Part 5
Inside the party
"It's about time." Ben said, handing them some champagne. "We've got work to do."
"I know, I know." Abby said. "Erica you've got a little lipstick…"
"Oh, thanks." Erica said, wiping her mouth.
"C'mon. Let's go help Ben commit a federal crime." Abby sighed as she linked arms with her friend.
"For you." Ben was saying.
"Oh, Mr. Brown." Dr. Chase sounded surprised.
"Dr. Chase. You remember my friend Miss McBride and this is her colleague Miss…"
"Arita." Erica supplied.
"Nice to meet you… What are you doing here?" Dr. Chase asked.
"Is that that hot girl? How does she look?" they heard Riley ask. Abby coughed loudly, making Riley, Etta, and Katie flinch.
"God Abby. Make us deaf, why don't you." Etta snapped. Abby turned back to the conversation.
"Well, you needed it." Ben was saying.
"Come on, Romeo, get outta there." Riley urged.
"Hi. Here you go." Another man came up with some champagne.
"Who's the stiff?" Riley asked.
"Hi there." Erica said in a chipper voice.
"Oh, Dr. Herbert. This is Mr. Brown, Miss McBride, and Miss Arita." Dr. Chase said.
"Hi." Abby smiled.
"A toast, yeah?" Ben said, changing the subject.
"To anarchy." Erica muttered and received an elbow in the ribs from Abby.
"To high treason." Ben said. "That's what these men were committing when they signed the Declaration. Had we lost the war, they would have been hanged, beheaded, drawn and quartered, and - Oh! Oh, my personal favorite had their entrails cut out and burned!" He noticed Abby looking at him as if he were an idiot. "So, here's to the men who did what was considered wrong in order to do what they knew was right… what they knew was right." Ben downed his champagne in one gulp, receiving odd looks from everyone around him. "Ahh, well, good night." Ben headed towards the bathrooms while Abby and Erica stayed near the lobby to keep eyes on security and Dr. Chase.
"I'm in the elevator. Riley work your magic on the cameras." Ben said.
"OK, I'm going to turn of the surveillance camera. Ready? In 5…4…3… Ben Gates, you are now the invisible man. Give me the letters of her password. Hit me." Riley said.
"A…E…F…G…L…O…R…V…Y."
"Anagrams being listed. Top results, a glove fry, a very golf, fargo levy, gravy floe, valey frog…"
"Valley Forge." Ben and Katie said together.
"Smart alec…" Etta muttered.
"Valley For- I don't have that on my computer."
"Does it matter? If it gets him in…" Erica said softly, nodding to someone as they passed.
"We're in." Ben said.
"Ben pick it up." Riley advised.
"Chill Riley." Etta snapped.
The feed went out.
"Never mind, you can freak." Etta corrected.
"I lost my feed. I lost my feed, Ben. I don't know where anyone is. I have noth- Ben, I have nothing. Get out of there. Get out of there now."
"Hurry up Ben." Abby muttered, grabbing Erica's arm and leading her towards the door.
"I'm taking the whole thing. I'll get it out in the elevator."
"What are you talking… Is it heavy?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Erica asked. Loud noises rang out over the earpieces, making every flinch followed by a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs.
"Time to go." Abby said walking much faster.
"Who's shooting? Ben, you still there? Ben?!" Riley panicked.
"I'm in the elevator. Ian's here." Ben answered.
Erica pulled the door open and hopped inside. Abby followed, nervously checking the cameras as if she could find an out for Ben.
"You guys ok?" Katie asked.
"We're fine. Don't worry." Erica said.
"Yeah. It's all cool-e-o." Abby agreed. She sat on the floor next to Riley, staring at him even though he refused to look back. "Riley…" she began.
"Start the van." Ben's voice said.
"Uh Ben… the mean declaration lady's behind you." Riley pointed out, moving into the driver's seat.
"Hey." Dr. Chase called.
"Oh, it's you." Ben acted surprised.
"Mr. Brown, what's going on? What's that?" the doctor demanded.
"A souvenir." Ben replied calmly.
"Really?" she sounded skeptical.
"I don't think she believes him." Katie muttered.
"Nah, really?" Etta snarked.
That's when the security alarms went off.
"Oh my god…" Riley groaned.
"Oh my god, you did not… Give me that!" Dr. Chase snatched the Declaration from Ben.
"Take it, it's yours." Ben agreed.
"Security!" the younger woman shouted.
