Yay, Chapter 3! I know, it's been a while since I updated.
Thankies to my awesome beta,Jade Opal, who was nice enough to help me even though she was sick! Thank you!! -gives beta e-cookie-
Yeah, National Treasure? It's not mine.
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Two weeks later, Samantha found herself in the back of a snow-mobile, staring down at the book that sat on her lap. She wasn't reading it though; she was too jumpy to concentrate on the book at all. The excitement of actually being able to uncover the Charlotte was catching up to her suddenly. She hadn't slept a wink the night before.
Samantha snapped the book shut, tucking it into a small bag at her feet. She stared out at the wasteland of snow, pulling her navy blue parka closer to her body for warmth. She always loved snow, but this was too much of a good thing. The snow was everywhere.
The ride this far had been totally silent, with the exception of Riley tapping away on his laptop, which made the occasional beeping noise. Everyone was much too nervous to talk about anything. Samantha looked up towards the front, noticing the thoughtful expression on Ben's face.
"What're you thinking of, Ben?"
Ben looked up from the snow, a smile crossing his lips.
"I was actually thinking of Henson and Perry. They had to cross this kind of terrain on sleds or on foot… Can you imagine it?"
"It's extraordinary," Ian breathed.
"It must have taken a long while," Samantha added, and Ben nodded. Everything returned to silence until Riley's computer let out a small noise, causing Samantha to jump slightly.
"Are we getting any closer?" Ian asked.
"If Ben's theory is correct and my tracking model is accurate, we should be very close," He paused for a moment. "Then again, don't go by me. I broke my shoelace this morning."
Everyone else gave him a strange look, confused.
"It's a bad omen," He said, as if that explained. Samantha raised an amused eyebrow.
"Superstitious, are we?"
"Yes, actually, I am. Do you have a problem with that?" He sounded annoyed. Samantha rolled her eyes, shaking her head to herself.
"Maybe, we should go home then…" Ian suggested.
"Nah, let's just throw him out here," Ben replied with a smirk. Samantha hid a laugh behind her hand, and Riley shot her a look.
"Yeah, thank guys."
"You aren't missing that lovely cubicle of yours, are you?" Ben teased.
"No, absolutely not!" Riley shook his head, grinning. His laptop let another shrill beep, though this was different than the others. "Destination reached!" He cried out triumphantly. Everyone exchanged excited and nervous glances as Ben slowed down the vehicle. Samantha opened her door, taking a deep breath as the frigid air crackled in her lungs.
"Why are we stopping?" An accented voice spoke from the vehicle that had stopped beside them. Samantha looked at Shaw, one of Ian's companions, as he spoke. "I thought we were looking for a ship."
"There's no ship," Another one of Ian's men had spoken up.
"Oh, she's out there," Ben answered confidently, his face set with a determined expression. He hopped out of the snow-mobile, retrieving several metal detectors from the back. "Here, everyone take one!"
Samantha took one from Ben and eagerly set to work, following the others out into the expansive desert of snow. After a few minutes, she began to feel disappointment starting to form. She looked around, noticing that no one else seemed to be finding anything either. Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ben stop in his tracks.
"Ben, did you find something?"
He nodded excitedly and Samantha was beside him in an instant. Ben's pick-axe went through the snow, and there was a clank, the sound of metal on metal. The two were immediately on their knees, digging away several inches of frozen snow until they saw the metal plate that had been beneath the snow. Ben extracted a bottle of water from his pocket, and melted away the remaining snow. Samantha's breath caught in her throat.
"Charlotte," She whispered, looking at Ben as tears formed in her eyes. "This is it. You did it, Ben."
"We did it," Ben corrected with a smile. Samantha laughed, looking down at the name plate on the ship.
"Hello, beautiful."
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Several hours later, the ship had finally been brought to the surface. Samantha stood near the front, running a gloved hand over the figurehead of the ship.
"Ben, look at this," She whispered excitedly. "It's beautiful, and it's still intact. It's extraordinary!"
Ben nodded with a smile.
"Well, I just wanted to thank you, Sami."
"For what?" She looked up from the figurehead, a bit surprised.
"For everything—if you hadn't supported me and helped me out so much I'd have never gotten this far," Ben admitted, his breath coming out in visible puffs as he spoke. Samantha shook her head, gently pulling her hand away from the figurehead.
"No, you'd have found it without my help. You're much too determined to just give up," She offered him a smile. "I knew the treasure wasn't something you'd have to be totally crazy to believe in. Either that, or I'm just as insane as you are."
