Ben was working on the budget when his cell phone rang. The number was 4-876-672-4347, and the name of the caller was "CLASSIFIED". He picked it up. "Hello?" he asked.
A disguised voice answered, "Is this Ben Gates?"
"Yes."
"What do you know about 12-21-12?"
"Mm…never heard of it before."
"I need your help. This is the President."
"Yes?"
The voice was then switched back to normal. Ben could now recognize President Bovert's speech, but he seemed worried. "A steel object was recovered at the Area 51 crash. On it was the secret Book symbol, with the number 12-21-12 below it. I checked the Book for it, but found nothing." The President was silent for a while. "Could you look for me?"
"Yes, Sir."
"You'll find it in the Fort McHenry visitor center bathroom, behind the first stall. Look for a keypad behind a tile; the password is 'doodle'. Got it?"
"Yes, Sir. I'll be there today."
"Okay, and Ben, hurry!" the President hung up.
--
Ben brought Riley and Abigail to Baltimore, where the visitor center was still open. The three of them entered the first stall, and found a few tiles broken on that wall.
"So, what are we looking for?" asked Abigail.
"The President said there was a keypad behind one of these tiles," Ben replied.
"Why are those broken, down there?" asked Riley.
"Looks like someone…else…" Ben thought for a moment. "…has been here."
"Oh, no," said Abigail, and she pushed the wall, and the door swung open. "Someone's broken in here." The team ran into the passageway with their flashlights, and found the XY bookshelf from the Library of Congress. Ben entered 234786, and the compartment opened, empty.
Abigail gasped. Not one of them could understand. Ben got out his cell phone and redialed the number the President called him from. The number didn't work.
"Oh, man…" Ben called Agent Sadusky.
"Quick! Look for clues!" said Riley. "Maybe the Book is somewhere else around here."
"Where else would it be?" asked Abigail. It was true; there wasn't much else in the room besides the bookshelf. Then Abigail noticed something: a page on the floor of the room. She picked it up gently. It was written by George Washington, and it was numbered 1. "Riley, do you know what this is?"
"It's a letter?"
"No, it's the first page of the President's Book."
This got Ben's attention. "What did you find?" he asked. Abigail handed him the page. Ben read the page.
--
Tuesday, Twenty-ninth of December, Seventeen Hundred and Eighty-nine, George Washington.
Written here are instructions to presidents regarding this book.
Component the First: This book shall be written only by, read by, and used by the President of the United States, past or present.
Component the Second: This book shall be considered no more than a lark to those outside of the presidential household.
Component the Third: Any information deemed not practical to others shall be written in this book, if known only to the incumbent President.
Component the Fourth: This book shall be passed to the presidential successors on the evening preceding their inauguration. If the incumbent has traveled to the Supreme King earlier, a trustworthy person in that president's household shall give the book to the heir.
Component the Fifth: This book shall be kept in a disclosed site known only to the incumbent.
I, George Washington, will now start this tradition. A decade, three years, seven months, and eight days ago, was the fourteenth of July, Seventeen Hundred and Seventy-Six. I and four other members of the Continental Congress ordered Elizabeth Ross in Philadelphia (the city to soon be our new capital city) to sew a flag designed by us five members. The original design is drawn here, but Ross modified it because she claimed she could sew faster if the mullets were simpler. My mullets I inherited from Clement the Fourteenth, who said to incorporate them into the design, but he no longer is in the papacy, and still has no authority over me or anyone, which none in that atrocious group ever shall.
--
"Why are all the S's F's?" asked Riley. "And what in the world are mullets?"
"Well, script in the 1700s used S's in the middle of words that looked like today's F's," answered Ben, "but I have no clue what mullets are."
"Does it lead to treasure?"
"I don't know."
"Well, it's in here for some reason," suggested Abigail. "Didn't the President give you his secret email address?"
"Let's go. Riley, can I use your laptop in the car?"
"Sure," said Riley, "but hold on to that page."
--
Ben emailed the President with the secret email address given to him at Cíbola, explaining what they found: an empty compartment. The Book of Secrets was in unknown hands; good or bad?