chapter 14.
the heist.

୨୧

Jj glances over at popes large video camera as the teens stakeout the wooden fence bordering wards construction site, "nice camera. where'd you dig up that relic?"

"yeah, the antique place off main?" maxine joins in, unable to help herself as she shouts over the harsh rain, "why don't you just use your phone?"

"well, first of all, i like my antique electronics." pope retorts. "second of all, this is a telephoto. it allows me to get close image from far away."

kiara rolls her eyes, playfully teasing, "lord of the dorks."

"for definitive proof of witness payoff, we're gonna need quality glass." pope defends.

max scoffs, "you're just further proving her point."

"there he is!" pope whispers, pointing toward ward cameron sprinting through the downpour as he clutches a black duffle bag.

"yo, get down!" jj warns. the teens hurriedly duck below the top of the fence, watching through its gaps as another figure appears in the rain.

"there's gavin," maxine points out.

"where are you going, you son of a bitch?" pope watches through his camera as the men disappear further inside the construction site, "no, no, no! i'm losing him. shit! where's he going?"

"hold on," jj runs off, checking their surroundings for a better view of the site. he whistles back to the group by the fence, "yo! i found something, come here." he gestures for the friends to follow.

the four teens come across a metal ladder leading up a thick cement wall. jj points, "gotta go up top."

maxine shrugs, climbing up after the blonde boy, "that'll work."

"hurry!" kiara urges, scaling the ladder next, "don't wanna miss anything."

they get to the top, crouching in the rain. "you rolling pope?" jj asks.

maxine adds, "you gettin' anything?"

"yeah. yeah, i see them." pope nods. "ward just handed gavin something. i think it's a duffel bag."

max gasps dramatically. "think it's a body?"

"jesus, max." jj rolls his eyes, "how stupid are you?"

"really, jj?" max stares at the boy, "you really wanna be askin' me that question right now?"

jj sticks out a hand and harshly shoves the girls shoulder, ignoring her comment. "guys, i think it's a payoff."

maxine scoffs, "no, really?" she gasps sarcastically, "no dip, sherlock. we knew that already."

"oh, did you now?" jj cocks his head, "because just a second ago you were askin' if ward was lugging around a body!"

"guys, shut up!" kiara hisses. "what's happening now, pope?"

"gavin doesn't look happy about something. it looks like he's yelling at ward."

"why?" max asks.

pope shrugs, "i don't know, but he sure looks mad." there's a brief pause before the teen curses, "shit!"

"what's going on?" kiara exclaims loudly over the continuous downpour.

"i don't know," pope answers, "they're fighting over something."

"they're really going at it." jj observes.

pope gasps, "wards kicking the shit out of gavin."

jj questions, "what are they fighting over?"

"i don't know," pope repeats, "i'm tryna see." he gasps for a second time, "holy shit. wards got a gun."

"i bet that's the murder weapon," kiara guesses.

the teens continue to watch through the rain until suddenly ward raises the gun, aiming and firing it straight at gavin. the four friends gasp, ducking and leaning against the cement.

"oh god, oh god, oh god." max anxiously repeats, gasping for breath. she rapidly swipes rainwater off of her face and tucks a rogue strand of hair back into her braid, eyes still wide and in shock.

jj is shocked, "what the hell?"

"no, no, no," kie cries, "that did not just happen. what is going on?"

"tell me you just got that." jj breathes, looking up at pope.

the boy nods. "enough to put this asshole away for life." he sits back up in his knees, watching as gavin charges ward only to be slammed to the ground, the gun clattering off the scaffolding and onto the pavement below. "this is freaking crazy."

"fuck, get down! get down!" maxine hurriedly warns as she notices ward begin climbing down from the construction site. "i think we should go right now."

jj agrees, "pope, you have enough right?"

"yeah." pope nods, "hold on. he's coming out." he narrates as ward appears on the street below, "there he goes. i think he's looking for the gun."

"i think the gun just went down the drain!" pope informs, "he's looking for it." he looks closer through the camera, "he's looking for the gun."

kiara abruptly turns back around and sits up on her knees, peering over the concrete slab next to pope.

