THE POGUES SAT IN LEVI'S TRUCK ALL NIGHT.

as darkness fell, they decided it was time to put their plan into action, kiara taking her phone out of her pocket and dialing gavin's number.

"hold on, why does she get to tickle?" jj asked.

"because she's the best tickler." pope stated bluntly.

"should i do an accent?" kiara asked.

"definitely disguise your voice." pope agreed.

"disguise my voice how?" kiara asked in a british accent. "how do you want me to?"

"not like that." levi deadpanned.

"batman." pope suggested.

"batman." kiara repeated, this time in a deeper voice.

"spot-on. there you go." jj replied.

"perfect, let's do it." pope agreed.

kiara dialed the number, then put the phone on speaker. it rang a couple of times, but eventually, gavin spoke on the other end.

"hello?"

"hello?" kiara asked in her deep voice before suddenly looking around the car. "i can't-"

"just talk!" levi pushed.

"hello?" gavin asked again, kiara clearing her throat.

"is gavin there?"

"this is gavin, who is this? hello?"

"i know what happened on the tarmac." kiara said suddenly, gavin laughing nervously.

"um, who's this?"

"it was rafe cameron." kiara said firmly. "but you already knew that, and you lied about it."

"okay. who is this?"

"we're gonna prove it." kiara continued.

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

"you could've saved her, gavin, and you didn't." kiara added, quite menacingly at that. "and you're not getting away with this."

"listen to me! who is this?"

kiara hung up, looking around the truck as though she was seeking approval.

"that was pretty good." levi stated.

"yeah, i was scared. good job." jj praised, pope joining in.

"alright, we tickled the wire. phase two complete now we wait and listen." pope announced happily. the pogues watched as gavin stormed out of his house, clearly distraught, and got in his car.

"follow him, follow him!" ainsley demanded as gavin pulled out of his garage and onto the road, levi starting his truck and pulling onto the road.

"my seat belt!" pope panicked, attempting to buckle himself quickly.

"are you serious?" jj yelled.

"you don't need it right now!" kiara exclaimed as pope finally buckled his seatbelt, putting his airpods in as levi continued to follow gavin's car.

"he's talking to ward." pope told the car.

"are you serious?" kiara asked.

"yeah." pope mumbled. "get closer, i can't hear."

levi sped up a little so he was closer to gavin's car but not too close it was suspicious.

"he's talking about negotiating something. renegotiating." pope confirmed.

"hush money." levi muttered.

"gavin's got the gun that rafe used to kill peterkin." pope rushed out, everyone looking at him with wide eyes.

"holy shit." kiara whispered.

"oh shit." ainsley mumbled.

"i think he's trying to use it as extortion." pope explained. "it's leverage."

they continued driving for a few more seconds when gavin's car suddenly slowed down and started moving to the shoulder.

"he's pulling over." levi announced.

"shit. he's panicking." pope confirmed.

"do you want me to stop? pull behind him?" levi asked.

"go around the block." pope demanded, motion for the melville to take a left at the stop sign.

"yeah, yeah, just go." jj demanded, the truck pulling past gavin's car, where the pilot could be seen through the window, and he was clearly panicked.

"you're gonna lose signal." levi told pope through gritted teeth as he turned another corner.

"go, go, go!" jj demanded.

"i am, i am!" levi yelled back.

"i can't hear anything. shit." pope said angrily. "i'm losing the signal, i can't hear him."

"what the hell is this?" jj asked as a construction site came into view, road work was apparently being done on that part of the neighborhood.

"stop. just stop and turn around now." pope pressed.

"pull in and back up." jj suggested, levi taking jj's advice instead. it turned out to backfire on him, as in that moment, a large digger pulled up behind his truck, blocking them in and preventing them from driving back to gavin's car.

"are you kidding?" kie yelled.

"hey! we were about to back up!" jj shouted.

"what are you doing?" kiara shouted, but pope had opened his door and was running around the block. levi, ainsley, jj, and kie all piled out of the car, running after him as the construction workers shouted in protest at them leaving levi's truck behind.

"wait, pope!" jj yelled.

