Part 3
"Are we getting closer?" Ian asked from the passenger's seat of the land rover.
"Assuming Ben's theory is correct and my tracking model's accurate, we should be getting very close. But don't go by me. I broke a shoelace this morning." Ben and Ian looked at him confused.
"It's a bad omen." He clarified.
"Should we turn around and go home?" Ian asked.
"Or we could pull over and throw him out here." Ben said, grinning.
"There'd be more room in the backseat…" Anne pretended to muse.
"Ha ha." Riley said sarcastically as his computer beeped.
"We're here?" Anne asked, opening the door.
Powell, Ian's friend, came to stand next to her and Riley.
"This is a waste of time. How would a ship wind up way out here?"
"Well, I'm no expert, but it could be that the hydrothermic properties of this region produced hurricane force ice storms that caused the ocean to freeze, then melt, then refreeze, resulting in a semi-solid migrating land mass that would land a ship right about here."
"I only understood about half of that." Anne said following Riley, both leaving Powell confused. Riley laughed.
"Not the science-y type huh?"
"More the history type."
"You sure are Ben's sister then."
"I found something!" Ben shouted.
Anne stood on the ship with reverence. This was what generations of her family had been looking for and she was actually here to see it.
"Feel good to be on a real ship?" Ben asked.
"You know it! Just wish I could have been sailing it."
"You like to sail?" Riley asked. Ben and Anne exchanged glances and laughed. "What?"
"You didn't tell him?" Anne asked. She turned to Riley. "My full name is Anne Bonny Gates. My mom gave me the name."
"I found the way in!" Ian called.
They made their way inside the ship, careful of splintered wood and ice patches. Riley looked closer at a hammock and freaked out at the sight of a dead body.
"You handled that well." Ben remarked. Anne covered the dead man back up as Riley stumbled to his feet.
"It's the cargo hold." Ben said as they entered the room.
"Maybe it's in the barrels?" Riley suggested.
"Gunpowder." Anne said, not even looking.
"Good guess." Ian remarked, sifting through the stuff.
"Not really. Look." She pointed out a number of cannons. "Powder magazine. And you really shouldn't touch that stuff."
"Why would the captain be guarding this barrel?" Ben asked himself.
"Whatcha got?" Anne asked.
"It's a pipe."
"Is it a billion dollar pipe?"
"It's a meerschaum pipe. It's beautiful." Ian said.
"Look at the intricacy of the scroll work on the stem."
"Interesting…"
"Is it a million dollar pipe?"
"No. It's a clue. We are one step closer to the treasure."
"I thought you said the treasure was on The Charlotte."
"No. He said it could be on The Charlotte." Anne snapped.
"Don't break it!" Riley said as Ben removed the end. Ben took a knife and carefully cut his thumb and spread the blood on the stem. Rolling it out on the sheet of paper, he read the clue.
"The legend writ,
The stain affected,
The key in Silence, undetected.
55 in iron pen.
Mr. Matlack can't offend."
"It's a riddle." Anne said.
"I need to think. The legend writ, the stain affected. What legend? There is the legend of the Templar treasure; the stain affects the legend. 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."
"Wait a minute. What do you mean invisible? An invisible map?" asked Ian, confused.
"The stain affected could refer to a dye or a reagent used to bring about a certain result, combined with the key in silence undetected. The implication is to make what was undetectable, detectable. Unless the key in silence could be…"
"Prison." Shaw said suddenly.
"Albuquerque. See, I can do it too. Snorkel." Riley replied. Anne snorted.
"It's where the map is. Like you said, 55 in iron pen. Iron pen is a prison."
"Or, it could be since the primary writing medium of the time was iron gall ink, the pen is… just a pen. Then why not say a pen, why say iron pen?"
"Because it's a prison." He muttered.
"Wait, iron pen. The ink does not describe the pen, it describes what was penned." Anne said.
"Right. It was iron, it was firm. It was mineral." Ben picked up.
"It was mineral?"
"No, no, no, no. It was firm, it was adamant, it was resolved. It was resolved. Mr. Matlack can't offend…"
"Timothy Matlack was the official scribe of the Continental Congress. Calligrapher, not writer." Anne remembered. Ben picked up.
"And to make sure he could not offend the map, it was put on the back of a resolution that he transcribed, a resolution that 55 men signed. The Declaration of Independence."
"Wow…" Anne breathed.
"Come on. There's no invisible map on the back of the Declaration of Independence."
"Clever, really. A document of that importance would ensure the map's survival. And you said several masons signed it, yeah?' Ian asked.
"Yeah, nine for sure." Ben replied.
"We'll have to arrange a way to examine it."
"We can't just go and run chemicals tests on the Declaration." Anne said.
"She's right."
"Then what do you propose we do?"
"I don't know!"
"We could borrow it."
"Steal it?" Anne asked, shocked he would even suggest such a thing.
"I don't think so." Ben said.
"Ben, the treasure of Knights Templar is the treasure of all treasures."
"I didn't know that, really?" he said sarcastically.
"Look, Ben, we all have our areas of expertise. You don't think mine is limited to writing checks, do you? I've arranged a number of operations of… questionable legality."
"What?" Anne asked. Ian looked over at her.
"I would take his word for it if I were you." Shaw agreed.
"So all those times… business and such. Lies, right?" Anne asked. "What, pray tell were you really doing?"
"Anne. I'm not doing this right now."
"Oh so NOW you're gonna act like its over." Anne said angrily.
"It's not over." Ian said.
"Yeah, you made that pretty clear last night." She snapped and Ian cringed.
"Anne-"
"No. I'm not going to let you talk your way out of this and I'm not going to let you steal the Declaration of Independence."
"Me either." Ben said, standing beside his sister.
"I can see from this point on, all you're going to be is a hindrance." Ian said as Shaw drew his gun.
"What are you going to do? You going to shoot me Shaw? Well you can't shoot. There's more to the riddle. Information you don't have, I do. I'm the only one who can figure it out, you know that."
"You're bluffing."
"We play poker together, Ian. You know I can't bluff."
"Tell me what I need to know," Ian said, as Shaw pointed the gun at Riley. "Or I'll shoot your friend."
"Hey." He protested weakly. Ben grabbed a flare and lit it, startling Ian.
"Look where you're standing. All that gunpowder. You shoot me, I drop this, we all go up."
"Ben…" Anne said.
"Tell me what I need to know."
"You need to know… if Shaw can catch!" He threw the flare. Anne closed her eyes, waiting to go up in flames, hoping it would be quick.
"Nice try, though, Ben." She heard. She opened her eyes just as Ian's arm caught fire.
"I told you you shouldn't touch gunpowder!" Anne shouted stumbling back.
"Anne!" Ian yelled, motioning for her to follow him.
Shaking her head she ran back over to Ben, who was looking for something in the snow.
"What's this?" Riley asked.
"Smuggler's hold. Get in!" Ben shouted. "Follow me!"
They raced through the burning tunnel and Ben slammed the door, diving in the room.
The explosion.
They pushed out of the wreckage. Anne glared after the retreating land rovers.
"YOU LOUSY BRIT!" she shouted.
"There's an Inuit village about 9 miles east of here. You guys okay?"
"Yeah." Riley said.
Anne nodded, still not looking at Ben.
"Hey." Ben said taking Anne by the shoulders. "I don't care."
"Thanks." She said.