─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

as kie drove behind gavin, marella was staring out of the window in silence, her thoughts had consumed her again. "it's ward, he's talking to ward." pope announced.

"are you serious?" kie questioned, momentarily glancing at him through the rear-view mirror.

"yeah." pope nodded, his eyes on gavin's truck as he concentrated on the task at hand. "get clo— get closer. i can't hear." he ordered.

"okay." kie replied, picking up her speed so that the connection could be stronger.

"he's talking about negotiating something. re... renegotiating." he mumbled. they waited for a moment before the boy said something that brought marella out of her mind. "gavin's got the gun that rafe used to kill peterkin."

"what?" the girl glanced back to look at him. he nodded in affirmation.

"holy shit."

"oh shit."

"i think he's trying to use it as extortion, as leverage." pope explained.

"wait. he's pulling over." kie said to them. pope leaned through the middle of the two front seats to get a better look. "shit, he's panicking."

"do I pull behind him?" kie questioned. "what do i do?"

"just go!" jj yelled out.

"just go around the block." pope instructed. kie drove past the man's parked car, making her sigh. "we're gonna lose him."

"go, go, go!" jj barked from behind them. kie was feeling under extreme pressure now, "i'm going. i'm going!" she defended herself.

"i can't hear anything. shit." pope lamented with frustration. "i'm losing the signal. i can't hear him." he spoke.

"just hold on." marella tried to calm him down, knowing that the tension was already heightened.

"hold on? we're losing vital information every second that passes!" he exclaimed.

"why are you yelling at me?" marella questioned.

"wait, what the hell is this?" jj asked, putting a pause on their possible argument. marella darted forward to see kie had turned down another street that was swarmed with construction workers. "stop. just stop and turn around now." pope directed the driver.

"pull in here and back up."

"okay, just gonna back up." kie commented, pushing the brakes down on the car. as they stopped, a cement car slowly pulled in behind them. "are you kidding?!"

"what are you doing?" jj shouted over the truck's loud beeping. marella pulled the car door open and leaned out. "hey, we were about to reverse here!"

"we were about to back up!"

"what are you doing?"

"you literally had to do that now?" jj challenged. as the three yelled at the vehicle behind them, pope rushed out of the car. "wait! pope!" he shouted.

"we gotta know where they're meeting!" the boy shouted as he rushed away.

"damn!"

"we're going after him, right?" jj asked the two girls, watching marella climb out of the car. kie nodded, making her way out of the driver's seat. "yep."

"you can't leave that car there." a worker tried to tell them, but the three were already running away. "sorry!" kie apologised.

"move it!"

"we'll get it later!" jj shrugged.

"where did he go?" marella questioned as pope had a head start. jj pointed at one of the large houses in front of them. "there, he's going through there!"

"pope!"

"go, go, go!"

they watched as he climbed over someone's fence with no hesitation and continued to run through. once marella was close enough, she quickly pulled her body up onto the wall and pushed herself off. once she landed on her feet, she recognised the house they had broken into.

"hey marella, how you been?" one of the girls in the swimming pool questioned as she jogged past them. she sent them a quick wave. "been good thanks!"

"sean?" jj questioned the boy surrounded by girls. "ah, this is where you live, you kook."

"goddamn." he groaned.

once they caught up with pope, gavin's truck drove away. "what, what does that mean? what does that mean?" kie bombarded him with questions.

"did you hear something?" jj inquired.

"he... he's meeting ward right now!" pope stated. "we gotta go."

"okay, come on!"

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

kie had driven to the old construction site that ward and gavin were supposed to meet at. it was now raining heavily, thunder rumbling as they rushed over to a fence opposite the construction site. jj detected everyone had something to cover their now drenched hair but marella.

he pulled off his red hat and tapped her shoulder. when she turned around to look at him, he secured it on top of her head. "are you sure?" she questioned.

"yeah." jj nodded. he watched as pope pulled out a large camera and placed it against his eye. "nice camera. where'd you dig up that relic?" jj taunted him. "why don't you just use your phone?"

"well, first of all, i like my antique electronics." pope sassed him. "second of all, this is a telephoto. it allows me to get a close image from far away."

kie rolled her eyes. "lord of the dorks." pope glanced at her before glancing back at ward. "for definitive proof of witness payoff, we're gonna need quality glass." he explained.

"quality?" marella chuckled. kie began to tap her repeatedly, trying to get her attention as she spotted ward. "there he is." kie explained.

"yo, get down." jj ordered. marella quickly crouched down, but she still wanted to see the two men. so she peeked up, the only part of her visible was jj's hat and her eyes. she could see the two men running into the construction site as thunder rumbled above them.

