JJS POV:
We arrive at 101 cattle wash, where we suspect they're holding Darl hostage.
We sneak through the back garden hedges, getting to the centre. "All right. Quiet. Just gotta get Darla and leave."
"Window?" John b points to a small window we could possibly fit through.
"Yeah, go." Pope nods.
As they're climbing up and trying to budge through the window, I wait from behind.
Suddenly I feel crawling on my foot.
"What the- dude. Get off." I spot crabs nipping at me.
"Get- Get off. Get- OW!" One bites down on me, causing me to jump back.
The crab flies up to my arm when I kicked my leg up, I shake it off, running frantically.
"What the hell, JJ?" Pope whisper shouts.
I flick it off, getting away from the crabs.
"Overreacting much?" Kie shrugs.
"Turned my thumb purple!" I complain, holding up my bitten thumb.
"Stop being a a baby." Cleo scoffs. "Just a crab."
"You're just a crab." I mumble.
"What?"
John b whistles, notifying us that the windows open.
We all climb through.
We take different parts of the house. "Darl?"
"Darl?" I whisper, poking my head into a room. "Darla?"
I walk into the room, seeing if I can find any signs of her presence.
I walk out. "Not here."
"Not in the bathroom either." Sarah shakes her head.
"Is there any sort of store room?" Kie suggests.
"No." Cleo comes back from her searching area.
"Okay, well if she's not here then where is she?" I feel myself panic a little bit.
I walk around, ruffling through files and papers, just nothing but billing and news shit.
I turn around to see Pope staring at something. "John b." He whispers.
They look at a painting.
"What is it?" I say, running over to see if it's a clue.
"It's a burning boat." I blink.
"This is San Jose." Pope corrects me. "The ship Denmark transported the cross on."
I cock an eyebrow. "And, whatever. This is about the gold, doesn't have anything to do with Darla."
"JJ can you just like.. calm down for a minute? It's Darla we're talking about, she can defend herself pretty well." John b turns to me as I begin to walk away from the painting.
I stare at him. "So what, you don't give a shit about her? It doesn't matter how physically smart she is. We need to help her. There was her and about fifty men kidnapping her."
"Can you stop being so love impacted for like.. a minute?" Pope says, getting mad.
"What? How is caring about my friend 'love impacted'?" I argue.
"We know you're in love but like.."
"I'm not in love." I blurt.
They all go a bit quiet.
"I don't love her."
It hurt to try and admit that. I do love her. Of course I do. But I cant. I'm my fathers son, after all. I'll hurt her. I will.
"Alright." Pope scratches the back of his ear.
"Gee." Cleo whistles.
Suddenly we hear a vehicle approaching.
We all bolt to the windows.
"That's Portis." Sarah whispers.
"Shit." I murmur. "Yo, he's back." I say to Pope and John b.
"Do we run?" Sarah whispers.
I shake my head. "Split 'n hide."
"Go!" John b whispers and bolts quickly to another room.
I duck down behind a wall, Kie follows quickly after.
We're crouched over, waiting for him to come out.
"Hey, Jayj." She says.
I look over. "Yeah?"
"Don't mind them, they're bugging you about Darla." She whispers so no one can pick up her voice.
I sigh and nod. "Yeah."
"I know what it's like to feel.. forced.. into a relationship." She shrugs. "It's shitty."
I squint, because why is that her biggest concern. "Sure."
"Just saying." She smiles.
I smile back before getting ready to pounce out at Portis.
I hear his voice, he's complaining about the crabs.
Suddenly he goes silent.
I look over at Pope, who's in my sight, but not seen by Portis.
He nods at me.
I run for it, clocking Portis in the side of the head.
We all beat him a little before tying him up and throwing him out on the table on the decking for interrogation.
Cleo holds a knife to his throat.
"You.. you guys probably shouldn't be here right now." He shakily says.
"Where is she, Jimmy?" I say, gripping to his collar.
"Answer the man!" Cleo yells.
"You really don't wanna know." He groans.
