CHAPTER FIVE
pretty fish can get you killed
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     SITTING ON THE CHAIR NEXT TO KIARA, dakota was tuning her dads old guitar while kie was playing the bongos.

     "look, i'm calling it off. all right?" john b announced as he made his way towards his friends. "peterkin said, if i stay out of the marsh, she'll help me with dcs."

     "and you believed her?" questioned jj, turning everyone's attention toward him. john b nodded his head, "yes, i believe her, jj"

     "an actual cop, john b" jj exasperated. "you believed a cop."

     getting angry john b responded, "all i gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days, and she'll help me out." throwing the stick he was holding to the ground, he continued. "it doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun."

     dakota slouched down in her seat sensing that an argument is going to happen between the two best friends.

     "you know what i should have done?" jj questioned, "i should've just let topper drown your ass."

     "topper was gonna drown me?" john b rhetorically questioned not believing that he was going to drown.

     "sure looked like it." jj deadpanned moving from his spot the table approaching the four others. "i mean, have you looked in a mirror recently?"

     "funny," john b said, "tell me some more. come on." he advised.

     "they always win, don't they, man." jj sighed. "kooks versus pogues. they always, always win! goddamn!"

     "look it's okay!" kiara interjected from her spot next to dakota.

     "no it's not okay!" jj yelled in denial. "it is not! they don't want us to go down into the marsh. that means there's something valuable down there, and you know it, man." he yelled pointing at john b.

     "i know you do. and i understand why you don't wanna go." he pointed at pope. "you're the golden boy. you got way too much to risk."

     "and you," he turned his attention toward kiara. "i mean you're already rich as fuck anyway. why would you bother?"

     dakota looked up as jj's attention was now focused on her. "you definitely shouldn't go, because knowing you, you'll get hurt and i don't like seeing you in pain and you mean too much to me." he pointed at her.

     "but you and me man," he pointed between him and john b, "we got nothin' to lose! we really don't, all right?"

     dakota frowned once he said that.

     jj continued, "and i know it didn't use to be that way for you." john b shook his head, "i don't want to talk about this. i don't want to talk about it." he started walking away.

     "so that's it?" jj questioned in disbelief.

     john b pushed past jj, "just get out of my way bro."

     "john b, listen to me. i have a plan." jj stated, making dakota, kiara, and pope share a look knowing that jj's plans are always risky.

     "you got the key to cameron's big boat, right?" he asked john b. "there's scuba gear inside, man. we borrow that, and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon, and that is whats gonna save you, man. you don't see rich kids going into foster care, do you?" he continued.

     dakota sighed not liking the plan, because if she ends up getting in trouble, she'll most likely be dead by sunrise.

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     NOW ON THE HMS POGUE, dakota and kiara were checking how full the tanks were. "this is empty. you took empty tanks?" kiara asked john b frustratedly.

     "okay this ones a quarter full. it's enough for one of us." she noted.

     pope sighed disappointedly, "love it when a plan comes together."

     "when do our planes ever work, pope?" questioned dakota rolling her eyes.

     kiara looked at everyone, "does anybody know how to dive?" she asked.

     dakota raised her hand slightly, "i've went, once." she shuddered remembering the last time she did it. "now that i think about it, i almost died doing it."

     now disappointed, led on by false hope from dakota, kiara asked again, "any others?"

     "it's kind of a kook sport." jj admitted.

     "i... read about it." pope offered.

     "great, kota almost died doing it, and pope read about it, so someone's gonna die." kiara ranted.

     "well in my defense, i almost died because i saw a pretty fish right before my time ran out." dakota held her hands up in surrender. jj patted her head knowing how she couldn't help herself sometimes.

     "look," jj stated. "y-you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. how hard could it be?" he questioned.

     "just don't look at the fish and you'll do great." dakota smiled. "i however, wasn't smart enough. don't be like me." she pouted.

     ignoring the girl, pope commented, "if you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends." he informed.

     "bends like, bend over and..." jj joked sticking his butt out, earning a smack from dakota who giggled when he lurched forward from the impact.

"the bends kill you." pope declared with a blank face making dakota immediately stop giggling and jj to straighten himself out, smile falling from his face.

     "i can dive." john b offered.

     jj nodded, glad it's not himself who had to do it. "you can dive. i'm cool with that.

     "since when can you dive?" kiara asked.

     "i'll do it. it's fine." he reassured the group.

     dakota nodded in agreement, "okay, but if you die that's on you." she pointed out. "remember focus on the boat not the fish."

