"If this guy flew planes for Ward, he's gonna be pretty tight lipped." Pope spoke as the four sat in the car.

"My dad said he cheats on his wife and never cleans his mess up in the hotel rooms." Bali spoke up as she looked down at the check in recites to the hotel, "So definitely a loser."

JJ cocked the gun, "So then direct approach gets my vote."

"Get that outta my face." Bali said a she pushed his hands away, "How many times I gotta tell you i'm not into it?"

"JJ, no." Pope scolded him from the front.

"What?" Kie asked in disbelief, "Control him."

"Put the safety on." Bali said as JJ gave her a look, "Do it, now."

"Ugh, you're such a mom." JJ groaned as he put the safety back on, "Happy?"

"Yes, very." Bali hummed, pressing a kiss to his neck.

"We gotta keep this simple or we'll never get John B off." JJ spoke up to the group.

"JJ, sweet boy, both your ideas will land our asses in jail." Bali pointed out as she looked at him in questioning, "You're on probation, remember?"

"We could just tickle the wire." Pope suggested from the front.

"What is ticking a wire gonna go? Get us electrocuted?" Bali asked him in disbelief as she leaned back on the seat, "Did John B carry all the brain cells or is today just a odd day for everyone?"

"I plant my phone in his car, and then we listen on your Airpods." Pope suggested as he popped them into his ears and held his phone toward Kie, "Say something."

JJ looked over at Bali and nudged her, "If it wasn't illegal, would my idea be good?"

"Of course." Bali encouraged as she placed her hand on his face.

"Okay, we have audio." Pope spoke when he heard Kies voice come through, "I think that's his house over there. You have the right address, Bal?"

"Yup, as long as he hadn't moved in the last two weeks, that's his." She nodded her head and looked at the one story house, "I wanna tell his wife."

"That he covered up a murder?" Kie asked her.

"No, that he's been cheating on her." Bali spoke as she shook her head, "My mom cheated on my dad once and he was heartbroken because he didn't know for so long."

"Mama Pandaros? Ouch." JJ spoke as he placed a hand on his heart, "Don't follow in her footsteps."

"JJ, it's not funny, I would never." Bali scolded him with a eye roll.

"Okay, call or yell, if you see anything suspicious." Pope spoke as he got out of the car.

"I'm gonna go leave these on her step." Bali said as she pulled the check in recites from her bag, "Honk really loud if someone tries to kidnap me."

"Will do." Kie nodded as Bali jumped out of the car and hurried up to the house. She held the recites in her hands, the red shorts rubbing her legs as she walked up to the house. Bali laid them down on the mat, placing a rock over them. She decided to take one of Conners missing posters out and tape it to their door, giving a sad huff before walking off.

JJ opened the door as Bali got back inside, sitting down. Kie gave her a look in the mirror.

"What?" Bali asked her.

"Nothing." Kie said back and avoiding eye contact.

"What did you tell her?" Bali asked JJ quickly.

"I didn't say anything." he shook his head and rose his hands.

Pope jumped back in and caught his breath, "Okay. Phase one is complete."

"Why does she get to tickle?" JJ pouted as Pope placed the phone in Kie's hand.

"She's the best." Pope shrugged.

"Should I do an accent?" Kie suggested.

"Definitely disguise your voice." Pope nodded his head in agreement.

"Do Scottish." Bali suggested.

"How would you like me to talk?" Kie began speaking in an extremely dramatic and drawn out english account.

"Oh my god, no." Bali shook her head, "I said Scottish, not english."

"Batman." Pope suggested.

"Batman." Kie spoke back in a deep voice.

"There you go." Pope nodded.

"I can get behind that one." Bali agreed.

"Spot on." JJ hummed.

Kie held the phone as it began to dial, a mans voice picking up from the other line, "Hello- I can't."

"Just talk." Pope encouraged her to drop the accent.

"Is Gavin there?" Kie questioned into the line, clearing her throat.

"This is Gavin? Who is this?" he asked from the other line.

"Another affair." Bali mumbled as JJ clapped his hand over her mouth.

"I know what happened on the tarmac." Kie stated in a nasty tone.

"Who's this?" Gavin asked again.

"It was Rafe Cameron." she said back sternly. JJ took his hand off Balis mouth as they moved closer, "But you already know that, and you lied about it."

"Okay, who is this?" he asked yet again, angrier this time.

"We're gonna prove it. You're guilty." Kie spoke back, ignoring his one after the other questions.

"You're gonna tell me who this is now." was all Gavin truly had been saying.

