National Treasure

THUNDER

DOOR CREAKING

FLOORBOARDS CREAKING

SIGHS

Grandpa!

You're not supposed to be up here...looking at that.

I just wanted to know.

Yeah. Well, you're old enough, I suppose.

You should know the story.

OK, here we go.

It was 1832...

on a night

much like this...

-HORSE WHINNIES

-Hyah!

-Come on, boys! Come on!

Hyah!

'Charles Carroll was the last surviving signer

'of the Declaration of Independence.

'He was also a member of a secret society known as the Masons,

'and...he knew he was dying.

'He woke up his stable boy in the middle of the night

'and ordered him to take him to the White House

'to see Andrew Jackson, because it was urgent that he speak to the President.'

Did he talk to him?

No. He never got the chance.

The President wasn't there that night.

COUGHING

But Charles Carroll had a secret.

So he took into his confidence the one person he could -

my grandfather's grandfather...

Thomas Gates.

What was his secret?

A treasure.

THUNDER RUMBLES

A treasure beyond all imagining.

DISTANT SHOUTING

A treasure that had been fought over for centuries

by tyrants, pharaohs, emperors, warlords.

And every time it changed hands, it grew larger.

And then, suddenly...

SNAP!

..it vanished.

-THUDDING

-It didn't reappear for more than 1,000 years,

when knights from the First Crusade discovered secret vaults

beneath the Temple of Solomon.

The knights who found the vaults believed

that the treasure was too great for any one man - not even a king.

They brought the treasure back to Europe

and took the name the "Knights Templar".

Over the next century, they smuggled it out of Europe,

and they formed a new brotherhood called the Freemasons,

in honour of the builders of the Great Temple.

War followed.

By the time of the American Revolution,

the treasure had been hidden again.

By then, the Masons included

George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere.

They knew they had to make sure

the treasure would never fall into the hands of the British.

So they devised a series of clues and maps to its location.

Over time, the clues were lost or forgotten,

until only one remained.

And that was the secret that Charles Carroll

entrusted to young Thomas Gates.

Charlotte.

The secret lies

with Charlotte.

Who's Charlotte?

Oh, not even Mr Carroll knew that.

Now, look here, Ben, the Freemasons among our Founding Fathers left us clues

like these.

The unfinished pyramid, the all-seeing eye -

symbols of the Knights Templar,

guardians of the treasure.

They're speaking to us

-through these.

-You mean laughing at us.

You know what that dollar represents? The entire Gates family fortune.

Six generations of fools chasing after fool's gold.

It's not about the money, Patrick.

It's never been about the money.

Come on, son. Time to go.

You can...

say your goodbyes.

Grandpa?

Hmm?

Are we knights?

HE CHUCKLES: Do you wanna be?

All right.

Um...kneel.

Benjamin Franklin Gates,

you take upon yourself the duty of the Templars, the Freemasons

and the family Gates.

Do you so swear?

I so swear.

I was thinking about Henson and Peary crossing this kind of terrain

with nothing more than dogsleds and on foot.

-Can you imagine?

-It's extraordinary.

BEEPING

We getting closer?

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.

It's...it's a bad omen.

Shall we turn around and go home?

Or we could pull over and just throw him out here.

-MOCKING LAUGH

-OK.

Riley, you're not missing that little windowless cubicle we found you in, are you?

No, no, absolutely not.

LOUD BEEPING

Why are we stopping?

I thought we were looking for a ship?

I don't see any ship.

Oh, she's out there.

STEADY BEEPING

Look...

this is a waste of time.

How could a ship wind up way out here?

Well, I'm no expert, but it could be

that the hydrothermic properties of this region

produce hurricane-force ice storms that cause the ocean

to freeze, and then melt, and then refreeze,

resulting in a semi-solid, migrating landmass

that would land a ship right around here.

STEADY BEEPING

RAPID CLICKING

GRUNTING

SHARP CLANGING

SIGHS

Hello, beautiful.

SHIPPEN: Have Viktor check the fuel in the generators.

POWELL: No problem. I've got it.

Two years ago, if you hadn't shown up,

hadn't believed the treasure was real,

I don't know if I ever would have found Charlotte.

You would have found it, I have no doubt.

That's why I didn't think it was as crazy an investment as everyone said.

I'm just relieved that I'm not as crazy as everyone says.

Or said my dad was. Or my granddad.

Or my great-granddad.

OK!

Let's go.

IAN: Let's go find some treasure.

POWELL: Yeah, bring us back something.

SMASHING, HINGES SQUEAKING

WOOD CREAKING

RILEY GASPING LOUDLY

God!

You handled that well.

