Roman Does a Crime

Roman adjusted the earpiece he was wearing. "Can you guys hear me?"

"Yep!" Patton said happily, and Ro was pretty sure Logan had brought a pack of Chips Ahoy to keep him quiet in the van.

He straightened his tie before heading into the building. Logan had snuck him around the back with a fake ID card before he went around to the main room.

To get into the preservation room, he'd need a fingerprint from a high level employee. There were dozens in the building tonight, most of them holding champagne glasses. It shouldn't be too hard.

"Mr. Brown?"

Ro turned around to see Virgil Quinn among the party. He'd worn a nice tux and some eyeshadow, but was easily recognizable by the purple hair. He was also the only person that would have addressed him by the fake name he'd given when he first came to the Archives.

"Oh, hey, hi," Roman said, caught off guard. He looked as if he belonged wearing nice clothes, but he'd been recognized. Not good. "Nice you see you again."

Virgil raised an eyebrow and adjusted his hair. "What are you doing here?"

"Is that the historian guy?" Logan asked through the earpiece, "get rid of him."

"Tell him I said hi!" Patton said, mouth full of cookies.

Roman tried to ignore them and responded, "I made a donation, last minute. Big one, uh," he noticed an empty champagne glass in Virgil's hand and swapped it for his full one. "Let me take that, since the refreshments are on the other side of the room—"

"Thanks, but..." he trailed off as Roman disappeared into the crowd.

Quickly ducking into the nearest restroom, Roman pulled out the kit Logan had put together to get the fingerprints. Some kind of chemical or whatever that made it more visible, and then Roman transferred it to a rubber glove. Throwing away the rest of the stuff, he headed down the hallway.

"Just looped the security footage, you're good to get to the room."

"Thanks, Lo," Ro said quietly, making sure no one else was around.

The preservation room was in an employees only hallway, with an electric panel next to the wooden door.

He pressed the glove with the fingerprint against the scanner, sighing in relief when a keyboard slid out. "Just need to get the passcode." Looking at the keys under a pen black light, he read to most smudged letters out loud. If anyone came down the hall it would probably be a security guard, since everyone else was at the party. He still had the fake ID on him, but that probably wouldn't fly.

"Alright Patton just put them into a generator to get possible combinations, I'm checking the exit route."

Patton said quickly, "none of these make any sense. 'Vafe goryl,' 'Gale fory,' 'Vale forgy'—"

"Valley Forge," Logan said, "try Valley Forge."

Ro typed it in and heard the door click. "Thanks Specs."

The door swung open into the room. On a table in the center lay the case holding the Declaration. It was huge, probably half of Roman's height.

Instantly he got to work, unscrewing the frame. There were screws across all four sides and getting all of them undone quickly would be nearly impossible, but time wasn't a luxury he had.

"Hey, Roman."

He froze. He turned around, tightening his grip on the Declaration, still fairly secure in the case. "Remus."

Remus smirked. "Nice job getting in, I'm guessing this was Logan's plan. You couldn't think of it and Patton would be too afraid of getting caught."

"I'm not letting you have this," Roman said fiercely.

"Alright..." Remus moved his jacket and brought a pistol into view. Roman gasped.

Through the earpiece, Logan asked what was happening, but he didn't get a response. Not right away, anyway. Roman took off running down the hall, dragging the entire case with him.

Remus took off after him, but Roman had gotten a head start. He'd reached the elevator and started closing the doors before Remus could get there.

A gunshot rang through the hallway and Roman looked down to see a large crack in the bullet proof glass holding the Declaration of Independence. Thankfully the elevator doors closed and he quickly started unscrewing the rest of the screws to get the document out.

"Logan, we have a problem. I need you to be ready to go as soon as I get there, okay?"

"Yeah, I got it. Did you ditch Remus?"

"For the time being." He rolled up the page and tucked it under his suit coat just as the elevator opened. The quickest route out of the Archives would be through the gift shop.

He was almost out the door when the cashier called after him. "You have to pay for that," she said, rolling her eyes. Roman noticed that the barrel he stood next to housed replica Declarations for eight bucks each and he instantly headed up to the counter.

"Roman, hurry up," Logan hissed into his ear while Roman pulled out several single dollar bills trying to add up to eight. He internally cursed when he didn't have enough cash and instead pulled out a credit card, but the lady at the counter rang him up and he turned back to the door.

Just before he left the building, someone over the intercom announced an emergency and several codes for the employees. That would be the cue for Roman to leave.

The back door of the van was partially open, with Patton standing outside. He waved to Roman as soon as he saw him, but suddenly his expression changed. Roman glanced behind him to see Virgil.

"You." The historian ran up to Ro. "I've felt off about you this whole time, and I checked, there's no Paul Brown on the guest list. Who are you?"

"I'm keeping my friends waiting," Ro said with a weak laugh. "Nice meeting you again."

Before he could get in the van, Virgil grabbed his arm and pulled him back. The movement shifted Roman's jacket and exposed the document tucked inside.

Virgil's eyes widened. "You stole that, didn't you?"

"Okay, possibly, but it's a long story—" Ro was cut off by someone calling his name. He looked up to see Remus, still holding the gun. "Shit, we have to go. Now. You can come if you want, but I'm not sticking around." He jerked free of Virgil's hold and made a break for the van, the historian on his heels.

Logan turned around as soon as Roman hopped into the van. "About time—" he stopped, noticing Virgil. "Why'd you bring him?"

Patton reached for another Chips Ahoy and sighed when he realized that the package was empty. "That's not the biggest problem, Logan. We need to get going."

"About that," Roman said quietly, "we can't go to the apartment."

"Why not?" Logan mumbled impatiently, swerving onto the road. "We need to get away from Remus first, but—"

"I used a credit card."

Logan glared at him in the rear view mirror. "Why the hell would you do that?"

Ro rolled his eyes. "It was an emergency, okay?"

Virgil interrupted. "Can anyone explain why the hell I'm in a van with three strangers who just stole the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE? Or why we're being chased by a guy with a gun?"

Suddenly Patton smacked Roman in the arm, leading to a squeak of surprise from the latter. "You dragged him into this without explaining anything?"

"I didn't have time, Patton! I was kinda preoccupied!"

Logan sighed. "Well I can't keep driving in circles or we will all be in prison by tomorrow morning. Where should we go."

Patton started. "Well—"

"No," Roman bluntly stated. "I won't. You just know how he's gonna react."

"Who?" Virgil whispered to Patton.

"His dad," Patton whispered back.