"You could have saved her, Gavin, and you didn't. And you're not gonna get away with it." she finished her statement off before hanging up quickly and looking around, "How was that?"

"I was scared. Good job." JJ nodded his head.

"Reminded me of Scream." Bali nodded her head.

"All right. We tickled the wire. Phase two complete." Pope sighed in relief as he pushed the pods into his ears, "Now we wait and listen."

Gavin ran out to his car as the four ducked slightly.

"Go, go." Pope encouraged as Kie started the car.

"Don't get right behind him but linger, you know? Linger." Bali encouraged as she looked through the two front seats, "What you're gonna wanna do is not go quick, if he turns, you turn a different way to throw him off then we meet back."

"How do you know this?" Pope asked in disbelief.

"I use to follow my drug dealers, Pope." Bali stared bluntly.

"Wow, Bal, very informative." JJ cleared his throat, "Did you, like, rob them or..."

"No, i'd follow them home and then keyed their cars." Bali shook her head, "Pope, do you hear anything?"

"It's Ward. He's talking to Ward." Pope nodded quickly.

"Ward?" Kie asked.

"Are you serious?" JJ was next.

"Get closer. I can't hear." Pope encouraged as Kie speed up a little, getting a bit closer to the car before them.

"He's talking about negotiating something." Pope informed them as he pushed the pods into his ears more, "Gavins got the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin."

Balis heart sunk as she inhaled.

"I think he's using it as extortion, leverage." Pope added in.

"Rafes ass if going to jail." JJ stated. Bali didn't say anything as her own personal thoughts hit her.

"Wait, he's pulling over." Kie panicked as Gavin began to slow down, "What do I do? Do I pull behind him?"

"Go around the block up here, we should be able to catch up." Bali encouraged as Kie headed that way, turning right as they circled around.

"I can't hear anything. Shit." Pope panicked.

"What the hell is this?" JJ asked in disbelief as they came up to a construction cut off.

"Take a u-turn." Bali spoke to Kie. As she tried to back up, a large construction truck pulled behind them, "How is this even possible right now?"

Bali hung out the window and waved her arms, "Yo! I gotta get though, my friends going into labor."

JJ faked loud moaned in pain, "It's coming!"

"The babies coming!" Bali yelled, though the construction workers didn't seem to hear either of them, "JJ, stop moaning, they can't hear us."

Pope jumped out of the car and took off in a sprint.

"What are you doing?" Kie yelled as she jumped out, Bali and JJ close after as they sprinted after him.

"Go through Sean's yard, he has no back fence!" Bali yelled out to Pope as the boy listened, running through while the trio was close after.

"Ah, this is where you live, you Kook!" JJ laughed at Sean as they passed him and a few girls in his pool.

"Y'all better be carful, he put a chemical in there that burnt me once!" Bali called to the girl before she was sprinting after Pope yet again.

Pope turned with wide eyes from where he was behind the tree.

"What does that mean?" Kie asked, unable to read his expression.

"He's- he's meeting Ward right now." Pope breathed heavy as he looked at the three.

"Let's go." Kie encouraged as JJ and Bali grabbed hands and ran after them.

"Nice camera. Where'd you dig up that relic?" JJ teased Pope as he pulled out a large video camera, "Why don't you just use your phone?"

"Well, first of all, I like my antique electronics." Pope said back with a knowing look, "And second of all, this is telephoto. It allows me to get closer image from far away."

"Pope, you are a hero. I've been looking for a high quality camera to write about for my characters that make a sex tape." Bali said as she slapped his arm, "Using a phone seemed kinda cheap."

"Oh my god, i'm not even gonna ask." Kie shook her head, "Not after what JJ told me in the car."

"Kie!" the blonde scolded her quickly.

"I knew you told her something!" Bali said as he looked at JJ in disbelief.

"For definitive proof of witness payoff, we're gonna need quality glass." Pope hummed as he held it in his hands.

"There he is." JJ said as he grabbed Balis shoulders to pull her down, "Get down, get down."

"There's Gavin." Pope pointed out when they saw the other man walk in.

"Wait, I know this place." Bali said as she looked at the construction sight, "My mom was thinking about purchasing it. For a smaller hotel closer to this side of the island."

"No, i'm loosing them." Pope panicked as he looked into his camera, "Where's he going?"

"There's a floor up there, it's barley built but it's shielded from the rain." Bali spoke as her eyes landed on the blurry figures, "I don't know how Ward knows about this place."

"Hang on." JJ said as he hurried off. Bali followed after him, "This is crazy."

