CHAPTER THREE
we're having a crisis
"What the hell was that?!" Pope yells. "Why would they want to kidnap Kiara? It doesn't make any sense!"
"Not that it helps, but I'm pretty sure they wanted to kidnap all of us. They just got her." I rub my eyes with the heels of my hands.
My arms and legs are too tired for me to move. I've been lying on the sand ever since we crawled out of the water. Cleo braided my hair for me, she did what she could with what she had.
I know JJ is sitting somewhere near me, because he hasn't let me out of his sight since I accidentally kicked him in the groin trying to break free from him.
"But why would they take her if they wanted us all?"
"It's called bait." JJ answers, in hopes that Pope will stop.
"I'm so sick of this." Sarah groans. "Do you think there's any way we could trust the cops?" She ask mainly to JJ.
"Blondie, I love you, but I think you've hit your head way harder than any of us." I scrunch up my face.
"You seriously think your daddy hasn't called them already?" JJ replies meanly to her.
I swat his leg, which is what I have nearer me, and I frown pointing my finger at him. "Don't talk to her like that."
JJ sighs watching Sarah looking down to the ground. It doesn't take a genius to know she's feeling guilty about this whole situation.
"Shit, I'm sorry, Sarah."
"It's okay..." She smiles sadly.
"I have a crazy idea," Pope speaks, making me sit straight with interest, "why don't we call my parents?"
"And say what, Pope?" John B questions.
"And say we're alive!" He cries. "I haven't seen my family in I don't know how long. They're probably worried sick about me. We can just call and maybe ask them to wire us some money or something."
"All right, that still doesn't help Kiara." I point out. "And we would be putting them in danger, also."
"I got a better idea." JJ speaks, grabbing something from his back pocket. "And faster." He takes out a money clip between his two fingers.
"Oh, that's my boy right there." I clap for JJ who smirks and winks at me.
"Whose is that?" Blondie asks.
"Does it matter? It's money!" I stand up, shaking the sand from my very worn out shorts.
"You think I'm gonna go through someone's backpack and not pinch their wallet?"
I take the wallet out of his hand. I hand him the money, and I keep the rest. Inside of the wallet there's an ID. I read it out loud for my friends.
"Jimmy Portis, 101 Cattle Wash." I take a deep breath. "All right, my friends, gather your stuff, we're going on a walk."
John B stretches out his hand and I hand him the ID. "You think they are keeping Kie there?"
"It's conceivable." Pope agrees with me. "But can we at least think this through?"
"What's to think?" I chuckle. "We have nothing else." I shrug.
"You've heard the lady." JJ says, taking the ID from John B, "Come on, 101 Cattle Wash. That's where we're going."
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Kiara has always been my best friend. She's the first girl I ever became friends with. She was the only one who wasn't afraid to come close to me - or that wasn't interested in becoming my friend to flirt with my brother or JJ.
We've had our ups and downs, but losing her feels like losing an arm. I don't know what I'd do if I lost her. We've been through so much together. I know I'd still have JJ but it's not the same. He is not a best friend in the way Kiara is.
I think I'd kill just to get her back.
JJ and I have always been similar. Both of us have strong personalities. We're loyal to our people. We love the rush of adrenaline that comes with reckless behavior. He's always been a little bit crazier than me, but at the end of the day, I'm the one joining him most of the time.
John B used to be the voice of reason when it was the three of us only. Then that role got passed over to Pope and John B became a little bit more deranged. He was still far from JJ and I.
Being stranded on a desert island has only made things worse for us. Well, to be fair, I think I lost the remaining sanity I had when this whole treasure hunting thing began.
Losing a parent can do that to you, I guess. You have so much hope that they'll be back that you cling onto any false illusion you can find. I think for me and my brother it was the Royal Merchant.
I've never liked my father's research. I never enjoyed spending my time on the archives. I just liked being near him. Hearing his stories. Playing pirates with John B. That was the good part.
The drunken ramblings about captains and lost gold were what John B and I hated about dad. And I guess what mom hated, too. That must've been the reason she left.
I've been holding back all this time. I've tried being this person, this rock that my brother needed all these years. But I think being held at gunpoint more than once in a week has definitely had some sort of impact on my personality.
JJ used to be the one coming up with bad half-made plans - he still is. The difference is that now, they don't seem so bad to me.
All of that said, add Cleo to the mix. She's been living on the streets since she was fourteen. She's a Pogue at heart, even though she doesn't quite understand the term yet. She is so much like us, sometimes I think she's some sort of lost sister I've never met.
"You alright?" Cleo asks, bringing me back to Earth.
I blink twice, and smile at her. "Yeah, just trying to figure out where we're going." I squint, trying to cover my eyes from the sun.
