ANOTHER CLUE

-Dis/Claimer-

x x x

. Chapter Fifteen .

On Camera twelve, an image of Ben climbing through the window of the Crown appeared, issuing a sense of relief on Riley and Carolyn. He handed something to Ian that they couldn’t make out, and Carolyn bent her brow.

“What is he handing Ian? Is it the next clue? He got it?”

“I guess. At least we know he’s alive still,” Riley said, watching Ben remove the harness. “He was down there for fifteen minutes.” Riley picked up the radio from the monitoring desk and brought it to his mouth. “What do we do next?” he asked Ian carefully.

“Just wait,” Ian replied as the group moved out of view of the camera. “We’re starting down now. Are all histories and tapes destroyed?”

“If you wanna go as far as to say destroyed,” Riley said awkwardly.

“Good. Wait for us.”

Riley lowered it, looking over at Carolyn. “I guess that’s it.” He looked up at her, and she was sniffing around with a contorted expression. He sniffed himself. “What?”

“What is that smell?”

Riley sniffed again. “Smells like… nuts. Pecans? Almonds?”

A terrified look came over Carolyn’s face, one similar to her expression the night she was held at gunpoint in the manor. Riley began to panic at her behavior. “Carolyn, what is i-“

She held out an arm to stop him. “Shh. Listen.”

He listened. He heard nothing but a faint hissing.

Suddenly, she broke away from him and went over near the breakers. Riley came over as she pointed to a heating duct above their heads.

“Look.” The air coming from the vent was wavering and unstable. Her heart pounded.

“What is it?” Riley asked quietly.

She looked over at the door, horrified. “Cyanide.”

x x x

“Hey!” Ben ran over to Ian as they boarded the boat to leave. “What about Riley and Carolyn? They’re still in the museum.”

“And they’ll be staying there,” Walt said, stepping onto the gently rocking boat. Abigail stood up next to Ben, staring at Ian.

“You can’t leave them in there!” she said. “Wh… What happens when the FBI find them? They’ll tell them everything!”

“Riley and my darling baby sister won’t be able to say anything by the time someone finds them,” Ian said with a prideful smirk. “With the room that small, the hydrogen cyanide will spread quickly.”

Ben and Abigail were floored at the statement. Carolyn was Ian’s sister, and she had been in their house? With their children? Endangering all of them? As Abigail fumed on this aspect, Ben instantly thought of Riley. He didn’t know. And they were both being murdered at that moment.

Ian laughed at the sight of their reactions. “Don’t get too worried, Ben,” he said, joining them in the boat. “Riley will never get the chance to find out. I let him off easy, and they both get what they deserve.”

As he walked by and gave the order to leave the dock, Noland and Carl grabbed Ben and Abigail, forcing them down as they stared back at the Statue helplessly.

“Make arrangements for a flight to Philadelphia in the morning,” Ian said faintly behind them to one of his men. “If we’re going to find out anything about this clue, its place of origin should help us, wouldn’t you say, Ben?”

Ben remembered the writing on the back as they drifted away from the dock and the motor started. If only he knew what it had said…

x x x

Riley, having not paid much attention in chemistry throughout high school, did not know too much about chemicals or their reactions, but he knew cyanide was poisonous. Deadly. And it was coming in the room faster and faster. A room with no windows, no escape.

They ran up to the door, banging and screaming to be let out.

“Fischer, let us out!” Carolyn yelled. “Don’t do this!”

“You need us! You just can’t- Carolyn!”

She fell to her knees coughing, hiding her face in her face in Riley’s shirt that she wore. He pulled his own collar over his mouth and nose for minimal protection. “Keep your head covered!” he said. “Stay down!”

He looked around the room for anything that would help them open the door, but it seemed useless. The door was made of heavy material, and the door was barred from the outside. The strong vapors poured through the ceiling vent, making Riley dizzy. Carolyn was now balled up on the floor, hiding her face. But then, she looked up.

“Help me run at the door!”

“You’ll just break your shoulder!” he said, helping her stand. “That door is almost solid!”

“Then give me that hotel key or a stiff card!”

Riley’s head spun. “I doubt these locks are that susceptible to such a primitive and common trick!”

Carolyn panted through the shirt and hoodie. “Well what’s your idea?”

After a few seconds of staring at her, he dug the hotel card key out of his back pocket and handed it to her. “Here.”

“Go get… go get your laptop,” she choked. “I’ll work on the door.”

“Okay. Hurry.”