"and there's gavin." pope placed the camera back on his face, trying to get a better look. "where are you going, you son of a bitch?" he questioned as they walked to the second floor.. but as they got deeper into the site, they became less visible. "no, no, no, no. i'm losing him."

"where he going?" marella questioned.

"i don't know! i just said i'm losing him." pope clamoured, making her scoff. she climbed down from the ledge they were standing on so they could see.

"hold on." jj said to them. he walked elsewhere to find another spot for them. marella followed behind him, not wanting to spend another moment with pope. "what's up?" jj questioned as he scanned the area.

"pope's been giving me a hard time." marella explained.

jj looked back at her, getting slightly distracted from the task at hand. "yeah... i've noticed." he nodded. "he's probably just stressed, give him some—"

but marella was looking elsewhere, at a ladder she spotted. "look!" she pointed at it. jj shifted his gaze and smiled, he whistled to catch the attention of the other two. "yo, hey. she found something. come here."

the two rushed over to see marella making her way to the ladder. "we can climb up here for a better view." she explained. kie nodded, "genius."

"that'll work." pope shrugged, watching them climb up the ladder. marella went first, jj following immediately behind her and kie was waiting for her turn. "hurry. don't wanna miss anything." she ushered them.

once marella got to the roof, she quickly went to the edge and leaned over. "there they are!" she pointed, excited that her idea worked.

"you rolling, pope?" jj questioned, watching the two men interact from afar.  "are you getting it?" kie asked.

"yeah. yeah, i see them." he nodded, his focus on what he could see in his lens. "ward just handed gavin something. i think it's a duffel bag."

"guys, i think this is a payoff." jj suggested. marella nodded in agreement, "ward wants the gun back, gavin probably wants something in return." she said.

"gavin doesn't look happy about something. it looks like he's yelling at ward." pope told them.

"why?" kie questioned, squinting in attempts to see them clearly. pope just shrugged. "i don't know, but he sure looks mad."

marella tipped the cap lower on her head so less rain would get into her eyes. she watched as ward brutally threw himself into gavin, making her gasp.

"shit!" pope flinched back at the act of violence.

"whoa, whoa, whoa."

"what's going on?" kie questioned the only person who had a better view. but he was just as clueless as them. "i dunno. they're fighting over something."

"they're really going at it." jj cringed.

"ward's kicking the shit out of gavin." pope stated. marella was getting anxious. ward cameron was once something of a father figure to her. but this year, he had been spiralling out of control. he tried to kidnap marella and sarah in an attempt to take them and the gold to the bahamas. his son shot a police sheriff and ward cameron covered it up.

and to top it all off, he had done something to her father. marella wasn't a hundred percent sure what, but she knew it was something.

"why are they fighting?" jj asked, clearly growing tense as well. "what's going on?" kie questioned at the same time.

"i don't know!" pope shot back, "i'm tryna see." they gave him some time, waiting for updates. finally, he spoke up: "holy shit. ward's got a gun."

"i bet that's the murder weapon." kie shook her head. marella turned around, leaning her back against the wall. she brought her knees up to her chest and just closed her eyes. "i think we should go guys."

"we can't just leave. we don't know—" pope's words were cut off by the sound of two gunshots. ward had shot gavin. twice.

pope and kie gasped, quickly ducking down to stay out of sight. "oh my God, oh my God!" pope muttered in disbelief.

"what the hell!" jj yelled as he took a seat next to marella, who was visibly upset. images of her father in his final moments flashed in her mind. the yelling. the gunshot. the blood. and ward cameron at the scene of the crime.

"no, no, no, no. that did not just happen." kie whimpered. "what is going on?"

"tell me you just got that." jj panted. he glanced at the girl beside him, her laboured breaths echoing in his ears.

pope leaned back up, wanting to get more footage. "enough to put this asshole away for life."

as they waited, the gun fired once more and the fighting seized. jj hesitated before reaching over and resting his hand on marella's knee. she gradually glanced up to see him staring at her, a look of concern in his eyes. "i've got you." he reassured her before he, kie and pope looked back over the ledge.

"this is freaking crazy." pope shook his head. he watched as ward drew himself up to his feet and began to panic. "oh no. get down. get down." he ordered.

jj looked down at marella and sighed. "i think we should go right now. "pope, you have enough, right?"

"yeah." pope nodded.

marella pulled herself out of her state of panic. this wasn't the time or place to break down. as her hands trembled, she peeked over the ledge.

"hold on. he's coming out." pope stated, watching as ward left the construction site and onto the street. "there he goes. i think he's looking for the gun."

"no!" they could now hear ward yelling. "damn it! killing me!"

