Hey guys! I really am sorry it took so long to update; musical has me swamped completely, and if possible, it will be getting much worse in the next six weeks. Opening night isn't until March 1st (my eighteenth birthday!!!), so it's gonna be a long haul. But I just had to update! I'm not going to leave you hanging that long! I promise a good chapter! For you, blue! Ta da!
Also, the majority of this chapter takes place around the Statue of Liberty. I have never been there before, so please don't hold my descriptions in high esteem. I will, however, be going to New York City in early March with the Choral Department for four days and will get to see it then on a dinner cruise/ tour for the first time ever. I feel bad that I'm not totally accurate, but I hope it's okay regardless.
I also made a HUGE mistake – the date on Lady Liberty's tablet is 1776, not 1876. For story's sake, I went back to Chapter 12 and fixed it, so if you want, go back to the section where Abigail and Carolyn apply the Value and get 1776 instead of 1876. See if I did a worry repair job with a few extra paragraphs. Thank you so much!
- Dis/Claimer -
.:: Any Reviewers involved with the school musical ::.
x) Norma Jean - Guys and Dolls is basically about gambling in New York in the 1940s, lol. I had never heard about it either til this year. I'm glad you liked the chapter! As for Carolyn and Ian age difference? I'd say roughly between nine and twelve years. I figure Ian's charater is maybe mid/ late thirties, and Carolyn's around Riley's age - twenty-five, twenty-six. I'm glad you enjoyed The Christmas Eve List, too! Thank you so much for always reviewing, and keep on enjoying!
x) astronomylover - Sorry again that I didn't get to post over break as I wanted, but I got caught up in musical and the festivities (of all things, lol). I'm so happy I made you happy! It wasn't their first kiss technically (see chapter eight), but for romantic factor, yeah. It was the big one, lol (and not the last!). I've got another good chapter for you below, and I hope it serves well! I've got a lot still to work out with the upcoming chapters, but I know you'll love them! Thanks for your review!
x) breakaway01 - I'm glad you can wait since I sort of made you, lol. I didn't mean to, but I'm so glad to have patient readers and reviewers like I do, you being one of my most understanding. :) I'm a little behind because of musical (that is my excuse for the next month and a hlaf, lol), but things will pick up after that hopefully. College stuff after that! Yay! (Not really...) Thank you for reviewing the last chapter, and I jope you enjoy this one as well!
x) Rednaxela - Yay! You're back again! Please don't hyperventalate this time, lol. I need you to read the next chapter and tell me what you thought! And I feel so bad that I keep everyone waiting for this story, but the details need to be perfect for all this, and I know you're always happy to wait for a well-written chapter rather than a lousy one every week, which I much appreciate. Thank you for another review, and have fun with the chapter below!
x) Pinkey the Brain - Happy WAY Belated Birthday! How old are you now? My eighteenth birthday is March 1st, and I AM PUMPED!!! LoL. Our marching band stopped doing stuff around mid-November; after out last football game we went to Scranton, PA for Atlantic Coast Championships Competition, and that was pretty much it except for maybe a few parades left this year. I just joined Winter Drumline, too, and I'm the keyboardist in the pit (pressure pressure pressure!). Exited, but a little questionable about my talent, lol. I'm no Beethoven! Thanks for reviewing, and I'll see you in the next chapter!
x) Solitude of Texas - Yay! You liked how I wrote the kiss! I wanted them to for a long time, since the beginning, but I just didn't want to throw it out there, no matter how much temptation ate away at me. The phone booth sounded practical, plus I've seen a person or two do it during band competetions, lol. Nothing like drawing inspiration from real life! LoL... I hope your holidays went well for you, too; I got a green ipod and love it, lol. Thanks for your review, and have fun reading the next chapter!
x) Faile Aybara - Aww, I'm glad you loved The Christmas List, too! I hadn't seen a NT Christmas shot, and I was in the spirit, so I had to, lol. As for this story, I'm so glad you mentioned the kiss and how well-written it was, too! I get no better feeling than when I'm told I write beleivable situations, and when I keep the charaters in-character when I write fanfiction. It's such a confidence booster! And don't you worry about the Riley/Carolyn/Ian stuff... I have some good scenes worked out for later in the story, but I will try to add some more here and there til they come. Thanks for an awesome review! Read on, lovey! Read on!