"Talk." Sarah says, randomly holding up a cold hot sauce bottle to his neck.
I raise an eyebrow at her.
"Who took her? Was it Ward?" She shouts.
Portis laughs. "Ward? Who's Ward? You guys really don't know who you're messing with."
"We'll call the cops." Kie shrugs.
"Sure, call the cops." He cackles. "See how far that gets you, this guy owns the cops. He's got eyes looking all over the island for you, all of you."
I stare at him angrily, if he doesn't tell me where my Darla is I swear I'll slice that throat.
"He's the kingfish."
"Kingfish?" I think..
"Hey! What's this?" Pope holds up a brown envelope.
"Take your hands off my shit." Portis tries to break free.
"Not so easy." Cleo holds the knife closer.
Pope takes a wad of cash out of the envelope.
"Ah, man." Portis cries.
"What's that, Jimmy? Is that the pay-off? Is that the pay-off for Darla, Jimmy? Is it!" I yell in his face.
"Hey, what's Vaux-Hall?" Pope asks.
Portis' eyes widen. "You really don't wanna go there, man. That's the lions den."
"That's it. That's where Darl is. Come on, guys." John b yells, starting to run.
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DARLAS POV:
I lay on the bed, in the dress and ready to be let out of the room.
I hold my arm from the stinging, I've run it under cold water for an hour now. It still stings.
I trace the markings of it, hopefully it doesn't scab up too nastily.
Suddenly there's three knocks on the door.
I sit up, grabbing the red satin dress from beneath me and standing up, waiting for whoever's at the door to open it.
The housekeeper walks in. "He's ready."
I brush down my dress.
She steps aside, making room for me to walk out.
I walk out, passing her, she walks beside me.
I walk down the steps, a bit nervous for whatever's about to happen.
The housekeeper holds out her hand, pointing to a living area.
I walk in, seeing a man in a grey suit, his back facing me as he pours tequila.
"Uh, excuse me?" I say.
The man turns around.
my heart drops.
It's Rafe.
"Darla?" He gasps a little with his words.
"Oh, I knew you and Ward were behind this shit." I walk over, infuriated.
"What are you talking about, are you trying to weasel in on my deal?" He says, walking closer to me.
I shake my head. "How much sicker can you get, hm?"
"Yeah, I wondered if your little reunion would cause sparks, you know." We hear another man say from far.
I look over to the voice to see a man looking out the window, turning to look at us.
He was tanned skinned, a beard, a little short and had dark hair and a grey suit.
I clench my fist.
"Who are you?" Rafe asks.
"Me?" The man points to himself. "My name is Carlos Singh. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Cameron."
I cross my arms, wondering just what the fuck is going on.
"And Ms. Miracle, I do apologise for the rough tactics in bringing you here." He says to me.
I nod.
"But please, come. Sit down."
I look over at Rafe, he looks at me.
I look him up and down before walking towards Singh, sitting down.
Rafe walks over and sits down also. "Rough tactics. What about me?"
"Yes, Mr. Cameron, false pretenses. But the ends justify the means, I'm afraid." He pours a glass or three of tequila.
"We do have a lot to talk about." The man says, holding glasses.
"Why are we here." I say blandly, after waiting for an answer for hours.
"Well, Ms. Miracle, Mr. Cameron, we share certain interests, you know." He nods. "Objectives."
"I thought this was to do with the cross." Rafe says. "That's why I came."
"It is." The man smiles.
I roll my eyes, dirty looking Rafe.
He looks at me. "You don't own everything."
I cross my arms. "It's my best friends, I cant believe you're still just so selfish."
"Please, Darla." Rafe laughs.
"Excuse me." Singh half-yells. "I was talking, you know."
I look up at Singh. "Right."
"Tangentially, it is about the cross, but it is also about something much, much bigger than the cross." He continues, looking up at a painting on the wall. "By orders of magnitude. The completion of a grand quest."
I scrunch my eyebrows as he eyes this weird ass painting.