Ben laughed, and the pair stepped up onto the deck of the ship.
"Alright, let's go!" Ben announced. Everyone filed into the depths of the ship, which seemed to glow a soft blue color as sunlight came in through tiny cracks in the deck and seemed to shine off of the frozen interior. Samantha held her breath as she looked around in amazement. They went in deeper still, and the air seemed to get colder, if that were possible. Suddenly there were shouts from the other end of the hold.
"Ahh! Oh God! AHH!" Riley had fallen onto the floor at the sight of one of the ship's frozen crew-members. Samantha attempted, without success, to suppress her laughter.
"You handled that well," Ben commented dryly as he helped the younger man to his feet.
Ben headed for a door, feeling along the door for the handle.
"This is it. The cargo hold."
He lifted frozen handle out of its place and the door swung open to reveal a room full of barrels. Samantha could feel her smile fading from her face.
'This can't be it.'
"You think it's in the barrels?" Riley suggested half-jokingly. Everyone spread out across the room, breaking open a few barrels. Samantha looked down at the dark powdery substance, unable to conceal her disappointment.
"It's just gunpowder."
She sat down on a barrel, her heart sinking.
'Don't tell me we came all this way for another dead end…'
Ben's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"I think I've found something!"
Samantha stood up, hurrying over to where Ben was standing as she peered over his shoulder. He carefully opened the lid of the box and took a sharp breath in. In the box sat a delicately carved ivory pipe. Ben lifted it up gently, showing it to everyone.
"You guys know what this is?" He could barely contain his excitement.
"A billion dollar pipe?" Riley guessed.
"It's a meerschaum pipe," Samantha carefully took from Ben, examining it closely. "Oh, look at it, Ben… It's beautiful."
"Is it a million dollar pipe?" Riley pressed.
"No, it's a clue," Ben said triumphantly. Samantha pointed at the stem.
"Look, there are raised letters on it…"
"Anyone bring an inkpad up here to the Arctic?" Riley asked sarcastically. "Nope, didn't think so."
Ben looked at it thoughtfully, and then reached into his pocket, extracting the pocketknife he'd brought along.
"Hmm, I wonder…" He reached into his other pocket, pulling out a small notebook, handing it to Ian. He took the pipe from Samantha's hands, gently removing the stem of the pipe.
"Don't break it!" Riley shouted, aghast.
"We're one step closer to the treasure, everyone," Ben announced proudly.
Ian couldn't hide his dismay.
"I thought you said the treasure would be on the Charlotte."
"I said it could be here," Ben corrected.
He flipped open the pocket knife, pressing the tip of the blade into his thumb. Samantha let out a gasp as the cut began to bleed.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"Makeshift ink," Ben replied, rubbing his bleeding thumb along the pipe's stem.
He gently pressed it down on the paper, rolling it down.
"Templar symbols…" He murmured to no one in particular.
"What does it say?" Shaw demanded impatiently.
"The legend writ, the stain affected… The key in Silence undetected… 56 in iron pen… Mr. Matlack can't offend."
There was a moment of stunned silence as the words hung in the air.
"It's a riddle, isn't it?" Samantha asked.
'I should've known it would never be that easy.'
Ben nodded, beginning to pace around the small hold as he spoke to himself.
"'The legend'… What legend… The legend of the Templar Treasure? And the stain affects the legend… How does it…" He looked around, not paying the slightest bit of attention to anything but his thoughts. "'The Key in Silence'… The legend, and the key… Well, that's something. A map. Maps have legends, maps have keys. It's an invisible map…"
"Invisible?" Samantha spoke up. "What would give the idea that it's invisible?"
"Well, 'the stain affected' could refer to a dye or reagent used to bring about a certain result. The implication is to make something that's undetectable, detectable," Ben paused. "Maybe 'the key in Silence' is…"
"Prison?" Shaw suggested.
Everyone turned and looked at him, confused.
"Albuquerque," Riley said dryly. "See, I can play that game too. Snorkel."
"Well he said 'iron pen'. An 'iron pen' has to be a prison," Shaw reasoned.
"He does make a good point," Samantha shrugged.
"Or, maybe since the main ink used for writing in that time was iron gall ink, the pen is… Just a pen. But then why say iron pen?"
"Because it's a prison." Shaw muttered.
"Wait a minute, it doesn't describe the ink in the pen! It describes what was penned. It was iron, it was firm, it was mineral… No, no, that's stupid… It was firm, it was adamant, it was resolved." Ben stopped abruptly, as though he'd just discovered something. "It was resolved."
