Treasure Hunters: A National Treasure Fanfiction

Chapter Four: Return

Still no word from Ben. Or Riley. Alex was getting seriously worried.

What if they were stranded out in the Arctic? Lost? Or worse, stranded, lost, and separated?

Her worries were ceased though when she went to her office for her lunch break - to call them again - only to find-

"Ben! Oh my God-" Alex hurried into her brother's arms, tackling him into a hug.

"Hey Little Sis." He sounded surprisingly calm, or maybe he only seemed so as she was majorly freaking out.

She then turned to Riley, also tackling him into a tight embrace. "Hey Riles." Then she turned to her brother again. "You Benjamin Gates have a lot of explaining to do."

"I know, we have a lot to tell you."

"Yeah I had a visit from Ian yesterday. He said you had a 'disagreement'."

Riley scoffed. "So that's what he calls trapping us in an exploding ship."

"What?!" cried Alex. "Oh my God - well he left that part out. He wanted me to help him."

"Of course he did. Funny, doesn't he know by now that you and Ben are unbreakable," said Riley.

"Well, he's always had a soft spot for you," Ben told his sister.

"Eww." Riley made a face.

"Thanks Riles."

"I meant eww Ian, not eww you."

Alex withdrew the written riddle from Ian. "He also gave me this, the next clue. You know what it points to, right?"

Ben nodded. "Yeah."

"He's going to try and steal it."

"Yeah, we know."

"Ben, how are you acting so calm over this? This is huge!"

"I know." Her brother sighed. He looked exhausted. "We were just on our way to Homeland Security and the FBI to try and warn them, but we thought we'd better stop and check in with you first."

"Yeah, thanks. I only called you about fifty times. Good luck, let me know how it goes."

"We will. We'll come back to meet you after work with an update." And just like that they were gone again.

After that Alex eagerly awaited the end of the day. Now she felt a huge wave of relief in knowing that Ben and Riley were alright.

"So how'd it go?" she asked when they returned and she was packing up for the day. Judging by their expressions she was pretty sure of the answer.

"Not well. Is it really so hard to believe that someone might try and steal the Declaration of Independence?" said Riley.

"The FBI gets countless tips a week Riley, they're not going to worry about something they're sure is safe," said Ben.

Riley sighed in frustration. "But anyone that can do anything is going to think we're crazy. And anyone who's crazy enough to believe us isn't going to want to help. Ian was crazy enough to believe us and I mean look where that got us," he mumbled.

"We don't need someone crazy. One step short of crazy, and what do you get?" said Ben.

"Obsessed." Riley gave a little shrug.

"Passionate," corrected Ben. He gestured for his friend and sister to follow him. "Now come on, I know where to try next."

(Yay, reunited at last! Now off to meet Abi :) thanks so much for reading!)