A.N.: Hello again. Sorry about the fluff in the last chapter. But it's a fluffy-ish story. So deal.
If you have ideas for anything you want to see, like something you want Ronnie to say in a certain scene, or anything you want to see at all, review! You know you want to!!!
bdbdbdbdbdbdbd
"There is not a treasure map on the back of the Declaration of Independence," Abigail sighed, again.
"And there's no chance anyone can steal this," Ben shook the container the Declaration was in, "either! I leveled with you 100 per cent. Everything I told you was the truth."
"I want that document, Mr. Brown!"
"OK, my name's not Brown. It's Gates. I leveled with you 98 per cent."
"Wait a minute, did you just say 'Gates'?" Abigail asked. "Gates? You're that family with the conspiracy theory about the Founding Fathers?"
"It's not a conspiracy theory," Ben stated.
"Per se," Riley interjected.
You know what? I take it back. You're not liars. You're insane!" Abigail retaliated.
"Gee, can you tell me anything I didn't already know?!" Ronnie asked, glaring at the blonde.
"You can't seriously intend to run chemical tests on the Declaration of Independence in the back of a moving van," Abi continued.
"We have a clean-room environment all set up. EDS suits, a particulate air filtration system, the whole shebang," Ronnie told her in a yada-yada tone, turning around.
"Really?"
"We can't go back there," Ben said.
"What? Why not?" was Riley's response. Ronnie did a double take on her face-palm.
"A credit-card slip?!" Riley exclaimed, after Ben admitted the truth about his purchasing the Declaration double. "Dude, we're on the grid! They'll have your records from forever. They'll have my records from forever!"
"I know. I know. It's only a matter of minutes before the FBI shows up at my front door."
"What do we do?" Riley asked, still overwhelmed by Ben's credit card fiasco.
"We need those letters."
"What letters?" Abi asked quietly.
"You know, get off the road, take a right," Ben stated.
"What letters?" Abigail repeated.
bdbdbdbdbdbdbd
"You have the original Silence Dogood letters? Did you steal those, too?"
"We have scans of the originals," Ronnie said, before Ben could. "Quiet, please. He's trying to think!"
"How'd you get scans?" Abigail persisted.
"Oh, I know the person who has the originals. Now shush," Ben told her, pacing in the wet grass.
"Why do you need them?"
"She really can't shut her mouth, can she?" Ben asked, looking to Riley and Ronnie, who were still seated in the van. They shrugged.
"I'll tell you what, look. I will let you hold onto this," Ben handed her the container of the Declaration of Independence, "if you'll promise to shut up, please! Thank you."
Riley "Ben, you know what you have to do."
"I know what to do. I'm just trying to think of anything else we could do," Ben replied, still pacing.
"Hey look! Riley, look at that, I can see a bit of a hole..." Ronnie whispered, pointing to where Ben was pacing.
Riley smiled, but his face fell again. "Well, not to be a... nudge, but you do realize how many people we have after us? We probably have our own satellite by now."
"It took you all of two seconds to decide
to steal the Declaration of Independence," Ronnie said quickly.
"Yeah, but I didn't think I was gonna personally have to tell my dad about it!" Ben replied. Abigail stood suddenly and ran, clutching the Declaration. "Hey, not cool! Not cool!" Ben shouted, running after her, and grabbing her arms.
"Let me go!" Abigail screamed. Ben took the Declaration of Independence from her, and let go.
"OK. You're let go. Go, shoo."
"I'm not going. Not without the Declaration."
"You're not going with the Declaration," Ronnie laughed.
"Yes, I am. I'm not letting it out of my sight, so I'm going," Abigail replied, completely serious.
"Wait. You're not going with us with the Declaration," Ben said.
"Yes, I am."
"No, you're not."
"Look, if you wanted to leave me behind, you shouldn't have told me where you were going."
Ronnie shook her head. "Oooh," she whispered. "She's got'cha there." Riley groaned and leaned against the seat.
bdbdbdbdbdbdbd
"Looks OK."
"Park a couple of blocks away," Ben said.
"Well, how long do you think we got?" Ronnie asked.
"I'm gonna give them a couple of hours at least. I hope."