x) Nelle07 - Ah! Everyone's on the edge of their seat for that one! But you'll just have to wait! knowing smile Yes, I've got that already planned out, and I can't wait to type it! It won't be for a while, though, but as I told Faile Aybara, I will add snippets here and there about Carolyn's identity being revealed. And it will be FUN! LoL. As for now, Carolyn isn't on Ian's side, but who's to say she can't switch? Will she? Huh? HUH?! Okay, I'll stop now, lol. Thank you for reviewing, and keep coming back for more! You know you want to! LoL..
x) My dear-Gypsy Rose - Aw, dear Sofi, do not fret! More suspense to come! LoL. Along with romance and action and fun and secrets and all that good stuff that makes you love National Treasue and this fic! I'm glad I've got you hooked, lol. Now you HAVE to keep reading! Bwaha! No, really, I am a nice person. Just hyper and attentive to my reviews because I've got some time to kill right now, lol. You are another new reader, and I should love that you do keep on reading! Thank you for reviewing, and come on back for more! Enjoy!
.:: What musical are you doing this year ::.
x x x
. Chapter Fourteen .
Their boat docked at Ellis Island maybe fifteen minutes later. It was silent the entire time, save for Ian talking to his men. Ben, Abigail, Riley, and Carolyn just threw nervous glances at each other, not at all liking their present situation.
As soon as they arrived, Ian took Riley's duffel bag from the boat, shoving it into his arms. Riley stepped backwards trying to stabilize his precious laptop. Ian then pushed him forward once, and Riley fell into step with the rest of the group. He glanced sideways at Ben for a little reassurance of some kind, but Ben kept his eyes forward. Riley saw a hint of thought process and decided that would have to be enough reassurance to go on.
If Ben was thinking, it was usually good. Bad plans, maybe, but usually good results.
Like living. Living was nice.
As they came upon the entrance to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum at Lady Liberty's base, Carolyn craned her neck to see the enormous statue of majesty tower over them with her torch and crown alight, and a soft, brilliant light shining onto her green copper dress, illuminating her. She looked very intimidating from way down here, a small but unlikely scenario of the statue toppling over entering Carolyn's mind.
Still, she thought about how they were possibly going to get the next clue.
The museum was locked, closed; but the corridors and several displays were gently lit. The company stopped at the door as Carl and Horace went forward, prying the door open. An alarm did not go off as Carolyn thought one should, but she was just shoved forward again, left to wonder how they had accomplished the task.
Inside the lobby, Ian stopped them all, leaning towards Noland. "Take Riley and Carolyn to head of security," he said. "And have Fischer go with you to make sure they stay on their best cooperative behavior."
Carolyn found Riley's eyes in the group as Fischer came up behind her and led her towards Riley and Noland. Still confused, the two were directed down an unlit hallway. They made a right turn that seemed to magically appear in the darkness, and at the very end, a lamp shone down on a plate on a door that read 'SECURITY OFFICES.' Noland somehow got into this door as well.
They met a small lobby with four desks harboring silent computers and high-back leather chairs. Each wall had two doors with plates on them, and the door on the back wall to the right read 'HEAD SECURITY – DAYNON GRISTAN.'
"What exactly are we supposed to be doing?" Riley asked as they escorted him and Carolyn to the ordinary looking door. Noland began to work its lock.
"You and Carrie here are going to be on the safe end of this operation tonight," Fischer said with a bemused look to Carolyn. She looked away, giving a disgusted shudder.
"Unless they do other than told," Noland said, standing from breaking the lock. He looked at Riley. "Get inside."
Riley stepped into the room hesitantly, a wall of sixteen black and white monitors of different, obscure camera angles feeding into the room. He saw several hallways and some shots of the statue's exterior. He was amazed as he looked up and saw one labeled 'Torch.' He had always wanted to go up there, just not in a situation like this. He faintly smiled as Carolyn came up beside him.
"You two are going to stay in here with this."
Riley snapped up as Noland slammed a walkie-talkie down on the desk in front of the wall of glowing screens.
"Ian will radio you for anything he needs done, and for your sake," – he pulled out and loaded a gun, pointing it at them – "you better do whatever he wants."
Riley stammered at the gun. "W-well, what exactly does he want us t-to do?"
"Hook up your computer to the system and override it manually," Fischer said. "Now."
"Wh-? Well…"
"Do it!" Noland shouted, shaking the gun.
"Okay! Okay," Riley said, calmly as possible. He sat down his duffle bag, opened it, and took out his laptop. Noland and Fischer began to turn around and walk away.