"we gotta know where they're meeting!" pope exclaimed, the others suddenly right behind him as they ran down the street.

they ran through the back yard of a house, the motion sensing lights coming on, giving levi the oddest sense of deja vu to being at the crain house.

"pope!" the melville yelled, watching as pope jumped over a fence. everyone else followed his lead, practically throwing themselves into another yard, but this one had people in it. a boy named sean, who levi knew from biology, and a few girls he had seen at some parties were all in a pool together.

"hey, man!" levi yelled as he ran through the yard, never actually looking over to face sean.

"levi?" the boy asked confusedly, he and all the girls turning to the melville boy, who was followed closely by jj.

"sean? oh, this is where you live, you kook!" he exclaimed, flipping the boy off as he did, none of them stopping as the ran across the yard behind pope, who tripped over a swing.

"no, no, no!" pope panicked, feeling around in the grass for his airpods, putting them in his ears again as he slowly sat up and looked over the hedge, freezing in place.

"pope!" levi yelled as he finally caught up with his dark haired friend, the heyward boy tearing his gaze away from gavin's parked car.

"what- what does that mean?" jj asked.

"did you hear something?" kiara questioned.

"he's meeting ward right now. we gotta go." pope exclaimed, the teens all exchanging looks.

"come on." jj gritted.

"okay, come on." kiara pushed, all of them running back across sean's yard towards where they had abandoned levi's truck.

IT WAS PITCH BLACK OUT.

the rain wasn't making it any easier to see what was going on outside. the pogues were all standing next to a fence, pope with an old video camera clutched in his hands.

"i think my great grandpa had one of those." ainsley mouthed off as pope pointed the camera at the construction site.

"nice camera. where'd you dig up that relic?" jj asked the heyward boy, who turned to him, unamused. "why don't you just use your phone?"

"because we never got it out of gavin's car." levi deadpanned.

"first of all, i like my antique electronics." pope told jj. "second of all, this is a telephoto.

"tele-what?" ainsley asked.

"it always me to get a close image from far away." pope explained, ainsley pulling the hood of her jacket over her sopping blonde hair.

"hope it works, because i can't see shit." she said, blinking rain from her eyelashes as levi held his hand over her eyes to shield them from the pouring rain as the other one peered over the fence.

"lord of the dorks." kiara commented.

"for definitive proof of witness payoff, we're gonna need quality glass." pope sassed. "there he is."

pope was right. ward had gotten out of a truck and was nose running down the street carrying a duffel bag.

"yo, get down." jj commanded, everyone doing so and crouching below the fence so they were out of sight from both the construction site and the road, but pope remained with the camera on top of the fence.

"and there's gavin." pope commented. "where are you going, you son of a bitch?"

the pogues watched over the fence for a moment, but they were cut off when ward and gavin started up a set of stairs.

"no, no, no, no. i'm losing him." pope complained. "shit. where's he going?"

"hold on." jj said, walking over to the side of the building they were next to, whistling suddenly. "yo! hey, i found something. come here."

the pogues followed jj to a ladder on the side of the building, lee shaking his head in amusement.

"you stupid genius." he whispered, starting up the ladder behind pope, the rest of the pogues following him.

"that'll work." jj mumbled.

"hurry, don't wanna miss anything." kiara pressured as the rest of the pogues followed close behind her, all of them crouching behind the wall.

"you rolling, pope?" jj asked.

"you getting anything?" kiara questioned.

"yeah, i'm getting it." he confirmed. "ward just handed gavin something, i think it's a duffel bag."

"that's what he was carrying in." levi added, still trying to see what was going on across the street, but the rain was making the job difficult.

"guys, i think this is a payoff." jj mentioned.

"you're just figuring that out?" ainsley asked, jj flipping her off as he looked back over the wall.

"gavin doesn't look happy about something. it looks like he's yelling at ward." pope commentated, levi's face conforming to one of concern.

"why?" kiara asked.

"i don't know, but he sure looks mad." pope said, levi shaking his head.

"what if ward's trying to bring the price down?" he suggested, ainsley shrugging.

"it's possible, it's ward, after all." she agreed.

suddenly, ward and gavin had launched themselves at each other, the two beginning to fight.