     "let me do some calculations real quick." pope said. "so that boats about thirty feet down, right?" he looked back up at his friends, "so it'll take twenty five minutes at that depth. which means you need to make your safety stop at about... ten feet. all right? for about two minutes." he informed his friends.

dakota looked at kiara, "give me your shirt." she demanded receiving an odd look in return.

"why?" kiara questioned.

dakota gave the girl a stern look, "don't ask, just do." she rushed growing impatient. "okay?" kiara dragged out, lifting off her shirt and handing it to her.

kiara's shirt in hand, dakota dove in the water and swam down to ten feet and tied it on the anchor chain. swimming back up to the surface she told the four teens, "i tied kiara's shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. it's where you need to do your safety stop."

swimming her way back to the boat, jj reaches a hand down and helped pull her onto the boat.

kiara approached her, "why didn't you tie your shirt?" she asked.

dakota tried her best not to make eye contact knowing her eyes always give away her lies. "no reason." she would have used her own shirt if only there weren't multiple black and blue spots covering her abdomen. the less questions the better, she thought.

jj gave her a pointed look that they both knew meant 'we'll talk about this later.' no matter what he could always tell when the girl was lying.

"hey, if we get caught in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so.. better get a move on." pope announced.

"copy that." john b answered as kiara walked up to him and planted a kiss on his cheek. dakota and jj shared a look. "am i missing something?" she whispered to him, where he shrugged his shoulders not knowing either.

"diver down?" john b questioned.

"diver down." kiara confirmed giving him a smile.

john b hopped into the water. "diver down." pope pointed out, receiving a salute from john b in return.

not long after john went under the water, sirens were heard from a distance. the sirens caught the four teens attention as they noticed the police boat.

"oh shit, jj." hissed pope.

looking back and seeing the police boat, "guys, that's the police." he declared.

"oh, you gotta be kidding me." pope groaned out.

dakota looked at the boat in fear, not wanting to be in trouble. "we're dead. yep we're dead." she started panicking. "i can't get in trouble." she kept ranting slowly starting to pace on the boat.

jj taking notice of the pacing girl, grasped onto her shoulders so that they were now face to face. "you'll be fine. i'll make sure of it." he promised looking her in the eye. she nodded slowly not positive that everything would be alright. if john b gets caught, they're all screwed.

"just act fricken' normal." kiara told them straightening her back.

     the police boat continued getting closer until they pulled up next to the hms pogue. "evening, officers." pope greeted calmly even though his heart was pounding.

     deputy shoupe nodded replying back, "evening."

     "how you kids doing?" shoupe asked after he had pope tie off the rope. "you know the marsh is closed?" he questioned.

     dakota shifted uncomfortably, however, she played along with the others acting surprised.

     "i didn't know that." jj stated, with fake cluelessness.

     "why— why is closed?" pope asked playing along.

     "well we're conducting a search out here." shoupe informed. "boat went down. seen anything?"

all together, the teens shook their heads. "no, no boats, no." pope answered.

"where's your friend you always hang with?" shoupe inquired. "is he here?"

hearing deputy shoupe start asking about john b made the girl start shaking her foot up and down— a habit for whenever she got nervous.

the group shared looks, and kiara answered. "he's working." she informed him giving him a small smile to make it seem more believable.

"i'm gonna check your little boat out." shoupe announced, hopping from the police boat and onto the hms pogue.

"yeah, hop aboard." pope said as he moved out of his way. "you wanna check— uh, check her out." he offered.

shoupe nodded, "thank you." while starting to look around their boat.

"uh... you got another one?" shoupe asked, picking up one of the life jackets.

jj answered, "yeah. of course. it's, uh... it's in the hold." he pointed at it.

"show him" kie said as she moved past jj to stand next to dakota and stepped on her foot to stop it from shaking.

"yeah, here we go." jj said, holding up the other life jacket which was kept in the hold.

shoupe nodded, "all right."

dakota's eyes widened as she noticed that shoupe started heading towards the bow of the boat, scared that he'll see john b.

"be careful." jj warned shoupe.

they all shared a look of fear when they took notice on how intently he was looking into the water.

after what felt like forever, shoupe finally turned back around. "all right."

"all right." jj and pope both said.

"beautiful day, isn't it?" shoupe smiled at the teens.

"sure is." jj and dakota smiled back.

"let us know if you see anything on your way out." shoupe commanded as he started his boat.

"will do, will do." pope answered.

jj reassured shoupe, "we'll be gone soon, sir."

