smooth seas//john b

twenty five

When I wake up it's still dark out. I turn and see John B isn't on the lounge chair beside mine.

"What a liar," I state.

I head down and out of the hotel. I know he's at my family's house. He can't let the gold go. As I walk the sun starts to rise. John B is going to be in a shit-ton of trouble when I get my hands on him.

A car stops in front of me. I stop walking and look at it suspiciously. Suddenly someone grabs me and puts their hand over my mouth. They're too strong for me to fight my way out of their grip.

I realize that the person trying to kidnap me is Stubbs and he's doing it for Captain Terrance. They take me back to a house I assume belongs to one of them. A girl, Cleo, is apparently out looking for John B.

It feels like an eternity before I hear Cleo's voice. "Boss, he's here. Hey, found your boyfriend."

John B rushes over towards me. "Hey. Listen. I just..."

I push him away from me. "Liar."

John B stumbles backwards into Stubbs who grabs him by the neck. John B struggles against his grip.

"I wouldn't provoke him. It tends not to go so well," Terrance tells him. "You can run, but you can't hide, John B." John B gasps as Stubbs finally lets him go. "I got eyes and ears everywhere." Stubbs pats John B on the check before throwing him onto a couch. Terrance turns to Cleo. "Took you long enough."

"Next time, get him yourself," Cleo tells him.

"After all our hospitality, you left without saying goodbye," Terrance remarks.

"Let us go," I demand.

"I got 50,000 reasons why that ain't gonna happen," Terrance tells me.

"He didn't do anything," I insist.

"Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. I don't care. We let the courts decide," Terrance says. Cleo laughs. "Bring him to the proper authorities."

Stubbs grabs John B by the back of his shirt and pulls him to his feet.

"What are you talking about? Hey, no, no. Listen, listen. I can pay. I can pay you," John B insists.

"You got 50K in your back pocket?" Terrance asks. "If not, bye-bye."

John B slips his backpack off his shoulders and Stubbs grabs it. Grab the backpack from him.

"Easy, girlie," Terrance tells me. I open the backpack. "Slowly." I pull out the gold and hold it up for everyone to see. "What is that?"

"What's it look like?" I ask.

"Give it to me," Terrance instructs.

"Give it to him!" Stubbs shouts.

I hand the gold over to Terrance. He bites the edge of it.

"One hundred and forty-three thousand reasons to let us go," I tell him. "More than the bounty."

Terrance hands the gold over to Cleo. "I'll tell you what.

That is your rescue fee. But I want my bounty too."

Stubbs grabs John B and starts to drag him away..

"No, no, no, no!" John B protests. "No! Terrance! Terrance! Terrance!"

"No. That wasn't the deal!" I shout.

"Just one! That's just one! Hey! There's more!" John B tells him. "Look, I went to Paradise Island, to her family's house." Stubbs lets John B go. "There is hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of that gold there. It is an empty, undefended house. She has the entry codes."