This is it.

It's a cargo hold.

You think it's in the barrels?

METALLIC CLANG

SNIFFS

Gunpowder.

-HOLLOW POP

-Oh! Oh!

-OK.

Why would the captain be guarding this barrel?

SOFT CRACKLING

I found something!

What is it?

Oh.

HINGES SQUEAK

Do you guys know

what this is?

Is it a billion-dollar pipe?

It's a Meerschaum pipe. Ah, that's beautiful.

Look at the intricacy of the scrollwork on the stem.

It is a... million-dollar pipe?

No. It's a clue.

Let me see that.

No, wait. Don't break it.

We are one step closer to the treasure, gentlemen.

Ben, I thought you said that the treasure would be on the Charlotte.

No. "The secret lies with Charlotte."

I said it COULD be here.

It's Templar symbols.

"The legend writ,

"the stain effected,

"the key in Silence undetected.

"Fifty-five in iron pen,

"Mr Matlack can't offend."

It's a riddle.

I need to think.

"The legend writ,

"the stain effected."

What legend?

There's the legend of the Templar treasure,

and the stain effects the legend.

How? "The key in silence undetected."

Wait.

The legend, the key...

Now, there's something.

A map.

Maps have legends, maps have keys.

It's a map, an invisible map, so now...

Wait a minute. What do you mean, invisible?

An invisible map?

"The stain effected" 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 that the effect

is to make what was undetectable detectable.

Unless... "the key in silence" could be...

Prison.

Albuquerque.

See, I can do it, too. Snorkel.

That's where the map is. Like he said,

"fifty-five 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...

it's just a pen. But then why not say a pen?

Why...why say "iron pen"?

Cos it's a prison.

Wait a minute. "Iron pen".

The iron does not describe the ink in the pen,

it describes what was penned.

It was iron, it was firm, it was mineral.

No, no, no, no, wait a minute, wait a minute. That's stupid.

It was...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.

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.

Oh.

Come on, there's no, er, invisible map on the back

of the Declaration of Independence.

That's clever, really.

A document of that importance would ensure the map's survival.

And you said there were several Masons signed it, yeah?

Yeah.

Nine, for sure.

We'll have to arrange a way to examine it.

This is one of the most important

documents in history.

They're not just gonna let us waltz in there

and run chemical tests on it.

Then what do you propose we do?

I don't know!

We could borrow it.

Steal it?

I don't think so.

Ben, the treasure of the Knights Templar

is the treasure of all treasures.

Oh, I didn't know that. Really(?)

Look, Ben, I understand your bitterness, I really do.

You spent your entire life searching for this treasure,

only to have the respected historical community

treat you and your family

with mockery and contempt.

You should be able to rub this treasure

in their arrogant faces.

And I want you to have a chance to do that.

How?

We all have our areas of expertise.

You don't think mine are limited to writing cheques, do you?

In another life...

I arranged a number of operations of...

questionable legality.

I'd take his word for it if I were you.

So don't worry.

I'll make all the arrangements.

No.

I'd really need your help here.

Ian...I'm not gonna let you steal

the Declaration of Independence.

OK.

From this point on,

all you're going to be is a hindrance.

-Hey!

-What are you gonna do?

You gonna shoot me, Shaw?

Well, you can't shoot me.

There's more to the riddle. Information you don't have.

I do. I'm the only one who can figure it out,

and you know that.

He's bluffing.

We've played poker together, Ian.

You know I can't bluff.

Tell me what I need to know, Ben...

or I'll shoot your friend.

-Hey!

-Quiet, Riley!

Your job's finished here.

Look where you're standing -

all that gunpowder. You shoot me, I drop this,

we all go up.

Ben...

What happens when the flare burns down?

Tell me what I need to know, Ben.

You need to know...

..if Shaw can catch.

Nice try, though, you...

GRUNTS AND YELPS

GUNSHOTS

Get out, Shaw!

Fool!

Riley, get over here!

What is this?

Smuggler's hold. Get in.

Move! Get out of here!

-What?

-Move, get out!

Follow me!

Let's go, let's go. Let's go!

Get down!

OK, let's go,

before someone sees the smoke.

COUGHING

There's an Inuit village about nine miles east of here.

It's popular with bush pilots.

All right.

GROANING

Then what are we gonna do?

Start making our way back home.

No, I meant about Ian.

He's gonna steal the Declaration of Independence, Ben.

We stop him.

Is it really so hard to believe

that someone's gonna try to steal

the Declaration of independence?

The FBI gets 10,000 tips a week.

They're not going to worry

about something they're sure is safe.

But anyone that can do anything

will think we're crazy.

