Disclaimer: Nothing from National Treasure is mine. Unfortunately.

A/N: Hey, I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter! As I said, this one won't be as long, but it's just as important. Hopefully you guys enjoy it! Thank you to Halo, Harm Marie, daisyduke80, PropheticIllusion, Supernaturalfreakisabookworm, fantomfairy, ink0and0paper, momiji'sunusedhalo, and Miss Fenway for your wonderful reviews. I'm sick with something, I'm not sure what, and these reviews make me feel a lot better. Enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 9

Riley and Abigail both jumped when they heard the alarms go off as Ben shut the door of the safe and locked it again. "Way to go, Ben," the techie muttered, helping the older man slide the Hieroglyphics wall back to its original place. "We wanted to be as discreet as possible, not alert the whole museum that we were here."

"That's not because of us," Ben said quietly, handing Riley the envelope. "But we should probably get out of here."

"Let's go then," Riley told them, picking up his laptop from the floor. "We have exactly three minutes to leave the museum."

Ben pushed open the door under the glowing red exit sign, holding it open for Riley and Abigail to leave first since they had the flashlights. But then, he nearly ran into them since they had suddenly stopped when they had left the exhibit. "What are you doing? Keep going!"

"Now we know why the alarm went off," Riley muttered nervously, his eyes glued to something ahead of him.

The treasure hunter followed his gaze, horrified to see smoke rising from the main floor. He rushed to the balcony and saw that a huge hole had appeared in the wall, most likely from some kind of explosive device. "Time to leave," Ben said when he rejoined his two friends. "Let's hurry."

Then, they suddenly stopped when they heard a soft click from behind them. Ben turned to look over his shoulder, his heart nearly stopping when he saw four men all in black and wearing ski masks to conceal their identities, all holding guns and aiming the weapons in their direction. He slowly moved to cover his wife and best friend protectively.

"Why does there always have to be at least one person with a gun?" Riley asked in a whine, holding his laptop close to him.

"Run!" Ben suddenly shouted, pushing Riley and Abigail in the direction of the security exit, which was the same way they had come. Abigail screamed as bullets were fired at them as they ran, and the three friends had to duck behind some statues to avoid being hit. Riley was in a panic.

"What do we do? What do we do?"

"Calm down. I'm working on it," Ben replied, though he was nervous himself. He could hear the four men coming closer…

"Freeze! Hands in the air!"

For a moment, Riley froze and nearly put his hands up, though he knew how much of a contradiction that was since a person couldn't freeze and put their hands up at the same time. But then, he realized that the command hadn't been directed toward them. Ben chanced a glance from behind the statue of Anubis he was hiding behind and saw that the five security guards had appeared on the second floor, facing down the four burglars. Suddenly, confusion occurred when shots began to fire from both groups.

"Let's go," the treasure hunter whispered, pushing Abigail and Riley toward the door again when he knew they should take this opportunity to leave.

His two friends took the hint, and the three of them rushed out the door that they had entered through. "Less than a minute, Ben," Riley muttered anxiously as they ran down the metal staircase.

"We'll make it," Ben reassured him, opening the door that led outside and pushing Abigail and Riley out before him. The three of them ran across the parking lot as fast as they could, jumping over the yellow bar that blocked off the lot just as the techie's laptop beeped, signaling that the security cameras had turned back on.

"Just in time," Abigail said as they made their way across the street to the car as they heard sirens in the distance coming toward the museum. "That was way too close in there."

"That's also why I didn't want you to come," Ben told her seriously, unlocking the car as he stepped inside behind the wheel.

Riley slid into the backseat of the car with a sigh of relief, holding the envelope tightly in his hand. He never did like being shot at, and this time was another very close call. He inwardly as Ben started the car and drove away from the museum even before the cop cars arrived. "Oh, by the way, Ben. I was joking about the toenail thing."

Ben smirked from the driver's seat. "I figured."

Then, Riley's eyes widened in fear when he saw a vehicle parked on the street across from the museum closer to the main entrance. It was a black SUV.

"Ben, did you see that?"

"Yeah, Riley. I did," Ben answered quietly as he hurried away from the museum, knowing that Abigail had no idea what they were talking about. "So, what's in the envelope?"

