“Oh, right. I suppose you could do that,” said Mosby. “If you were ever going to be outside again.”
Beck and I both panicked just a little when he said that.
“What?!?”
“Sorry, kids.” Mosby cocked back the hammer on his pistol. “You and your parents have caused Professor Hingleburt and me enough grief. We have other friends standing by topside. They are armed with a welding torch to seal that manhole cover and a wheelbarrow full of fast-drying cement to cover it up. Once I’m out, you two will be trapped inside this tomb forever.” He gestured toward the other documents in their hard-shell cases. “At least you have some excellent reading material to keep you company while you starve to death.”
I’d heard enough.
“Well, if you really want this Bill of Rights, guess you better hurry up that ladder.”
“What?” said Mosby.
“You don’t want somebody else to find it before you do!”
I spun around and bopped the button.
The framed document shot up the freight elevator tracks, fast!
CHAPTER 61
Little Milton Mosby scampered up the side of the well like a squirrel gunning for a bird feeder.
“Don’t you two try to follow me!” he hollered. His voice echoed around in the narrow tunnel like an annoying bell.
Then he fired two quick shots behind him.
They rang even louder.
Beck and I gave him a few seconds. Then I ripped the radio off my belt.
“Storm? Tommy? Uncle Richie? Did you guys hear all that? He confessed! Professor Hingleburt is in on it, too!”
I waited for their reply.
There was none.
“You guys? Hello? He’s going to seal us down here like rats in a well!”
Still nothing.
“Great,” said Beck. “The batteries must’ve died in the radio.”
“Come on,” I said.
“Where are we going?”
“Back up those rusty ladder rungs. He may have quick-drying cement but it can’t be that quick drying!”
“He’ll just lift up the lid and shoot us, Bick!”
“We’ll dodge the bullets!”
“What?”
“Hey, Beck—believe you can and you’re halfway there!”
Beck rolled her eyes. “Now you sound like Uncle Richie.”
“Actually, I think I’m quoting Teddy Roosevelt.”
“Same thing,” said Beck. “Come on. I’ll lead the way.”
She dashed over to the ladder.
“You sure you don’t want me to go up first?” I asked.
“Yes, Bick. No way do I want to be behind you, your feet, or your farts! Let’s go.”
We scampered up the ladder. Beck took the lead. I followed. As we neared the top, I heard muffled voices on the other side of the manhole cover.
“Is that Mosby? Do you hear welding?”
“No,” said Beck, who was closer to the exit than me.
“How about wet concrete slopping all over the lid? Do you hear that?”
“Nope,” said Beck, cheerfully. “All I hear is Tommy and Uncle Richie.”
“Huh?”
“They’re making some kind of speech.”
I heard a metallic bonk.
“And guess what?” said Beck. “The manhole cover isn’t sealed.”
“I’ve got it,” I heard Storm say. Then I heard her grunt.
Beck crawled out of the hole first, of course, but I was right behind her.
And we saw Tommy and Uncle Richie talking to a crowd of people, all of them surrounding Milton Mosby, Professor Hingleburt, a welder, and dude with a wheelbarrow full of gray mud!
“We the people created this country!” said Uncle Richie.
“Totally,” added Tommy. He was holding up the Bill of Rights for all to see.
“And,” Uncle Richie continued, his voice booming, “we the people will protect our nation and its promise of freedom from all enemies, foreign and domestic—such as these traitors right here!”
“Bully!” cried the crowd. (I figured they must’ve learned it from Uncle Richie while Beck and I were laddering our way up that tunnel.)
“I wasn’t doing anything except taking an evening stroll,” said Mosby, trying to wipe the rust off his hands and the dirt off his pants.
“And I was here doing research,” said Professor Hingleburt.
“Actually,” said Storm, “you were also making a full and complete confession, Mr. Mosby, in which you implicated Professor Hingleburt in your twisted scheme.”
