stevie | outer banks | JJxOC

60- Stevie Maybank

JJ crept forward, hearing the voice of John B, taking the vent off the side of the container to let them in when Stevie wanted nothing more than to be alone with the boy.

Pope came in first, followed by Kie, then John B, then a girl the two in the container didn't recognise.

"Jesus Christ! I kill you, John B!" She said with a thick Caribbean accent as she poked her head into the container, finding five stowaways on her ship.

"Woah woah, John B, who is this?" Stevie questioned as the girl entered the container, "John B?"

"Ok Steve, relax," he stroked his sister's shoulders to calm her down before putting the grate back on. The girl looked a similar age to the rest of them, could possibly be older, she had her hair in two plaits running down either side of her, underneath her worker's hat. Like the rest of them, she was sweaty but also donned a woollen jumper and green cargos.

"John," She paused, staring into his eyes with anger, "who is this?"

" You remember there was a girl who helped me in the Bahamas?"

"Cleo?" Stevie looked up at the girl who politely waved. "how the fuck are you this lucky?"

" I try not to question it." John B smiled, "Look, she's gonna help us."

" You guys are empty-handed," JJ quickly noticed the lack of weapons. "Did you even get to the armoury?"

"Well.... I did, " John B replied sheepishly.

" And you didn't grab one gun?" JJ asked in disbelief.

"We tried okay?" John B defended himself, "I was attacked."

" This is why we needed to be there," JJ smiled, looking over at Stevie.

"Let me get this straight," Cleo interrupted the boys squabbling, "you five, with no weapons, decided you were going to hijack this tramp steamer on your own? Do you have any idea who these people are?" She looked around as the teens recoiled, clearly having bitten off way more than they could chew, "Eberhimi, if he catch you, he's gonna kill you. Dead. Cut off your fingers."

"Not too fond of the idea of being killed", Kie suggested an alternative, "what about waiting until we get to port? At least then, if something goes wrong, we have a place to run."

"No," Pope immediately rejected it.

"Why?" Stevie complained on Kie's behalf.

"Because I've run the scenario over 1,000 times in my head, and our best chances are on this ship. There are 15 crew members and 6 of us. 3 on 1 odds that's the best it's gonna get." Pope presented stats: "If we wait, they'll trap us."

"We have no chance," Kie's voice acting as reason. At the end of the day, they were just teenagers, and this was a serious hijacking mission if they were going to try and pull it off. What advantage do they have against dangerous, experienced adult crew workers?

"There's something else," John B interjected. He bit his lip, feeling a turn in his stomach as he thought about what he was about to say, "Ward's alive. He's alive and he's on this boat."

"no," Stevie heart stopped, "this is so fucking unfair"

" How?" JJ asked, his gaze flicking over to Stevie, who held her head in her hands. He felt bad for her, having finally thought she was away from his torment, the man who ruined her life bit by bit.

"It was all a setup, blowing up the boat, the confession to Shoupe." John B summarised feeling the same betrayal as Stevie.

"Why would they do that?" Kie's face scrunched in confusion. Why go off the radar, convince everyone you're dead, only to turn up a few weeks later?