"You see, the story goes that 450 years ago, a Spanish solider came out of the Orinoco Basin with a few gold beads. And when they asked the Spanish solider where the beads came from, the Spanish Solider replied he got them from a peaceful Indigenous tribe. Who lived in a city of gold. El dorado. And for the next 450 years, people tried to find that gold, you know. They tried. Conquistadors, knights, captains of ships, tribes, entire nations. All fighting eachother in a race for the end of the rainbow. And it falls to me to complete the task. " Singh blabbers on, he's very quick with explaining.
He looks at me, then Rafe. "And both of you have stuff that I need to complete my task."
I blink. "What do I play in this."
"As for you, I've come to believe you and your friends are in possession of something that can help me get what I want." He nods.
"Which is?" I say.
"An old manuscript."
I stare blankly at him.
"Don't be stupid girl. You know you have the diary." He laughs, walking closer to my seat.
I chuckle a little. "I wish I knew what you were talking about, because this story is amazing.. but what diary."
"Perhaps you're playing dumb, thinking lying will save you." He stops in front of me. "Yet lying will only make it worse. Let me remind you."
He walks over to a table and picks up a newspaper before walking back over and handing it to me.
I look at it, shocked to see my history teacher. The headline saying 'History Teacher in the Outer Banks of North Carolina found an ancient captains log of the Royal Merchant ship.'
I look back up at him after reading, play dumb.
"Sorry, Carlos. But you chose the wrong person to help you with this job."
"Hm." He sighs. "Okay, Ms. Miracle."
"I don't know bout anything you're talking about." Rafe chirps in.
"This is ridiculous, I don't know anything about a diary." I add on.
"How else could you have learned that the cross was on the Royal Merchant?" Singh says in a low tone.
"Look. I want to help you. But I cant." I shrug, helpless.
"I was hoping you wouldn't say that, you know." He sighs. "Because unfortunately I don't believe you. You and your friend here couldn't have found the cross without it."
I hear the word 'friend' being referred to Rafe and I stop. He's no friend. He is a stranger to me and has been since the day he put his hands around my throat. The grip he held still stains my neck and the words he spat into my face makes me to sick to my stomach. I hope he knows that nothing can ever change the way I feel about him now.
"He's not my friend." I immediately state, tensed. Without looking at him.
Singh looks over at Rafe. "We can't all be friends, you know."
"Look, this is ridiculous. Okay? I'm out." Rafe stands up and brushes himself off as I look up at him. "I don't know anything about a diary, okay? So.." He begins walking away before he's stopped by an armed guard.
"Do I look like a fool to you, Mr. Cameron?" Singh says as Rafe stares at the guard. "Do I look like a fool to you?"
Rafe turns to look at him as I sit back and observe.
"You have the cross." Singh walks over to him. "She and she friends had the cross at one point. So one of you has the diary."
Rafes attention turns to me, in which I coldly stare back at him.
"And if you really don't know, then I suggest you convince your friend to tell me."
I look down.
"Once I have the diary, you're free to leave."
He gestures for me to walk with him upstairs, dragging Rafe along.
He guides us to the room I was sitting and waiting in earlier.
We stand in it.
"I'm not a man of infinite patience." He turns to us. "Go to the window for demonstration."
He pats Rafe on the shoulder on his way out. "I think you'll enjoy it, you know."
He closes the door and we hear the key turn in it. Confirming it locked.
Rafe bangs on the door. "Hey, hey!"
"It's locked." I blandly state, walking over to the window and pulling the curtain back to see out of it.
We see someone being pushed along outside, he's fighting the guards.
I notice his face.
It's Portis.
I gasp a little.
"What?" Rafe says.
I ignore him, watching.
"Who the hell is that guy?" He bugs me again.
I roll my eyes. "I know him, it's Jimmy Portis. He was trying to help me."
Rafe looks over at me as we're tightly watching out the window.
We see Singh come out, looking up at us while he takes out a gun.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Rafe croaks.
My breath quickens as he disappears behind the wall Portis was escorted behind.
We both jump as the gunshot fires.
I hold my heart.
"Darla. Darla he shot him."
