I sat down on a chair across from Ward as John B was standing in front of me "We picked a good one, didn't we?" "Sure did." John B muttered and I sighed "Hit me again." Ward held up his glass and handed it to John B. "Ah... You know what? Hold the grapefruit juice on this one. Let's get this day on its feet." Ward told us and I gave him a small smile as John B poured him a drink. "In fact, you know what? Pour yourself and Liv one." "I'm, uh... I'm... I'm 16, sir." John B chuckled and I sighed "And I'm 17." I told him not wanting to drink, I didn't want to mess up my recovery.
"John, I know you're 16 and you're 17, okay? It's okay. It's just one drink. We're out here in the ocean. These are almost international waters." Ward said and John B looked at me then back to Ward. "We're celebrating." He said, me and John B looked at each other again and I nodded "Just one." "All right, all right." John B said and began pouring our drinks, but I noticed he just poured only grapefruit juice in my cup and I smiled. He always have protected me from everything except the things he didn't but he was there for me, he was family.
"Yes, sir. All right..." "Liv." John B said and handed me my cup "Thank you, Bird." I muttered and he shrugged. "See, here's the thing. I don't know if you know this, but you two are about to be fishing with a Grand Knight of the Rhododendron." Ward said and I nodded "I know you don't know what that is John, and it doesn't seem like a big deal, but... to me, it is, it means I'm a... I'm a trusted member of this community." Ward said and I looked at him then nodded "That means a lot to me. Trust." He said and I gave him a fake smile, after overhearing him talk with my dad and him kicking out Rafe, I don't think I could trust him, trust is a sacred thing and trust is not easy for me. I only trust the Pogues and Rafe right now.
"Absolutely, yeah." "Here's to trust, John B. Liv." Ward Toasted and I nodded "To trust." John B muttered and we all took a sip of our drinks and I acted like mine had alcohol in it. "Whew..." John B cleared his throat while Ward laughed "You guys okay?" "Yeah. No, I'm... I'm... Yeah." John B said and I nodded "Wait, I got one more. One more, I promise." Ward told us and smiled "I hear your girlfriend's pretty nice." He said and I smiled "And a good best friend." He said looking me and I nodded "To Sarah." "To Sarah." We all toasted then took another sip.
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I fished for a while but then lost interest since I never got a bite so I sat down and read my book I brought. "Anything?" "Nothin'." John B said and I sighed "Whew! Three hours trawling, one hour out here. We're getting skunked, son. Not a damn fish." "I stopped a half hour ago." I said and Ward looked down at me and smirked as I flipped to the next page in my book.
"I guess Guffy was right, huh?" Ward said and I nodded "Yup." I muttered putting emphasis on the "p". "You know, half the time I don't even care if I find fish. Just like bein' out here." Ward said and me and John B smiled, remembering that his dad said that too. "That's what my dad used to say." "John B, I wanna be real honest with you right now. I'm gonna ask you to do the same for me." Ward said and I looked up from my book and frowned "Okay." "All right. First thing I have to do is apologize to you." Ward said and John B frowned. "For what?" "I told you to stop lookin' for the Royal Merchant gold. And you didn't." Ward chuckled and I put my book away then stood up. "God damn it, you found it. You two found it." Ward said and John B smirked "I wish." He chuckled and Ward nodded "You can play it that way if you want. I won't force your hand. But I know that you did." He told us and I cleared my throat "Yeah... And it's amazing. Sincerely, it's unbelievable." Ward said and I raised an eyebrow, he knows something and I was curious to know how he found out.
"150 years, people been lookin' for that goddamn gold. None of 'em could find it. You two found it." Ward said and I shook my head "Here's the thing, kids. Finding it? That's where your fun ends. That's where all your problems begin. Ones you haven't even thought of. I mean, excavating it. You're probably trying now. If it's in water, how do you get it up? If it's on land, on somebody's property, and they catch you trying to take it? That's theft." Ward said and I frowned.
"Jesus, son, we are talkin' a massive amount of gold, John. You're 16. How are you gonna transport that gold? How are you gonna turn it into something in your bank account, something you can spend?" Ward told us and sighed "See what I'm saying? See the difficulties? This is what I'm talking about. The real truth, the hard truth is that, John, right now... you are way over your head. Both of you. You need me." Ward said and I straightened up, John B looked out Ward and sighed. "Let's do this together. I can make all those problems go away. That's my job. You and I will figure out an equitable split. I know you didn't do this on your own, that you have friends that helped you, so we cut them in." Ward said and I looked out at the water and Ward put a hand on my back. "Don't be so nervous. It's okay, all right? I'm just here to help you two. All you gotta do is trust me. What do you say? Wanna do this?" Ward said and John B and I looked at each other and I gave him a look and we both looked back at Ward. "I don't know what you're talkin' about." "Okay. Okay, John. Okay. All right, all right. We can play it that way. I think very quickly you'll come to realize there's really no other choice. I mean, I know, right? I know that you have it. I know that you've had a little taste of it." Ward said and I shook my head, he doesn't know when to give up. "We don't know what you're talking about." I told him and he nodded.
"I know a submersible went missing from the salvage yard, right? I know maybe that's how you got it out of the water.If it's on land, I know that you've been all... all around the Eight recently, okay? I know maybe it's something to do with Redfield. I know you asked for the map from Sarah, so I gave you the map from Tannyhill." He told us and we both frowned "What did you just say?" John B muttered and Ward frowned "I know... The map of Tannyhill." "What... what did you just say? The other thing." He asked again and I remembered John B told me about the word Redfield was carved into the watch that my uncle had. "How do you know about Redfield?" John B asked and Ward just chuckled "Unless you have my father's compass. And if you have the compass, then you knew to search for it, right?" John B told him and Ward just kept chuckling.