"You have ten minutes to set up," Noland said. "We'll keep in touch." He patted a walkie-talkie on his belt, leaving the room with Fischer. Riley and Carolyn paused, watching the door slam and listening to the lock click forebodingly. Riley's shoulders fell.
x x x
"I'm not getting an override signal from camera nine," Riley said, punching the 'Enter' key on his laptop repeatedly. "The little screen's still black on the computer."
From one of the four breaker boxes on the opposite wall, Carolyn found a breaker out of line with the others and switched it over to align with the rest of the column. "Better?" she called.
Riley clicked the dark rectangle on his laptop screen and hit 'Enter.' The last of the black and white pictures came up. "We're good!" he called back to her.
Carolyn left all breaker box doors open as she crossed the room, taking a seat next to Riley at the monitors. He sat the computer on the tabletop with the many security and program manuals they had out as Carolyn grabbed the walkie-talkie.
"Override complete," she said into it. "All cameras, doorways, and power secured manually and lockdown commenced."
Riley looked over at her. She stared at the monitors on the wall like a hawk, and he felt a little uncomfortable.
"Have you… done this before?" he asked.
"No," she lied, grazing the walkie-talkie with her fingers boredly. "I've just watched one too many movies." She gave him a quick smile before returning to the walkie-talkie, feeling a small repercussion of guilt. Her smile faded.
Riley gave a snort of laughter inwardly. Lockdown commenced…
Carolyn tossed the walkie-talkie back and forth between her hands now, debating whether or not to tell Riley the truth about her identity at this point. She didn't like lying to him. At least not as much as she first did.
"You know, Riley-"
Static came over the radio, and their attention was directed to it immediately. Then, a voice fought itself through the noise.
"Turn off all the recording capabilities of the cameras," it said. It sounded like Ian, but Carolyn couldn't tell clearly enough from the static.
She looked over at Riley as he leaned over his computer, selecting all sixteen miniature screens, giving each of them a red frame by simply pressing a combination of a few keys simultaneously. He then hit two separate keystrokes, and a menu came up. He went to 'Options,' and the next panel offered an option called 'Recording.' Riley went there. He unchecked a white box, and a dialogue box popped up.
'Disable all cameras' recording abilities?'
Riley hit 'Yes.'
'Cameras 1 – 16 recording: disabled,' it read.
Carolyn nodded, bringing the radio to her mouth again. "All camera recording has been disabled," she reported. "The tapes have stopped."
Static, then a voice again. "Are you still able to monitor?"
"Yeah," Riley nodded, looking up at the wall.
"Yes," Carolyn told them. "The cameras are on, but they are not recording."
"Good. Figure out how to erase their digital memory," Ian said. "And I want you also to figure out how to erase the system's history and settings. After we have the next clue and you do that, we will kill power to bypass the security."
Ian's voice went away. Riley looked at the walkie-talkie.
"What?" Carolyn asked.
"If we erase everything from the system before we restart it, nothing can be recovered since the last time it was rebooted."
Carolyn stared at him. "So what? Do you want to get caught?"
"No!" Riley said, returning to the wall of screens. "It's just brilliant. Now all we gotta do is figure out how to do it."
x x x
Ben and Abigail walked in humbled silence as they went through the museum swiftly, passing up all of the historical exhibits Ben had not recently viewed since last summer when he and his family came up to New York for a weekend. He was missing the Torch exhibit and the New Colossus. Memory would have to serve for now.
As they came upon the entrance to the pedestal, Ian radioed Riley and Carolyn again, having them manually control the elevator to get them to the top floor of the pedestal. As he stepped out of the elevator, Ben walked over to a vast puddle of light and looked up; thousands of beams, rivets, and stairs encased in the statue's copper sheets rose over a hundred and fifty feet above him.
"Good job, Ben," Ian said, walking over to him and looking up into the statue. "You've figured out the next part."
Ben looked over at Ian.
"We can't go up there," Abigail interceded, coming over to them. "It's not safe."
"Of course it is," Ian mused. "Is that how much faith you put in your Lady Liberty?" Abigail remained silent. "Besides," Ian continued, "We're not going all the way up. Just far enough to get to that tablet."
"But we'd have to go to her crown at least," Abigail said.
Ian smiled. "Then I guess we're going to her crown. Walt! Bring all the gear."
Abigail looked over at her husband fearfully. He went over to her. "At least it's not a suicidal trip to the Torch," he murmured.
"No, it's a suicidal rappelling trip down seventy feet of two-hundred-year-old copper sheet metal."
x x x
"So…"
Carolyn looked up from ejecting the security tapes from a compartment on the wall with Riley as he stood next to her pulling the tape out of the cassette housing.
