Chapter Eighteen
Elvenrarehunter-Yay! Thank you for reading Gold Digger. I know,a descendant. Pretty funky, huh?
Dralx-Thank you for agreeing with my self-promotion. I agree it's quite fun.
Crazy Little Emily- Hah, no, he didn't kill his mailman becasue he delivered the mail late, he killed him becasue he needed a body to pose as him. I'm gald you think he's insane-I heartily agree
Lizzie-Harrison-Whoops! I'm SO sorry about the goldfish thing. My "stupid american" switch was on, and I assumed everyone knew what goldfish were. I'm glad you liked the chapter.
Kes-Hah, I listened to one of your three commands. I promise Claire will become clever eventually, and Darth Psycho's fate is yet to be determined.
Whisperwings-I'm glad you liked the chapter-I'm having SO much fun with my exchage student, but as you can see, she'd been keeping me kind of busy. Sorry to leave you hanging there!
Classicreviewer-And i don't update for two weeks...whooops. Sorry. I PROMISE I'll become faster. Plus this chapter is superlong.
Silevni-More Ian in this chapter. Yay!
A/N- Yes, I realize I haven't updated in literallyforever, I have very many valid excuses, but I just typed this chapter up in one night and am too tired to type them. This chapter is dedicated to Kes because she asked me to whump Riley. I'm pretty sure I delivered, and there's more to come.
---------------------
Chapter Seventeen
The four stood on a sandy shore, a rather apropos eerie fog surrounding them.
What Riley was gaping at was a murky lake stretching out before them, mist swirling over the surface. The beams of light from Robinson's and Lander's flashlights disappeared into the fog, suggesting that the lake went far beyond the foundation of the headquarters.
"No way" Lander stated disbelievingly. "You can't have a lake underground. That's not physically possible, right?"
Claire shrugged. "They had one in Phantom of the Opera."
"Actually," Riley broke in, glad for a burst of normalcy, "we're a good 200 feet underground and the topography is naturally flat, so this is just the result of the water table never intersecting with the surface. This is probably a limestone area, so if you look-"
"Riley, we get the point." Claire interrupted.
While Riley was giving his science lesson, Robinson had left the group and wandered over to the other side of the sliver of shore, his object of interest a slightly moldy rowboat tied to a small dock and bobbing slightly in the water.
"We're obviously supposed to go across." he murmured to himself. "But what point and purpose does the travel across the lake serve?"
Claire walked over and began to examine the boat, Riley following close behind.
"It's a relatively small boat." she noted, slipping into her historian mode. "It can probably hold only six people, tops. Blackbeard expected his fellow pirates to be the first ones to find his treasure, and they usually traveled in large groups, depending on which captain they swore their allegiance to."
"This was meant as a point to isolate the leaders from the followers. Only the top six or so would journey across to the treasure." Robinson said, finishing her thought.
As they silently climbed in, Riley thanked his lucky stars that there were only four of them. He had a feeling that Robinson would have no problem "leaving him behind" if the rowboat couldn't accommodate them all.
Helping Claire into one of the small benches, Riley took a seat next to her across from Robinson and Lander. The two larger men grabbed the attached oars and with a creak, the broat broke free of the dock and started to slosh through the water, disturbing the mist and making it swirl creepily around them.
It was a fairly silent ride. Lander took the time to check every weapon currently strapped on every conceivable part of his body. If he was doing this to intimidate him, Riley thought, it was working pretty well.
Claire gripped the side of the rowboat and was staring past Robinson and Lander, searching for the other side of the lake. Riley could practically see the gears in her mind working and hoped she was thinking up a brilliant Harvard-esque plan to ditch Lander and Robinson and find Abbie and Ben. Getting the treasure would also be highly welcomed, but considered a bonus at this point.
After Lander finished ominously loading his various guns, a disconcerting quiet spread over the four. After all, Riley reasoned, it wasn't like they really had anything to talk about. Two of them were being held as prisoners, one was a trigger-happy bully, and the fourth was an utter loony. While he usually prided himself as conversation starter, Riley didn't think anyone would appreciate a comment on the weather-especially since they were underground.
Instead he stared as his feet and tried to secure a sense of reality. The past few hours had been a whirlwind, and the last cohesive, grounded memory was walking into the headquarters with Ben and Abby. Riley desperately wished, above all things, that Ben and Abby could be here now with them in this uncomfortable boat, rowing to God-knows-where. While he admitted that sometimes they were gaggingly sweet and made him feel like a third wheel, they were as close to him as his own family. Especially Ben, who was definitely closer to him that any of his five brothers. Annoyingly noble as he was, Riley couldn't remember a tricky situation he was in where Ben wasn't with him yelling at him to shut up.
