i walk over to a white FedEx package sitting on a shelf in one of the walls. 'FOR BIRD' written on bold black letters on the front of it and pick it up.
Wordlessly i pick it up and pass it through the hole to John B. He takes it from my hands and pulls the lantern out of the way, leaving me space to try and exit.
"That's not gold." Pope says as i'm pulling myself through. on the way down i stumble once more but JJ grabs my hips and steadies me.
"Thanks." i say, removing myself from him hold.
"Holy shit." John B says, catching my attention as i look over at him. "This is from my dad."
I look back when i here a lighter click, i see JJ trying to light one of his blunts. Walking over to him, i pluck it out of his fingers and tuck in into the back pocket of my jean shorts.
Just as he's about to protest we here a vehicle pull up.
"Code red. code red. square groupers! square groupers!" JJ panics and starts running towards our friends.
"Go." Kie exclaims as we all run and hide behind one of the graves.
"It's the guys who robbed your house."
"Lights!" i whisper yell. "Your lights!"
"Turn your light off man." I hear pope say, turning to see a dazed JJ as Pope reaches up and turns of JJs headlight for him.
"John B?" i hear Kie say and look the other way to see John B stuffing his lantern up his thin see though shirt.
"Oh my god. THIS is how we die." I tell Kie who's beside me as we watch the three boys scramble.
"Do you think its them?" Kie asks as JJ peaks around the corner to look at the men who pulled up.
"Oh homies got a gun." he says pulling back into the cover that the grave provides.
"Oh screw this." Kie says, grabbing my hand and pulling me with her as we sprint across the graveyard with the boys trailing us.
We run towards the big gated fence and all start to hop over it. I haul my body over first and wait for the rest to jump over to. were all over except Pope who suddenly stops at the top.
"Guys! guys! i'm stuck."
"Pope, come on man!" JJ yells.
"i got you." Kie says running over and starting pulling on his legs. John B pulls up the van as i see JJ raise the gun at the fence.
"Blondie what the fuck do you think your going?" i ask grabbing the gun and pushing it downwards.
"You're gonna rip me!" Pope exclaims from the fence.
"You're fine. come on!" Kie tells him, continuing to pull his legs.
We all hear a large rip and turn to see Pope falling to the ground, his pants still attached to the fence.
"nice dude!" i hear JJ tease as we all take off running. Pope trying to cover his tightly-whities as we go.
"Look its a little tootsie roll." i say, joining in on JJs joke.
we all burst out laughing and clammer into the van as John B pulls away.
we arrive at the chateau and we all head inside. JJ goes straight for the kitchen while everyone else stays in the living room.
"JJ." Kie calls from her place behind John B.
"Hot damn, lets do this." he says, running to us with a beer and moldy sandwich in hand. he takes a bite and instantly spits it back out into his hand gagging.
"ew gross." i mutter, looking away from the scene and back to John B who's opening a package.
John B pulls out a map and starts unfolding it, everyone moves in slightly to get a better view.
"Holy shit." John B says.
"X marks the spot." i say, looking at the map and seeing a thick 'X' written off the coast on the map.
"Longitude, latitude." John B mumbles to himself, looking over everything that was drawn on the map.
He turns back to the package and pulls out something else, flipping the rectangular black box around in his hands a couple times.
"what's that?" JJ asks, leaning over John Bs shoulder.
"It's a tape recorder, dumbass." Kie retorts from beside me.
John B clicks the play button on the recorder and a gruff voice rings out.
"Dear bird."
"Who's bird?" JJ interiors.
"who do you think you idiot, its John B." i tell him, annoyed at his interruptions.
"That what my dad called me." John B answers him in a much more calm manner than me.
"I hate to say, "I told you so," but I told you so. And you doubted your old man. I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, kid. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either. You were probably right to call me out. Wasn't exactly Father of the Decade. What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn. And hopefully, we're listenin' to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, livin' off passive investments and pulling on permits. If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant. If somethin' happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kid. I love you, Bird, even if I didn't always act like it. I'll see you on the other side."
with that static crackles on the tape and recording is over.
we all sit there for a minute thinking about everything we just heard. John B stands up from the table and walks over to the door frame leaning against it, i can hear his muffled sobs.
