Updated due to overwhelming requests. Including from the person I wrote this for who threatened to do terrible things if I didn't add more :). Last chapter though, the entire National Treasure movie from Riley's POV would get boring. I do hope to be writing more National Treasure fics though, as the muse strikes me.
The tires of our van squealed as I did a quick u-turn to get behind Ian's truck. Just great. First we steal the Declaration, now were speeding down the streets of our nations capital like idiots.
Although, technically, if we were caught, we could say Ian was stealing it and we were trying to stop him, since he was the one with the Declaration now.
I heard police sirens, but I didn't know if they were chasing Ian or us or just going to investigate the matter at the Archives.
"Once we catch Ian what are we going to do?" I asked. I hoped Ben had a plan. It's not like we were those awesome guys from movies that could jump from moving vehicles and not get hurt.
"Working on it." Ben replied. Great. Just great.
The truck in front of us made a sharp turn and I had to dodge a police car and follow them. Why couldn't Ben drive? Why did he have to let Dr. Chase have the Declaration? Why did Ian have to be here?
We sped by the Capital Building, and I couldn't help but wonder if the men that worked there were as stupid as the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. If they had just listened to us I could be at home in bed right now.
The truck made another sharp turn – narrowly avoiding a larger truck in front of it. It sped down a road that was under construction and I was forced to follow, having nowhere else to go.
It was like the little kids roller coaster rides that bumped you so much you got off with a minor case of whiplash. Only, I wasn't a little kid any more and we were in pursuit of guys willing to kill to get what they wanted. Hardly an amusement park.
Dirt was spread over the road and I felt the van skidding. It would almost be humorous for Ian and us to be in an accident right now. Not that I wanted them dead… just paralyzed.
They made another turn and suddenly, the door on the back of the truck flung open and the hot girl was hanging on to it as it swung out. We could hear her scream, since my window was now all over the floor and me.
"Oh no." Ben said. What, did this throw a monkey wrench in your brilliant idea? I thought.
"Holy Lord." I said out loud. Wishing he would answer with a bolt of lightning to strike Ian dead.
Then one of Ian's goonies started firing at us. Fortunately, the windshield was crash resistant and the bullets deflected away harmlessly.
Ian, surprisingly, stopped the man shooting and I realized that he was looking out for the Declaration, not us.
While I had been watching the truck in front of us, Ben had moved to the back and was opening the side door.
"Get me next to her!" He shouted. I looked back at him, thinking that maybe crazy wasn't the right descriptive word. Insane, maybe, or just plain senseless would fit better.
But I obeyed; sliding out across the double yellow lines and praying there was no oncoming traffic.
Oh what I wouldn't give to have my driving instructor here, tied up in the back so he couldn't do anything about it. He had been a mean guy, constantly beating me up for my mistakes. He had said I was too shy about driving. Bet he never drove in the wrong lane to save a girl and the Declaration while worrying about getting shot at.
Then a bus was flying towards us and I had to swerve into the next lane to avoid a head-on crash. I wondered if the truck had managed to move as well. After it passed I moved back over and got Ben as close to her as I could.
I heard several screams and Ben ordering her to jump. Then there was a crash in the back seat and I heard several gunshots. The door slide shut on it's own, when I swerved to get away. Ben had rescued her, so I turned to get away from Ian and the rest.
I kept risking looks back at them, praying no one was seriously hurt.
"You all right?" Ben asked. I knew he was talking to the girl he'd just rescued, but she seemed more concerned about the document.
"No, those, those lunatics they stole-"
"You're not hurt are you?" Ben asked again.
"You're all lunatics!" She yelled.
"You hungry?" Ben asked.
"What?" She asked, finally listening to him.
"Are you all right?" He asked firmly.
"Still a little on edge from being shot at, but I'll be okay." I replied. "Thanks for asking." It was a small barb, just to remind Ben that it had been me that had just risked everything for his idea.
"Yea well, I'm not all right, those men have the Declaration of Independence!"
"She lost it?" I shrieked. Well, it was sort of a good thing. If Ian had it we couldn't get arrested for it.
"They don't have it." Ben announced. He opened a canister and I peeked back as he opened it to reveal the real declaration. "See? Okay? Now could you please stop shouting?"
"Give me that!" She ordered, but Ben yanked it away.
"You're still shouting. And it's really starting to annoy." Ben said. I smiled. He could keep his cool after everything and still manage to be annoyed by shouting. "It would do you well, Dr. Chase, for you to be more civilized in this instance."
He sounded like a college professor. He joined me in the front seat again.
"If this is the real one, what did they get?" She asked, sitting on the floor between our seats.
Even I could figure that out.
"Souvenir." Ben said, putting the canister into another to keep it safe. "Thought it would be a good idea to have a duplicate. Turns out I was right. Actually I had to pay for the souvenir and the real one so you owe me thirty-five dollars plus tax." Ben added.
I laughed. "Genius." Maybe passionate was a better descriptive word for him. Then again, he could be quite crazy sometimes.
"Who are those men?" She asked loudly. Ben rubbed his forehead. I hoped he hadn't been injured. There was no way we could go to a hospital.
"Just the guys we warned you were going to try to steal the Declaration." Ben said.
"And you didn't believe us." I smirked.
"We did the only thing we could do to keep it safe."
"Verdammt, give me that!" She shouted, reaching for the canister.
"You know something, you're shouting again."
"Pretty sure she was swearing too." I added.
"Well, we probably deserve that." Ben said.
Sure, we save her life and the Declaraction and deserve to be sworn at.
"There is not a treasure map on the back of the Declaration of Independence." Dr. Chase said firmly.
"And there is not chase that anyone could steal this," he shook the canister, "either."
"I leveled with you 100%" Ben added. "Everything I told you was the truth."
"I want that document Mr. Brown." Dr. Chase scowled.
"Okay my names not Brown, it's Gates, I leveled with you 98%." I was surprised to hear him admit that.
"Wait a minute did you just say Gates?" She asked, sounding incredibly suspicious.
They looked at each other then looked at me. I grimaced.
"Gates?" She echoed. "Your that family with the conspiracy theory about the founding fathers?"
"It's not a conspiracy theory." Ben argued.
"Per se." I said. Hiding treasure and setting up a bunch of elaborate clues was a conspiracy theory in my book.
"You know I take it back, you're not liars, you're insane." Dr. Chase concluded. "You can't seriously intend to run chemical tests on the Declaration of Independence in the back of a moving van."
"We have a clean room environment all set up. EDS suits and particulate air filtration system, the whole shebang." I informed her.
"Really?" She asked.
"We can't go back there." Ben said.
"What?" I said, looking at him in horror. Where would we go? "Why not?"
"I had to use my Visa to pay." Ben admitted.
"A credit card slip?" I yelled, my false sense of hope flying out the window. "Dude we're on the grid. They're gonna have your records from forever, their gonna have my records from forever – "
"I know, I know." Ben said. "It's only a matter of mintues before the FBI shows up at my front door."
"What do we do?" I demanded. I was beyond frustrated with him.
"We need those letters." Ben said.
"What letters?" The lady asked.
"You know what, get off the road, take a right." Ben ordered, ignoring her.
Once again I did as he asked. And I would continue to do as he asked. I earned a measly two percent for my trouble.