As the fuzzy outlines of a shore began to swim through the fog, Riley felt a wave of impending doom at the bottom of his stomach and wished he could apologize to Ben for every sarcastic comment he had spat out during serious situations, every time he had made fun of him and his giant conscience, and the myriad of times he had complained to him to hide his fear.
Claire had noticed the shore as well, and Riley could see that she was feeling the bad karma radiating off the shore. There was a sheen of sweat on her forehead glistening in the fog and she swallowed hard every time they moved a yard closer to the shore. Her eyes never left the place where the water stopped, and she seemed to be waiting for something.
They were only about sixty feet away now, and as they approached the shallows Riley could almost glimpse the bottom of the lake looming far under the water.
Claire's jaw was clenched now, and she looked nervously determined. Riley shot her a questioning look. What exactly was she doing…………?
He was cut from his line of wondering when in surprising agility Claire hooked her foot around to the edge of the boat and shoving it forward, stood up, tipping the boat into the water and sending the foursome crashing into the icy depths of the lake.
--------------------------------------------------
As Ben drove like a madman down the road towards the headquarters, with car horns blaring angrily behind him and Abby's worried voice in his ear, he really wished Riley could see him now. Ben Gates, the famous "Dogood" was racing at least 30 miles over the speed limit in a stolen car.
Once Abby had woken up in the hospital, Ben was ready to check out quickly and silently and find Riley and Claire. His only consolation was that they had probably escaped from Lander if they had time to take them to the hospital. (And he assumed it was Riley and Claire who brought them to the hospital, as it didn't quite seem like an act of goodwill that Lander would partake in)
He had been slipping on his coat when he felt the crumpled paper in his pocket. Pulling it out curiously, he had read the note from Riley in seconds.
Dear Ben,
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
The last bit still echoing guiltily in his head, Ben pushed down the pedal harder, the cars around him pulling away from the speeding lunatic. It was typical of Riley to feel sorry for things beyond his control. Ben remembered when Riley had apologized after the Declaration of Independence was lost to Ian. It wasn't until after the entire ordeal that he had learned that it had been Abigail who lost the Declaration, while Riley had been the one to save her life. The kid always did have a blame streak a mile wide. It was one of the few things they had in common.
After dragging his wife out of the hospital without bothering to check out, Ben had sped to the hotel, only to find no one there. The room was torn apart, and he could surmise that Lander had been there earlier looking for Claire and Riley as well.
"Clam down" Abby had berated him. "And stop pacing, you're not going to get anywhere by wearing a hole in the floor. Now, put yourself in Riley's shoes. If you were him and you needed help, who would you call?"
Ben sat down in the chair and tried to keep still before he had sprung up and was pacing once again. "Me!" he yelled in frustration. "He would call me!"
"Yes, but you were unconscious." Abigail said thoughtfully. "Hm, maybe we're going about this the wrong way. If you were Claire, who would you call first?"
Ben had that answer in seconds and was by the phone, dialing Ian's number.
"Hello?" Ian had answered sharply, and Ben had almost sighed in relief.
"Ian" he rushed. "It's Ben, I need to know-"
"Ben!" Ian shouted, anger creeping into his voice. "What the hell is going on down there! Where's my sister, I want her on the phone right now!"
"You mean she didn't call you?"
"No!" Ian yelled. "Deachat called me, saying that he was borrowing Claire! Ben, are you saying that you don't have her? I swear to God-"
Ben had hung up quickly. "Lander got them." He told Abby, running to the door. "He'll be at the headquarters, Deachat must be there by now. We need to get down that hatch."
As Ben almost clipped yet another passerby, he winced at the memory of the enraged state he had left Ian in back at the hotel. He really owed the guy a phone call after this was all done, he must be worried.
As they pulled up to the Headquarters in the dark hours of the early morning, Ben spotted the black sedan parked next to the back door.
"Oh Bad." he muttered as he kicked the drivers door opened and joined Abby running into the building. "Very, very bad."
-----------------------------------------------
Riley fumbled in the freezing water, trying to find the surface. His mind was muddled, panicked by the memory of the last time he had been submerged in water and almost drowned.
A hand loomed through his vision and pulled him upwards until he popped to the surface like a cork, banging his head on the top of the overturned canoe. It was pitch black inside, but he could make out the face of his rescuer.
"Claire," he sputtered through mouthfuls of muddy water, "what the hell did you do that for?"
Claire was pale and shaking slightly. Riley figured it was a mix of the cold and the thought of what Robinson would do to her once he emerged from the water.
"Start swimming." she whispered through her chattering teeth.
"What?"
"You heard me. Start swimming that way back to shore. Robinson and Lander won't go after you if I'm still here. Go get Ben and Abby and come back to get me out of here."
Claire stared at him expectantly as he treaded water, staring at her.
