***This is pretty much unedited, so beware. I'll come back and edit it later because I'm sleeeeepyyyyyy.***
Chapter 11
The Faster I Type The Password, The More Ninja-y I Feel
The next morning, we were on our jet before six o'clock. The reason? Dad thought that we needed to go to D.C. The National Archives to be exact. The last time we were there, we were stealing the piece of Aztec gold from the National Museum of Natural History.
I could only imagine what we were going to do this time.
But as Dad drove us from the airport to the National Archives, he didn't say a word. We were all wondering just what we could find there and yet he wasn't giving us a hint at all. He just had that smug smile plastered there on his face. Even Brielle was trying to coax something out of him, but to no avail.
"I'll just say, I called in a favor," Dad said, looking back at me. I was sitting directly behind him with Addy in between me and Max in her car seat. She was currently playing with his hand, slobbering all over his fingers. Sophie, Ben, and Drew were yet again sitting together in the back. The SUV Dad had gotten was more spacious, so they weren't too crowded.
"And just who would that favor be?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because you know quite a few people who are willing to do you favors if it means us finding another treasure."
Dad just grinned again. "I say again. You'll see."
I shook my head and looked over at Max. He wasn't even paying attention to what was being said. He, Ben, and Drew were all playing with Addy, Ben and Drew leaning over the back of the seat. They were making funny faces at her in turns, making her giggle. I'll admit it was really adorable. Three grown men playing with a baby? Who wouldn't love that?
I looked back Sophie, who was seated behind me. She was watching the three of them with an amused expression on her face. And when she saw me, she just shook her head, smiling.
Once we were there and parked in the employee parking lot, we all piled out and tried to get everything together before we headed inside. The guys were fighting over who got to hold Addy in her baby carrier. In the end, Max won, mostly because when I held Addy out to see who she would go to, it was him. He looked a little smug as Brielle helped him with the buckles.
"What can I say?" Max said as I held Addy in the carrier while Brielle snapped her in. "I'm a real ladies man."
As we walked toward one of the side doors that employees entered through, I knew that Dad had to have someone put in that we were allowed to come in. But we didn't need anyone as it turned out.
Because Agents Hudson and Turner were standing there on the sidewalk before we even got to the door.
They were dressed in civilian clothes like they were trying to blend in. It really didn't help that I could see the outline of the gun on Agent Turner's waist as he pulled his black coat tightly around him in the chilly wind.
"Fancy seeing you here," Agent Turner said with a knowing smile as he looked at Dad.
"We could say the same to you," Dad said as they shook hands. "Everything is in order then? We can get in?"
Agent Hudson nodded. "Everything's taken care of. Dr. Ashford, the director, is waiting for you inside right now. We've gotten clearance to go into the back archives...but only for two of you," she said, her eyes going to me and Sophie. "Callie? Sophie?"
"Why us?" Sophie asked before I could even open my mouth. I was going to ask the same question, though.
"Because you two already know how to get into the program that has the file you need," she said simply. "Now, Dr. Ashford is going to take the two of you to the back archive room and leave you to it. We made sure that you can have privacy while you’re researching.”
“And the rest of us?” Brielle asked. “Are we just supposed to wait out here for them?”
Agent Turner shook his head, grinning. “Of course not. We’ve arranged for the rest of you a private behind the scenes tour. They’re actually working on the Declaration of Independence at the moment, so I’m sure that they’ll take you by to see it up close.”
Without another word, the two of them turned and started across the street toward a black car, which they then got into and drove away.
Once their car was out of sight, we all just stood there for a few moments before Dad actually made a move toward the door, which Brielle and then the rest of us followed. When we were inside and through security, which just waved us through, I spotted an older man in his mid fifties and a younger man beside him. Both of them were watching us approach them with smiles on their faces.
“I’m Dr. Ashford,” the other man said, sticking out his hand for Dad to shake. “And you must be the Landon group.”
Dad laughed as he looked at all of us behind him. “I guess you could say that,” he said. “We’ve seemed to multiply over the last year or two.”
Dr. Ashford smiled as he looked over at me and Sophie. “I trust it you are the two I’m taking to the back. Forgive me, but we’re going to have to make a speedy trip. Since this isn’t office Archives business, it’s going to have to be.”
I nodded, looking over at Sophie before back at him. “Of course,” I said.
A moment later Dr. Ashford, Sophie, and I were walking down one of the side hallways that looked like it hadn’t been traveled down in quite some time. It was kind of creepy if you asked me, especially when the lights started flickering. For a government run building, I was pretty sure that shouldn’t have been happening.
Dr. Ashford stopped us at the end of the hallways where a sliding door was. It had no handle, only a keyboard on the wall that he was typing his password into.
“You should be able to find what you’re looking for in here,” he said once the door slid open. A wave of musty air swept out of the room, which made me wrinkle my nose. “I can’t help you now. Agents Turner and Hudson said that you already had what you needed to access everything.”
I shrugged, looking past him into the darkened room. “Well, I don’t know what they’re talking about, but hopefully we do.”
Dr. Ashford chuckled, stepping back so we could pass him. “Hopefully everything still works in there. No one has been in here since the early nineties.”
Smiling once more, he turned and headed down the hallway in the direction we’d come. Only, as we watched him, he stopped at the very end and stood there. Not a moment later, another guy walked up beside him and they began talking. I didn’t know if it was a real conversation or if it was just a diversion for us.
“So what are we supposed to do again?” Sophie asked as we both turned to look inside the darkness again.
“Um, I have no idea,” I said. “Let’s just hope it’s like Antarctica and we just have to type in a few things into a computer and not have to do any real work.”
When we stepped inside, the lights started flickering before they were completely on, blinding me for a moment before I could take in my surroundings. Sure enough, it was almost an exact replica of the little office that was buried in the ice in Antarctica except there wasn’t any evidence of anyone leaving in a hurry. Everything was in order, right down to the pens in the holder.
There was yet another old fashioned computer with the same screen as the other. Just like before, there were two screens that were fill in the blank. Since we already knew those – Fraternitatem Tempus and praeteritum, praesens, futurum – I went ahead and typed them in quickly since Dr. Ashford said that we didn’t have a lot of time to do this.
But unlike the last time, another screen popped up. I thought I was going to go crazy if it was another riddle or something like that, but it wasn’t. It was only the deciphered text that we’d found before. Before Sophie could even say anything, I was typing the answer to each as fast as I could.
Eighteen minutes disappeared?
Watergate.
Thirty-seven's legacy forever smeared.
Nixon.
This time, something did start printing.
***Well, hello again! :)
Sorry for the short chapter, but I started this late and I'm kind of falling asleep at the moment... But hey, it's an upload!
So like I said yesterday in my message, I'm going to upload this every Monday. Mostly because I'm having a bit of writer's block, even though I already have this planned out. I know, weird, right? But I am for some reason. But beware of short chapters, which are more than likely to happen during the month of November. Why?
Because I'm doing NaNoWriMo! I'm super excited for it because it'll be my first year trying to do it! You think I can? I hope I can! The novel I'm going to be writing has been one that I've wanted to start for forever and I though what better time than for NaNoWriMo? But since I am, I'm going to be focusing all on it, which will only give me a limited amount of time to worry about this story.
So anywho! 30 votes and 12 comments before the upload next Monday? I think we can do it!
Comment, Vote, and Like!!!1***