Chapter Eleven:

Sadusky led Ian through the corridors of the hospital, going on and on. "We'd found your buddy on a platform after he'd fallen through about five others like it, and he's been comatose ever since. We're considering pulling the plug, but-"

"No," Ian snapped. "I'm not losing Shaw again."

"Okay, if you insist..." Sadusky led Ian to a hospital room and allowed him access.

Ian had never figured out whether it was relief or shock, but within seconds, he blacked out.

AAA

Kelsie locked the chest in her bedroom and hid the key as well as she could before flipping through the want ads in a stranded newspaper for a job somewhere that could afford GoldenView's kind of rent. There were only two: National Archives secretary and a clerk at a high-end gift shop. Working at the archives brought this whole mess upon her, but some small part of her would've agreed to redo everything, no changes. Clerk-hood just sounded boring.

Putting the paper aside, she turned to the pile of mail she'd placed on her endtable earlier that day. Bill, bill, bill. Yes, she screamed in her head. Her last paycheck from the National Archives had arrived. Let's see, she thought as she skimmed the check's contents. Enough for the month's rent and a little extra. She put her mail back where she found it and lay down across the sofa.

Kelsie drifted slowly into trance mode, where she saw three figures boarding a boat in the middle of the night, surrounded by Men in Black. One of the figures yelled, "I told you this was a bad idea!" and another retaliated with something along the lines of "I'm sorry, okay?"

"So, what, you just keep treasure hunting? One of these days, it'll get you killed!"

"I know, Riley."

"But what?"

"But this is important."

"Not this time, it isn't."

"Riley, this is about history."

"No it isn't. It's about you staying at the top of your game. You just decided to play nice to me for a little while to see what it's like."

"Riley, you don't-"

"Know what I'm talking about? Yeah, I know what I'm talking about, and I'm sick of it."

"Don't do this to me."

"I'll do what I want, Ben."

The figure called Riley turned and stepped back onto the dock before the boat was fired upon.

As Kelsie stirred, one thing became perfectly clear. The book had to be destroyed as soon as possible.

She dug the key up from its hiding place and threw open her bedroom door, pulling out the chest as she went to shut the door again. As she scanned the scenery from her window, she realized finding a place to dig a pit would be a bit difficult. Finally, Kelsie Williams decided to take the matter to the front desk.

"Is there a place where I can burn this?" she asked.

"Here," the receptionist said as she handed Kelsie a key and said, "Burn it in the boiler. It's been needing some fresh fuel for some time."

She followed the receptionist's instructions, and the boiler room was cooler than she'd expected. Carefully, she opened the boiler and threw the chest inside.

And then her vision faded, and Kelsie collapsed.