"What do we do about her? I've got some duct tape in the back," Riley said, smiling. Ronnie rubbed her hands together maniacally.
"No, that won't be necessary." Crossing her arms, the brunette gave a loud, "Hmph!" and pouted. "She won't be any trouble. Promise you won't be any trouble," replied Ben, looking at the blonde Abigail.
"I promise."
"See? She's curious," Ben replied, smiling. Riley shook his head, coming to a stop and parking. The four clambered out, walking to the front door of one of the houses. The door opened, revealing an elderly man.
"Dad," Ben greeted.
"Where's the party?" joked Patrick Gates.
"Well... I'm in a little trouble," Ben started.
"Is one of them pregnant? Both?"
Ronnie went white. "Well, if they were, are you gonna leave the woman carrying your grandchild standing out in the cold?" Ben asked. Reluctantly, the group was let inside.
"I look pregnant?" Abigail and Ronnie whispered to Riley. He shook his head.
"This better not be about that dumb treasure. Well, have a seat. Make yourselves comfortable. There's some pizza. It's still warm, I think," Patrick said.
"Dad...I need the Silence Dogood letters. Yeah, it's about the treasure."
"And he dragged you three into this nonsense?" Patrick asked, looking at Riley, Ronnie, who were stuffing slices of pizza in their faces, and Abigail, who just stood quietly.
"Literally," The blonde mumbled.
"I volunteered," Riley and Ronnie said.
"Well, un-volunteer, before you waste your life."
"Knock it off, Dad."
"Sure, sure, I know, I'm the family kook. I have a job, a house, health insurance. At least I had your mother, for however brief a time. At least I had you. What do you have? Them?" Mr. Gates motioned to Riley and Ronnie, who looked up.
"Look, if you just give us the letters, we're gone," Ben tried.
"You disappoint me, Ben."
"Well, maybe that's the real Gates-family legacy. Sons who disappoint their fathers!" Ben retaliated. Ronnie cringed.
"Ouch. Harsh, dude," she whispered.
"Get out. Take your troubles with you."
"I found the Charlotte!" Ben told him.
"The Charlotte? You mean she was a ship?" Patrick asked.
"Yeah, she was beautiful. It was amazing, Dad," Ben said.
"And the treasure?"
"No, no. But we found another clue that led us here," Ronnie piped up, cheerily.
"Yeah, and that'll lead you to another clue. And that's all you'll ever find, is another clue. Don't you get it, Ben? I finally figured it out. The legend says that the treasure was buried to keep it from the British. But what really happened was the legend was invented, to keep the British occupied searching for buried treasure. The treasure is a myth!" Patrick said, his voice filled with emotion.
"I refuse to believe that."
"Well, you can believe what you want. You're a grown person. What am I doing? Do what you want, Ben. Do what you want," Patrick mumbled, giving up.
"He's probably right. You don't even know if there is another clue," Abigail said.
"Well, I can think of a way where we could find out. And we can find out right now."
Ben took the Declaration and lay it face down on a table, various things set around it. Ronnie was curled up in a ball under the table. Ben's dad passed by, poking his head in the room.
"Looks like animal skin. How old is it?"
"At least 200 years," Ronnie yawned, her brown eyes closed.
"Really? You sure?"
"Pretty darn," Ben replied, pulling on a pair of latex gloves. Abi did the same.
"Now if this thing's in invisible ink, how do we look at it?" Riley asked, a pair of black glasses on his face.
"Throw it in the oven?" suggested Patrick.
"No!" the three standing exclaimed, while Ronnie mearly let out an in-audible moan.
"Higher sulphate inks can only be brought out with heat," explained Patrick.
"Yes, but this..." Abigail started.
"It's very old. This is very old, and we can't risk compromising the map," Ben said.
"Fine. What's wrong with her?" Patrick asked, gesturing under the table. Riley bent down, and Ben and Abigail leaned over.
"Oh, there you are!" Riley laughed. "What's wrong?" Ronnie emitted another in-audible moan. "Okay..." Riley replied, standing up. He shrugged.
"You need a reagent."
"Dad, it's really late. Why don't you get some rest?" Ben asked, looking at his dad.
