INDIANA II JJ Maybank (Outerbanks)

chapter twelve

After their visit at Ms. Lana they drove back to the Chateau. They were all sitting on the porch and Kie and Pope had joined them there.

"And then we were right outside like this." JJ tried to tell them the story of what had happened to them as good as possible. "And all we hear is just, 'Bam! Bam! Bam!' And they were knocking paint off the wall. From the inside. Alright? And I'm just looking at them-"

"Wait, first off, look at this shit." JJ said as he moved over to Kiara and Pope and ran his fingers through his hair, making the paint fall out of his hair.

"That's dandruff, disgusting." Kie said.

"No look Indi has it too!" He moved over to her and shook his hand through her hair making paint fall out of her hair too. "At this point, I was just waiting for death."

"Oh, okay, so you guys saw the guys that shoot at us?" Pope asked.

"Yes!" JJ confirmed.

"Did you get a good description of them? What did they look like?" Pope asked them as he looked at each one of them.

"Anything?" Kiara asked now to, "Anything helpful?"

"Anything we can bring to a police report?" Pope added.

"Burly." JJ said.

"Burly?" Pope questioned.

"Yeah, you know, like-" He tried to explain how they looked.

"That's not very helpful." Kie said. "Indiana?"

"Burly." Indi conformed shrugging her shoulders.

"Okay, well no, like the type of guys at my dad's garage. I mean, you guys know he made cargo hides for drug smugglers." JJ tried again explaining the two men.

"Yeah. Yes. No, we know." Kie nodded.

"I can tell you with full confidence, guys these men, these killers, they're square groupers." He took out his vape and took a long drag. Indi took a look at the vape and JJ handed it to her as he noticed her starring at it.

"They're square groupers, like Pablo Escobar square groupers?" Pope asked as JJ and Indi were handing the vape back and forth.

John B hadn't said a word to any of them since they had arrived back at the Chateau, deep in his thoughts.

"Yeah man." JJ confirmed Popes question about the square groupers.

"You guys, not everything is a kingpin movie." Kiara told them.

"Okay, So what do these square groupers look like? Specifically?" Pope continued, wanting to know how they looked.

"You weren't there bro!" JJ started to shout.

"And apparently you don't know what to look for!" Pope shouted back at him.

"Dude, I wasn't taking little mental Polaroid's the entire time. I had to make sure Indi was alright and I was under duress okay?" He snapped back. Indi grabbed his hand, trying to calm him down and she could see his tense state relaxing slightly at her touch.

"But I can tell you, I can tell you by the way Ms. Lana was screaming, that these guys are serious, serious hombres, man. It's a heavy vibe right now, okay? I'm not liking this very much."

"Okay why would they want the compass?" Kie asked the question Indi had been thinking about all night. She looked over at John B to see if he had an idea but he was still thinking and starring at the compass in his hands.

"It's a piece of shit, you couldn't pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to." Pope said. "No offence, guys. I know it's in your family-"

"The office." John B suddenly said.

"Dads office?" Indi asked him.

"Yes dads office. He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research." He told them.

"He's right. We used to laugh at him as if he would find it." Indi added.

"Yeah and now since he has been gone, we just left it as he kept it." They had now all followed John B to the door of the office as he unlocked the door.

"Yeah for when he gets back." Kie nodded, trying to sympathise with them.

"I've slept over here like 600 times, and I've never seen this door open." Pope mumbled as John B opened the door and they all got inside.

"Here look." John B walked over to a pinboard with their family tree on and took it down. "This is the original owner right here." He pointed at a picture. "Robert Q. Routledge. 1880 to 1920."

"There's the lucky compass, right here." Kie pointed out.

"But he got shot after he bought it?" Indi said.

"Yes and then the compass was shipped back to Henry." He pointed to another picture.

"Didn't Henry get killed in a crop-dishing accident when he had the compass?" Indi asked again.

"Yes and then it got given to Stephen. Stephen had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam."

"Let me guess, he got killed in action right?" JJ asked them.

"No, he was killed by a banana truck, in country." Indi remembered.

"And then the compass got passed down to him, my dad." John B pointed at a picture of his dad with Indi and John B on each side of him, back when they were younger.

"Hm, sounds like there's a reoccuring theme here." JJ said.

"Yeah, you have a death compass." Pope chirped in.

"Shut up, he does not." Indi scolded him.

"I do not." John B agreed.

"You have a death compass."

"Get rid of it." JJ said. "It's cursed and has made its way back to you." Indi hit him in the arm.

"Look, our dad used to talk about this compartment in here. Soldiers used to hide secret notes." John B said as he twisted the compass and opened it.

"What's that?" Kie asked.

That wasn't there before." John B said, looking at the engravings in the compass. "This is dads handwriting." He smiled at Indi and gave her a look at the engravings.

"How can you know that." Pope asked.

"It's the R, he does these weird R's with the-" Indi pointed at the R.

"Can I see it?" JJ asked and Indi gave it to him.

"Red- Rout.." JJ tried to read the engravings.

"It says Redfield." Indi whispered in his ear so the others couldn't hear her. She knows he struggles with reading sometimes.

"Redfield. Right." JJ states and nodded.

"Okay, well what is Redfield?" Kie asked them.

"Beside the most common name in the county?" Pope shrugged.

"Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding." John B said and looked at Indi, his eyes full of hope at the thought of seeing their dad again.

"A clue, one on, that's-" Pope began but Kie gave him a look, so he never ended his sentence. "But if it's a clue, maybe it's a anagram?" He suggested.

"Yes! Anagram. You need paper." John B searched for paper on their fathers desk. "Here you go."

They all patiently waited for Pope as he looked for several ideas what the anagram could be.

"How can you concentrate with that thing crowing at you?" Pope frustratedly asked them at the sounds of the rooster outside.

"J loves the rooster." Indi said.

"I love the rooster." He confirmed and put his arm over her shoulder.

"Okay let me think." Pope said and started to concentrate again.

They all watched him again and Indi's eyes wandered to the window. She saw a car pull up to the house and panic rose in her.

"Guys, guys there is somebody here!" She told the group as they all turned to the window.