Disclaimer: None of the characters from the movies are mine, but Artem, along with his gang, and Clara are mine.
A/N: Omg, I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in forever! I've been super busy with my AP classes, including taking the four hour exams, and now a bunch of projects for finals. But now, even though my mouth is somewhat numb from the stupid dentist, I bring you the long-awaited next chapter! Thank you so much to Charlotte Lewis, broadwaylover07, Miss Fenway, Jedi'Pirate Jaeh, Maira Blue, fantomfairy, Halo, momiji'sunusedhalo, SgtGroganSG, and LupinandHarry for your inspiring reviews and incredible patience with my lack of updating. There's one minor swear word in this chapter, but I don't think any of you will care. Enjoy the next, kinda long chapter, everyone! Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day!
Chapter Nine
Agent Peter Sadusky sighed heavily as he drove in the direction of the Hoover FBI building. Missing children cases were the ones he hated the most since he had two sons of his own, but he was fortunate that night that someone had spotted this young girl in time for him and his men to move in and get her away from the man who had taken her. The only part of missing children cases he actually liked was the safe return of the child to their parents, which he had been fortunate enough to do that night. Now, he was exhausted as he drove in the direction of the headquarters where Matthew was waiting for him so he could fill out a report on the completed case, and then he was looking forward to going home to his wife and younger son.
But then, his cell phone rang from his pocket. "Peter Sadusky," he said as he stopped at a stop sign. "Hendricks, slow down. What are you talking about?" He was silent for a minute as he listened to the other agent talk as he began driving again, but then his eyes widened in horror as he slammed on the brakes. "Matt was what?!"
Xxxxxxxxxx
"Hendricks, you can't do this," Matthew protested as he followed the agent to his desk where Ben and Ian were handcuffed. "You have no proof that these two men have done anything wrong. You can't just arrest them!"
"I can, and I will," Hendricks told him firmly, sitting down at the desk across from the two captives and began to fill out the arrest form. "Ian Howe has been a wanted man since he escaped from prison eight years ago. You're only an agent-in-training, Matt. You wouldn't understand."
"I understand this much," Matthew snapped. "Ian wasn't harming anyone tonight, and neither was Ben. In fact, he told me that Ian was helping him against that Russian man named Artem. That's who we really should be after, not these to. And because you were so concentrated on Ian and the noticeable grudge you seem to have against him, those Russian men escaped!"
Hendricks sighed and rubbed his eyes irritably. "Look, Matt. Just stay out of this," he said to the college student. "Harming anyone or not, Mr. Howe is still a wanted man, and Mr. Gates is in the company of a criminal. Therefore-!"
"Wait until my dad hears about this," Matt muttered, interrupting him. "Ben's a close friend of his."
"Look, kid. Don't put any more stress on your father than there already is," Hendricks warned somewhat angrily. "He knows that you've been shot, and I could get my ass fired for that alone. So just shut up and let me do this!"
"Do what exactly, Agent Hendricks?"
Everyone turned to face the doorway that led to the desk, and they were all shocked to see none other than Agent Peter Sadusky. None of them had even heard him approach, and they all wondered how much of the discussion he had heard. "Dad…" Matt muttered.
Concern appeared on the older agent's face as he approached his son and checked over his hastily wrapped shoulder. "Shouldn't you be in the hospital?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's not that bad," Matt answered as he shrugged, noticeably wincing when the action hurt his injured shoulder. "The medics took the bullet out and put some disinfecting stuff on it…"
"Okay. Now that I know you're not going to die at any moment, I'll deal with you later," Sadusky muttered. He walked past Ben and Ian and approached the desk. He picked up the arrest file that Hendricks had been filling out and quickly looked it over. Then, he tore it several times and threw the pieces onto the desk's surface in front of the other agent.
"On what grounds are you arresting these two men?" Sadusky demanded, pointing back at Ian and Ben who were carefully watching the head agent who was going to decide their fate.
Hendricks looked up at his boss nervously as he cleared his throat. "Um… Ian Howe, Sir, is a wanted man, and… um…"
"What was he doing that made you arrest him?" Sadusky pressed angrily. "What was Ben doing?"