She smiled. "What?"
"How did you and Abigail connect the sheet music to the Statue of Liberty? I've been dying to know."
"Well… I was looking for a pen in Abigail's purse and found these… bifocal glasses of sorts with all these colored lenses, and-"
"Wait," Riley said, pausing. "Abigail carries those things around? In her purse?"
"Yeah," Carolyn said. "Otherwise we wouldn't be here in New York right now."
Riley shook his head and continued disembodying the tape and crumpling it up over a waste paper basket. Carolyn ripped at hers more, too.
"So what did Ben Franklin's X-ray specs do?" he asked.
"Well, I put them on out of boredom while Abigail went to try and call you, and my eyes fell on the sheet music… Several of the notes just jumped off the paper, sort of highlighted by this suspended bluish haze."
"Just certain ones?" Riley asked with interest.
"Yeah. All of the highlighted ones were blue except for one; it was purple."
"Purple?"
Carolyn nodded. "And above the treble clef at the beginning of the song was the word 'July.'" Riley listened eagerly now as she continued. "So, I wrote down 'July' and the notes in order from the beginning of the song to the end."
"What, like, A, B, C, D-"
"E, F, G," Carolyn nodded. "And when Abigail came back, she got an encyclopedia and showed me this thing called the Roman Numeral Value that replaced the first seven letters of our alphabet with the seven Numerals."
Riley had never heard of it. "Roman Numeral Value…" No familiarity.
"After we substituted the song notes with the Roman Numerals, we had a date – July IV MDCCLXXVI."
Everything then registered, and Riley looked up in amazement. "The date on the statue," he said quietly. Carolyn smiled, focusing on her next tape.
"Exactly."
"What about the purple note?" Riley asked at length. "Why was it so special?"
"It's where the next clue is."
Riley seemed floored, and Carolyn took a private moment of enjoyment from it. He looked over at her. "So, the note that was purple, when the Value was applied-"
"It is on the 'L' in the date on the Statue of Liberty's tablet," Carolyn said outright. Riley shook his head in disbelief, returned to distorting his tape, and actually smiled.
"Cool."
Then, a large hiss came from the radio over on the monitoring desk, and Carolyn and Riley dropped their tapes, stepped over all of the ruined footage, and went to the walkie-talkie. Ian's voice came over it before they picked it up.
"We will be reporting our status at each level of the statue," he said. "I want the maintenance lights on the inside of the statue turned on now and the exterior ones shut off."
"Where are the lights?" Carolyn asked quickly, grabbing the radio as they ran over to the breaker boxes. Riley picked up one of security manuals from the cluttered table and followed, looking at diagrams of the breakers.
"Umm…" – he flipped a page – "It's not those two… Try the second section of the third breaker." He looked up from the diagram where the second area of Breaker three was marked 'Lighting' and found it on the real thing. He pointed. "There. 'Lighting.'"
Carolyn moved forward with Riley, hovering over the book. "Which one is the maintenance lighting?" she asked. Riley was already scanning the page.
"Maintenance lighting is… sixth one down on the right," he said, looking for it on the wall. Carolyn found it, switching it out of alignment with the others.
At the base of the Statue of Liberty where Ben, Ian, Abigail, and the others stood, they looked up as the pool of light around them brightened greatly. Ian nodded.
"Maintenance lighting on," Carolyn said over the radio. "Just a second; we still need to get the other ones out."
She held the radio away and turned to Riley. "Where's the-?"
Riley switched the third, fourth, and fifth breakers on the left all together, and a large schwoom sound echoed outside. They looked up nervously as if something bad was to follow, but the sound simply died away out in the harbor seconds later. Carolyn brought the walkie-talkie to her mouth again slowly.
"Exterior lights are off," she said.
Ian and company were just recovering from the deafening sound around them as well when he replied. "Excellent. We will alert you of each level we pass in the Statue, and when we reach Level Nine, I want the Torch and Crown lights extinguished. Beginning ascent at Level Zero now."
Carolyn looked over at Riley. "Level Nine is the top of the Statue of Liberty. The head, at least."
Riley got a bad feeling in his stomach, looking back over at the wall of monitors. He found the Level Zero camera, watching Ian, Ben, Abigail, Walt, Carol, and Horace start up the huge spiraling staircase.
"What are they gonna do?"
Carolyn, having an idea of how Ian's mind was working at this instant, didn't feel like continuing conversation on the subject. "Just help me finish these tapes," she said, heading back over to the ejectors. "Hurry."
x x x
"Level Seven completed. Continuing ascent at Level Eight."