"Wait." he coughed. "You flipped this canoe over so I could get away?"
"It's a rowboat idiot, not a canoe, and of course I did. What, did you think I just wanted to go swimming?"
Riley could hear the sound of splashing outside of their boat. Soon Robinson and Lander were going to realize that they were under there. He knew Claire was petrified -she wouldn't have snarked at him in this situation unless she was utterly scared.
In the two minutes he had to escape, Riley debated leaving. On one hand, it was the sensible thing to do. They didn't even know if Ben and Abby knew where they were, and someone had to tell the police that it was Robinson who was the murderer, not the murdered. Plus, Claire was right. Robinson wouldn't waste time chasing after him-he probably realized that he had limited time. As long as Claire stayed behind, Robinson wouldn't pursue.
Then again, Riley looked at Claire and knew that he couldn't possibly leave her alone with Lander and Robinson. There was a possibility that she would be dead by the time he got back with Ben and Abby.
Once again, Riley caught himself wondering what Ben would do in the situation. Well, that one was easy. Four years ago, Ben was faced with dropping the Declaration or dropping Abigail to possibly her death. Ben had chosen practicality over sentimentality. Abby would likely live (and had lived) because there was a platform under her. Similarly, Claire would likely live because she was too valuable to Robinson to be killed.
"Do you trust me?" he asked Claire quickly. She nodded.
"Yes. Go"
Riley had taken a breath to dive under the water when he stopped himself. Despite the fact that common sense was screaming at him to go, he just couldn't make himself move. The splashing drew closer.
"Riley!" Claire urged. "Go! What are you waiting for?"
"I'm not going." he stated firmly, making up his mind. Ben might have chosen practicality, but Riley realized that he himself had never really been a practical person. "I'm not leaving you here with them."
Claire gaped at him. "Are you insane?"
"Pretty much. C'mon, our buddies are waiting for us."
------------------------------------------------
Ian pressed his forehead against the window, the coolness of the glass soothing him. The helicopter was currently over Florida, but they still had a ways left to go.
After Ben's five second phone call, his apartment was even more hectic that it was before. After Deachat's phone call, the FBI had his phone's wired eight ways from Sunday and were all prepared for another threat when his phone rang.
Adrenaline mixed with fear had powered him for the last six hours. He didn't remember what sleep felt like. After Ben's call, the feeling of powerlessness had been tugging at his mind, taunting him. The great master Ian Howe was, for once, not in control of the situation. If fact, he had no bloody idea what was going on.
Minutes after the call, Dawes had come rushing in, red faced. "Our Lab was doing bone marrow samples on Robinson, and the DNA came up Herman Georges."
Ian blinked. "Who's Herman Georges?"
"A mailman who somehow ended up burned to death in the middle of Robinson's house."
"Wait…" Ian said, puzzled. "But if that guy isn't Robinson, then where's the real….."
He trailed of as the enormity of the situation hit him. "Oh crap."
Fortunately, the only positive side of this revelation was that the FBI certainly had jurisdiction now. Which was why he was now on a helicopter towards Nassau with some of Washington's finest flying behind him.
And as he flew over Florida, approaching Nassau in about an hour, Ian was overcome by a familiar urge. He just really, really wanted to shoot someone.
----------------------------------------------------
Claire could tell that Robinson was furious. His eyes were doing that crazy shining thing and he breathing a little too deeply, even though he did just have to swim to shore. As Riley and Claire sloshed through the shallows, Robinson stood at the edge of the beach and glared at them, while Lander stood with his gun trained in case any of them tried to swim away.
Claire kept silent, her head to the ground as she passed Robinson and Lander. She really didn't know what to say. After all, she couldn't really say "Well professor, I origionally dumped us all in the lake to give Riley a chance to escape, but then he decided to stay with me, which was quite chivalrous and stupid of him. So it was all really for nothing. Sorry you got wet."
Yes, it was probably best to keep silent.
At least they knew where to go from here. The shore was surrounded by a rock wall, except for a single metal door, a peeling cross and bones painted on it in dark red paint.
Robinson examined the door curiously, and then turned around to face Claire. She could tell he was still mad, and braced herself.
"That's quite a stunt you pulled." he began, his voice quivering. He glared at Riley. "I wonder where you learned how to do it?"
"It was completely my idea." Claire protested. "I just wanted to give Riley a chance…..Professor, can't you please let him go? He has nothing to do with this, and I swear he won't go to anyone."
"Claire" Riley said through gritted teeth. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here with you."
Robinson watched the interaction between the two of them. "You know, the Claire Howe I knew would never flip over a canoe on someone. I think this boy's been a bad influence on you."
"No, I swear, it was all me. I'll stop it if you let him go." Claire pleaded.
