✯ North Star ✯

4 - Things We Can't Outrun

"The gold is here at my dad's house. He's going to transport the gold from our house to a private air freight company located here. We need to intercept that gold before it ever gets on that plane." My voice comes out steadier than I feel, laying it all out for the group with a calm I don't fully own.

"Right. There're only two roads that'll take you there. We want to get him in these cane fields right here south of the airport. That's where we spring the trap. Now you and Stella will be dumped off right here. Then right there they're gonna come from that direction. Once Cleo and I get daddy on the ground you and Stella can take the gold." Terrance traces the plan across the map, tapping each point like he's done this a hundred times before.

"So all we need now is some kind of distraction, like a detour." My mind is already racing ahead to the roads, the timing, everything that could go wrong.

"I can help with that." Cleo nods, something quietly competent in the set of her jaw.

---

I start walking down the street with her, the morning heat already pressing against my skin, my nerves still humming from everything that's led us here.

"How you go from living in Paradise Island to living in the street dodging coppers?" Cleo asks, studying me sideways.

"Fell in love." I laugh, though the truth of it sits heavier in my chest than the joke lets on.

"Big mistake. Only got yourself to blame for that one."

"Yeah." I smile despite everything, feeling the ache of how true that is.

"It's better not to care."

"What about you? How did you hook up with Captain T?" I ask, curious despite the danger pressing at the edges of everything.

"Father left. Granny died. Was kicked out on the street. I had to find a way to take care of myself. So I was sleeping on a local dinghy when the mooring broke. I wake up and I hear someone yelling 'You know how to tie a bowline?' It was Captain Terrance. I go on deck. I've been with him ever since. It's not the best of times but I gotta do what I gotta do right?" There's a hardness in her voice that I recognize, the kind that comes from learning to survive on your own too young.

"Stubbs is security. Not the brightest bulb but you ain't gotta watch your back with him. Terrance on the other hand... he's a ram goat. Anything that's in his way ram it over. Always stay two steps ahead of him and never really trust him."

Something in me files that away carefully, my stomach tightening at the warning.

"Wait, here." She veers toward a cluster of kids playing in the road. "Who wants to make some money?"

"Me! Me!" they all shout at once, eyes bright.

"But wait. I need a favor first. Listen up."

---