Actions Speak louder than Words

Wow, another N.T. fanfic…I gotta start getting good story ideas for some other movies. Oh well. My family and I went camping over spring break and this idea suddenly popped into my head. So basically this girl, Kenzie, witnesses a murder and is threatened by the bad guy. After that, she decides that she'll be safer if she doesn't talk- at all. (See how many of you guys can do that!) Anyway, Sadusky asks our three heroic treasure hunters to help with the case. Will Riley be the one who figures out the girl's secrets? I don't own anything except Kenzie and agent Davis. Disney owns the rest.

Chapter one

I flew across the dark room, diving between two cabinets. I tried to make myself as small as possible, squeezing every last inch of me into the tiny space. I glanced back over at Professor Kline who was still standing at the foot of his desk, only his lamp on for light.. He had told me to run only seconds before.

Then the door splintered open, and I shuddered as a large man lumbered over to my teacher.

"What are you doing here? I told you not to come!" Kline shouted. The man held up a gun. I managed to turn my head quickly enough before the shot rang out. My hair fell in front of my face, creating a dark veil from the terrifying scene unfolding.

I could hear the man's thudding footsteps as he paced around the room, searching for me.

"Where are you princess? I know you're here!" The man called out tauntingly. I shivered uncontroably as he stalked through the room, my blood going cold. After a few moments I could hear his footsteps heading towards the door as he gave up looking for his prey.

"You sure have a knack for making yourself invisible." He chuckled softly, "But just remember that you may be able to hide from me, but you won't ever be able to run. I'll find you…eventually." His voice trailed off as he left the room.

I stayed bunched up where I was for many hours after that, hugging myself as I shook. I cried as I thought about what I was going to do. Really, the only reason that he would hunt me down was if I told anyone what I knew. There was a way to fix that…

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We were eating lunch when my cell phone rang. I turned my head from our conversation as I answered it.

"Hello Mr. Gates," Sadusky greeted me, "There's something I need your help with. Bring Abigail and Riley too, as soon as possible."

I got the address before hanging up, racking my brain for ideas on why he'd need us. It had only been about two or three months since we had stolen the declaration; surely this wasn't about that.

"Guys, we need to go. Sadusky just called and asked for our help with a case or something."

"Awww, Ben!" Riley whined, his mouth full of brownie, "Can't the FBI handle it until we're done with dessert?"

"No, Riley, he sounded pretty urgent on the phone." I said, smiling slightly at his childish behavior. Leave it to Riley to lighten up a situation. I paid the check and left money for the tip as Abigail and Riley headed outside. Once I joined them Abigail rolled her eyes at me, glancing over at the still-complaining Riley. Leave it to Riley to find new ways to annoy us.

Soon enough we reached the American University and I pulled into a parking spot near one of the buildings, following the swarm of police. This only made me more nervous, seeing as I had had some bad experiences with crime scenes lately. After I parked, we all headed to one of the top floors in the building until we reached one that resembled a cluttered office. Sadusky was there to meet us.

"Long time no see, Mr. Gates and friends." He managed a tight smile.

"What's going on? Why'd you call us?" Abigail asked as he led us towards a desk in the middle of the room.

"I know you all aren't into all this police stuff, but I need you're help with a case." He sighed, leaning against the front of the worn desk. "I'd better tell you what's going on, or at least all we know right now."

"Yeah, that might help." I nodded, feeling at least some of my tension go away.

"Professor Kline, one of the teachers here, was up here in his office last night. An unknown person broke open the door and then shot him for unknown reasons. We have no leads." Sadusky sighed, stretching out the short bit of information into a long string of words.

"Thennn…you have no case." Riley pointed out. "I mean, it's not like there were any witnesses or anything."

Sadusky smiled.

"There was a witness." He led us over to a corner where two agents were huddled around a girl who was sitting on the floor, crying.