And anyone crazy enough to believe us

isn't gonna wanna help.

We don't need someone crazy.

But one step short of crazy, what do you get?

Obsessed.

Passionate.

Excuse me.

-Dr Chase can see you now, Mr Brown.

-Thank you.

"Mr Brown"?

The family name doesn't get a lot of respect

in the academic community.

Huh. Bein' kept down by the man.

A very cute man.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, gentlemen.

Hi.

Abigail Chase.

Paul Brown.

Nice to meet you.

Bill.

Nice to meet you, Bill.

How may I help you?

Well, your accent - Pennsylvania Dutch?

Saxony German.

-Oh!

-You're not American?

Oh, I am an American. I just wasn't born here. Please don't touch that.

Sorry. A neat collection.

George Washington's campaign buttons.

You're missing the, er, 1789 inaugural, though.

-I found one once.

-That's very fortunate for you.

Now, you told my assistant that this was an urgent matter.

Uh, yes, ma'am.

Well, I'm gonna get straight to the point.

Someone's gonna steal the Declaration of Independence.

It's true.

I think I'd better put you gentlemen 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 friend 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.

What do you think you're gonna find?

We believe that there's,

er, an...

encryption on the back.

An encryption, like a code?

-Yes, ma'am.

-Of what?

Uh...

a cartograph.

-A map?

-Yes, ma'am.

A map of what?

The location of...

CLEARS THROAT

Of...hidden items of...

historic and... intrinsic value.

A treasure map?

That's where we lost the FBI.

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..."

"...Independence. Dated four of July, 1776."

-Yes, ma'am.

-But no map.

SIGHS

It's invisible.

Oh, right.

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 200-year-old pipe.

Owned by Freemasons.

May I see the pipe?

Uh, we don't have it.

Did Bigfoot take it(?)

It was nice meeting you.

Nice to meet you, too.

Hey, you know, that really is a nice collection.

It must have taken you a long time to hunt down all that history.

If it's any consolation, you had me convinced.

It's not.

I was thinking, what if we go public?

Plaster the story all over the internet. It's not like...

we have our reputations to worry about.

Although I don't think that's exactly gonna scare Ian away.

180 years of searching, and I'm three feet away.

Of all the words written here about freedom,

there's a line that's at the heart of all the others.

"But when a long train of abuses

"and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object,

"evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism,

"it is their right,

"it is their duty, to throw off such Government

"and provide new Guards for their future security."

People don't talk that way any more.

Beautiful. Huh.

No idea what you said.

It means if there's something wrong,

those who have the ability to take action

have the responsibility to take action.

HE SIGHS And I'm gonna steal it.

CLEARS THROAT

What?

I'm gonna steal the Declaration of Independence.

Uh...Ben?

This is huge.

Prison-huge.

-You are gonna go to prison, you know that.

-Yeah. Probably.

So that would bother most people.

Ian's gonna try to steal it.

And if he succeeds, he'll destroy the Declaration.

The fact is,

the only way to protect the Declaration is to steal it.

It's upside down.

I don't think there's a choice.

Ben, for God's sakes...

it's like stealing a national monument.

Uh, OK, it's, it's like stealing him.

It...it can't be done.

Not it shouldn't be done.

It CAN'T be done.

Let me prove it to you.

OK, Ben, pay attention.

I've brought you to the Library of Congress.

Why? Because it's the biggest library in the world.

Over 20 million books.

And they're all saying the same exact thing -

"Listen to Riley."

What we have here, my friend,

is an entire layout of the archives...

short of builder's blueprints.

You've got, er, construction orders,

phone lines, water and sewage - it's all here.

Now, when the Declaration's on display, OK,

it is surrounded by guards, and video monitors,

and little families from Iowa, and little kids

on their eighth-grade field trip.

And beneath an inch of bullet-proof glass

is an army of sensors and heat monitors that will go off

if someone gets too close with a high fever.

Now, when it's not on display,

it is lowered into a four-foot-thick concrete,

steel-plated vault

that happens to be equipped with an electronic combination lock,

and biometric access denial systems.

You know, Thomas Edison tried and failed nearly 2,000 times to develop

the carbonised cotton thread filament for the incandescent light bulb.

-Edison?

-And when asked about it, he said, "I didn't fail.

"I found out 2,000 ways how not to make a light bulb."

But he only needed to find one way to make it work.

The preservation room.

Enjoy. Go ahead.

Do you know what the preservation room is for?

Wha...? Delicious jams and jellies?

No, that's where they clean, repair and maintain

all the documents and the storage housings when they're not on display or in the vault.

