Alex crawled out of the wreckage, careful not to step on any remaining pieces of The Charlotte. Ben offered his hand to help her up, which she rejected, waving it away as she struggled to stand up, slipping into a pile of snow. Once she finally stood up she faced the wreckage. For a moment her and her brother just stared at what was left of the ship, remembering that a few hours ago it had been perfectly preserved. Alex reached over to grab onto her camera, the last bit of evidence of what The Charlotte had been.
Riley quietly cursed when he saw what was left. "Think we can get Ian arrested for blowing it up?"
Alex shrugged. "At least we found her." She tried comforting her brother who looked like he was trying to memorize every part of the ship but her words fell flat. She was just as devastated as he was.
He nodded. "All that searching and now she's gone."
"I know."
"There's an Inuit village 9 miles east of here that popular with bush pilots." Ben commented, looking at his watch.
"Then what are we gonna do?" Riley questioned.
"Start making are way back home."
"I meant about Ian. He's going steal the Declaration of Independence."
The Gates siblings looked at each other. Alex looked blankly as Ben let out an anguished sigh. "We stop him." Ben answered before speeding up to walk a few feet in front of his companions. Alex stalled for a second before giving Riley a shrug and following in her brother's footsteps, as she had done so many times before.
They all walked silently for hours. Alex couldn't believe what Ian had done. She knew he wanted the treasure, and the money that came along with it, but she never thought it'd be at the expense of their lives. Alex had thought of Ian as a brother figure. Ben had thought of him as even more.
Her usually reserved brother walked 10 feet in front of Alex and Riley and made no comment on how much longer they had to walk. A few times throughout the walk Riley had made an attempt to talk to Alex but after she gave him a blank stare and he soon stopped.
"He could've killed us." Alex finally commented, breaking the silence. Riley paused, looking at her and she gave him a look, trying to let him know that it was okay to speak. "He didn't care." She decided, looking at Riley. She didn't really expect him to say anything, if anything she just needed someone there. Riley was always good about that. He was always there when they needed him most.
She knew Riley was dying to tell her that he never liked Ian and never trusted him but he had the good sense to keep those thoughts to himself. As tumultuous as Ian and Alex's friendship had been she had cared about him, trusted him and, at times, admired him.
"At least we're alive." Riley responded. Alex knew he was waiting for a response but she couldn't find it in her to say anything back. She only looked at him and gave a watery smile. She lightly grabbed his hand as they continued walking.
Once they reached the village they were given warm food, blankets and a place to rest. The next morning one of the bush pilots found them, taking them to JFK where they got a flight back to DC.
Alex had never been more relieved to see her bed.
"Night." She said immediately after walking through the door, going straight to her room where she flopped on the bed, shoes still on.
She hear Ben say something about talking tomorrow but she quickly waved him off. She heard her bedroom door slowly close and was soon encompassed by sleep. That night she dreamt of The Charlotte as it was, a ship riding the waves of the sea. She saw herself on the ship, helping hide the pipe that they would later find.
The next morning she woke up slightly better for wear. Ben was still locked in his room so she took advantage of the shower. She still felt cold despite being out of the artic for two days and enjoyed the hot water running down her back. Stepping out of the shower she pulled on a pair of sweats, content to sit on the couch watching movies all day. Unfortunately her brother had other plans.
"We need to come up with a plan." Ben announced, leaving his room to find Alex laying on the couch with a box of cereal on her stomach. "Call Riley. Tell him to come over."
Alex was about to argue until she saw the look on her brother's face and remembered the situation they were in she only nodded in response before Ben left the room.
"I mean, we have to tell someone." Alex said. "We should go to the police." The three of them were spread out in the living room, discussing what lengths they should go to next. Alex was fully prepared to sabotage Ian and whatever he had planned.
"Ian said he did some illegal things before. If we tell the cops about him won't we be like conspirators?"
"I don't know." Alex shrugged. "The FBI?" Ben threw a list down in front of Alex. She barely gave it a glance before Ben said, " We're going to Homeland Security."
Alex pulled on her dress as they waited to be seen by the director. Ben had told her to dress professionally, a request she'd usually ignore if not for the gravity of the situation. Studying herself in the mirror she figured she looked better than she usually did and she didn't really expect Ben to notice if her shoes didn't quite match.
"Is it really so hard to believe that someone's gonna try to steal the Declaration of Independence?" Riley sighed after they had been politely laughed at and told to exit the FBI building by an agent
"The FBI gets 10,000 tips a week. They're not going to worry about something they're sure is safe."