"Really helps there's no names on the streets." JJ comments ironically.
"This is even worse than The Cut."
"Just let me handle it." Cleo says.
She asks some middle aged man she finds, and he points her in the correct direction, that apparently is a blue house we barely missed at the end of the street. JJ and I lead the way, with the rest of the Pogues behind us.
A wooden sign reads 101 Cattle Wash, letting us know we've arrived.
"This is it. Let's go around back." JJ suggests.
We have to walk in a line to get through the brushwood and find the opened back door to Jimmy Portis' backyard. John B has taken on his role of leader of the group again, with the rest of us following him close behind.
The blue house has its doors closed, but we spot a window that is fairly reachable. I point it to John B, who turns around and checks with JJ.
"Window?"
"Yeah."
"Here. You want some help?" Pope offers.
"No, I got this." John B says.
My twin holds onto the railing and pushes himself up with a grunt. He slides the window to the left, making more room for his body to pass through.
"Be careful." I whisper.
"Whoa," I hear JJ behind me, "Yo, get off!"
That's weird.
I turn around, with my hands on my hips. I frown, seeing JJ kicking his feet angrily.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Get off!" He repeats instead, and I notice then that there's a bunch of crabs surrounding him.
"Oh, JJ, please. They're just tiny little crabs!" I bend down, grabbing the one on his boot to take it off him. "He's so cute, right?" I smile, looking at the small crab in the palm of my hand.
"Yeah, cute as a- Fuck!" JJ yelps and screams when a crab bites his finger.
He shakes his hand and jumps around screaming in pain. He startles me, and I accidentally drop the crab to the floor.
"JJ, shut up!" I scold him.
"What are you doing?" Pope shushes him. "Does the element of surprise mean nothing to you?"
"It turned my thumb purple!"
"JJ, he's just a tiny animal!" I say pointing at the red dots on the grass coming closer to us.
"Which side are you on?" He looks at me dubfolded.
"It's just a crab, man." Cleo laughs.
"I'm being surrounded right now. Goddamn it. Damn little sea spider."
"I'm naming that one Roberto."
"Bee, that's the one that bit me!"
"Yeah, I know."
"Hey, dumbasses!" John B calls for us from the inside of the house.
I'm the next one climbing up. JJ helps me, and then John B grabs my hand and pulls me up and inside. We help the rest of the team, and once we're all in, we walk carefully trying to find Jimmy or Kiara. Us girls take the front and the boys the back, but none of us can find any sign that Kie has been here.
"Okay. Well, if she's not here, where is she?" JJ says, still looking around the house.
"Routledges." Pope calls, and both John B and I turn around with a frown and a smile.
"What did you just call us?" John B makes fun of Pope.
"Shut up and come here."
"What is it?" I ask chuckling.
Pope points at a painting hanging on the wall in front of him, "Recognize that?"
"What? Find something?" JJ asks from behind us.
The painting shows a ship burning up in flames. There's a boat full of people, floating away from the ship. I squint my eyes. I know I recognize this from somewhere. I know I've seen this before.
Then, my eyes see the name engraved in the frame.
"Holy shit." Both my brother and I say at the same time.
"It's a burning boat." JJ shrugs.
"This is San Jose, J." I explain in a whisper.
"It's from Denmark's diary." Pope explains, "This is the ship that captain Limbrey stole the cross from."
"And the Merchant gold."
"Great, whatever. It's just about the gold. It's not about Kiara. It doesn't help us."
"Yes, it does, J. Whoever took her is after the same thing we are."
"We already know Ward took her." JJ frowns.
"What if it's not Ward?"
"Well, now we know Portis is a treasure guy." John B says, "This is too close to our boat."
A whistle from Cleo catches our attention, she's looking out the window, "Guys, guys."
Sarah and I run to her. Portis is being dropped off by one of the men in uniform.
"Shit. It's Portis."
"Do we run?" Sarah asks.
"I say we scare him a little. He must know where Kie is." I suggest, and JJ smirks, high fiving me.
We scatter around the house. Cleo and I take the kitchen. She had her own knife that she somehow hasn't lost since we met on Ward's boat. I want to have my own weapon too, so I grab one of the kitchen knives.
We hear Portis coming home, and wait for the signal. Six seconds later, we assume Portis is struggling to fight John B and Pope when we hear grunting from the living room. We come out of our hiding spot to see John B on the floor and Pope being kicked to the floor.
Portis tries to run away, but JJ is outside. He trips Jimmy up, making him fall face first.
"I got him!" JJ yells, grabbing Portis and making him sit on one of the chairs outside.
Cleo and I run to his aid, each one of us holding a knife to his throat while JJ keeps him in place.
