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 11 ─ Heere At The Wall ▌
━━━━━ CLARA STOOD NEXT to Ben as they walked with a tour group. Once they made it to the spot, Ben pulled out of the group, Clara following behind him. Riley and Abigail right behind them. They walked up the steps, heading down the short hallway. Then they proceeded up another set of steps.
Ben opened the blue door and walked in first, Clara following behind him the two heading up the steps, Abigail following behind them while Riley closed the door and proceeded up the steps. They eventually made it to the stop of the clock tower. Ben moved up the final set of stairs pushing through the door. He turned around helping Clara up who accepted his hands. Then he did the same for Abigail.
"What bell is this?" Riley asked them.
"It's the Centennial Bell. It replaced the Liberty Bell in 1876." Ben replied, as he and Clara came to the edge looking at the shadow.
"There it is." Clara said, as Abigail came up next to her.
"All right. I'm gonna go down there, and you meet me in the signing room. Okay?" Ben asked her.
"Okay." She replied.
"All right." Ben left the three behind, Clara looked at Abigail and both had smiles on their faces.
"All right, let's go." Clara said, walking away from them three. They made it to the signing room waiting for Ben to join them again. The touring group left, while Ben pushed past them entering into the room.
"Hey. What'd you score?" Riley asked him.
He walked over to them, showing them the glasses. "I found this." Ben replied.
"Some kind of ocular device. 'The vision to see the treasured past'. Let me take this." Ben said, pulling the case from Abigail's arm. The three looked at it.
"They're like early American X-ray specs." Riley said.
"Benjamin Franklin invented something like these." Abigail informed them.
"Uh, I think he invented these."
"So, what do we do with them?"
"We look through it." Clara said, as Ben walked back over to them.
He pulled the Declaration out, "here, help me." Riley moved the glasses away from his face grabbing a hold of the document.
"Careful." Riley said.
"You think?"
Ben sighed looking down at the Declaration of Independence, Clara had a smile on her face. "What?" Riley asked him.
"It's just that the last time this was here it was being signed." Ben replied, Abigail placed a smile on her face while Clara stared at the man.
"Ben, there's another tour coming."
"Turn it over."
"Careful." Abigail and Clara said at the same time.
"Spectacles."
Riley lifted his hand up handing them over to Ben, as each of them held onto the document. Ben placed them on his face looking down at the Declaration.
"What do you see?" Clara asked him.
"What is it? Is it a treasure map?" Riley proceeded to ask him.
"It says, 'Heere at the wall,' spelled with two 'E's. Take a look." Ben said, holding them out. Clara grabbed them first looking at what Ben had been looking at. She then took them off and handed them over to Abigail.
"Wow." Abigail breathed out.
"Why can't they just say, 'Go to this place, and here's the treasure, spend it wisely'?" Riley asked them.
Ben looked over at the window. "Oh, no." He breathed out.
Abigail took off the specs as the three looked at the window seeing what Ben had seen. Riley ran over to the window pulling the curtain open slightly.
"How did they find us?" Riley asked them.
"Well, Ian has nearly unlimited resources. And he's smart." Ben answered.
"And a jerk." Clara said, as Ben and Abigail worked to roll the document back up and put it in it's casing. "I don't think we can get out of her without being spotted." Clara added, looking between Ben and Abigail.
"Well, we don't want them to have the Declaration, or the glasses. But we especially don't want them to have them both together."
"So what do we do?" Riley asked, walking back over to them.
"We separate the lock from the key. We're splitting up, Clara." Ben said, looking at her.
"Good idea." Abigail said, as Clara followed behind Ben.
"Really?"
"Clara and I will take this. And those. You keep that. Meet us at the car and call me if you have any problems." Ben said as he and Clara moved past them.
"Like if we get caught and killed?"
"Yeah. That would be a big problem."
"Take care of her." Clara told Riley while looking at her friend.
"I will." Riley and Abigail replied.
"And take care of her, Ben." Abigail said, giving him a stern look.
The two walked out of the building, Ben had placed the casing over his chest. He grabbed a hold of Clara's hand pulling her closer to him.
"If anything happens and the police catch up I need you to separate from me. I can't have you arrested." Ben said as they continued to walk by other people.
"Nothing will happen, Ben." Clara told him.
"Just promise me that you'll make an escape."
"I promise. If you're caught by the police I will do everything in my power to make sure that you get out."
