Disclaimer: I do not own National Treasure, just Elizabeth.
Chapter Ten
Riley was the first to act. He jumped from where he was to a walkway below. Abigail and Elizabeth jumped to an elevator. They helped pull up Ben as Shippen jumped on another elevator. Mr. Gates threw his torch to Shippen, who caught it, and jumped on the elevator with him, stumbling into the rope railing. Ian jumped on as well, nearly falling but Shippen steadied him. Ben tried to give Riley the Declaration but one of the elevator ropes snapped and Abigail, Ben, and Elizabeth went plummeting down until the other elevator rope stopped them just as abruptly. The sudden force sent Elizabeth tumbling off the elevator. She plummeted down, but managed to grab the side of the walkway but was unable pull herself up. Abigail slid off the edge of the elevator but Ben grabbed her. The Declaration was now in peril of falling off the edge.
"Get down there! Get down there!" Mr. Gates yelled to Shippen who was trying to get the elevator to move.
"The Declaration." Abigail whispered.
Ben glanced over at it, balancing dangerously on the edge.
"Do you trust me?" he asked her quietly.
"Yes." she answered immediately.
As the elevator kept swinging, he let go of Abigail when she was over a ledge and dove for the Declaration, just as it was about to fall off the elevator. He quickly slung it over his shoulder but part of the floor broke off and he tumbled off but managed to grab at the edge of the elevator. The board began to falls off as he watched the nails fall out but a rope suddenly appeared. He looked up to see his father holding on and he grabbed the rope and was able to swing over to a walkway.
Meanwhile, Riley raced over to where Elizabeth was, still hanging on for dear life. She scrambled to get a better grip and pulled herself up but the board she grabbed wrenched free causing her to fall back and hang on by only a hand as she swung wildly about. Riley ran over and gripped her arm. She looked up at him, terrified.
"I won't drop you." he said.
She nodded her head as he pulled her up. Once onto safe ground, she threw herself into his arms and buried her head in the crook of his neck. He gently rubbed her back soothingly.
Riley began to walk with Elizabeth still latched onto him for dear life over to Ben and Abigail.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I dropped you. I had to save the Declaration." Ben rambled to Abigail.
"No, don't be. I would have done exactly the same thing to you." she said seriously.
"Really?" he asked, pleasantly surprised.
"I would have dropped you both. Freaks." Riley said, walking down a small flight of stairs, carrying Elizabeth down them. Once at the bottom, he set her on her feet but she still clung to his arm.
"Elizabeth, are you alright?" Abigail asked walking over to her sister.
"Oh, I nearly died. I'm perfectly alright though. Thanks for asking." came the muffled reply.
Shippen lowered the elevator with Ian and Mr. Gates on it, down to where Abigail, Ben, Elizabeth, and Riley were.
"Get on." Ian commanded them.
"Ian... it's not worth it." Ben began.
"Do you imagine any one of your lives is more valuable to me than Shaw's?" he snapped. Elizabeth tried to raise her hand but Riley yanked it back down. "We go on."
"The status quo. Keep the status quo." Mr. Gates said softly to Ben.
Ben nodded his head affirmatively.
They all got on the elevator and Shippen lowered it until they came to a place in the walkway where the landing was much wider.
"Now what?" Riley asked.
"This is... This is where it all leads." Mr. Gates murmured.
Ben threw a rope attached to the elevator around a peg and pulled the elevator closer to the landing. He took a torch from Abigail and walked off the elevator.
"Okay, let's go." he said.
He walked down a short, dusty hallway, filled with cobwebs galore. He walked around a small room, lighting a lantern while everyone filed in. The room was octagonal shaped with what appeared to be windows cemented up with pictures carved over them. The room was empty save for the lantern.
"What is this?" Riley asked.
"So where's the treasure?" Shippen asked looking around the meager room.
"Well?" Ian asked expectantly.
"This is it? We came all this way for a dead end?!" Riley asked, his voice rising with each word.
"Yes." Ben stated as though in a stupor.
"There's gotta be something more." Riley said, disbelieving that this was it.