"You guys really shouldn't be here right now." Jimmy struggles to say.
"Tell us where she is and we'll leave." I say, pressing the blade down on his throat.
"Answer the woman!" Cleo hisses angrily.
Jimmy scoffs, "You really don't wanna know."
"Talk." Sarah appears from behind us, and puts a bottle of barbecue sauce against Portis' throat.
I frown, and look at her asking myself what the hell is she doing with that. Blondie looks at me, and shrugs making a face as if saying, this is all I could find.
"Who took her?" Sarah asks again, "Was it Ward?"
"Ward? Who's Ward?" Jimmy laughs.
Sarah's face drops, and she softens her grip on the bottle. That took us all by surprise. Cleo and I exchange a look, she's just as surprised as I am. I glance at JJ. He's clenching his jaw, clearly angry that we don't know who's taken our friend.
"You guys really don't understand who you're messing with." Jimmy coughs.
"Then we'll call the cops."
"Sure, call the cops. See how far that gets you. This guy owns the cops."
"Who is this guy, Jimmy?" I press harder and the man hisses. My knife makes a trickle of blood stream down Jimmy's neck.
"He's got eyes all over the island looking for you. All of you."
"That's not what I asked." I hiss between my teeth.
"He's a big man, the Kingfish."
"The Kingfish." JJ repeats.
John B grabs my arm when he notices I'm starting to apply a little too much pressure to Jimmy's neck. He pulls me back, and harshly takes the knife out of my hand. He throws it to the floor and frowns at me.
"You need to relax."
"I'm not relaxing until I get my best friend back."
John B keeps eye contact, pursing his lips, knowing damm well he's not going to be able to control me.
"What's this?" Pope asks behind me.
I turn around to see him holding a brown envelope to Jimmy. It must be something important, Portis starts yelling for us to take our hands off his shit. JJ and Cleo hold the guy down while Pope opens the envelope.
"What is it?" JJ asks.
He pulls out several bills. Multiple bills of 20, 10, and even 50.
"What's that, Jimmy?" JJ asks, "Is that the payoff? Is that the payoff for Kiara, Jimmy?"
I look at the brown envelope on Pope's hand and I notice some blue-ish ink on the corner. I point at it with my chin and whisper to Pope, "What's that?"
He noticed it then, and reads the letters. He frowns and glances at Jimmy. "Hey, what's Vaux Hall?" Pope asks, showing Jimmy the envelope.
"You really don't want to go there, man. That's the lion's den."
"All right. That's where Kie is." I say. I feel a wave of relief washing over me. Cause that had to be it. It had to be, right?
"That's it." John B confirms. "That's where Kie is. Come on, Pope." John B and Pope break in a run.
"You really don't want to go there!"
"Do we look afraid?" Cleo challenges, holding her knife still to his jugular.
"You should be."
"Oh, for fuck's sake." I scoff, pushing Cleo aside.
She stumbles back and watches me with a frown as I grab the barbecue sauce bottle from Sarah. I swing my arm, ready to ram the bottle against his head-
"Whoa, whoa, let's go," My brother catches my hand just as I'm about to drop it, "Come on, it's not worth it."
"Let go, JB!" I hiss between gritted teeth.
He does not let me go. Instead, he picks me up, grabbing me by my waist. I try to fight, but I have to admit John B is stronger than me.
"Jeez, Bee! Stop!" John B groans when I accidentally hit him on his face with my elbow. "JJ, take her."
"I'm actually on board with her going all nuts, man." JJ shrugs, but changes his mind when he sees the look in my brother's eyes. "All right, I got her."
John B passes me as if I'm just a sack of potatoes to JJ. He makes a smarter choice and throws me over his shoulders, holding onto my legs so I don't kick his face.
Cleo is holding back her laugh, and I glare at her. She puts her hands up in surrender and points at wherever my brother had run off to.
"I did nothing, girl."
"I swear to God, I hate men."
JJ walks out of the house with me still on his shoulder, and I see John B running out with a bunch of clothes he barely can carry by himself.
"Portis, we're taking some clothes! Deal with it!"
"Big mistake!" Portis yells from the house. "You're just gonna make it worse for her!"
"Oh, he's de- JJ! Let me go! I'm going to smash his head so hard he-" I try to kick my feet but JJ's holding them tight. Instead, I use my fists, and hit him on his back, strong enough to be annoying but not so much to hurt him.
"Man, your girl is crazy." Cleo laughs from somewhere I can't see.
"That's what I love about her." JJ pats my ass.
"I swear to God, JJ, if you don't drop me now, I'll never touch your dick again. Ever."
Two seconds later I'm being dropped to the ground.