The plane flight to Virginia wasn't any longer than the last one, but Troy and Gabriella were too busy to notice, as they were looking through the papers they had found.
During the last half an hour of the trip, Troy noticed something on one of the papers. It was a symbol. It was drawing of a shield, with two objects crossing each other. A sword and a key. There was no writing or notes anywhere around the symbol.
"Gabriella, look at this. It seems to be some sort of symbol." Troy said pointing to the figure.
Gabriella looked over at it. "Hmm, that might be a clue to the location. Maybe we can find something on it once we get off the plane."
Troy looked through the other papers, to see if there was some sort of information on the symbol. He didn't get far. The plane was landing and it was time to get off.
Once they were off the plane, Troy rented a car, got there luggage, and they drove straight to the CIA building.
When the building, or should I say buildings, came within view, Gabriella gasped at how big they were. One was at least thirteen stories high, with millions of little windows. There was a big sign in the front with Central Intelligence Agency written on it.
They got out of the car and Troy held Gabriella's hand as they walked in. Inside there were hundreds of people on computers, talking, and walking around. She recognized the three men walking towards them as Alex, Tyler and Sam.
"Hey you two, what brings you back here?" Sam asked. Troy gave them the Reader's Digest version of the whole ordeal. The situation seemed to catch their interest, so they decided they would tag along.
Troy led them all upstairs and toward an office marked RESEARCH.
Troy opened the door and they walked in. There was only one woman in the room. She had light brown hair going a little past her shoulders, with pretty blue eyes. Her smile would probably win an academy award. Most girls would want to hate her, but the moment she spoke, Gabriella just had to love her.
"Hello boys, it's nice to see you again. Seems like it's been awhile huh?" the woman said shaking their hands. She stopped when she got to Gabriella. Troy took over from there.
"Audrey, this is my wife, Gabriella. Gabriella this is Audrey Wilson. She's the master at all CIA researching." Troy said with a smile. Audrey blushed at the compliment. She held out her hand to Gabriella.
"It's nice to meet you Gabriella. Now, what can I do for you?" Audrey asked in a cheerful voice
Troy pulled out the piece of paper with the symbol drawn on it. "We're wondering if you can find anything on this."
Audrey took the piece of paper and examined the drawing. She walked over to her computer and started typing.
"Let's see what I can find."
Around fifteen minutes later, Audrey finally produced something of some worth.
"Hey, look at this. It says that it's a Swiss Civic Heraldry. The symbol originates in Switzerland." Audrey stated.
Troy looked at the screen carefully. "Well, at least it's a start. Thanks for your help Audrey."
"No problem, I'll keep working on it." She said typing again.
Alex, Tyler and Sam all stood up and walked over to the door. "We've got to get going; we'll see you guys in the morning I presume?" Tyler said opening the door. Troy nodded his head.
"Yeah, we'll meet you here at 10:00." Troy answered. The threesome nodded and closed the door behind them.
Then Gabriella yawned. She had tried to keep it in, but it came against her will. Troy smiled down at her and glanced at his watch.
"It's getting late, and we still have to find a hotel to stay in. Is there a phone book we could use?" Troy asked Audrey who was still looking at the computer.
"Yeah, there's one in the bottom drawer over there." She pointed across the room.
Troy pulled it out and started calling hotels. But almost twenty minutes later, he was still trying to find an available room. After calling 10 hotels, Troy slammed his phone shut in frustration.
Audrey looked over at him in an almost sympathetic way. "Why don't you try the motel just out of town? Then maybe by tomorrow there will be an opening somewhere closer." Audrey suggested.
Gabriella smiled at her concern and looked over at Troy. He sighed and looked up the number for the name Audrey gave him. Five minutes later they were walking out the door headed for the motel. They expressed their thanks to Audrey once more and closed the door. The building was much quieter, then when they had arrived earlier. They walked arm in arm, silently walking down the stairs. It had been a long day for both of them.
CIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIA
The motel was an older one, but still nice and neat. The rooms were in different little houses instead of all in the same building. As they walked in the door, Gabriella noticed how exhausted Troy looked. And her thoughts were confirmed when Troy immediately changed and landed in the bed. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow. If wasn't so tired Gabriella would have accused him of not kissing her goodnight. Gabriella smiled down at him, kissed his cheek and pulled the covers over him. She busied herself putting clothes away and then she took a long awaited shower. Once she felt refreshed, she stopped and just looked around the room. It was a cozy little room. The walls were painted brown with scarlet curtains on the windows. The bed set matched the scarlet color and the furniture in the room looked old, but newly reupholstered.
Gabriella smiled at the room and walked over to the bed. She sat down under the covers and pulled out her father's journal and his papers. She opened the journal and started flipping through the pages, trying to find where she had left off. When she found her spot, she laid back and started reading to the sound of Troy's heavy breathing.
She hadn't read very far when she noticed there was a ticking sound coming to her ears. She looked around but couldn't see any clocks. The ticking continued. She held her breath and listened carefully. It was coming from under the bed. She got down on her hands and knees and saw a complex little device reading 2 minutes. The shock hit her. It was a bomb.