He ran back over to the monitoring wall and desk, ripping cords out of the back of his computer as fast as he could. He shut the top of it, wrapping the cables that were his around it and putting it back into his duffel bag. He took several more of the cables and an emergency manual and zipped up the bag, lastly taking the walkie-talkie.

“Ian! Ian let us out, do you here me!” he shouted. “Please! Let us out of here! Let us…” He went into a coughing fit as he turned back around to head for the door, but Carolyn was now on the floor motionless, the hotel card stuck in the door jam.

He scrambled over still coughing, getting on his knees to be at eye level with the doorknob. Riley worked at it furiously, his attention span growing shorter and the cyanide gas surrounding him even more. His eyes burned, his chest heaved, his hand gripped the doorknob, and the card finally slid in between the lock and the jam. As the card fell to the floor, he swung the door open weakly, threw his bag on his shoulder, and dragged Carolyn out if the room.

Once through the security offices and out in the main hallway of the museum again, Riley sank against a display case, trying to regain his strength and breath. Carolyn was unresponsive, and he didn’t know whether or not she was unconscious or dead. After a short rest, he picked her up, determined to find a way off the island before the FBI found them and put them in prison forever.

x x x

There were soft murmurs, and then they were gone. A television was on low, and soft sunlight lingered in the room. The room smelled clean but somewhat musty and close.

Slowly, Carolyn became aware of herself breathing and a horrible headache in the back of her head. She inhaled deep and held it for a moment before releasing it and opening her eyes drowsily.

The ceiling tiles were speckled, and the room was white with a curtain partially closed beside her. The television on the wall had a sitcom running, and the sky outside the window nestled a sun in between the city horizon and the rest of the sky. Her clothes were replaced with a white night shirt, and the air conditioner was on full blast, causing her to pull the blankets closer. She had an IV in one arm that began to ache, and an oxygen tube was in her nose. It burned slightly when she breathed, but at least she was alive.

How had she ended up in the hospital?

She was ready to question Riley’s whereabouts when she saw him sleeping lopsided in a sitting chair beside her. He was slumped down with his arms folded over his chest, and Carolyn smiled. He was okay.

A clock on the wall read 10:32 A.M., and Carolyn propped herself up on her elbow to wake Riley. She shook his sleeve, leaning out of the bed.

“Riley? Riley?”

He moved, lifting his head and looking at her. “Oh great,” he said with a large sigh. “You’re not dead.”

“Thanks to you,” she said, still smiling weakly. “Again.”

“Go Riley,” he said groggily, rubbing his eyes and stretching. Once a little life came into him, he sat up.

“We’re on the mainland, right?” Carolyn asked.

“Yeah.”

“How did we get here? I thought Ian’s boat left. Did the FBI-“

“Tour boats are not the only boats at the island,” Riley interrupted. “They have four state of emergency craft docked, too, in case there’s no other way off the island.”

Carolyn stared at him. “You stole a police boat?”

“No, I couldn’t find them. Or the helicopter they talked about in the emergency manual. It was too dark, and I was feeling worse.”

“Then how did we get here? Life raft?”

“No. Small tourist boat.”

“And why aren’t you in a hospital bed?” she asked with a hint of jealousy. Riley just laughed.

“It’s pretty funny because I collapsed when I walked into the lobby while I was carrying you,” he said. “I passed out, they woke me up, gave me some oxygen, and I felt better after some rest. I still have this headache, but the doctor says it’ll go away.”

Carolyn reached behind her head, touching the painful spot as a middle-aged nurse and a man she assumed to be the doctor came in. She looked up at them as Riley stood, shaking the man’s hand. The nurse came around to Carolyn’s bed, making her lay back down properly so that she could remove the IV. After a word with Riley, the doctor and Riley both came over to the bed.

“Hi, Carolyn, I’m Dr. Hernic,” he said quickly. “Do you feel dizzy or sick to your stomach at all?”

“A little dizzy from my headache-“

“That’s fine, just fine. And any muscles feel tight or you can’t feel them at all?”

Carolyn thought. She was usually good with on-the-spot questioning, but the effects of cyanide had never been involved with the practice before. “I… my joints are stiff, but that’s probably from not moving them…”

Hernic stood tall, nodding. “You’re completely fine for someone who had almost been killed by poisonous gas,” he said. “If I were you, I’d put a carbon monoxide detector in your house as soon as you leave here today. Five more minutes, and you and Mr. Jordan would’ve been killed.”

