It was dark, almost like movie theatre dark when the movie wasn't playing and they had just turned off the lights. The air reeked of alcohol and…smoke? There was about twenty four stairs to go down before they reached the room with the cold, damp cement walls, the cob webs in the corners, and the six guys sitting around on couches and chairs smoking while looking amusingly at their guns on the table.
Gabriella looked briefly at Troy as they stood at the bottom of the steps looking at the guys who haven't looked up and around at them since they had their backs turned to the two.
Gabriella saw the worry and nervousness in Troy's eyes, but in one quick blink of an eye Troy managed to change his whole demeanor. His feet went from shifting his weight from one foot to the other to a study stance like a statue. His arm hairs managed to peak over as they were no longer standing up like a cats hair when they get scared. His jaw wasn't slightly ajar as it was now tightly set as his breathing could no longer be heard through his flared nostrils. And his eyes…weren't the calming blue that seemed to sparkle when he was thinking or laid back in a relaxed manner. No, they were glazed over with a cloud of sharpness.
"It's gonna be fine." Gabriella whispered even though it was more for her benefit than Troy's since he looked like he was more put together than she was. Gabriella felt her heartbeat speed up as she saw the back of the head of the person they were there for. The ring leader. The conductor. The playmaker. The guy who had answers. It was now just a matter of how they would get the answers they were seeking.
Gabriella felt Troy's pinky finger graze her little hand compared to the overly sized blue hoodie hanging off of her body in her tight blue jeans that would've showed off her curves if it wasn't for the hoodie that nearly reached three fourths of her thighs. Gabriella looked down at his hand and then up into his tan face. Her eyes were just adjusting as they had only been down there for a little less than ten seconds and she still could make out the little hairs on Troy's face from not shaving yet.
"You said we're together." Troy whispered as his hand grabbed onto hers and Gabriella didn't know if she should be feeling the sparks run through her arm and through her body. After all they did kiss, and she let down her guard and kissed back, but…now? At all times she was soon coming to terms that she might actually like Bolton…Troy Bolton?
Gabriella nodded silently as she was becoming more nervous. Why was she all of a sudden nervous now when she had done this before by herself? Gabriella felt her legs start walking with Troy a step behind her and their hands still linked.
"DAMN IT!" A guy exclaimed as he threw done a set of cards and stood up abruptly while muttering something.
Gabriella and Troy shared a look as the guy got up and slammed himself down on an empty beat up looking couch that you would see in a junkyard, with it's used to be burgundy cushions now tearing and ripping at the seams, the arms of the couch falling in and limp, while one of the legs of the couch must have been broken since it wobbled slightly as he sat down.
"Look what the cat dragged in." Chris's voice could be heard as he still had his back turned towards Gabriella and Troy.
Gabriella's grip instantly tightened on Troy's hand and she was pretty sure that she was flooding Troy's hand with her sweaty, nervous hand. Gabriella and Troy froze in their spots as the five guys that weren't Chris shot their eyes up from the table or the floor and looked at them with a creepy crooked smirk on their faces.
It seemed one by one each and every one of them stood up and narrowed their eyes slowly. As if trying to intimidate them as they reached for their guns or knives, or even both in some cases. All the while Chris just stayed with his back to them.
"Now boys, let's wait to see who it is." Chris's voice dripped with the tone that you use to seem pleasant even though everyone could see right past it and discover that you're actually a real bastard or bitch.
Some of the guys lowered their knives but the guns were still pointed directly at them. Gabriella swallowed a dry patch in her mouth as her lips increasingly got dry. "I thought you had an in?" Troy asked out of the side of his mouth at what he thought was a mere whisper.
"Now…now…now…" Chris said in a 'tsk, tsk, tsk' tone. He stood up in saggy blue jeans with a chain at the side, and his famous gray beater. He kept his back to them and Gabriella could just imagine his sinister smirk, the twinkle in his eyes that he got just talking about death, the silver tooth in the bottom left of his mouth from where Gabriella knew his dad punched him. "I don't know who you think you are, but…" Gabriella saw the shine that past through Troy's eyes as she quickly looked to where Troy was staring at and saw Chris's special knife that resembled a chefs knife graze over Chris's palm as he played with it in his hands. "We don't keep secrets."
Gabriella knew this was her turn to step in. It had been quite a while since she was here, but she knew Chris had a temper and she wasn't about to test it. "Chris." Gabriella called out in more of a demand than question to speak.
