Chapter Thirteen: Signature.

September 4th:

I checked the time on my watch; it was five minutes past two o'clock in the afternoon. I stood next to the dolphin fountain outside the front doors. I could see a guard on the other side of the door and I counted fifteen security cameras just on the front side of the building and I was pretty sure there was one in the dolphin's mouth.

I saw Zach walking down the sidewalk to my right as he turned the corner to the fountain.

"Sorry I'm late, I got held up," he said as he came into step beside me and we walked towards the door.

I was met with a cool freshness as I stepped into the clean room. The guard looked us over and checked our IDs before we went over to the desk on the back wall.

"We're here to see Director Hayden Brooks. We have a two fifteen meeting." I looked at the clock on the wall behind the girl and saw that it said 2:11.

"You'll want to go to the left into those elevators and up to the fifth floor. He'll meet you in the conference room; fifth one on the right." She pointed over to the elevators and I thanked her.

As we turned to go that way I saw another smaller fountain pushed back into the corner that had sea turtles this time. We made our way into the elevator in silence and it wasn't until the doors closed that Zach turned to me.

"Did you ever imagine that we'd end up here?"

"No I didn't, sometimes I didn't even know if I'd make it home let alone going to a meeting to join Roseville Intelligence." I shook my head in disbelief as I looked over at him.

"I always knew that I wanted to help people from the time I was little, but I never imagined it would be by serving my Country and going into this field." I nodded and heard the ding of the fourth floor as we passed.

I felt Zach's hand brush against mine just as the elevator dinged again and the doors slid open revealing a long hallway filled with rooms on either side. To the right, windows lined the back of the offices and looked out at the town. I heard Zach take a deep breath at the same time I did and we stepped out together onto the plush carpeting.

When we reached the fifth room on the right the door was open and a middle-aged man sat at one end of a small table. There were two swivel chairs at the other end of the table and two glasses of water. Zach knocked on the open door just to let him know we were there. The man looked up at us and stood before he made his way over to us.

"Zachary Goode and Cameron Morgan," he said as he shook both of our hands.

"It's nice to meet you Director Brooks," I said as he motioned us over to the two empty chairs.

"Please call me Hayden." He sat down in his chair and took a sip of his water. I looked out the window for a brief moment to see a car pass by on the street. The town of Roseville is so beautiful. "Now let's discuss business." He folded his arms on the table. "You both were interested in doing fieldwork, correct?"

"Yes, sir," we both replied and he nodded his head. He had a pad of paper and a pencil and wrote something down.

"Okay, so since you guys are both interested in doing fieldwork the basis is that you'll be sent on an assignment for a certain period of time; some assignments will be longer than others. Sometimes you will be paired up with each other, sometimes you will have other partners, and sometimes you will be sent on solo missions.

"Each assignment will have its risks, no assignment will be risk free, so you'll have to keep that in mind in signing up."

"That won't be a problem, sir, we were both Army."

"Ah, yes I think that was mentioned in our earlier conversation. So, with that said we can move on to other things." Zach took a sip of his water and I could feel his leg nervously bouncing under the table.

"You'll each be given your own office just down the hall. You'll start out doing some assignments in the building and you'll have to do some training, so we know what attributes you excel in and what ones are weaker for each of you; that will help in deciding what sort of assignments we'll send you on in the future."

Hayden clicked his pen against his notepad as he spoke. Zach rubbed his hands against his pants leg and took another sip of water. I placed my hand over his and ran my fingers across his. He flipped his hand over and laid my hand over his. He gently squeezed my hand as if in appreciation and I squeezed back.

"So, if there are any more questions I'd be happy to answer them, or we could move on." Zach and I both shook our heads and Hayden nodded again. "Okay then," he said as he grabbed his brief case that had been sitting against the edge of the table. He snapped it open and pulled out two packets of paper. He slid the two packets over to us with two pens.

"You don't have to read every single page, the most important ones are the ones with the highlighted numbers on the bottom of the pages. You'll have to sign the places with the X's next to them and if you wish to read the rest of the packet you'll have two weeks to decide if this is really what you want to do."

Zach and I both nodded and I heard both of our pens click. Zach quickly signed on the X's, then glanced over and watched me sign mine. When we were both done we clicked our pens closed and put it on top of the packets. I slid mine back over to Hayden, and Zach did the same as Hayden collected both of them and placed them back in his briefcase.

