Recap
"I found it!" Gabriella said, yelling to the others. They quickly gathered around.
"Yep, that's it. It's got to be. Good job princess." Troy said pulling her into a tight, sideways hug.
"Thanks very much. It helps a great deal." A cool chilling voice said from behind.
The five of them whipped around. Eric Thompson and 2 other men where standing there, guns pointed.
End Recap
Troy swiftly swung Gabriella behind his back, covering her. He started reaching for his gun, when a shot rang out. It whizzed close by him.
"Don't even think about it Bolton." Eric said menacingly. Troy pulled his hand back and thought fast. Then the light bulb came on. Eric turned his back toward them, talking to the other two men. Troy glanced at Alex, Tyler and Sam. He signaled with his eyes toward the ground. Then at his feet. He then blinked three times. Alex, Tyler and Sam all nodded slightly.
Gabriella just stared at them all, lost completely. Troy put his hands up. One finger on each hand pointed. That's odd. Gabriella thought to herself.
"Okay Thompson, you've got us. I guess there's absolutely no way we can get away." Troy said sadly. His fingers changed to two. Thompson and the others didn't notice, or care.
"Well I'm glad you've finally come to your senses Bolton." Thompson said flatly. Troy didn't answer. He locked eyes with Eric in a tense moment. Then out of nowhere, he shouted…..
"THREE!" At the sound of Troy's voice, he, Alex, Tyler and Sam, all kicked dust with their feet up at the three men. It gave them enough time to pull out their guns and dive for cover.
Troy grabbed Gabriella and pulled her with him behind a big boulder. Gabriella covered her ears and held tightly to Troy. There were shots everywhere. Gabriella peeked up and saw one man go down as Troy shot. Two seconds later the other man went down. Now all that was left was Eric. A fierce silence broke out. Troy could see Tyler from where he was and motioned to him. Troy made some sort of CIA gesture, Gabriella thought, because Tyler nodded at him a second later. Tyler started moving around. Then Gabriella understood. They're surrounding him. Suddenly a voice called out.
"You'll never catch me, Bolton." Then it was gone. Five minutes later, Tyler and Sam walked over to them.
"He's gone. We've searched everywhere." Alex walked up behind them. They all crammed theirs guns away and walked back over to the symbol they had found.
"Well now that we've found the symbol, what do we do?" Sam asked.
"We've got to figure out what it's supposed to help us find." Troy said, sitting on a rock.
"Wait a minute, I almost forgot. Troy, on the plane, I came up with a theory about the 1:23 thing." Alex said quickly. Troy looked up at him.
"And what would that be?" Troy asked impatiently. Alex explained about how at that certain time, it this symbol might show us the way to go next. Troy thought it over.
"That might actually work. What time is it now?" Troy asked. Gabriella glanced down at her watch.
"1:00." She answered. Troy slapped his knee. "We're in luck fella's. I say we just wait twenty minutes and see what happens." They all agreed and sat down. The twenty minutes went by fast and they were soon counting the seconds.
"5, 4, 3, 2 ,…..1!" Troy said looking at his watch. "Quick where is it pointing?"
They all looked out. The tall pointed mountain shadow landed on another mountain out in the distance. Sam took a picture of it. They all ran back to the helicopter and got in. Once they were in the air, Troy let Tyler take over flying and took out a bag from behind his seat.
"Here, I thought we might need these." Troy said handing a bunch of walkie talkies and ear pieces out. He then pulled out a small gun for Gabriella. She gave him a hard look.
"It's for just in case, nothing more." He said, responding to her glare. He continued to get out equipment. The last one was a particularly interesting one. He pulled one out and showed it to Gabriella.
"This is a Dinger." Troy said holding it up. "This little pad sticks under your sleeve, so no one can see it. It will vibrate every time you push this button." Troy explained holding up a blue round circle. "It just sits in your pocket. All you have to do is send out a coded message by pushing the button however many times, and all of us," Troy said pointing to everyone in the helicopter, "Will be able to feel it and understand what it means, without you saying a single word. It can come in handy when you're in trouble."
Everyone grabbed their set and tested it out. The told Gabriella all the necessary codes she might have to use while they were searching, or if they got separated somehow.
"The last code is one of the most important, Gabriella." Alex told her. "It's called the Hit and Run Operation. You send out 3 buzzes, then 2. Then when the time is right you count down slowly by giving three more pushes. That everyone will know when to move." Alex explained.
Gabriella was fascinated by the fact that the CIA had a code for everything, well at least that's what it seemed like to her.
