season one ; episode four { Spy Games }
chapter sixteen
THE ROUTLEDGE TWINS arrived at the Château. Their heads hung low with disappointment after not finding the gold they thought would be with the shipwreck that was the Royal Merchant. Brooklyn tried to rake her brain to figure out if there's any other place it could be but she was clueless.
John B pushed open the door, throwing his and hers bags on the ground and throwing himself down on a chair with Brooklyn who turned her head to see Cheryl, the DCS worker. "Hey, guys."
"You know, Cheryl, it's kinda of a bad time for a check-in." John B told her, snatching some left over food from a few nights ago.
"Not a check-in. We're here to take you both."
The twins shared a look. This woman really did have the shittest timing. "Today? Really?"
"It's just for a few weeks until your hearing."
"No, no, no. Cheryl, look, we are not going into foster care, okay?" Brooklyn stated, running her hand through her hair annoyed. "We are not gonna go be a part of your little system."
The sound of a radio beeping made their heads turn. Behind them was a police officer. "Guys, this is Deputy Thomas." The two siblings stepped away from the scary officer. "He works with juveniles for the sheriff's department." The two walked over to Cheryl. "Look, I know Uncle T is down in Mississippi working at a casino. He hasn't been here in months."
"What?" John B scoffed. John B attempted to run past the officer but he caught on and stepped in front of the boy. "No, see, that's my nightmare right there. Look, I- I- we want emancipation."
Brooklyn shot her brother a look. Did he even know what emancipation was? "Emancipation from who? There's nobody here but you two."
"Uh... asylum, then."
"On what grounds."
"On- on solid grounds. On holy grounds. Look, I feel real- real prosecuted right now by you and... especially Mr. Big Head over here." Brooklyn punched his arm as he clearly had no idea what he was talking about and it was just embarrassing.
The officer shot the twins a look. "What are you lookin' at, bro? What're you gonna do? You gonna tase us?" Brooklyn scoffed.
John B attempted to run off again and again and again but each time the officer caught him. John B threw some old cereal at him which only resulted in him grabbing John B and lifting him up.
"Get the fuck off him!" Brooklyn yelled, trying to grab onto John B.
"That's enough!" Cheryl yelled. The guard freed John B, letting him breath again.
"Okay, I give up."
The twins were sent to their rooms to pack their crap up. Brooklyn didn't even know what to pack. She just grabbed the nearest backpack, shoved in a bunch of t-shirts and shorts into the bag along with a couple of photos of her dad and brother. She let out a small sigh as she shoved in the photo of her and JJ from the third grade.
John B raised a photo of their dad up to Cheryl. "See this, Cheryl? Do you know who this is? Yeah, it's our dad. And do you know what he wanted? He wanted me and Brooke to stay here, at home, together, and you're taking us away from home and will probably separate us. Do you understand that?"
"It's the law, John B."
"The law." He scoffed.
The twins were dragged into a cop SUV, the two sat in the backseat. Brooklyn was silent, she didn't have any words to describe how she was feeling. She didn't want to be split up from the one guy who has been there with her for her entire life but it sure she knew that they were more than likely gonna split up.
She felt a touch on her hand which made her gaze turn from the window to her brother. John B wrapped his hand around her fingers, giving them a small squeeze of comfort. "It's okay. I have a plan."
John B turned back to the window, holding a picture of their dad near the slightly open window. As they continued to drive, the photo slipped through John B's hands and out the window of the car.
"No, stop, stop, stop. Please stop! My picture! It's the last picture of my dad. Please." John B begged.
"Not gonna happen, kid."
"Come on. Stop the car." Brooklyn demanded. "That's all my brother has got. Stop the car. Please."
"Pull over." Cheryl murmured.
"You want me to pull over?"
"Just pull over."
"Thank you." The car was pulled over and the cop climbed out of the car and walked behind the car to search for the photo.
The twins looked in the back window to see he wasn't even looking in the right place. "Cheryl, can we please help him look? Please?"
"He's got it."
"This idiot. He's not looking in the right place. It's gonna get trashed. Cheryl, please."