They got higher, the winding staircase got narrower. Abigail was short of breath and paused. Ben, who had been beside her since they began their climb, stopped with her.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, I just…." – she winced – "I need to slow down. It hurts."
Walt suddenly stood over Ben and Abigail threateningly. Ben looked up with a heavy glare of anger as Ian stepped into view, hiding more of the antique architecture frame of the Statue surrounding them.
"We're not there yet," he blatantly.
"Ian, she's not going to make it the rest of the way," Ben said.
"Oh, I assure you she will," Ian, said without the menacing smile. "Get her up, Walt." The man went to reach out forcefully, but Ian stayed his hand with a firm 'gently' added to his comment. Walt looked disgusted as he helped her up civilly, and Ben put an arm around her protectively. Ian's smiled returned.
"Come on, Ben," he said sportingly, walking upward again. "Only Thirty-five stairs left!"
Ben gave him a harsh glare as well once out of sight, and then he took Abigail's hand, guiding her up the rest of the staircase as slowly as Ian and his men would allow.
Thirty-two steps later (according to Ben), Ian paused, pulling out the radio again. He looked up at the glowing area of the statue's crown a little over a story above them. The next destination.
"Level Nine completed," he said into the walkie-talkie. "Turn out Torch and Crown lights on my signal." He looked back at his men, telling them to ready their spotlights and flashlights.
Inside Daynon Gristan's office of Head Security, Riley and Carolyn watched the Crown and Torch monitors from across the room, Riley's hand already on the switches to kill power. They watched Ian on the Level Nine camera breathlessly as several large lights were turned on. They watched Ian raise the radio, and Carolyn did the same.
"Turn out lights now."
Riley did so immediately, eyes still on the monitors. Two of the screens were almost black now. The Torch camera caught nothing but darkness, but streams of strong light began to contrast in view of the Crown's camera. Soon, all six people had made it in sight of the camera in the crown. Riley let out a long-withheld sigh.
"Turn out the maintenance lighting as well," Ian's voice instructed. " I want all lights on the Statue out, including the pedestal."
Uneasily, Riley complied. Carolyn felt a chill go through her as another schwoom echoed above them.
And above them, as before, the group paused in respectful awe at the sound. Cautiously, as its loud waves reverberated down the shaft of the Statue and died, Ian turned and went up to the windows of Lady Liberty's crown. He went more to the left, looking out at the New York skyline and the undefined blackness below him. Ben was suddenly there, leaning out the window and looking down into a dark abyss as well.
"I can't see a thing," he said.
"Oh, well, that's why we've brought flashlights," Ian said humorously, going down another window. Carol appeared, handing Ian a spotlight, and he held it out the window, shining around for the perfect spot. His beam finally caught a giant Roman numeral far below on the copper tablet, and Ben looked down, his stomach going with it.
"Don't fret, Ben," Ian said, clapping him on the back. "We've brought you a harness."
As Ian walked over to his men, Ben turned to him. "I'm not rappelling down the front of the Statue of Liberty," he said. "There's no way."
"Oh, but there is."
Walt held up a gun to Abigail who went pale. Ben grimaced, his short-lived thoughts of overpowering Walt for the gun vanishing. He was outnumbered and outwitted at the moment.
"You see, we don't have custody of your children right now," Ian told him, so we decided to use the next best thing – an adoring husband's wife and their unborn child."
Ben's throat tightened at the words, and he felt a profound anger surface within. "Just stop it, Ian," he spat. "No one's got to get hurt."
"That we will leave on your person to decide," Ian said. He handed Ben a twisted harness, heading for the window again. Ben gave Abigail a meaningful look of promise as he turned to follow Ian and Horace, untwisting the harness as he went.
x x x
And ten minutes later, Ben Gates was rappelling down the front of the Statue of Liberty.
He was trembling slightly, afraid of letting go and falling victim to a stony pedestal and Fort Wood below him in the darkness. His feet were at least on a solid surface now; between the Statue's face and shoulder, he endured a terrible feeling of never having his feet touch ground again, but copper sheet metal was acceptable by the time he got there.
Now, he paused, turning with the spotlight and shining it downward toward the tablet. To his relief, it was less than ten feet away, and he quickly eased himself lower until he touched the slippery surface of the tablet.
He did not let go of the chord just yet; the slope of the tablet was steep, and he was still very high above ground. He swung, getting some momentum on the cable until he touched the 'M' in the Roman Numeral date. Feet planted successfully (or as good as they possibly would be), he let his hands move off of the chord and put his faith in the clip connecting his harness to the cable.
