Treasure Protectors

Chapter 4

Alex currently sat in the backseat of a snowmobile looking over Riley's shoulder at the computer that would tell them where the Charlotte was. They had been traveling in the Canadian Artic for a few hours and Alex was becoming increasingly bored.

She had spent the first hour or so talking with her brother and Riley, well making one-off comments that they responded to, but she ran out of things to say and the both of them weren't very good conversationalists, too focused on the treasure ahead.

"I was thinking about Henson and Peary, crossing this kind of terrain with nothing more than dog sleds and on foot." Her brother announced, Alex made a face trying to imagine spending time out in the cold snow, despite living in D.C, where it got reasonably cold, she wanted to live somewhere warm year round.

"It's extraordinary." Ian responded, looking at the vast emptiness.

"Who?" Riley leaned over and asked Alex.

Alex smiled. "The first people to go to the North Pole." She explained.

"Right." She smiled as he nodded, no doubt trying to convince her he knew who she was talking about.

"We getting any closer?" Ian questioned.

"Assuming Ben's theory's correct and my tracking model's accurate, we should be getting very close. But don't go by me. I broke a shoelace this morning." Riley was met by three unsurprised looks.  "It's... it's a bad omen."

"Shall we turn around and go home?" Ian asked, Alex rolled her eyes at the joking tone but smiled nevertheless. 

"Or we could pull over and just throw him out here." Ben replied with a smile. Alex couldn't help laugh at her brother's response.

"Ok." Riley responded in a deadpan voice causing Alex to laugh even harder before stopping once she saw his face.

"Riley, you're not missing that little windowless cubicle we found you in?" Ben asked, referring to the drab conditions of Riley's previous job.

"No, no. Absolutely not."

The snowmobiles slowly came to a stop as Riley's computer continued to beep. Alex poked over his shoulder only to realize that she couldn't tell what she was looking at.

"You have your thing, I have mine." Riley commented when he noticed Alex's scrunched up face.

"Right." She said, still trying to make heads and tails of the computer but quickly giving up, looking outside instead.

The team quickly piled out of the vehicles.

"Here." Ben said as he handed Alex a metal detector. "It goes off, you yell for me." Alex smiled back at her brother. He looked about ready to pass out.

"We'll find her." She told him as she gave him a reassuring smile. The Gates' siblings were closer than anyone else in their family to find the treasure and both were feeling the pressure. Alex thought back to their father practically kicking Ben out of the house at 18 when he was willing to put his life on hold until he found the treasure. Alex had been luckier. Her father always saw her as his little girl and never would've cut her off that quickly, though going to the same college as her brother hadn't helped.

Alex wandered around the area, careful to avoid searching where the others were. She had the foresight to bring her camera and was enjoying snapping photos of the group as they bent over, digging up snow.

Ben yelled out when he struck the mast of the ship. Alex had run over immediately and shared an excited glance with her brother before they got to work excavating the piece of history. The vehicles came in handy, making the dig go even faster.