"what are you doing, kie?" jj asks nervously. "kie, kie—"

"what is wrong with you?" kiara yells as loud as she can over the rain, "murderer!"

jj reaches up, pressing a hand against the girls mouth and pulling her back down, away from the ledge.

"are you trying to get us shot?" max asks with wide eyes.

"kiara, are you crazy?" pope asks, incredulous.

"i don't care if he hears me!" kiara insists, "he's a murderer."

"yeah, and he's gonna murder us, kie!" maxine retorts.

suddenly, pope's voice becomes panicked. "guys, he sees us."

"are you serious?" kie asks worriedly.

pope rises, "guys we gotta go."

"we gotta get the hell out of here!" jj clambers to his feet.

kie urges, standing as well. "go, go, go!"

pope reaches the ladder first, climbing down.

"pope, hurry!" jj stresses. "go, go, go, come on!" he turns around and begins climbing.

pope pants, "i'm going! i'm going!"

"well go faster!" max points out as she lowers herself down the ladder.

in her haste, kiara accidentally steps on maxine's hand, causing max to curse and rapidly jerk her arm away, elbowing jj harshly in the forehead.

in a chain reaction he falls back, kicking pope directly in the face and sending both boys topping to the ground.

"sorry!" "so sorry!" the girls rapidly apologize, scrambling the rest of the way down the ladder.

pope scrambles to find his camera lying in a mud puddle. "no, no, no!"

maxine groans. "so much for quality glass!"

"you're kidding me. you fumbled it?" jj shouts in anger.

pope lurches forward, "you kicked me in the face!"

"she elbowed me!" jj argues back lamely, pointing an accusatory finger at maxine.

max only shrugs. "kie stepped on my hand."

"i was trying to hurry!" kiara defends herself. "lets go!"

jj grabs popes arm, who stresses, "he's coming, he's coming!"

kiara reaches behind her and grabs max's hand, pulling her along as they race away, hopping back over the wooden fence and taking off back to kie's abandoned car.

once safe inside the vehicle, jj is the first to speak. "can someone fill me in on what the frick just happened!" he shouts the last few words.

"holy shit, i can't believe this." max pants. "what were they even fighting over?"

"uh..it was—it was a gun." pope stutters out hurriedly, "the one that rafe used. he must have kept it."

"of course!" jj exclaims, "of course! the murder weapon!"

kiara pulls out her phone, voice cracking as she repeats, "pick up! pick up, pick up!"

jj notices her, "who are you calling?"

"who do you think?" kie shoots back.

"the cops?" max exclaims loudly.

"who else am i supposed to call?" kie asks frantically.

"why would you call the police?" jj is incredulous.

"oh, my god." max groans, leaning back in her seat. "might as well have just called ward himself; the entire sheriffs station is literally just wards little pets!"

"shut up!" kiara shouts as a man picks up the phone. "hello? hi, somebody's been shot at the..at the grand street construction site! you guys need to hurry because he's dying, and i don't know if he's already dead or not!" she cries out, "but you guys need to hurry, please!"

"we gotta get out." jj panics, "we're sitting ducks."

"yeah, we can't stay here." pope agrees.

"what do you want me to do?" kiara cries.

"just drive!"

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Officer shoupe meets the teens at the alleged crime scene, jotting down notes as they recount the nights events.

"look, it was right here!" kiara gestures to where gavin took his final breaths, "this is where that maniac claimed his next victim. right there."

"uh-huh. his next victim." shoupe nods, entirely unconvinced. "how long ago did you say it happened?"

"like forty five minutes ago, shoupe." jj answers.

"okay..." the officer writes this down, "so, ward cameron just popped one off and shot him."

"yes."

"execution style?" shoupe continues, "then cleaned it all up in forty five minutes?"

"yeah."

"obviously." pope states.

"we filmed the entire thing." maxine speaks up.

this captures the officers attention, "you filmed it?"

kiara steps in, "yes, but we can't show it to you because i stepped on max's hand, and then she elbowed jj, and then he kicked pope, and then pope dropped the camera cause it's a piece of shit and it broke."

