𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 [𝐣𝐣 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤]

𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐬

Meanwhile in Tres Rocas, the Pogues were working to get Big John back. After finding out he wasn't up river but still in town, John B and Sarah made a plan to help him escape.

It started with the homemade fireworks from the kids off the street. They were shooting them in the window as a cover for John B to try and set up a ladder by the window.

Before the couple knew it, Big John was jumping down off the roof and reuniting with his son. "Good to see you." The older man spoke as he looked over to his son and girlfriend.

"Time to go." Sarah said as shout's of Singh's men could be heard coming at them.

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Soon enough, the town was in sight. I nudged JJ to look out the window to see it too. "Jay." He nodded and started getting our stuff together. It was game time.

When the bus finally stopped, we shared a smile. "Welcome to Tres Rocas." JJ said as he took in the scenery. "This place makes the Cut look like the Taj Mahal."

As we waited to get off the bus, I looked around for any sign of our friends, "Alright, so how are we going to find them?"

JJ held up a finger, "I'm working on that." He looked around, "Look, Tres Rocas is fairly small, all right? Don't worry about it, we'll find them." I moved to get off the bus before I noticed JJ wasn't moving. Instead he was looking out the window. I followed his gaze to see Pope, Cleo, and Kiara running down the street toward us.

"Is that...?" I held a questioning look as they got closer.

"You've gotta be kidding me. We haven't been here but for two minutes." He held out a hand and slapped Pope's hand. "Como estas, amigos?"

"Yeah, lets go. We gotta run." Pope didn't stop as he ran past us and I took off behind him. I got off and met them on the side as we hid for a second. JJ took a second to catch up, but soon enough he was right with us.

"What even happened?" I asked Kiara as we stood behind the bus.

"Singh's men, they're after us. We gotta think of a plan." Pope answered looking at me, I guess he thought I'd have a plan.

JJ spoke up first, "Why don't we just hijack the bus?"

"This bus?" Kiara asked with a slight sound of disbelief in her question, "It looks like it goes 10 miles an hour."

"I'm just spit balling Kie." JJ responded to her. Pope was still waiting for me to come up with something but Cleo came up with a plan before I could. In my defense, I had no grasp on where we were. I needed a second to get grounded.

We hid within the fruit stall at the market and waited them out. "These were the guys from Barbados?" I asked as the heavily armed men walked around and asked about us. JJ nodded from across the walkway next to Pope.

Once the men were gone, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. "Welcome to South America." Cleo said in a sarcastic tone.

"Did you guys lose John B and Sarah?" I asked as we walked down the street.

"We split up looking for the river guide." Pope explained, "Not too sure how we're supposed to find them."

"Well, that's lovely." I replied to myself as we continued to walk through the streets of Tres Roces, hiding every once in a while when Singh's men passed by.

When we had no luck at finding either of them, JJ had the bright idea to circle back to Barracuda Mike in the hopes that he would be able to help us find John B and Sarah. "Tell me how he thinks this is going to work?" Kiara whispered to me as we walked behind Mike and JJ.

"I'm not entirely sure, if I'm being honest." Kie nodded with a tight lipped smile as I tried to listen into their conversation. Mike handed him a bag as we reached a boat in the water.

"What's in the bag?" I asked, curious to know.

"Machetes." Mike answered as he stepped to the side. He turned to JJ, "I'm adding this to what you already owe me."

"What? No more favors for Laney?" JJ asked sarcastically but quickly shut up, "Right. Got it." Pope shared a looked with me and Cleo as JJ dropped his bag and the bag from Mike in the boat.

"I asked around and your buds did leave this morning. I got some semi directions to El Tesoro. Only Jose knows the real way up there, but this should get you in the right zip code. I think." I nodded, not too confident in Mikes 'I think' but it was all we had, so I'd take it.

"It's a start." Kiara said optimistically as she climbed on the boat.

"Thanks," Pope said as he passed Mike. I looked at him still wondering what he was going to get at the end of all of this.

"No, don't thank me. Start praying." He turned to me, "Take care of yourself, little lady." I nodded and climbed on the boat waiting for JJ. "And JJ?"

"Yeah?" JJ looked at him as he had one foot in the boat and another out of it.

"You owe me dude. 10 times." JJ acknowledged the statement and climbed in before Mike pushed the boat off the shore.

JJ situated himself at the motor and navigated us through the Orinoco. I could hear Pope and Cleo talking as Kiara sat in the front in silence. I had sat in the back next to JJ. "It's so pretty here." I said to him as I closed my eyes and listened to all the wildlife around us.

"Pretty dangerous." Pope chimed in, "There's at least 20 different deadly species on the shore just waiting for us."

"Wow, way to ruin the mood Pope." Kiara shot at him earning a laugh from JJ.

"I still would like to make it to Yucatan one of these days." I was surprised his dream of surfing all day and living off the land wasn't fulfilled when they were stranded on the island.

When night started to fall, Pope took over driving and we all took shifts sleeping. Cleo stayed up first and then we rotated through the rest of us as we continued up the Orinoco.