THE REST OF THE DAY WAS A WRITE OFF. The four of us were too busy jumping on cloud nine to even string a proper sentence together. John B and Sarah were alive and that was the best news any of us could've wished for. They were in the Bahamas — god knows how — on the same island as the gold.

Thankfully, Mr. Sunn's class was our last and much to Pope's delight we weren't skipping any classes when we decided to leave for the day. Kiara took us around the island for a while until she deemed it an acceptable time to make the journey to The Wreck — an acceptable time being after school had actually finished. The four of us waltzed through the restaurant with happy smiles on our faces and headed out the back. 

"You know, just for the record, I never doubted them." JJ chimed.

Kiara laughed at him, "I owe you five bucks."

"Five bucks?" I questioned, "That's all?"

"Hey, Kiara, I need those setups done by five!" Kiara's mom interrupted us as she called from the patio seating area.

We followed Kie to the wooden seats by the dock as she responded, "There are other people who work here."

"But 'aint none of 'em my children!" Mrs. Carrera collared.

"I feel that." Pope said, "On a deep, emotional level, I understand that."

We dropped our bags on the floor, climbing on to the top of the benches while JJ stood up, "So, we going to the Bahamas or what?"

"That's funny." I laughed, "How in the hell are we going to get to the Bahamas?"

"I'm with Mal." Pope nodded, "There's no way we're getting to the Bahamas."

"John B's gonna get nabbed sooner or later." Kiara said, "So if we're gonna clear his name we need to have it done it, like, yesterday."

"Right." I nodded.

JJ straightened out and pushed off the bench as he began to pace calmly back and forth, "I'll tell you how we do it."

"Oh, so you got it all planned out?" Pope questioned him.

JJ turned to him with a scheming grin and a plan to match, "As a matter of fact I do .. we kidnap Rafe."

I snorted listening to the pure absurdity of it.

"I'm sorry, what?" Pope said.

"We kidnap Rafe, tie him up, and stick the gun in his mouth and just wait until he starts squawking."

With a straight face I said, "That's a brilliant idea."

JJ nodded, "It is, isn't it?"

Pope rolled his eyes, "She's being sarcastic, JJ."

I scratched my head in response. It was up there with one of the worst ideas JJ had ever come up with in his life .. and I was keeping tabs. This had to take the cake, though. It made the top three, easily.

"You know torture is a war crime." Kiara reminded him.

"Yeah, so how exactly do you plan on clearing John B's name from a prison cell? Because that's a felony."

"Mal's mom can bail me out." He shrugged.

"Yeah, no." I said bluntly, "Mal's mom will be doing no such thing because we are not breaking any more laws."

JJ rolled his eyes, "All right, well, what do you got, Pope?" He sat down, "I was just trying to keep it simple. You know, one stop and we're done."

"Guys, all we need is a material witness." Pope said.

I coughed dramatically. My friends looked at me while I pointed at myself with my fingers. I was a material witness in theory. I didn't have much to do with the whole thing but I was there. My account didn't get us anywhere though, everyone just thought I was crazy.

"An adult then." Pope corrected himself, "Someone the cops will actually be willing to listen to. We saw Ward's plane fly right over our heads with the gold inside of it. He didn't fly it. If somebody else flew, they were there on the tarmac."

I nodded, "That's a good idea."

Pope looked at me as he continued, "They saw Peterkin's murder. We just have to find whoever that was and get them to confess on record."

"How do we do that?" Kie asked.

Pope shrugged, "A little light espionage."

JJ slipped his cap on backwards, "A little ghost recon."

Our friend looked at us, "Woogity-woogity?"

With smiles on our faces and a new plan of action we leaned forwards to complete our handshake that never was and never will be a handshake, "Woogity, baby!"

I glanced between my friends and JJ, "What are we waiting for? Let's go."

The four of us picked our bags up and scrambled through the yard like giggling school kids. We rushed to Kiara's car, ignoring her mom as she shouted after us in protest and closed our doors while Kiara reversed out the parking lot and turned on to the road.

We figured the best place to start was on Figure Eight. Pope recalled his dad once talking about a guy who lived out there who used to be a pilot in the army. He was supposedly good friends with Ward and so it was likely Ward trusted him to fly the gold out to the Bahamas when Ward couldn't.

"If this guy flew planes for Ward, he's gotta be pretty tight-lipped." Pope said from the passenger seat.

I knew JJ was doing something beside me in the back but I didn't think to look up from searching this guy to see what it was. It wasn't until I heard his stupid gun shift a round of bullets into a chamber did I look up from my phone with wide eyes.

