A/N: I apologize for the slowness of this chapter it was porbably the hardest one I'll have to write and took roughly two weeks to even get there. That being said it still doesn't feel perfect but I fear that if I continue messing with it I'll never finish the rest of this story. So here you are chapter three and I hope to have chapter four up sometime next week.

Chapter Three

Ben sat in the back of the black van with Abigail and Riley on either side of him; he was vaguely aware that Riley was gripping Kati's hand. She looked like she was in shock, though to be fair she'd never been through this before. They'd all been through this twice and survived, with the exception of Emily, who didn't appear to be happy but was holding her own.

Riley wasn't oblivious to the fact that his girlfriend hadn't spoken since she was rudely ushered into the van. He'd glanced over at her a few times, taking note of the glassy look in her eyes, the barely noticeable wobbly lip, her erratic breathing. He knew those signs. Riley was a man, and thus he made his fair share of mistakes; though he wasn't proud of it, he'd made her cry once or twice. He'd watched her, and now he knew this was her desperate attempt to not show weakness.

He glanced over at Ben, before deciding that what everyone else thought or saw was unimportant. He scooted closer to her, turning his body towards her and pulled her closer to him. A moment later she was leaning her head against his chest trying yet again to control her self before she started crying. He looked at his surrogate family again before he wrapped his other arm around her and pressed a kiss to the back of her head. "Kati sweetheart, we're going to be okay," he prayed he wasn't lying.

She shook her head, taking a shaky lung of air before she leaned into his embrace and looked up at him, "Our father used to tell us stories about the City of Atlantis, said it was supposed to be the most beautiful place in all of history," she smiled sadly. "I'm sorry I'm just not used to this whole—" she sighed. "Sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" He smirked as he rubbed her arm gently. He'd grown tremendously since he'd first started dating her. "This isn't exactly something you get used to. I promise you Kati, we're going to survive this and when we do we're going to spend the rest of our lives living boring and mundane lives."

She snorted slightly at the thought of that, "I don't think you could stand boring and mundane," she giggled. "And don't think you can get out of proposing that easily."

He pressed another kiss to her head, "Oh don't you worry I'm already planning the proposal. There's no way I'm going to waste it. I'm sorry you're getting pulled into this."

Kati glanced at him full of seriousness, "Riley if this is a part of your life then I should probably get used to it."

They remained quiet for the duration of the ride to wherever they were being taken. Ben glanced over at his best friend shortly before the car had come to a stop, "Riley, we're going to be okay, you know that right?"

Riley looked over at Ben and smiled, "Just another Gates/Poole adventure."

"It's okay we'll pull it off."

"Ben, I want you to know something—"

Riley was interrupted when the van came to a stop and the back doors were opened, "Everyone out," Atticus demanded, still holding a pistol. The six captives piled out of the van, Riley glanced around, they were at a docking bay of some sort, though there weren't any boats and they were in a warehousing district. Suddenly he wondered just how far from DC they'd traveled in what felt like maybe an hour and a half.

"It's an old Naval Ship base," Atticus offered smiling fondly, "I was stationed here as a boy."

Riley glanced over at the man, vaguely aware that was the first human thing he'd said in over twenty-four hours. "Why are we here?" Riley spoke up.

The older man chuckled, "Riley I believe we've already had this discussion, you and your friends are going to help me find the lost city of Atlantis."

Ben moved from where he'd been studying the sea to look at Atticus, "And just how do you propose we find a city that never existed?"

All eyes were on Ben and Atticus, "The famous Benjamin Gates, crazed and obsessed treasure hunter doesn't believe in the City of Atlantis?"

"No I don't."

Atticus nodded as he stepped closer to Ben, "Tell me Ben, why don't you believe? You found one of the keys to the City of Atlantis."

"Wait what!?" Abigail spoke from where she stood beside her husband.

Atticus nodded, "Your very first treasure, among all those ruins laid the ark of Solon; didn't he tell you? Or perhaps the treasure hunter didn't know?"

Ben was glaring at the older man, "It was a myth, and there was a lot of stuff down there."

"Oh it's not a myth Benjamin, in fact I've seen the arc, and I'm inclined to believe you have as well. So my question remains, why don't you believe in the City of Atlantis Ben?" Atticus shifted his gaze back towards the treasure hunter, his eyes wide waiting for an answer. "You've seen the ark, haven't you Ben?"

"No," lied Ben.

Atticus nodded as he stepped closer to the man, aware all eyes were on the two of them still, "Rule number one Ben, don't lie to me," without a moment's hesitation Atticus rammed his fist into Ben's stomach.

Ben cried out in pain as he dropped to his knees, clutching his stomach, "Why are you doing this!?" He demanded through his heavy breathing.