"Um… nothing, I guess…"
Sadusky sighed heavily. "Next time that you make a major mistake like this or you allow my son to be hurt again because you are worrying about your pride, you will be fired, Hendricks," he told him quietly but fiercely. "Am I clear?"
Hendricks nodded. "Yes, Agent Sadusky."
"Good." The head agent turned to Ben and Ian. "What actually was happening tonight, Ben? You guys weren't trying to steal something of high importance like the Declaration of Independence or something, were you?"
"No, Sadusky. Ian was helping me to go after Artem," Ben told him, fighting the smile that threatened to appear on his face. "He was doing nothing against the law. Artem and his men should have been the ones the FBI were targeting, not him. I'm sure you remember them, Sadusky."
Peter inwardly shuddered when he remembered how the same men had taken Jacob on the night of the museum break-in. "Yes, I do," he muttered, "and they should have been the targets, not you. You are both free to go."
Ian cast Ben a grateful look.
"But," Sadusky suddenly continued, stressing the dreadful word, "this is your only warning, Mr. Howe. Next time, you will be arrested."
"I understand," Ian replied. Then, he smiled slightly as both he and Ben were released from their handcuffs.
"All right then. Off you go," Sadusky said, placing his hands on both of the men's shoulders as he led them toward the door. "Ben, you know the way out. Take care."
"Thank you, Sadusky." Ben breathed a sigh of relief. He watched as the head agent's attention was switched back to his son's injury, and the he led the way away from the dark glare of Agent Hendricks.
Xxxxxxxxxx
The sun was a decent way up in the sky when Ian pulled up to the Gates' estate. It was half an hour after six in the morning since they had spent so much time in FBI custody. Though he thankfully hadn't died by Artem's bullet, Ben knew that Abigail was now going to kill him for being gone so long.
"Ben," Ian suddenly muttered as the treasure hunter opened the door. "I owe you one for getting me out of prison back there."
"Well, you saved me from being shot first," Ben countered. "We're even."
Ian shook his head as a slight laugh escaped from him. "I didn't do it to save you," he murmured, but a small smile had appeared on his face.
Ben returned it. "Thank you anyway, Ian."
"Yeah. Same to you, I guess…"
"You're welcome. Wish me luck with Abigail," Ben said with a laugh.
"From what I know about her, you'll need it," Ian replied with a slight smirk. "Later, Ben." Then, he turned the SUV around and began to make his way down the long driveway away from the house.
Ben sighed as he quickly walked up the stairs that led to the front door and opened it as quietly as he could, closing it almost silently as he attempted to sneak into the house. He slipped off his shoes and jacket without being detected, but he froze as soon as he entered the living room.
"You've been gone a while," Abigail commented accusingly with her arms crossed.
"Look, Abigail, it's not as bad as it seems," Ben tried to explain. "We got Artem the jewels he wanted, but then the FBI showed up. Ian and I were arrested, and-!"
"Arrested?!" Abigail cried in disbelief. "Ben, what in the world-!"
"Okay, okay. Arrested isn't the right word," Ben muttered with a sigh as he raised his hand to try to calm his panicked wife. "Ian and I were held in FBI custody until Sadusky was able to arrive and get us out, and that's what took us so long. All right?"
Abigail sighed as well. "And let me guess. That Russian man escaped."
Ben slowly nodded. "Yeah."
"See what I mean?" Abigail asked in an exasperated tone as she turned away from her husband and stood in front of the open window. "Every time you say that nothing's going to happen, something always does."
"Yes, but I'm back now, aren't I?" Ben answered with another question as he came up behind her, putting his arms gently around her waist as he placed his chin on her shoulder. "You were right, Abigail. I won't do anything like this again, okay?"
Abigail sighed, laying her head back against his chest. "That's not going to work to get back on my good side, Ben," she muttered with a small smile.
Ben returned it. "Then what about this?" He gently turned her around and leaned forward as he kissed her. Abigail returned it as she put her arms around his neck, knowing that this time, they wouldn't be interrupted by the treasure hunter's cell phone.