Carolyn sat up confused, looking over at Riley. Carbon monoxide? Mr. Jordan? They were leaving? “Doctor, I… carbon monoxide? Riley?”

“Your memory will take some time to return, and that headache will clear up in several hours with some rest,” the doctor said. “I’m surprised that Riley here recovered so easily, but I suppose he’s safe to drive you both home.”

“But I-“

“Go home and rest, both of you,” Dr. Hernic said as the nurse allowed Carolyn to remove the oxygen tube from her nose. “It can be a traumatic experience, but just be prepared in the future, okay?”

“Thank you, doctor,” Riley said as the man turned to go with the nurse.

“You’re welcome,” Hernic said. “Be careful driving home, and check out is at one o’clock.”

Riley faked a smile as he and the nurse left. “Thank you.”

Carolyn was silent as she watched Dr. Hernic and his nurse leave still not understanding what had just happened. She looked up at Riley expectantly once they were down the hall a-ways.

“Mr. Jordan?” she asked.

“Don’t call me that. It was only to protect my identity,” he said, sitting down in the chair again.

“Why pick Jordan if you don’t like the name?”

“It’s a middle name thing,” he groaned, turning the chair towards her bed more. “No one likes their middle name and it just came out when they asked me who I was. Do you know what would happen if I told them I was Riley Poole and the country has just found out about the Statue of Liberty being sabotaged? They’d link me to it without a second thought.”

She lowered her voice. “They thought we had carbon monoxide poisoning?” She was amused at how they couldn’t tell cyanide poisoning from carbon monoxide.

“I had to convince them of it. If we told them we were poisoned with cyanide at the same time the FBI is finding traces of it in the Statue of Liberty, we’d be in trouble. And I thought up a good story, so you’re welcome.”

“When did the press find out about the Statue?” Carolyn asked.

“I’m guessing when the tours started today. I’ve been asleep since four, and when I woke up, it was on the news.” He laughed some. “They think it’s an act of terrorism, a bomb was planted, or there was a robbery, though nothing’s missing.” He paused. “Unless you count the thing Ben found.”

Carolyn looked down. Ben. Where were they now?

“Where did they put my clothes?” she asked, sitting up more and looking around.

Riley nodded to the adjacent bed. “Over here.”

Carolyn bravely and unwillingly threw the covers aside, getting out of bed. Her bare feet touched the tile floor, sending a chill through her. “I’m freezing,” she hissed, digging through the folded clothes. She stopped in confusion when she couldn’t find what she was looking for and looked back at Riley. “Where’s the PDA?”

“I have it,” he said, pulling it out of his pocket as he stood up beside her. She handed to her, and she went immediately to the GPS, targeting Abigail’s cell phone.

“Any idea where they are?” Carolyn asked, bent over the PDA anxiously awaiting a signal. She went around her bed to the large window, and Riley followed.

“No,” he said. “They could be anywhere by now. It doesn’t help that we have no idea what that clue was Ben found.”

A signal reached, and Carolyn smiled in disbelief at their fortune. “They could be anywhere,” she almost laughed, pointing at the screen. Riley leaned over it curiously as Carolyn continued to smile. “Including the airport.”

“Oh! Hang on! I’ll call them.” Riley pulled out his cell phone, dialing madly.

“What if they’re with Ian?”

“We’ll leave a message,” Riley said simply.

Carolyn shook her head, looking back down at the PDA as she zoomed in on Abigail’s dot.

x x x

Inside her pocket, Abigail felt her cell phone vibrate. She looked around the busy terminal to make sure Ian’s men weren’t watching her restrictively. Ben, who was sitting beside her, gave her a bewildered look.

“I’m going over there to the restroom,” she said quickly.

“Abigail-“

“I’ll be right back.”

She left without allowing him another word, making her way from her chair to the restroom as quickly as possible in her state. She found it to be considerably empty and locked herself into the large handicapped stall at the back of the restroom. She pulled the phone out of her pocket, opening it.

‘RILEY.’

She froze with a faint hope. What kind of joke was this?

Regardless, she took the call.

“Hello?”

“Abigail! Abigail, it’s Riley!”

A shot of numbness paralyzed her when she heard his voice, and she smiled disbelievingly.

“Riley?”

“Yeah-“

“But… How did you get out? You should be… Ian said about the cyanide gas in the room-“

“We’re both fine,” Riley assured her. “Where are you? Are you out of earshot of Ian and his men?”

