༄ 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖿𝗈𝗋𝗍𝗒－𝗇𝗂𝗇𝖾 ༄

𝑾𝑯𝑬𝑵 𝑵𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 𝑭𝑬𝑳𝑳, the Pogues camped out in Kie's car in front of Gavin's house, preparing to make the call. Pope and JJ switched seats, so now Pope sat in the back with Thalia, wanting to be close to her. Thalia didn't mind. He watched her struggle to get her leg comfortable for a while before he shifted closer to her and placed her injured leg over his lap. Their hands were comfortably laced together.

        They discussed who would get to call Gavin and try to get some information from him. Kiara had been nominated. "Why does she get to tickle?" JJ asked, annoyed.

        "She's the best tickler." Pope reasoned, gently drumming his fingers on Thalia's leg, providing her stability and comfort.

        "That sounds wrong." Thalia quipped, Pope smiling lightly.

        Kie rolled her eyes at the affection Pope and Thalia were displaying. "Should I do an accent?" Kie wondered.

        Pope nodded. "Definitely disguise your voice." he said.

        "How would you like me to talk?" Kiara said in a really bad English accent.

        "Not like that." JJ shook his head, Pope and Thalia agreeing with him.

        Pope got an idea. "Batman." he suggested.

        Kiara spoke in a deep and scratchy voice. "Batman." she said, the group affirming that Batman was the way to go.

        Pope dialed Gavin's number and handed the phone to Kie, placing it on speaker. Both he and Thalia leant forward to be a apart of the conversation. "Hello?" Gavin asked when he answered the call.

        "Hello. I can't." Kie said, trying and failing to speak in a deep voice.

        "Just talk." Thalia spoke quickly, hurrying.

        "Hello?" Gavin asked again.

        Kie cleared her throat. "Is Gavin there?" she asked calmly.

        "This is Gavin. Who's this? Hello?" Gavin pressed.

        "I know what happened on the tarmac." Kiara said after a long pause.

        Gavin laughed. "Um... who's this?" he said, starting to panic a little.

        "It was Rafe Cameron. But you already knew that, and you lied about it." Kie said bluntly. Thalia winced slightly, still not used to recognizing her beloved cousin as an actual murderer. Pope squeezed her hand and she squeezed it back.

        "Okay. Who is this?" Gavin asked once more.

        "We're gonna prove it." Kie continued.

        "You're gonna tell me who this is right now." Gavin threatened, losing his patience.

        Kiara wasn't fazed. "You could have saved her, Gavin, and you didn't. And you're not getting away with this." she said, Pope and Thalia still holding hands tightly.

        "Listen to me! Who is this?" Gavin shouted, and Kie retaliated by hanging up the phone.

        "How was that?" Kie asked, lowering the phone.

        Pope, JJ and Thalia nodded. "Yeah, I was scared. Good job." JJ praised, playing with his lighter.

        Pope ran his thumb across the back of Thalia's hand. "All right. We tickled the wire. Phase two complete. Now we wait and listen," Pope said. Less than three minutes later, Gavin's car could be seen pulling out of his driveway. "All right. Hey, here he comes. Stay down." Pope whispered, everyone ducking so they couldn't be seen. Pope and Thalia were dangerously close to each other, and Pope stole a quick kiss before sitting up once Gavin left.

        "He didn't see us. Hit it." JJ said in a hushed whisper to Kie.

        "Go, go, go," Pope urged, releasing Thalia's hand to yank at his seatbelt. "My seatbelt." he strained, the belt stuck.

        Thalia's eyes widened. "Are you seriously buckling up now?" she asked judgmentally.

        "Yes, I'm buckling up right now." Pope gritted out, Kie pulling the car into the road.

        "You don't need it right now." Thalia said, rolling her eyes at Pope in light amusement.

        Kie followed Gavin down the streets of Kildare, staying a safe distance away. Pope stuck the headphones connected to his phone into his and Thalia's ears, the pair in the backseat able to listen to Gavin's conversation as he started talking to Ward.

        Thalia had her head on Pope's shoulder, listening with him. "It's Ward. He's talking to Ward." Pope said, Thalia startled at hearing her uncle's voice.

        "Are you serious?" Kie asked, Pope nodding.

        "Can you talk?" Gavin asked Ward, and the following words were distorted and cut off.

        Thalia frowned. "Get closer. We can't hear." she said, and Kie sped up slightly.

        Ward could be heard speaking when the audio cut back in. "What are you talking about 'renegotiate,' Gavin?" Ward asked, speaking in a tone of voice that Thalia knew well.

        "I need to be paid more, all right?" Gavin demanded, breathing heavily.

        "He's talking about negotiating something." Pope updated JJ and Kie.

        "Re... renegotiating." Thalia added, trying to listen carefully so she didn't miss anything.

        "You need to stop and think very carefully about what you're about to say here, okay, because I have treated you very well. And I can't figure out why I should give you one more penny." Ward spoke, Thalia breathing slowly. If Ward had swapped out a few words and added some dramatic sighs, it would be the same conversation he always had with her and her mother.

        Gavin cut Ward off. "I've got something that could put you away for life, okay?" he said suddenly. Thalia's eyes widened, and she lifted her head from Pope's shoulder.