“Ha! I did no such thing!”
“Yes, you did, dude,” said Tommy.
“We all heard it,” said Gus. “Quite thorough and illuminating.”
“And,” Storm continued, “thanks to the radio my brave brother Bick was wearing on his belt, we were able to record that confession and immediately turn it over to the FBI.”
Gus and Rachel came marching over. They had changed into their park ranger uniforms. They were accompanied by two DC metro police and a troop of folks in FBI windbreakers.
“You’re coming with us!” barked Gus, sounding grumpy. “And you can take back your no-good hearing aid!”
He tossed it at Mosby.
But the little guy couldn’t catch it.
Because the police were already cuffing his hands behind his back.
CHAPTER 62
Professor Hingleburt was arrested that night, too.
The welder and construction worker were let go with a warning: “Don’t work for sleazy secret-society traitors! They’re nefarious and never pay their bills.”
La Brosse, the famous forger, slipped away to forge another day.
At Gus and Rachel’s request, Beck and I went back down to the deep vault below the Washington Monument to re-install the original copy of the Bill of Rights in its secure location. They sent it back down to us on the freight elevator. Tommy and Storm helped them re-sod the lawn we’d sliced open by sending the document upstairs to reveal the conspiracy against America and its fundamental freedoms.
Professor Hingleburt was unmasked as a phony and a fraud. He was the lead story on every cable news network for three whole days.
Mom and Dad were super-proud of us. And Uncle Richie.
“You always were my favorite uncle,” Mom told him at the opening of the Smithsonian exhibit about the lost City of Paititi.
“And you were always my favorite niece, Susan.”
They hugged. It was kind of sweet. If you like that sort of mushy stuff.
The exhibit at the Smithsonian was a huge success. All the critics gave it rave reviews. There were lines around the block of ticket holders eager to see the interactive displays and dioramas.
“Our job here is done,” said Dad, the next morning over breakfast in our apartment. He sounded satisfied and relieved.
“Do you know what that means?” said Mom, with a sly twinkle in her eye.
“We don’t have to stay here in Washington?” I said.
“We can go on another treasure hunt?” added Bick.
“We can do what we were always meant to do?” said Storm. “Explore the world? Go places we’ve never been before?”
“That’s right,” Dad said with a laugh.
Tommy sighed. “I guess that means I have to say good-bye to the love of my life.”
“Which one?” joked Mom.
Tommy sighed again. “All of them.”
“Buck up, Thomas!” said Uncle Richie, bursting into our apartment. “There are new worlds to see and new hearts to conquer. Plus, I brought brekkie in a skillet.”
“Huh?” I said.
“Oh, it’s a marvelous Melbourne mash-up of eggs and emu sausage. A wonder from the land down under!”
“Australia?” said Beck.
“Right you are, Beck. Have you children ever heard of Lasseter’s fable
d gold reef?”
“But nobody has ever found it,” added Dad. “It is the most famous lost mine in all of Australia.”
“Yes, indeed,” said Uncle Richie. “Why, it almost reminds me of the famous Lost Ship of the Desert, which they said no one could ever find.”
“Until we did!” shouted Tommy.
“That’s right!”
I turned to Mom and Dad. “You guys? We need to go to Australia!”
“And,” said Storm, “Uncle Richie has to come with us!”
Mom and Dad grinned. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Bully!” shouted Uncle Richie. “I have a reputation in need of repair in Australia.”
“Then let’s go repair it!” I said.
“Bully!” shouted everybody else.
Yep. We were all on our way to Australia. And who knows? Maybe Antarctica, too. They were the only two continents we hadn’t explored.
And guess what? You get to come with us!
Pack up your pens, Beck. And learn how to draw koala bears and kangaroos!
Look out, Oz. Here come the Kidds!