"So then direct approach gets my vote." Were his words.

"JJ, no." Pope shot down quickly.

"No. What?" Kiara exclaimed.

I put my head into my hand in despair, "You're such a tool, JJ, I fucking swear to god."

"Put the gun down, man." Pope tried to sway.

"Guys! We gotta keep this simple, or we'll never get John B off." JJ argued.

I rolled my eyes, "Give me the stupid thing." I snapped, reaching for the weapon and snatching it while rolling my window down. I took it from JJ's hands with ease and moved to toss it out the open window but he lunged for the gun quickly and wrestled me for it back.

"Mally-"

"Put it in your bag and I'll let go." I practically growled, my eyes narrowed.

He had no choice but to nod and I let go immediately as Pope formulated another idea, "Why don't we just tickle the wire?"

JJ put the gun back into his bag while Kiara glanced at Pope, "What?

"We tickle the wire." He repeated holding her AirPods up, "I plant my phone in his car, and then we listen in on your AirPods."

I glanced at JJ again as he reclined in his seat and narrowed my eyes again, "Wait.. did you take that to school?"

He looked at me wide eyed for a second while he processed until he shrugged, "If Ward or Rafe ever tries anything we'll be protected."

My eyes widened as Pope pointed his phone to Kiara, "Say something."

"Something." She responded.

"JJ do you want to die?" I asked him incredulously, "Or rot in jail for possession of an unlicensed firearm, huh? Jesus, do you not use your brain."

"It is licensed." He argued.

"Not to you!" I yelled.

"Not that I agree with JJ brining the gun to school, I am trying to test if this works." Pope quipped from the front seat.

I sighed loudly in annoyance and rose my brow at JJ, "Don't think this is over." I warned him, "One way or another that gun will end up in the marsh by the end of today."

"Oh, hey, I think that's his house over there." Pope directed to Kiara, pointing to the first property on the left. This guy didn't live amongst the richest Kooks in the pot but he did reside on Figure Eight and his house was nice. Kiara parked up a few yards from the house and Pope looked at her, "All right, honk or, uh... or yell or something if you see anything suspicious." He said to her.

"Don't do anything dangerous." She warned

He scoffed in amusement before smiling, "Come on. I'm not JJ."

He got out the car and ran stealthily towards the parked car in the drive while JJ called after him, "Funny, Pope. Love third-wheeling. It's my favorite thing."

"Your not third-wheeling." I said to him, "I'm here."

Kiara nodded and turned back to look at us, "If anyone's third-wheeling right now it's me."

JJ stayed silent for a beat until continued asking ridiculous questions, "How's it been going, you know, with Pope and all?" He began by saying.

"It's good." Kiara answered vaguely.

"It's good?" He echoed, "All right. In the bedroom, is he, like, kinda freaky, 'cause it's Pope, you know?

"Oh, it gets worse." I sighed quietly.

Kiara's eyes widened, "Why are you asking?"

"I don't know, just kinda curious." He shrugged, "Just spitballing here."

"You don't need to spitball." She said to him, turning to look back out of her window to keep watch, "We could sit in silence."

"I like silence." I agreed.

It only lasted for a maximum of thirty seconds though as JJ started again.

"Ranking-wise—"

I groaned.

"Oh, you're still asking?" Kiara said.

"Yeah, I was just curious."

She nodded to herself, "You're still curious."

"Why do we have to be curious?" I sobbed tearlessly, "Why can't it be between Pope and Kie, not all of us."

"Is John B better?" JJ asked her.

"What?" Kiara exclaimed.

JJ backtracked quickly but he didn't stop, "Okay." He nodded before he turned to me nonchalantly, "Who's better, me or JB?"

My eyes widened incredulously again, "You really want me to answer that?" I asked him, "You want me to tell you who's best in bed? You or your best friend?"

For a second I dreaded his response because I had no idea what to say to him. It was a stupid question and I wasn't comfortable answering it regardless of whether I had to say JJ was better or not. I'd never though about it, never compared it, and I had no desire to either. I didn't want to think of it that way.

Thankfully, Pope came to our aid and he saved us all from such an awkward conversation. He opened the door and climbed in, closing it behind him, "Okay. Phase one is complete."

I looked to him with hope, ""Yeah?"

I figured he saw my feelings reflect in the way my eyes widened slightly. If this worked, and I prayed it did, I'd hopefully have the hard evidence Shoupe and Bratcher told me I needed. Currently, it was my word against Wards but if I could find some incriminating evidence that proved Rafe shot and murdered Peterkin I could save John B.