Ten minutes later they were landing the copter. Everyone piled out and waited until Sam showed them the picture of where the location pointed.
Sam took out the picture and examined it. Troy looked behind his shoulder.
"This way." Sam said pointing westward. They all followed Sam for about 5 minutes until he stopped in front of a towering mountain.
"Well, it should be here somewhere." He said looking around. His eyes wandered, until he found what they were looking for.
"Ah ha, it's right there." Everyone jumped to where Sam was pointing, and sure enough, the symbol was faintly drawn on the mountain. They all smiled at their success.
"Now what are we supposed to do?" Gabriella asked with a sigh.
Nobody answered her. Troy walked up to the symbol, and ran his hand along the smooth mountain it was on. He stopped when he came to an indentation just to the left of the symbol. He firmly pushed on it. Suddenly a loud moving sound came from behind them. They turned around to see a doorway, opening up. They all just stood there in a silent stupor. A smile burst on Gabriella's face. They all cracked up laughing. Gabriella wrapped herself around Troy's waist, laughing as well.
"Troy you're a genius." She said still giggling. Troy laughed as well. "I do what I can."
Once everyone had control over there laughter, they walked over to the doorway and stopped, looking in.
"Who wants to go in the dark, scary door first?" Tyler said hesitantly. They all stood there, until Troy sighed and stepped up. He took Gabriella's hand and led the way in. They all took out their flashlights and looked around the old, what seemed to be hallway. Gabriella gasped and grabbed onto Troy tighter when she saw a bat hanging upside down.
At the end of the hallway they came to a wooden door. The door slowly creaked open. On the other side was a room. In the room were a few desks with papers scattered all over. It was all covered in a thick layer of dust. There was a bunch of old archeology equipment lying around. There were bunches of big bags filled to the top with dirt and rocks. There were maps hanging on the walls, with tiny little pinpoints, most likely indicating digging spots.
While the four men started looking around, Gabriella walked over to the desk and picked up one of the old yellow papers. She blew off dust, and coughed. She shined her flashlight on it and skimmed the paper. When she got to the bottom, she gasped at the name written on it.
Tom Landon.
"You guys! Come over here and look at this." Gabriella said excitedly. They all walked over and looked over her shoulder at the paper in her hand. Gabriella pointed to the bottom where the name was written. Troy took the paper from her.
"I can't believe it. This must be where Tom Landon held headquarters, when he was out here." Troy said amazed.
They looked through the rest of the papers, which were all signed by Tom Landon. Gabriella opened one of the drawers and found a small booklet. Being the curious person she was, she opened it up. Her eyes widened when she read the first cover page.
The Diary of Tom Landon, 1962.
"Troy, come here and look at this." Gabriella handed him the book. Troy looked at the front page and her same expression came on his face. He flipped through the pages. When he got to the last entry, he stopped. He read and reread the page. Gabriella stared at his shocked face and read the page, wondering what he was so stunned about. Gabriella read the page aloud.
"June 21, 1962. The key to the hidden cave is in the drawer." That was it. That's all that it said. Gabriella thought hard, thinking what it might mean.
"So, maybe there's a drawer in here with the key?" She said innocently. She started looking around, while Tyler, Alex, Sam and Troy just watched her. She rolled her eyes at them and continued searching drawers.
She stopped when she reached a little table drawer in the corner of the room. She stared at it intently. The other four came behind her and stopped.
"What is it princess?" Troy asked, looking at her rigid face.
"This table is an exact replica of my father's drawer back at home." She said in a flatly voice.
Everyone's jaw dropped. Gabriella knelt down in front of the table and tried to open it.
It wouldn't budge an inch. She groaned.
"Why do all the important things have to be locked?" Gabriella said frustrated. Troy chuckled and knelt down beside her. Within thirty seconds the drawer was open. Gabriella smiled timidly at her negative thoughts. She pulled out a piece of paper and a small red ruby. They all gathered around her and gazed at the objects.
"We better get out of here, and then we can figure this out." Troy said standing up.
"Not if I can help it." Said a menacing voice. The five of them whisked around to see Jasper Casmir smiling devilishly at them. He started to close the door. The five some yelled, trying to get to the door before it closed. But it was already closed. Troy tried to open it up, but it wouldn't shift.
They were too late.
(a/n: Hey look, I'm back! And here's the next chapter. Tell me how you like it. Sorry about the wait, but like I said, I was gone all week. Thanks for sticking with me. Please read and review. Thanks)