Chapter 1
Rosa Parks Gates or Rose for short was sitting quietly with her fair hair tucked in her snow cap. "I was thinking about Henson and Peary, crossing this kind of terrain with nothing more than dog sleds and on foot, can you imagine that?" asked her father, Benjamin Franklin Gates to his team mates. "Its extraordinary.'' replied his accomplice, Ian Howe. "Yes, history, it's a real party isn't it?" Rose muttered under her breath. "I heard that." said Ben. "Are we getting closer?" asked Ben. "Assuming Ben's theory is correct and my tracking model's accurate, we should be getting very close. Don't go by me, I broke a shoelace this morning." replied Riley Poole. "And what is that supposed to mean, Wise Guy?" asked Rose. "FYI, it happens to be a very bad omen." replied Riley. "Should we turn around and go home?" asked a sarcastic Ian. "I say we just pull over to the North Atlantic and toss him there, to get rid of his wise-guyness." said Rose. Everyone chuckled. "Ha-ha, very funny." said Riley. "Riley, you're not missing that little windowless cubicle we found you in are you?" asked Ben. "No no, absolutely not." said Riley. As soon as he stopped speaking, the monitor beeped, indicating that they were close to what Roses' father identified as the first clue, the lost ship, "Charlotte" from the clue, "the secret lies with Charlotte." They stopped their snow vans and got out. "Why are we stopping? I thought we were looking for a ship." said Sean. Sean was a "right hand man" of Ian. "I don't see any ship." said Viktor, also another one of Ian's goons. "She's out there." said Ben in his "adventurous voice."
They spread out, each person with a metal detector. But every one of them was beeping at the same rate, which meant no luck. "Look, this is a waste of time, how could a ship wind out way out here?" asked Viktor. "Well, I'm no expert, but, it could be that the hydrothermic properties of this region produce hurricane-force ice storms that caused the ocean to freeze and then, melt and refreeze resulting in a semisolid migrating land mass that would land a ship right around here." replied Riley. Rose was searching all over, thinking about her late mother, Harriet Gates. She still couldn't believe she had to be there in that car accident. It seemed like she was always the same terrified little girl that was always getting picked on in school, which was the reason for a benefit of being in the Gates family, homeschooling. "I found it! I found Charlotte!" shouted Ben. Rose and the rest of the team hurried to her father.
All of the team got their snowmobiles, to shove aside the snow and Rose helped the team uncover the snow from the ship. 2 hours later, Ben turned to Ian, who was on the top the ship. "2 years ago if you hadn't shown up, hadn't believed the treasure was real, I don't know if we would have ever found Charlotte." said Ben. "You would have found it, I have no doubt." replied Ian. "Yeah, with your, big brain and all." popped Rose. "That's why I didn't think you were as crazy as everyone said." Ian supported Rose. "We're just as relieved that I'm not as crazy as everyone said. Or said my dad was. Or my granddad. Or my great-granddad. Or at least my own daughter!" remarked Ben. "Okay! Let's go!" announced Ben. "Let's go find some treasure." retorted Ian. "Yeah! Let's bring back something good!" exclaimed Rose.
As they explored the inside of the ship, even the thought of going inside a 200-something year old ship gave her the shivers. Everything was frozen, even the chairs. When she reached to pick up what used to be a fork, it broke down instantly. "Don't. Touch. Anything." said Ben in a serious tone. "I'll try." muttered Rose. When they entered the sailors' quarters, she saw a few frozen bodies in hammocks. "Oh, GOD!" she heard Riley whimper. "You handled that well, Wise Guy." said Rose. "This is it." said Ben. "It's the cargo hold." He opened the door easily, and as they went, Rose expected to find something interesting, but instead found ice, snow, barrels and coldness.
"Do you think it's in the barrels?" asked Riley. Everybody went to a separate barrel and as they opened them, a black powder came out. "Ian, what is this pile of ash?" asked Rose. "It's not a pile of ash, Rose" retorted Ian coldly. "It's gunpowder." Rose shuffled to the dead body of what supposedly, was the captain of the crew. His frozen body was still clutching a barrel. "Of all the barrels, why would the captain guard this specific one?" Rose thought to herself. She picked up the captains fingers, each lift shouting to her, "Ok. Gross." She opened the barrel, hoping to find something, other than gunpowder, and she did, coming across a brown package. "Guys! Lookie what I found!" announced Rose. As everyone scurried to her, she unwrapped the package, revealing a gold and black box, with strange symbols on the lid. She opened the box with extreme caution, hoping the thing would not break. Luckily, not only did she not break it, she found some kind of ancient pipe.