"But we put that thought in their head. Hopefully they keep an extra eye on it." Alex explained as Ben nodded in confirmation.
"Okay." Riley said, in a slightly disbelieving tone. Alex only shrugged in response, at this point it seemed like no one was willing to take them seriously.
"But anyone that can do anything is gonna think we're crazy. Anyone crazy enough to believe us isn't gonna want to help."
"We don't need someone crazy. But one step short of crazy, what do you get?"
"Obsessed." Riley scoffed. Alex bit back a smile when she saw Ben's no nonsense expression.
"Passionate."
The group made their way to the National Archives where they were promptly told to sit and wait. Alex took a seat in between her brother and Riley, making a face in faux irritation and her brother leaned over them both, grabbing a pamphlet.
"Dr. Chase will see you now Mr. Brown." The receptionist called, coming from Dr. Chase's office.
They stood to walk in. "Mr. Brown?" Riley questioned.
"The family name doesn't get a lot of respect in the academic community."
"Touché. Being kept down by the man." He paused. "A very cute man."
Alex looked over at Riley in amusement. She ignored the slight irritation she felt when his abrupt stop caused her to run into him. "Um." He said, wide eyed, as she passed him to introduce herself, seeing that Doctor Chase was preoccupied with her phone. Alex took the chance to look around the room, noting the selection of books she had.
"Good afternoon." Dr. Chase greeted the trio, holding out her hand in introduction. "Abigail Chase."
"Paul Brown." Ben responded, giving a slight nod.
"Bill." Riley answered, shaking her hand.
"Charlotte." Alex blurted eyed out. She saw Ben's unamused look out of the corner of her eye but ignored it, giving him a slight glare as he walked past her.
"Nice to meet you Charlotte." Dr. Chase motioned for them to sit down.
"How may I help you?" She asked, sitting at her desk.
"Your accent. Pennsylvania Dutch?" Ben asked. Alex could see his interest peak.
"Saxony German." She responded in a testing tone.
"You're not American." Riley asked, looking confused.
"I am American I just wasn't born here-Please don't touch that." Alex and Riley looked back at Ben who was touching a display case full of coins. Alex responded by giving her brother a head shake, grinning in amusement as her brother looked flustered by being caught.
"Sorry. A neat collection. George Washington's campaign buttons. You're missing the inaugural, though. I found one once." Ben started babbling.
"That's very fortunate for you. Now, you told my assistant that this was an urgent matter." Dr. Chase continued, looking at each of the three. Alex nodded but remained quiet, allowing Ben to take over for speaking.
" Yes, ma'am. Well, I'm gonna get straight to the point. Someone's gonna steal the Declaration of Independence."
Dr. Chase looked at Alex and Riley."It's true." Riley responded as Alex nodded her head. "We know it's hard to believe."
"I think I'd better put you in touch with the FBI."
" We've been to the FBI."
"And?"
" They assured us that the Declaration cannot possibly be stolen."
"They're right."
"My friends and I are less certain. However, if we were given the privilege of examining the document... we would be able to tell you for certain if it were actually in any danger." Ben shot back, matching Dr. Chase's gaze. Alex almost shrunk back at the severity of the stare.
"What do you think you're gonna find?"
" We believe that there's an... encryption on the back."
"An encryption, like a code?"
" Yes, ma'am."
"Of what?"
" A... cartograph"
"A map." Alex winced, avoiding eye contact.
"Yes, ma'am."
"A map of what?"
"The location of... ...of hidden items of historic and intrinsic value."
"A treasure map?"
"That's where we lost the FBI." Riley mumbled. "Yep." Alex agreed.
" You're treasure-hunters, aren't you?"
"We're more like treasure-protectors."
" Mr Brown, I have personally seen the back of the Declaration of Independence, and I promise you, the only thing there is a notation that reads, "Original Declaration of Independence, dated... "Four of July, ." They finished together.
" Yes, ma'am."
"But no map."
" It's invisible."
"And that's where we lost the Department of Homeland Security."
"What led you to assume there's this invisible map?"
" We found an engraving on the stem of a -year-old pipe. Owned by Freemasons."
"May I see the pipe?"
" We don't have it."
"Did Big Foot take it?"
"It was nice meeting you."
" Nice to meet you, too."
" And, you know, that really is a nice collection. Must have taken you a long time to hunt down all that history." Ben said as the three left the room.