“Yes. I’m in a restroom at the airport,” she told him. “He’s taking us to Philadelphia to figure out the next clue, but there wasn’t enough tickets-“

“Wait, wait. What’s the next clue?” Riley asked.

Abigail began to describe it. “Ben brought back this little piece of copper about the size of a postcard. The First American Flag is etched on the front, and Ben thinks there’s writing on the back, but we can’t make out what it is.”

“Is it like a different language or something?”

“No. It just needs cleaning,” she told them. “Then, we might know where to go next in Philadelphia, if that’s even where the clue leads us. We need to know what the back says.”

Riley and Carolyn walked back away from the window, sitting on Carolyn’s hospital bed. “So why doesn’t Ian just clean it up?” Riley asked. Carolyn kept her ear on the conversation and an eye on Abigail’s stationary dot in the restroom.

“Ian doesn’t know about the writing,” Abigail said. “And we don’t want him to know.” She let out an exasperated sigh. “I only wish Ben or I knew.”

Riley looked apologetically at the PDA. “Are you okay?”

“They’ve been pushing me, but Ben’s been here to help keep me going,” she said. “I almost didn’t make it to the top of the Statue last night, and I haven’t had any food or sleep in a while.”

“What time does your plane leave?” Riley asked quickly. “Maybe we can catch you before you leave.”

“We’re boarding in… four minutes,” she said, and Riley groaned somewhat. “But, there weren’t enough seats on this plane, so Ian’s making Noland and Horace wait for the next flight.”

“When’s the next flight?”

“Three hours,” she said, now lowering her voice as someone entered the restroom. “Riley, if you’re coming, maybe you’ll have a chance to get back the clue. It’s probably a bad move, but if you execute it right-“

“Why is the clue staying at the airport? I would think Ian would keep it on him,” Riley said in confusion. Carolyn bent her eyebrows, too, from beside him.

“Ian gave it to Noland earlier this morning,” Abigail explained. “He still has it.”

Riley sighed. “How do you expect us to come within point blank range of this guy and get a copper postcard out of his pocket without being recognized?”

Abigail smiled on the other end. “You had no trouble stealing the Declaration.”

He moaned as Carolyn smiled next to him, too, and he eventually let one surface. “Yeah, but I had Ben’s help on that one.”

He heard a knock on the other end of the conversation, and Abigail quickly lowered the phone. “I’ll be right out,” she said, bringing the phone close to her face again. “I’ve got to go,” she said.

“Okay. We’ll see you in Philadelphia.”

Abigail frowned, not having the time to mention anything about Carolyn. She sighed heavily. “Just… be careful, Riley.”

“I’m good.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

He turned to talk to Carolyn, but she was missing. Her pile of clothes were missing, too, and when he looked up to the bathroom door, she was walking out, pulling the zipper up on the hooded shirt. She stopped slowly as he stared at her.

“We’ve got to get you another outfit,” he said.

x x x

Carolyn walked briskly beside Riley, not believing what they were going to attempt. He had taken back his two comfortable shirts and her pants, and they sat idle in the duffel bag slung over his shoulder. Now, she walked through the airport terminal in a sea green business suit (at least it wasn’t blue) with her hair back in a neat, low ponytail. She was keeping a sharp eye out for Noland or Horace, no mistake.

“There.”

She halted next to Riley, seeing Horace walk away from Noland. The man stood in the middle of the terminal with his hands in his pockets alone, looking at his watch briefly. Riley looked up at the flight board.

“Next plane for Philly leaves in fifteen minutes,” he said, looking back at Noland. “Think we can make it?”

“What we?” Carolyn asked sharply. “I don’t see you in disguise playing pick-pocket.”

“You’re easier to disguise,” he said. ‘Besides, I’ll be here if you need saving. I’m getting pretty good at that.” Carolyn just scowled and looked back at Noland. “You ready?” Riley prompted.

“More than you know,” she said darkly, eyes locked on Noland.

“Great!” Riley said. “Then go.”

Carolyn took a deep breath to prepare herself and took a step of false confidence into the center of the terminal. Noland was turned the other way, and she looked away to avoid eye contact as much as possible. Then, she walked faster towards him, and Noland turned back around. They collided, and the contents of her purse and his jacket pocket scattered on the floor.