"Do you guys know what this is?" asked Rose, interestingly. "Is it a billion-dollar pipe?" retorted Riley, lamely. Rose gave him a shove in the arm. "It's a meerschaum pipe." answered Ian. "Wow that is beautiful." "Look at the intricacy of the scrollwork on the stem." said Ben. "Is it a million-dollar pipe?" asked Riley. "No it's a clue." retorted Ben. "Let me see that." We're one step closer to the treasure gentlemen." announced Rose. "I thought you said the treasure would be on the Charlotte." said Ian. "No, 'the secret lies with Charlotte'." replied Ben. "I said 'it could be here'." He whipped up a pocket knife, and cut his thumb, oozing blood. He spread his blood on the scrollwork and put it on a piece of paper. "Here's a Band-Aid." offered Rose. "Thanks." he replied, handing her the book. "It's Templar symbols." Rose muttered under her breath. "The legend writ, the stain effected. The key in Silence undetected. Fifty-five in iron pen. can't offend." announced Rose. "It's a riddle." supported Ben. "No kidding." mumbled Rose. "I need to think."
"The legend writ, the stain affected'. What legend?" muttered Ben. "There's the legend of the Templar Treasure; the stain affects the legend, how? 'The key in Silence undetected. Wait. The legend and the key… Now there's something. A map. Maps have legends, maps have keys. It's a map, an invisible map so now..."
"Wait a minute. What do you mean 'invisible'- 'an invisible map'? interrupted Ian.
"The stain affected' could refer to a dye or a reagent used to bring a certain result." answered Ben. "Combined with 'The key in Silence undetected,' the implication is that the effect is to make what was undetectable detectable." "Unless… continued Ben. 'The key in Silence' could be…"
"Prison." piped up Shaw. There was an awkward moment of silence until Mr. Wise Guy showed up.
"Albuquerque." piped up Riley. "See, I can do it too. Snorkel." Rose giggled. She always loved Riley's wise cracks. It made her feel like her times of trouble had a little sunshine from the so-called 'Mr. Riley Poole of Knowledge'. "That's where the map is." said Shaw. "Like he said, 'Fifty-five' in iron pen, 'iron pen' is a prison." "Or it could be, since the primary writing medium of the time was iron gall ink," said Rose. "The pen is… just a pen. But then why not say simply a pen, why say 'iron pen'"? "Cause it's a prison" mumbled Shaw. "Wait a minute. 'Iron pen- the 'iron' does not emphasize the ink in the pen." announced Ben. "It describes what was penned. It was 'iron'; it was firm, and adamant. It was resolved!" exclaimed Ben. "It was resolved." said Rose. "Mr. Matlack can't offend. Timothy Matlack was the official scribe of the Continental Congress. Calligrapher, not writer. And to make sure he could not offend or harm the map, it was put on the back of a resolution that he transcribed, a resolution, which 55 men signed." And then it dawned upon her, "The Declaration of Independence."
There was a moment of "wows" in the room. It made perfect sense to everyone. "Smart chick." she heard Shaw mutter. "Nice one, girl." said Ben. "Keep practicing and maybe you'll get it when you're your dads' age." joked Riley. "But come on there is no invisible map on the back of the Declaration of Independence."
"That's quite clever really." said Ian. "A document of that importance would ensure the map's survival. And you said there were several Mason's signatures on it, yeah?" "Yeah." replied Ben. "Nine, for sure." "We'll have to arrange a way to examine it."
"As if that's gonna happen." said Rose. "Rose is right." supported Ben. "This is one of the most important documents in history, they're not just gonna let us, waltz in there and run chemical tests on it." "Then what do you propose we do?" asked Ian. "I don't know!" exclaimed Ben. "Anybody got any bright ideas?" asked Rose. "We could borrow it." said Ian. "Steal it?" Ben asked. "I don't think so." "Ben." Ian replied. "The treasure of the Knights Templar is the treasure of all treasures." "Oh, I didn't know that, really." "Look Ben, I understand your bitterness, I really do." continued Ian. "You spent your entire life searching for this treasure only to have the respected historical community treat you and your family with mockery and contempt. I mean, look at poor Rose, your own daughter. She's been picked on by the other kids since preschool, and by now she must be sick of it."
