CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO:

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
(episode ten: the phantom | trigger warning: mentions of violence)

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ADMITTEDLY, THE PHANTOM DIDN'T look like much. Haven had pictured a bigger boat, one like Topper's or even Ward's. Something sturdy, strong enough to get John B and Sarah far away from Outer Banks before the police could catch up to them. But in this thing, which was no bigger than Heyward's work boat with chipped paint and fading wood, Haven had her doubts. She felt bad about it, especially with JJ staring at it in such awe, but couldn't deny that the open ocean was nothing like the marsh.

"There she be," JJ heaved a giddy sigh as he pushed open the garage door. Haven and Kie slowly followed after him, wearing matching weary frowns. At least this was something they could agree on. "A 1983 Formula 402 SR1. The Phantom."

"It's... old," Haven deadpanned, to which JJ responded with an indignant gasp.

"This boat was the first to make the run to Bermuda in under sixteen hours, Haven. She might be forty-years-old, but she's still the fastest thing that Kildare's ever seen."

"It's kind of a junker," Kie muttered, unable to hide her smirk as JJ's eyes narrowed.

"First Haven, now you," he grumbled to himself. "She's right there, Kie. She can hear you."

"She's a boat."

"Let's just put it this way," he said. "You would not be smokin' weed right now if she never existed, okay?"

Haven rolled her eyes at that, wandering around to the other side of the boat to get a better look at it. If the storm Mrs Carrera warned them about managed to hold out long enough for John B and Sarah to escape, they might, might, strike some luck with this thing. If JJ's word on it was to be believed...

"Trust me, she'll run alright," he insisted, almost like he could hear what Haven was thinking. "She's faster than any of the cutters the boys in blue got."

"If you say so."

Outside, the engine of a dirt bike drew closer. Pope. Haven, being closest to the back door, made her way over with a smile that was quick to fade when Rafe Cameron stepped through the door instead. He raised a taunting finger to his lips in a hush motion, the dark grey barrel of a gun pointing right at her stomach. The implication was clear. Don't make a sound. Follow me. Haven wordlessly held her hands in the air, eyes narrowing as she noticed not one but two dirt bikes strewn across the cement outside. But before she could get a better look around for who was with Rafe, he pushed the gun into her back and lead her around to Kie and JJ.

"You're not Pope," Kie breathed out as she slowly backed away from them.

Haven could barely hear what Rafe replied with over the erratic beating of her heart, but every movement of the weapon digging into her spine brought on a jarring dose of reality. "Hey, there. What's goin' on? How you guys doing?"

Just for a second, Rafe released Haven to get a better look at The Phantom. She didn't think before lurching herself into Kie's waiting arms, bracing for a gunshot to the back that never came. Rafe no longer cared what happened to her. He just wanted her to fear him, to emphasise what he believed was dominance over the pogues. Over the top of Kie's head, Haven spied a second figure wandering up behind a furious JJ. Barry. Before she could warn him, the drop-kick himself was making his presence known, also with a gun.

"Well, well—"

And the weapon pointed at JJ's chest, Barry releasing the safety with a triumphant smirk that had JJ slowly raising his arms in surrender. Rafe came up behind them again, grouping the three friends together like a farmer herding cattle. Haven kept a keen eye on each of their guns, her hand slotting into Kie's on instinct. How the fuck were they going to get out of this?

"See, don't think I forgot about me and you on the side of the road," Barry snarled at JJ. "I'm here because I want my motherfucking money!"

Before either of them could react, he advanced on him, throwing a heavy punch right into his stomach. JJ let out a cry and doubled over, spurring Haven and Kie into motion. In an instant, the barrel of Rafe's gun was pressed up against Haven's spine again, his fingers reefing into her hair to prevent her from head-butting him. Kie immediately froze, staring between her two friends with wide eyes. She was stuck. On one hand, JJ was getting the shit kicked out of him. But on the other, Haven's life was flashing before their eyes as Rafe lead them away.

"It's not you that we want, Kie," he sneered, waiting for Haven to stop struggling before he pushed her back to the other girl. Haven whirled on him with a fearsome glare. That was the second time he'd used her to tame her friends. She wasn't going to be the bait a third time, not if she could help it. "Just tell us where John B is."

"I don't know," Kie cried, her attention split between glaring at him and checking over Haven for potential injuries.

He attempted to draw closer to them again, but Kie was quick to step forward and slap him hard across the face. Haven would've laughed had Rafe not been so eerily calm. For a moment, he just held the side of his jaw burning with a violent red hand-print. The trio listened as Barry taunted JJ, who was still curled up in a ball on the floor clutching the side of his torso. Then, Rafe was moving towards them again, a calm smile tugging at his lips.

"I really wish you didn't do that, Kie."

"I know what you did," she shouted back.

"What?" he laughed. "What did I do?"

"You murdered Peterkin!"