Chris turned on his heel and for the first time Gabriella saw more than one silver tooth in his crooked smirk that still sent nervous shivers up and down her spine. His crooked smirk turned into a smile that was just as bad as he raised both of his eye brows. "Now there's only one girl that I allow to call me by my name."
Gabriella nodded her head as she didn't dare look away from Chris as there were still five guns pointed at them.
"And that girl disappeared a long time ago." Chris continued and Gabriella didn't dare correct him on how many years exactly. She knew that Chris never liked to be outsmarted and she wasn't about to do that. It would be like entering the lion's den without a weapon.
"You want to tell me the number one thing in life?" Chris asked as Gabriella felt his eyes boring into her body as he looked her up and down. And no matter that she was wearing a hoodie that was three sizes too big, he could get turned on by anything.
Gabriella felt Troy shift his weight from one foot to the other as their now both sweaty hands stayed clasped together as if their lives depended on it. And even though to some people this situation didn't seem so bad seeing as there could be worst ones, it still was kind of scary no matter who you were to have five guns pointed and ready to shoot at you and you having nothing to defend yourself with except your partner. And that was just not an option. The only thing that was comforting Gabriella was the little voice in her head telling her that Troy was smart enough to bring in his gun, but he didn't have his suit jacket on…
Gabriella narrowed her eyes. He did the same thing with everyone who stopped by. Gabriella should know, she once had a spot on his couch as guys would come down here and answer the same question every time and if they got it wrong then it was simple…they wouldn't wake up the next day.
"You're gonna have to do better than that." Gabriella said as her confidence was somewhat building. "It's power."
Chris let out a little laugh as he turned his head to look at his five goons and then settled his eyes on Gabriella and Troy again. "And V is back gentlemen." Chris announced as he flicked his hand and they all sat down again except him. "But the question is…why?"
Gabriella smirked, it was time to put on the act she created her first year of college. "I came back and I just had to see my favorite person." Gabriella hesitantly took a step closer causing Troy to move with her.
Chris narrowed his eyes. "And him? I do believe I have strict rules on this." Gabriella could hear the venom in his voice and it was now that she was wishing that Troy would've just stayed in the car. But it was too late now and she would have to come up with something.
"Play nice." Gabriella said in her own warning voice as she reluctantly let go of Troy's hand and stood in front of him, moving a little closer to Chris. "It's been a long time, things change."
Gabriella heard Chris click his tongue as his dark eyes turned even more darker. Gabriella saw him flex his hand in a fist pose and the veins bulge out in his arms.
"What mess did you get yourself in?" Chris asked with a slight tint of annoyance in his voice as Gabriella smiled up at Troy indicating that they were in.
"Just need information." Gabriella said. "Plus…you are my guy." Gabriella knew exactly how to sweeten him up as Chris smirked and stepped aside from his spot. He put his arms out and motioned for them to take a seat that no one else was on. Gabriella nodded her head as her eyes connected one last time with Troy's before they stepped all the way into the pit of defenselessness.
Troy was quiet throughout this whole thing. He had followed all the rules Gabriella told him. He had found it hard, but bit his tongue seeing that Gabriella seemed to know what she was doing. Of course it killed him that he wasn't in control when he was used to doing things his way, but he just had to trust…no, he had to believe Gabriella was doing the right thing. It was still too early for him to trust her, even though she seemed pretty trustworthy, but Troy had seen it all. He had seen multiple of people that looked and seemed trustworthy only to have them end up in jail for kidnapping, killing, and terrorism.
Every guy was smoking a cigar or cigarette except Chris as they sat opposite of him with just a low coffee table in between them which held some gun parts, bullets, knives, playing cards, and drinks. Troy was pretty sure that his lungs were probably black now as his eyes kept burning from the smoke and he wondered how Gabriella was doing this.
She was putting on such a brave show that it made him admire her more. And he kind of liked the way she looked in his clothes. Which made him think back to the kiss they shared that morning…well yesterday since it was more like 1:30 a.m.
"You said something about information." Chris more like stated than questioned s he leaned forward in his seat and his shirt came up a little to show off the gun in his pocket which Troy found to be a stupid spot.
"About Jenson…" Gabriella trailed off as Troy listened intently. He wasn't about to open his big mouth--unless necessary--and ruin this conversation so they were back to square one.
"You know the price." Chris pointed out slyly while running his palms together slowly and eyeing Gabriella and Troy up again.
"It depends on what you have for me…um…us." Gabriella corrected as Troy again felt Gabriella tighten her grip on his hand. He didn't know what it was about her, but something from the first time he saw her to now changed. At first he found her to be annoying and just too perfect, but maybe that was his own insecurities talking about losing that one girl a couple of weeks ago compared to Gabriella's clean streak. And then halfway through training he was seeing something different. It was something he saw in himself…determination.
