smooth seas//john b

fifty two

With Topper's truck we may actually have a chance to get the cross back. We stand on top of one of the disconnected freight cars at the depot in Wilmington.

"Well, there's like 1,000 trains here," Kie says.

"Well, we know it's car 750X on the track to Raleigh," Pope offers.

"Yeah, so now we just gotta find it," JJ states.

"Well, news flash. We're not getting out of here unnoticed with a giant cross," I state.

"We won't have to," Pope reasons. "We can nab it somewhere further in the country. Just gotta figure out how to stop the train."

"Right," Kie says.

"Leave that to me," JJ tells us.

"How you gonna do that?" Cleo asks.

"I got an uncle up in New Bern, right? When he got tipsy, he'd just throw an old chain across the tracks, just for shits and giggles," JJ explains. "And that old little chain would stop all the train traffic in coastal Carolina."

"A chain?" Kie asks.

"He's actually right," Pope tells her. "There's a low-voltage current that runs across all rail tracks. Throw a chain on it, you close that circuit. It would read as another train. Crossing lights come down. Science is actually pretty sound."

"Science," JJ says with a smile. "I knew my science."

"I'm glad you know your science JJ, but we don't have a chain," Kie reminds him.

"No, but I bet Topper's dad has jumper cables in the truck," I reason. "Would that work?"

"Yeah," Pope tells me.

"What's going on?" Topper shouts. He refused to climb up on the train. "Are we doing this?"

"All right, you all wait here," Cleo tells us. "Me and Pope will go look for it and send a signal once we find it."

"Do we actually have a plan right now?" Sarah asks.

JJ nods. "Think we do."

"That's impressive," Sarah says.

"I'm proud of us," I state.

"Let's not jinx it," Pope says. "Come on."

"Nobody ever listens to me," Cleo says.

We wait for the single from Pope. After an eternity we see the light.

"That's it," Kie says. "We're green."

I hear a train horn. "What's happening?"

"You hear that?" JJ says. "Train's moving. Train's moving."

"Shit," Sarah says. "Shit."

As I climb down from the train Topper is waiting.

"Hey, Maisie," Topper says when he sees us.

"Do you have jumper cables in there?" I ask.

"Here I am involved in illegal activities..." Toper starts.

I cut him off, "Not that illegal."

"I'm not even close to being okay with this," Topper tells me.

"Okay," I say. I grab jumper cables out of the truck.

"Jumper cables. What are we doing?" Toppers asks.

"Topper, if you don't wanna go, it's fine," I tell him. "We'll take the truck."

"The truck?" Topper asks.

I nod. "Yeah." I hand the jumper cables over to Sarah.

"Hey, I just wanna make sure everyone here is okay with ending up in federal prison," Topper remarks.