"Holy shit, he did it! Big John- he found the Merchant-" JJs outburst is quickly stopped by Kie.
"Can you... can you please?" She says, as we all hear John Bs sobs.
"Sorry." he mumbles as she turns and walks over to John B, wrapping her arms around him from behind and hugging him as he sobs.
After a little while John B had calmed down and the group moved to the dock that connected to JohnBs backyard.
Kie strums the ukulele while JJ throws rocks into the water.
"How much was it again?"
"Four hundred mil."
JJ sighs heavily before turning his body away from the water and back to us "All right, let's talk the split. Now, before we say 'evenly,' may i remind you that i am the only one that can properly defend us from those groupers who were after us. Protection? Not cheap, okay?" He says while holding the gun in the air to back up his statement.
"You haven't trained. like literally zero training." Pope rolls his eyes at the boy.
"Youtube, bro!"
"oh my god blondie." i say shaking my head at him.
"what!? thats at least a five percent bump right there." he continues.
"You haven't-" pope starts but it cut off by JJ.
"Any objection? didn't think so."
"Uh." Kie raises her hand and waves it around as i laugh.
"I don't hear any, so..." JJ says, ignoring Kie and Pope.
"What are you gonna do with your 80 mil, Pope?" Kie asks, turning away from the blonde boy.
"Pay for college in advance. And also, textbooks. Those are expensive." I admire Popes drive for college. from what i've heard most kids from the cut barely make it past high school so for him to be a finalist for that scholarship was amazing.
"What about you, Kie?"
"Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?"
Kie laughs and pauses for a minute, thinking before answering. "I just wanna make a double album. About OBX, the Pogues. you know, the way catch a fire is about Kingston. Record it at Marley studio, Peter Tosh producing."
"Isn't Peter Tosh dead?" I ask.
"Yeah he is, but the sprint of Peter Tosh will never die." she answers raising her beer to me as we clink them together.
i turn and see JJ staring at me. "What about you blondie. let me guess, you'll buy more guns?" i ask teasingly.
"nah, i'm gonna buy a big ass house on figure eight and go full kook."
"you're gonna go full kook?" Pope voices his skepticism.
"yup. i'm gonna get a marble statue of myself, and then i'm gonna get a koi pond. put a bunch of those fish-" we all laugh at him while Kie says "i'm never visiting."
"What about you Dyl?" Kie asks.
I sigh and sit back taking a swig of my beer and thinking. "i'm gonna help my parents with bills, give some to my brother to help him with college then i'm taking the rest and getting the hell off this island." i tell them and they all nod while JJ gives me a slight frown.
"what are you gonna do, JB?" Pope asks. we all look at at boy who hasn't said anything this whole time.
"to going full kook." he says, raising his beer into the air as we all repeat.
"to going full kook!"
The next day we were all out on the boat. i was sitting up in the front next to JJ as we road through the towns docks.
JJ turns to look forward and whistles causing us all to look at him and see that he's looking at a boat driving towards us.
"You guys see that? Thats the Malibu 24-MXZ, the worlds finest wakesetter. Number one in luxury, quality, and performance. 200k, easy." he finishes spouting off his boat facts.
"we picked the wrong parents." Pope says from beside John B.
"that we did." i mutter looking at the boat thats almost beside us.
"I hate to break it to you guys, but that topper and his girlfriend." Kie interrupts our ogling.
sure enough as the boat is passing us sarah, the girl who yelled at me in the store, lifts up her sunglasses and glares at us. i remember what she said to me in the store and started to stand up.
"you don't have to act like you don't see us bitch." Kie says.
"hey sarah!" i call and she turns and looks at me. "sorry there's no food to smack out of my hand!" i yell, shoving both my middle fingers in the air.
"badass." JJ says while laughing and pulling me to him, wrapping an arm around my waist.
"what was that all about?" Kie asks me.
"oh the other day in the store we came up to me and made some comment about me trying to smack food out of her hands and then tried to do it to me." i say while shrugging.
they all nod and we continue our boat ride to land where we transfer to the van.
after a short drive over to the rich ride of town, we pull up to some fancy looking resort where JJ works.
"we're behind enemy lines." JJ says while pulling out the gun from the glove box and checking the clip to see how much ammo he has.
