MARLBORO NIGHTS [JJ MAYBANK]

operation liberation

KAROLINA'S HANDS were sweating, clammy against JJ's skin. She clutched one of his close to her body, atop her bouncing knee, from where they sat next to each other in the pew of the courtroom. Pope was tacked to her other side, Kie and Sarah behind ahead of them, and the humidity in the courtroom was as thick as the tension in the air as they awaited the judge's initial verdict. 

John B stood in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs next to the lawyer he was entitled to by the government. The judge began to speak. 

"John Booker Routledge, pursuant to the North Carolina statute section 14, you are charged with murder in the first degree with aggravated circumstances." 

Karolina squeezed JJ's hand so hard that her knuckles turned white. 

"If convicted, the maximum sentence would be the death penalty." 

The oxygen was ripped from her lungs so suddenly that she almost doubled over with the icy feeling that spread through her body. She shared a horrified look with Pope, as people in the courtroom began to clamor. Death penalty? Death penalty?

"What the hell..." Karolina muttered, looking at JJ, who stared forward with an astonished look on his face. He stood suddenly, and she and Pope followed as he shouted, "Your Honor, he's seventeen!" 

Kie stood and pushed his arm down, telling him to stop, but JJ continued, "He's seventeen! Are you kidding me-!" 

"Quiet!" ordered the judge, and Sarah crawled out of the pew, moving towards her boyfriend. Karolina considered stopping her boyfriend from causing a bigger scene, but her fingers trembled, and the pain in her stomach flared, burned louder than it ever had before. 

"John B, John B- we're gonna figure it out!" JJ hollered, and Pope pushed Karolina into him, ushering them towards the door. 

"John B!" Sarah cried, trying to fight her way to him. Karolina clutched a hand over her stomach, sucking down as deep a breath as she could manage. Pope touched her shoulder. "Are you okay?" he whispered. She nodded, just barely, and the boy grabbed her hand, leading them out of the courtroom, while Kie gathered Sarah. 

"Is this a joke?" she muttered ruefully, once they'd stepped into the daylight. "Like, are we in hell, or...?" 

Sarah wiped her nose, and the crowd forced them down the steps. "I should have never come home..." 

Karolina held tight to Pope's hand, as JJ muttered, "They're gonna kill him, guys. I know it-" 

"JJ, stop," his girlfriend said, shooting him a glare. They all knew it. There was no way John B was winning anything in court, not after all that's happened. And not when Ward Cameron and his wife were standing feet from them getting cooed over by the rest of the town. 

"I'm so sorry for what you and your family have been through," a Kook told Ward, to which the man just shook his head. "Thank God the system works-" 

"Can you please, shut up?!" Kie demanded, clenching her fists. Ward and his crowd came to a stop, staring at her incredulously, as she hollered, "Of course you think the system worked because it was made to protect you and people like you-" 

"He'll have his day in court," spat what they assumed was Ward's lawyer. "The jury will decide." Rose grabbed Ward's arm and tried to usher him along. 

"He shouldn't even be in court!" Kie cried, pointing to the building. "You should! Cause you're a murderer!" 

Pope's hand tightened around Karolina's, and JJ took a step towards Kie, but no one stopped her because what she was saying was the truth. They'd seen him murder Gavin in cold blood.