“Oh! I’m sorry,” Carolyn apologized, bending down to collect things to put back in her bag. Amongst the mess, she saw the greenish scrap of metal. She casually picked it up and dropped it in her purse, but she was not as discreet as she had hoped.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Noland said with a sarcastic hint in his voice, “but I believe that piece of copper was mine.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, looking into the purse as she stood. “Because my make-up compact looks just like it-“

“Give it to me.”

“Sir-“

He grabbed her quickly and brought her face to face with him, and she felt a small pistol press onto her stomach. Her confident eyes vanished instantly and iced over fearfully. Where was Riley?

“Give it to me, Carrie.”

“Get your hands off of me,” she said, trying to squirm away. Noland then threw her down, attracting the eyes of many. He raised the gun, and shouts of terror echoed instantly.

“I’ll give you three seconds to give it to me willingly,” he said. “One…”

Shouts of ‘help’ and ‘oh god’ and ‘someone do something’ came out of every direction as Carolyn sat powerless on the floor, clutching her handbag. Where was Riley?

“Two…”

The gun clicked. Carolyn’s heart raced, desperately wondering where the hell Riley was and why he-

THUD.

She looked up, and Noland’s eyes lulled shut. He began to fall forward, landing right beside her unconscious. She looked up in confusion and gratefulness as Riley grabbed her wrist, trying to pull her up. Before she stood, however, she grabbed the two flight tickets on the floor that also fell out of Noland’s pocket. Riley put away his laptop he had used on the back of Noland’s head as Carolyn hid the tickets.

“Go!”

They ran for the gate to the Philadelphia plane as security guards surrounded Noland’s body, immediately placing handcuffs behind his back. As they looked back, they saw Horace’s dark eyes coming out of the restroom, and they ran for the gate again, this time with Horace is pursuit. They dodged families and businessmen whose screams of panic came not long after their passing. Riley looked back. He had a gun, too.

“Oh, lord.”

He suddenly dragged Carolyn to the side, ducking into a large group going the direction they had just come from. Once Horace passed, they made a break for the plane again, but Horace saw them and fired a shot, issuing a mass panic. Another came, and Carolyn screamed as she and Riley ducked and ran more.

Horace kept up the pace, knocking out a security guard as he pursued the two people with Ian’s priceless clue and his opportunity at a large payday for his troubles. When he got this piece of metal back and Ian found the treasure, he had better get some good money.

Another shot. More screams. People were falling to the ground, covering their heads. Riley and Carolyn lost sight of Horace as they blew passed more people. Riley picked a fedora hat up from someone’s head and put it on his own while Carolyn took her hair out of the ponytail and shook it loose. They jumped in the middle of the line to board their plane, finally making it there. They looked away from the terminal as four security guards forced Horace down. Together, they glanced over in Horace’s direction as he tried to unsuccessfully fight off the guards.

“Ma’am.”

Thank – god, Carolyn thought.

“Ma’am?”

Carolyn looked up at the woman. “Hmm? Sorry?”

“Tickets, please,” she said.

“Oh! Oh, sorry.” Carolyn took them from her purse, making sure the information was correct and that they weren’t flying off to Europe. The woman let them pass to board once checking their tickets, encouraging them to have a good flight.

Once on the plane, Riley and Carolyn found their seats on the right side of the plane and collapsed and shut their eyes, chests heaving from exhaustion and strain.

“You know,” Riley, panted, “you’re almost… not worth the trouble… sometimes.”

A breathy laugh rushed out of Carolyn as her head shifted in his direction. “Good job, Super Geek.”

“Thanks.”

She smiled, opening her eyes and taking the fedora off of his head. “Nice hat.”

Riley opened his eyes now, looking at the hat. “Isn’t it?” he asked amusingly. They sat up in their seats more, still tired from their run. Carolyn threw her head back effortlessly.

“Did you… get the… the…”

“The… thing?” Carolyn asked.

“Yeah.”

She laughed, digging in the purse. She touched it, bringing it out of the bag slowly. Riley looked at it in awe yet disappointment.

“I almost got shot… for that thing?”

“At least you got it,” Carolyn reasoned. She turned it over, and the etching of the First American Flag was faintly there. On the back, she saw some sort of lettering, but it was unreadable.

“Abigail said it needs cleaning,” Riley told her.

“How do we clean it?”

“We’ll do it in Philadelphia,” he said, still short of breath. He leaned back, shutting his eyes again. “When… when we get there.” He fell silent, and when Carolyn looked over a minute later, he was sound asleep. She got comfortable in her seat, too, shuttig her eyes.

For once, he had a good idea.

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