My eyes tear as I realise the worse the situation is.
"This diary. Hey, no bullshit." He makes me look at him.
My eyes are wide as he pants with fear. "Do you have it."
I don't answer, too afraid.
"Darl."
I shakily breath. "No."
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It was the next morning. I had barely slept last night. I forced Rafe to sleep on the floor.
They provided me with gray silk pyjamas.
I slip over to the window and start knocking. "Hey! Hey." I whisper. "I need to talk to Mr. Singh."
"What are you doing?" I hear Rafe say.
I look over my shoulder, then back at the window. "Hey, you! I need to talk to Mr. Singh."
"Shut up. Shut up, Darla!" He stands up and stumbles over to me. "What are you doing?"
"Like I owe you an explanation, and get away from me." I spit, brushing past him and walking to the door.
"Think for a minute, Darl." He groans.
I bang on the door. "Hello?"
"What are you doing, seriously!" He walks over.
"Don't talk to me!" I hold my other hand up. "Hello? Anyone?" I continue knocking.
He walks into my view. "You're lying about this diary thing."
I side eye him.
"You know where it is." He whispers.
I turn fully to him. "No, I don't, Rafe."
"You don't? Okay." He sarcastically nods.
I walk past him, "You wish." Back to the window and banging on it.
"He's never going to believe we don't know something, all right? He killed that man!"
He touches my shoulder and I slap it off. "Hey!"
I stare at him.
"Look around, Darl." He shakes his head. "I'm the only friend you got."
I cross my arms. "I'd rather work alone."
The door unlocks and a guard walks in.
I storm over.
"Hey." Rafe yells. "Don't!"
"I need to speak with Mr Singh. It's urgent."
The guard nods. "Yes."
I walk out the door quickly and the guard closes it behind me, locking it.
He walks me down stairs.
I walk into the living room and see Mr. Singh sitting there.
He looks up at me.
I clench my fists. "I lied. I know about the diary."
He smirks.
"I don't have the original, but I can get you a copy." I sigh.
"I'm relieved to hear you say that, you know." He chews on an olive. "May I offer you something to eat?"
I shake my head. "I'm not hungry."
"Relax. Nothings gonna happen to you now. You're cooperating." He nods.
"I just want to get you what you want, and then I want to leave." I shakily say.
"Look, I know where it is. But the journey is dangerous. I'd have to go by myself, alone."
He chuckles, shaking his head. "How would I know that you'd come back? You know, I need some collateral."
I hesitate to say the following sentence, but exhale. "You can keep Rafe."
"Rafe." Singh laughs. "How did someone so young get into so much trouble?"
"Look, I know where the diary is. And if you let me go I can get it to you." I plead.
"I built this fortune myself, from nothing. You know how that happened? I can assure you it was not by being a fool. Don't waste my time."
I clench my jaw. "I'm not. You're not listening to me. I can get it to you."
"And why might you need to go alone?" He says.
Make something up. Make something up.
"It's located in a place too crowded, too guarded. If I go with a huge gang, you'd be arrested from suspicion."
"You're really funny, Ms. Miracle. But that diary holds the key to the ultimate conquest. And that, my young friend, is my destiny. So you need to tell me where it is or I'm gonna.."
Suddenly his phone pings.
He walks over to it and i exhale from holding my breath.
He chuckles as he looks at his message.
I nervously stare at him.
He holds his phone up. "Amazing. A text from our friend Jimmy Portis. From beyond the grave apparently. It seems Mr. Portis had captured your friends."
I stare at the message, seeing John b and Sarah.
I just know this was one of JJ's stupid plans.
"Ryan!" Singh calls out, walking away.
"No, no, no. Not my friends, please don't hurt my friends." I cry out, but the guard grabs me.
"No!" I gasp as the guard escorts me back upstairs.
"Don't you hurt them!" I yell at Singh on the staircase.
"Your time is ticking, Ms. Miracle. Ticking fast." He shrugs, walking out the door.
I cry out as I realise they're not going to be able to fight off all of these guards.
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