Losing His Touch

"Now I'll play God, because your God is just losing his touch." –Jack Off Jill

Rated T for violence and language.

Foreword

My next National Treasure story. And, hot damn, it's up sooner than I'd thought it would be! See, once I get my mind wrapped around something it's not long before I can get that something accomplished. It also helped that I had some extra time to write after I lost my painting mojo :( I did still end up half-assing some of the story just to finish it. Hopefully that's not too obvious.

Basically this is the story that takes place between the movies and is my attempt to explain the Ben and Abigail's breakup and the kind of distance that was between Ben and Riley in the beginning of "Book of Secrets." As for the title…well titles are hard to come up with sometimes, and I find it easier to just borrow something that already exists as a title. It's not even my favorite Jack Off Jill song, but I think it fits pretty well, in more than one way. Not the song, though. Just the title.

So enjoy, and expect, as always, regular updates, like at least once a week. But I don't want to post as quickly as I did with that last National Treasure story, because this one's a bit shorter with only ten chapters and I still have to do a lot of heavy editing so it makes sense. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Chapter I: Dinner And A Kidnapping

"Abigail…someone's at the door…"

The doorbell rang again.

"I know, Ben."

The bell kept ringing. Insistently.

"Do you want me to get it?"

"No, I've got it, Ben," Abigail called behind her as she sped towards the entrance way of hers and Ben's mansion. Sometimes having a big house was a bit annoying, especially when it takes her a long few minutes to get down the stairs and through the halls to the foyer while whoever is ringing the doorbell won't take their finger off the damn button.

Abigail threw open the door and was met by a young man with a goofy smile plastered on his face. A second passed before he finally took his hand away from the doorbell. "Helllooo, Abigaaaiiil."

"Riley," Abigail said as he took a step past her and into the house. "You're….three hours early…"

He shrugged. "Yeah, well. I hit a snag on my book. So, you know…nothing else to do…"

"You're writing…a book?" Abigail couldn't help the bemused smile that grew on her face at the absurdity of the computer whiz writing a book. "Some sort of sci fi novel, I assume?"

Riley rolled his eyes before answering her with a question of his own. "So how was the trip? You guys went to like Disney World or someplace really fun without me, right?"

"It was Venice, Italy."

"Oh," he mumbled, stuffing his hands in his jeans' pockets while lightly scuffing his Chuck Taylors across the floor in apparent boredom.

Abigail had every intention of striking up a conversation with him—she was curious about this book he was apparently writing—when something in the hall caught Riley's eye. He did a double take before the wide smile grew on his face again.

"Hey, Ben!"

The treasure hunter had appeared from the hall, an equally wide smile on his face. "Riley, I figured that was you…"

Riley sped to his friend, then stopped short in front of him, almost awkwardly as he gazed up at Ben with a smile. You'd think he hadn't seen Ben in months. But he and Abigail had only been gone for two weeks on a romantic getaway, the first time they could do so since the Templar treasure was found more than six months ago. Riley had whined and complained before they left, saying that he wanted to go too, even though the couple intended for the outing to be for them, and them alone.

"Of course it's me," Riley was saying. "You're offering free food—how could I possibly turn that down?"

Abigail almost rolled her eyes. Almost. Instead she smiled at how adorable it was that the young man was so devoted to Ben, and how Ben doted on him in return.

Ben chuckled and clapped his friend on the shoulder as Riley's smile grew almost impossibly wider. "Come on, kid. Since you're here early, you can make yourself useful in the kitchen." He winked at Abigail, who grinned and shook her head at the pair.

"Ohhh man…" she could hear Riley whine as he and Ben disappeared down the hallway. "You know how much I hate doing kitchen stuff…"

Abigail sighed. The two of them shared something that she knew she and Ben would never have together. Riley was fiercely loyal to Ben and would do anything for him, in the same way that Ben was overly protective of Riley. It was a weird friendship but for them it seemed to work. Riley had yet to open up with her as much as he had with Ben, and sometimes she got the feeling that he thought she was interfering with their friendship. Ben, meanwhile, was oblivious and just glad to have both of them in his life.

She glanced at her watch. Ben's father would be here in a few hours. Clearing all other thoughts from her mind, she focused on the dinner party at hand and everything she had yet to do in the short period of time.


"You didn't."

"He did," Abigail said with a proud grin.

"No he didn't."

"Yeah, dad," Ben said with content smile on his face. "I did."

"You gave this lovely young woman a ring?"

Abigail beamed at the "lovely" and "young" compliments while Ben shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Well…not yet. I gave her really, really nice perfume. That counts, right?"