"what's going on?" kie asked.

"is it wrong to chant 'fight' at them?" levi joked.

"i don't know. they're fighting over something." pope answered kiara, the pogues all watching as ward and gavin went back and forth.

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

"wards kicking the shit out of gavin." pope narrated.

"what're they even fighting over?" levi asked.

"i don't know." pope answered shortly. they were quiet for a minute, but pope spoke up again. "holy shit. ward's got a gun."

"i bet that's the murder weapon." kiara mentioned.

"what the hell?" levi whispered, shoving his rain-soaked hair out of his eyes and squinting.

suddenly, a loud bang echoed through the air, the pogues all gasping as their eyes widened, the five of them practically jumping away from the wall.

"holy shit!" levi exclaimed, rapidly clamping a hand over his mouth.

"oh my god. oh my god." pope breathed.

"what the hell?" jj mumbled.

"what the shit?" ainsley whispered.

"no, no, no, no. that did not just happen." kiara muttered, clearly distraught. "what is going on?"

"tell me you just got that." jj mumbled to pope.

"enough to put this asshole away for life." pope confirmed, which should have made levi happy, but it didn't. he was, on the contrary, extremely upset that not one, but two people had to die to prove how twisted the cameron family was.

the two men had stood still for a moment before gavin tackled ward, another gunshot going off before the gun fell from ward's hand, falling off the side of the building and going down the drain on the side of the road.

"this is freaking crazy." pope mumbled. "oh no, get down." pope urged, the group all slumping down to the side of the wall.

"i think we should go, right now. pope, you've got enough, right?" jj asked, pope nodding.

"yeah." pope confirmed, but didn't stop recording. "hold on, he's coming out."

"he's looking for the gun." levi mumbled, watching as ward ran up and down the street, seemingly looking for something.

"i think the gun just went down the drain. he's looking for it." pope explained, the group watching as ward sat, on his hands and knees, seemingly trying to pull the cover off the drain.

"hold this." kiara said suddenly.

"what're you doing, kie?" jj asked, but kiara had already stood up.

"what is wrong with you?" the carrera girl screamed. "murderer!"

"kiara, shut up!" levi gritted, attempting to pull her down by the back of her shirt, but jj had already grabbed her by the waist and clamped his hand over her mouth.

"get down!" the maybank demanded, pulling kiara back down onto the roof. "what're you doing?"

"kiara. are you crazy?" pope asked.

"what the hell is wrong with you?" levi gritted.

"kie, have you lost your mind?" ainsley snapped.

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

"yeah, and he's gonna murder us, kie." jj deadpanned.

"of all the stupid shit you've done, this takes the cake." levi snapped.

"guys, he sees us." pope said suddenly.

"are you serious?" jj asked.

"come on, we gotta go. he's coming." pope stated, the pogues all rushing towards the ladder. levi climbed down first, followed by ainsley, then pope, jj, and kie. however, pope couldn't move as fast due to the ladder being wet and him holding the camera, so jj was slowed down behind him. kiara, thinking the boys were already further down, stepped onto the first rung of the ladder, in turn stepping on jj's hand as well.

jj groaned, accidentally kicking pope in the face, the heyward falling down, the camera flying out of his hand and hitting the grass feet away. during his fall, he landed on top of levi, who in a spur of confusion, flung his arm out and smacked ainsley in the nose.

"sorry. so sorry." kiara apologized from the ladder, pope scrambling to the camera.

"no, no, no, no, no." the heyward boy exclaimed, holding the now broken camera.

"you're kidding me, you fumbled it?" jj asked in disbelief.

"you kicked him in the face." levi snapped.

"she stepped on my hand!" jj retorted, pointing an accusing finger at kie.

"guys, just get to the truck!" ainsley urged, rubbing her nose, which had a small river of blood flowing from it.

"he's coming." jj mumbled, the pogues all hurrying off to levi's truck, with their evidence destroyed and the murder weapon gone.

kens speaks 🪐

double update again for mara bc i literally have nothing better to do than write (covid is a 0/10 experience i do not recommend)