Pope nodded and Kiara looked at him, "What now?"

"We wait."

• • •

Waiting was painful and we'd only been doing it for over an hour. The sun had gone and the moon had began its climb in the sky, casting the island into darkness. In that short amount of time I'd contemplated diving out the car and leaving several times. JJ's conversation topics were horrendous because almost all of them involved grilling Kiara and Pope about their strange relationship. I wasn't saying that to be mean either because that's what their relationship was.. strange. It had been poorly fused, a confession of love from Pope who'd been as high as a kite that had been shot down by Kiara initially but then at some point during John B and I's attempt to flee the island and supposedly dying pushed Kiara into kissing him. I didn't quite understand it but I wasn't one to judge them either.

JJ and I's relationship was just as weird and as much as I hated to admit it — things between us hadn't been the same since was rescued.

"Why does she get to tickle?" JJ grumbled from beside me. I lifted my head from my hand and glanced over at him. He was leaning in between the two front seats looking at Pope and Kiara.

"Huh?" I mumbled as my brows furrowed. I had no idea what they'd been talking about. I wasn't sure how long I'd been zoned out for but I hadn't tuned into their conversation in a while, "Tickle what?"

"The wire." Pope responded nonchalantly.

My brows continued to furrow, "Yeah .. what wire?"

"Gary." JJ said while glancing at me, "Interrogate him."

"Oh." I muttered in realisation, "Right."

JJ sat back and turned to me, his brow arching high, "You okay?"

"I'm fine." I dismissed quickly, barely glancing at him while Kiara spoke over us.

"Should I do an accent?" She asked.

Pope nodded, "Definitely disguise your voice."

In response, she put on the worst English accent I'd ever had the misfortune of hearing in my life, "How would you like me to talk?"

I cringed while shaking my head.

"Not like that." JJ said bluntly.

"That was horrible." I said to her, "Never talk in an English accent again, please. It's offensive to English people."

Kiara barely glanced at me but I saw her eyes rolling.

Pope required her attention however as he suggested, "Batman."

Kiara nodded at him, "Batman." She repeated, lowering her pitch to a manly level. It was rough but it did the job.

"There you go." Pope nodded.

"Spot-on." JJ added, "Let's do it."

She nodded and dialled Gary's phone number, beginning the call and raising the phone to her ear. At the same time, Pope got Kiara's AirPods out of the case and put them in his ears while we waiting in silence for the call to begin.

After a few rings and a couple of tense seconds I heard the man's voice, "Hello?"

In the deepest voice she could muster, Kiara responded, "Hello." Immediately she shook her head while looking at us, "I can't—"

"—Just talk." Pope urged her.

Again, Gavin repeated himself, "Hello?"

She cleared her throat, "Is Gavin there?"

"This is Gavin." He responded. I heard the skepticism in his voice, "Who's this?" Kiara shrugged her shoulders at us, eyes wide as Gavin questioned her. This was going brilliantly so far.

"Hello?" Gavin repeated for a third time.

And then Kiara blurted quickly, "I know what happened on the tarmac."

Nervous laughter echoed, "Um... who's this?"

"It was Rafe Cameron." Kiara responded passionately, "But you already knew that, and you lied about it."

"Okay. Who is this?"

Kiara ignored him, "We're gonna prove it."

Immediately, Gavins voice shifted from friendly to harsh, "You're gonna tell me who this is now."

"You could have saved her, Gavin, and you didn't. And you're not getting away with this."

"Listen to me! Who is this?"

Kiara ended the call and she dropped her phone into her lap while looking to us, "How was that?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I was scared." JJ nodded in response.

"Good job." Pope praised her, "All right. We tickled the wire. Phase two complete."

Kiara nodded, "Now we wait and listen."

I thought we'd be waiting for a while but we weren't. During those short minutes my phone buzzed in between my legs and I retrieved it as the screen lit up, reading the notification.

"Oh fuck." I mumbled to myself, unlocking my phone.

"All right. Hey, here he comes." Pope said. The three of them ducked in their seats while I furiously typed away, ignoring them.

"Mally put your phone down." Kiara scolded me.

"No. This is important." I responded.

"Yeah well, so is this. We'll get caught." Were her words.

"Mal." JJ mumbled, taking my phone out of my hands quickly.

I scowled at him, "JJ give me my phone back."

"Shhh." He responded.

I leaned over to grab it from the tight grip in his hands but instead he wrapped his arm around my back and held me down, much to my displeasure.

