𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲

seven: Redfield.

KAI couldn't believe it. JJ was being serious of being angry with him, of not wanting to be best friends anymore. He was avoiding Kai and not texting him or calling him at all. And Kai hated it, being ignored by his best friend.

He sat with Kie, listening to what happened to John B and JJ. "And we were right outside like this." JJ re-enacts what happened. "And all we hear is just bam! Bam! Bam! Knocking paint off the walls, G! From the inside." He gestures.

"Alright? And I'm just looking at him, like— wait, first off. Look at this shit." JJ said and bended over, ruffling his hair to make white flakes fall off. "That's dandruff..." Kai grimaced but his best friend won't even look at him. "Okay, thank you." Pope said, wanting JJ to stop what he's doing, which he does to gesture to the white flakes.

"Look at all that. Alright? That's paint." JJ looks at Pope. "At that point, I was just, like..." He looked at Kie now, totally still ignoring Kai. "I'm waiting for death." He says and Kai sighs, rolling his eyes. "Why didn't you guys ask me to go with you?" Kai looked at John B who would answer truthfully and not ignore him. "Uh..." John B looks at JJ who crossed his arms over his chest.

"Okay, anyways, you saw the guys that shot at us, right?" Pope says, his hands over his forehead. "Yeah." JJ nods, still distraught over the whole thing. "Um, did you get a good description of them?" Pope asked as Kai's phone vibrated in his pocket which he easily slipped out.

"What did they look like?"

"Yeah, anything is helpful." Kie nods in agreement. "Anything we can bring to like, a police report, maybe?" Pope offered. "Yeah." Kie looks at JJ. "Burly." JJ says as Kai furrowed his brows at the message he got from Sterling.

You free tonight? I need someone to vent to. It wasn't like Sterling to not wanna just hook up and just talk when they meet up. "Burly?" Pope says, staring at JJ. "Yeah. You know, like—" "that's not very helpful." Kai says, looking over at JJ who turned the other way.

"Okay, well, no, like the type of guy at my dad's garage. I mean, you guys know he made cargo hides for drug smugglers." He says and Kie nods. "Yeah, yes. No, we know." She says.

"I can tell you with full confidence, these boys, these killers..." JJ paused, taking a drag from a cigarette in his hands. "They're square groupers." He said as he looked over at the others. "They're square groupers, like narco square groupers? Like Pablo Escobar square grouper?" Pope asked him and JJ nods, taking a drag once more.

"Yeah, man."

"You guys, not everything is a kingpin movie."

"Okay, so what does this square grouper look like? Specifically?" Kai said as he looks over at JJ. "You weren't there, bro." JJ raised his voice. "Yeah? Who's fault is that?! And besides, you don't even know what or who to look for!" Kai shouts in response. "Dude. I wasn't taking little mental polaroids the entire time. I was under duress! Okay?" He backs away and Kai sighs deeply.

"But I can tell you... I can tell you by the way that Ms. Lana was screaming... that these guys are serious, serious hombres. It's a heavy vibe right now. I'm not liking this very much." JJ said and Kai looks away, crossing his arms.

"Okay, why would they want the compass?"

"That thing's a piece of shit. You couldn't pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to." Pope said and looked over at John B. "No offense. I know it's in your family—-" "The office." John B cut off Pope, looking over at Kie and Kai.

"What?"

"My dad. My dad's office. He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research. I mean, we use to laugh at him all the time about it like he was actually gonna find it. But now that he's gone, I've just kinda... I just left it as he kept it." John B says, holding up the keys. "Yeah, for when he gets back." Kie said and glanced at Kai as they all now stood outside John B's dad's office.

"Yeah..."

John B unlocks it before opening the door and they all head in. "Wow. I've slept over here like 600 times, and I've never seen this door open." Pope says as they explore the office. "Here, look." John B brings over a corkboard. "This is the original owner, right here." He pointed to the board.

"Okay. Robert Q. Routledge, 1880 to 1920. There's the lucky compass, right there." Kie pointed at the picture of the man, smiling. "Actually, um... he was shot after he bought it." John B says and Kie's smile faded away. "Then the compass was shipped back to Henry." John B pointed to the photo. "Henry was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass." He explained.

"After he died, the compass wss given to Stephen. Stephen had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam." He pointed to the compass on the soldier. "Let me guess, he died in action, right?" JJ asked who Kai glanced over at. "Sort of... Actually, he was killed by a banana truck. In... in country." John B said, looking at the blond.

"Anyways, after that, Stephen passed the compass down to him, my dad." John B says as he pointed at a picture of him and his dad. Kai smiled faintly, glancing up at the boy. "Hm. Sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here." JJ said, as he looked off into the distance in thought.

"Yeah, um, you have a death compass."

"No, I do not." John B argued. "You have a death compass." Pope fully faced him. "Seriously, dude, get rid of it." JJ said and Kai sighed. "Guys—" "It's cursed and it made its way back to you." JJ says and Kai rolls his eyes. "Look, my dad use to talk about this compartment in here." John B said as he sat down, looking at the compass.

"Soldiers use to hide secret notes."

After explaining it, John B opens up the compass as Kai came and stood next to him, curiously watching. "What's that?" Kie points and John B looks at it. "That wasn't there before." He says and it had Redfield engraved into it. "This is my dad's handwriting." He looks up at Kie then over at Kai on the other side of him.

"How can you know that?" Pope asked from beside Kai. "Because he does these weird Rs with the— see it?" He raised the compass to show Pope. "Can I see it?" JJ asked, walking around Kai to stand on the other side of him. JJ leans down, looking at the compass with furrowed brows.

"Red— Rout— No, I think that's an A." JJ says and Kai rolls his eyes. "It says Redfield, dummy." He said and JJ looks away. "Right." He says and Kie looks at John B. "Okay, well, what's Redfield?" He asked. "Besides the most common name in the county." Pope says, looking at Kie.

"Oh, maybe— maybe it's a clue. Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding." John B says, explaining it to them. "Okay." JJ muttered as Pope grimaced. "A clue? Come on, that's—" Pope cut himself off as he looked at Kie who clears her throat. "But if it is a clue, maybe it's an anagram?"

"Yes. Perfect. Anagram. You need paper."

John B quickly grabs a paper and sets it onto the table in front of Pope. "Here ya go." He says and Pope looks down at the paper. "How can you concentrate with that thing constantly crowing at you?" Pope says, talking about the rooster who's been crowing a lot. Like a lot.

"JJ loves the rooster." Kai says and Kie raises a hand. "I love the rooster." She says and Kai looks at her. "So do I." He nodded his head. They help Pope try and figure out the "anagram".

"What about Ritalin?" JJ asked and Kai looks at him. "Jesus..." He mumbled and looked back down. They keep trying to come up with any words that could possibly be the answer of the anagram for Redfield. "Guys." John B looks at them.

"Guys! Somebody's here."

authors note my head hurts :( anyways sorry i haven't updated in a while <3 tryna get my shit together and be ok mentally.