"Resolved?" Ian questioned, appearing confused. "What does that mean?"
"'56 in iron pen, Mr. Matlack can't offend.' Timothy Matlack was the official scribe of the Continental Congress. To make sure he could not offend the map, it was put on the back of a resolution that he transcribed, which happens to have been signed by 56 men."
"The Declaration of Independence?" Samantha answered quietly, her eyes wide. Ben nodded slowly, and Riley chuckled to himself as if Ben had just told a joke.
"Come on, there's no invisible map on the back of the Declaration of Independence."
"It's clever, really," Ian remarked. "A document of that importance would ensure the map's survival. And you said several Masons signed it, right?"
"Nine for sure," Ben replied quietly, and there was another brief silence.
"What do we do now?" Samantha asked.
"We'll have to arrange a way to examine it," Ian said, sounding a bit too nonchalant about it.
"There's no way they'll let us do that, Ian," She said, growing frustrated. "It's one of the most important documents in the history of the United States!"
"Then what do you propose we do?"
"I don't know!" Samantha and Ben cried out simultaneously. They exchanged glances.
"We could borrow it."
Ben's head snapped up. "Steal it? There's no way."
"Ben, there's no other way. Like she said, there's no way they'll let us get to the document. That means we'll have to take this into our own hands."
"Ian," Ben looked fiercely at his partner. "I'm not going to let you steal the Declaration of Independence!"
Ian looked at Ben, looking like he'd been betrayed.
"Well, then I guess you're going to be no help to me now," He motioned to Shaw, who pulled a gun out of his jacket, pointing it straight at Ben. Samantha stifled a gasp behind her hand, looking on with wide eyes, while Riley shouted out in protest.
"You really think you could just shoot me right here, Shaw?" Ben asked, and Shaw smirked. "Well that's not going to happen. There's more to the clue that only I can figure out. You need me."
"Ben, you're going to help me," Ian ordered. "Or else I'll shoot your girlfriend."
Shaw moved the gun towards Samantha, and she froze, paralyzed in fear as she stared down the barrel of the gun. Her eyes met Ben's and sent him a clear message. 'Do something!'
There was a sudden crackling noise, and Shaw turned back to Ben, seeing him holding a flare in his hands.
"Ben…" There was a warning tone in Riley's voice. Samantha's eyes had grown even wider, and they were fixated on the burning flare in Ben's hand.
"Look where you're standing," Ben spoke to Ian calmly. "You shoot me, I drop this, and all that gunpowder goes up, and all of along with it."
"What happens when the flare burns down, Ben?" Ian asked tauntingly. "Just tell me what I need to know."
"You need to know…" Ben paused, thinking. "If Shaw can catch!" He threw the flare into the air, and everyone held their breath as Ian reached up and caught it carefully.
"Nice try, Ben…" Suddenly Ian's coat burst into flames, and he let out a shout of pain as the flare fell to the ground. Samantha let out a scream that echoed off of the walls of the small cargo hold.
Fire. She had hated it since she was a young girl, just 6 years-old. The fear still had a tight grip on her, and she was paralyzed with fear as flames began to leap around her and acrid smoke filled her lungs. She remained in the shocked daze until she felt Riley pulling on her arm, tugging her towards where Ben stood.
"Come on, we've got to go!"
"Hurry up, you guys!" Ben sounded desperate.
"What is this?" Riley shouted over the roar of the fire.
"Smuggler's hold! Just get in!" Ben ordered. Samantha numbly lowered herself into the hole, crawling through the narrow passageway on her knees. She could feel the heat from above on her back. She crawled farther still into the ending of the passageway. She felt Ben push her onto the ground and she fell face first into the snow. She felt Ben's weight above her and she realized that he was acting as a human shield.
Barely a second later, her ears popped as the ship exploded, and she fell into the blackness as she lost consciousness.
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Oh, long chapter, wasn't it? Do I get a review? It'd make me smile!!
Chapter 4 Preview:
"Could it really be possible?" She whispered to herself, staring through the glass. Who would have thought the search for the treasure would bring them here, of all places?
She reflected on the men who'd signed the Declaration, who could have sealed their own fates with the stroke of the pen. Ben's words from earlier echoed in her head.
'I swear on my life I will stop him. No matter what it takes'
A gasp suddenly escaped her lips. He'd said the Archives would be their final stop. How far would Ben go to protect the Declaration? Would he… No, she couldn't even think that. Ben would never take things that far. Would he?