"TROY! TROY WAKE UP! WE'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Gabriella screamed shaking him.
"Gabriella, what's the matter?" Troy said sleepily, yet in a worried voice. Gabriella picked up her father's things and grabbed Troy's hand.
"Come on, now, there's a bomb that's about the go off!" When the word bomb was spoken, Troy immediately became alert and grabbed hold of Gabriella. They ran outside and ducked for cover, just as it happened. It was a gigantic explosion. From far away it might have sounded like a big firework. There were flames and debris everywhere. It looked as if someone was having a big bonfire.
Troy stared at the mass of flames while folding on to a hysterical Gabriella. She was clinging to him like a baby would to their mother. He kissed the top of her head and whispered comforting words to her. There were people everywhere, and someone must have called the fire department, because a truck was just pulling up.
Troy sat down on the curb and pulled Gabriella onto his lap, cradling her in his arms.
When she had finally calmed down enough to talk, he asked her a question.
"Do you know what you just did?" Troy said softly. Gabriella stared at the burned down little house. When she didn't answer, Troy continued.
"You just saved my life, both of ours, actually." Troy said with emotion. Gabriella looked into his eyes. A soft smile evaded her lips.
"Well, I know I couldn't live without you." She said in a shaky voice. Troy took her chin in his fingers. He pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her passionately. He let back and took her face in his hands and wiped her tears.
"I love you princess. More than you can ever imagine."
Gabriella responded by kissing him long and hard.
CIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIA
The next morning Troy and Gabriella arrived at the CIA building a complete mess. Gabriella had on a robe a kind old lady had given her and Troy was in his pajamas with a police jacket on top. When Audrey, Alex, Tyler and Sam saw them they were immediately concerned. Troy and Gabriella explained everything. Audrey took pity on Gabriella and offered to lend her some clothes so she and Troy could go shopping to replace everything. Gabriella gratefully accepted. Troy on the other hand had emergency clothes in his office and waited for the woman with the other three men in Audrey's office.
"Why in the world are these guys so relentless?" Tyler asked Troy who was sitting at Audrey's computer.
"I couldn't tell you Tyler. They just really don't want us to succeed." Troy said staring at the computer screen.
There was silence in the room, until Alex broke it. "How did those papers survive but nothing else?" Alex asked curiously, pointing at Carson Montez' papers and journal.
Troy smiled at the question. "Gabriella grabbed them before we ran out. She was the real hero last night. Lucky for me, she hadn't been as tired as I was. If she had gone to sleep any earlier, we both wouldn't be here." Troy said. His eyes started to water at the thought of Gabriella trying to protect him, the CIA agent.
Before anyone could say anything else, Audrey and Gabriella walked in. Gabriella looked and felt much happier than earlier this morning. Troy wiped his eyes before turning toward them.
"Well my dear lady, shall we go shopping?" Troy said jokingly holding out his arm.
Gabriella laughed and took it. "We shall my dear man." They said goodbye to the others and headed for the mall. There day seemed to be a perfect one. Gabriella enjoyed the time away from people trying to kill her. They purchased all that they needed to replace their other belongings and then bought an ice cream cone.
As they jumped in the car, eating their ice cream, Gabriella noticed a man getting into his green car a few spaces away. He looked kind of familiar. But Gabriella pushed it aside, not wanting to ruin the perfect day.
As they drove down Main Street, Gabriella looked behind them and saw the same green car she had seen in the parking lot. She groaned a loud. Troy looked over at her in worry.
"What's the matter princess?" Troy asked taking her hand. Gabriella felt electric shocks go up her hand when he touched her. "As much as I hate to say this, there's someone following us." Gabriella said with disappointment in her voice. She hit the dash board in frustration. "I'm really starting to get tired of being followed."
Troy looked behind them. "Yep, you're right again, I saw that car in the parking lot. I just didn't want to scare you." Gabriella somehow smiled at the wonderful, caring man sitting next to her.
Troy turned right. The car was still behind them. He took a sharp left. So did the green car. Troy sped up quickly. Gabriella screamed when a bullet hit the back window.
"Get down!" Troy yelled. Gabriella ducked down behind the seat and squeezed her eyes shut. She felt Troy turn the car this way and that. There were also a few more shots fired. After what seemed forever, Troy slowed down and pulled the car to a stop.
"It's okay now Gabriella, I think we lost him." Troy said soothingly. Gabriella sat up slowly and took a deep breath.
"When this is all over, I want to take a nice quiet drive, without green cars following me." Gabriela said in an exasperated voice. Troy chuckled.
"I promise we will." Troy's cell phone suddenly started ringing. He picked it up and said hello.
Suddenly, Troy's facial expressions changed from pleasant to utter shock. He said goodbye and started the car.
"Where are we going?" Gabriella asked anxiously.
"Something's come up."
(a/n: okay, there's that chapter. How is it so far? I think this is the best story I've ever written. I think I just wanted a different kind of story, but I also love Troyella. So I just mixed the two. Tell me what you think. I appreciate your comments and reviews.)