_
"why does she get to tickle?" JJ asked fixing his hat.
"she's the best tickle." Pope added.
"why can't i tickle? i'm not gonna laugh or anything at least let me try." Belle sat up leaning over
"should i do an accent?" Kiara looked at her friends.
Pope nodded his head, "definitely disguise your voice."
"disguise my voice how? how would you like me to talk?" Kiara asked in a English accent.
"that was actually pretty good, i can do that to." Belle added looking at Pope in an English accent.
"not like that." JJ shook his head then looked at Belle, "that was very attractive." Belle smiled at him paying attention to Pope and Kiara.
"not like that. no. batman." Pope said.
"batman." Kiara said in a deep voice, Belle laughed as did Kiara looking at her friend.
"there you go."
"spot-on. let's do it."
Kiara called Gavin's phone putting on speaker waiting for him to answer.
"hello?"
"hello," Kiara asked in a deep voice but then shook her head, "i can't." she whispered.
"just talk." Pope whispered to her, Belle reached over patting Kie's arm holding her hand out for the phone.
"is Gavin there?" Belle asked in an English accent.
"this is Gavin. who's this? hello?"
Belle motioned for Kiara to keep going, "i know what happened on the tarmac."
"um.. who's this?"
"it was Rafe Cameron. but you already knew that, and you lied about it." Belle said looking at JJ who watched closely.
"okay. who is this?"
"we're gonna prove it. you could have saved her, Gavin, and you didn't. and you're not getting away with this." Kiara added hangin up the phone.
"how was that?" she asked.
"yeah, i was scared. good job." JJ said.
"all right. we tickled the wire. phase two complete. no we wait and listen." Pope said, Kiara nodded as did Belle who leaned back against her seat.
"how is your accent so good?" Pope asked Belle looking at her from the rearview mirror.
"dad was born in London and lived there for years, i hear his accent all the time, guess i picked it up from him." Belle said as she saw a light out of the corner of her eyes as the four Pogues looked over.
"all right. hey, here he comes. stay down." Pope whispered as the four slid down so they wouldn't be seen by Gavin.
"he didn't see us. he didn't see us. hit it." JJ repeated rushing Kiara to start the car.
"go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. my seat belt, my seat belt." Pope said pulling the seatbelt as it jammed.
"are you seriously buckling up now?" JJ raised his voice as Kiara drove off.
"yes, i am." Pope argued back.
"you don't need it right now." Kiara said, Belle sighed leaning over removing Pope's hand hearing the seatbelt click, she then pulled it back handing it to him.
"thank you, Bells." Pope said, she nodded sitting back down besides JJ.
silence filled the car as Kiara drove, Belle held onto Kiara's seat leaning over waiting for Pope to say something on what he was hearing.
"it's Ward. he's talking to Ward." Pope said keeping his eyes on the car in front of them.
"are you serious?"
"yeah."
"get clo.. get closer. i can't hear." he said, Kiara drove closer to the car.
Belle looked at JJ nervously wondering what Pope was listening in on, all she wanted was to bring John B back home and to be reunited with her brother.
"he's talking about negotiating something. re.. renegotiating." Pope said.
"Gavin's got the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin." Belle's eyes widened as shock filled the Pogues faces.
"holy shit."
"oh, shit."
"i think he's trying to use it as extortion, as leverage." Pope continued to say.
"wait. he's pulling over." Kiara started slowing down the car.
"shit. he's panicking." Pope said.
"do i pull behind him? what do i do?" Kiara asked her friends, "go around the block. yeah. yeah, just go." Pope nodded waving his finger in a circle.
"we're gonna lose him." Kie stated.
"go, go, go!" JJ said.
"i'm going. i'm going."
"i can't hear anything. shit, i'm losing the signal. i can't hear him." Pope frustratingly said as Kiara drove around the block.
once Kiara turned the four saw the road was closed, "what the hell is this?" Belle asked.
"stop. just stop and turn around now." Pope rushed Kie.
"pull in here and back up." JJ pointed to a house.
"i'm just gonna back up." right as Kie said that a truck backed up behind the car as they all started to yell.