The 'L'…
Ben shined his light across the slanted numerals, his target being five away. He looked up at the crown, knowing Ian must be leaning out the window anticipating his return with the next clue. Driven by thoughts of Abigail, their baby, and getting off of the Statue before he fell to his death, Ben set his jaw and locked his eyes on the 'L' with determination.
The Roman Numerals provided an interesting obstacle course to his goal; each numeral measured out to be almost as tall as him, and the entire tablet slanted towards the ground more and more the closer he tried to get to the other side. His foot in the crevice of the 'D,' he stepped over the raised copper, placing his left foot in the bottom of the first 'C.'
Almost there, he thought.
Deciding to crouch now, Ben lowered himself slowly. He slipped but caught himself on the 'C.' His shoe came loose, and for a moment he thought it would fall. What an interesting story that would make. 'Lady Liberty Break-In: FBI Find Suspicious Shoe At Her Base.'
He was able to keep it on the edge of his foot, however, shoving it back on. Ben then scrambled inside of the 'C,' recovering briefly. He then triple tied the laces, believing for half a moment in his juvenile mind that he had taught his shoe a lesson.
Actually, it didn't seem like a bad idea…
Leaving his shoe there with some sort of message to authorities might help them, and him. He thought about it briefly, but stalled the idea. He had nothing to write with, nothing with his name he could spare to the shoe. Besides, the only person on the whole FBI team Ben would expect to understand his purpose behind all this would be Mr. Peter Sadusky, the man shot and killed at his home only days ago.
Sullen at the thought, he remembered still having Sadusky's ring on him. In his pants pocket or jacket somewhere… Digging into his front jean pocket, he found it. Not wanting to lose it, he stuck it on his finger.
Things would be a lot different if you were alive right now, Ben thought to his deceased accomplice despondently. He adjusted the ring in the darkness heavily.
Suddenly, a jerk came at the chord. Ben looked up.
'Pull once when you're ready,' Ian had told him. 'Pull it twice if you don't have it yet when we signal you.'
Ben looked up into the nothingness above him, tugging sharply on the cable twice. With that, he looked over from his sitting place to the 'L,' only one mocking Roman numeral separating him from it. He narrowed his eyes and got up.
Ben threw his leg over the 'C's body, rooting his foot in the bottom of it as well. He crouched again, now on his stomach. Somewhere on this six-foot-tall Roman numeral was the next clue, and he was not going up without it.
He doubted this clue would be anywhere on the surface of the letter, so he began on the sides. The outside vertical edge facing him had nothing, and the horizontal bottom was fruitless as well. He checked on the top edge and the bottom edge to come up empty-handed, but the inside of the numeral had yet to be scrutinized.
Waving his light back and forth over the oxidized metal, he saw nothing. Nothing, until he looked at the conjoining inside angle of the 'L'…
Stars. A tiny, perfect circle of stars on the inside of the horizontal leg next to the angle where it met the vertical piece. He stared at it for a moment before kneeling for a better look.
A thin rectangular line seemed to appear, and the tiny circle of stars was in its upper left hand corner enclosed in a square. The rest of the rectangle was filled with horizontal lines – thirteen horizontal lines. Ben leaned back in appreciative awe for a moment.
The First American Flag.
He grazed it with his fingers; it was made of copper like the rest of the Statue. The thin rectangle around the etching of America's first flag intrigued him further, and he traced it with his finger. Then, he worked his fingernail into the line, finding space. He wriggled his finger around slowly, and then he did it out of impatience. As he had hoped, the copper rectangle no bigger than a postcard popped out of place and fell to the tablet's surface.
It began to slide towards the two hundred foot plummet, but Ben caught it in time, again sitting (this time on the dangerously slanting 'L'), now to look over his find.
The etching was dulled from the years of oxidation, but it was in tact and breathtaking. No Templar symbols, just a depiction of the First American Flag. And it meant something. He knew it. Betsy Ross, George Washington, the Continental Army…
He flipped over the thin sheet of green copper expecting to see nothing special, but a part of him wanted to.
His want succeeded his expectations.
Beneath the green, he saw the outlines of a few words.
He could not make them out entirely; they looked… backwards. Reversed somehow?
Regardless, Ben reached up, giving the harness's cable one definite pull. As he stood and began to feel his harness ride up and lift him, he secured the flag inside his jacket, determined not to let Ian see what was on the back before he did.
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