"Do you hear how crazy you're being?" "Yes, yes. I'm listening! Redfield! You said Redfield, did you not?" John B said and got closer to Ward. " "Redfield" was the last message my father left before he disappeared. You know about his disappearance, don't you?" John B asked and I frowned. What if that's what my father was talking about with Ward yesterday? What if my dad had something to do with Big John's disappearance?
"Don't... don't... don't fucking lie to me, Ward. I can see that you do." John B said and he looked to me then to John B. "Let's see what the sheriff has to say about this... Goin' home." John B growled and grabbed my hand "C'mon." He muttered pulling me towards the helm. I stood behind John B and I held my hands on my hips "John B." I muttered and he turned his head to tell me he was listening and I sighed "I think... I think my dad knows what happened to your dad." I told him and suddenly I heard metal hitting metal and i frowned then turned around to see Ward with a gaft hook. My eyes widened as he swung it at me and it sliced my arm then he pushed me down and I hit the side of my head on the railing of the boat knocking me out.
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John B
I watched as Liv got knocked down and my eyes widened, Ward kept swinging the gaft hook at me and I tried to dodge it "Get back, John B. Get back! Get away from the throttle!" He kept yelling and I held my hands up in defense "Okay! Okay!" "Stay back! We're not going anywhere till you listen! Okay!" He yelled and I frowned, then looked at Liv to see if she was still breathing which she was but her arm was bleeding. "Okay! Relax!" "You understand? Just stop! It wasn't my fault! It was your father, okay? It was your father that tried to change..." he said and I glared at him. "You piece of shit!" I yelled and i lunged at him but he pushed me towards the railing and caused me to roll off the side of the boat.
I groaned in pain and I remembered Liv was still up there "Liv." I whispered and I got up and went around the boat, I saw the radio box and I decided to call for help. "Mayday. Mayday." I said into the mic and I heard static "Repeat?" Someone said and I sighed "This is the..." the line went static and i frowned "Hello? If anybody's hearing this, this is the My Druthers! Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. Can anybody hear me? Mayday, mayday, mayday! Oh, my God. Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. This is the My Druthers, call time..." the line went dead and suddenly I heard Ward scream and I looked up to see he was about to swing the gaft hook at me but I dodged him "Oh shit!" I yelled and he sung the hook at me but I caught it with my cast arm.
Olivia
When I came to my head was pounding, I groaned in pain as I looked down at my arm to see it was bleeding but I didn't care because I needed to find John B. I heard commotion and I made my way down to the bottom deck and I saw Ward and John B fighting, I grabbed the nearest weapon I could think of which was a fishing rod. I swung it at Ward hitting him in the back and he fell to the ground "John B." I gasped and pulled him up "Are you okay?" He asked me and I nodded "I'm fine. Are you good?" I asked and he nodded then pushed me back as Ward lunged for me and John B punched him in the face "Go, go! Go!" He yelled and pushed me towards the ladder. We went up to the cabin and John B rummaged through the sofa and grabbed the emergency gun, Ward came to the door and John B pulled me behind him "Stay right there! Don't move! Don't move!" John B yelled and pointed the gun at him.
"I swear I'll kill you, Ward." "Do it. Do it, John B. I know you want to." Ward taunted him and I shook my head "fuck, shut up." "But then... you'd have my body to deal with. Believe me, it's more complicated than it seems. Your father knew that." Ward said looking at me and I frowned "But hey, if you..." he started and threw the hook at us and the ammo hit the back wall almost hitting Ward and he lunged at us grabbing the gun which made me scream. I tried pushing Ward off of John B but he pulled towards me and bumped into me making me fall on the couch, I got up and I ducked down "John B!" I yelled and he looked at me and knew what to do, he pushed Ward and he knocked his legs into me making him fall and as he was distracted we made a run for it.
We locked ourselves in one of the rooms and I looked around for something "John B, what do we do now?" "I got a plan." He said pointing to the ceiling to see a opening and I nodded, we climbed on top of the bed and he helped me up.
I opened the latch and went through the window, my arm was burning but I tried to ignore it, I helped John B up then we saw the Wave-runner and John B put it over the water. "Oh no, John B, I can't!" "Look Liv, we got to. It's the only way to survive this and get the truth about my father." He said and he jumped onto the wave-runner. I looked up to see Ward and my eyes widened "Liv, c'mon!" John B yelled and I jumped onto the Wave-runner behind John B and something passed by my head almost hitting me. John B released the cable holding the wave-runner up and we landed in the water "Let's go!" I yelled and John B pushed the gas and we made our way to shore.
I looked behind us and I saw the My Druthers gaining on us and my eyes widened "He's getting close!" "I can loose him!" John B yelled and I held onto him tightly as we kept heading forward, we finally got far ahead of the boat and made it to the marsh until we stopped "No! No." "John B what's wrong?" I asked and he sighed "We're out of gas... we're gonna have to swim the rest of the way." "John B..." he saw the worry on my face and he grabbed my hand. "It will be okay. Hey, I got you. Just get on my back, c'mon." He said and I looked around and I sighed. "Okay." I muttered then John B stood up then jumped into the water, I gently climbed off of the wave-runner and wrapped my arms around John B's neck. "I gotcha. You can do this okay, I won't let you drown." John B said and I nodded and he swam all the way to Mrs. Lana's.
We walked up to her door damp, dripping from head to toe and Mrs. Lana turned to us "I need to know." John B muttered and she invited us in.