If there was only one way to clear one's mind, it was running. For Gabriella Montez, this was the only way she could straighten out her thoughts. Being 21 years old, with the stresses of going to Harvard University and the anticipation of Eric coming home from a school trip to Europe, was too much for her brain to handle. She just needed to relax her mind for an hour or two.

With long dark hair, chocolate brown eyes and a slim figure, Gabriella was easily a girl every guy would want. This was partly the reason that Eric liked her, or so she thought. She had met Eric Thompson 3 years ago at her very first Harvard student dance. Eric started to like her and so he asked her out. Then about a month ago he went on a school trip to Europe.

Gabriella had never really loved Eric, but he was the only guy she had had a slight attraction to. That is except for one person: Troy. Troy Bolton had been her childhood "sweetheart" and he had said when they were seven years old that they would one day be married. Gabriella had always believed that, until one day, he just disappeared. She never knew where he had gone and had never heard from him. So she went on with life and applied to Harvard University to major in Science/Math. She never forgot him.

As Gabriella was jogging down the park road, her mind floated to the mysterious note she had received yesterday. It was around 8:30 in the morning and she had been eating breakfast when there was a knock at the door. When she answered it, nobody was there. What puzzled her even more was that there was an envelope taped to the door, and it had her name on it. She had quickly closed the door and opened it. In ruby red letters it read:

Please return what's rightfully mine and no harm will come to you.

T.M.

She had no idea what it meant at the time. She had never stolen anything in her life, and never planned to. So after receiving the note she pushed it from her mind and focused on other things.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed a scrubby looking man watching her from a far. HE had on an old and worn looking coat, a "could be" knitted scark and a cameo beanie hat. His face was dark and unshaven. And his eyes seemed to be a piercing green color that could kill anyone.

The man's attention was drawn away by a crying baby off in the distance. Gabriella, feeling slightly uncertain, continued to jog away, hoping he was just some scary looking man.

After around five minutes Gabriella started to feel a little more certain of herself, thinking she must of just over reacted about the man. But as she turned around, her heart skipped a few beats. The man was standing a couple hundred feet away. He was standing there reading an old newspaper. He must be following me, Gabriella thought to herself. She continued to walk and noticed another man, similar to the one following her, sitting on a bench reading a book. She saw him glance at her. This made shivers run up and down her spine. It was definitely time to get out of there.

As she made her way for the exit of the park, she quickened her pace. This was a bad idea. The men suddenly started running after her. She saw one of them pull out a gun. This made her run at full speed towards the nearest place her could find to hide. A shot rang through the air and blasted part the left side of her. It missed. She kept running and entered a gas station on the corner. She quickly ran towards the women's restroom. As soon as she had closed the door she heard running footsteps outside. A man with a deep voice said, "She must not be here. Come on, let's check somewhere else." Gabriella heard footsteps go out the door. She heaved a great sigh, slid to the floor and said aloud:

"That was a close one."

!$!#$&()(&$$!#$$#$&&(()&&$$!#$

(a/n: –Just for your information, Troy works for the CIA and is very successful in doing his job. Just thought you should know that.)

Washington DC, CIA building

Troy looked up at the clock. 12:00. Lunch time. He got up from his desk and started to get his stuff when a knock came from the door of his office.

"Come in." he said.

"Hey Bolton, the boss wants to see you in his office, pronto." Said the man.

"Oh, ok, sure thing." Troy grabbed his keys and walked out. It had to be important if the boss wanted to see him now, on his lunch break.

10 minutes later he had made his way to the office of his boss, Jack Boone. He knocked on the door.

"Come in." said a firm voice. Troy opened the door and stepped in.

"Oh, Bolton, yes come in, come in. Take a seat." said Jack.

"Thank you sir, someone told me you wanted to see me." Troy said slightly anxious.

"Yes, well you see, I have something for you to do. It's something we've been on for years, and now its time we finally take care of it."

Jack Boone sat forward and looked straight at Troy.

"Tony Martinez is on the loose."

Troy stared at him in shock. "Martinez? Again? I thought he was in jail."

"Nope, he got out a few months ago. And he's planning something so big, that it could affect the entire country. We have to stop him before he does that."

"But how do you suggest we do that?" Troy said sitting back, feeling certain of what was going to be said next.

"Well, that's where you come in. For his plan to succeed he needs one thing, a ring, a ruby ring. He'll stop at nothing to get it."

"So we just have to get the ring before he does." Troy said, speaking his thoughts.

"That's about the shape of it."

They sat in silence for a moment, then Troy asked something.

"Where is it?" Jack looked at him closely. "A girl." He said simply.

Troy starred at him blankly. "You mean a girl has it? How is that possible?"

"Well you see, this ring has a history in this family of hers. Its been passed down to each daughter in the family. At one point in time, the Martinez family owned it. Now Tony wants it."

"Does the girl have any idea about the whole ordeal?" Troy asked worried.

"No, but Rob was in Massachusetts last week and was getting gas and saw a girl run into the store, a minute later two guys ran in as well. The men came out looking discouraged. They had obviously been looking for the girl. Rob yesterday identified the two men as two of Tony's men."

Troy looked into space thinking hard. "So that must have been the girl with the ring. I bet she was terrified."

"Exactly, that's why we have to protect her and stop Tony from getting that ring. I want you to got up to Massachusetts and keep an eye on the girl."

"Of course I will. I'd like just as much to see Tony taken care of as anyone."

Troy got up and started to walk to the door, then he stopped.

"By the way, what's the name of the girl?" he asked curiously.

"Gabriella Montez."

(a/n: well there's the first chapter. I decide this time to make it an action/adventure/romance type of story because that's my favorite type of book to read. So I hope you guys will enjoy it. Please read and review and tell me whether or not you want me to continue.)