"It's not that big of a deal," Abigail assured Ben's father. "It's more like a pre-pre-engagement anyway. I mean, we wouldn't even think of planning anything for…" She looked over to Ben, who had her hand clasped in his. "Oh, I don't know…a year or so. Until everything dies down and we don't feel like we're being accosted by reporters or fans every time we leave the house. Right, Ben?"

To this Ben nodded, grinning widely with a "that's right."

Patrick sighed and shook his head. "I hope this isn't just you being cavalier again. I like Abigail and I don't want you to screw this up."

"Thanks, Patrick," Abigail said, smiling widely to her future father in law.

"I won't screw up, dad," Ben said monotonically, as though he had said it countless times before.

"Good, son," Patrick said, nodding. "Then I guess what I mean to say is congratulations on the engagement." A proud grin broke on his face as he looked at the couple, who smiled back at him.

The only figure at their dining table that didn't have a smile on his face was Riley, who was slumped down in his chair next to Patrick. He was picking at the little bit of food he had left on his plate, lost in his own thoughts while everyone else talked of the engagement and ignored his occasional annoyed snorting sounds completely. He looked in disgust at the green slushy stuff before him that must have been some kind of vegetable at one point. Gross.

"Hey, Riley," Ben called suddenly from across the table.

"Meh," Riley mumbled without even bothering to look up.

"When we do end up getting hitched you're going to be my best man, right?"

Riley, who was still engrossed in playing with his food, merely grumbled in response. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever."

Ben and Abigail sent knowing looks to each other, smiling and rolling their eyes. They had assumed he would react this way. Ben had predicted he'd be grumpy for a little while, having never been a fan of change in any form. But it never took Riley long to go back to being good old Riley.

"So, Riley," Abigail said, speaking up and succeeding in getting the young man's attention away from his uneaten food. "What kind of a book are you writing?"

"Book?" Ben's reaction was the same as Abigail's had initially been—one of bemused interest.

Riley shrugged casually, but had perked up in his seat and could barely contain the smirk on his face now that he was the center of attention. "Yeah, a book. And I'm writing it."

"Well, what kind of book," Abigail said.

"Oh, you know…one with a cover, lots of pages, some big words to make people feel smart while they're reading it...stuff like that."

She rolled her eyes again. "I mean what are you writing about?"

"It's about our treasure and various other conspiracies and stuff."

Ben couldn't help the confounded expression on his face. "That…that's great, Riley. If you want any help with it or anything…"

But Riley raised his hand and shook his head to silence his friend. "No way, Ben. This is my thing. I know you're a walking encyclopedia of random knowledge but I'm doing the research myself. Which, by the way, is not as easy as you always made it look."

Ben grinned. "I'll just have to be surprised when I read it, then."

"Yup."

"I'm sure it'll be a surprise when everyone reads it," Patrick scoffed quietly. When all eyes turned to him at his negatively stated remark, he was quick to clear his throat and steer the conversation in a new direction. "So… Will there be any more traveling in the near future? Or are you two actually staying home for a while?"

While Ben glared at his father over the first comment, Abigail piped up with an answer to his question. "No. I think we've all been around the world enough times. This was our last vacation for a while."

"What are you going to do now, get jobs?"

"Well, I think we've got enough money to keep us comfortable for a long time," Ben said. "But Abigail's going to keep working for the Archives."

"Is that right?"

"Yes, I'll be back in tomorrow. I've put too much work into the position to just leave now."

"But you boys are just going to retire with your millions?" He turned to Riley. "I wish I could have been lucky enough to retire before I was even thirty."

"Yeah, but I'm still writing a book."

"Oh yes, a Nobel Prize worthy book, I'm sure," Patrick said sarcastically. "What about you, son? Any plans?"

"Yeah, actually," Ben said with a smug look on his face that meant it was story time. "You know…the Templar treasure wasn't the only secret kept in the Gates family. I thought, dad, that you and I could do some more digging on Thomas Gates."

Patrick beamed at his son. "That's an excellent idea. You know, my grandfather, Charles, talked about a clue to another possible treasure map, one that Thomas was working on the day he was murdered. They say, that after the Civil War, the night Lincoln was shot, Thomas Gates was decoding a cipher that would—"

"Okay, okay, okay," Riley interrupted. "More clues to more treasures and more chances for Riley to get shot, or maimed, or something equally un-fun. You guys can count me out."

"But Riley," Ben said. "I did tell you that you get to pick how much we take home from the next treasure."

"Yeah, but I kinda just figured you were kidding, as usual. Besides—half of one percent was a lot more than I'd originally thought."

"And you've spent it on, what," Ben said with a smirk. "Toys for yourself?"

Riley actually chuckled. "Oh, Ben. Toys? Toys, you say? I have spent a quarter of a million dollars on the most high tech equipment ever, and frankly I think it was money well spent."