Now, when the case needs work,

they take it out of the vault, directly across the hall,

and into the preservation room.

The best time for us, or Ian, to steal it would be during the gala this weekend

when the guards are distracted by the VIPs upstairs.

But we'll make our way to the preservation room,

where there's much less security.

Huh.

Well, if Ian...

er...

The preservation... Hmm.

The gala.

This might be possible.

It might.

COMPUTER BEEPS

Uh...

and we are in.

STATIC CRACKLING

There you are.

Hello.

BEEPS

STATIC CRACKLES

BEEPS

The hallway...

CRACKLES AND BEEPS

That's what I want.

Game on.

DINGS

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING

BEEPS

I'll buy that.

Cool.

This just came for you.

I hope it's not from Stan.

"For the woman who has everything else...

"Thanks for listening, Paul Brown."

RECORDER BEEPING

LASER WHINES

ALARM BEEPING

PHONE RINGING

Abigail Chase.

ELEVATOR DINGS

Hey, Mike.

'Let's do this by the book.'

'Hallway is secure.'

-Keep the document level.

-No problem.

ABIGAIL: 'What have you got?'

A heat sensor went off in the Declaration frame.

Run full diagnostics, then I want them all changed out.

Our evil plan is working.

VALET BLOWS WHISTLE

Ben, are you sure that we should do this?

BEN OVER HEADSET: 'Riley.'

Can you hear me?

'Unfortunately, yeah.

'We're all set in here.'

Go around to the front, and present your invitation.

You're gonna have to show ID.

Go ahead, man.

-Hey, how's it going?

-Howdy.

WOMAN: I need your invitation and your IDs, please.

'How do you look?'

-Not bad.

-'Mazel tov.'

This is it.

BRAKES SQUEAK

PLAYING CHAMBER MUSIC

BUZZ OF CONVERSATION

SHE SIGHS

For you.

-Oh, Mr Brown.

-Dr Chase.

'What are YOU doing here?'

Is that that hot girl?

'How does she look?'

I made a last-minute donation. A pretty big one.

Well, on that subject, thank you for your wonderful gift.

-Oh, you did get it?

-Yes.

Oh, good, OK.

Thank you. You know, I really couldn't accept

something like that normally, but I really want it, so...

'Well,'

-you needed it.

-'Come on, Romeo, get out of there.'

I have been wondering, though,

what the engraving indicated on, um,

the pipe that Bigfoot took.

Hi.

Here you go.

Oh, er, Dr Herbert, this is Mr Brown.

-Hi.

-Hi, there.

'Who's the stiff?'

Well, here, why don't you let me take that,

so you can take that off his hands.

Thank you.

A toast, yeah?

To high treason.

That's what these men were committing

when they signed the Declaration.

Had we lost the war,

they would've been hanged, beheaded,

drawn and quartered...

Oh! Oh, my personal favourite -

had their entrails cut out and burned!

Yeah.

So, here's to the men

who did what was considered wrong

in order to do what they knew was right.

What they knew was right.

Well...good night.

-Good night.

-Good night.

Yeah!

OK, go! Go!

This better work.

EXPLOSION

Clear!

-On.

-Door one.

30 seconds.

How's it look?

It's working.

It's working.

Unbelievable.

ELECTRONIC ZAPPING

Second door, 90 seconds.

GRUNTS

BEEP

BEEPING

-BUZZING

-Well done, boys.

BEEPING

We're in the elevator.

OK, I'm gonna turn off the surveillance cameras. Ready?

'In five, four,'

three...now.

Ben Gates,

you are now the Invisible Man.

-I'm here.

-'Give me the letters for her password.'

What you got for me?

Hit me with it.

A-E-F-G-

L-O-R-V-Y.

'Anagrams being listed.'

OK.

-HE SIGHS

-Top results...

"A glove fry", "a very golf,"

"Fargo levy," er, "Gravy floe", "Valey frog."

Also "ago fly rev,"

er, "Grove fly a", "are fly gov,"

"Era fly gov,"

-"Elf gov ray..."

-It's "valley forge".

"Valley forge?" I don't have that on my computer.

"Valley forge" - she pressed "E" and "L" twice.

Valley Forge was a turning point in the American Revolution.

Can I marry your brain?

'We're in.'

'Hello.'

Ben, you're doing great.

BEEP

MECHANICAL WHIRRING.

'Ben, pick it up.'

'You got about one...'

BEEP

We're on video.

I lost my feed.

-What?

-I lost my feed, Ben.

'I don't know where anyone is. I have nothing.'

I have n... Ben, I have nothing.

Get out of there. Get out of there now.

I'm taking the whole thing. I'll get it out in the elevator.

