Part 11

Part 11

Abby fell forward into Riley, arms around his neck. Riley reached up and felt liquid running down her back. Panic filled Riley's eyes, followed by anger. Katie pulled her friend from Riley's arms, gently easing her onto the ground where she could check the damage.

"You shot her!" Riley bellowed. With an animalistic cry he lunged toward the elevator. Ben grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him backwards.

"Riley, killing Ian won't help any of this." He said. Riley jerked away from him and knelt next to Abby.

"KatieBug…" Abby groaned, "Can't you make it stop hurting?"

"I can try." She muttered, using Abby's knife to cut the sleeve off her sweat jacket. She used it to wrap Abby's shoulder in an attempt to stop the blood flow.

"Where's the treasure? Ben?" Ian called, unimpressed by his own horrific act.

"The lantern." The elder Gates began.

"Dad." Ben said.

"The status quo has changed son. It's part of freemason teachings." He said, "In King's 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."

"And what does it mean?" Ian insisted.

"Boston. It's Boston." Ben replied.

"The Old North Church in Boston, where Thomas Newton hung a lantern in the steeple to signal to Paul Revere that British were coming. One if by land, two if by sea. One lantern under the winding staircase of the steeple. That's where you have to look." Ben's father finished.

"Thank you." Ian went to start the elevator again.

"Wait! Aren't you gonna take us with you?"

"You freakin' shot our friend!" Etta snapped.

"Yeah and she stabbed me."

"But you're leaving her to die!" Katie said.

"So? Besides, with all of you out of the picture, there's less baggage to carry." Ian said.

"What if we lied?" Mr. Gates reasoned.

"Did you?" Ian pointed the gun at him.

"What if there's another clue?" Ben asked. After what happened the last time Ian aimed his gun, Ben wasn't taking chances.

"Then I know right where to find you. See you Ben."

"No!" Ben shouted as the elevator pulled away.

"What're we gonna do now?" Riley asked, near panicking.

"Alright guys, what's going on? The British came by sea with two lanterns. Not one." Abigail stated.

"Ian needed another clue, so we gave it to him."

"It was a fake. It was a fake clue." Riley realized.

"Now what?" Etta asked, leaning over Abby nervously.

"By the time Ian figures it out, we'll still be trapped down here and Abby…" Riley cut his sentence short, "Either way, we're going to die."

"Nobody's going to die. Especially not me." Abby stated.

"There has to be another way out." Erica groaned.

"There is." Ben said.

"Where?" Riley asked.

"Through the treasure room." Ben finished, opening the wall.

Through the dust they could make out broken pottery and roughly hewn walls. But there was no treasure and certainly no way out.

"No!" Etta exclaimed. "It can't end this way!"

"Shh." Abby chided.

"This is a terrible ending for a movie." Etta muttered.

"I'm sorry, Ben." Abigail soothed.

"It's gone." He said frustrated.

"Listen, Ben-" Mr. Gates began.

"It may have even been gone before Charles Carroll told the story to Thomas Gates."

"It doesn't matter."

"I know. 'Cause you were right." Ben said.

"No, I wasn't right. This room is real, Ben. And that means the treasure is real. You're in the company of some of the most brilliant minds in history because you found what they left behind for you to find and understood the meaning of it." He sighed, "You did it Ben. For all of us. Your grandfather, and all of us. And I've never been so happy to be proven wrong." He clapped a hand on his son's shoulder and smiled.

"I just really thought there would be treasure." He said.

"Okay then, we'll keep looking for it."

"I'm in." Abigail said.

"Me too." Etta agreed.

"All of us are." Erica said. Abby nodded in concurrence.

"Not to be Johnny Rain Cloud here, but that's not gonna happen! Ben, I've always trusted you to get us out of this in one piece," he stood and put a hand on Ben's shoulder, leaning in so he couldn't be heard, "I can't loose her. There has to be another way out of here."

"Well, that's it. It doesn't make any sense, the first thing the builders would have done after getting down here was to cut a secondary shaft back out for air..." Mr. Gates began.

"...and in case of cave-ins." Ben finished.

There was a small pause.

"Check the walls." Erica said, diving for the closest one. Everyone began looking for hooks or buttons, anything that could open the wall. Ben leaned over the farthest wall, looking at an indenture. Pulling out the pipe he examined the edges.

"Could it really be that simple?"

He hooked the pieces in like the finishing edge of a puzzle. The wall fell in with a groan and a cloud of dust. No one could say a word for the astonishment. Katie and Abigail looked over some scrolls.

"Scrolls from the library at Alexandria." Abigail breathed.

"Is this possible?" Katie asked.

"No way!" Etta exclaimed, "It's a book written by Julius Caesar!"

"It's a big bluish-green man…" Riley said. "With a strange looking goatee…I'm guessing that's significant." He hugged the statue. Abby laughed weakly and leaned on Riley, supporting herself on his shoulder.

Ben had placed his torch in some sort of lighting mechanism. Fire spread throughout the room, lighting the entire room and increasing the groups' awe.

"We did it!" Mr. Gate's cried.

"Zoh my God!" Erica shouted.

"Yes!" Etta said.

"Are you crying, Riley?" Abigail asked.

"Look… stairs."

Abby was about to give her own elated shout but the pain in her shoulder took over. Her vision blurred and the last thing she heard was Riley saying her name.