"I believe he was referring to your car, not your computer," Abigail scoffed with an amused grin on her face.

"Oh. Well I didn't have my van anymore and I really, really, really wanted a Ferrari."

"The thing's a death trap on wheels," Patrick grumbled.

"What, cause it's a convertible?"

"No because you're driving it," the older man retorted.

Riley blinked at him, for once at a complete loss for words. "Um, what?"

"He's got a point, Riley," Ben said as he and Abigail struggled to contain their laughter. "You're not really the greatest behind the wheel of a car."

"What?! Aw, come on. I'm a good driver…"

Abigail shook her head when he actually looked to her for support. He turned to each of the Gates men, and they too shook their heads at him. He slouched back in his seat and raised his hands in exaggerated defeat.

"Okay fine. I see how it is. Pick on Riley day, haha, very funny. I liked it better when you were talking about wedding stuff."

Abigail perked up at this. "Well I was thinking we could even do the whole ceremony here, on the grounds. I'll get a priest and set everything up…it'll be lovely. Don't you think so Ben?"

"Uh huh…"


When midnight rolled around, Patrick was finally finishing his hour long good byes, so Riley figured he'd better get home too, before Abigail had to kick him out. Home to his dinky little town house where he could spend sleepless hours in front of a computer screen. He couldn't wait.

"Bye Abigail! Bye Ben!"

Riley waved enthusiastically as he and Patrick left the house. The senior Gates rolled his eyes at the young man's antics. Riley didn't mind though. He knew that as annoying as he was considered to be by the older man, Patrick Gates truly did love his company.

They walked down to the driveway in an almost awkward silence. As Patrick approached his car, he and Riley shook hands and said their goodbyes.

"Good luck with that book, kid."

"Thanks Mr. Gates," Riley said with a bright grin. "Good luck with your…um…treasure research stuff or whatever."

Patrick chuckled at that and disappeared into his car. Riley finally turned to his own vehicle—his beautiful bright red convertible—and rolled his eyes as he recalled the dinner conversation. They just made fun of him because they were jealous of how awesome his car was. He knew he was a great driver.

One of his favorite things to do was to jump into his seat. And now he was practicing to take his trick even further. He took a few long steps back, looked around to see if anyone was watching him, then, after deducing that Patrick was long gone and no one else could possibly see him in the dark, he sprinted at his car and leapt rather ungracefully over the passenger's side door. It had been a cool move in his head, but each time he attempted it he seemed to be in the same position—foot caught on the door with the rest of him sprawled over the front seats.

While he may not have been good at the actual jumping into the car motion, he was always good at a quick recovery, especially when there were attractive girls watching. In the blink of an eye Riley was upright in the driver's seat with his keys in the ignition. Grinning to himself triumphantly in an attempt to disband the embarrassed flush that appeared on his face, he started the car and pulled out without a second look back.

The thing he hated about Ben and Abigail's house was that it was in the middle of nowhere, over a half an hour away from his apartment. The mansion was on a huge lot surrounded by farm land. Or what used to be farmland. Plantation land was probably more like it. But this isn't exactly what Riley hated; on contraire, he actually liked driving through the rolling fields. It was better than any city traffic.

No, what bothered him was the fact that after getting maybe half a mile away from the Gates' mansion he always got stuck at this one traffic light. A totally unnecessary traffic light on a deserted intersection that for some reason turned red whenever it knew Riley was approaching.

And so, rather than feeling the cool breeze in his hair as he drove his awesome convertible, he was left sitting at the light with absolutely nothing around but darkness. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel for a moment. His eyes darted back and forth. 

Definitely nothing but darkness. He wondered if anyone would notice or care if he just went. With his luck, there'd be a cop hiding in a bush or something just waiting for him to run the red light.

He pondered for a second on how his luck had been and if Karma was in fact on his side or not when a soft rustling sounded from behind him. In his car. There was something in his car. He spun his head around to the right and managed to see a large, dark figure out of the corner of his eye emerging from the back seat of the convertible. Before Riley couldn't even think of reacting, said figure grasped a handful of the young man's hair, yanked his head back, and slammed his left temple against the steering wheel. Not once, not twice, but three times until Riley could feel something sticky oozing down his forehead through blinding pain.

His attacker finally released his hold on Riley's head and Riley slumped to the side, kept upright only by his seat belt. Luck certainly wasn't on his side tonight. He was suddenly very nauseous as he felt himself being pulled out of his seat and into the back of the car. Whether he threw up or not was a mystery to him, as he passed out just when his stomach started to feel particularly rebellious.


Keep in mind that while this story is only ten chapters long, each chapter is about 3,000 words long, so there's always that to look forward to :)