"officer, this is is a telephoto and we need to get a long distance image, and...and i fell, and it broke, so the video is basically unusable." pope explains. "but we were there, and we—"

shoupe cuts the teen off, "so the dog ate your homework?"

"no, shoupe." kie exasperates, "i know it sounds like—"

"look, i don't know what you kids expect me to do with this." the officer interrupts honestly. "you drag me out here in the middle of the night for a whole lot of nothing, except for some crazy stories about how ward cameron's out on a random killing spree!"

"we're not making this up!" jj shouts, advancing forward.

"it's not a random killing spree!" pope insists, "gavin was his pilot. he was paying him hush money because he was there on the tarmac that day."

"gavin was blackmailing ward because he had the gun that rafe used to kill peterkin!" maxine speaks up.

jj adds on, "and then he called him here and tried to pay him off but it wasn't enough, so he shot him! with the murder weapon!"

shoupe stills. "how do you know that?"

"max did this thing with popes phone. she, like, put it in his car and—"

pope speaks up, "i heard their whole conversation."

"you wiretapped him?" shoupe asks for clarification.

"is that bad?" kiara asks nervously.

"stop, just stop." the officer holds up a hand. "i've had enough."

"what are you talking about, shoupe?" jj raises his voice. "are you just gonna look the other way again?"

officer shoupe storms off, calling over his shoulder, "have you ever heard about the boy who cried wolf?"

"why would we make this up?" kiara cries out, trailing after him.

"why can't you just believe us for once?" max whines, following kie. "just humor us, man!"

"waste of my goddamn time." the officer mutters.

kiara chases him down the steps. "shoupe, i know it sounds crazy. i know that!"

"all right, there's nothing up there." shoupe tells his colleagues posted outside the construction site. "false alarm. let's all go home."

"no, no, don't go home!" maxine begs, holding up both hands. "why would we make this up?"

"can you just do your job for like twenty minutes?" kiara bites. "just listen. it makes sense!"

shoupe slowly turns around, facing the distraught teenagers. "i know you're upset, and i know you think your friend was innocent."

"he is!"

"but you weren't there." the officer continues. "the only actual witnesses who are above ground say the exact opposite, all right? and both of them have a hell of a lot more credibility than any of you right now. i saw your little art project on wards wall. do not do that again." he warns.

"oh, come on." kie growls.

"all right?" shoupe finalizes. "it's gonna make things a lot harder for the both of us." he opens his car door and climbs inside, "go home."

"at least look for him!" max pleads, "someone died tonight!"

"get on home to your parents now." shoupe drives off.

"i told you this would happen." jj argues, following after pope, "like, you're the one that had to drop the camera."

"it was your fault!" max retorts.

"oh, that was my fault?" the blonde spins around, facing the younger girl.

"yeah, it was your fault!" kiara defends maxine.

"why do you always take her side?" jj points to the youngest group member, "why do you never take mine?"

"guys! hey!" pope interrupts the bickering. "we're not out of this yet." he turns, gesturing to a storm drain. "we can still go get the gun."

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

"This is the north drain." jj informs as the pogues search for the murder weapon, "it should've gotten washed into the gully, so if it got flushed out from this drain it would've been pushed out to, like..." pope gestures to a swamp of garbage swimming nearby. "somewhere in this trash."

"correct."

kiara exhales in frustration. "oh my god. people who use plastic should be shot."

"i saw you drink out of a plastic straw literally two hours ago." maxine points out, unimpressed.

"okay, personally, i love plastic." jj pipes up, "use it every day. love the stuff."

"okay, well hopefully you recycle it and don't just let it flush into the ocean." kiara retorts.

"i thought you'd say something like that, so..." pope holds up a roll of black trash bags, "trash bags."

"notice how the trash bags are plastic?" maxine quips.

"shut up max, you're ruining their moment." jj looks between kie and pope, "you want us to leave you two alone, or what's going on?"

"yeah, get a room." max groans.

pope chucks the roll of trash bags at the pair. "just pick up the trash."

