CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
the three horsemen of the apocalypse
Believe it or not, three people sleeping pressed together on the pullout couch outside JJ's porch is not as comfortable as it may sound.
And of course, no one listened to me when I begged for a quick stop at home for a shower and a change of clothes. You see... this is how I start noticing things are bad.
When we start running out of time for showers and combing hair and changing clothes... Yeah, that's when you know you're probably going to end up stranded on a deserted island. Again.
"Walk me through it one more time." JJ asks again.
"We've been over it five times, J." I roll my eyes, perching between the two front seats of the Twinkie.
"Okay, right there." John B aggressively points at the map opened on JJ's lap, not taking his eyes off the road. "That's where they're taking him. That's the site of the idol."
JJ glances back at me with a deadpan look, and then back at the map, and then back at John B, "You pointed to just South America, you understand that, right?"
"Yep." My brother simply nods his head.
"Awesome." I clap my hands together, "So that's all we know?"
"That he's somewhere in South America? So happy we have the map, then."
"You know, John B, South America has 12 countries, and nearly 400 million people-" I start speaking facts, half sarcastically, half unamused.
"How you know all that?" JJ asks, as I stretch out my arm to take the map from his hands.
"I watch documentaries with Pope all the time." I state, as if it was obvious.
I take the map with me, carefully placing it on the floor of the Twinkie. I sit down there, grabbing one of the markers from my bag.
John B is such a bad fucking driver that every bump he takes on the road makes me shift to the sides of the car. I have to grab the marker in between my teeth to not drop it while I search for another map in my bag.
"Documentaries, yeah, of course. How could I've missed that?" JJ replies sarcastically.
With the help of the second map, my eyes search for the Orinoco river in South America. It takes me a couple of minutes, but I find it.
I tighten the grip of my teeth on the cap of the marker, as I take it off. I slide it across the river, marking it with red ink to make it more visible. I put the cap back on, and toss the marker inside my bag again.
It is a long river. It almost makes a circle, but I'm able to distinguish that most of it flows through Venezuela, and a small part of it crosses to Colombia. Seeing the red ink on the map, I have to assume we're looking for a place in Venezuela, probably deep in the country, around some small town.
"Alright, guys." I say, picking up the map, and folding it so only the part where Venezuela is, is visible. "Statistically, we should assume they're going to Venezuela."
JJ takes the map from me, scanning the red inked marks on it. John B's eyes glance between it and the road a couple of times, before searching for my face through the rear view mirror.
"How do you know?"
"Well, dad talked about Orinoco, which mostly flows in Venezuela. I'm just hoping that's where El Dorado is."
"Jeez, you're so fucking smart!" JJ's eyebrows shoot up, almost as if he was surprised.
"Why are you acting like it's something new, asshole?" I playfully smack his arm.
"Pope's usually the smart one."
"Yeah, well, to be fair, they study together most of the time." John B nods his head, "Pains me to admit it, but she's smart."
"Ah!" I squeal, "This feels so good! Being back! Us three! The OGs! Me, leading the gang, with my two dumb boys trailing behind me..."
"We are not your boys, Brizo." John B scoffs, biting back a laugh.
"Yeah, we are, man." JJ pats his shoulder, chuckling.
"Okay, smarty pants, and where in Venezuela is dad?"
"That I don't know. That's your part of the plan, Johnny boy."
"Exactly." He says with a smug smile. "That's why we're going to the professor's house. He was at the site."
"Wait! Whoa, whoa! We're going to a house now with a dead body in it?!" JJ panics, waving his hands in the air, "That... That's where we're going?"
"You sure we can't stop by Pope's? He'd love this." I pout, remembering Pope's goal of becoming a coroner.
"Yes, we're going and no, we can't stop. We don't have time."
"Alright, John B and if the cops show up, you know what that makes us look like?"
"Yes."
"Okay, just making sure."
"Wouldn't be the first time neither of us is arrested, to be fair." My eyebrows shoot up for a second as my lips purse.
"Very funny, Bee J. Can we make it quick though? Just in and out."
"That's what she said." My lips curve into a sly smile, as my brother chuckles to himself.
"How am I right now the only one not making jokes and concerned about the plan?" JJ glances between John B and I.
"Uhm, I'm pretty sure both of us are in denial, plus the shock of this very exciting news about our father's fate."
"And Brizo copes with everything with sarcasm, you already know that." John B sighs, parking the Twinkie in front of what I assume is the professor's house.
"Yeah, that's fair."
The boys get off the Twinkie. I wait for JJ to slide open the door. When he does, he stretches out his hand, offering it to me.
"Milady," he bows down, helping me stand up and jump off the Twinkie.
"Such a gentleman, Maybank." I kiss his cheek, before letting go and allowing him to slide the door close.
"You two are disgusting." John B pretends to gag.
"So what you're telling me is that Blondie and you haven't fucked since Poguelandia, am I right?" I tilt my head, furrowing my brows.
"You're literally so annoying." John B puts his hands on his waist, glaring at me. "One day, I hope you choke on all the shit you talk."
"Whoa!" I let out a cackle, taking both of my hands to my mouth with wide eyes. "So I'm right, then?"
John B refuses to look at me, and that's how I know I'm right. I giggle to myself, trying to be quiet as I take the lead through the overgrown plants. I can hear John B complaining about me in whispers to his best friend. It only makes the whole situation funnier for me.