"Stay down." Pope instructed us.

I had no idea what was going on. All I could see was JJ's hairy calves and scruffy boots. It wasn't until Gary had pulled out of his driveway and began to drive away did JJ let me sit up again.

"He didn't see us." He said, "Hit it."

I glared at him in annoyance and snatched my phone out of his hand, "Thank you."

Pope's back straightened, "Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go." He repeated quickly and began tugging on his seat belt, "My seat belt."

"Are you seriously buckling up now?" JJ said incredulously.

"Yes, I am." He responded.

Kiara shook her head, "You don't need it right now."

"Hey, who are you texting?" JJ asked me, "Your boyfriend?"

"Yes." I bit back quickly.

He tugged my phone out of my hand again, or attempted to, until I slapped his hand away, "It's my mom you nosey swine." I told him, "It's Wednesday."

He pressed his lips together, "Oh."

"Yeah, oh." I said, running my hand through my hair, "She wants to know where I am. You know how important this is."

"What's so special about Wednesday?" Kiara asked me.

"My mom comes over on Wednesday nights. We order take out and we talk."

Pope turned to JJ, "And what do you do?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, "I used to work Wednesday nights."

I paid him a short glance, "Past tense."

He met my gaze fleetingly before I looked back down to my phone screen. We hadn't really discussed what had happened at the Country Club involving JJ and Kelce having a fight in the middle of the place and getting fired in front of half of the club members. I had no doubt that my mom would want to talk to me about it tonight, especially while she was still avidly working on keeping him out of juvie.

Before the tension had the chance to build, Pope spoke up, "Get clo... get closer. I can't hear." He said to Kiara then, "He's talking to someone."

"What about?" She asked him while pressing on the gas.

"He's talking about negotiating something. Re... renegotiating." Pope responded, holding his hand to his ear. It was silent for a minute while we continued to follow Gavin until Pope turned back to look at us with wide eyes, "Gavin's got the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin."

My face dropped completely while I stared at Pope in disbelief.

"Holy shit." Kiara mumbled.

Gavin had the gun? How an earth did he manage to retrieve it? Maybe Ward gave it to him, told him to throw it over the ocean or something, hide it in the Bahamas maybe — I don't know. What I did know was that if we managed to somehow get that gun we could use it to clear John B's name. I knew for a fact they'd have record of what kind of bullet was used. They'd match it back to that gun, along with the prints and if we were lucky enough .. if .. that gun would be licensed to Ward Cameron.

"We need that gun." I blurted, my mouth working a million times faster than my brain. 

"What?" Both Kiara and JJ responded and I looked at JJ, formulating a response but Pope beat me to it, informing us of what was being said by Gavin.

"I think he's trying to use it as extortion, as leverage."

"Wait." Kiara said, "He's pulling over."

"Shit." Pope swore as the man stopped his car, "He's panicking."

"Of course he's panicking. He just admitted to a murderer that he has a literal murder weapon. A weapon that can be used to put Rafe behind bars. We need that gun." I stressed.

JJ nodded, "We need that gun."

"One thing at a time!" Kiara yelled at us, "Do I pull behind him or not? What do I do?"

"Go around the block." JJ told her.

"Yeah. Yeah, just go." Pope nodded in agreement.

Kiara continued driving, turning left down the first road.

"We're gonna lose him." Pope mumbled then, turning back to look out his window as Gavin's car disappeared from our eyesight.

"Go, go, go!" JJ urged.

"I'm going. I'm going!"

Pope concentrated as hard as he could but he shook his head in disdain quickly, "I can't hear anything. Shit. I'm losing the signal. I can't hear him."

Kiara turned left again, speeding to reach the end of the road but she came to a harsh stop when we reached a road closed sign.

"What the hell is this?" JJ muttered.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." I sighed in annoyance.

"Stop. Just stop and turn around now." Pop urged.

Kiara pulled to a stop, shifting into reverse quickly.

"Pull in here and back up."

"I'm just gonna back up."

"What are you doing?"

With each second that passed the four of us became more frantic. We had a lot riding on this and the thought of it failing was frightening after we'd already uncovered so much. We all knew none of us worked well under pressure, we always shouted and argued whenever we'd end up in situations like that and this was no exception.

Before Kiara had the chance to back up, a large digger pulled out behind her beeping wildly to indicate it was on the move. It blocked us in completely and diminished our chances of getting out of this mess.

"Are you kidding? Kiara groaned in frustration.