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Hours later, they tie up the final trash bag with disappointment as the gun is still nowhere to be found. jj wipes at his forehead with the back of a hand, "well that was fun."

"if it's not in the trash, it's gotta be in the storm drain." max realizes.

jj gestures to the drain in agreement. "yeah, it's in the drain."

"damn it." pope curses.

kiara nods. "of course it is."

"good thing i brought the crow." jj reaches for his backpack.

"so, are we gonna do, like, rock paper scissors?" kiara suggests, "or alphabetically?"

"nah," jj shakes his head, sticking his crowbar inside the grate blocking off the drain. "on three, pope. one, two, three." the boys pop off the metal cover.

"how 'bout oldest goes?" max offers hopefully.

"in the sewer, there's this worm that you get when you're down there." jj explains, "it gets into your blood, and then it has to come out your pecker."

"okay, that's bullshit." maxine crosses her arms in front of her chest, "and just where are you gettin' this information from?"

"it's true. so, uh...this is a hard pass for me." jj insists.

pope nods. "yeah, that's gonna be a no for me."

"okay, yeah. and women are the weaker species." max rolls her eyes.

"no, i get it." kie sarcastically sympathizes, "i get it. you guys are scared."

"no, no. i'm not scared." the boys both defend.

"it's kinda cute." max smirks, "i'll do it, cause i ain't a pussy."

"we're not pussies," jj argues. pope nods, voicing his own defense. "it's just the pecker thing."

"you should've just led with that. you don't have to be scared, i'll do it." max steps closer to the sewers entrance.

"no, i can do it max."

maxine shakes her head at the other girls offer. "no, it's okay. i'm the smallest, so i can fit easily in tight spaces. it'll be fine." the youngest pogue gets down onto her hands and knees and begins crawling through the tunnel.

"just holler if you need anything, okay?" jj calls out, "we'll, uh...we'll holler back."

"very helpful, thank you." maxine's sarcasm echos back through the dark tunnel.

the further the young teen gets, the more she begins to regret her tough-to-crack exterior. "shit." she curses, grunting as she continues crawling.

"max, you find anything yet?" pope calls down the tunnel.

"yeah, do you see the gun?" jj's voice sounds out.

maxine sighs. "if i had the gun, do you think i would still be on my hands and knees in literal shit?"

"so, i'm guessing that's a no." kiara translates.

"it's probably at the bottom of the catch basin." pope guesses.

"of course it is." max rolls her eyes, pushing deeper into the sewer. she finds said catch basin and plunges a hand far down in the murky water, feeling around. thinking she has something, max pulls her hand up, groaning when it's just a discarded can of soda. "people are so shitty."

suddenly, she wraps her hand around a promising object. "guys, i think i found something?" the teen calls back to her friends, "ugh, gross."

"wait, you got it?" jj shouts.

"no way, no way!" maxine shrieks, noticing a dead animal carcass floating in the water directly in front of the girl. "oh my god! oh my god! you guys, there's somethin' dead in here!"

"like a person?" kiara shouts back.

maxine only continues screaming, "oh my god! there's somethin' dead! i repeat, there is somethin' dead in here!"

"like a person?" pope repeats kiara's previous question.

jj informs, "max, don't touch it! that's how you get worms!"

"did you find the gun?" pope asks.

kiara follows, "is it gavin?"

"don't touch it!" "max, is it a gun? do you see the gun, max?"

"no, it's not the gun!" maxine shouts.

"do you see anything?" jj asks again.

"yes, i see somethin' dead!" maxine shrieks in response. "you three owe me for life!" suddenly, the surrounding water begins to rise rapidly. "uh, guys?" maxine shouts worriedly.  "oh, shit. guys, the water!"

"shit." kiara curses, "max! get out of there now!"

"i can't!" maxine grabs ahold of a metal ladder that leads to a manhole cover, "no time! guys!" she struggles to remain above water, frantically pressing against the metal manhole cover. "please! kie! guys!" she sticks her fingers through holes in the manhole cover, "help! i'm over here!"

