Chapter Fifteen
Disclaimer-Err, at the moment I only own five dollars, one of which I just spend paying library dues. You really don't want to sue me. National Treasure isn't mine.
Elvenrarehunter-Cookies! (dives onto cookies) Yay for reviewing! Hah, I loved the raiding line too. I got it from this time when my older sister was going to go teepee one of her friend's houses on Halloween and my little brother was like "Woah, nice raiding clothes." Haha, Ben's codename came out of the blue when I was trying to find something sufficiently noble. Oops, you were totally right about putting Deachat instead of Lander halfway through the chapter. I fixed it, but I do it all the time, so if you spot another one don't hesitate to tell me. Hee, I wanted Riley to do something self-sacrificing and noble, since Ben hogs all the noble-ness in the movie. Thanks again for reviewing! Keep it up!
Whisperwings-haha, the evil cliffie strikes again! Sorry, I have a morbid obsession with writing cliffies, but see! I'm updating soon! yay, I'm glad you think it's getting good!
Classicreviewer- Ha, thanks. it's good to know I'm not the only one. I'm seriously addicted to reviews now though. Don't worry about not reviewing every chapter, I certainly don't expect you to. Just drop me a line every now and then so I know someone's reading this thing. Ha, I totally jumped five feet in the air when you said you didn't go to hall and was like AHH! PSYCHIC! How do you know what school I go to! But then I remembered you and Isabella were buddies and she probably told you. Don't mind me and my spazziness.
Crazy Little Emily- haha, I'm reveling in my evilness! However, I updated fast, which redeems me somewhat, right?
Kes- Yay! Stamp of approval from my pseudo-beta! (P.S. that's what I'm calling you from now on) Wow, I'm psyched that this is your second favorite chapter! Out of curiousty, what was your first? (waves hands enthusiastically back at you) OMG did you see I FINALLY named the chapters? Two of them were from your ideas, which I need to give you credit for. Whoops, back to the authors note.
Silveni- Thank you SO much for reviewing! Hah, I'm so glad you reviewed after reading all of this, it must be kind of tiring. I have to practically take a nape after writing every chapter. I know I already responded to your other review, but thank you SO MUCH again for reading and reviewing my one-shot, which I was about to delete cuz no one was reading it. Hah, the Ian in a dress comment was one of my favorites, and a milestone in that it was the one part of the story that my beta laughed at. yay, I'm glad you love it so far!
A/N-I promised that if I got some reviews than I would update once more before heading into final week (gulp) and you guys totally came through! Yay Reviews! So this is my last chapter until next week, so review to keep my spirits up during finals or I'll go into writer's block!
Oh, and I totally forgot, I finally named the chapters! I have to thank Kes, a.k.a. my pseudo-beta for giving me the names for chapters 5 and 12. (5 was actually supposed to be Ben the Heroic Historian AND Riley the Short Shirtless One, but it wouldn't fit) Thanks!
To Everyone-I changed my pen name from tigerlily2391 to WalkingInMemphis23. Don't worry, it's still me. That pen name was just really old and I needed to change it. I hope it doesn't cause any confusion!
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Chapter Fifteen
Riley stood, sweating profusely in front of Lander as Claire gaped at him from behind the man holding the gun. If Lander in any way had their pictures or knew their identities he would have no trouble realizing that Benjamin Gates was most definitely not standing in front of him.
Luck was on his side. Lander simply stared at him for a moment before nodding.
"Get over there with Howe, Mr. Gates." he instructed, motioning with his gun. Riley almost passed out with relief and joined Claire.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she whispered, barely discernable. Riley shrugged helplessly and motioned for her to be quiet.
Deaf to Claire, Lander was now training his gun on the bookshelf Ben and Abbie were hiding behind.
"Mr. Poole, Mrs. Gates?" he asked coolly. "Could you step out from behind the bookshelf?"
Ben and Abbie warily walked out in front of Lander.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you really won't be needed for the rest of the journey." Lander apologized, cocking his gun. "Mr. Deachat sends his apologies."
As Ben and Abbie's eyes widened, Riley realized with growing horror that he had not saved Ben's life by taking his place, but rather condemned him to death.
As Lander raised his gun and Ben and Abbie clung to each other, Claire bolted from Riley's side.
"Stop it!" she screamed, pulling his gun arm down.
Riley yelled in protest as Lander lashed out, quickly striking Claire across the face. She recoiled and took a step back.
"That's for spraying me in the eyes with goddamn pepper!" Lander snarled. "Try stopping me again and I'll shoot you between the eyes, damn Deachat's orders!"
Riley glared at him and pulled a frightened Claire out of his reach.