JAMES PATTERSON received the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community from the National Book Foundation. He holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers, including Middle School, I Funny, and Jacky Ha-Ha, and his books have sold more than 385 million copies worldwide. A tireless champion of the power of books and reading, Patterson created a children’s book imprint, JIMMY Patterson, whose mission is simple: “We want every kid who finishes a JIMMY Book to say, ‘PLEASE GIVE ME ANOTHER BOOK.’” He has donated more than one million books to students and soldiers and funds more than four hundred Teacher Education Scholarships at twenty-four colleges and universities. He has also donated millions of dollars to independent bookstores and school libraries. Patterson invests proceeds from the sales of JIMMY Patterson Books in pro-reading initiatives.
CHRIS GRABENSTEIN is a New York Times bestselling author who has collaborated with James Patterson on the I Funny, Jacky Ha-Ha, Treasure Hunters, and House of Robots series, as well as Max Einstein: The Genius Experiment, Word of Mouse, Katt vs. Dogg, Pottymouth and Stoopid, Laugh Out Loud, and Daniel X: Armageddon. He lives in New York City.
JULIANA NEUFELD is an award-winning illustrator who has also worked with James Patterson on the Treasure Hunters and the House of Robots series. Her drawings can be found in books, on album covers, and in nooks and crannies throughout the internet. She lives in Toronto.
JIMMY PATTERSON BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
JAMES PATTERSON PRESENTS
How to Be a Supervillain by Michael Fry
How to Be a Supervillain: Born to Be Good by Michael Fry
How to Be a Supervillain: Bad Guys Finish First by Michael Fry
Sci-Fi Junior High by John Martin and Scott Seegert
Sci-Fi Junior High: Crash Landing by John Martin and Scott Seegert
The Unflushables by Ron Bates
Ernestine, Catastrophe Queen by Merrill Wyatt
Scouts by Shannon Greenland
THE MIDDLE SCHOOL SERIES BY JAMES PATTERSON
Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life
Middle School: Get Me Out of Here!
Middle School: Big Fat Liar
Middle School: How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli, and Snake Hill
Middle School: Ultimate Showdown
Middle School: Save Rafe!
Middle School: Just My Rotten Luck
Middle School: Dog’s Best Friend
Middle School: Escape to Australia
Middle School: From Zero to Hero
Middle School: Born to Rock
THE I FUNNY SERIES BY JAMES PATTERSON
I Funny
I Even Funnier
I Totally Funniest
I Funny TV
I Funny: School of Laughs
The Nerdiest, Wimpiest, Dorkiest I Funny Ever
THE TREASURE HUNTERS SERIES BY JAMES PATTERSON
Treasure Hunters
Treasure Hunters: Danger Down the Nile
Treasure Hunters: Secret of the Forbidden City
Treasure Hunters: Peril at the Top of the World
Treasure Hunters: Quest for the City of Gold
Treasure Hunters: All-American Adventure
THE HOUSE OF ROBOTS SERIES BY JAMES PATTERSON
House of Robots
House of Robots: Robots Go Wild!
House of Robots: Robot Revolution
THE DANIEL X SERIES BY JAMES PATTERSON
The Dangerous Days of Daniel X
Daniel X: Watch the Skies
Daniel X: Demons and Druids
Daniel X: Game Over
Daniel X: Armageddon
Daniel X: Lights Out
OTHER ILLUSTRATED NOVELS AND STORIES
Max Einstein: The Genius Experiment
Max Einstein: Rebels With a Cause
Unbelievably Boring Bart
Dog Diaries
Not So Normal Norbert
Pottymouth and Stoopid
Katt Vs. Dogg
Laugh Out Loud
Jacky Ha-Ha
Jacky Ha-Ha: My Life Is a Joke
Public School Superhero
Word of Mouse
Give Please a Chance
Give Thank You a Try
Big Words for Little Geniuses
Cuddly Critters for Little Geniuses
The Candies Save Christmas
For exclusives, trailers, and other information, visit jimmypatterson.org.