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.

Ben brought the book over to a desk and flicked on the reading lamp. All four crowded around as he untied the leather binding ties, eager to get a look.

"Look - the eagle holding the scroll." Riley pointed to the seal stamped into the front cover. He gave Alex an adorably excited grin.

Ben withdrew his glasses and opened the book, beginning to flip through the pages.

"My God, look at all this stuff!" cried Alex of the many original letters and photographs.

"Amazing," agreed Abigail in amazement.

"Area 51!" cried Riley, pointing to the page Ben flipped to. "Oh, and the Kennedy assassination!"

"Shh, not now, we don't have time!" Ben continued flipping until he found the entry he was looking for. "Here: 'April 1865. Queen Victoria sends Pike two coded missives. The first is received. Contains information regarding New World Treasure. The City of Gold.'"

"Wait, the queen wanted to help the confederacy?" asked Riley.

"Well a divided America would have been weaker," explained Abigail.

"'The second missive was thought to contain a Playfair cipher suggesting contact with Laboulaye, who'll hide clues before his death.'" Ben paused. "That's the cipher written into the Booth diary page that Thomas tried to burn.

"The one we have," said Riley.

"Exactly."

Alex peered over her brother's shoulder and began to read aloud the next part. "'Resolute desk arrives in Washington, sent by queen to President Hayes.'"

"Look at that-" Ben withdrew an aged photograph.

Abigail took it. "The missing plank from the White House!"

"Here's the final entry by President Coolidge," Ben continued. "'1924. I found a plank in secret desk compartment. Plank photographed and then destroyed. Borglum commissioned to destroy landmarks in sacred Black Hills mountains.'"

"Borglum," repeated Abigail thoughtfully.

"Mount Rushmore?" finished Alex.

"He carved Mount Rushmore to erase the map's landmarks in order to protect the City of Gold," Ben devised.

"Mount Rushmore was a cover-up!" cried Riley. "No way!"

Their excitement was quickly broken though by the sound of wailing sirens from outside. Peering out a small window they found the front of the building filled with police cars.

"There's my tax dollars at work, coming to arrest me," sighed Riley.

"Not you, me. Kidnapped the President, remember? Now go to the car."

"No, Ben," protested Abigail.

"Go, I'll meet up with you."

Abigail looked torn but gave in and began to leave, Riley in tow. Alex stayed behind.

"Please go, too," Ben insisted.

"You're sure?"

"Yes!"

"Okay - please don't get arrested."

"I'll try, but I can't promise."

Riley began heading one way but Abigail grabbed his arm. "This way."

"Follow the leader," Alex mumbled as they both followed the other woman.

Abigail expertly led them through doorways, around corners, and down stairs, heading to the parking lot out back. As they fled, Alex's cell phone buzzed. "Dad!"

"Alex, where are you? What's going on? Where's your brother? I tried calling him but he didn't answer."

"We're just leaving, see you soon."

"Okay, but be careful," Patrick advised. "And be quick. You've got to get out of there, there's FBI, Secret Service all over the place - oh, hey, there's Ben calling now."

"Answer it!"

"How do I do that?"

"You have to hang up with me first!"

"Okay, hanging up. See you soon. Good luck and be careful!"

"Thanks, you too!" The line went dead. "You're going to have to give my dad a lesson in technology," she told Riley.

"How're we going to find Ben?" he asked.

"I don't know," sighed Abigail.

"Hold it!" The trio jumped when a couple of FBI agents stopped them, shining a flashlight in their faces.

"We work here!" cried Abigail, thinking quick. She handed them her ID card. "Dr. Abigail Chase, Director of Document Conservation. These are my interns. We were told to evacuate."

"Yeah, we have no idea what's going on," added Alex, playing along.

"Yeah," put in Riley. "One second I'm reading a nice book-"

The three began talking over each other, and the officers gave up and let them through.

"Have a good night." Abigail grinned at another officer and unlocked her car. They all got in.

"Oh my God-" Abigail noticed in her rear-view mirror Ben hiding behind the car, ready to jump in. "Uh oh-"

"Let's go, it's clear." Yet another officer shining a flashlight waved them on.

Abigail slowly started the car and began inching forward. She pressed the button to open the back hatch.

"We're going to jail," said Riley.

As soon as the door was open enough Abigail sped off, narrowly missing hitting the officer, and Ben ran and jumped into the back. He slammed the hatch shut.

"Okay, we can do this-" Abigail sped around a corner.

"Drive, drive, drive!" encouraged Ben.

"Oh no!" Alex's cry alerted them to the front gate raising the barrier, trying to block them in. Police cars were now it pursuit - they were surrounded.

"Oh I don't think so!" Riley and Alex held onto each other for dear life in the back seat, screaming in unison as Abigail stepped on the gas, lurching the car forward and thrashing around all the passengers. Her efforts paid off as they just managed to escape the barrier.

The police car closest to them wasn't as lucky. It smashed into the barricade.

"That could have been us!" yelled Riley. "That could have been us!"

"Damn, Abigail," commented Alex. "That was epic!"

"Thank you." Abigail smirked.

"Yeah, that was awesome, Dr. Chase," Ben commented from the trunk.

"Not bad yourself, Mr. Gates. How'd they find us so quick?"

"I'll tell you how: the president is a tattletale!" accused Riley.

"Sadusky, he was there. He knows more about the book than I originally thought," explained Ben.

"So where to now?" asked Abigail.

"First to meet Dad, then, Mount Rushmore."

Whew, that was overdue but I hope this chapter made up for the wait! Sorry for the delay! Thank you for reading and sticking with me - hope you enjoyed! :)