JJ opened his door and climbed out, holding himself up with the top of the car and the side of the door, Hey! We were about to back up." He shouted at the construction workers, "You literally had to do that now?"

"Talk about shitty timing." I huffed, glaring at the seat in front of me.

We all continued to shout, not at each other but at different things and while JJ continued to hurdle abuse towards the construction workers Pope jumped out the car and made a mad dash for it, leaving Kiara and I sitting there dumbstruck.

"What are you doing?" She shouted after him.

I opened my door quickly and got out, growling in annoyance before shouting at the top of my lungs, "Pope! What the fuck, man?"

"We gotta know where they're meeting!" His shouted back, his voice barely audible over the chaos.

I slammed Kiara's car door in frustration and looked at JJ momentarily, "I hate my life, did I ever tell you that?" I spilled with a displeased sigh before I followed after my idiotic friend.

Pope ran fast when he wanted to. In fact, he'd make the track team with that sprint but I was blessed with fast legs too. I had no issue in keeping up with him as he ran through the various lawns of Kook houses. For a second, it took me back and I was forced to relive something I wished to put behind me forever, running from the cops over those days made me feel like I was actually a criminal and that was wrong.

Hearing JJ and Kiara shouting behind us as they followed made me realise that I was approaching a fence gate. God knows I'd probably of ran straight into it had I not been concentrating but seeing Pope vault it surprised me, especially when he couldn't even vault a hip-height fence when we were running from security way back when after trespassing on the construction sight for that Kook house.

He jumped it with ease and I followed suit, pulled my body up and hooking my legs over the gate that was taller than me — though there wasn't much that was shorter than me. I followed him into someone's back yard but the sound of chatter and squealing made me curse. I didn't see who's house we were running through but the owner soon became visible, along with two girls.

Chloe Saul was the first to spot us and she looked at Pope from the pool she was in while laughing, sitting on the shoulders of a girl I couldn't quite see, "Yo, Pope! Hey." She said to him.

In passing Pope barely had the chance to glance at her but he still responded with a chirpy yet breathless, "Hey."

I however had the chance to slow down and stare and who I saw was just priceless. I stopped in front of the pool as Chloe smiled at me, trying to strike up a conversation but I was preoccupied with Melanie Kleeton sitting on the shoulders of Sean Byron. It was comical really and while Sean grinned, Melanie scowled at me.

"Well, well, if it isn't the hater of all Kooks hanging out with a Kook in his pool?" I said to her, "Hypocrisy at it's prime."

She rolled her eyes, "Oh, do me a favour Mally."

"You got nothing on me, you little Kook wannabe." I said to her, "At least I've got the best of birth worlds. You know, I always knew you wanted to be me."

She scowled, yelling words that I didn't listen to because JJ caught up to me and he grabbed my hand while looking at the boy who's parents owned this house.

"Sean? Ah, this is where you live, you Kook." He commented, while dragging me along, "Mal, c'mon." He urged.

I flashed them all a grin, "Bye, guys!"

We caught up with Pope and he turned around with wide, excited, eyes.

Kiara furrowed her brows, as did I as we watched Pope skeptically. He looked like a little boy on Christmas morning and it was hard to ignore, "What does that mean?" Kiara asked for him.

"Did you hear something?" JJ urged him.

Pope, however, continued to look at us and I widened my eyes at him, "Pope, what?"

"He... he's meeting Ward right now." He finally snapped in excitement, "We gotta go! Come on."

Kiara nodded as she looked at us, "Okay, come on."

And as she and Pope turned around to run back of the car I tugged on JJ's hand to pull him back. He met my gaze and the smile that was on his face dropped immediately.

Not only was my mom no doubt tracking my phone to figure out where I was, this was dangerous and if anything were to happen we would end right back up shit creek without as much as a paddle to escape.

Unfortunately, I seemed to be the only person outweighing the benefit of clearing John B's name with the substantial risk and I feared that it would now make me the bad guy.

• • •

A/N; it's short but this whole Gary/Ward thing is so difficult to write. The first episode is hard because there's so much to cover and it's taking me forever to do so. There's plot holes involving JJ's arrest in season 1 too when he took the fall for Pope. Obviously Peterkin said to JJ she'd help him avoid juvie but nothing is mentioned about it in season 2 which is really annoying and strange. He was literally arrested, about to go to juvie and suddenly they dropped it? Idk.

On an off note, I want to know if anyone is interested in seeing some flashbacks with Mally and Rafe — get to know why they hate each other. I'm also looking to maybe formulate a very small mutual understanding between the two of them towards the end of the season so I'd like to know what you think about it.