"Mackenzie Robins, age 22. Her friends call her Kenzie. She's a student here, majoring in art history. Professor Kline was her teacher. She was up here last night, and managed to hide just before the attack occurred. She's the key to solving this case." Sadusky explained to us. I studied the small girl that was slumped on the floor, trying to ignore the agents as she cried.

"So, what do you need us for?" Riley asked.

"She won't talk to anyone. We found her here this morning, squeezed between those cabinets and scared to death. She hasn't stopped crying since. We've tried to communicate to her, but she won't speak to us. She wrote us a note that said: must be silent, must stay safe. We figure that she knows something that's endangering her. That's why we're sending her to a safer place. How do you guys like camping?" Sadusky asked, turning to us.

We all glanced at each other, confused.

"Um, what do you mean?" I asked cautiously.

"We've already reserved a riverfront cabin in a nearby campground. The trouble is, I can only spare about one agent to go with her for protection. That's why I figured that you all deserved a free vacation for about a month or so, just until we can figure this case out."

"Alright! A vacation!" Riley pumped his fist. "No more traffic, news reporters, museum openings…"

"Well, I don't know." I sighed, thinking of a big plan that I had hoped I would be able to gain enough courage to pull off soon.

"…noise, crowds, tabloids…" Riley continued.

"Oh, come on Ben, you know that this would be good for all of us." Abigail insisted, rubbing my arm. She sent shivers down my spine as she stood closer to me, leaning her head against my shoulder. She knew how to get what she wanted.

"…coffee, autographs, fan girls, technology…wait, why did I want to go?" Riley asked, losing his train of thought. I smiled.

"Alright, we'll take the vacation." I gave in, partly because of Abigail, and partly to annoy Riley.

"Great! Also, if you happen to get anything out of her while you're there…" Sadusky started to ask.

"I'll try to find something out." I promised.

"Wonderful." He smiled, crouching down next to the girl. She looked over at him when he put his hand on her shoulder.

"Mackenzie, there are some people I want you to meet." He said gently. She looked up at us.

"I'm Benjamin Gates, and this is Abigail Chase and Riley Poole." I smiled weakly down at her. Her swollen eyes grew wide at our now-famous names.

"They're going to stay with you at the park, okay?" Sadusky asked her. She nodded at him, looking very owlish with her big, green eyes and mess of dark curls. I had a feeling that this was going to be a very interesting vacation…

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I sleepily leaned against the window, gazing at the sunrise. It had been only two days since…it happened, and the unpleasant nightmare was quickly evaporating. I smiled to myself at the quiet noise that filled the FBI's car right now. Agent Davis had come with us. He was a tall man who appeared to be in his late thirties, and had a shock of clean-cut red hair. He always seemed to be smiling and talked very loudly, which seemed appropriate for his size. He wasn't fat, just big. He looked as if he could've been on a football team. Heck, he could've been the football team.

He was driving right now, and sitting next to him in the front seats were Abigail and Ben, who were currently studying a map. They were pretty cozy up there, with Davis sitting next to them and all, but it looked as if they didn't mind. Riley was sprawled out on the backseat, barely leaving enough room for me. I had to smile whenever I glanced over and saw his face pressed against the window, mouth open and his unkempt hair sticky out in weird angles as he slept.

I was extremely nervous when I had first found out that the team of famous treasure hunters were going to be staying with me, but my worries had vanished this morning when they had all arrived. Ben and Abigail were arguing about something and Riley looked as if he had just crawled out of bed. In fact, he had fallen back to sleep as soon as we had gotten in the backseat.

Now we were almost there and I could see the sun peeking through the heavy curtain of trees that shielded the camp from the outside world. I took it as a sign of safety and peacefully curled up in my seat, waiting for us to arrive.

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I woke up once I felt the car slow. I groaned as I peeled myself away from the car window, sore from trying to sleep in the confined space. I ran my fingers through my already-messy hair, and lazily sat up as I blinked my eyes open. I noticed the Mackenzie girl gawking over at me and gave a tired smile.

"Good morning." I yawned.