        Ward paused. "What are you talking about?" he asked in disbelief.

        "I've got the gun, Ward, that your son used. I have it. I know you told me to toss it. I know how you work. I kept it." Gavin revealed, and Thalia could picture Ward's reaction to this news.

        "Gavin's got the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin." Thalia announced, fingers arriving in Pope's hand, his fist interlocking around hers.

        "Somebody called me, okay?" Gavin continued, tense terror in the car.

        Kiara tried to focus on driving. "Holy shit." she said in disbelief, her breath catching in her throat.

        Gavin spoke again, ranting. "People are onto me. Somebody knows what's going on." he said, fearful.

        Pope continued to hold Thalia's hand. "I think he's trying to use it as extortion, as leverage." Pope said, trying to keep Kie and JJ in the loop.

        "Nobody is onto you. There's nobody that knows anything. Somebody is just screwing around with you. You just gotta calm down." Ward said, trying to convince Gavin.

        "I want triple, and I want the plane." Gavin demanded, and Thalia knew that Ward didn't have that kind of money. When she snuck into Ward's office early that morning for reasons she didn't want to admit, there wasn't even enough cash in the safe for her to take without it being too suspicious.

        Ward's words were tense. "I can't do that." he said, Thalia able to picture him trying not to hurl his phone across the room.

        "I don't care. You have to figure it out. I've got the gun." Gavin pressed.

        "Wait. He's pulling over." Kie said in alarm, realizing that Gavin was slowing down.

        "Oh, shit." Thalia exclaimed, sitting up straighter.

        "He's panicking." Pope said, racking his brain for a solution.

        Kie neared Gavin's car. "Do I pull behind him? What do I do?" she asked quickly, starting a panic of her own.

        Pope's head was between JJ and Kie's seats. "Go around the block." JJ offered, and Pope liked that plan.

        "Yeah. Yeah, just go." Pope urged, and Kiara nodded, doing just that.

        "I want the money now. You need to meet me tonight." Gavin said, his words overlapping with Ward's as the Pogues passed his stationary car.

        "We're gonna lose him." Thalia said, stressing out. Pope could tell, so he squeezed her hand tighter.

        "Go, go, go!" JJ urged, Pope and Thalia struggling to hear the conversation between Gavin and Ward.

        "I'm going. I'm going." Kie said as she tried to keep calm.

        "I can't hear anything. Shit. We're losing the signal. We can't hear him." Pope ranted. Thalia, overstimulated, shoved her headphone into Pope's ear, figuring he was better at listening under pressure than she was.

        Kie turned down a side street, pulling up to a construction site. "What the hell is this?" Thalia said, looking through the center with Pope, their faces practically touching.

        "Stop. Just stop and turn around now." Pope said quickly to Kie, worried that he was missing something important.

        "Pull in here and back up." JJ instructed, trying to help Kie navigate.

        Kie nodded. "I'm just gonna back up." she voiced her actions, putting her car in reverse.

        Just as Kie started to back up, a construction vehicle pulled into the space behind her, blocking them in. "What are you doing?" JJ shouted to the workers over the beeping of the truck.

        "Are you kidding?" Kie put the car in park.

        JJ tossed the front door open. "Hey! We were about to back up," he shouted, angry. "You literally had to do that now?"

        Suddenly, Pope gently placed Thalia's leg on the seat next to her, climbing over her and rushing out of the car. "Wait! Pope!" Thalia shouted after him, starting to pull herself out of the car.

        "We gotta know where they're meeting!" Pope yelled as he ran away.

        Thalia placed her crutches on the pavement, smoothly hauling herself out of the backseat. "We're going after him, right?" JJ asked as Kie got out of the car.

        Nodding, Thalia started after Pope. "Obviously." she said, not about to let Pope go by himself.

        As they followed Pope quickly, leaving Kie's car where she had parked it, Thalia started to lose energy, but she couldn't stop. "Pope!" JJ shouted as they ran through someone's backyard, Kiara urging JJ and Thalia to run.

        "Pope!" Thalia yelled as Pope hopped over a wall. "Oh, fuck you." she muttered, laying eyes on the wall she somehow had to scale.

        Kiara went over the wall first, taking Thalia's crutches with her. Arguing the entire time, JJ helped Thalia swing herself over the wall, getting down first to lower her to the grass. "Pope!" JJ yelled once Thalia had her crutches, the three chasing Pope through Kook backyards.

        They ran past a bunch of teens in a pool. "Sean? Ah, this is where you live, you Kook. Goddamn." JJ said as they ran past, Thalia exhausted as she hobbled beside him.

        The three found Pope leaning over a hedge, peering at Gavin's car. As Gavin drove away, Pope turned, a stunned look on his face. "Pope, what the hell? What does your face mean?" Thalia asked, alarmed at the terror Pope was showcasing.

        "Did you hear something?" JJ asked, Pope breathing heavily.

        "He... he's meeting Ward right now. We gotta go. Come on." Pope revealed, Thalia's eyes expanding. She didn't even want to know what they would uncover that night, but she knew they needed to discover everything. Thalia just hoped what remained of her family wouldn't be torn apart even more.

༄༄༄