Gold Digger// JJ Maybank- OBX

fifty three

"the Merchant gold was a part of that. for my father and me, Scarlett and her mother, the treasure was a way out. how we evened the scales. how the Pogues win. but at some point you kinda have to wonder... was the treasure an escape? or was it a trap?"

"WHAT THE hell was that?" Pope asked, his stress obvious from the way he was pacing up and down in front of the Pogues. They had managed to sneak away from the scene without being caught and were now sitting on a sheltered part of the beach, trying to figure out how to get their friends back. "Why would they want to kidnap Kiara and Lottie? It doesn't make any sense."

"It's called bait." JJ told him. He had sat himself a little distance away from the group, leaning his back against a metal fence. His head had been in his hands, gaze fixed to the floor in front of him, but he lifted his head to look at the others as he spoke.

Sarah shook her head, resting her arms on her knees. "I am so sick of this." John B gently rubbed her back, his eyes flicking over to JJ as the blonde angrily punched at the metal fence. "Do you think there's any way we could trust the cops?"

"The cops? You're joking, right?" JJ harshly responded, pulling himself to his feet and closing the distance between himself and the others. "You seriously think your daddy hasn't called them already?" Sarah let out a small sigh, looking down at her feet. JJ's words might've been harsh but there was a high chance he was right.

"I have a crazy idea." Pope spoke up, sitting down next to Cleo. "Why don't we call my parents?" He suggested. "Or Luke's. They're rich enough to help us out of here and they'll want to rescue both Lottie and Kie."

Luke shook his head while JJ curled his hands up into tight fists. "Nah, man. There's no way they would help us. You see what they did to Red? They fucking kicked her out. There's no way they'd wanna help us rescue her." He looked over to Luke. "No offence, man. But your parents are just as shit as the rest of ours."

"No offence taken." Luke nodded his head at JJ before turning towards the rest of the group. "Besides, JJ's right. They'd probably only get me outta here and then dip without helping the rest of you. We can't call them." He shook his head in despair, gaze dropping to the ground.

"There's still Pope's parents." Cleo pointed out.

Pope nodded his head. "Exactly. We could call them."

"And say what, Pope?" John B asked him.

"And say we're alive." He answered. "I haven't seen my family in I don't know how long. They're probably worried sick about me. Look, I know they're not rich enough to help us out like Luke's parents are. But if we just call then maybe we can ask them to wire us some money or something. It's better than nothing. At least they'll know where we are. At least then we can ask for some from of help."

"And put them in danger?" John B deadpanned.

"I got a better idea." JJ spoke up, spinning around to face the others as he pulled something from his pocket and held it where the other Pogues could see it. "And faster."

"Whose is that?" Sarah asked, eyes fixed to the money clip that the blonde had so clearly stolen.

"You seriously think I'm gonna go through someone's backpack and not pinch their wallet?" JJ retorted. He pulled out the ID card that was in the wallet, reading part of it aloud. "'Jimmy Portis, 101 Cattle Wash.' I bet that's where they got Red and Kiara. All right?" He held the card out to John B, who took it for a closer look. "That's where we're going."

"Yeah, that's conceivable. But can we at least think this through?"

"You got a better idea, Pope?" JJ fired back, beginning to walk away from the group. "Come on, 101 Cattle Wash. That's where we're going. You guys wanna stay here, fine by me. But I'm gonna get my girl back." The Pogues shared a look, equally worried about what lengths JJ would go to in order to get Scarlett back. Silently, they made the decision to follow after him- agreeing that letting him go alone would bring them more trouble than they could deal with.