Treasure Hunters: A National Treasure Fanfiction

Chapter Nineteen: The Treasure of All Treasures

"Looks like someone got here first," said Riley quietly. Well that had been anticlimactic.

"I-it's gone," cried Ben in disbelief. He sounded wounded.

"Oh Ben," said Alex. "I'm so sorry."

The room which they had entered was bigger than the first, and less empty, but there was still no treasure, nor sign of it.

"It may have even been gone before Charles Carroll told the story to Thomas Gates," Ben mumbled.

"Listen Ben, it doesn't matter," Patrick comforted.

"You were right," Ben told his father.

"No," Patrick corrected him firmly. "No I wasn't right. This room is real, which means the treasure is real, wherever it might be. We're in the company of some of the greatest minds in history because you found what they left behind for us to find, and understood them. You did it, for all of us, for your grandfather, all of us. And I've never been so proud to be proven so wrong," he added.

Alex couldn't help but smile at her father's words. "He's right Ben."

But Ben still looked distraught, and understandably. "I just really thought that... That I was going to find it."

"Okay then," said Patrick. "Then we'll just keep looking."

"I'm in," said Alex.

"Me too," added Abigail supportively.

"Not to be Johnny Rain Cloud here, but that's not going to happen, because in case you've forgotten, we're still stuck down here," said Riley. "You were saying Ben? Where's this other way out?"

"That's why it doesn't make any sense because the first thing the builders would have done after getting down here would have been to cut a secondary shaft for air, and in case of cave-ins," Ben explained, once again sounding thoughtful, hopeful.

"Right," said Patrick, he, Ben, and Alex beginning to search for any sign of this second shaft. Riley and Abigail quickly joined in and the whole group scanned the room.

Ben found some metal designs inlaid in the walls, all with different symbols carved into their faces. One however, had a cut-out. He traced the strange shape with his fingers, and then suddenly it all clicked. Hands shaking now, he reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew the pipe from the Charlotte. He turned it upside down; the shape matched that of the cut-out. "Could it really be that simple?" he muttered. The Secret Lies With Charlotte. Taking a deep breath he placed the pipe into the cut-out. It was a perfect fit.

Then, taking the stem of the pipe, he put it in the small hole below the cut-out. The pipe slid in, locking into place. He turned it. A lock and key. The pipe had really been a key.

There was a click, followed by a rumble, and like before the wall pressed inward, a hidden door revealed. This door opened on its own without being pushed, as if beckoning them inside.

Patrick was the first to go through. The other's heard his gasp, this prompting them to follow. They joined him frozen in the doorway, beholding the sight before them.

They were standing at the entrance to a wide, tall room full of the most intricate and incredible variety of treasure imaginable. There were ancient documents, statues, jewels and jewellery, as well as many others. The whole room seemed aglow.

It really is the treasure of all treasures, thought Alex.

There was a rumble then as Ben touched his torch to an intricate line of troughs holding flammable powder. Everyone's eyes grew even wider as the new light provided them the opportunity to see the entire room - it stretched back farther than they had realized, completely full of treasure. There was stunned silence.

"Yes!" cheered Patrick, the first to break it, hugging his children.

Alex let out a whoop and threw her arms around her brother. "We did it Big Brother, we did it!" Then she added more softly, "Grandpa would be so proud." She heard Ben chuckle at this, sounding choked-up.

"Proud to be a Gates," he whispered.

"Proud to be a Gates," she agreed.

Next she hugged Riley and Abigail as well. When hugging Riley, she noticed his watery eyes. "Ri, are you crying?"

"Look," he said, nodding to the far wall of the room. "Stairs."

It was true; up ahead, barely visible but there, was a rickety old staircase leading out of the vast treasure room. Alex couldn't help but laugh and planted a kiss on his cheek. Oh Riley. Then, giggling, she scurried down the stairs leading further into the room. "Well come on!" she called over her shoulder. "There's thousands of years of world history down here just waiting to be discovered!"

--------------------------------

Back up in the main hall of the church, Ben chatted softly with Agent Sadusky of the FBI. When they'd come out of the tunnel leading out of the treasure room, up the old staircase which led out also through a tomb, they had found a very confused and equally startled security guard inspecting Parkington Lane's disrupted tomb. Ben had asked if he had a cell phone he could borrow, and had immediately called the FBI.

Patrick, Alex, Riley, and Abigail sat in the pews waiting, still jittery from their discovery downstairs, while Ben and Sadusky discussed what to do now that the treasure had been found.

"Divide it amongst the Smithsonian, the Louvre, the British Museum, the Cairo Museum," she heard her brother say. "There's thousands of years of world history down there, and it belongs to everyone. Everyone deserves the chance to see it."

Sadusky nodded. "And what do you want?"

"I want the credit of the find to go to the entire Gates family," Ben said, raising his voice so the others could hear. "With the assistance of Mr. Riley Poole." Riley and Alex exchanged a smile and she squeezed his hand. "And I want Doctor Chase to get off completely clean, not even a post-it note on her record."

"And you?"

"I'd really love not to go to prison."

The agent chuckled. "Someone's got to go to prison Ben."

"Well, if you happen to have a helicopter handy, we could help with that."

--------------------------------

"Mr. Howe, you're under arrest," Sadusky announced as he emerged from the crowd of agents who had caught Ian and crew in the middle of attempting to break into the Old North Church in Boston. A couple of agents handcuffed Ian's hands behind his back. "We've got you on kidnapping, attempted murder, and trespassing on government property. Anything else?" he asked the Gates siblings, who were emerging behind him. Ian scoffed when he saw them.

"Nope, that's it," said Ben. "We'll let you know if we think of anything else."

Ian smirked. Then he turned to Alex. "Wait for me?"

"Yeah right." They watched as he was loaded into the back of one of the cars. "Besides, he's not getting out of prison anytime soon."

"No he's not," said Ben triumphantly, putting an arm around his sister.

(Yay, the moment we've all been waiting for! ;) Discovering the treasure! Almost done, just one last chapter to wrap things up! Hope you enjoyed and thanks so much for reading!)