It was only a second, but Haven saw surprise flash across Barry's face as he turned his attention to them. She wondered if he knew the truth, or if he was as blind as the rest of the island was. Her answer came in the clench of his jaw, in the way he kicked JJ hard in the ribs again while roaring about his stolen cash. Even if he did know about Rafe's crimes, they were a secret Haven knew he would bring to the grave.

Speaking of Rafe, Kie had angered him beyond belief. Anger burned in his eyes like hot coals roaring in a fire, and in the blink of an eye, one of his hands had the gun pointed at Haven's face while the other wrapped around Kie's throat and pressed down on her airway.

"Don't you ever say those fucking words again."

"Rafe, let her go," Haven pleaded as panic struck. She didn't know what to do. She had a gun pointed at her head, Kie was crying as Rafe squeezed her neck harder and harder, JJ was losing against Barry severely. "Rafe, please—"

"Where's John B, Haven?"

"I don't know," she cried, hands pulling at her hair as Kie's sobs echoed in her ears.

"Where's John B?" he roared again.

"I don't know!"

She needed to do something. She needed to fucking do something. John B needed them, and for the love of god, she refused to be the next person Rafe Cameron got away with murdering.

But in the end, she needn't have worried about that. Arden Kim came sprinting through the door behind Barry like she was Harry Potter or some shit, the main hero there to save the day. She had a wooden slat in her hands and she swung it at his ankles with as much strength as she could muster, cackling to himself as he howled in pain and JJ stumbled to his feet looking worse for wear. Then, as if they'd planned a grand entrance together, Pope barrelled in through the other door, a metal pipe in his grasp that he used to swing at Rafe's back. He immediately released Kie, his other hand instinctively pressing down on the trigger of his gun.

Haven wasn't sure what was louder, her own terrified scream or the bang of a bullet being fired. All she knew was that Pope was beating the shit out of Rafe, Kie was sobbing her heart out as she pressed her hands to Haven's body, and there was a whole in the wall behind Haven's head from where Rafe had just missed shooting her brains out.

Haven Murphy was alive by the skin of her teeth. Her fear of being Rafe's next murder victim had come so close to being her reality.

"Kie," she murmured, slowly reaching out to grab hold of the girl's searching wrists. She couldn't find a bullet wound, yet she'd seen Haven's eyes dim as she watched Rafe fire. Some part of her had died, even if it wasn't physical, and if Kie tried hard enough, then maybe she could bring it back. "Kie, help Pope. I'm okay."

Haven Murphy was many things. Okay was not one of them.

The pogues had gotten the upper hand with Pope and Arden present. Arden had snatched the gun out of Barry's hands and was screaming at him for touching the father of her baby. JJ, using his girlfriend's anger as a distraction, had pinned the drop-kick to the floor and was returning every bruise Barry had left him. Pope, running on the fumes of seeing his girlfriend almost shot, his friends constantly tortured by Rafe fucking Cameron, and the stress of life in general, was beating Rafe black and blue with the help of Kie. Haven sat frozen, Rafe's gun sitting at her feet with one less bullet than before.

"Pope," Kie suddenly cried, catching everyone else's attention. She'd backed away from the boy pretty quickly and was standing next to Haven. But Pope was still hitting, and he had no intention of stopping so long as Rafe's heart was beating. "Pope, stop!"

Arden and JJ rushed over, the former kneeling in front of Haven and snatching up the other gun too. Like Kie, she quickly searched her friend for injuries before looking back at Barry to make sure he couldn't come up behind them. But she needn't have worried about him. He was out cold, and Rafe was almost the same way.

"Pope, snap out of it, dude," Haven heard JJ screaming.

She stumbled to her feet, her heart dancing an unsteady rhythm as she caught sight of Pope wrapping a hose around Rafe's neck like a noose. Faintly, she remembered yelling alongside Kie and the others, begging him to let it go. It was only when JJ got a hold of his arms and blood began spurting from Rafe's mouth that he was forced to stop, and Rafe crumpled to the floor at their feet, defeated again.

The silence was louder than anything they could've said. Had Arden and Pope not arrived when they did, Kie would've been strangled to death, Haven would've been shot, and god knows what Barry had intended for JJ. But in them arriving, a new monster had been awoken in Pope Heyward, and for a moment it stared back at them like they were nothing but strangers. He stepped towards Rafe as Kie rushed off to help JJ hook up the boat to her car and get them out of there as quickly as possible. Only Haven and Arden heard his warning for the boy, but it would stick with them in the months to follow. Like everyone here, Pope had been changed, and neither of them were sure if it was for the better.

"Stay off The Cut."

And with thunder rumbling on the horizon as the last beads of sand began to slip away, the pogues were off to find John B again.

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THERE WERE STILL SPECKS of blood on Pope's shirt as they waited for John B to show up. Haven couldn't stop staring at them, unable to tear her eyes away even as he and JJ worked to put The Phantom in the water and she, Arden and Kie sat in tense silence on the small jetty by the dump. It was Rafe's blood, the blood a killer owed, and yet it made Haven feel sick to her stomach.

She tried her best not to think about it, however, as Kie got up to pace in front of her and Arden, and Pope and JJ finished rigging up the boat. For now, she needed John B to get there. Losing herself in what felt like her thousandth brush with death would do them no good.