"Riley, there's nothing more." Ben snapped, his calm mask beginning to slip.
"Another clue, or..." Riley began to say.
"No, there are no more clues! That's it, okay? It's over! End of the road. The treasure's gone. Moved. Taken somewhere else." Ben shrieked, looking lost and defeated.
"You're not playing games with me, are you, Ben? Hm? You know where it is." Ian said walking up to him.
"No." Ben muttered, completely defeated.
"Okay, go." he said to Shippen.
The two men quickly dashed out to the elevator.
"Hey, wait a minute." Ben said, quickly following them.
Everyone else followed Ben out uttering the same thought.
Ian untied the knot holding the elevator still and Shippen took it up a bit but stopped.
"Don't do this." Ben said, trying to calm him down.
"...Isaac. Please." Elizabeth murmured.
Ian looked at her for moment but snapped his eyes away quickly.
"You can't just leave us here." Abigail said.
"Yes, I can. Unless Ben tells me the next clue." Ian replied calmly.
"There isn't another clue." Ben said, exasperated.
"Ian, why don't you come back down here and we can talk through this together?" Riley reasoned.
Ben placed a hand on Riley's shoulder as if to say 'Shut up!'
"Don't speak again." Ian stressed each word, pointing a gun at Riley.
He gulped, "Okay."
Elizabeth smacked him lightly but slipped her hand into his and gave him a reassuring squeeze.
"The clue. Where's the treasure?" Ian asked. He turned the gun to Ben. "Ben?"
He didn't say anything quick enough so Ian cocked the gun.
"The lantern." Mr. Gates said quickly.
"Dad..." Ben said softly.
"The status quo has changed, son."
"Don't." Ben pleaded quietly.
Mr. Gates turned to look at Ian who in turn lowered the gun.
"It's part of Free Mason teachings. In King Solomon's temple, there was a winding staircase. It signified the journey that had to be made to find the light of truth. The lantern is the clue." he said.
"And what does that mean?" Ian asked.
"Boston. It's Boston." Ben conceded.
"The Old North Church in Boston, where Thomas Newton hung a lantern in the steeple, to signal Paul Revere that the British were coming. One if by land, two if by sea. One lantern. Under the winding staircase of the steeple, that's where we have to look."
Mr. Gates clarified.
"Thank you." Ian said with fake earnestness.
"Hey, you have to take us with you." Mr. Gates said quickly.
"Why? So you can escape in Boston? Besides, with you out of the picture there's less baggage to carry." Ian replied smartly.
"What if we lied?" Mr. Gates challenged him.
"Did you?" he asked and pointed the gun at him.
"What if there's another clue?" Ben asked him.
"Then I'll know right where to find you. See you, Ben." he said, and Shippen raised the elevator.
"No!" Ben exclaimed.
"There's no other way out!" Riley shouted.
"Come back!" Elizabeth meekly cried out.
"You're gonna need us, Ian!" Abigail called out.
"We're all gonna die." Riley muttered.
"It's gonna be okay, Riley. I'm sorry I yelled at you." Ben said and patted his shoulder as he moved to go back into the room.
"It's okay, kiddo." Mr. Gates said and followed Ben.
The sisters looked at each other and followed as well, Elizabeth pulling Riley with her.
"Okay, boys, what's going on? The British came by sea." Abigail stated.
" It was two lanterns, not one." Elizabeth clarified.
"Ian needed another clue, so we gave it to him." Mr. Gates replied nonchalantly moving about the room looking for anything.
"It was a fake. It was a fake clue." Riley said feeling a bit reassured.
Ben continued to run his hands over the wall until he came to a carving of the all-seeing eye.
"The all-seeing eye. 'Through the all-seeing eye.'" he mumbled.
"That means... by the time Ian figures it out and comes back here, we'll still be trapped, and he'll shoot us then. Either way, we're gonna die." Riley figured. He gulped and looked about nervously.
"Nobody's gonna die. There's another way out." Ben said triumphantly.
"Where?" Riley asked.
"Through the treasure room."