"Yeah, hopefully we don't die before going on our first public date." Bali hinted at the idea, though she was well aware it was bad timing.

"Definitely." JJ encouraged as he tugged on the latter, "Sturdy enough?"

"Only one way to find out." Bali said as she began to climb it, going up the pharmacy that had a bright blue sign at the top. She heard the remaining three follow after, kneeling down behind the blue sign to get a better look into the construction sight, "Hey, Pope, hurry, I can see them."

Pope was close after, falling next to her and switching the camera over toward the two.

"Ward just handed Gavin something. I think it's a duffel bag." Pope spoke up a few moments later.

"Guys, I think it's a pay off." JJ spoke honestly.

"He's trying to protect Rafe? Ward?" Bali asked in disbelief, "I wonder what the catch is."

"Gavin doesn't look happy about something. He's yelling at Ward." Pope shook his head as he looked closer into his camera, the rain pouring down on top of them, "They're fighting over something."

"Hopeful Gavin can throw hands." Bali said honestly.

"They're really going at it." JJ spoke as his eyes focused on the figures.

"Wards kicking the shit out of Gavin." Pope concluded.

"My dads his personal trainer." Bali said with a nod, "Mother fucker learned his moves from my bloodline."

"Hell yeah, he did." JJ nodded his head.

"Holy shit. Wards got a gun." Pope panicked.

"I bet that's the murder weapon." Kie added in.

Shots suddenly went through the construction sight as they ducked down again. Bali threw a arm across JJ as they all gasped in shock.

"What's going on?" Kie panicked as her voice broke.

"He just shot him, what the fuck?" Bali spoke in disbelief.

"Pope, tell me you got that." JJ begged.

"Enough to put this asshole away for life." Pope concluded as he clutched his camera. The looked over again as the gun fell from the top of the construction sight.

"Did you see that?" Bali nudged JJ, "The gun just fell."

"I think we should go right now." JJ spoke, hoping to hide his panic, "Pope, you have enough, right? Hang on, he's coming."

"He's looking for the gun." Pope spoke as they watched Ward search the street, running after it as it dropped in the drain. Bali gave a minor cheer to herself as Ward hit the drown in anger.

"Hold this." Kie passed the binoculars to Pope as she rose to her feet, "Murderer!"

"What.The.Fuck." Bali spoke in disbelief, in shock by her actions.

"Are you crazy?" Pope asked her in disbelief.

"I don't care if he hears me, he's a murderer." Kie glared.

"Yeah, and he's gonna murder us, Kie." JJ rolled his eyes her way.

"That was the dumbest thing you have ever done, ever." Bali said her way in disbelief.

"Shut up, Bali." Kie rolled her eyes.

"Guys, he sees us." Pope panicked.

"Shit, come on, hurry." Bali grabbed JJ as they stood up and ran back to the latter.

Pope crawled down after her, walking fast as he suddenly dropped his binoculars. Bali yelped as they collided with her face, making her fall to the ground.

"Pope! Ow!" Bali yelled in disbelief.

"Pope, what'd you do?" JJ asked suddenly before Kie stepped on his hand, "Ow, my hand!"

JJ's foot collided with Popes face, making the both of them fall to the ground.

"Humpty dumpty fell off the wall." Bali groaned as she sat up and grabbed her face.

"So sorry." Kie apologized quickly as she climbed down with a guilty look.

"No, no." Pope panicked as he grabbed his broken video camera.

"You fumbled it?" JJ hollered in disbelief.

"You kicked me in the face!" Pope defended himself.

"You dropped binoculars on my girlfriends face." JJ said back in disbelief, "And Kie stepped on my hand."

"Both of you, take a breath." Bali reasoned as she held a hand up to both of them, "Pope, can you fix it?"

"I don't think." Pope panicked as they took off back to the car, jumping in one by one and catching their breaths in the car. Bali looked at JJ's hand, placing it on her knee and leaning on his shoulder.

"Can someone fill me in on what the frick just happened?" JJ spoke up in disbelief and anger, "Wait, wait. What were they fighting over?"

"Uh.. it was-it was a gun, the one Rafe used. He must have kept it." Pope informed them as they took deep breaths all together.

"They just left the gun on the runway? What?" Bali asked in disbelief with a deep breath.

"The murder weapon!" JJ concluded quickly.

"Pick up, pick up." Kie panicked as she held her phone.

"Who are you calling?" JJ asked suddenly.

"Who do you think?" Kie cried.

•

kylie speaks

the way they all hurt
each other in the process
of trying to get away made
me laugh so hard.