Chapter 16

Shiny Treasure

Riley pounded his fist on the wooden door in frustration. "Jacqui!"

"Riley!" They faintly heard her through the door, followed by a shriek of pain.

Looking around almost frantically, Riley spotted the printout of the portrait on the floor. Snatching it up, he studied it quickly and pressed the triangles to release the lock. He smiled grimly when the latch lifted up. "I'm coming, Jacqui!"

"Riley, wait!" Abigail shouted, rushing forward to stop her friend. She was too late, though: the door slammed shut in her face. "Verdammet!"

Emily glanced at her future daughter-in-law with admiration. Not many people knew how to curse in another language, aside from linguists, anyway. "Where's the printout?"

"He took it with him!" Abigail exclaimed after a short but thorough search turned up nothing. "Idiot! He could get himself killed!"

* * *

The moment he got through the door, Riley ducked down and scurried behind the nearest shelter, dodging the bullets that came flying at him. "I knew you were sweet on her, Poole! You always did have a thing for redheads!"

"How do you know that?" Riley called back, catching his breath as he finally took a moment to look at his surroundings.

His eyes widened as he realized that they'd found the treasure. It was all around him in glittering gold piles. Arnold's voice interrupted his moment of greedy delight, "We went to MIT together. I doubt you remember me. You were too wrapped in your studies and Gates to notice much else."

"MIT? Really?" Riley risked peering over the top of his shelter, spotting Arnold and Jacqui briefly by a huge pile of mostly coins.

Unfortunately, Arnold spotted Riley and took a few shots, causing him to duck down. "Yes! You were valedictorian and I was salutatorian. I doubt you remember that, though. Had your head full of the Templar Treasure that Gates was always going on about."

"In case you haven't read the newspapers in, say, the last three years, we found that treasure." Moving slowly, Riley changed his position, circling around behind Arnold.

"Big fucking deal!" Arnold sneered, his arm tightening around Jacqui. "You didn't even keep the treasure! You gave it all away! I always knew Gates wasn't very sensible."

Stifling the urge to defend his best friend, Riley crept up on Arnold from behind, planning to knock the gun away before he could aim it. Unfortunately, just a few paces away; Riley accidentally kicked a pile of coins, drawing Arnold's attention straight to him. Rather than retreat, Riley charged. The gun went off and he felt searing pain in his shoulder, but he let his momentum carry him forward, crashing into Arnold and knocking the gun away.

Now freed, Jacqui turned on her attacker, using her tae kwan do skills to knock him out. She turned to Riley once Arnold was out for the count, throwing her arms around him. "Oh, Riley."

"Um, Jacqui?" Riley started, his voice faint. "Ow, Jacqui."

"Ow?" She pulled back, puzzled. That's when she saw the blood soaking the sleeve his jacket in his left shoulder. "Oh, Riley!"

* * *

Ben, who'd just finish trussing up Major like a Christmas turkey, caught Abigail's hand before she could pound on the door. "Before you go doing that, honey, you may want to look at this."

"Look at what?" Abigail stared at the printout in her love's hand. It was of the queen. She looked up at him in surprise. "A duplicate?"

He winked. "It came in handy before, remember?"

She laughed and used the printout to unlock the door. All of them gasped as they entered the treasure room, taking in the size of it, full of gold and gems and other treasures. They didn't get long to look, though, because Jacqui's voice echoed around the cavern. "Oh, Riley!"

"Jacqui? Where are you?" Emily called while they all spread out a little, hoping to figure out where she was.

"Over here!" the young woman called back, clearly almost hysterical.

Pinpointing the source, they hurried around piles of treasure to find Jacqui kneeling by Riley, who was sprawled on the ground, pressing a ripped-off section of her shirt against his shoulder. "What happened?"

"He was trying to charge Arnold and got shot," Jacqui explained as Abigail pulled a first aid kit out of her backpack and handed it to Ben, who quickly began checking Riley.

The dark-haired man stared up at his friend through a painful haze. "Hey, Ben."

"Stay quiet, Riley," Ben told him, his voice and hands steady, though worry lurked in his eyes. "I'll have this done in less than a minute."

