Nothing to Loose, But You - JJ Maybank

59: Old Married Couple

"We're gonna be landing about a couple hours out of Tres Rocas, at a farm. It's right here." JJ says pointing at the map.

"A couple of hours?" I question.

"Yeah, but Barracuda Mike says there's a bus into town we should be able to catch, so." JJ says.

"J, what if they're not there?" I ask worried.

"If they're not there... free vacation. We're on an adventure, baby. Come on now." JJ says smiling at me.

"Like how we talked about." I say smiling at him.

"Like how we talked about." He repeats smiling at me.

•

"Damn. Barracuda Mike's got this import-export thing down." JJ tells me as we get off the plane. "Yo, Barracuda, is that our executive coach to Tres Rocas right there?"

"It is, smart-ass. Hey. We have a deal, remember? You still owe me for that lost load." Mike informs him.

"I remember, all right?" JJ says as he grabs my hand and we walk away.

"Hey, JJ." Mike hollers after us.

"What?" JJ asks turning around.

"Word of advice. This ain't Kildare. Try and lay low." Mike says.

"Sure thing, chief." JJ responds as we continue walking.

•

"Welcome to Tres Rocas. This place makes the Cut look like the Taj Mahal." JJ says as the bus stops.

"All right, so how we gonna find them?" I ask JJ.

"I'm working on it. Um, look, all right. Tres Rocas is fairly small, all right? Don't worry about it. We'll find them, okay?" JJ says as we then see Pope, Cleo and Kie running.

"You gotta be kidding me." I say looking at them with a smile.

"We haven't been here for two minutes!" JJ says as we laugh.

"We gotta run!" Cleo yells at us as we get off the bus.

"You gotta be kidding me." JJ says.

"Already? We just got here." I say as we look at the three.

"What's happening?" JJ asks.

"Singh's men are right behind us." Pope says out of breath.

"They're after us. We gotta think of a plan." Kie says.

"Okay, why don't we just hijack the bus?" JJ suggests.

"This bus?" I ask in disbelief.

"That only goes ten miles an hour?" Kie says also in disbelief.

"I'm just spitballing, okay?" JJ says I'm defense.

"They're coming now! Hide!" Pope says freaking out.

"Fruit stands! Duck!" Cleo points out as we run and hide behind the fruit for sale.

We hear them talking as they say something about an alleyway and then speed away.

"Welcome to South America." Cleo sarcastically says.

•

"Got anything to protect yourself?" Mike asks as the five of us follow him.

"Uh, kinda working on that part." JJ awkwardly says.

"Here." Mike says handing him a bag full of things.

"What's this?" JJ asks.

"Machetes. You'll need 'em. I'm adding the cost of this rig to what you already owe me. I don't expect to see it again anyway. Look, I asked around at the landing today. Your buds did leave this morning, but I was able to get directions to El Tesoro. Pretty loose. Only Jose knows the real way, but get you in the right zip code, maybe." Mike explains.

"It's a start." Kie says.

"Thanks." Pope tells Mike.

"No. Don't thank me. Start praying. And JJ." Mike says chuckling.

"Yeah?" JJ asks.

"You owe me, dude. Ten times. Good luck." Mike says as we get on the boat. He pushes the boat off the shore as we drive away.

•

"JJ, you were right. That's Singh and his men.
But they're not looking for us." Cleo says as a boat speeds past us.

"Yeah, they're moving real quick." JJ says.

"They're looking for John B and Sarah. They'll know where they're headed." I say looking at the others.

"We gotta go. They're gonna need us." JJ says as we start the boat up again.

"Stay back. Don't get too close." Cleo tells him.

•

"Okay, guys, I think this is El Tesoro." I say as we get close to docks.

"The trailhead to the mountain is supposed to start here." Kie says looking at the map.

"Oh shit. That's one of Singh's guys. What are we gonna do? We gotta get past them somehow." JJ says as we see the one that Rafe and I attacked.

•

The five of us sit in a building and shoot a firework after the guy read the note we wrote to him.

"Is he buying it?" Pope asks as Kie shakes her head yes. He throws another fire work into the water as they continue yelling.

"Oh shit. Oh shit." I say as they start shooting at random.

"Pope, return fire! Return fire!" JJ whisper shouts as Pope throws another one.

"Thought you couldn't throw? This would have been real useful at the motel." I joke as JJ chuckles.

"Practice." Pope states shrugging his shoulders.

We throw more as they get in their boats and drive away.

"Think we're getting better at this." JJ says as him and Pope do their hand shake.

"Oh yeah." Pope says agreeing.

"Hey, hey. Ain't no time for celebrating. We didn't do nothing yet." Cleo says walking in between them.

"That's fair." Kie says agreeing.

"Good to have my fav old married couple back." I say patting the boys shoulders as I walk in between them.

"We told you to stop saying that." Pope says following me.

"And I said I would when you stopped acting like one." I say turning around and pointing at him.

918 words! Wanted this one to be short cause I wanted to finish on chapter 60!