told them.

The Routledge boy shook his head in response to that, knowing that that would not end well for anyone involved. "You're not kicking shit."

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" Bree interrupted after the two guys started yelling indistinctly, and she and Pope were talking at the same time, trying to break up the talking fight because arguing would get them nowhere.

"Guys!" Kie called to them, gesturing for them to come over as she lifted a barrel off of a stack of crates, revealing a spot where light was shining through the wall and illuminating the contained. She raised her eyebrows at them when they came over. "Can we fit though that, yeah?"

The Routledge boy nodded with a smile, examining the vent that was above them. If they unscrewed it, they could totally fit through the hole. "Hell yeah. Nice one, Kie."

"What was that about a Swiss Army knife not coming in handy?" JJ questioned, holding up his knife. He climbed onto the crates as they all rolled their eyes and started unscrewing the vent. "Okay, we raid the armory, get weapons, roll back here, and plot the next move. The armory is on the third deck, aft, near the laundry room. Let's roll."

"Hold up. I don't think we should all go out there. It's too risky," the Heyward boy informed them, mostly talking to JJ.

The brunette boy nodded in agreement as the Maybank boy looked around, confused and hurt that they did not want him to go with them. "I'm gonna be honest. I think you should stay here. I have Sarah that I'm gonna go after. And Pope has..."

"The cross," Pope finished for him.

John B gestured to him, confirming his statement before adding to his best friend, "Also, if you go out there, there's 100% probability that you're gonna do something stupid."

"Okay, first of all, I think the correct terminology is 'ballsy.' That is it," the blonde boy told him, and Pope and John B pulled him down from off of the crates. "No. Get off! I'm a field player."

"If we go out there, and we get in a bind, we need somebody to look out for us. That's what we need," the Routledge boy told him in an attempt to make him feel better about his job and accept it.

The other boy agreed bitterly, putting his hands up in surrender. "Okay. I get it. I get it. I get it. I'll be on the B team."

"Sorry. Are you calling me 'B team'?" Kie exclaimed, and Bree nodded along. Without the girls, none of them would be there right now because there had been plenty of times where they had to talk sense into the guys. "Did B team not just find our way out, or am I totally tripping?"

"You know, what, Kie? You've just been promoted. You're coming with us. JJ, Bree, hang back. Hold down the fort," Pope said to all of them, and that made the brunette girl whip around toward him and throw her hands up in the air with a scoff.

The Maybank boy slumped down on one of the crates and groaned. "Great. Looking forward to it. Mm-hmm. You guys have fun. It's your funeral, your game. I'll be in here, on the bench...chilling."

"I'll just babysit."