Xxxxxxxxxx
Riley slowly opened his eyes when the light of morning hit them. The first thing he saw was that Clara was sleeping next to him on the couch beneath his arm, and then he noticed that the Anastasia movie was still playing in the DVD player. He checked his watch and noticed that it was fifteen minutes after nine in the morning, realizing that he had fallen asleep before his niece had, and she didn't take out the DVD. It had to be stopped so the disc or the player wouldn't be harmed.
But how he was going to get off the couch without disturbing Clara, he didn't know. The techie carefully removed his arm from around her and pushed himself into a sitting position without waking her. Then, he pushed himself up to a crouching position as he attempted to step over her, but his foot slipped on the edge of the cushion, and he fell to the floor. "Ow…"
Clara quickly sat up when she heard the loud crash, thinking that something was wrong. But then, she saw that her uncle was lying on the floor and holding his head. "What are you doing, Uncle Riley?" she asked anxiously. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Fine," Riley answered in a mutter as he sat up. "I was just trying to get off the couch and turn off the DVD without waking you. I guess it didn't work so well…"
The eight-year-old laughed as she slid off the couch and sat on Riley's lap, hugging him tightly. "I love you, Uncle Riley," Clara told him with a smile.
"I love you too, but did you have to leave your movie on all night?" Riley replied.
"I'm sorry. I fell asleep."
"That's all right. I guess you can just keep watching it now since you're awake."
Clara looked up at him expectantly. "Can I play on your laptop, Uncle Riley?" she wondered with a sweet smile.
Riley shrugged. "Sure," he said. "You have a little time before your mother comes to get you."
His young niece smiled with excitement as she jumped off his lap and ran into his room to grab his prized portable computer. Riley sighed as he got to his feet and turned off the DVD. As he took out the movie and put it in its case while he turned on Sunday morning cartoons, the techie couldn't help but wonder what had happened with Ben the previous night. Had everything gone well? What had even happened? He would have to find out later.
Clara surfing through all of her favorite websites while Riley mainly zoned out at the television screen spent the next half hour. But during the second episode of The Smurfs, he had to get off the couch and do something else since there was only so much of watching little blue people he could take. The techie went into his refrigerator and began to pour himself a glass of orange juice, interrupted by the sound of a familiar knock on his apartment door.
"I got it," Riley told Clara, who was too absorbed in the laptop to notice anyway. He quickly ran into the living room still carrying his orange juice and approached the door, opening it to reveal Abigail.
"Hey, Riley. I hope she wasn't too much trouble," Abigail greeted as she gave the younger man a quick hug.
Riley laughed. "No trouble at all," he assured her, turning to look at the eight-year-old. "Come on, Clara. Your mom's here to get you."
"Look, Uncle Riley," Clara said, holding up the laptop. "Look what I found."
"What is it, Clara?" Riley asked as both he and Abigail approached her. The techie took the computer from her, and his eyes widened in horror as the girl's mother gasped when they saw what was on the screen.
"Clara, how did you get into Social Security records?!" Abigail cried.
"What, haven't we all hacked into something important like this when we were her age?" Riley said, trying to lighten the mood.
Abigail glared at him angrily. "Riley, I am going to kill you!"
But Riley held up his hands in defense after he quickly got out of the records on the laptop. "Not in front of the eight-year-old," he cautioned, glad that his niece was still sitting in the same room with them.
"You're lucky this time, Riley," Abigail finally muttered with a sigh, but there was a small smile on her face.
"I know," Riley replied as he set down his laptop and gave Clara a hug as she approached him. "That tends to happen a lot. It's fortunate that luck is on my side… most of the time, anyway."
Abigail nodded. "Yeah, luck does seem to be on your side a lot," she said after her daughter had left the room to grab her bag. "But-!"
"Uncle Riley, where's my DVD?" Clara suddenly called from the techie's room, interrupting her mother.
"It's still in here, Clara," Riley told her. "It's on top of the television."
Abigail watched as the eight-year-old ran into the living room and grabbed the Anastasia movie, but the conversation about luck still stayed on her mind. "Luck seems to be on your side a lot, Riley," she thought to herself sadly, "but even that must run out sometime."