"Nice to see you up, Riley." Ben smiled back at me. I ignored him as the car came to a stop in front of a small cabin. It was painted a light shade of blue and I could see that it had a deck around the back.

"Alright, we're here!" the FBI agent boomed as we all stumbled out of the car. "Algonkian Regional Park."

"Algonkian?" I snorted, "That's a weirdo name."

"Actually, Algonkian refers to a family of Native American dialects." Ben commented. Leave it to Ben to know everything.

"Okay, so this cottage has three rooms, each with a double bed. This is going to be a tight squeeze, but I think that the ladies can share a room, while we can decide between us who gets a room and who gets the couch." He explained as he walked us up the creaky stairs to the porch, removing a key from his pocket. It took him a while to struggle the door open, but we finally managed to enter into the living room/kitchen area of the cabin. "Also, there's only one bathroom." He told us. I saw Abigail look at him as if he had lost his mind.

"Oh, rock-paper-scissors!" I cried out. Agent Davis, or whatever his name was, looked back over to me.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"You heard me, let's play some r-p-s for the right to our own room. What, are you scared? I am pretty good at rock-paper-scissors, if I do say so myself." I smiled proudly.

Two minutes later I was trying to make the couch into a comfortable bed. I muttered under my breath as I punched the cushions, hoping that they weren't all lumpy. I couldn't believe that a FBI agent had beaten me at rock-paper-scissors, even if he was two (maybe three) times my size. There was something so wrong about that, like the fact that I had to sleep on the couch. Oh well, it beats trying to share a small bed with someone else.

I remembered that I had left my suitcase in the car and rushed out the door to get it. As I ran down the steps outside, I collided into Mackenzie, who was trying to carry a bag up the stairs. We both fell to the ground, me on top of her. Her luggage was strewn across the ground as she dropped it and it flew open.

"I am sooo sorry!" I apologized as I jumped back up, trying to brush the awkwardness off. She smiled silently up at me as I helped her back onto her feet. It was weird not hearing a response.

"We haven't really been formally introduced yet, have we?" I asked. She shook her head, making her curly hair bounce.

"Well, I'm Riley and … you're obviously Mackenzie." I shook her hand, slightly nervous about her lack of talking. "You don't happen to know sign language-do you?" I asked her. She lost her smile as she shook her head.

"Good, because I don't either." I sighed, making her smile and (almost!) laugh. Then she bent over to pick up her things. I started to help her as she gathered up some clothes. I picked up a book that had fallen into a pile of leaves, reading the cover as I handed it back to her.

"A people's History of the United States? You like history?" I asked as she gently took it from my hand. She gave me a look as if to say: 'Uh, yeah! How dumb are you?'

"Oh! Right, majoring in art history." I nodded, feeling stupid. "I guess I was just surprised that it was on American history and not just about art."

She shrugged as she put everything back inside her bag. She seemed like she wanted to tell me something as she rummaged around her very hastily-packed luggage. She retrieved a pad of notebook paper and a pen before furiously scribbling something on it. Once she was done, she held the pad out to me. I read through her messy handwriting.

'I've always been interested in history since I was little. My dad was a history teacher and he'd always tell me the same stories as he'd tell his classes. I've been hooked ever since.'

"Oh. That's cool." I told her as I handed her paper back. She took it with her small, slender hands. I hadn't noticed before how tiny she really was, almost a head shorter than me.

She smiled back at me as she walked up the stairs. I watched her go back inside before turning and walking over to the car.

'She's kinda hot.' I thought to myself, smiling as I unloaded my luggage. This was going to be a very interesting week indeed.

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A/N: I'm leaving for a ski trip with band tomorrow, but I just had to post something up before we left. The reason I had written my other story so fast was because I was on spring break. It helps when you don't have a million test and projects and UIL events coming up. Oh well, I hope I can get the second chapter written quick enough for you guys. It'll probably be a week or two. (I also have to take my drivers test, so wish me good luck!)