"Yo, come, on, man. Just put it back." John B tries to grab the gun from him. "JJ come on." he continues.
"you can never be too careful." JJ teases still toying around with the gun.
"Hey, i predict that bringing a weapon into a four-star hotel will likely cause more problems than they solve." Pope says while leaning against the passenger seat window where JJ sits.
"Thank you, Pope." JJ says with mock seriousness.
"I swear to god, i'm gonna throw that thing in the ocean, JJ. put it back." kie sticks her head i between the two front seats and glares at him.
having enough of it i reached through the window from where i'm standing next to pope and grab the gun, shoving it in the glove box and slamming it shut.
"There we go!" Pope says throwing him hands into the air as we both move away from the door so JJ can exit.
"you can't grab a gun like that." JJ tells me while opening the glove box once more and rummaging around for something.
"Really blondie?" i ask, tapping my chin. "cause i'm pretty sure i just did." i finish, giving him a shit eating grin.
he just rolls his eyes at me and pulls something out of the glove box before shutting it. "cant forget my badge." he tells us, opening the van door and climbing out. "professional busboy." he says, flashing us him badge before moving it down to attach it to his pants.
"So where are we going now?" John B asks as we all round the van and start following JJ towards the entrance.
"were getting on the internet because only rich people have electricity right now. that way."
"Andrew!" JJ calls as we walk through the kitchen, following his lead. "what's up bro?" he nods.
"Mama L, good to see you!" he says while trying to sneak his hand onto one of the trays she was making.
"Hey, no! JJ!" she replies, smacking JJs hand away with a wooden spoon.
"Mhm." JJ hums while smiling.
"I like her already!" I exclaim from behind JJ as we move through the kitchen out into a hallway. JJ just scoffs and sends me a teasing glare.
"See, they got the backup generators going? Kooks man, they don't miss a beat." He flashing the hostess his badge and continues walking down the hall to some big double doors. He pulls them open and we all duck in, looking around to see if anybody was there.
"Sweet lord, the internet! Pope runs over to the computer. "I've missed you."
"Let me get in there. gotta check out my insta models." JJ says running over to lean over Pope's shoulder after closing the door.
"We don't have time." Kie scoffs.
"Oh man, guess Dylan will have to do for now." he says, sending a wink my way.
"Ew gross." i fake gag as he glares at me.
"Hey, hey, hey, i got the map!" John B puts the paper on the table next to Pope.
"Coordinates, please?"
"34, 37, 30, north. 75, 55, 42, west." Pope clicks the enter button on google earth and the map starts zooming in.
"Boom, continental shelf right there." John B points to the screen.
"Well, if it's off the deep end, its not gonna be much of a treasure hunt, is it?" Pope sighs "come on, baby. come on." Pope urges the computer to hurry up.
"Shit, it's on the high side. its only 900 feet." Pope gives John B a look of disbelief.
"Thats not too deep." JJ asks causing me to look at him.
"is that doable or something?" Kie asks.
"Yeah, totally doable." JJ assures her.
"uh will we be taking your personal submarine?" i ask.
"How do you know this, Mr. Dive Master?"
"The salvage yard." JJ looks around at all of us. "They got a drone that can drop 1,000. It has a 390 camera and everything. It's for, like, deep dives and stuff. It's exactly what we need."
"Can your dad get his grimly little hands on that?" John B looks over at him.
"Well, my dad's grimy little hands got his ass fired. I guess the salvage captain frowns on showing up shitfaced, turns out." JJ says. I was a little confused about his dad and why non of them were surprised but i decided i'd ask about it later. "But the drones there. It's in the impound yard out back."
"How much did you say was on the royal merchant again?" Kie asked looking from the computer back up to all of us.
"400 mil." we all answered. Pope shot up from his seat and ran to the door.
"Four Hundred Million?" Kie says slowly and then jumps up from her seat too and walks over to where Pope is trying to barricade the door.
"No. absolutely not. absolutely not. no!"
"Pope! Move."
"Guys, thats to-" Pope starts but it shoved out fo the way by Kie.
"Come on." she walks out the door with JJ behind her while John B packs up the map.
"Cant we do anything legal for money?" Pope opens the door for me as i walk out with John B behind me.
"Where's the fun in that?" i ask while winking at the two boys and turning around, following JJ and Kie.