"I'm fine!" Patrick called from down the hall.
"Lemons," Ben said, and took a lemon from the bowl handed to him. Ronnie twitched from beneath the table, falling asleep. Ben held the lemon over the Declaration, ready to squeeze the juice from it.
"You can't do that," Abigail said, holding out her hand.
"But it has to be done."
"Then someone who is trained to handle antique documents is gonna do it!" the blonde persisted, taking the lemon from Ben. "OK. Now, if there is a secret message, it'll probably be marked by a symbol in the upper right-hand corner." The blonde rubbed a Q-Tip in the lemon.
"That's right," Ben said, seeming impressed.
"I am so getting fired for this..." she whispered, slowly rubbing the Q-Tip over the right-hand corner.
"I told you. You need heat," Patrick said, again in the doorway. Ben and Abi looked at each other, then hesitantly leaned down and exhaled on the paper. A Templar symbol, and two sets of three numbers, appeared on the paper. "See?"
"We need more juice."
"We need more heat!"
bdbdbdbdbdbdbbdbd
"That's not a map. Is it?" Riley asked, after much lemon juice had been wiped and hairdryers had hummed loudly. Ben was busy scribbling the last four sets of numbers down.
"More clues. What a surprise," Patrick mumbled.
"Are those latitudes and longitudes?" Riley persisted.
"That's why we need the Silence Dogood letters." Ben said suddenly, looking over the notepad.
"That's the key?"
"Yeah. 'The key in Silence undetected.' Dad, can we have the letters now?" Ben asked to Patrick.
"Will somebody please explain to me what these magic numbers are?" Riley asked again.
"It's an Ottendorf cipher," Abigail pronounced, turning off the hairdryer.
"That's right," Patrick said.
"Oh, OK. What's an Ottendorf cipher?" Riley asked, examining the notepad Ben had scribbled each number on.
"They're just codes. Each of these three numbers corresponds to a word in a key. Usually a random book
or a newspaper article. In this case, the Silence Dogood letters. So it's like the page number of the key text, the line on the page, and the letter in that line," Ronnie yawned, from under the table. Riley leaned over, smiling. The girl was still curled up into a ball. She could have fit under Patrick's sink.
"So, Dad, where are the letters?" Ben asked, walking to his father.
"You know, it's just by sheer happenstance
that his grandfather..." Patrick started, stalling time. Riley was now sitting on the floor, poking Ronnie's spine.
"Dad."
"...even found them. They were in an antique desk
from the press room..." Patrick continued, avoiding Ben.
"Dad," Ben persisted.
"...of The New England Courant. That's a newspaper."
"Dad, where are the letters?" Ben asked.
"I don't have them, son."
"What?"
"I don't have them," Patrick repeated.
"Where are they?" Ben asked.
"He donated them to the Franklin Institute
in Philadelphia," Ronnie said quietly, through yawns. "Stop poking me, Riley," she added.
"Time to go," Ben announced, walking back to the table and picking things up.
"I still can't believe it. All this time no one knew what was on the back..." Abigail said, softly running her fingers along the edge of the paper.
"The back of what?" Patrick asked, starting to turn over the Declaration.
"No!" everyone exclaimed, Ronnie bolting upright and smacking her head on the underside of the table. "Ow," she moaned, rubbing her scalp.
"Oh, my God. Oh, my God," Patrick exclaimed, stepping back.
"I know," Ben whispered.
"Oh, my God. What have you done? This is... this is the..."
"I know!" Ben continued.
"This is the Declaration of Independence!"
"Yes. And it's very delicate," Abi said quietly, taking the document from Patrick.
"You stole it?"
"Dad, I can explain, but I don't have time. It was necessary. And you saw the cipher!" Ben tried.
"And that will lead to another clue, and that will lead to another clue!" Patrick retaliated. "There is no treasure. I wasted 20 years of my life. And now you've destroyed yours! And you pulled me into all this."
"Well, we can't have that," Ben smiled. Ronnie rubbed her hands maniacally, grabbing Riley's backpack. She crawled out from under the table and stood, twirling a roll of duct tape on her finger.