"Because I think you're lying and I don't like liars."

"Well I think you're crazy and I don't particularly like working with crazy people!" returned Ben as he slowly made his way to his full height again.

"Where's the ark Ben?" Atticus turned as he faced Ben and his family. Getting no reply he rolled his eyes and held his gun to Riley's forehead, "Where is it Ben?" To Riley's credit he kept his mouth shut and tried not to show his fear.

"Smithsonian," was the instant answer.

"You said it didn't exist!" growled Seth from where he stood near the vans.

Ben glared at Seth then to Atticus, "I've seen it; okay yes it really is there. Maybe the City of Atlantis once existed, but even if it did it's gone now. You can't bring it back and besides that fact if it did exist and it really did sink we could never get to it."

"Could you—" Riley pointed to the gun.

Atticus removed the gun, glaring at the younger man, "You're annoying."

Riley nodded, "I get that a lot."

The captor looked back at Ben, smiling, "You really do believe in Atlantis, in fact I've read your history and I believe it's one of the reasons you have a rather specific skill."

"What's he talking about?" Abigail asked.

Ben sighed as he looked down at the ground, "I'm a deep sea diver, and I wanted to learn because I thought I could find the city of Atlantis. It was a long time ago—look it's not possible to get down to those depths."

"Speaking from experience Mr. Gates?"

Ben felt his stomach roll; he hadn't thought about Atlantis for nearly fifteen years, he'd been just over twenty-three, graduated with a scuba diving and deep sea diving degree. He tried to force himself to recall it wasn't his fault. "What do you want? You want us to help you steal the ark, fine. Riley and I will help you steal it. That's where this ends."

"Oh I very much doubt that Benjamin, in case you haven't noticed, I'm the one calling the shots. However, so that your girlfriends and parents don't get in the way they will remain here with my trusted friends. In the meantime you and Riley will break in and grab the ark."

o0o

Ben and Riley sat in the back of the van, they'd already gone over how to get in and out; it was going to be similar to their original stealing the declaration. Riley had the needed equipment, Ben was fairly confident it would be quick and easy.

"What aren't you telling us Ben?" Riley inquired as he looked at his best friend.

"Riley—"

The younger man sighed, "I'd follow you to the ends of the earth, and from the sound of it we might be headed in that direction, so I need to know whatever it is you aren't telling everyone else. From the appearance your parents don't even know. What happened?"

"It was a long time ago Riley." Realizing that wouldn't cut it he nodded, "What do you know about decompression sickness?"

"Not much."

Ben nodded, "Decompression sickness is related to Henry's Law, which states that more gas will be dissolved in a liquid when the gas is pressurized. Because of the water pressure, body tissue absorbs nitrogen gas faster as a diver goes down than coming back to the surface. If a diver rises too quickly, nitrogen gas bubbles will form in body tissue rather than being exhaled. The nitrogen bubbles cause severe pain. In some gases very large gas bubbles can obstruct the blood flow to your heart, lungs and brain. We were twenty-three maybe twenty-four, I was just out of the academy—same one Atticus was in actually. Anyway a friend of mine and I believed that if we trained long enough we could dive down deep and maybe find the city of Atlantis. We didn't think rationally of course, that if it was even down there we could last that long. However, we also realized that it was dangerous. So we decided to test ourselves for awhile." Ben paused shaking his head, "We'd done it millions of times, and there were the remains of a sunken ship just off the coast. We'd been exploring it for nearly three months. It all happened so quickly, mistakes were made and we were sloppy, I was the more experienced one, but I knew Gary had a fear of bright flashes and large noises, some traumatic experience as a young boy. Anyway this…ship was an old war vessel and had some undetonated bombs on it. One exploded, scared the daylights out of Gary and without a moments hesitation he darted towards the top, he panicked."

"He ascended too quickly?"

Ben nodded, "I reached the top just in time to find him floating lifelessly on the top of the water. He had an instant brain embolism. It's so rare, but the doctors were able to identify it wasn't my fault."

"It wasn't you, you understand that, right?"

"You tell yourself that for so long, but eventually you stop hearing the words. Anyway after that I decided no more deep sea diving. Believe me; I still love it, but…"

"Too painful?"

"Among other things yes. Riley, they don't get it, if we attempt this however we get down there, we're going to have to find a way to return to the top safely, otherwise the pressure won't equalize and the same thing will happen to us. That being said do you realize how impossible it is for any type of vessel to go lower than 1000-1500 meters? Even most nuclear powered subs don't do that. The only thing that's proven to have that ability is a titanium hauled submarine."

"Ben I hate to say this but I get the feeling there's more to this than we think. Ben I have to tell you something."