And something about that determination really attracted himself to her. Troy snapped his head back into the conversation going on in front of him, not wanting to miss something. "That's a person I haven't talked about in a while now." Chris leaned back lazily as if this was some big joke and Troy found his blood starting to heat up at how laid back he seemed to be taking this.
Gabriella crossed her legs as she kinked an eye brow at Chris. "Then I guess today's my lucky day."
Chris let out a husky laugh. "Honey, everyday's your lucky day when you talk to Chris."
Troy had to fight every urge in his body once Chris started acting like his cocky bastard self and referred to himself as the third person.
"Do you know anything about Jenson?" Gabriella asked as if Chris hadn't said anything in the first place.
"Do I know anything about Jenson?" Chris laughed again mocking the question as Gabriella shut her eyes and sighed. "This is my town. Maybe you've forgotten after disappearing off the map, but I know everything that happens here." Chris boasted.
Troy couldn't help himself as he let out a quiet, small grunt and a roll of the eyes. He felt Gabriella stiffen next to him as she registered what Troy just did and they both saw Chris's offended face slowly turning red as his dark eyes turned pitch black to look hollow.
"Do you have a problem boy?!" Chris demanded.
Take it back, take it back, Troy said over and over in his head. "I just meant…" What did he mean? Well firstly, Jenson is a lot higher up on the power level compared to this guy, but Troy wasn't about to say that so it wouldn't make since if Jenson went through him to get what he wanted. Troy was guessing Jenson could take these guys out in less than a minute flat. "uh…his other cases." Troy said as Gabriella let go of his hand fully now.
"What?" Chris spat out with a dark, deep, voice that would scare any one as his followers got their guns ready again.
Troy sighed, "I just meant…"
"He meant what about Jenson's cases? You know Chris, you're good at remembering them. So what did Jenson do differently with this case than let's say…the Montez case?" Gabriella poked around as Troy looked down at her trying to meet her gaze, but Gabriella wasn't granting him access to her eyes as she kept them on Chris's. But Troy had to hand it to her, she managed to distract Chris away from him while sweet talking him and asking important questions.
Chris sighed as he ran his hand through his hair and eyed Troy again suspiciously before glaring at Gabriella and letting out a huff. "He didn't leave a note." Chris finally said as if debating with himself
"A note?" Gabriella repeated again as a question more to herself but Troy was guessing she said it too loud.
"Listen, I'm not gonna give you information if you're just gonna repeat it." Chris said in an annoyed tone.
"No, I didn't…just…" Gabriella sighed. "So what does that mean?" Gabriella finally just gave up with defending herself on that one and got right back to the questions. Troy felt his hand go to her knee and give it a light squeeze in a reassuring way.
Troy felt Chris's eyes on his hand as he slowly pulled it back from Gabriella and Chris continued, "It means maybe he doesn't want the girl in the first place. He wants something bigger." Chris ran his hand through his hair again. "I don't know what, but he has taken over various properties around town, I only know of one."
Troy felt his forehead crease in confusion. "Which property?" He heard himself ask as he instantly regretted it again as he felt Gabriella wince next to him as Chris slammed his fist down on the coffee table and jumped up with anger. Obviously this guy had some serious anger problems.
Gabriella stood straight up too as she gripped Troy's arm and started pulling him up until Troy got the idea after a second that she wanted him to stand too. The guns were pointed at them again as Chris was breathing heavily and for the first time Troy noticed Gabriella was still clutching onto his arm.
"Did you not tell him the rules?!" Chris shouted at Gabriella as he extended a finger while pointing it at Troy.
"We're sorry…I'm sorry Chris, just let me get him out of here and there will be no more questions." Gabriella pleaded as Chris gave her no response but Troy felt Gabriella jabbing him in the back with one of her hands telling him to walk around the coffee table and to the doors again. "Thanks." Gabriella mumbled quietly as she tried her best to get Troy out of there as soon as possible.
Right when Troy thought their problems were done with as they reached the stairs, Chris's booming voice echoed through their ears. "V! We have some business that needs to be taken care of."
"Come on." Troy whispered in an urging voice, taking Gabriella's forearm in his hand and trying to get her to move up the stairs. He was not going to let her stay by herself with this guy, much less the other guys too.
"Bolton…" It was then that Troy realized she was only acting when she was holding his hand, when she covered for him and his big mouth, when she ushered him out of there. It was all an act and it all registered in his mind as he heard his last name come from her mouth. "I can't just leave like this. What if we need information in the future?" Gabriella countered as quietly as she could.