Xxxxxxxxxx
Ian sighed as he sat in a chair that faced the window of their hideout as the sun began to set. Nick and Powell sat on the floor near him and Dustin stood against the wall with his arms crossed in front of him on the other side of the room, but the English man ignored them. His thoughts were only on what had happened the previous night when he and Ben had gone to meet Artem. Why had there been a peace between them before they had gone to the warehouse? Why had he saved Ben from Artem's bullet without a second thought? Why had Ben focused on getting him out of police custody before himself? Was he beginning to feel that Ben could possibly be an ally?
No. They had gone their separate ways. Ben was only a hindrance now, and he was going to remain that way. Nothing would ever change that.
Xxxxxxxxxx
"Good night, Clara," Ben muttered, kissing his daughter on top of the head. "I love you."
"I love you too, Daddy," Clara replied with a wide smile as she snuggled back into her pillow. "Good night."
Ben smiled as he turned off the light and shut the door behind him, sighing as he walked into the room he and Abigail shared. He wasn't tired since he had spent the majority of the morning and afternoon sleeping, but it would feel wonderful to just spend the night relaxing and not chasing after a crazed Russian man with his worst enemy.
As he sat down on the bed, Ben noticed that Abigail had taken the basket full of clothes that had been in their room down to the basement, planning on doing laundry that night. He laid down on his pillow with a heavy sigh, relieved that she wasn't making him do it and that that night was going to be a normal, quiet one, especially since Clara had school the next day. The treasure hunter knew that he was going to love spending the night with his family instead of running all over town…
Then, his cell phone began to ring. Ben frowned as he pulled it out of his pocket, seeing that it was an unknown number, and he flipped it open and brought it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Have you figured out the clue yet, Gates?"
It was Artem. "What clue?" Ben wondered, trying to remember exactly what had happened the previous night. He couldn't recall anything about a clue.
"I gave you a piece of paper last night at the warehouse, Gates," Artem said. "Don't play dumb with me."
Ben was angered by the comment. "I truly have no idea what you mean-!" he began, but suddenly gasped. He remembered the paper now, and he also remembered that it was still in the pocket of the jeans he had worn that night, which Abigail was about to wash. "Hold on a second."
Keeping the cell phone to his ear, Ben jumped off of the bed and rushed out of his room, taking the stairs two at a time as he ran down them. He then rushed through the kitchen to get to the basement door, throwing it open before running down those stairs. He saw with alarm that Abigail had just put the last article of clothing into the washing machine and closed the large lid, about to custom the settings and turn it on.
"Abigail, don't start the washing machine!" he shouted.
His wife gasped and whirled around when she heard her husband, backing away from the washing machine as Ben approached and threw open the lid, beginning to dig through the clothes and throwing them out as he frantically searched for his jeans.
"Gates, what's going on?" Artem asked through the phone.
"Ben, what in the world do you think you're doing?" Abigail demanded angrily.
"Sorry, Abigail. This is important," Ben muttered in a rush before turning his attention to his cell phone. "I'm sorry, Artem. I'm getting your clue."
Abigail was about to reply as she watched her laundry flying through the air, but her husband was spared the lecture when the house phone began to ring. She hurried up the stairs to answer it, but then she came down with it a couple of minutes later. "Ben, Riley's on the phone. He wants to talk to you."
"Tell him to wait a minute. Now's not a good time." Ben continued to dig through the clothes, finally finding the pair of jeans he had worn the previous day. He dug into the pocket, pulling out the folded piece of paper that Artem had given him. He carefully unfolded it and read the words written on it aloud:
"The cure is found within the crown of Anastasia. What does that mean?"
"We were hoping that you could help us with that," Artem explained. "My men and I only know that it is in Russia, our home country. You have forty-eight hours to get to Russia to help us find it. Otherwise, you know what will happen. Dosvi'daniya. Goodbye." Then, he immediately hung up, cutting off the treasure hunter's protests.
Ben sighed as he put his cell phone back in his pocket, turning to his wife and gesturing for the cordless phone. Abigail silently gave it to him, carefully watching him as he brought it to his ear. "Hey, Riley," he said casually. "So, how do you feel about going to Russia?"
A/N: Wow, that was longer than I thought. Hopefully, that means that it will make up for my time of absence! Kudos to Halo for giving me the idea about the clue being in the washing machine! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for reading! Reviews are much appreciated. Thank you!
