Chapter III - Escape
Declaimer: I do not own National Treasure or any of the characters. That right belongs to the Disney Corporation.
Author Note – For my fans who have written some really nice reviews I'm very thankful you take so much interest in my work writing this fanfiction for you. I would like to also reply that I was thinking of the name Evelyn from 'The Mummy' but I guess it's your choice, the reader, to decide whether you believe it is that character or just a curator who happens to share the same name. ;) I'll be sending you a lot more chapters in the next few days; this will be a great way for me to pass my time this summer. Oh, btw I'm working on reading up on some more American History. Now, in case you're wondering how I know what I know I used the internet, books, and my knowledge from American History Honors. Thanks once again for your support and I hope to hear more reviews from you all in my future chapters…
"Who would do such a thing?" Abigail asked, starting to clean up the glass from her favorite glass figurine.
Ben and Riley looked at each other and instantly knew what the other was thinking. Riley grabbed the television remote and turned to the local news.
"Breaking News has just been reported to us here at news channel 5. Ian Howe, a man charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, and trespassing on government property escaped prison just last night hiding in a laundry basket and carted out of the prison. Proof of this remarkable easy escape came when guards on patrol found a half-empty laundry cart lying in a ditch just one mile outside the penitentiary. Authorities are not sure whether this man is armed and dangerous, however, if you have any information about this man you are urged to call the FBI." The woman announcer pointed to a small television behind her indicating the prison photo of Ian Howe.
"He escaped from prison?" Abigail half shrieked. Ben hurriedly went to his future wife and tried to calm her, "He won't do anything."
"Ben, you sent him to prison. That isn't just something you forgive and forget. I mean look what he's done so far." Abigail argued, looking down at the mess around her feet.
"Why would he have come here though? I mean theoretically speaking he probably already knew about our trip to Cairo, right? They have television in prison I would hope." Riley said, trying to walk through what curtains half-survived the wreck.
"Riley, amazingly you've got a point. I'm sure they would have some way of knowing what is going on outside in the world, if not by television, by newspaper. So than why did Ian come here?" Ben asked aloud, trying to come up with a legible answer.
"Maybe he was looking for something?" Riley said, just throwing out replies.
Abigail sat down on a nearby chair that looked undamaged and sighed aloud, "Looks like our lives will never be peaceful."
"Well, if Ian was after something I'm not sure what he would find of much interest here, unless…" Ben quickly headed up the manor's winding white staircase making a right into the master bedroom.
"I hope its still there." He muttered as he headed for his bedside table. Inside, Ben managed to push his hand far enough in to reach the small case he insisted on keeping after the treasure discovery.
Heading back downstairs with the small case he thought wildly about the possibilities he missed something very important that Ian had figured out.
"I have a feeling he was after these." Ben said, opening the case, and taking out the spectacles used to read the map on the back of the Declaration of Independence.
"Why?" Riley asked overlooking the glasses.
Abigail shook her head, "I thought we were done with this mess."
"I have no idea this time. I don't know what we could have overlooked, and we have to take into consideration how much time Ian has devoted in prison to work out any flaws and possibilities we never thought of before. I don't doubt that he has also had access to a library where he could brush up on his knowledge of American history." Ben replied to Riley.
"What should we do then?" Riley asked curiously, unsure about the outcome of this turmoil.
Before either of them could answer each other a seriously dangerous thought crossed Ben's mind, "What if the glasses we're not just meant to read the Declaration of Independence?"
Abigail and Riley looked at Ben with surprise, quite take aback by he unlimited possibilities. "What do you mean?" Abigail asked, intrigued by the chance.
"Well, many masons signed other documents during the same time as the Declaration of Independence. My money is on the original Constitution of the United States, which if my history is deemed truly credible is that the Declaration was written first and the Constitution followed shortly after. Now, the masons wouldn't need another document to hide the map, however, what if other pieces were left behind, historical pieces of history?"
Riley, who was already lost, crinkled his forehead in confusion, "You mean lost fragments of history?"
Ben kneeled down on a pillow with feather eroding from the side of it, "Yes, the locations of forgotten tombs, civilizations, sunken ships, other buried treasure, etc. There are so many possibilities aside from these few."
Abigail cringed, "You're not seriously going to ask me to get you a private viewing with the Constitution of the United States, are you?"
Ben grinned towards his wife, trying to lighten the tenseness in the room, "The sooner this is all resolve, the sooner our lives can continue in the direction that they were meant to be lead in."
Ben's sweet words once again got to Abigail who merely just sighed and nodded, focusing her eyes on another item in the room.
"At least we're not going to be stealing anything this time." Riley said with a kind of relief sounding sigh.
All three of them emitted a small short chuckle that came and left quickly, leaving the room quiet and motionless. It wasn't for another hour that they were all ready to confront their new mission.
They all got into Ben's car and drove to the National Archives building. When they got there they all went directly to Abigail's office, mainly to get clearance for both Ben and Riley. It was harder than Abigail thought to get the clearance for either of them, most likely because of their past theft involving the so-called Declaration of Independence. However, when all was sorted out and a short amount of time was granted for each of them they all scurried down to the lower levels of the facility.