Treasure Hunters: Book of Secrets

Thirteen: The Book

Alex sighed and leaned her head back against the headrest of the seat. She sat in Riley's red van, Riley himself sitting in the front seat next to her, tapping the wheel impatiently. Despite getting his beautiful new Ferrari, he hadn't been willing to part with his prized van. And good thing too, in the wake of his new car being towed.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked. Clearly not. "Jealous again?"

Again, she sighed. "A little. I mean, I like Abigail, don't get me wrong. I really like her, and I think she and Ben make a good couple, I really do, it's just-" She stopped and sighed once more, collecting her thoughts. "Before, it was Ben and I, the sibling team. But now he seems to take her along to do all the fun stuff, like sneaking around the Oval Office looking for clues. He didn't even ask me if I'd like to come along."

Riley nodded, understanding. He too felt a little left out sometimes, especially when he was always surrounded by all these history nerds. "Well, put it this way: if they get caught, at least we don't get into trouble, right?"

She rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Thanks Ri."

"Speaking of..." She looked out the window to see Ben and Abigail hurriedly making their way to the van. Patrick, who was parked across the street, go out of his car and came to meet them. They all congregated around the van.

"Did you find it?" Riley asked eagerly.

"No, it wasn't there."

"Oh - that really sucks-"

"The desk was empty."

"The brightest men in our country sat at that desk for over a hundred years," Patrick reminded them. "Of course one of them found it."

"Take a look at this." Ben produced a camera, showing them a photo he had taken while in the Office. "A symbol stamped into the wood."

"The presidential seal." Patrick peered over his son's shoulder.

"But it's not the presidential seal," Abigail remarked. "See the eagle's holding a scroll instead of olive branches."

"I don't know what this is," Ben admitted.

"Wait, really?" cried Riley. The great Ben Gates was, for once, at a loss of historical information. "Have none of you read my book?" The others remained quiet, avoiding eye contact with him. Alex raised her hand. "Thank you Alex," Riley said appreciatively. "You're right Abigail, this is a different symbol than the presidential seal, different entirely. The eagle clutching the scroll..."

"You know what this means?" Ben asked his friend.

"Yeah. But it's not something I can tell you, it's something I have to show you-" He paused, as if for dramatic effect. It was Riley after all. "-In my book." He turned back to Alex. "Al, I believe you have a copy with you?"

"I sure do-" Alex reached into the van and withdrew her copy.

"Chapter thirteen," he directed.

"Oh I loved this chapter!" she cried exciedly when she saw which one it was.

"Why thank you." Riley flashed her a grin.

"'The President's Secret Book'," Ben read from over his sister's shoulder, sounding skeptical.

"'The President's Secret Book'," Riley repeated. "It happens to be a collection of documents for presidents, by presidents, and for presidents' eyes only. And I'm not just talking about JFK here, guys. The eighteen and a half missing minutes of the Watergate tapes. Did the Apollo really land on the moon? Did it, did it?"

"And Area 51!" jumped in Alex.

"Thank you!" Riley pointed to her appreciatively.

The others only smiled and laughed in disbelief.

"Oh come on, Riley, that's an urban legend."

"Is it Abigail? Is it?"

"It's just, totally-"

"Crazy?"

"Yes!" Abigail couldn't help but laugh - it just sounded so absurd!

"Oh? And how about a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence, Dr. Chase? Or the world's greatest treasure buried beneath a church in New York? Hmm? Cause last I checked, we pretty much make our living on crazy."

"True," agreed Alex.

"He's got a point," Ben admitted.

"Thank you."

Patrick tapped the photo in the book. "The same symbol, the eagle clutching the scroll."

"Exactly. It was released in '66 under the Freedom of Information Act," Riley continued, not about to stop now, obviously enjoying having all the information for once. "The eagle and the scroll - the secret symbol in the President's Book."

"So whatever was on that plank must be in that book now," Alex said, connecting the dots.

"Bingo!" Riley gave her another appreciative point, then raising his hand for a high-five.

Ben was still silent, lost deep in thought.

"Ben, if it was you trying to convince me, you would have less evidence and I would already believe you by now," Riley said.

Ben regarded him, still unsure.

"Come on, Big Brother," said Alex. "I say it's the best lead we have right now."

There was a few more moments of silence before Ben nodded.

"Well done, Mr. Poole," Alex said, linking her arm through Riley's as the group headed back to their respective cars. "You should try history more often - it suits you."

--------------------------------

"All I need is a few minutes with him." The group once again sat in their main congregation spot, Patrick's living room. Ben had just returned from a visit to the FBI to meet with Agent Sadusky who had confirmed the book's existence. Riley was ecstatic to say the least.

The only catch however, was that only the president could get a hold of the book so for them it was quite out of reach.

"Ben, even if you were married to the president you wouldn't be able to get a few minutes with him," Riley pointed out.

"Not when he's surrounded by his handlers but if I can get him alone-"

"Yeah and how do you plan on doing that?"

Ben sighed before launching into his history storytelling mode. "Before the Civil War, the states were all separate. People used to say 'the United States are'. It wasn't until the war ended that people started saying 'the United States is.' Under Lincoln, we became one nation."

"And Lincoln paid for it with his life," Patrick reminded him firmly.

"And Thomas," added Alex.

"I know. We need to do this, and the only way we can is with the president's help." Ben sighed decidedly. "I'm going to kidnap him. I'm going to kidnap the president of the United States."

His declaration was met by silence, everyone far too slack-jawed to speak. That was until Riley spoke: "Wouldn't it just be easier to make an appointment?"

(Haha! That line of Riley's was in the trailer but sadly not in the movie, and too bad cause it's a great line, as Riley's usually are! ;) Ah and here we go again with another one of Ben's crazy schemes - can't wait! ;)

Also I've got a new 'National Treasure' story in the works right now which I'll probably publish after I'm finished this one, or maybe sooner ;) so please stay tuned if you're interested! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :))