Chapter Six – Unexpected
Declaimer: I do not own National Treasure or any of the characters. That right belongs to the Disney Corporation.
Author's Note: thank you so much for your very kind remarks everyone. I'm really pleased myself with the outcome, so far, from my story. I anticipate writing a lot more. I'm sorry about the delay of chapters the past few days, however, I'm back and ready to give you more…
Everyone held their breath as the Academy of the Arts and Sciences came into range, not because of the majestic gardens drawing your eyes to the building, but because of the guests parked in front of the topiary.
As they drove up further, Ben rolled down his window and quickly knew that the green van was familiar, yet, it was too late to drive away. He knew if he drove away it was only a matter of time before they had to face him.
"Why, hello Ben." Ian said casually walking up to Ben's window.
Instantly Ben noticed the gun Ian was brandishing at his side, "We don't want any trouble." He managed to reply without hesitation.
Ian smirked, "We're not inviting trouble, are we?" He asked smugly in his English accent.
Abigail leaned over across Ben and spit at Ian in disgust, but before she could pull back away Ian exposed the pistol at her.
"Whoa…" Riley managed to say, keeping his eyes glued to the weapon while pushing further back in his seat.
"What do you want?" Ben finally asked, moving himself into the path of the gun.
"Well, first of all I'd like to thank you for leading us this far." He acknowledged, putting the gun back at his side, still acting casual.
"It was a trick." Abigail said, slowing shaking her head in dismay.
Ian smiled brightly, looking like a kid on Christmas morning. "Very clever girl, you're right. While I spent my share of five months in that godforsaken prison I thought and researched the possibility that maybe there was more than buried treasure out there. I mean, why would the founding fathers have gone through so much trouble to hide only one secret? From there I knew that even if I did escape I couldn't just waltz up to any federal building without the cameras following me and sending me back to prison. I did the only thing I knew would lead me this far, bring you into the adventure. So, once I escaped and learned you were off on foreign territory I invaded your house, messed it up a bit, and left. I hoped you would realize that I was after the glasses once you returned and start thinking about why I was after them. I know you too well Ben..." He finished, leaning up against Ben's car.
"That guy really likes to hear himself talk..." Riley whispered so that Ian couldn't hear.
"So you let us lead you here…" Abigail replied, knowing they had.
"You're going to lead us to the next clue Ben, and one of my new team member's is going to be there when you find it. Jake, can you come here please?" Ian called over towards the van.
A few seconds later the van door slid open and a man appeared, dressed in black attire, with a fierce look upon his face.
"Did you happen to tell your new 'team' what happened to your last 'team', Ian?" Riley asked, biting the bottom of his lip.
Ian ignored the question as Jake strode up beside him, "You're going to go with them inside the building and find out the next clue. Once you obtain it bring them back here, understood?" He asked Jake, who nodded, then turned to Ben, "Understand?"
Ben concurred, recognizing that Jake too possessed a firearm.
Minutes later, Ben, Abigail, Riley, and Jake walked up the marble steps of the Academy building.
"So, what are we looking for?" Jake asked in his heavily Australian accent.
"We dun no mate." Riley replied jokingly toward Jake.
"Do you think that's funny?" Jake shot back.
"Um…no." Riley quickly said, avoiding the chance of being shot.
As they walked they were surprised no one was in site, "It's strange that no one is around." Abigail acknowledged.
"Look..." Ben said, pointing above them at a bright blue banner that read 'Annual Science Fair' indicating the current date underneath.
"Figures that is where everyone is at…" Riley retorted, scratching the back of his neck.
"We need to stop bandying about. Where is this so-called clue?" Jake harshly shot at the group.
Abigail looked in the direction of Ben, who seemed to be deep in thought. "Our last clue, the flag, had no clue directly on it but it stood for a symbol. It leads us here because of one of the people who founded the flag, Francis Hopkinson, who wrote the opera with Minerva in the title. Now, the symbol for this academy has Minerva engraved in the emblem. Are we looking for that symbol Ben?" she asked, hoping that Ben was also thinking of a way to get them out of their tight spot.
Ben nodded, "It wouldn't be a removable item that could just be picked up and placed in a different location. It's probably going to be a part of the building itself, something like a crest perhaps."
After searching around the hallways and rooms nothing was located to even show any resemblance to their theory.
Suddenly a thought struck Ben, "Where is the most likely place you would find the opera's script 'The Temple of Minerva'?"
"Online..?" Riley supposed, seeming serious.
"The library would probably be our best bet." Abigail replied, looking further down the hall for signs indicating the libraries location.
They hurriedly walked to the library, trying not to make too much noise down the empty, echoing hallways.
"I still think 'Online' was a good answer." Riley said under his breath as they rounded a corner.
At the very end of the corridor they realized they had made it to their destination. A gold plaque that read 'library' had given it away easily.
They swiftly approached the rotating glass door, much like business buildings had in New York.
Abigail was first through the doors, along side Riley, followed by Ben and Jake.
"Alright, where is the symbol?" Jake asked, agitated by the amount of time they were using up by gawking at the scenery.
"Well, providing that its a symbol of this magnitude it would probably be very visible." Ben replied, looking around on the surrounding walls.
"Uh, guys?" Riley chimed in.
Everyone ignored Riley as they tried to figure out where the image was located.
"So than it should be in plain site, why isn't it on the walls?" Abigail questioned.
"Ben…?" Riley said, once again trying to get their attention.
"Maybe it's smaller than we thought." Ben assumed, squinting to focus in on smaller sections of the ramparts.
"Yo Guys!" Riley shouted, sending a piercing echo through the library.
Everyone's attention quickly shifted to Riley, "Sorry, it was the only way to get your attention."
"What is it Riley?" Ben asked, sounding a little disturbed.
"Have you looked down at your feet lately?" Riley inquired, leaning on a nearby pillar.
"What are you…" As Ben looked down at his feet his doubt on Riley's intentions changed, "The symbol…" he said aloud, drawing Abigail and Jake's attention.
The group edged around the stunning, copper emblem etched into the marble flooring.
"There's Minerva." Abigail pointed out, getting on her hands and knees to view the image closer.
"Alright, hurry it up." Jake announced, pulling his gun out, mainly to show that he was still in charge.
Ben hastily shifted his eyes across the image looking for some sort of indication of their next clue. Out of the blue he realized that once he put his head further to the floor the image of an arrow could be found pointing to the wall where a plaque was located.
"There…" Ben said, pointing to the plate on the wall.
Once Ben got up and walked over to the wall a thought struck him. He put his hand to the metal and rubbed over it gently, the words on the plate read 'dedicated to the world's leading scientists, scholars, artists, and public leaders of today and tomorrow' with a notation underneath that read it was made in 1780. As his hand rubbed over the last number in '1780' he began tapping the plaque with his knuckles. It sounded hollow.
"That's not supposed to sound like that…" Abigail said, adding a little education into the matter.
"I know…perhaps…" Ben grasped the edges of the plaque, realizing that his fingers alone were not going to pull out the old plate by sheer human force. He went over to a nearby wall where he saw a glass case housing a fire axe.
After smashing the case he grabbed the axe and headed back over to the group, "This should do the trick…" he said as he thrusted the blade into the edge of the plaque, putting his might and Jake's strength into pulling the plate from the wall.
Before anyone could grab the plate it slapped the marble floor, cracking it.
"I hope no one heard that…"Riley said, looking back over his shoulder where the entrance to the library was.
"What do you see?" Abigail asked Ben, paying no heed to Riley.
Ben whisked his hand in the air, trying to clear the bit of dust that had accumulated in the air after he pried the commemorative inscription from the wall.