LOVE AND TREASURE | ❝I still love you, Ben after all this time apart.❞
━ IN WHICH Clara Bass is pulled back into the world of treasure hunting through her ex-boyfriend and this a new love grows between them.
| Clara Bass' Standalone Book
| Clara Bas...
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▌Chapter 5 ─ Lunatics ▌
━━━━━ CLARA HAD SINCE grabbed her coat and was not waiting for Ben at the stairs. She continued to pace back and forth, waiting for Ben to come down the steps. Clara turned, seeing Ben walking down the steps, she smiled, turning around and walking down the other set of stairs with Ben next to her.
"Where are you?" Riley questioned waiting for the two to exit out of the building.
"Stop talking." Ben said as he and Clara walked out of the building. "Start the van."
Both Clara and Ben walked across the street heading over to the red van, while Riley tried to turn it on. The blonde sighed in relief when he finally got the car on. The two walked to the back of the van, Ben opened the doors.
"Ben, Clara, the... the mean Declaration lady's behind you."
"I have a plan." Clara said looking over at Ben who nodded his head.
"Hey." Abigail called out.
"Oh, it's you. Hello." Ben said, shutting one side of the car door.
"Mr. Brown, what's going on? Why is Clara with you? What's that?" Abigail asked him, looking between the two.
"It's a souvenir." Ben stated, looking over at Clara.
"Really?" Abigail questioned, seeming to not believe it.
"Stop chatting and get in the van." Riley told the two.
"Did you enjoy the party?" Ben asked her.
"Yeah." Abigail said as sirens went off. She turned back around looking at the building. Clara and Ben exchanged a look, Clara was ready to act on her plan. "Oh, my god! You did not...?" Abigail said, looking between the two.
"No..." Ben went to speak, Clara stepped forward placing her arm on Abigail who turned back around.
"Security! Over here! Give me that!" Abigail shouted, moving away from the two.
"It's yours. Take it." Ben said, handing it over to her.
Ben left Clara's side, heading to the front of the car. Clara watched as Abigail walked across the road. In the distance she saw another truck heading straight for Abigail. Making her move she ran across the road heading over to her friend. She stopped in front of her.
"Security." Abigail called out.
"Abigail listen to me, you need to give me that and go back to the van and get in with them." Clara said, looking at her.
"What? Why?" Abigail asked her in return.
"Just trust me, tell them to follow." Clara added.
She took the document and ran to the other side of the street. Abigail did as instructed and moved back to the other side where Ben and Riley were. Clara watched as the truck came to a stop almost hitting her. Abigail climbed into the back of the red van while Ben climbed out of it. Two men came out of the other truck trying to take the document away from Clara.
"Give me the document!" One of the men said. Clara moved back, pulling it away from them.
"No way!" Clara replied, knowing very well what she was doing even if the others didn't. "Let me go!" Clara said, attempting to pull away from the two men.
"Just bring her." Ian shouted. They picked Clara off the ground pulling her into the truck.
"No. No." She struggled trying to break free from them. Once they had her in they pulled away from the curb driving away.
"Go. Go." Ben said, climbing back into the van.
"They have Clara." Abigail said, moving closer to them.
"I know." Ben replied, starting to worry over her. The men let go of Clara who pushed herself back towards the door still holding onto the document.
"And just who might you be? You were with Gates." Ian asked her, the blonde stared at the man in front of her.
"Clara." She said not giving him her last name.
"So, you're the girl that Ben Gates is still in love with." He said, looking at her with an amused smirk on his face.
"What?" Clara questioned, clearly confused by what he had just said.
"Why don't you just pass me that document?" Ian proceeded to ask her brushing off her question. "Then we can all go home, and you can go back to Ben."
Clara shook her head, continuing to play along hoping to throw them off. Suddenly the vehicle turned abruptly causing Clara to fall into one of the counters. Clara tried to hold on for dear life as the car bounced up and down driving across the road. She took her chance and moved closer to the door attempting to open it up so she could escape. As they turned she managed to get the door open, but made the mistake of letting it open.
She grabbed a hold off the top of the door as it swung open, at this point she was far from calm. Clara screamed out, losing grip on one of her hands nearly being hit by another car. She tried to hold onto the end of the door for dear life hoping to not die. This wasn't exactly what she had in mind when she agreed to help Ben out. One of Ian's men started to shoot at the van that had Ben, Riley and Abigail in it.
"No! If she falls, the document falls." Ian said, stopping him from shooting at them and possibly Clara. Ben moved to the back, Abigail moving out of the way.
"Get me next to her!" Ben shouted as he pulled the door open.
Ben went to grab Clara, however he failed to grab her; a bus came towards them causing both vehicles to move out of the way. Clara held on for dear life as the bus passed by her, once past the bus the door that she was on swung forward. Clara attempted to reach out for Ben who was reaching out for her. The two managed to grab each other's hands but then lost grip when her door was pulled back towards Ian.
"Thank you." Ian said, grabbing the document from her hands. The door swung back around, Abigail stood near Riley watching Ben try to grab a hold of her to save her life.
"Clara!" Ben called out, reaching for her. "Come on. Jump."
Clara grabbed onto Ben pushing off the door, the two fell into the van as Ian's men shot at them. Ben looked at her for a brief moment, picking himself up and closing the door. Riley made a turn leaving them behind, while Abigail and Ben looked at Clara who was breathing heavily. She was still in shock from what had happened, and that hadn't been the plan she thought of when she told Abigail to go with them.
"Are you all right?" Ben asked her.
"No!" Clara informed him.
"You're not hurt, are you?" Ben proceeded to question her.
"Those lunatics... Who are they?" Clara asked, looking at Ben.
"Are you hungry?" Ben proceeded to ask her, clearly confusing the blonde.
"What?" Clara asked, tilting her head.
"Are you all right?" Ben asked her once again.
"Still a little on edge from being shot at, but I'll be ok. Thanks for asking." Riley said, looking back at the three.
"You weren't hanging off a door Riley." Clara said, looking at him with an angry look resting on her face. "I'm fine, I'll be ok." Clara replied, moving her hair around.
"Yeah, well, I'm not all right. Those men have the Declaration of Independence!" Abigail said changing the subject.