"Please, Cheryl. It's his final keepsake of our dad. Are you really gonna let that happen?"
She looked from Brooklyn to John B. "Make it quick." She clicked open his door so he could get out along with Brooklyn.
"Yes, ma'am." He looked over at Brooklyn who unclipped her seatbelt and grabbed her backpack. "Thanks, Cheryl." He grabbed his sisters hand and pulled her out the car with him. "Later, Thomas!"
"Ha-ha!" Brooklyn laughed.
The twins raced down the roads, jumping over a gate and running through what looked to be a graveyard. Once they were somewhat in the clear, John B turned to Brooklyn and said, "Look, we're gonna split up but I promise I will see you later, okay?"
She nodded. "Be safe." She started to run off down the road. "Love you!"
"Love you! Be safe!"
Brooklyn ran so fast down the road, her legs giving weight as she began to rush towards what she knew was the way home. Her first thought was to head to JJ's house and just crash there until things got somewhat better.
She was just worried about John B.
Brooklyn panted and spluttered as she arrived at JJ's. She instantly collapsed to the floor, her hands gripping her knees as she tried to find him. She was thankful that his deadbeat asshole of a father wasn't in the house but neither was he.
"JJ!" She yelled. She slowly made her way around the back of the house to find him shooting a bear. "What the hell, dude. JJ!" She yelled again.
He caught the girl looking at him in the corner of his eye. He removed his noise cancellation headphones and placed his gun down. "Hey, darling. What's up?"
Brooklyn fell to the floor, her hand held over her heart as she tried to catch her breath. "Shit." She whistled. "DCS stopped by to take me- me and John to foster care and- shit. We bolted and went separate ways. I have no clue where he is but-." She burst into a pit of spluttering and choking. "Man, I am so unfit." She laughed.
JJ chuckled, handing her a beer. "So... why are you here?" He asked.
"You're the first person that came to mind so I'll be staying here for today until I know where JB is." She smiled up at JJ who just stood completely still. "Is that okay?"
"Of course." He nodded. "I just thought Kie would've come to your mind first but thanks."
"Oh, fuck off." She then began to down his beer. She knew the beer wouldn't settle right in her stomach seen as she hadn't eaten and had run for ages. She felt like she hadn't drank or eaten in weeks so to even just drink this warm beer felt like a relief.
"Whatcha doin'?" She asked, throwing the bottle across the ground.
"Practicing." He shrugged. "Nothin' else to do."
"That's fair. Can I have a try?" She asked.
"Sure."
The brunette picked herself up off the floor, grabbed the gun and stood in front of JJ. "So you just..." JJ wrapped his arms around the girl, his hands gripped to the gun as he straightened her back up for her. He kicked one of her feet forward ever so slightly and began to slip away from her body. "And shoot."
Brooklyn took a shot at the target, hitting the bear perfectly. "Wow."
"Nice one, darling." JJ squeezed her shoulder as she handed the gun back to him.
"JJ! Brooke!" The two snapped their heads over to Pope who had suddenly arrived. "They know."
"What?"
"They know."
"All right, chill, bro. All right? They don't know shit." JJ threw the gun down next to the headphones.
"Topper knows I sunk his boat."
"How do you know they know?" Brooklyn asked.
"Because Rafe and Topper posted outside of Heyward's and mad dogged me." Pope paced up and down, a flurry of panic taking over him.
"Will you calm down and get a grip, man? They don't know shit."
"They have cameras. They could've seen me."
"There was no power, Pope. How could they have seen you?" Brooklyn questioned, folding her arms over her chest.
"It's Figure Eight. They got generators." Pope started to panic more. "They don't give scholarships to kids who vengefully sink boats. It's not a good look on my transcript."
"Enough with the regret, bro!" JJ snapped. "They caved your face in. They caved Brooklyn's face in. They hit us, we hit them. It's the law of the jungle. Now if any Kooks come up to you and ask if you had anything to do with it, you walk up to 'em, look 'em right in the eye, and..."
"Deny the living shit out of it."
"That's right. Deny, deny, deny. But just for safety, we don't go anywhere without protection." He pointed down to his gun. "Right?"
"Well this is gonna go good."