He could do nothing but watch in terror, however, as Lander once again trained his gun on Ben and Abbie and prepared to fire. Riley thought that he should be thinking up some kind of a brilliant ploy to save them, to distract Lander. Like Ben had saved him from Ian all those years ago when he lit a flare inside of the Charlotte.
His mind was completely blank of any idea. As Ben squeezed his eyes shut and shielded his wife, Riley could only stare, frozen to the spot. His best friend was going to die in this must old study because he was stupid enough to take his place. Riley closed his eyes, unable to watch, and wondered how the hell he was going to explain to Patrick that he got both of his parents killed.
Lander hesitated for two seconds, a burst of conscience, before pulling the trigger.
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Ian paced in his apartment, staring with irritation at the telephone. He needed it to ring right now.It could be Dawes, with a lead. Hell, he would even welcome a call from his cable guy.
But what he really needed was a call from his little sister confirming her living state of being.
She had called last night, hurried because Riley had just been attacked. Ian didn't give a monkey's arse about Riley, but had been concerned to learn that Claire had also been present during the attack and knew that the man had been after her notes, and thus presumably working for Deachat.
Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to get his name. Claire had called him the "floral man" but Ian strongly doubted that that was his street alias, so he had nothing to go by. That last thing that she had said was that they were going to check out some museum the next day and she would call him when she got back. Thus his pacing.
He threw himself into a nearby armchair and rubbed his forehead tiredly. Once Claire got back from her bloody treasure hunt, he was either going to lock her up or send her to a nunnery. The way she was going, Ian was going to work himself to an early death by worrying.
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A hollow click echoed through the study.
Lander incredulously stared down at the barrel of his gun and couldn't believe his damned bad luck. His gun had run out of bullets.
A moment of awkward shock, surprise, and fear held the room for a few long-lasting moments as everyone stared at each other in disbelief.
Ben, having gotten over the shock of not being shot, decided to take advantage of the moment and grabbed the spindly chair behind him.
Lander, broken from his stupor, saw Ben reach for the chair and scrabbled for his stun gun.
Claire gave a short scream as Lander shot Ben and Abbie with tranquilizers, dropping them immediately, precisely at the same time that Ben hurled the chair at Lander's head, effectively knocking him out.
Claire and Riley's mouth's dropped open as three people fell to the floor at once, making the study look like a twisted version of the last scene from Hamlet.
They turned to each other, realizing that they were the only conscious people left in the room.
"What the hell do we do now?" Claire asked Riley semi-hysterically.
Riley blinked, not used to people looking to him for guidance. He snuck a look to Ben to see if he was waking up anytime in the next few minutes and could provide helpful insight on what they should do.
Nope, Ben had a tranq dart lodged in his chest. He wasn't assuming any leadership roles too soon.
"Well, we need to get out of here," Riley started, stating the rather obvious. "But we can't leave Ben and Abbie with Lander, because he could wake up any moment and kill them."
Lander's radio gave a few short bursts, and Riley and Claire glanced at each other in horror, remembering Deachat.
"Riley, he could be on his way here by now. We need to get out." Claire appealed.
Riley ran over and grabbed Ben by the arms, dragging him towards the door from which they had come.
"You take Abbie." he panted."We need to get them somewhere safe, and then we can run."
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Drew Deachat waited in his black rented car for Lander to finish up and call him over. The man was taking an unbelievably long time. For someone who had claimed to be an expert, he had fouled up every plan so far. All he needed to do was get the blasted notes from Claire Howe that would lead them to the treasure. After he failed that, Drew had realized that they would need Miss Howe herself rather than her notes to guide them to the treasure; she obviously wouldn't carry them around anymore. He hadn't planned to bring Claire Howe into his scheme until later, but he could improvise. The Gates man could help too, but the others would have to be eliminated.
Deachat felt a small stab of pity for Abigail Gates and Riley Poole, but it was fleeting and was quickly overshadowed by the driving force in his life: his constant lust for the treasure. He was close enough to smell it , after so many years of searching. Everyone else was simply a pawn. This treasure was his life, his destiny: he was born to find this treasure. Nothing could prevent him from having it.
His radio gave short burst and he eagerly snatched it up.
"Lander?" he barked "Are you done yet?"
Lander's voice was muffled and hoarse. "Boss, they got away."
Deachat felt his anger welling up in hot waves. "What!"
"I shot Poole and Mrs. Gates with tranqs, but Poole hit me with a chair. I just woke up and all four are gone."
"Why the fuck didn't you just shoot them?" Deachat hissed, infuriated.
"I ran out of bullets." Lander admitted, sheepish.
