CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
liberation mission
John B hasn't let me drive the Twinkie in a while. I'm not gonna lie, I'm actually terrified of somehow damaging the car. I have zero doubts that John B would murder me in the blink of an eye.
I park the car in front of Kiara's house. Her parents are outside, sitting on the stairs holding hands. Not a good sign if you ask me.
"They don't look too happy to see us." I mumble under my breath as I take the keys out of the ignition.
"All right, let's do this, babe." JJ exhales. Both of us step out of the car. JJ fakes a smile, "Howdy, y'all. Lovely afternoon."
"JJ, Brizo, do not come on my property." Mike Carrera puts up his hand, "Not even a little bit."
I raise my hands up in surrender. JJ looks at me out of the corner of his eye, and bows his head down, taking a step back while I step forward, closing the car's door after me.
"You know why we're here," my jaw clenches as I take a breath, "We want to see Kiara. We were supposed to hear from her, and we haven't yet, so-"
Anna stands up and carefully walks down the stairs of her porch, getting closer to us. She puts her hand on her waist while she rests her other hand on the handrail. Her expression says she's tired, or maybe sad. Might even be both.
"Brizo, she's not here."
"Like we're supposed to believe that?" JJ chuckles, "All right, um, well, then where is she?"
But I know where she is. They've sent her away. They really sent their only daughter away.
"JJ, she's not here." I tell him, holding Mike's stare with my chin held up.
"Yeah, let's just say you're not gonna see her for a while. All right?"
"So you've really decided the best thing for her was to get rid of her?" I voice my thoughts out loud as a muscle in my jaw twitches.
"We sent her someplace where she can try and rebuild what you and your friends destroyed."
I can't hold back the laugh that comes out of my mouth. Kiara's parents give me a dirty look, however I can't stop. Anna looks at me with a scowl. JJ has slowly made his way to me around the car, slowly grabbing my wrist and pulling me back.
"You really don't know shit about your own daughter, uh?" I keep laughing. "You think a wilderness camp is gonna change the fact that she's a Pogue at heart?"
"Bee..." JJ's tone gives me a warning.
"No, stop. They need to hear it." I shake JJ's hold of my wrist. "They really are some Kooks."
Mike Carrera smirks before jumping down the set of stairs in the blink of an eye. Anna has to physically stop him from getting to me, while JJ has to grab me and force me to get inside the Twinkie.
JJ forces me to get on the passenger's seat, grabbing the keys from my hand. Mike has broken free from his wife, and keeps yelling at us to not get near his family ever again. JJ has given me a warning look to not make things worse, that's the only reason why I'm keeping my mouth shut as he drives the car further away from the Carrera's home.
"Fuck," I rub my eye with the heel of my hand, "How the fuck are we gonna find her?"
"I got an idea, hold on."
JJ pulls out his phone from his pocket, ignoring me saying that he shouldn't be driving and using his phone. He says that's literally the safest thing we've done in a year. Which is fair.
"Ricky," JJ exclames with urgency.
"Ricky? Seriously?" The corners of my eyes crinkle.
"What was the name of that wilderness camp that Uncle Larry sent you to? Remember the one I'm talking about?" There's a pause and then JJ yells, "Ricky, screw your chickens!"
"Chickens? What?" I knit my eyebrows, smacking JJ's bicep, "What the hell?"
"I need to know what's the name of the wilderness camp that you got sent to in ninth grade for being a perv?!"
"Oh, God..." I cover my eyes with my hands, throwing my head back on the headrest.
"My bad, all right? All I need to know is, what's the name?"
JJ tilts his chin, signaling to the map on the dashboard. My hands fumble when I reach my arms out to grab it. I open it as quickly as I can, just as JJ says the name out loud.
"Kitty Hawk Camp."
Of course there's no names of camps on the map, I need a little bit more information to know where the fuck we're going.
"Funny. All right, that's all I need. Thank you for the information, cuz. I'll talk to you soon." JJ hangs up, and hands me his phone.
"Where is it?" I ask.
"It's outside the city, near the coastal swamp."
"All right, that's good. We're good."
"Call your brother. We're not gonna be back in an hour."
"He's not gonna like that." I say exhaling, taking JJ's phone to my ear as I hand him the map. I tap my finger on the paper, signaling the road he has to take.
"Yo, JJ?" My brother's voice comes through the phone.
"It's me, JB." I say, pinching the bridge of my nose, "So, uh, listen. Little change of plans. They sent Kie to the wilderness camp."
"Oh, no."
"We're gonna get her. So... we're gonna need about...," I glance at JJ. He mouths to me eight hours, which makes me widen my eyes, "about eight hours for liberation."
"Eight hours?!" John B yells, "Bee J, we don't have eight hours! We've got a jet here. We're all waiting!"
"I know, John, I know!" I yell back, "Just- Just hold out as long as you can. If you gotta go, we'll meet you there."
"What about not leaving any Pogue behind, Bee J?" My brother reminds me of my own words, "You think that doesn't include you?"
I bite the inside of my cheek. I'm not sure what to say now. It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes miracles happen and this is one of those times - John B is right.
"I know, John B. I know. Just- I'll be there. South America, I promise-"
Our tires screech as the Twinkie swings to the side. JJ yells out a curse and I try to get a hold of the bar above my head to not fall out of my seat. JJ stops the car, and looks out of the window.
"Damn! Piece of shit!" He yells, opening the door and getting out of the car.