"V! I swear to God, my boys have been itching to shoot someone and if that someone is you then so be it!" Chris hissed from his spot.
Troy looked from Chris to Gabriella. He didn't know if he would regret this sooner or later, but he would regret this. "I'll be in the car." Troy breathed out. "Don't." He said sharply, "Be long."
He walked up the stairs and tried hearing what was going on but he soon realized this was just something he was going to have to let Gabriella do. After all this was her idea and how to get information, he was just hoping that she will be able to get information about the place Jenson is using as one of his many work spaces.
Troy walked past Sid, not looking back to see the glare he was being sent as he quickly reached the flickering lights of the laundry mat and rushed out of there and to his car where he knew his gun was and various other weapons.
Troy slammed his door shut and turned on the car seeing that it was 2 in the morning now. He would give Gabriella ten minutes before going back in there with his gun. Ten minutes should be enough for getting a tad bit more information, that is if his big mouth didn't ruin anything.
Troy sighed, hoping Gabriella got a location because Jenson worked in various places. He wasn't like a typical crazy mad man who liked power. He would work in mansions, that had various rooms and security, he would work in ware houses, which also held traps and faulty wiring, and sometimes he would just take the thing he was after, leave a note and skip town, but Troy had a feeling Jenson would be sticking around with this one. Why would he take the Vice President's daughter and bring her to LA without a reason?
Troy heard a door closing as he whipped his head around to look out his car door to see a dark hooded figure walking over to the car. It wasn't until he saw one of Gabriella's curls blowing out from the hood on the side of her face that he realized it was indeed Gabriella. Gabriella was walking with her arms crossed across her chest, with her head down, and the hoodie covering her head.
She walked around the back of the car as Troy leaned over and opened the door for her as he saw that the time was 2:13. Gabriella got into the car silently as she kept the hood up and Troy figured she wasn't going to give him his article of clothing back anytime soon.
They sat there in silence as Troy waited to see if Gabriella was going to tell him what was up. "Um…" Troy started as more of a question to start the conversation.
Gabriella looked out the window. "I got a location." Gabriella said and Troy could tell that her eyes were narrow as she turned to look straight out the windshield again.
Troy felt himself smiling, "That's great. Are you okay?"
Gabriella missed a beat as she still looked away from Troy. "Yeah, we got a location, couldn't be better." Her tone totally contradicted what she just said.
"Look at me." Troy demanded softly as he leaned in his seat to get a better view, but Gabriella leaned closer to her window.
"Just drive to headquarters and we'll suit up." Gabriella instructed in a quiet tone.
Troy wanted to know what was wrong. He thought he deserved to know sine he was her partner. "Look at me Montez." Troy said a little stronger as his hand gripped her arm. Still there was no response as Gabriella's stubborn side was coming out. "Look at me Brie." Troy said in a barely audible voice as his new nickname just poured out of his mouth on accident. He hadn't even been thinking of a nickname for her finding that usually they were extremely cheesy, but this one seemed different. He liked the sound of it in his voice.
If his demands didn't get Gabriella to look at him, it was the nickname as she turned slowly in her seat and looked at Troy. He still couldn't see her whole face as her hair and the hoodie that was once again three sizes too big covered it, casting a dark shadow on one side of her face…wait, only one side?
Troy tentatively reached up with both arms and pulled the hoodie off and Gabriella shut her eyes as if he wasn't staring at the cut and hand size bruise on the left side of her face.
"It's not that bad." Gabriella said softly.
"What happened?" Troy asked as his hand hesitantly and carefully reached up and Gabriella flinched a little as Troy's hand traced the outside of the dark bluish and purplish bruise that probably could be covered with make up, but it's not like Troy would know.
Gabriella sighed as she opened her eyes and pulled away from Troy as if nothing happened and she wasn't just letting him touch her face. She reached over her side to buckle herself in. "Next time…" Gabriella said in a sturdy voice compared to the quiet one she was using a minute before this and Troy knew that she was putting on a strong act. "When I tell you to stay in the car, just stay in the car."
Troy's eyes went wide as Gabriella sat stiffly in the seat. He didn't know what to say. Was this really his fault for insisting that he go along with her? But he did it for a good reason, but maybe…if he just gave Gabriella a chance to show him that she was just as capable as he was then that wouldn't of happened.
"Um…so location?" Troy asked changing the subject for now, if only they knew that they weren't the only two going to that destination.