"Go!" Ben said, getting in the van.
"What? We can't just let her go!" Riley objected.
"We can, go!"
"Ben!" Etta shouted, pointing to another van across the street. Dr. Chase was being dragged into the van by one of Ian's men.
"Wait, hold it. Hold it. Bad, bad, bad, bad!" Ben jumped out but as soon as he did so, they began shooting. "Go! Go!" Ben said climbing back in the van.
"Once we catch them, what do we do?" Riley asked.
"I'm working on it!" Ben shouted.
"Right turn, right turn." Riley swung the wheel in accordance. "Skidding, skidding." Riley muttered.
"Oh no." Ben said, seeing Dr. Chase hanging off the top of the door.
"Holy lord." Riley muttered.
"Oh man, oh man, oh man." Abby said, bouncing nervously in her seat.
By some miracle, Ben managed to get her safely in the van. They collapsed panting into the back of Riley's van. Etta let out a sigh of relief and let go of Katie's arm, which she had been holding onto for dear life.
"You alright?" Ben asked.
"No, those-those lunatics..."
"You're not hurt are you?"
"You're all lunatics!"
"You hungry?"
"What?" the doctor asked exasperated.
"Are you alright?" Ben repeated.
"Still a little on edge from being shot at, but I'll be okay, thanks for asking." Riley said sarcastically. Abby looked into the back of the van, eyes wide.
"Everyone ok back there?" she asked.
"We're ok." Katie said weakly.
"Well, I'm not alright! Those men have the Declaration of Independence!" Dr. Chase cried.
"She lost it?!" Everyone except Ben and Dr. Chase cried. Ben held up another case.
"They don't have it. See? Okay? Now, could you please stop shouting?"
"Give me that!" Dr. Chase snapped.
"You're still shouting, and it's really starting to annoy. You'd do well, Dr. Chase, to be a bit more civilized in this instance." Ben said smoothly.
"But it is fun to watch." Erica laughed.
"If this is the real one, what did they get?" Dr. Chase asked.
"Souvenir. I thought it might be a good idea to have a duplicate. Turned out I was right. I had to pay for both the souvenir and the real one, so you owe me 35 dollars, plus tax."
"Genius." Riley said as Abby brushed some broken glass off her clothes. "You ok?" he asked stonily.
"I'm fine." She replied, just as cold.
"Who were those men?" Dr. Chase asked.
"Just the guys we warned you were going to try to steal the Declaration." Etta said.
"And you didn't believe us!" Riley agreed.
"We did the only thing we could do to keep it safe."
"Verdammt! Give me that!"
"You know something? You're shouting again."
"Pretty sure she was swearing too." Riley said.
"Well, we probably deserve that." Ben laughed.
"Yeah we do." Erica said.
"There is not an invisible treasure map on the Declaration of Independence!" Dr. Chase cried.
"And there is no chance anyone could steal this," he shook the tube. "either. I level with you 100 percent. Everything I told you was the truth."
"I want that document, Mr. Brown!" Dr. Chase snarled.
"OK, my name's not Brown, it's Gates. I level with you 98 percent." Ben admitted.
"Erica."
"Katie."
"Abby."
"Etta. We never met; ergo I never lied to you."
"Wait a minute, did you say Gates?" Dr. Chase asked. "Gates? You're that family with the conspiracy with about the founding fathers."
"It's not a conspiracy theory."
"Per se." Riley muttered.
"I take it back. You're not liars. You're insane!"
"Not all of us just Erica. I'm questioning Ben." Abby said.
"Hey!"
"How do you exactly plan to find this invisible map?" Dr. Chase asked.
"Well… we might need to run some tests on it."
"You can't seriously intend to run chemical tests on the Declaration of Independence in the back of a moving van." Dr. Chase stated.
"We have a clean room environment all set up: EDS suits, a particulate air filtration system, the whole shebang." Riley said.
"We can't go back there." Ben admitted.
"What? Why not?"
"I paid for the Declaration with a credit card. I didn't have enough cash…" Ben began.
"A credit card slip? Dude, we're on the grid! They're going to have your records from forever. They're going to have my records for forever!" Riley yelled.
"We're going to jail." Katie moaned.
"Ha-cha-cha." Abby said grinning.
"I know, I know. It's only a matter of minutes before the FBI shows up at my front door… We need those letters." Ben said.
"What letters?" Dr. Chase asked.
"You know what, get off the road, take a right." Ben said.
"What letters?"