What are you talking... Is it heavy?

Shaw. Door three, one minute.

Gates.

What was that?

BELL DINGS

Who's shooting?

He's got the bloody map.

'Are you still there?'

-Ben?

-I'm in the elevator.

Ian's here.

There was, er, shooting.

I hate that guy.

Hey, Rebecca.

Do you have a Paul Brown on that list?

Paul Brown?

Uh, no, not here.

BELL DINGS

CHAMBER MUSIC PLAYING

Good night.

Are you trying to steal that?

Oh, er...

It's 35.

EXHALES For this?

-Yeah.

-That's a lot.

Hey, I don't make the prices.

Let's see, um...

CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY I have 32...

..fifty-seven?

We take Visa.

This is Mike. Sublevel three. I have an alert.

SING-SONGY: Where are you, Ben?

Where are you?

Stop talking. Start the van.

Ben, the...

er, the mean de-declaration lady's behind you.

Hey!

Oh, it's you. Hello.

Mr Brown, what's going on? What's that?

It's a souvenir.

Really?

Stop chatting and get in the van.

Code red, code red. We have a break-in.

Lock it down. Nobody leaves the building.

Get the FBI on the phone.

Did you enjoy the party?

Yeah.

ALARMS RINGING

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God, you did not?!

-No, no...

-Security!

Over here! Give me that!

It's yours. Take it.

Security! Over here!

Security!

-Got you!

-Go!

Viktor! Move!

-We can't just let her go!

-We can. Go!

Security, over here!

Wait, no, hold it! Hold it!

-What?

-Oh, bad.

-What do you want?

-Give me the document!

Bad, bad, bad!

Argh!

-Hand it to me!

-Let me go!

-Just bring her!

-No! No!

TYRES SCREECHING

Let's... Go! go!

TYRES SCREECHING

And just who might you be?

SIRENS BLARING

Once we catch them, what are we going to do?

I'm working on it.

All right, right.

Why don't you just pass me that document?

Then we can all go home.

HORN HONKING

-TYRES SCREECHING

-Whoa!

Oh, no.

We're skidding, skidding, skidding.

SCREAMING

-Oh, no.

-Holy Lord.

HORN HONKS

Help!

She falls, the document falls!

Get me next to her!

SHE SCREAMS

HORN HONKING

SHE WHIMPERS

SHE SCREAMS

-Thank you.

-No!

-HE CHUCKLES

-Got it. Go on.

Abigail!

Jump!

ABIGAIL SCREAMS

TYRES SCREECHING

-Lost 'em.

-That's all right.

This...is what we need.

Well done, Gates(!)

Well done(!)

You all right?

No, the... Those lunatics, they took...

You're not hurt, are you?

-You're all lunatics!

-You hungry?

-What?!

-Are you all right?

Still on edge from being shot at, but I'll be OK. Thanks for asking(!)

Yeah, well, I'm not all right!

-Those men have the Declaration of Independence!

-She lost it?!

They don't have it.

See? OK, now, can you please

-stop shouting?

-Give me that!

You're still shouting, and it's really starting to annoy.

Now, you'd do well, Dr Chase, to be a bit more civilised.

If this is the real one, what did they get?

A souvenir. I thought it'd be a good idea to have

a duplicate. Turned out I was right.

Actually, I had to pay for the souvenir

and the real one, so you owe me 35 plus tax.

Genius!

Who were those men?!

The guys we warned you were going to steal the Declaration.

And you didn't believe us.

We did the only thing we could do to keep it safe.

Verdammt! Give me that!

You know something? You're shouting again.

Pretty sure she was swearing, too.

Well, we probably deserve that.

SIRENS BLARING

TYRES SCREECHING

WHISTLES BLOWING

SADUSKY: Ladies and gentlemen...

Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Peter Sadusky.

I'm the agent in charge.

I want to reassure you, you are not in danger in any way.

If we all cooperate,

we'll get through this with as little frustration as possible.

Thank you.

Get positive IDs and search everyone,

including the security staff.

-If they refuse, detain 'em and get warrants.

-HENDRICKS CLEARS THROAT

Yes, Agent Hendricks? You have something?

-Um...

-This isn't the day for "um."

We got a tip several days ago that someone was going to steal the Declaration of Independence.

Do we have a name on the tipster?

There was no file opened.

We, er, didn't find the information credible.

SIGHS: How about now?

There is not a treasure map on the back

of the Declaration of Independence.

And there's no chance anyone can steal this...either.

I levelled with you

100 percent. Everything I told you was the truth.

I want that document, Mr Brown.

OK, my name's not Brown.

It's Gates. I levelled with you 98%.

