MATILDA! CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
THE HAWKS NEST
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The group say around a fire, Liz on the other side of JJ, leaning on him slightly for more warmth than the fire was giving. "Hey, guys. So, like, my dad's already gonna kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope asked

"Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed." JJ said

"You ready for this?" John B asked

"Yeah." Liz said

"So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant."

"Oh, my God. Here we go again with this."

"No. All right, wait. Hear him out, all right?"

"It's been here the whole time. It's on the island."

"Are you serious? Oh, my God." Kie said

"I'd like to voice my skepticism." Pope said

"No surprise"

"I'm sure you would, Pope, but can I please present you with my evidence, sir?" John B said

"Proceed."

"All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny."

"Who the hell's that?" Kie asked

"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check this out."

"What?"

"Here you go."

"Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery. So Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom. After that, he bought his farm. Drumroll, please, because that farm is...." Liz, Kie, JJ and Pope all did a drum roll on their legs

"Tannyhill Plantation."

"Tannyhill?"

"Yeah. So, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pisses off all the white planters, and then they decide to lynch him. So on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold."

"Where?"

"Harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water. Except... there's no wheat. You see, wheat is code for gold. Check this out. The gold is in parcel nine, near the water."

"Holy shit."

"All we need is an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold." JJ got up and went over to John B, lifting him up

"Okay, so this might have a small chance of being actually true."

"Dude, it's like King Tut."

"I am a genius. Hey, whoa! Hello! Fire! You're near the fire. You're gonna burn." John B said

"I'm so proud of you right now."

"Thank you. That's really sweet of you"

"Okay, so, guys. What's the plan?"

"Good question. Sarah Cameron's coming tonight. She'll bring an original survey map—"

"Hold on. Sarah? Wh-why Sarah?" Kie interrupted

"Um..."

"This is gonna be good." JJ said

"Sarah, um, she-- she got me into the archives in Chapel Hill yesterday, and that's where I got the letter."

"You were in Chapel Hill with Sarah Cameron?" Liz asked in disbelief... John B was the boy Sarah was talking about

"Yeah, um—"

"He was mackin' on her." JJ said and Liz mouth opened, than turned to a smile

"I wasn't macking." He said

"You were totally macking Sarah Cameron." Liz laughed

"I wasn't macking on her, okay? I was using her for access."

"There was access, all right."

"Did you tell her about the treasure?"

"I was trying to get into the archives."

"Is that a yes?"

"I-- I left out key details"

"Yo, what? You let a Kook in on our secret? What about Pogue Lyfe? What about the T-shirt company, bro?"

"I was just using her for information"

"Why don't I believe you?"

"I'm trying to make us filthy rich here. Okay, so that we can pay off a boat, or-- or, uh... send you to autopsy school to study dead bodies. Look, you guys know me. Do I look like the type of person to fall for Sarah Cameron?"

"Uh..."

"Do you want us to answer that, or—" Liz asked 

"Just— just stop."

"Look, you don't know her yet. I do! You can't trust her."

"Her brother did hit me in the back with a golf club." Pope said

"Rafe and Sarah are different human beings." Liz stated 

"What did she do to you, exactly?" JJ asked

"She's like a-- like a spitting cobra-First, she-- she blinds you, and then—"

"This is a bad analogy."

"Listen to me! Whatever we get, she's gonna try to take."

"All right.hit it, boys! We're goin' on a Recon mission." JJ said as they opened the door

"Yo, uh... so, uh, I think I'm gonna do this one by myself...tonight." John B turned to them

"Really?"

"What? I don't want to spook Sarah with the peanut gallery." John B said

"I just don't understand why we're involving her at all." Kie said

"Kie, we're not involving her, okay? It's-- it's just, uh, like a-- a business meeting...thing."

JJ put the blunt forwards a few times towards his mouth, while Liz pretended to hug herself and kiss somebody making Pope laugh

"Look, once we get what we need, we cut her loose, all right? Plus, we need the map."

"Promise me nothing's happening between you."

"Nothing is happening, Kie."

"I'm being serious."

"Okay!"

"This isn't about you, and this isn't about us. This is about her. Dude, she's gonna get inside your head. Just promise me nothing's happening between you guys."

"I promise"

"That was really believable." Liz said

"A hundred percent believable."

"Anyways, um... I'm gonna take care of business."

"You're gonna take care of it." JJ smirked

"I tell you."

"We'll just sit here..."

"Huh?"

"Yeah. Yeah."

"in the hot-ass car." Liz said

"While it's lightning." John B left the car and went towards the hawks nest, leaving the four in the van

"Kiara, holding onto your grudge is like drinking poison and thinking Sarah will die."

"Exactly."

Liz was playing with the ends of her hair while JJ talked "Rafe and Kelce followed us—"

"Wait, do you guys hear that?" Kie asked

"What?"

"Please, somebody help!" Sarah's voice screamed out. All of them looked at each other with concern

"Oh, wait, no, I hear that."

"Shit."

"What the fuck?"

They all ran towards the tower following Sarah's voice to see John B on the ground.

"Sarah! What happened?" Liz asked as she got on the ground beside her

"John B" she started tearing up at the sight of her brother

"I don't know what to do. He needs help. Topper shoved him."

"Where the hell is he?" JJ asked

"Oh, please, please, please get help. I don't care who. Just call someone."

"Go. Go!" JJ said and Pope ran to go get help

"Help, please."

"Pope, hurry!" Liz yelled with tears streaming down her face