Author's Note:
Well here is chapter seven, sorry it's been a while. I hope that everyone enjoys it!
Chapter #7:
We had pulled off the road and into a little clearing. Ben was out and pacing. Riley was sitting in the front seat and I was stretched out in the back trying to sleep. Abigail was sitting watching Ben pace. She kept asking Ben questions, which was not helping my attempts to fall asleep.
"You have the original Silence Dogood letter?" Abigail asked sounding incredulous. "Did you steal those too?"
"We have scans of the original," Ben corrected her. "Quiet please." He tried to begin pacing again, (which he obviously considered the only way that inspiration would strike and provide him with a way out of this mess). Abigail, however, refused to give him the opportunity.
"How'd you get scans?" she asked intrigued.
"He wished for them on a falling star," I snapped. "Some of us are trying to sleep here!"
"I know the person who has the originals," Ben answered before Abigail could ask her question again. "Now shush." This time Abigail lasted about five seconds before asking her next question.
"Why do you need them?"
"She really can't shut her mouth, can she?" Ben asked turning to us. Riley shrugged and I groaned rubbing a hand over my eyes. "I'll tell you what," Ben said to her, "look." He held out the Declaration of Independence to her. "I will let you hold on to this," she took it reverently, "if you will promise to shut up, please."
"Should he have handed her that?" Riley whispered to me.
"I don't care what he gives her," I replied grumpily, "as long as it keeps her quiet."
"Thank you," Ben said to Abigail before resuming his attempts to pace.
"Ben," Riley spoke up suddenly, "you know what you have to do."
"I know what to do," Ben replied. This was promising to me, having a plan seemed like a step in the right direction. "I'm just trying to think of anything else we could do."
"Well not to be a, uh, nudge," Riley said, "but you do realize how many people we have after us."
"It is a bit ridiculous," I conceded, "the F. B. I. take these manhunts very seriously."
"We probably have our own satellite by now," Riley pointed out.
"I wanted to be famous," I complained, "not infamous. However similar they may sound, it's just not the same thing."
"It took you all of two seconds to decide to steal the Declaration of Independence," Riley reminded Ben.
"Yeah," Ben agreed, "but I didn't think that I was going to personally have to tell my dad about it." Now Ben's hesitation made perfect sense to me. For some odd reason confessions like that tended to have a cooling effect on a parent's disposition.
At that second Abigail took off. Still holding on to the Declaration of Independence she began to run as fast as she could away from us. I guessed that she didn't want to be around when Ben told his dad that he had become a master thief. I couldn't blame her for that, I was considering running as well.
"Hey," Ben cried as he went after her, "not cool! Not cool!" He caught up with her embarrassingly quickly. Evening dresses just weren't designed with sprinting from kidnappers in mind.
"Let me go!" Abigail shrieked. Ben wrestled the Declaration of Independence from her grasp and stepped back.
"Okay," he told her, "you're let go. Go, shoo!"
"Finally some peace and quiet," I muttered.
"I'm not going," Abigail said stubbornly.
"Are you kidding me?" I asked disbelievingly. Riley chuckled at me.
"Not without the Declaration," Abigail concluded. She tried to grab it back from Ben but he held firm.
"You're not going with the Declaration," he insisted. Ben swung it onto his shoulder but a second later Abigail had a tight hold on the strap.
"Yes I am," she maintained adamantly, "I'm not letting it out of my sight so I'm going."
"Wait," Ben said getting the picture, "you're not going with us with the Declaration." It took me a couple more seconds to work what she was saying out, and once I did I was not happy.
"But she wants them to catch us," I pointed out, "thus making her not someone we want to take with us on our quest to avoid arrest." But the pair was ignoring me as they had what amounted to a game of 'Yes' 'No' 'Yes' 'No' while playing tug of war with the container that held the priceless document.
"Look," Abigail finally sighed, "if you wanted to leave me behind then you shouldn't have told me where you were going." Ben mouthed silently, but couldn't come up with an argument. Riley groaned, and I gave up on getting any sleep that night.
When we pulled up to the house where Ben's dad lived the four of us peered out, searching for any signs of an F. B. I. army waiting to take us in. Luckily we didn't notice any indication of that.
"Looks okay," Riley announced.
"Unless they're waiting inside to ambush us," I muttered.
"Park a couple of blocks away," Ben suggested.
"Well how long do you think we got?" Riley asked looking at me.
"I don't know," I shrugged, "I never got to go along on manhunts."
"I'm going to give them a couple of hours at least," Ben answered, "I hope."
"That's confident," I remarked sarcastically.
"He has a better idea of what they're going to do then you," Riley pointed out. I sat back an sulked. "What do we do about her?" Riley asked looking at Abigail. "I've got some duct tape in the back," he suggested.
"I second the duct tape," I said. Abigail looked at both of us horrified, but then Ben broke in calmly.
"No," he assured us, "that won't be necessary. She won't be any trouble." He turned to Abigail. "Promise you won't be any trouble."
"Promise you won't try to get us thrown in jail," I added, though I wasn't sure if she heard me.
"I promise," she consented.
"See?" Ben smirked. "She's curious."
"And she's not going to try to call the Feds on us," I grinned at Abigail for the first time.
