It's Rough

Chapter 23

We walked into the church, I looked around, we walked up the stairs, I gulped, holding onto the back of his shirt. We heard someone leaving the room of the tower, we hid behind the wall. We peered over as the person walked out of the room to the other staircase. We walked over and... and... holy shit. Dad. We walked to the stairs,
John B and I said" Dad?" He turned to us, I gulped," Is that really you?"
He said" What took you so long, Bird, Squirrel? I've been ringing for hours." We walked down the stairs and hugged him, whoa, whoa, whoa...
" We thought you were dead. We thought you were dead."
" I'm sorry for the Houdini act. It's a long story, kids. For another time."
" What?"
" We gotta vanish."
John B said" Pops, talk to us." We ran to the door,
" Come on. Keep your heads down. Heads down. Shit, ain't going that way."
" Um, the pogues, the marina, they've got a boat. Come on. Follow us." We took off for the way we came,
" Good boys. It's good to see you two, kids."
" Yeah, you too, Pops."
I said" Come on, hurry up." I jumped over the wall, landing on the stairs, running down them.

Dad said" I think we're good. That was a close one."
John B said" Okay, dad. Start talking. So you've been alive this whole time and didn't think to call?"
" What, you think I didnt want to? It killed me not to. It wouldve put you in danger."
I said" Ha!"
John B said" Well, we were in danger the entire time you were gone."
Dad said" Hey, look, we're here now. Okay? And I'm not going anywhere. I just had to vanish for my safety. And for yours. Look, it wasnt my first choice. You got to know that. Let's go find your friends. Come on, buddies."

We got to the marina,
John B said" Come on, dad. The boat's docked right over here." We walked over and they were gone," Shit."
Dad said" They're gone. Singh must've run them off. Okay, plan B. We take my boat. It's back at my place. We gotta pick something up there anyway."
" Hang on, I gotta call them." John B called them," Yeah, it's me. No, no, don't worry about it. I said don't worry about us, okay? Look, it's way too hot here. You gotta get out of here. Go back to OBX. Sarah... Yes. Yes. I'm fine. Everything's good. Listen. We found our dad. He's alive. Sarah. Sarah? Hello? Get out of there. I'll meet you on Kildare, okay? Hello? Goddamn it. Hope they heard that."
" Me too. We better go. Come on, let's go. Let's go. Come on, boys. To the right. Go. Go." We started following him, I looked at John B, I gulped.

Dad said" This is it right here. Come on." We walked into a yard," Follow me." We ran after him, he unlocked a door and we walked into a house." Here it is. The spider hole. It ain't much, but it ain't a bad place to lay low."
John B said" Okay, spider hole, good name." John B and I looked at a map and magnifying glass," Still hunting, huh, Pop?"
" I'm breathing, I'm hunting, man, what can I say? This time I'm putting it all together, John B, Danny. Getting close, I can feel it. Onto something big."
I said" We, uh... we heard that you died at the Shoals, dad."
" Yeah, well, somebody died out there. It wasn't me. Look. Just gotta go on a little retrieval mission. Then we can split." He cocked a gun, running around once again, I looked at John B.
John B said" Okay. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Dad, dad, wait. Retrieval mission? A gun? What- No! What are we doing?"
" The game is afoot. Okay, kids? Right now. And this time it's for the mother lode, the big kahuna, all the marbles. Alright?"
" Right."
" Okay. Come here." He hugged us," It is good to see you. It is. But if we don't move out, like, now, the game is gonna end early. Alright? It ain't just Singh that's after us. I got mixed up with Limbrey and a whole lot of things."
" Wait, wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, dad. Did you say Limbrey? Like Carla Limbrey?"
" Yeah. How do you think we got a boat?" I groaned,
" Come on, man. No, no, no."
" She... She helped me out a little bit. It's logistics, etcetera, but now that I found you two, I'm gonna owe her something. Better to pay later than now. I can explain it all. Focus. We gotta go. We gotta go!" John B grabbed the bag as dad walked away from us,
" Shit all over the place."
" That a boy! This way!" We followed him, what treasure is he hunting now?! I just wanna get back to my friends.