"what are you doing?" JJ yelled.
"are you kidding?" Kiara yelled next.
Belle groaned opening the car door stepping out, "hey! come on we were just about to back up!" she yelled out when Pope got out of the car running off.
"Pope!" she yelled.
"you literally had to do that now? wait! Pope!" JJ yelled out getting out of the car followed by Belle.
"we gotta know where they're meeting." Pope yelled running off.
"we're going after him, right?" JJ asked Belle and Kiara who nodded.
"yep." the two girls said running off following Pope through the backyards of Kook houses.
running closely behind Pope the three jumped over a fence, Belle heard laughter and followed the noise hearing Pope's name. the three got closer seeing a group of Kooks they knew, Belle slowed down catching her breath seeing Sean, he would always go to the island club.
"Sean? ah, this is where you live, you Kook. Goddamn." JJ said recognizing the boy.
"have guys seen Pope?" Belle asked, the brunette in the pool pointed to where Pope was going, "thanks. also Sean, your nose looks better." Belle then ran off seeing Pope behind a bush.
as soon as Gavin drove off Pope stood up looking at his friends with wide eyes, "what? what does that mean?" Kie immediately asked.
"did you hear something?" JJ asked him.
"he.. he's meeting Ward right now. we gotta go. come on." Pope informed his friends and off they were again running back to Kiara's car.
__
it had started to rain, thunder was rumbling and lightning was starting to hit as well as JJ, Belle, Pope and Kiara were hiding behind a fence where Ward's truck was parked in front of the Kildare surf shop right in front of a new building that was being built, Pope pulled out a camera aiming it at the building.
"nice camera. where'd you dig up that relic? why don't you just use your phone?" JJ squinted not being able to see from the rain.
"well, first of all, i like my antique electronics. second of all, this is a telephoto. it allows me to get a close image from far away." Pope informed JJ, Belle looked at JJ and chuckled lightly shaking her head.
"lord of the dorks." Kiara added.
"for definitive proof of witness payoff, we're gonna need quality glass." Pope said waving the camera.
"we're gonna need what?" Belle looked at Pope, "i'll explain it to you later. there he is."
the four looked over seeing running over to the building, the four lowered down so they wouldn't be seen then saw Gavin going into the building right after Ward.
"no, no, no, no. i'm losing him." Pope said, "shit. where's he going."
JJ looked around nudging Belle nodding his head towards the alleyway, the couple ran over looking as JJ found a ladder, he whistled to Pope and Kiara as Belle started climbing up.
"yo! hey. i found something. come here."
Belle reached the top wiping her hands on her shorts walking over to the edge kneeling down seeing Ward and Gavin shortly, she was joined second later by JJ, Pope and Kiara as they kneeled down besides her. the thunder started getting louder as the rain fell harder, Belle laid her hand over her eyes so she wouldn't get water in her eyes.
"you rolling, Pope?" JJ asked.
"are you getting it?" Kia asked next.
"yeah. yeah, i see them." Pope said.
Belle watched closely barely being able to see the two, she reached over for JJ's hand as he looked down interlocking their fingers together as he held onto her hand tightly.
"Ward just handed Gavin something. i think it's a duffel bag." Pope informed his friends, JJ looked back and forth between zipped and Ward and Gavin.
"guys, i think this is a payoff." JJ told his friends.
"piece of shit." Belle whispered keeping her eyes on Ward.
"Gavin doesn't look happy about something. it looks like he's yelling at Ward." Pope said.
"why?" asked Kiara.
"i don't know, but he sure looks mad." Pope continued.
suddenly Ward and Gavin began to fight which caused Belle to gasp, Kiara and Belle looked at each other scared of what was going to happen, "what's going on?" Kiara asked.
"i dunno. they're fighting over something." Pope answered her.
"they're really going at it." JJ said.
"Ward's kicking the shit out of Gavin." Pope mentioned.
"why are they fighting?" Belle asked looking at Pope, "i don't know. i'm trying to see."
"holy shit. Ward's got a gun." Pope said.