Deachat held the radio away from his face and breathed deeply, composing himself intill calm washed over him like an anesthetic. He was destined to have this treasure. Claire and Gates could run, but in the end he would find them.
"I'll be there in five minutes." he spoke gently into his radio. "Be ready to go, we're going to have to find them before Gates and Poole wake up. Their pace will be slow since they have to drag them."
"Yes boss." Lander responded, sounding wary. He always seemed slightly scared of him and his fluctuating temper. He simply doesn't understand, Drew thought sympathetically.
He started his car and pulled out his cell phone. He had planned on making this call once he obtained Claire, but he might as well make it now. He needed a mood lifter, and Claire Howe's brother was just so much fun to play with.
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Ian was just about to fall asleep when he was jarred by the shrill ringing of his phone.
It's about bloody time, he thought, running over and plucking it from the wall.
"Hello?" he answered roughly. There was a short silence, and then a cold, calculating voice began to speak.
"Hello, is this Ian James Howe?" it began.
"Yes," Ian replied, confused.
"My name is Drew Deachat. I believe we share a mutual acquaintance."
Ian was too shocked to speech. His mouth opened and closed, and a chuckle emitted from the other end.
"At the moment, I'm driving towards a particular museum in which your sister is located. She's going to be busy for a little while, so I wouldn't try calling her. I don't think she would pick up, seeing as her phone is also currently located in my car."
Ian felt his blood run cold and sweat started to form on his forehead.
"What the hell do you want?" he croaked out.
"I thought that was quite obvious, Ian. I want the treasure."
With that memorable parting line, Drew hung up the phone and smiled to himself as he drove. He felt better already.
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Riley and Claire had dragged Ben and Abbie out the back way of the Headquaters and down the road until they came to a bus stop. Laying them out on the benches, they had retreated to behind some bushes and called an ambulance.
Riley watched them be loaded on to an ambulance, after the EMT's determined that they were unconscious and not dead. He was wracked with guilt at leaving Ben and Abbie behind, but they didn't know how long it would take before the tranquilizers stopped working, and they couldn't afford to be slowed.
He had hastily scrawled out a note to Ben and placed in his pocket to help him when he and Abbie came around
Dear Ben, he had scribbled. Claire and I had to get you somewhere safe until you woke up so we could get away from Lander and Deachat. Don't worry, we'll be fine.
I'm sorry.
-Riley
As the ambulance's shrieking siren muted, they climbed out of the bushes and dusted themselves off, keeping a wary eye out for any cars that could contain Lander or Deachat.
"So," Claire began softly, turning to him. "Where do we go now?"
Riley looked at the frightened girl in front of him and realized that Claire seriously expected him to make all their decisions now on.
"Claire," he began. "I'm really not the right person the ask-"
"Well then who the hell is the right person to ask!" Claire yelled, the hysterical note creeping back into her voice.
"The right person to ask just got hauled off in an ambulance!" Riley yelled back. "I'm the techie guy who providesthe witty commentary! I don't make group decisions!"
"You're Ben's partner, you've been on all your crazy adventures together, and you can't trust yourself to make decisions?"
"The last time Ben made us split up I lost the freaking Decleration of Independence!" Riley snapped "So don't ask me where to go! I have no idea!"
"Neither do I!" Claire screamed at him.
After a long minute of angrily staring each other down, Claire turned and sat on the side of the road, putting her face in her hands.
"Sorry" she said, her voice muffled. "I'm kind of crazy right now. I'm new to this whole being-pursued-by-a-psycho thing."
Riley dropped down beside her. He remembered what Ben had said to him when they had first entered the museum.
"Keep an eye on Claire, okay? I need to look out for Abbie, so she's your responsibility."
The last time Riley had been responsible for something, he was eight and it was a goldfish. The poor bugger had died within a week. After that his parents made sure that he didn't have any more pets.
Riley sincerely hoped that in the last twenty years he had gotten slightly better.
"Well, lucky for you, I have been pursued by a psycho before." he began cheerily. "So the first thing we should probably do is find some shelter, like a restaurant or hotel where we can decide where to do instead of duking it out on the streets."
Claire laughed weakly and nodded. "Alright."
Helping her up, Riley and Claire started down the dark street, checking behind them every few minutes to see if there was anyone following them.
"So I saw a Mexican place on the way to the hotel yesterday-"
"Absolutely not. I hate Mexican"
Riley chuckled, glad to have some semblance of normality back into their conversation.
"C'mon Claire, we're not going to be eating there………"
The two continued down the street, their muffled conversation fading as they disapeared into the night.
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I took a break from the cliffies just because I didn't want to leave you hanging while I took my finals. See, I'm not evil all the time! Please review to cheer me up from Final Hell!