"Oh, yeah. The envelope…" How could he have forgotten about the envelope? Riley slowly opened it, seeing that there was another folded piece of paper inside of it. "Okay, let's see what the message is." The techie pulled out the paper and unfolded it, his eyes faltering as he looked it over. "Oh no."

"Oh no?" Abigail repeated, looking back at him. "That doesn't sound too good. What's wrong?"

Riley sighed and turned the paper around to show her the message. "That's what's wrong. It's in Hieroglyphics."

Xxxxxxxxxx

Ben slowly opened his eyes when he heard the phone ringing beside his ear. Why did this always have to happen when he was sleeping? Squinting in the sunlight that was filtering in through the window, Ben sat up and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Ben, I didn't know that you slept in until ten."

"I normally don't, Agent Sadusky," Ben muttered, his voice thick with sleep, "but I'm strangely tired today. What can I do for you?"

"Well, if you're not too tired, I was wondering if you and Riley would like to meet me for lunch," the FBI agent said. "There are some things that I would like to discuss with you both."

Ben sighed as he rubbed his tired eyes. "All right then," he replied. "When and where?"

"I was thinking noon at that small Chinese restaurant on Twenty-fourth Street," Sadusky told him. "Doest that work for you?"

"I'll wake Riley."

Xxxxxxxxxx

"Why do all of these Chinese places have to have names that aren't pronounceable?" Riley asked quietly as he and Ben entered the restaurant that Sadusky had told them to meet him at. The younger man hadn't been easy to wake up, but the mention of food made it a whole lot less difficult. "It's weird."

"I don't know," Ben answered as he scanned the room for the FBI agent. "Don't let anyone working here hear you say that. I don't think they would appreciate it very much."

"I won't."

"Ben. Riley. Good to see you both."

The treasure hunter smiled when he saw who they were supposed to meet, and the two friends walked over to the table and sat down. "Good to see you too," Ben said cheerfully. "Have you ordered yet?"

Sadusky shook his head. "No, I was waiting for you," he replied. "But here comes our waitress. We'll begin to talk after we order."

After ordering some chicken fried rice, sweet and sour chicken, some egg rolls, and some sweet biscuits to share amongst them, Sadusky got right down to business. "Riley, I have some news about what was written on the notebook page at the funeral home the night that Andrew and Cathy were murdered," he told him. "Our expert agrees with Ben, and it was proven that there was supposed to be another word. Until we find out what that third word is, you are innocent unless you are somehow proven guilty."

Riley sighed with relief. "I can't tell you how good that feels to hear," he muttered with a smile. "Thank you so much, Sadusky."

"You're welcome," the FBI agent said with a small smile of his own. "But I also have some bad news for you. We have not found out who broke into your apartment, though we now have a motive for stealing the museum maps."

Ben glanced at Riley before he looked back at the agent. "Which is?" the older man asked quietly.

Sadusky sighed. "The museum downtown was broken into at approximately three twenty-six this morning by what guards say was four people," he answered. "We now think that they used the maps to plan the break-in."

Riley laughed nervously. "Seriously, Sadusky, why would someone want to break into the museum?" he wondered.

"That's what I was hoping you could tell me," Sadusky muttered. Riley instantly stopped laughing. "I heard you and Ben talking yesterday in your apartment when we came to investigate it. What is this about an envelope?"

The techie sighed. "Well, it's a rather long story, Sadusky…" he began slowly. Then, their waitress bringing them their food spared the younger man momentarily. Sadusky broke apart his chopsticks and looked at Riley expectantly.

"We have time."

Riley broke apart his own chopsticks, eating some of the fried rice before clearing his throat. "Before Andy and Cathy were murdered, we discovered that my father had left me something…"

Ben and Sadusky were silent as Riley explained what had happened since his father died, the treasure hunter noticing that he had left out the part about them breaking into the museum as well. They were just getting back on the good side of the FBI agent after all…

"And you believe that this clue is in the museum and that's what those people were after?" Sadusky asked once the story was finished.

"Yes, that's our guess," Riley answered truthfully. "It has to be someone else who knew about the envelope other than my dad."

"And do you have any idea who this could be?"

"No…"

Suddenly, Riley's cell phone rang, and the techie smiled with embarrassment when the song that plays at the beginning and end of every Batman movie resounded from his pocket. He quickly took it out and flipped it open. "Hello, this is Riley."