What Ian said was true. Rose had been bullied by everyone at school, especially the teachers. Normally a guidance counselor would help them, but every time she tried to talk to somebody, they would just dismiss her because they thought she was crazy. By the time she reached 6th grade, Ben decided to pull her out of school. Surprisingly the principal told him that he totally agreed. He told him that the 12 year old was a bad example for the other children, simply because of her ancestors. She never set foot into a school building again. "You two should be able to rub this treasure in their arrogant faces, and I want you both to have the chance to do that." "How?" asked Ben confusedly. "We all have our areas of expertise. You don't think mine are limited to writing checks, do you? In another life, I arranged a number of operations of… questionable legality. "I'd take his word for it if I were you." said Shaw, coldly. "So don't worry, I'll make all the arrangements." "No." said Ben. "I really need your help here." Ian's voice sounded like a child trying to talk his parents into letting him eat candy for dinner.
"Ian… I'm not gonna let you steal the Declaration of Independence." Rose nodded to her father's courage. "Ok." Ian sounded like he had given up. "From this point on, all you're going to be is a hindrance." At that moment, Shaw pointed a gun, and Roses' face turned pale. "What are you going to do? You gonna shoot me Shaw?" Ben's voice became tense. "Well the fact is, you can't shoot me, there's more to the riddle, information you don't have, I do. I'm the only one who can figure it out and you know that." "He's bluffing." muttered Shaw."We played poker together Ian, you know I can't bluff." responded Ben. "Tell me what I need to know Ben. Or I'll shoot your daughter." said Ian, while Shaw pointed his gun at Rose. "If you shoot her, it will be the last thing you do." Roses' father's tone became the 'serious father' tone. "Fine then, I'll just shoot your friend." said Ian. Shaw pointed the gun at Riley who cried, "Hey!" "Quiet Riley" exclaimed Ian. "Your jobs finished here." At that moment, Rose pulled out a flare from her pocket and lighted it. "Look at where you're standing boys." declared Rose. "All of that gunpowder. You shoot my father, Riley, or moi, I drop this, and we all go up."
"Rose..." Riley and Ben said sternly. "What happens when the flare burns out?" asked Ian coldly. "Tell your father to inform me on what I need to know." That's when Rose decided that she didn't have a choice. "You need to know… if Shaw can catch!" She threw the flare down, thinking, Don't worry mother. Soon, I'll be joining you. But in a matter of nanoseconds, Ian caught the flare. "Nice try though." But his hand erupted in flames, dropping the flare. Oh wow, so not good. Rose thought.
As soon as the flames touched the ground, the fire started to spread, causing Ben to grab Rose away. "Get out Shaw!" she heard Ian shout. For a moment there was silence, but then the fire roared up at the door. "Fool!" she heard Ian yell. Rose stomped her feet on the ground until something sounded hollow. "Guys, get over here!" shouted Rose. Ben and Riley scurried to Rose and she opened the cellar door. "What is this?" asked Riley. "Smugglers hold!" replied Ben. "Get in!" The air around her was getting smoky, making it hard for Rose to breathe, since she does have asthma. "Get down!" yelled Ben. As he was talking, there was a loud slamming noise and a loud ka-boom.
Ben rose away from Rose, giving her a chance to breathe. "Is everyone ok?" he asked looking at Rose. "I'm fine, shaken, but fine." "Oh, thank God." Ben sighed with relief, pulling her into a squeeze hug and then kissing her cheek. "Riley, you ok?" asked Rose. "Yeah, I'm good." Riley replied. "Now. That. Is. Dangerous." Rose said. They stood out into the clearing, feeling shaky. Anyway we can get home?" asked Rose. "There's an Inuit village about 9 miles east from here." replied Ben. "It's popular with bush pilots." "All right. Now what are we gonna do?" asked Riley. "Start making our way back home." answered Ben. "No, no I meant about Ian. He's gonna steal the Declaration of Independence, Ben."
"We stop him." Ben said in his 'adventurous tone'.