We stood up, shook his hand and thanked him, then turned and headed out to the elevators. Zach was silent the whole way down; his eyes were focused on the closed elevator doors in front of us. He never said a word as we made our way through the lobby and I waved to the girl at the front desk. The guard opened the door for us and I thanked him and walked out in front of Zach. I was just past the fountain when Zach finally spoke.

"It was you," he said, no question in his voice. I turned around to see that he stood at the edge of the fountain, not moving. His stare was directed right at me and his hands hung down at his sides. I swallowed.

"It was me, what?" I asked even though I knew what he was referring to.

"I saw your signature when we were in the meeting; I remember it from the signature that's on the drawing I received when I was in the hospital. When I got shot on the hill over Tayma, you're the one who saved me." I nodded my head. He walked over to where I was. "Why didn't you say anything? You had a chance when I had a flashback to say that you were the one that put pressure on my wound, and the night Bex went missing and I told you about what happened you had a chance to speak up and say you were the one who saved me. You knew I was wondering where she ended up, if she was even alive and you never said anything. Why, why didn't you say anything?" He wasn't angry, but he looked confused, and a little hurt as if he didn't understand why I wouldn't tell him something as simple as that.

"I wanted to, Zach. That night when you told me what happened and how you kept having the memory of it and not knowing. I wanted to tell you that it was me, so you'd know that I was okay and alive, but I just couldn't. You have to understand, Zach, when I saved you I was saving a stranger, someone I thought I wouldn't see again. When you came to Roseville I didn't know why you were here and you didn't even know who I was.

"How would I go about saying that I saved your life when you didn't know me. 'Hey you don't know me, but I saved your life. If it weren't for me you'd be dead.' I was an unknown hero and that was fine with me, the only part that mattered was that I saved you; I didn't care about the fame of saving you."

"You could have told me later when we got to know each other better. You could have said something when I told you about what happened. All this time you knew who I was and you knew what happened, but you didn't say anything."

"I know, and I almost did, but by that time I didn't know how to tell you. I'd fallen for you and I didn't want you to like me because you knew I saved you. I didn't want you to fall for me because I gave you a second chance at life. I wanted you to like me for who I was not what I did. I just didn't know what to say." I shook my head and looked up at him. His gaze pierced mine.

"I did like you for who you were, nothing would have changed that. Nothing has. I'm grateful that you saved me, but that wouldn't change how I feel about you." I nodded and reached out for his hand. He let me slip my hand in his for a moment, and he lightly squeezed my hand before he pulled his back. "I have to go, I told Grant that I'd meet him at the gym at 3:30." He started to walk back the way he'd come. I followed him to the sidewalk.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Zach, for your sake, but if I could go back I wouldn't change a thing. Everything happens for a reason, and you can't mess with fate. I knew that I saved you and that was enough for me; I didn't need the acknowledgement of it." He nodded and turned around again.

I felt a hand clamp down on my arm; at first I thought it was just someone who'd been walking on the sidewalk, but then I felt something cool and metal press against my throat. It probably wasn't the smartest thing, but I screamed out to Zach as tires screeched behind me. Zach whipped around as my legs were bound and my hands were tied behind my back.

I could feel the knife dig into my throat as Zach sprinted down the sidewalk trying to get to me; I was pulled into the back of the van and pushed roughly to the floor. The man sat on top of me to keep me from getting up, but I still continued to scream. Just before the door closed I saw Zach pull his gun from his waistband and aim at the car. He hit the driver in the shoulder making him scream and the door slammed shut. Zach kept shooting until we'd turned the corner and were out of sight.

Author's Note: I hope you liked the chapter. There's only one more chapter left in this story, and you won't have to wait a whole week for it; I will be posting the final chapter on Wednesday.

Quote: "Maybe I don't cry – but it hurts. Maybe I won't say – but I feel. Maybe I don't show – but I care." – Unknown. "I wish I could give you my pain, not to hurt you, but to make you understand how I feel." – Unknown.

"The prettiest smiles hide the deepest secrets. The prettiest eyes have cried the most tears. And the kindest hearts have felt the most pain." – Unknown.

"The best things in life are unseen. That's why we close our eyes: when we kiss, when we cry, when we dream." – Unknown.

-GymGirl904.