Ben watched his best friend's face go from normal to confused but also kind of horrified in a matter of seconds. "Yeah, but I'm kind of in the middle of lunch with some friends right now," Riley said to whoever was on the other line. "Can I come by after?" There were another few moments of silence where the younger man listened, his face darkening with disappointment. "Is it really that important? Fine, I'll be there shortly." He flipped his phone closed and ended the call.

"I hate to run without finished eating, Sadusky, but Ben and I have to go," Riley muttered. Then, he turned to his best friend. "That was the coroner who looked over and prepared my dad's body before the funeral. He said that he wanted to show me some pictures and that it was crucial we get there as quickly as possible."

Ben nodded. "All right. Let's go," he said, getting to his feet and placing some money on the table. "I'm sorry, Sadusky. Thank you for inviting us."

"That's all right. I understand," Sadusky replied with a smile as Ben hurried toward the door of the restaurant. "This will make a good lunch for me tomorrow."

Riley returned the smile as he quickly followed the treasure hunter. "Wait!"

Xxxxxxxxxx

Ben drove in the direction of downtown where the morgue was. "I wonder what pictures the coroner wants to show you," he muttered.

"I know," Riley agreed as he draped his arm out of the open window. "I can honestly say that I have no idea."

The treasure hunter turned on to another street, seeing that this was the street that the museum was on. A yellow police line blocked off the steps leading up to the building, and the two friends were horrified to see the giant hole that was in the wall beside the entrance doors.

"That's horrible," Riley commented quietly. "At least we weren't destructive when we broke in."

Ben's eyes were glued to the damage caused by the explosion as he slowly drove past it, ignoring his friend's comment. He couldn't explain it, but it strangely felt familiar. He knew of one person who would do something exactly like this, even though it was impossible.

But now, he had to get Riley to the morgue. Whatever it was must have been important. Otherwise, it could have waited until after lunch.

"Here we are," the treasure hunter muttered about five minutes later, pulling into the parking lot. Riley jumped out even before the car was turned off, and Ben had to hurry to catch up with him. After checking in at the desk and waiting in the lobby for an incredibly boring, drawn out twenty minutes, the two friends were led to a small room down a flight of stairs that was filled with computers. A brown-haired man with glasses smiled sympathetically as they entered.

"Hello, I'm Jason," the man said, shaking hands with Riley and then Ben. "Thank you for coming, gentlemen."

"You're welcome, even though we were in the middle of a perfectly good lunch," Riley replied. "Now when you called, you said that it was very important that I come immediately. You had some strange pictures that you wanted to show me?"

Jason's face darkened. "Yes, I'm afraid. I have some pictures from your father's autopsy that I think you should see," he muttered, picking up a manila envelope and pulling out the x-rays. "I thought that I would wait until after the funeral to show you since it would have been too painful otherwise."

Confused, Riley took the pictures that the coroner offered him, seeing that they were images of his father's lungs, veins, and other internal organs. His eyes narrowed as he looked closer at them, seeing that there was something unnatural in the bloodstream. "May I use one of your computers?" he asked.

"Go right ahead," Jason answered quietly, gesturing to one.

Riley sat down and instantly began to type on the keyboard. He entered a strange program that appeared to Ben to be of questionable legality, sighing and leaning back in the chair when he saw that he had to wait. "This had better not be what I think it is."

Ben was instantly concerned. "Is everything all right?" he wondered. "What's going on?" Jason just appeared to be dumbfounded at the younger man's computer skills since he had never seen the site that he had brought up before.

Suddenly, the computer beeped, signaling that the search was complete. Riley instantly sat up and clicked the "okay" button, reading over the new screen that had come up. His face instantly drained of color as his heart seemed to skip a beat. "Oh my God…"

"What?" Ben asked anxiously. "What did you find, Riley?"

"It's arsenic," Riley muttered softly in disbelief, looking from the image on the computer screen to the pictures that the coroner had given him. "He was poisoned."

A/N: For those of you who know absolutely nothing about poison, never fear, neither do I. My mom actually gave me some information on arsenic (how she knows, I don't know, but it's coming in handy!). So, the plot keeps getting thicker. I know this chapter was mainly dialogue except for the beginning, but the next chapter will be mainly action, so that makes up for it. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading. Your reviews are much appreciated. Thank you!