Wait a minute, did you just say Gates?

Gates? You're that family with the conspiracy theory

-about the founding fathers?

-It's not a conspiracy theory.

Per se.

I take it back. You're not liars. You're insane.

There's a copy of the Declaration on display now?

-Yes, we decided to...

-Leave it there.

The guests know something happened, but they don't know what.

They got him with a taser at the service entrance.

He doesn't remember a thing. Also, we found bullet casings.

Did we get a description from the other guards?

-Which guards?

-The guards that were fired upon.

There weren't any other guards on patrol down here.

So...who was shooting?

Who were they shooting at?

And why weren't they getting along?

You can't seriously intend to run chemical tests

on the Declaration of Independence in the back of a moving van.

We have a clean room all set up - EDS suits,

-a particulate air filtration system, the whole shebang.

-Really?

We can't go back there.

What? Why not?

This is the guy.

Dr Herbert said Dr Chase introduced him as Mr Brown.

Not on the guest list.

The gift store clerk - she said he seemed...

Well, she said "flustered".

He tried to walk out with a copy of the Declaration without paying.

COMPUTER BEEPS He paid with a Visa.

Charge to Benjamin Gates.

A credit card slip?!

Dude, we're on the grid.

They're going to have your records from forever - they're going to have

-my records from forever.

-I know.

It's a matter of minutes before the FBI shows up at my front door.

-What do we do?

-We need those letters.

What letters?

You know, get off the road. Take a right.

What letters?

You have the original Silence Dogood letters?

Did you steal those, too?

We have scans of the originals. Quiet, please.

How'd you get scans?

Oh, I know the person who has the originals. Now, shush.

Why do you need them?

She really can't shut her mouth, can she?

I'll tell you what, look.

I will let you hold onto this

if you'll promise to shut up, please. Thank you.

-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.

Well, not to be a, er,

nudge, but you do realise 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.

But I didn't think I was going to have to tell my dad about it.

GRUNTS Hey, not cool.

Not cool!

Let me go!

OK. You're let go. Go, shoo.

I'm not going, not without the Declaration.

You're not going WITH the Declaration.

Yes, I am. I'm not letting it out of my sight, so I'm going.

Wait, you're not going with US with the Declaration.

-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.

HE SIGHS

RILEY GROANS

Clear.

What the...?

SADUSKY: Now we're getting somewhere.

DAWES: They're digital scans of letters to the editor of the "New England Courant."

Written 1722.

They're all from the same person,

"Your humble servant, Silence Dogood."

Gentlemen...

why is this word capitalised?

Because it's important?

Because it's a name.

OK, I got it.

When Ben Franklin was only 15 years old,

he secretly wrote 14 letters to his brother's newspaper

pretending to be a middle-aged widow named Silence Dogood.

These letters were written by Benjamin Franklin.

Looks OK.

Park a couple of blocks away.

How long do you think we got?

I'm going to give them a couple hours, at least.

I hope.

What do we do about her? I've got some duct tape in the back.

No, that won't be necessary. She won't be any trouble.

-Promise you won't be any trouble?

-I promise.

See? She's curious.

HENDRICKS: Here's what I got on Gates.

A degree in American history from Georgetown,

a degree in mechanical engineering at MIT,

Navy ROTC in Naval diving and salvage training centre.

Hmm. What in the world did this guy want to be when he grew up?

We keep our focus on Gates.

Run him to ground.

Compile a family and friends list,

closest relative first.

I want to find out who this guy is.

RINGS DOORBELL

Dad.

Where's the party?

Uh, well, er, I'm in a little trouble.

Is she pregnant?

Well, if she is, are you gonna leave the woman

carrying your grandchild standing out in the cold?

I look pregnant?

This better not be about that dumb treasure.

Well, have a... have a seat.

Make yourselves comfortable. There's some pizza.

-It's still warm, I think.

-Dad...

I need the Silence Dogood letters.

Yeah, it's about the treasure.

-And he dragged you two into this nonsense?!

-Literally.

I volunteered.

Well, unvolunteer...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? Him?!

Look, if you just give us the letters, we're gone.

You disappoint me, Ben.

Well, maybe that's the real Gates family legacy.

Sons who disappoint their fathers.

Get out. Take your troubles with you.

I found the "Charlotte."

The "Charlotte"?

You mean she was a ship?

Yeah, she was beautiful. It was amazing, Dad.

And the treasure?

HE SIGHS No, no...

but we found another clue that led us here.

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.

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.

He's probably right.

You don't even know if there is another clue.

Well, I can think of a way where we could find out.

And we can find out right now.

Looks like animal skin.

