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She Will Be Loved©
National Treasure™
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything from National Treasure.
Chapter Eleven
"Where the party?" asks Patrick, Ben's dad.
The group had parked a few blocks away to avoid curious eyes and now, they are being confronted…by the elder Gates.
"Well, I'm in a little bit of trouble." Ben sugar coats it.
Kyle rolls her eyes, Little bit my ass.
Patrick looks at Kyle then Abigail, "One of them pregnant?" he asks in a slightly rude manner.
Kyle stifles a laugh while Abigail is shocked and insulted at the same time. Riley looks down and sighs.
"Well, if they are, are you going to leave the woman carrying your grandchild in the cold?" Ben asks back.
Kyle is still trying her best not to laugh, so she puts her face in Riley's shoulder and starts cracking up.
"I look pregnant?" Abigail asks Riley still in shock from Patrick's comment.
Kyle starts cracking up in ever harder as Riley shakes his head. They all walk in and Kyle slowly composes her self.
"There's pizza, still warm I think." Patrick offers.
The two best friends look at each other, "Oh, fuck no." Kyle mumbles to Riley and they scurry to the pizza. Riley goes to grab the biggest piece but Kyle takes it from his grasp and takes a big bite. He glares at her and takes a different piece and pretends to sulk, only causing his "better" half to smile.
"Dad, we need the Silence Dogood letters." Ben blurts out to his father.
Patrick gives Ben a pretty stern look for even mentioning one thing that has to do with the Templar's Treasure.
"Yeah, it's about the treasure." he adds in, answering his father's look.
He looks at the other three, "And he dragged you into this?" he asks shocked.
"Literally." Abigail slightly sneers.
"We volunteered." Riley answers for him and Kyle.
Kyle nods with a big smile which is soon wiped off her face, "Well, unvolunteer before you waste your lives." Patrick snaps.
"Knock is off, Dad." Ben chides his own father.
Patrick looks at him with a glare, "Sure, I'm the family crook." he snaps back at Ben who gladly returns him with a look.
Kyle looks at the two Gates and leans over to Riley, "Tension." she whispers to him.
He nods in agreement.
"I have a job, a house, health insurance, "Patrick starts up and Kyle wonders that that has to do with anything, "At least I had your mother, however, for a brief moment of time. At least I had you, "he pause for a moment, "Who do you have? Them?" he exclaims, pointing at Riley and Kyle.
Kyle frowns and Riley merely stops munching on his piece of pizza as he hears his name.
"I resent that tone.' Kyle remarks, but Patrick ignores her.
"Look, if you just give us the letters, then we're gone." Ben tries to compromise.
"You disappoint me, Ben. "Patrick says rather coldly.
Kyle opens her moth to snap at him, but Riley covers her mouth with his hand. He knows that she has a big mouth that can run off as the wrong time and that will say the wrong things only to cause her to get into trouble.
"Well, maybe that's the real Gates-family legacy. Sons who disappoint their fathers." Ben snaps back at him, angry and hurt.
"Get out, take your troubles with you." Patrick says, trying to get rid of them.
Kyle sighs, she hates the tension between them, "I'm going outside." she mumbles to Riley and gets up.
She walks out the front door and it is obvious that Ben and Patrick are too busy feuding to notice that she left in the first place. She sits down on the steps and leans her head against her hand. She's bored and tired. Her arm still hurts from being grazed, but she's hoping that it will stop hurting soon. Maybe something exciting will happen soon and she better not miss it.
NTNTNTNTNTNTNTNTNTNTNTNT
"That's not a map…is it?" Riley asks as they apply heat to the back of the Declaration.
Ben had went out to fetch Kyle after ten minutes of arguing with his dad. Then, they figured out that to bring out on what ever is on the back of the document, they needed heat.
"Yup! Maps were made of numbers in them olden days." Kyle replies sarcastically.
Riley glares at her.
"Are they longitudes and latitudes?" Riley asks.
"No many sets of numbers. "Kyle answers, yet again.
Abigail studies it, "That's the key?" she questions.
"Yeah. 'The key in Silence undetected.' Dad, can we have the letters now?" Ben says to Abigail, then asks his father.
"Will somebody please explain to me what these magic numbers are?" Riley questions, frustrated that no one is answering him at the present moment.
"Jesus, it's an Ottendorf Cipher." Kyle finally answers him, tired of his complaining.
"That's right." Patrick praises.
"Oh, okay...what's an Ottendorf Cipher?" Riley asks again with a blank look on his face.
"They're just codes." Patrick answers quickly.
"Each of these three numbers corresponds to a word in a key. Usually a random book or a newspaper article," Abigail explains taking a breath before proceeding, "In this case, the Silence Dogood letters. So it's like the page number of the key text, the line on the page, and the letter in that line." She finishes.
Riley nods, in slight understanding.
"So, dad, where are the letters?" Ben asks his father standing up.
"You know, it's just by sheer happenstance that his grandfather..." Patrick starts.
"Dad," says Ben.
"Even found those. They were in an antique desk from the press room..." Patrick keeps going.
Kyle and Riley frown and Abigail does to. Kyle crosses her arms, getting annoyed by the older Gates' rambling. The man just needs to say 'yes' or 'no'.
"Dad," says Ben getting irritated.
"From the New England Current. That's a newspaper," Patrick finishes.
"Dad, where are the letters?" Ben asks annoyed.
"I don't have them, son," Patrick finally says."What?" asks Ben disbelievingly.
"I don't have them," Patrick repeats.
Riley sighs, Abigail shakes her head, Kyle sighs with irritation and Ben sits on a nearby chair and takes his gloves off with his teeth.
He clears his throat, "Where are they?" Ben asks very calmly.
"I donated them to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia," Patrick states.
"Time to go," Ben rushes out of his seat.
He gets up and puts his coat back on.
"All this time and it was on the back." Abigail says looking at the Declaration with amusement of their discovery.
"The back of what?" asks Patrick picking up the old document of two hundred years.
"Whoa!" says Riley.
"Oh for the love of God." Kyle mutters, getting up and leaning against a wall.
"No!" Ben shouts.
"Oh, my god. Oh, my god," says Patrick once he knew what it was.
"I know," says Ben rather calmly.
"Oh, my god. What have you done? This is...this is..." Patrick starts to say in shock.
"I know," says Ben again a little more forcefully.
"This is the Declaration of Independence," Patrick says nearly crying.
"Yes. And, it's very delicate," says Abigail taking the Declaration way from Patrick.
"You stole it?" scolds Patrick looking at Kyle than Riley.
Riley points over to Ben then Kyle hits him in the back of the head. Riley shoots her a glare before looking away from her.
"Dad, I can explain, but I don't have the time. It was necessary. And you saw the cipher." says Ben walking over to his father.
"And that will lead to another clue. And that'll lead to another clue. There is no treasure. I wasted 20 years of my life. And now you've destroyed yours. And you pulled me into all this," Patrick chides.
"Well, we can't have that," says Ben.
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