INDIANA II JJ Maybank (Outerbanks)

chapter seventeen

"Oy my god." Indi said as she took out the envelope.

"Indi please answer my question." JJ pleaded as she had ignored his question if she's okay.

Indi moved back to the hole and held out the envelope for her friends to grab. 

"That's not gold." She heard Pope as John B took the envelope from her.

"Holy shit." She heard him mumble as she tried to get out of the tomb. JJ held out his arms to help her out. John B was too occupied with the envelope to help his own sister.

"You alright?" He asked her as he searched her body for any injuries.

"Yes JJ, I'm alright." She smiled at his actions.

"This is from our dad." John B told them and showed them the envelope.

"Code red. Code red. Square groupers! Square groupers!" JJ said as he saw lights coming their way.

"Go! Go!" Kie told them as they all ran to hide behind the grave.

"It's the guys who robbed your house." JJ said as he pushed Indi further back.

"Turn your light off." Indi told her brother who put it up his shirt.

"Are you serious?" She asked her brother. Wondering why he was so stupid.

"Do you think it's them?" JJ asked as he leaned forward to see them, "Homies got a gun." He announced to them.

"We should just run." Indi told them as she grabbed JJ's hand and started to run. The others followed shortly after them and they got to the gate.

They all pulled themself over and jumped down on the other side except for Pope who's pants got stuck.

"Guys I'm stuck." He shouted after them to get their attention.

"I got you." Kie said as she tried to pull him down by the legs.

"Pope don't move okay?" JJ said as he took out his gun and started to point it at his pants. John B and Indi quickly moved over to him and put his gun down.

"You're gonna rip me. Wait you're gonna rip me." Pope panicked as he noticed that his pants will get stuck on the gate.

"You're fine. Come on." Kie told him as he finally ripped through his pants and he fell down from the gate in his underpants. 

"Nice! Come on dude." JJ said. "It's a little tootsie roll." JJ teased as they all jumped into the van and went back to the Chateau.

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"That bread had mold on it three days ago." Pope told JJ, who had prepared himself a sandwich with the old bread he had found in their kitchen.

"I'll just pull off the bad parts. Plus, mold is good for you. It's just a natural organism." He said. 

"JJ!" Indi shouted at him and motioned for him to join them around the table.

"Yup, Hot damn! Let's do it!" JJ said as he went over and stood beside Indi. In front of Indi sat John B and is opening the envelope. She has her hands rested on each side of his shoulders.

She hears somebody next to her gag and looks over to see JJ spit out the bite he had taken from his moldy sandwich. She just shakes and rolls her eyes at him.

"Holy shit." John B mumbles and Indi looks back to him to see him pull out a map and widen it out in front of the group.

"Oh. X marks the spot ." Pope pointed his finger at the X that was drawn on the map.

"Longitude, latitude." John B said and looked back into the envelope. "Wait there's something else in here." 

John  B pulled out a tape recorder.

"What's that?" JJ asked them.

"It's a tape recorder, dumbass." Kie said to him.

John B took the tape recorder and presses on play.

"Dear bird. Dear monkey."

Who's bird and monkey?" JJ asked.

"I'm monkey and John B is bird. It's what our dad used to call us." Indi told him.

"I hate to say, 'I told you so', but I told you so. And you guys doubted your old man. I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guts and self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, Bird. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either. You were probably right to call me out. Wasn't really father of the decade to you and Indi. What can I say kid? I could smell the barn."

"And hopefully, we're listening to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, laughing at some joke monkey is telling us and living off passive investments and pulling on permits."

"And if not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, then, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant."

"If something happens to me, I want the both of you to finish what I started. Go for the gold kids."

"I love you both so much, even if I didn't always act like it. Take care of monkey for me. I'll see you on the other side."

And with that the tape their father had left for them ended. John B stood up from his chair and moved to the doorframe sobbing. Indi still was shocked to have heard her fathers voice for the first time in nine months.

"Oh my god, he did it, he found the royal Merchant." She heard JJ next to her. 

She ignored him and moved over to her brother and engulfed him in a hug as they both stood there sobbing and crying in each others arms.