How old is it?

-At least 200 years.

-Really? You sure?

Pretty darn.

Now if this thing's in invisible ink, how do we look at it?

Throw it in the oven.

-No.

-No.

-Uh-uh.

Ferrous sulphate inks can only be brought out with heat.

Yes, but this is...

It's...very old. This is very old,

and we can't risk compromising the map.

You need a reagent.

Dad, it's really late. Why don't you get some rest?

-I'm fine.

-Lemons.

Uh, you can't do that.

But it has to be done.

Then someone who is trained to handle antique documents

is gonna do it.

OK.

OK.

Now, er, if there is a secret message...

it'll probably be marked, er, by a symbol

in the upper right-hand corner.

That's right.

I am so getting fired for this.

ABIGAIL SIGHS

I told you. You need heat.

BOTH BLOWING

See?

We need more juice.

We need more heat.

HAIRDRYER WHIRRING

That's not a map.

-Is it?

-More clues.

-What a surprise.

-Are those latitudes and longitudes?

-This is why we need the Silence Dogood letters.

-That's the key?

Yeah, "the key in Silence undetected."

Dad, can we have the letters now?

Will somebody please explain to me what these magic numbers are?

It's an Ottendorf cipher.

That's right.

Oh, OK. What's an Ottendorf cipher?

-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.

So, Dad, where are the letters?

You know, it's just by sheer happenstance

that his grandfather even found them.

-Dad.

-They were in an antique desk

-from the press room...

-Dad.

..of the "New England Courant," a newspaper.

Dad, where are the letters?

I don't have them, Son.

What?

I don't have them.

BEN CLEARS THROAT

Where are they?

I donated them to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

Time to go.

I still can't believe it. All...

all this time, no-one knew what was on the back.

The back of what?

-Wa-a-a-a-ah!

-No!

Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

-I know.

-Oh, my God. What have you done?

-This is, this is...

-I know!

This is the Declaration of Independence.

Yes. And it's very delicate.

You stole it?

Dad, I can explain, but I don't have time.

It was necessary. And you saw the cipher.

And that will lead to another clue,

and that will lead to another clue! 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.

-DOORBELL RINGS

-Come in!

I'm in here!

FBI , right?

You gonna untie me?

And you have no idea where he's going?

Well, wouldn't I have told you if I did?

-Would you?

-He tied me to a chair.

The garage is empty, but there is a Cadillac Deville

-registered to Patrick Gates.

-And he stole my car.

Don't worry, Mister Gates, we'll find your car. And your son.

Your dad's got a sweet ride.

I think we should change clothes.

I look kind of conspicuous, don't you think?

I'd love to go shopping, too, but we have no money.

Here, I took this from his house.

He usually tucks a few hundred dollars

somewhere between those pages.

-"Common sense." How appropriate.

-When we gonna get there?

I'm hungry. This car smells weird.

Excuse me.

Excuse me.

Oops, sorry, sir. Excuse me.

That's OK.

HORN HONKS

"S-S-A-N-D."

OK.

Huh. You sure this is right?

OK.

No, "N."

That is an "N."

Doesn't look like an "N."

You know, here.

Last one, OK?

One more dollar.

Thank you.

Go get the last four letters.

Go get 'em, chief. Come on.

OK. "The vision to see the treasured past

"comes as the timely shadow

"crosses in front of the house of pass and..."

"Pass and..." what?

"Pass and...."

What's going on?

-I'm not sure.

-What's up?

So you show up at your father's door,

and say you're in trouble and the first thing he assumes is I'm pregnant.

Is there a question in there?

I think there's an interesting story in there.

Well, my father thinks I've been a little too cavalier

-in my personal life.

-I see.

Let me ask you something. Have you ever told someone,

-not a relative, "I love you"?

-Yes.

More than one someone?

Yes.

Oh. Well, then my father would say you've been

a little too cavalier in your personal life, too.

So you get your sense of absolute certainty from him, do you?

Well, I'm sure I don't know what you mean.

Well, you're certain the treasure is real,

despite what anyone else thinks.

No, but I hope it's real.

I mean, I've dreamt it's real

since my grandfather told me about it.

But I want to hold it. I feel like I'm so close, I can taste it.

But I just... I just want to know

it's not just something in my head or in my heart.

People don't really talk that way, you know.

I know, but they think that way.

Hey.

-Did you get it? Riley?

-Oh, I got it.

"The vision to see the treasured past

"comes as the timely shadow

"crosses in front of the house of Pass and Stow."

Now, "Pass and Stow", of course, referring to...

-BOTH: The Liberty Bell, yeah.

-Why do you have to do that?