"Dude, where is he?" Kie sighed for the third time in the past ten minutes. He was late, but not late enough that it was too concerning.

"Just give him a second," Pope reasoned with her. "He'll be here."

"He's coming," JJ added firmly. "He's fine."

Was that faith or reassurance to fight off rising doubts? Haven couldn't tell anymore.

Almost like fate was toying with them, a siren pierced the air as one of the dreaded Kildare police vehicles screeched to a stop behind them. Haven and Arden immediately clambered to their feet, clutching each other's arms as the others came running towards them.

"Get back on the boat," JJ demanded and attempted to usher them on board The Phantom.

Alas, there was no reason for them to worry. For the driver of the police van was none other than John B Routledge. As the others murmured in confusion, Haven couldn't help the laugh that erupted from her throat, a sound somewhere between elation and exhaustion. Of course John B stole a fucking police car to get away. If he was going down, he might as well go down in style. Soon, Arden joined in on her laughter, the two sharing a tired smile as he ambled up to them with a backpack slung over his shoulder like this was nothing more than a group of friends taking the boat out for fishing.

"Shoupe let me take it for a spin," he smirked, pausing to hug Kie close before doing the same for Haven and Arden. Haven clung to his faded yellow shirt with trembling fists, memorising the smell of sea salt on his skin. She'd be honest, he smelled like utter horse shit, but there was still that familiar scent buried deep down beneath it all that reminded her of her friend. She'd remember it as she looked at his wanted poster in the weeks to come.

"It wasn't easy, bro, but I got The Phantom for you," JJ proudly declared as John B pulled away. "And she runs like she was made yesterday."

"Surprisingly," Haven drawled, mustering a smirk as he glared at her.

"Haven likes to doubt it, but I know she'll get you outta here," he insisted. "So, are you ready to go?"

John B looked around for a moment, a confused frown tugging at his brows. "Where's Sarah?"

"She's not with you?"

"No, we got separated in the swamp," he exclaimed in a panic. "She said she was gonna meet me here."

"Well, we haven't seen her, man," Pope said, only to be cut off by the boy stubbornly shaking his head, "Okay, well, I'm not leaving without her."

Awkward silence followed as the group exchanged an uncomfortable glance. John B couldn't pass up this opportunity. They didn't know if they'd ever find him another one. It sucked that Sarah wasn't there, but he couldn't wait for her anymore. She made her choice, and he had to make his.

"John B, look at me," JJ sighed. "I know you feel bad for leaving, but there's no time, man. You've got plenty of gas, you've got plenty of food. Once you get around that point, it's a straight shot across the sound to Dismal Swamp, okay? Once you get there, just lay low, alright? Hang out for a couple of weeks and then go overland, cross the border at Brownsville, you got that? Brownsville." For a moment, John B said nothing, just staring wistfully over JJ's shoulder like he expected Sarah to come running out of nowhere. "Hey! Brownsville, you got that?"

"Yeah, yeah," he repeated shakily. "Brownsville."

It was time. Haven stood back as Pope, Kie and JJ prepared to push the boat out into the marsh for him. As close as she was to them, this wasn't her goodbye. John B stood at the front with tearful eyes, and he quickly reached for JJ's shirt to stop them for one last moment.

"Hey," he said. "I'm sorry for basically throwing us off a cliff with this whole treasure hunt thing."

In the chaos of the past few days, it was easy to forget that above the mystery of the Royal Merchant and everything that followed, the pogues were best friends. They were about to lose a brother, someone who spent his days on the marsh fishing and drinking beers, who let JJ crash on his couch when things got bad, who easily welcomed Haven in on a whim. They'd never have those moments again, where the pogues were all together. This hug was the last, this smile was the last. Haven found a tear trailing down her cheek as JJ spoke. She hadn't known John B as long as they had, and yet she already felt like a part of her heart was missing.

"John B, we were bound to run off a cliff at some point, right?"

"Knowing our luck, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner," Arden added, to which everyone laughed.

"And at least we did it together," the blonde boy said, throwing one arm around Arden and the other around Haven. The girls drew Pope and Kie in close, staring back at John B as he openly began to cry.

"Pogue style."

He began to prep the boat again, Haven barely listening as the others gave instructions on where they'd meet up with John B in the coming months. Instead, she focused on the warmth of JJ and Pope on either side of her, on the feeling of their friends being all together for the last time. It was really only when John B mentioned Sarah that she paid attention again, heart hammering in her chest.

"Tell her I said goodbye, okay?" he pleaded.

"Of course, JB," Arden assured.

And that was it. All of the pogues now, even Haven and Arden, assisted in pushing the boat back, still standing with their arms loosely around each other as John B slowly backed up into the fading sun. That was the memory Haven pictured as Shoupe lead a battalion of officers down to the jetty just a minute later. The way John B had smiled as the sun shone down on them.

At the very least, the chains were worth it knowing he was alive and free out there somewhere.