"i think the gun just went down the drain." pope commented. "he's looking for it. he's looking for the gun."

kie stood to her feet and the three watched her in confusion. "what are you doing, kie?" jj questioned. "kie—"

"what is wrong with you?" she shouted. marella looked at her with disbelief, latching onto her arm in an attempt to pull her back down. "kie, what the fuck?!" she whisper-yelled.

but kie dragged her arm away. "murderer!" jj wasn't in the mood to take the gentle approach with her as marella did. he got up behind her, shoved his fingers over her mouth and yanked her back down to the ground. "get down!"

but she kept on wailing the same thing. "murderer, what is wrong with you?!"

"kiara, are you crazy?" pope asked.

"what is wrong with you?" marella hissed. "he's gonna hear you!"

"what are you doing?"

"i don't care if he hears me." kie shook her head. "he's a murderer." jj put his head in his hands with frustration. "yeah, and he's gonna murder us, kie."

"what we're you thinking?" marella asked her, she couldn't comprehend how kiara believed it was an acceptable idea.

"guys... he sees us!" pope yelled.

"are you serious?" jj groaned.

"come on." pope got up, rushing over to the ladder. "we gotta go. he's coming."

"come on. go! pope, hurry!"

pope was the first one to make his way down the ladder. "i'm going, i'm going!" he yelled back at them as he climbed down.

once there was enough space between himself and her, marella quickly moved down. jj did the same, waiting for some distance before he grabbed on. but kie's sense of urgency prevented her from waiting, as she tried to step onto the ladder, she ended up stomping on jj.

"ah, kie! my hand!" jj yelled out in despair. he was distracted by the agony and instead of stepping onto one of the ladders steps, his foot slipped back and struck marella in the face.

"sorry, so sorry." kie apologised to the blond boy. "shit!" marella cried, losing her sense of sight and grasp on the watery ladder. she slipped off and descended back into pope. the two collapsed onto the ground, pope's body crushing the camera.

"no, no, no, no!" pope yelled, scrambling to put it back together. marella sat up, holding her eye in pain as the other two jumped onto the ground.

"you're kidding me." jj groaned. "you fumbled it?"

"marella fell onto me!" pope pointed at her. she looks deeply offended that the blame was going to her and as she was in pain, marella was feeling even more pissed off. "jj kicked me in the face." she yelled.

"she stepped on my hand!" jj shouted, gesturing to kie as he was clearly irritated. he could now see that she was covering her eye, "are you okay?" he questioned.

"do i look okay?!"

"i was trying to hurry." kie explained.

"the only reason we had to hurry was because you were yelling at him!" marella exclaimed.

"he deserved it!" kie screamed back. "let's go!"

"he's coming."

marella groaned with vexation, following behind her friends as they sprinted over to the fence. just as marella made it to the other side, ward rushed out and just missed her. they hurried over to the car, but this time pope had taken the passenger seat.

but she didn't want to bring it up as he would probably just yell at her again. once marella shut the door, she pulled off jj's hat and hurled it onto his lap. the girl was panting with exhaustion.

"could someone fill me in on what the frick just happened?!" jj exclaimed. pope groaned with outrage at the thought of his camera being broken and all the footage was most likely gone. "holy crap. i can't believe it. wait, wait. what were they fighting over?" jj rambled.

"uh... it was... it was a gun, the one rafe used." pope explained. "he must have kept it."

"of course! of course! the murder weapon!" jj yelled.

"ward shot him." marella mumbled to herself. "he killed gavin right in front of us."

"pick up... pick up." kie began to mutter.

"want me to check out your eye?" jj questioned. marella huffed, pulling her hands down so he could see it. he moved in closer to her and could see a dark mark forming around her eye. "um... looks completely fine."

"who are you calling?"

marella smacked his fingers away from her face. "you're lying out of your ass."

"who do you think?" kie shot back.

"the cops?" pope yelled at her.

"who else am i supposed to call?"

"why would you call the police? that's ward!" jj leaned through the two seats to express his opinion. "it's ward!"

"you really think shoupe is going to believe a word we say?" marella questioned.

"sheriff's office."

"shut up!" kie shouted at them. "hello? hi, somebody's been shot at the... at the grand street construction site! you guys need to hurry because he's dying. i don't know if he's already dead or not! you need to hurry!"

"we gotta go." jj ordered. "we're sitting ducks right now."

"we can't stay here." pope agreed.

"what do you want me to do?" kie asked with frustration.

"just drive!" pope demanded. and so she did.

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
this was such a hard chapter to write it was so chaotic and tense and so much going on which is why it took me to long to update ...