Robinson sighed. "Does it really mean that much to you?"
Claire stepped forward hopefully and ignored Riley's warning look. "Yes."
"And you're going to keep on pulling stunts like these until I let him go?"
"Yes"
"And nothing I say will change your mind?"
"Yes" Claire repeated.
Robinson smiled. "Alright then. Well, I thought it was high time I did this anyway."
Claire looked confused. "You did? What-"
Claire stopped speaking abruptly as Robinson grabbed the gun from Lander's hand and shot Riley twice in the chest.
----------------------------------------------
The hatch had been open.
Ben and Abby had grabbed a dropped flashlight lying in the corner and started down the staircase, squinting in the near dark.
"What the…" Ben exclaimed as he reached the bottom. "Is that a lake?"
Abbie walked over to the dock. "There was a boat here. Robinson and the others must have taken it."
Any further speculation was cut off by the sound of a gunshot across the lake, followed closely by another.
"Riley!" A woman's voice screamed. Ben and Abby exchanged horrified looks and simultaneously jumped in the water, swimming as fast as they could towards the woman's continuing screaming.
"You son of a BITCH!"
-------------------------------------------
Contrary to what novels say, the whole thing didn't seem to happen very fast. In fact, it seemed as if they were underwater, everything was moving so slow. Robinson lifted his arm and Claire felt her blood turn cold as she finally realized what he was going to do.
She saw rather than heard the gun go off, and she felt her mouth moving, screaming something at him, but she didn't know what it was.
Then a dark red spot appeared on Riley shirt, followed by another, barely visible on the black material. Riley stared down in shock at them as the two messy circles began to grow, seeping down his shirt and creating long ovals rather that circles.
Riley lifted his gaze from his shirt and looked at her in horror.
"Claire?" he said faintly in surprise, as if wondering why his shirt was slowly turning red.
He staggered and blinking, sat down hard, gasping for breath. Claire ran to his side, her legs moving to slowly as if she were in a dream. She dropped down on her knees and helped him to the ground.
"What…." he began softly
"It's ok Riley, you're going to be fine. Everything's going to be fine. You're ok, You're ok." She stopped as the back of her throat burned. His face became blurry and Claire realized she was crying, though she didn't know when she had started.
"Ow." Riley whispered, laughing weakly. "That really hurts."
"You're going to be-" Claire tried to start again and had to stop. "I'm so sorry." she forced out.
Riley waved his hand at her awkwardly. "S'ok." He stopped and shakily took another breath, blood flecking on his lips.
"Tell Ben…" he began, but started to cough violently and had to gasp for breath again. "Tell-"
Another gunshot rang out and Claire cringed. The third bullet had pierced straight through the place where Riley's heart should be, depending on the health classes she took in eighth grade.
Riley blinked and then closed his eyes, exhaling loudly as if falling asleep. Claire watched for what seemed like hours, but his chest didn't rise again. She knew he was dead.
"Well," Robinson said pleasantly, as if he wasn't holding a still smoking gun. "Sorry about that last one, he was taking to long to die. I hope this is a lesson to you Claire, to practice obedience a little more. But I really had to kill him, you know. He was getting in the way." He sneered at Riley's body. "He wasn't one of us, anyway."
With that, he turned once more to the door, turning the handle. "Lander, you bring up the rear."
Marching though the door, he looked back in surprise when Claire didn't follow him. She hadn't gotten up at all, in fact. She was still kneeling by Riley's body, watching the blood flow down the sides of his shirt and noiselessly crying.
"Claire." he said more sternly. "We're going."
She hiccupped, her eyes still on Riley. "Go to hell."
Robinson's eyes glittered dangerously. "Claire, the treasure is in there."
She finally looked at him, her cheeks shining and her eyes wide with a look he had never seen before. "Screw your treasure." she hissed at him.
His face hardened and he turned his back on her. "Lander, bring Claire with us. She's coming wether she likes it or not."
Lander turned to collect her as Robinson marched through the door.
Claire was no longer looking at Riley. In fact, she was avoiding his body altogether. Her eyes were glued to the doorway through which Robinson had just walked. Her eyes were still wide, and Lander flinched as he looked at her. Like Robinson, he didn't recognize the look Claire had on her face, but it was certainly enough to scare the living daylights out of him.
Riley would have recognized the look. So would Ben and Abby, swimming across the lake. It was the look Ian Howe got when he was hundreds of feet below Trinity Church.
What Robinson and Lander didn't know was that you never, ever screw with a Howe.
Because, as they would eventually learn, a Howe will screw with you right back.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Erm...You guys DO know that I would never, EVER kill Riley off for good, right?...Right? Well, PLEASE don't kill me. Remember, Riley actually has to be there at the end for there to be a RileyOC. Just no flames please.