Well, John Pass and John Stow cast the bell.

OK. Well, then, what does the rest of this mean?

Wait a minute. "The vision to see the treasured past"

must refer to a way to read the map.

I thought the cipher was the map?

No, the cipher was a way to find the way to read the map.

And the way to read the map can be found

where the "timely shadow" crosses in front of the Liberty Bell.

Crosses in front of the house of the Liberty Bell -

Independence Hall.

Right, so "timely shadow,"

it's a specific time.

-What time?

-What time? What time?

Wait, wait, wait. You're going to love this.

Excuse me, can I see one of those, er, hundred-dollar bills

-I paid you with?

-No.

Oh, well, er, here, I have this diver's watch.

It's called a submariner. I dive with it.

It's actually quite valuable. You can use it as collateral.

-Whatever.

-Thank you.

On the back of a hundred-dollar bill is an etching of Independence Hall...

-Hello.

-..based on a painting done in -

thank you - in the 1780s, who in this...

the artist was actually a friend of Benjamin Franklin's.

-It's wonderful.

-Fascinating.

-Hold this.

-OK.

I'm not going anywhere.

Now, I think that if we look at this clock tower...

..we may find the specific time.

-What do you see?

-2:22.

-What time is it now?

-Almost 3:00.

-SHE SIGHS

-We missed it.

No, we didn't. We didn't miss it because, er...

You don't know this?

I-I know something about history that you don't know.

I'd be very excited to learn about it, Riley.

Hold on one second, let me just...

let me just take in this moment.

This is...this is cool.

Is this how you feel all the time?

Cos, you know... Except for now, of course.

-Riley!

-All right.

What I know is that daylight savings

wasn't established until World War I.

If it's 3:00 PM now, OK,

that means in 1776, it would be 2:00 PM.

-Let's go.

-Riley, you're a genius.

Yeah.

Do you actually know who the first person

to suggest daylight savings was?

BOTH: Benjamin Franklin.

Is this real?

Just tell me what you told my friend.

Just a bunch of letters. I can't remember.

Can you remember which ones

you were going to tell him next?

Yeah, here.

S-T-O-W.

Top results: Liberty Bell

and Independence Hall.

TOUR GUIDE: Imagine its impact

back in the 18th century.

It could have been seen for miles around,

which is exactly its purpose.

Because it served as a beacon,

as it were, for people to collect

and hear the reading of public documents.

Good stuff.

It gained a place in history on July 8th, 1776,

when the Liberty Bell tolled

for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.

Eventually, it was moved from its place

in Independence Hall steeple and given its own...

-Idiot.

-Who?

-Any questions?

-Me.

-What?

It's not here. It's there.

Come on.

What bell is this?

It's the centennial bell.

It replaced the Liberty Bell in 1876.

There it is.

All right. I'm going to go down there,

and you meet me in the signing room. OK? All right.

All right, let's go.

3:22. My idea.

TOUR GUIDE: In 1778, British troops...

-Hey, what'd you score?

-I found this.

Some kind of ocular device.

"The vision to see the treasured past."

Let me take this.

Oh, they're like early American X-ray specs.

Benjamin Franklin invented something like these.

Uh, I think he invented these.

Hmm. So, wh-what do we do with them?

We look through it.

-Here, help me.

-Uh-huh.

-Careful.

-Right.

HE SIGHS

What?

It's just that the last time this was here,

it was being signed.

Ben, there's another tour coming.

Turn it over. CLEARS THROAT

Careful.

Spectacles. CLEARS THROAT

SHOCKED SIGH

LAUGHS SOFTLY

What do you see?

What is it? Is it a treasure map?

It says "Heere at the wall."

Spelled with two E's. Take a look.

Huh.

Wow.

Why can't they just say "go to this place,

"and here's the treasure, spend wisely"?

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

-How'd they find us?

-Well, Ian has nearly unlimited resources.

-And he's smart.

-I don't think we can

get out of here without being spotted.

We don't want them to have the Declaration, or the glasses.

But we especially don't want them to have them both together.

So what do we do?

We separate the lock from the key. We're splitting up.

-Good idea.

-Really?

I'll take this. And those. You keep that.

Meet me at the car and call me if you have any problems.

Like if we get caught and killed?

Yeah, that would be a big problem.

Take care of her.

-I will.

-I will.

We're on him.

There he is.

-Let's walk this way.

-Wait up.

IAN: Shaw, look.

-There's the others.

-I got it.

Viktor, meet me at Fifth and Chestnut. Fifth and Chestnut.

They're heading your way.

HORNS HONKING

SHAW: Look out. Look out.

-Riley!

-There they are.