restricted ~ JJ Maybank

1.28

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We were all sitting around a fire, my hand was interlocked with JJ's who I have been holding since we escaped from the party.

"Hey guys, so my dad's already gonna kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope asked. JJ and John B looked at each other weirdly making me sit up straight.

"Might as well tell 'em, man. Before we're gaffed." Jj said staring back into the fire. But the only thing I could look at were the cuts and bruises on face. I reached up to wipe the blood away from one that had reopened, JJ let me, but acted like it was no big deal.

"You ready for this?" John B asked, like we ran away from the party, got in a lot of trouble and don't even wanna know why.

"Yeah." Kie confirmed for all of us.

"So the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant." John B said.

"What are you talking about, how did it not." I said, a little sceptical to be honest.

"Oh, my God. Here we go again with this." Pope said, also sceptical.

"No. All right, wait. Hear him out, all right?" JJ said, asking for his valid attention just a little longer.

"It's been here the whole time." John B said proudly. "It's on the island."

"Are you serious?" Kie asked. Surprised with the information, and I have to say that I was too. "Oh my god."

"I'd like to voice my skepticism." Pope said.

"I'm sure you would Pope." John B said standing up. "But can I please present you my evidence, sir?"

"Proceed." Pope said waving his hand to him.

"All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tammy." John B said.

"Who the hell's that?" Kie asked. I remember Ward telling me about this.

"He was a slave, he survived the wreck." I said.

"Thank you Jessica." John B said pointing to me, I playfully bowed a little.

"But what does he have to do with it." I asked again.

"Check this out." He said handing the letter to Kie.

"Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery. So Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom. After that, he bought his farm." He said "drumroll, please, because that farm is..." he led up to the moment of truth even though I already knew the answer since Ward used to tell us his stories. "Tannyhill Plantation."

"Tannyhill?" Kie asked in disbelieve.

"Yeah. So, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pisses off all the white planters, and then they decide to lynch him." He explained further, but Kie and Pope still looked a bit sceptical. "So on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold." He said walking towards Kie.

"Where?" Kie wispered while biting her lips.

"Harvest the wheat, in parcel 9, near the water." He said. "Except, there is no wheat. You see, wheat is code for gold. Check this out." He said walking towards Pope, who still had the letter. "The gold is in parcel nine, near the water." He said. Leaving us all a bit shocked.

"Holy shit." Pope wispered.

"I have to say, I'm impressed." I said, sitting up straight.

"All we need is an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold." John B said laughing, almost not believing himself.