"Is this an I'm not a very good swimmer kind of something, because I learned that during our second treasure hunt. Or is this a big secret you never told me kind of something?"

Riley shrugged, "I did an entire assignment on the city of Atlantis when I was in college."

"I never read that essay?"

"You were a little preoccupied at the time finishing off your engineering classes and such. I didn't want to bother you. Besides we weren't as closed as we used to be then."

"Okay, so what don't I know about the city of Atlantis?"

Riley glanced up to the front of the van, "For starters, the torch isn't in the ark anymore, it's somewhere else."

"Do you know where?"

"No but I've got a good idea."

Ben nodded, "Right, want to share that idea?"

His younger friend shook his head, "Not yet, when and if we find a way to get out of this, then I'll tell you where it might be hidden."

"Riley has anyone ever told you that you're brilliant?"

Riley glanced up at his best friend who was smirking proudly, "Why no Benjamin, I don't believe they have but thank you for informing me!"

The van pulled to a stop, causing both men to grip something so they didn't fall over, looking up front they watched the two men in the front get up and step around to the sides, "You've got an hour to get in and get out. Any longer than that and we're coming in," Atticus spoke looking at the two men seriously.

Ben and Riley nodded; they wouldn't risk anything now, not with their family in captive back on the dock. They would go through with this plan at least for now. The Smithsonian was closed for the night, the biggest problem they had foresaw was getting past the alarm system and into the actual case where the ark was being held. Not to mention there would be security guards. Thus they had divided part one of the plans: A security guard was always stationed out front of the building unless it was winter then he'd stand just inside.

Ben and Riley approached the man who gave them a strange look; Riley immediately dropped his head and began scribbling on a piece of paper he'd been holding in his hands for several minutes now. Ben was aware they'd both been bugged probably so he spoke with assurance, "Hi, my name is Paul and this is my brother Billy, we were here earlier today and he' kind of lost his hat."

"Buy the kid a new one," state the security guard, "Or you can always come back tomorrow."

Ben tried to force a laugh, "Right, except he's autistic and he's very attached to this hat and if it isn't there tomorrow when he wakes up he'll throw a fit."

The guard looked over at Riley who'd begun rocking back and forth nervously, though Ben was fairly sure it was so the younger man didn't laugh. "Fine let's get you two inside, but hurry it up. Where did you lose it."

"In the Templar Treasure room…uh do you mind if we go in by ourselves, honestly sir we're good people, but my baby brother he's just---he doesn't like strangers." As if on cue Riley began to whimper and twitch more, putting on one of his best performances ever.

The security guard looked between the two men, half expecting Riley to start foaming at the mouth, "Fine, if you have any problems just…just let your selves out." Without another word the man began to move away from them.

Riley became quieter as the man moved further and further away. Sighing Ben wrapped an arm around his "brother's" shoulders and maneuvered him towards the room where they kept a lot of the findings from the Templar Treasure.

"Ben?" Riley whispered. "Why was that guy so freaked out?"

Ben sighed as he continued to wind their way through the museum. "Riley lots of people are afraid of people with mental disabilities, and I must admit you were doing a stellar job of acting."

"It's not the person's fault they're sick."

The treasure hunter shrugged, "People are ignorant Riley, and you must know that by now. Come on." Stepping into the room they glanced around for the sight of cameras on the walls. "Okay so how are we going to do this?"

Riley smirked, "What you mean you aren't just going to break the glass?"

"Uh no—you don't have a plan?"

"Relax Ben; I've always got a plan! Now there are four cameras that I see, plus a key code to take the alarm off line in the actual case. From there you're going to have to pick the lock."

Ben nodded, "I can do that…do you think we can go to jail for stealing our own treasure?"

"We'll just sic Sadusky on Atticus when this is all over." Less than two minutes later Riley had everything set up; he'd knocked out both cameras without even touching them. Meanwhile Ben was slowly moving towards the case where the arch sat. It was bronze and gold looking, beautiful with ancient writing on it that neither man had ever seen until a few days ago. "Okay you can't take more than fifteen seconds, I've got the EM pulse set up to knock everything in this room out for twenty seconds. We can't screw this up Ben."

"We're not going to screw it up, I'm ready," whispered Ben, his lock picker prepared. He watched until finally Riley nodded his head.

As promised less than ten seconds later Ben was in the case, he'd removed the ark. Quickly he shut the door and looked over at Riley, "We've got to get out, where's the back door?" Suddenly alarms began to wail, "I thought you said we were clear!?"

"WE WERE!" hissed Riley as he grabbed his stuff, shoving it into his bag and pulling out a cap he put it on his head, "Let's go!"

TBC