The back door of the house creaks when I push it open and tiptoe my way in. The dim light makes it hard to fully see the room around me. Still, I can clearly distinguish an empty table, and no sign of the body John B kept on describing on our way here.
"There's no one here, JB." I signal to the table.
"His body's gone...," He says, eyeing the table, "Sowell was right here."
"And Sowell was the..." JJ mutters.
"The professor."
"Right. No, I know what happened. They've already been here, John B." JJ states, "They sent in the sweepers and now probably decontaminated this entire room. There's nothing left. We should get out."
"They may have missed something." I say, scattering through the papers on top of the table.
"Yeah!" John B's voice rises slightly. "Maybe there's something!"
"Okay, what are we looking for then?" JJ asks exasperated.
"Anything to do with an archeological dig!"
"Oh, thanks. That really narrows it down."
"I'm trying!"
"Shut up, shitheads." I snap my fingers twice, calling for the attention of the boys. "Start looking!"
Each one of us takes a part of the house. I see John B out of the corner of my eye examining a bookshelf. He pays attention to the books and whatever papers are scattered around there.
I decide to pay more attention to the papers on the table. Most of them are paper articles about the rest of the people on the expedition. Most of the information in the news clippings were things we already knew. John B had explained everything he could.
"Wait! Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I hear JJ, and I turn around, furrowing my eyebrows, "Don't leave your fingertips, bro!"
I watch JJ use his own bandana to clean everything he has previously touched, and as he goes on cleaning, he still puts his hands and fingertips in everything he touches.
"This is a live crime scene, dude."
"JJ, there's not even a body here anymore." I say, biting down a laugh seeing his hands touching literally everything on their way.
"Yeah, you know, actually, I'm just gonna look in the kitchen, alright. No one ever checks the fridge."
"Yeah, go for that, man." John B addressed JJ, but doesn't pay attention to him.
I do, though. Mostly because I can hear my stomach growling. So I end up following JJ to the kitchen. He doesn't notice me getting closer, and is startled by my touch on his arm as he opens the fridge door.
There's not much food there, but what there is... A whole chicken sitting there. As well as some cold cuts, some cheese...
JJ and I look at each other briefly for a second, before throwing ourselves to the chicken. There's a bit of a struggle, but at the end he ends up winning and taking a wing. I have to settle for a portion of the cheese and some York ham.
JJ takes a bite of his chicken with a proud smile. I give him my middle finger and mouth I hate you, making him roll his eyes.
I've taught him well, though. He knows better than not to share. He stretches out his hand, allowing me to take a bite. And I do, relishing in the feeling of finally eating something after maybe one or two days. In exchange, I let him take a bite out of my cheese.
"Guys!" John B calls for us, and we turn around as two deers in headlights. My brother is looking between us too as if he can't believe his eyes. "What is it? Snack time? What are we doing?"
"Hey, don't be mean." I say, with my mouth full of chicken.
"Yeah, you know what? I feel very judged right now. Alright?"
"Sure."
"There's an entire bird in here that'll just go to waste, okay? We're not gonna let that happen. It's not like we're stealing it."
"Yeah! No one else is gonna eat it." I shrug, filling my mouth with some grapes I found in the fridge too.
"We were like, we'll take the nutrients that this beautiful bird gives us and fill the tank, all right?"
"We haven't eaten anything in like, two days- What's that?" I say, eyeing my brother's face liting up at some paper in his hands.
"Find something?"
"Yeah."
Both JJ and I rush to John B. We stand at either side of him, looking above his shoulder. He's holding up a clipping of a newspaper. There's a picture there, too. A bunch of people in what looks like a jungle.
"Local expedition team departs for South America." John B reads out loud.
"One of those is Sowell, right?" I voice my thoughts out loud.
"Right there." My brother points at a man in the picture. "Holy shit..." He mutters then.
"What?"
"Neville."
"Longbottom?" I frown. Both JJ and John B whip their heads to me, eyeing me as if I had grown two heads. "What?"
"The last thing Sowell said before he died was Neville."
"Oh, you should've said that first!" I scoff.
JJ reads out loud the name on the clipping, just above the image of a black man standing among Sowell and the rest of people, "Neville Persaud, expedition guide."
Realization hits JJ, and I know that because he's waving the chicken wing around with his mouth wide open in astonishment.
"So Sowell said five people on the expedition, right?" John B explains to us, "Three of those people died. Which leaves us with two."
John B puts up a two, and JJ lowers one of his fingers, "Sowell."
"And Neville." I say, as JJ points to the remaining finger. "He's the last one alive, isn't he?"
"Yeah, I think Sowell was telling me to warn him."
"We need to find Neville. Come on," JJ states firmly before rushing out the door.
"Wait, hold on, JJ!" I yell, hurrying to help my brother grab all the papers on the table.
We run to the Twinkie, and JJ opens the door for me. I jump inside, dropping the papers on the floor. I scatter them all over, trying to be able to look at them at the same time. In the meantime, John B and JJ get in, and my brother starts the car.
"See if you can find something about where Neville lives." John B says, glancing at me, sitting down on the floor in the middle of the sea of papers.
"Already on it, lil bro."
I reach for the red marker inside my bag. I put it between my teeth, while I search through the different papers, trying to find anything that could help us. I use the red ink to mark every time Neville's name was mentioned, but still, no clue about his residence.
"There's nothing in here." I sigh, after about ten minutes.
"Don't worry, I have an idea." JJ smirks, winking his eye at John B.
"Does it involve fire?" I grimace.
"Not this time."
"Alrighty, then."