"JB, I gotta go. I promise I'll be there with you." I say, before hanging up the phone. I hear JJ open the back, and I turn on my seat, watching him, "What happened?"
"We got a flat tire." He scoffs as he grabs the tools and a wheel from the back angrily.
I hear a car engine coming closer. My suspicions are confirmed when JJ turns his head around to see who's coming. When he looks back at me, the color on his face has completely drained.
"Stay there. Don't move. Don't make a sound. Keep your head down."
I do as he says, feeling my pulse in my ears and my heart starting to hammer loudly on my chest. I huddle down in my seat, trying to keep myself hidden from whoever is coming. I can't see anything, I only can hear JJ and some door's closing.
"Really?" I hear JJ's voice. "After everything you just put me through, and you shoot out my... my friend's tire! That's not even my van!"
Shoot?
"You lost the load, JJ."
That voice. I know that voice.
That's Barracuda Mike.
"Now instead of me getting paid, I owe them."
My hands tremble as I reach out for the glove box. I pull it open, searching for JJ's gun or anything similar that can be a weapon to defend ourselves. There's nothing there but papers and destroyed copies of Denmark's diary.
"Which I guess means you owe me, right?"
"I know, Barr-"
"Get in the car!"
There's a pause, a silence. I don't know what JJ is planning to do, but it can't be a good idea. I cover my mouth with my hand, suffocating the whimpers and trying to control the tears rolling down my cheeks.
"As much as I would like to," JJ's unsure voice reaches my ears, "My girlfriend is waiting for me, so..."
"You heard him. Get in the car." Another man's voice reaches my ears.
"Okay," I hear JJ again, "If that's how it's gonna be."
Is he really going to get in their car? Is he really going to leave me? No. That can't be. He must be thinking of something else. He has a plan. JJ always has a plan.
"Look, I know you've heard the stories." He speaks again. "About me and my friends, a little something called the Royal Merchant. A pile of gold. Is that ringing any bells?"
Yes. Yes. Keep going. Keep talking. Offer them gold, money. Whatever they want.
"I heard some bullshit."
"Well, that bullshit's real." JJ says firmly, "And yeah, we found it."
"Yeah, I saw. That's why you got a bunch of dudes throwing your furniture in a dumpster out back your house? You're living high off the hog, bro."
"Yeah, you're talking about the house that's being foreclosed? The cover? The one to throw off the scent? Rule number one, don't do flashy shit, like pay off a mortgage when you're cashing in."
My hand flies to the papers inside the glove box again. I just remembered something we hid in here, just in case we ever needed it again. My hands fumble among the papers until my fingers reach something hard and cold.
I wrap my fingers around the cylindrical object, and I carefully pull it out. I smile to myself, wiping away the tears from my face.
Denmark's spyglass. From back when he found his wife's burial and the Cross of Santo Domingo.
"Stop. Let me guess." Mike Barracuda says, "You, uh... you got that gold. It's buried somewhere in a barn, right?"
"No," I yell out loud, closing my eyes as I take a deep breath. I grip the spyglass in my hand harshly and open the door of the van slowly.
When I come out, there's a man pointing a gun at me, and Mike Barracuda's eyes flash with anger between me and JJ.
"What the fuck are you doing?" JJ says through gritted teeth.
"I know you think we're lying," I get closer to them, "but we're not. I can prove it."
Mike Barracuda doesn't say anything. I raise my hand, the one holding the spyglass. Mike tilts his chin up, eyeing me with curious eyes. He gestures with his hand for his companion to lower the gun.
"This is Denmark Tanny's spyglass." I explain with trembling hands, "He survived the wreck of the Merchant. This alone," I say, wiggling the object in the air, "is worth a million."
"How is that thing worth a million?" Mike scowls.
"Historical value."
"That doesn't pay my debts, girl."
"I know. But you can keep it, if you want. Take this as a- as a deposit. Until we get the gold."
"Oh, I see." Mike chuckles. "So I just let you go, and you'll run to your barn and you'll get the gold, and we'll split it, right?"
"Actually, it's a little sweeter than that." JJ intervenes, trying to help me. "Look, let's just forget about the Merchant gold. That's just the tip of the iceberg."
JJ carefully gets closer to Barracuda Mike, making my heart hammer in my chest faster with each step he takes. My mouth feels dry, doesn't matter how much I swallow there seems to be something still stuck in my throat.
"We're going after the main course right now. All right? We're going after the mother lode."
"That's why we need to get down to South America." I add, "This thing here," I show him the spyglass again, "is the key to find the gold." I lie through my teeth.
"Mike, come on, man. My girl and I are trying to help you. By giving you the opportunity to make ten times more. No skin off your nose. Just a lottery ticket."
There's a shift in Barracuda Mike's eyes, there's a twinkle of desire, of greed. We're getting through to him. He just needs a little bit more of persuasion.
"So, in this hand, you can get the pleasure of beating my ass right here, right now. I honestly get that temptation, I really do."
"But Mike, imagine yourself with a pile of gold. It's real," I nod my head, forcing a smirk that matches JJ's, "It's sitting and waiting for you, and all you need to have is a little bit of patience."
"And a flight to South America." JJ adds.
Barracuda Mike lets out a groan, hitting with his fist the roof of his car, startling both JJ and me. But then, a miracle. He turns around and laughs, holding out his hand for JJ to take it. My boyfriend laughs nervously, shaking the old man's hand and pulling apart as quickly as he can.
"Okay, kids. You got a deal. But if you screw me up again-"
"Yeah, we know. We're dead." I finish his sentence, nodding my head.