Treasure Hunters: Book of Secrets

Fourteen: Another Evil Plan

It was all planned and set: they had made various calls to assure that Mount Vernon was the only place available to hold the president's birthday party. Then, Patrick hired a motorboat and posed as though he were fishing while Ben dove to the party via the lake. Then he would show the president a historical tunnel beneath the site and trap him there.

Alex, Riley, and Abigail sat at Patrick's house on call, waiting to hear from Ben. Finally, the call came.

"Al - meet me at the Library of Congress in twenty minutes." She didn't have time to say a word - he hung up.

Exactly twenty minutes later the group met up in front of the library. Ben was already making his way up the stairs two steps at a time and the others scrambled to catch up to him.

"How did the president feel about being kidnapped?" asked Abigail.

"He was okay." He told them the location of the book. "X-Y-2-3-4-7-8-6."

"That's it?" said Riley. "Where do we start?"

"X-Y is the book classification code," Abigail stated knowingly, leading the way through the library.

"Stands for special collections which means very special books," added Ben.

"Sounds like what we're looking for," added Alex.

Abigail nodded. "This way, we'll have to sneak in."

So as a man was wheeling a cart of books through the desired doorway, they slipped through, Ben catching the door just before it closed and locked. This led them up to the top floor.

"Here we go: X-A, X-M-" Abigail followed the codes to another door - which turned out to be locked. "Look!" she cried. The others saw the same secret seal stamped onto the lock. "Do you have a code?"

Ben stepped forward and punched in a few numbers. The lock clicked open and the four stepped inside.

"What was the number?" Alex asked her brother.

"2-3-4-7-8-6."

The four split up, scanning the various shelves until Ben grabbed their attention.

"Here!" He and Abigail slid their fingers along the bottom of the shelf, their fingers meeting in the middle - but they only found each other, no book.

"Maybe someone checked it out," Riley suggested. "I mean, it is a library..."

"Why would the president send us here if there was no book?" Abigail wondered aloud.

"He probably wanted us to get caught," cried Riley. "Great, we're done for."

Ben began taking down the books from the shelf - he must have noticed something. Sliding over a ladder, he climbed up and began piling books in Riley's arms until the shelf was empty.

"What is it?" Alex asked, unable to see. Riley passed her a handful of the books.

"A six-dial combination lock." A pause. "The location is the combination." Ben began spinning the dials. Then, there was a faint click, and a small compartment slid open to reveal-

A book.

The book.

There were collective gasps and jaw-dropping as Ben reached up and gently slid the leather-bound book from its hiding place.

"I-I was right," breathed Riley.

"Well done, Mr. Poole," congratulated Ben. Alex gave him a kiss on the cheek in agreement.