"what?" Belle asked, her eyes widening.
the four watched closely waiting to see what will happen next, everything was calm until gunshots were heard, the four Pogues gasped and immediately hid behind the wall, Belle covered her mouth grabbing onto Kiara's arm tightly.
"oh my God. oh my God." Pope repeated.
"what the hell?" JJ said.
"no, no, no, no. that did not just happen. what is going on." Kiara cried out.
"what the actual fuck. did that just happen? that just fucking happened." Belle gripped onto JJ's hand tightly.
"tell me you just got that." JJ panted looking up at Pope who was looking over at the scene.
"enough to put this asshole away for life." Pope said, "this is freaking crazy." he added getting a closer look.
JJ, Belle and Kie looked back up as Ward got up, Pope told everyone to get back down which they did.
"holy shit."
"i think we should go right now." JJ added, "Pope you have enough, right?"
Pope nodded, "yeah."
"i agree with JJ. let's go home." Belle quickly nodded wanting to be at home in her bed with JJ.
"hold on. he's coming out." Pope said, Belle looked back over seeing Ward looking around for something.
"there he goes. i think he's looking for the gun." Pope said following him with the camera, "i think the gun just went down the drain. he's looking for it."
the four saw Ward laying on the ground right by the drain looking into it, Pope mentioned that Ward was looking for the weapon when Kiara stood up.
"what are you doing, Kie?" JJ asked watching her stand up.
"Kie-" Belle started to say.
"what is wrong with you? murderer!" Kiara screamed, Belle quickly stood up covering her mouth and pulled her back down.
"are you insane?" Belle snapped at her, "you just saw what the guy did and you think yelling helps? he could come right after us, Kie!"
"Kiara. are you crazy?" Pope asked her.
"what are you doing?" JJ argued with her.
"i don't care of he hears me. he's a murderer." Kiara argued with her friends.
"yeah, and he's gonna murder us, Kie." JJ argued back with her.
"guys, he sees us." Pope said, Belle looked at Kiara with wide eyes, "see!" Belle waved her hands motioning to where Ward was.
"are you serious?" JJ asked.
"come on. we gotta go. he's coming."
the four ran off back to the ladder, Belle threw her book bag back on and started climbing down first followed by Pope, JJ and then Kie. Belle jumped off looking around making sure the coast was clear as she rushed her friends carefully so they wouldn't fall off the ladder. suddenly she heard a thump and a few things fall, she turned around seeing Pope and JJ on the ground groaning in pain and Pope's telephoto on the ground in pieces.
"no, no." she walked over to the camera as Pope rushed towards it as well.
"no, no, no, no, no."
"you're kidding me. you fumbled it?" JJ asked seeing the broken camera.
"you kicked me in the face." Pope argued with him.
"she stepped on my hand." JJ snapped pointing to Kiara.
"i was trying to hurry." Kie argued back.
"enough! come on, he's coming." Belle snapped as they all ran back to Kiara's car.
the second the four got in the car they all sat in silence trying to process everything that's happened, Belle sighed leaning back covering her face rubbing her eyes.
"could someone fill me in on what the frick just happened?" JJ yelled, Belle removed her hands away from her face resting her hand on his back followed by Pope groaning loudly.
"holy crap. i don't believe it. wait, wait. what were they fighting over?" JJ asked trying to process everything he had just saw.
"uh.. it was.. it was the gun, the one Rafe used. he must have kept it." Pope answered him.
"of course! of course! the murder weapon!" JJ said as Belle sniffled sitting up looking over to Kiara to check on her.
"pick up! pick up!" her voice cracked.
"who are you calling?" JJ asked.
"who do you think?" Kiara snapped.
"the cops?" Pope asked.
"who else am i supposed to call?" she yelled at the two.
"why would you call the police? that's Ward!" JJ yelled.
"everyone shut up!" Belle yelled loudly not being able to deal with the arguing just now after seeing what her and her friends had just witnessed.
JJ looked at his girlfriend in surprise seeing tears in her eyes, she couldn't believe what she had just saw, she was terrified and knowing Ward went after her and her friends her fear escalated even more. JJ pulled her into his arms holding her tightly as she started to calm down, she let out a deep breath leaning into him.
"fuck." she sighed.