"max!" pope shouts as the three teens race to reach her in time. "max! max, we're coming!" jj promises.

"guys, i'm over here! the waters comin' up!" maxine cries out just as her friends reach the grate. "pull! pull it!"

the boys attempt lifting the cover using all their strength as kiara speaks to maxine through the metal. "don't worry, max. we're gonna get you out of there, i promise."

"help! guys, please!" the water reaches the girls chin. she pulls herself right up against the grate, gasping for air. "jj! pope! kie!" max takes one last big breath before she is completely submerged underwater, fingers still poking through the manhole cover.

finally, the teens above ground are able to free the metal. maxine pops up, gasping for air as she collapses onto the pavement and coughs up water.

"are you okay?" kie asks concernedly.

pope tries to hug the younger girl in relief. "we thought we lost you."

"ew, pope, get off of me." maxine shoves away from the contact, coughing. "i'm fine."

"you good, kid?"

max nods, holding a thumb out towards jj. "peachy. never better."

"ugh, you smell like ass!" the blonde turns up his nose, leaning away from the girl.

max narrows her eyes and reaches into the side of her overalls, pulling a gun out from the waistband of her swimsuit bottoms. "do not test me while i am holding this gun, jj. i will shoot you in the nuts."

the older teens laugh in shock. "holy shit!" kiara exclaims.

jj rushes forward, pulling out his bandana and wiping sewage water from the weapon. "oh my god. we're gonna get this son of a bitch, man."

pope holds out a hand, helping the younger girl to her feet. "nice one, max!"

maxine nods, still slightly out of breath. "yeah."

"you did it, max. you did it." kiara laughs, lunging forward and bringing the three friends into a hug.

after a moment max breaks away. "okay, let's get this to shoupe. i didn't just almost drown in ass water for nothin'."

"yeah, yeah." jj agrees, "let's get it to shoupe."

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Jj removes his bandana from the murder weapon, placing it onto officer shoupes desk. the officer sighs, eyeing the gun. "so y'all are telling me this is the firearm rafe cameron killed peterkin with?"

"that's exactly what we're telling you shoupe." jj confirms.

standing beside jj, pope adds, "and the exact same firearm that ward just used to kill gavin."

"and where's that corpse again?" shoupe counters.

"didn't you look?" kiara asks from beside maxine in seats opposite the deputy.

"i checked the hospital, and i went by his house." shoupe informs. "he was out."

"he was out?" "cause he's dead!"

"yeah, no shit, shoupe! he's dead!" maxine retorts.

"just listen to yourself, it makes perfect sense!" kiara pleads.

shoupe cuts the teens off. "just because he's not in his damn home, it does not mean he was the victim of a homicide."

"what are you talking about?" kiara argues.

"you gotta be kidding." jj angrily removes his hat.

"are you at least gonna send it in for ballistics and shit or are you just gonna sit on your ass?"

maxine scoffs, answering kiara's rhetorical question. "i can answer that one for ya."

"yeah, he's just gonna sit there and wax that damn mustache!" jj shouts.

"yeah, is that even real?" max adds.

shoupe abruptly rises from his seat. "i'll wax
this—"

"shut up, guys!" pope urges the groups two troublemakers.

"oh, i'm sorry." max falsely apologizes, "did we hurt his feelings?"

"shut up!" pope repeats.

shoupe stands and walks to the door to his office, silently opening it. "get out. i got work to do, and y'all are smelling up my damn office."

"are you serious?" jj is dumbfounded.

kiara rises, approaching the officer. "did ward bribe you? this doesn't make any sense."

"you ain't gonna do shit." jj curses as he passes shoupe on his way out the door.

max trails after him, adding, "i smell like shit 'cause i was just in the sewer gettin' that damn thing! d'you really think i smeared feces all over myself for fun?" she walks off before the officer gets a chance to respond.

pope is last to leave the office. "we brought you the murder weapon. there's no logical reason for you not to send it in."

"go with your friends," is shoupes only response.

"this is bullshit." the boy mutters as he leaves, joining the trio in the hallway.