Part 13

Ben, Abigail, Sadusky, and a few other agents are standing around while Abigail holds up a map of what Roanoke Island looked like in the time when the colony disappeared. Ben peeks over her shoulder, then looks back down at the page of Riley's notes that contains the "‹3" symbol.

"Come on, Riley, tell me what I'm missing," he mumbles.

Abigail lets the map drop down against her side. "We knew this might happen, Ben," she says sympathetically, placing a hand on his arm, "Everything's changed so much over the years. Riley might even have had a hard time finding what he was looking for here. Whatever clues used to be here may not exist anymore."

"I have to believe that they do, Abigail. Sure, we might get lucky and Drake might just show up somewhere with Riley in tow, but somehow I doubt it. I don't think she's going to be that stupid. We need to find the Lost Colony, first, or else we have no leverage."

Abigail hesitates before she speaks again. "Ben, I've been thinking…what if none of the places on the map actually contain the Lost Colony? I mean, what if they're all just clues so Riley had a way of finding it, but he can just take Drake right to the exact spot that houses the colony?"

"No, I don't think it's that simple, or else Riley would have probably just placed a big 'X' on the map. Each one of these places has some significance, some key to finding the Lost Colony, and if we get to those keys, first, then Drake will have no choice but to come to us."

Sadusky, who has been listening quietly to the conversation, finally pipes up. "That's a pretty sound theory, Ben. Or it would be, if you could figure out Riley's clues...What's on that sheet again that you're looking at?"

Ben starts reading random words off the page, "Well, aside from 'CROATOA', there's 'son forgotten', 'crow', 'spirits', 'North', uh, 'tree equals life', 'palisade equals protection' – he must be talking about the fence post that had the carving on it, there. It's kind of like one of those brainstorm webs except he forgot to put the main idea in the middle. We gotta keep looking around; I'm sure we'll find what we need if we just keep looking."

"I read that scientists have been searching for signs that lead to the Lost Colony here for centuries," Sadusky reminds him quietly, "Just wanted to remind you to keep that in mind."

"Yeah, but they didn't have any clues." With that, Ben reaches down and gently takes the map of old Roanoke from Abigail. As he stares at it, comparing it with the modern scenery, Sadusky's phone rings.

"Sadusky," he answers, then gets very quiet. Abigail and Ben stop what they're doing when they see Sadusky's lips press together tight. "Okay," he finally says, "send it over to the van." He hangs up and stands still, looking at the ground for a second.

"Well, did they find anything?" Ben finally asks.

"Yeah, they did, but you're not gonna be too happy about it," Sadusky says, his voice a little strained.

"Is Riley…?"

"Dead? No – let's just go take a look at what we got."

The party heads over to the van where the agents have set up their surveillance and tactical equipment. The agent sitting inside, a young-looking brunette with hazel eyes, is typing on a keyboard with one hand and turning dials on a sound system with the other. She nods at Sadusky and the others as they crowd into the van.

"It's just coming over now, sir," she says, and clicks the mouse a few times. Another few seconds go by before she turns around. "Are you ready for this?" she asks, seeming to ask Ben and Abigail more than Sadusky.

"Go ahead and play it," Sadusky says.

Ben wipes his hands on his pants as the screen directly in front of them flickers. He gasps when he sees Riley's face fill the screen, taking in the split lip and fresh bruise on his young partner's face.

"They hurt him," he mumbles, voice filled with venom. Abigail reaches over and grabs Ben's hand, pulling it onto her lap.

"Hey, guys, did you miss me?" Riley starts, giving a little wave to the camera. "Uh, geez, I don't where to start...I guess I should just jump right in and explain. Sadusky, I want to thank you for sending your staff all over the country – that got me faster and better access to the files I needed to get into at headquarters. You did exactly what I thought you'd do in case I disappeared, so you didn't disappoint. It's nice to know you really care that much about me...Of course, I have to give Ben credit for solving my little clues up to this point. I can only assume you're in Roanoke right now, and are probably watching this right about now - with Abigail, I bet – birds of a feather, right?" Riley winks suggestively at the last phrase, then his face gets very serious before he continues. "Look, Ben, this isn't really about you – you've always been there for me, treating me basically like family when I never had any. I am legitimately sorry that I had to use you this way, but I just couldn't do it anymore. I'm tired of being a nobody, risking my life just to end up still poor and with no appreciation. This job I got for the government – it was like a ticket in. It gave me everything I needed at my fingertips and, I don't know, I guess I just wasn't strong enough to fight that temptation. Anyway, the maps and the clues are total bogus, man. I made everything up, planted everything because I knew you'd find it, and I made it just hard enough to stall for the time I needed. It got you out of my hair and got the agents out of headquarters, giving me the access I needed to tap in to, well, anything I wanted. Actually, I thought you might figure me out for a while, there, because when I told Elizabeth what I had done, she panicked and pointed out that I forgotten to write the "N" on the note with 'CROTOA' circled on it. I was hoping you'd think it was just another clue, like to head North or something, instead of just the idiotic mistake that it was since I don't actually know my history all that well. Apparently I was right or you somehow didn't catch the glitch...but it doesn't matter, now, since you know it's not real. Oh, and if you're wondering about my face, I wasn't tortured. I was trying to stay on the down-low and had to run over to the 'west-side of the fence'," Riley says this in a mock-gangster manner, throwing up a gang sign with his hand, "to get some computer parts I needed to pull this off. I ended up getting mugged over there – there's some Karma getting back at me for ya. So, yeah, Ben, Abigail, I'm really very sorry about all this...Now for the demands. Sadusky, while my hacking skills are comparable to pretty much none, I knew I couldn't do what I planned without some outside help, which is where Elizabeth Drake comes in. Check out her name a little more closely – does Irish terrorism sound at familiar to you? Not usually over on our side of the world, I know, but it's around. Anyway, she had the means to get me better access to your building, which has granted me more access to your systems, bridging me to other systems, so I can do things like this…"

The screen switches to a shot of the intersection at 7th Street and Independence Avenue in D.C. Suddenly, all the lights at the intersection change to yellow, then flip to red, followed by two conflicting lights changing to green at the same time. Two cars start trying to pass through the intersection at once, though the drivers seem to notice the error at the last second. Both hit the brakes at nearly the same time, but they collide, anyway. The drivers of the other cars honk wildly as the street lights suddenly begin flashing in random order. The screen flips back to Riley.

"And that's gonna cause a traffic back-up for hours. Sorry, I had to show you a little of what I can do right now, but that's just the graham cracker on the smore – I don't think you wanna see the chocolate. Now, before I start sending funds to myself and running away to Sweden, I did promise Elizabeth a little favor in return for her services. See, you have some of her people in prison, and I'm gonna need you to let them out for her. Until you do that, I'm just gonna have to keep messing with your world for awhile before I'm outta your hair. I wouldn't recommend trying to waste your time with trying to find me. None of the agencies could track me down when I was working for them, so now isn't gonna be any different. But, whatever, waste time if you want – I'm not the one in a hurry. Elizabeth, on the other hand…" Riley claps his hands together, "So, that about wraps it up. Free the prisoners – I'm sure you can find out who I'm talking about – or I mess with more things I shouldn't be messing with. And Ben, don't let this get you too down – you were always a great treasure hunter before I came into the picture. I've always just kind of been a bad seed, who apparently grew up into a bad tree, and I'd hate to see you give up on what you love because of me. Sadusky, you can still get in touch with me through my email, which you know can't be tracked, if you wanna give me an answer regarding this whole prisoner thing. It's all on you, now."

Riley gives one last little smile before the screen goes black.