"yes, you will." insisted shoupe before driving away.

letting out their breaths, the four teens sighed in relief and made their way over to the side of the boat to check on john b.

"he's definitely out of air." pope insisted.

"hopefully he didn't see a pretty fish." dakota gulped, but then calmed down once john b resurfaced.

"there he is!" exclaimed jj.

"don't scare us like that." scolded pope pointing at john b.

"how'd it go down there?" jj asked. "did you find anything."

"did i find anything?" john b laughed before tossing up a black bag.

"yeah, there we go!" jj beamed, "that's my boy!"

dakota clapped her hands excitedly.

kiara turned her attention back to john b, "you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"yeah, i ran out of air." john b rasped out of breath.

"you scared the shit out of me." she concluded.

"yeah, the cops were up here." pope told john b, "but, uh... took care of 'em."

"my bad." john b said as he sat down on the boat.

"you're all good." pope reassured him.

jj piped in, "yeah, you kinda missed the show, brother."

"it wasn't a pretty show." dakota interjected. "you missed nothing good."

"hey guys? guys, bogey, two o'clock." kiara informed making them all take notice of the boat cruising behind them.

"do you guys recognize that boat?" pope questioned the four. only receiving 'no' in response from all of them.

"what are they doing here? the marsh is closed." kiara inquired, confused.

jj shook his head, "i don't know, but let's not stick around and find out."

"should we wait on 'em?" questioned pope receiving a pat from john b on the shoulder. "no we're not going to wait on them."

dakota maneuvered herself around them and went to take a seat at the back of the boat and continued to look at the unknown boat uneasily.

"guys, don't wait for me. go." jj rushed out, continuing to pull up the bowline.

"let's go!" yelled out kiara.

biting her nails, her nerves grew more and more as the unknown boat got closer and closer.

"are they coming for us?" jj questioned.

"maybe they're fishing." pope interjected.

dakota stood up and made her way towards jj not wanting to be anywhere close to the unfamiliar men in the boat. walking up to him she grasped his hand in hers as they made their way into the marsh.

jj squeezed her hand in reassurance that everything is going to be okay.

"hey, guys, they're following us." kiara informed them.

"oh god." dakota muttered not liking the sticky situation they're in.

"dude, you gotta go faster!" jj yelled at john b.

speeding up, their focus was broken when the sound of a gunshot rang through the air.

"holy shit!" exclaimed kiara.

"john b, get down!" jj yelled to john b as he grabbed dakota and tugged her down to the floor of the boat covering her body with his.

"i never thought i'd die this way." she whimpered in slight fear.

jj looked at the trembling girl in his arms. "hey, hey, i got you, you're going to be fine."

pope screamed out, "oh my god! we're gonna die!"

dakota saw movement in her peripheral vision. looking up she took noticing of kiara standing up. "what the fuck are you doing! get down kiara!" she yelled in fear for her friend.

dakota watched as she grabbed the nets and threw it in the water to get caught under the unknown boat.

finally, they took a turn losing sight of the opposing boat, which almost killed them all. dakota looked at her friends uneasily as they laughed. she couldn't find herself to be happy at the moment when she almost lost her only friends— practically family.

     jj took notice of this and grabbed the girl and pulled her into a hug. he couldn't fathom the thought of losing her.

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     FINALLY, the teens made it back to john b's dock and started climbing out the boat, excited to see what's inside the mysterious bag john b found.

     john b ran down the dock and kneeled down to the bag and started pulling the compartments open.

     "what do you guys think it is?" kiara asked them all.

     "it's gotta be money, right?" john b inquired.

     "that or a couple of keys with the street value to the low- to mid- mills!" jj said leaning over.

     "can we please just open the bag?" pope asked impatiently.

     dakota pointed at pope nodding her head, "i agree with pope."

     "wow pope," john b taunted, "that's a rare outburst of emotion.

     "okay. you guys are literally killing me with anticipation." pope waved his arms around wanting to get it over with already. "we almost died over this."

     reaching into the bag, john b pulled out a canister. dakota looked at it curiously.

     john b unscrewed the top of it and tipped it upside down, revealing a compass.

     "i risked my life for a compass?" dakota grunted out. jj rubbed her arm feeling disappointed as well.

     pope stood up straight, "oh, wow. yup. that's about right. good job, everybody. we found a compass." he ranted.

     jj pulled off his hat in disappointment. "dude what? it's not worth anything." he told john b when he saw how intently he was staring at the compass.

     "this was my father's." john b whispered out, a small smile residing on his face.