Jacqui stayed by her boyfriend while Patrick, Emily, and Abigail tied up Arnold, knocking him out when he showed signs of stirring. By the time they finished, Ben had tied off the field dressing on Riley's arm. Jacqui looked at Ben, wiping at her eyes. "What do we do now?"

"We look for an exit," Ben told her with a calm he didn't feel. "And we contact the authorities."

Patrick walked over to join them, gesturing towards the way they'd come in. Very faintly, the sound of voices talking in Spanish reached their ears. "We don't need to contact the authorities. They've found us."

* * *

The Spanish government was so grateful to them for finding the treasure that they were only fined for breaking and entering and agreed to return half the treasure to the Shasta Indians. Once they explained why Major, Roscoe, and Arnold had been tied up, there was no hesitation in sending them back to the United States. Once he had a free moment, Ben called Agent Sadusky to tell him what had happened. "Don't worry, Gates. Our own expert was able to undelete the computer files."

"Your expert?" Ben asked, glancing up when Riley and Jacqui entered the hospital waiting room, the former with his left arm in a sling, the latter with her arm firmly looped through his right. "Would that be Jacob Bonner?"

Sadusky chuckled. "Rest assured, these men will be taken care of. Enjoy the rest of your stay in Spain, Gates."

"Thank you, Agent Sadusky." He hung up and turned to face the others, repeating what he'd just been told.

Jacqui smiled with sisterly pride at her brother's role. "I hoped he'd be able to do it."

"I knew he could," Riley told her as they all left the hospital together. "We had a chance to talk computers and he's almost as good as me."

Ben, walking ahead of Riley and Jacqui with Abigail, glanced at his fiancée and rolled his eyes expressively. She stifled a giggle and whispered, "He just likes to show off. Jacqui should know that about him by now."

"I'm sure she does." Ben agreed, glancing briefly over his shoulder at the younger couple. Jacqui caught his eye and winked.

* * *

As promised, Ben let Riley settle the finder's fee. He decided on six percent, to be split amongst the six of them. "So we can all have one percent instead of half a percent."

"Are you turning academic on us, Riley?" Ben teased his friend.

The younger man shook his head, looking over at Jacqui, who was talking with Abigail at that moment. "No. I realized that there are some things that are more important than money."

Ben said nothing in reply; he simply squeezed Riley's uninjured shoulder and walk with him to join their loves.

* * *

On the flight back to the States, once they'd reached cruising altitude, Emily asked for a moment with Jacqui. Riley nodded and traded seats with her. The redhead looked curiously at the older woman. "What is it, Dr. Appleton?"

"Do you have plans for your summer break yet?" Emily asked, gray eyes curious.

A little puzzled, she shook her head. "No, not yet. I'd planned on applying for some internships when I got back to school."

"I'm planning on returning to Mount Shasta when the semester ends," Emily explained. "To help catalogue and sort everything we found there."

Longing appeared briefly in Jacqui's eyes, quickly banished. "That sounds like it would be a lot of rewarding work."

"Yes, it will be." Emily smiled faintly. "I usually have several student assistants when I do projects like these and I was hoping you would like to volunteer for it."

Jacqui stared at Emily with wide eyes. She'd thought the older woman was simply making conversation! She hadn't considered that there was a point to it. A grin slowly appearing, she nodded vigorously. "Yes, I would be happy to volunteer for it."

"Good." Emily patted her hand. "I'll send you the application to fill out once it's ready."

On an impulse, Jacqui threw her arms around Emily and hugged her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, dear." Emily returned the hug after a moment of surprise.

When Riley and Emily switched back, Jacqui told Riley the news in an excited whisper. "Isn't that fantastic?"

"If you say it is," Riley replied, a bemused smile on his face. "I'm glad for you, Jacqui."

She laughed and leaned her head on his uninjured shoulder, content.

Ahead of them, Patrick asked, "I take it she said yes?"

"She did." Emily smiled fondly, resting her cheek on Patrick's shoulder. "She's very passionate about it."

He smiled, kissing her hair. "She'd have to be, for you to even consider taking her on as an assistant for such an important project."

Smiling, Emily tilted her head up to kiss him softly. He returned the kiss just as softly. "I love you, Patrick Henry Gates."

"I love you, too, Emily Jane Appleton."