Stowaways [JJ Maybank]

1. Poguelandia

I hear Cleo yell.
"That stupid boiler." I mutter walking over.

I see her being pushed down by a guy. Without thinking, I grab a bottle and hit him.
"Get off her!" I yell. He lets go and Cleo pushes him to the wall. She has her knife to his neck.
"I'm done playing games, man." She threatens.
"Talk." I say holding out the bottle.

"Okay. Name's Pope. I am a stowaway on this ship, but- I'm here because they took something that belongs to me, and I'm here to get it back."
"What?"
"It's an eight-foot gold cross, and it's mine. It's my family's." Cleo and I share a look. "And... my best friend's girlfriend is being held hostage on this ship."

"Names?" I ask.
"Her name is Sarah Cameron, and his names John B." He says. Cleo's told me about them.
"Who?" She asks.
"John B." Cleo let's go of him.
"If I find out you're lying, I kill you." She says.
"Lead us to them." I say staring Pope down.

We walk out, he finds a guy.
"You scared me." He says.
"I brought friends."
"Cheese on bread." Cleo says.
"Cleo?"
"So it is you."
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here? I work here. This is my boat. It got too hot in Nassau because of you and Sarah. I had to run."
"Guys we gotta go." I say.
"Come on."

We walk to a container.
"Hey, hey." Pope says hitting the side. The window opens and he climbs in. Then John B.
"Okay, let's put the grate back on." A girl says.
"No wait. Hold it."
"What?"

Cleo climbs in.
"Jesus Christ! I kill you, John B!" She says. I climb in.
"Who are these people?"A blonde asks.
"Who are they?" The girl asks.

"I told you I had a surprise." John B says to us.
"Who are they? What is going on?" The girl asks. I'm assuming she's not Sarah.
"Kie, relax." John B says. "Remember the girl I told you we met in the Bahamas that saved us?"
"Uh Cleo, yeah?" She says.
"Cleo's gonna help us."
"Next time, ask me." Cleo says.
"And she's—" John B says.

"Naomi." I say.
"She's Naomi." John B says.
"She's Cleo's friend." Pope says.
"Is she helping too?" The blonde asks.
"Uh- hopefully." Pope says.

"Who are you?" I ask looking at the blonde and the girl.
"Kiara." The girl says.
"We call her Kie." John B says. I nod.
"JJ." The blonde says not looking at me.

"Where's the armory?" JJ asks.
"Didn't grab it." John B says.
"You seriously didn't grab nothing, not one single gun?" JJ asks.
"We tried okay? I got attacked."
"This is why I should've gone with." JJ says.

There's no way they all decided to get on a random ship with no way to defend themselves. People are idiots.

"Let me get this straight. You four, with no weapons, decided you were gonna hijack this tramp steamer on your own? Do you have any idea who these people are?" I ask trying not to laugh.
"Eberhimi, if he catch you, he's gonna kill you. Dead. Cut off your fingers." Cleo says.

"Okay, what about waiting until we get to port?" Kie asks. "At least then, if something goes wrong we have a place to run."
"No. We can't do that."
"Why?"
"I've run the scenario about over 1,000 times in my head, and our best chances are on this ship. There's 15 crew members and six of us."
"Exactly."
"Three-to-one odds." Pope says. "If we wait till we get there, they'll trap us."
"We have no chance." Kie says.
"There's something else. Ward's alive. He's alive and he's on this boat."
"What?" Kie asks. I look at Cleo confused.

Who the hell is Ward? More importantly who names their kid Ward?

"You gotta be kidding me." JJ says.
"It was all a setup, blowing up the boat, the confession to Shoupe. Think about it. That was to clear Rafe's name."
"And he does what? Goes to the Druthers. And what's on the Druthers?"
"Scupa."
"Bingo."