A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3) (33 page)

“What do you want me to do?” I tried to sound calm even though my heart was beating out of my chest.

“I told you. I want you to come see me. I need you to come to my Manhattan penthouse. I left the address in the phone. Bring Erik with you. Contact him through your mind and get him to come with you.”

“I can’t. Erik’s with Jack and Dave. He can’t leave. They won’t let him.”

“Your logistical problems are not my concern, Samantha. Find a way and get it done or this handsome young man becomes our next test subject.”

“What do you mean ‘test subject’?”

“I have the genes, Samantha. And I would love to test them in this young man. He’s strong. Healthy. The perfect subject.”

“No! Please don’t! The genes will kill him!”

“Well, we’ll just have to see about that, now won’t we? That’s what’s so exciting about scientific research. You never know what will happen.”

“Let me talk to him. I don’t believe you really have him.”

“Fair enough.”
 

There was a pause and then I heard Colin’s voice. “Sam, don’t do it! Don’t listen to him! He’ll make you his prisoner. Forget about me! Don’t do what he says!”

“Well, I think you’ve heard enough. Now how about our deal?”

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Good girl, Samantha. I’ll be expecting you at 9 this evening. Don’t be late. I don’t stand for tardiness. Bring only Erik. If you bring anyone else, the deal is off and Colin will not be the only casualty.”

“Great, I’ll see you then,” I said sarcastically. I threw the phone on the bed. Anger replaced fear as I replayed Owens’ demands in my head. Why was he doing this? What kind of sick game was he playing? He already had all of the alien genes.

I grabbed the phone and got in the car to head for New York City. It was already 6; with evening traffic, I worried I wouldn’t make it in time. I didn’t try asking Erik to come with me. He would never agree to meet with Owens. And even if he did, I didn’t want him there. If Owens was getting anyone, he was getting only me. But not without a fight. I was not going to surrender to Owens. If he tried to hurt Colin, he’d have to hurt me, too.
 

As I drove, I decided I would contact Erik’s mind when I was just outside Manhattan and tell him what was happening. If I did somehow survive but get captured, I wanted everyone to at least know who took me. I was sure Erik had already tried to contact me when he noticed I was gone, but I wouldn’t let him. I kept my mind blocked. I didn’t want him trying to talk me out of it.

When I got closer to the city, I hit heavy traffic. A foggy mist made it hard to see. By 8, I was just outside the city and the traffic was even worse. I figured it was time to contact Erik.
 

“Erik? It’s Sam. Can you hear me?”

He answered immediately.
“Where the hell are you, Sam? Why didn’t you respond when I—”

“I need you to listen. Now don’t freak out, but I’m in Manhattan.”

“What are you doing there? Is Colin with you?”

“No. He’s with Owens. Where are you, Erik? Are you back home now?”

“Yeah. I’m in my room. Everyone’s over here trying to figure out where you guys went. You’re in some serious shit, Sam.”

“I know. But just listen. Owens took Colin to get to me. He’s demanding that I meet him at his penthouse at 9. And he wants you there, too.”

“NOW you tell me this! Do you know what time it is? First of all, I’m not going anywhere near that crazy bastard. And second, even if I agreed to it, I couldn’t make it there in time.”

“I know. And I don’t want
you to come. I just wanted you to know what’s going on.”

“What exactly is your plan? You think when you get there he’s just going to hand Colin over to you?”

“I don’t know what will happen. All I know is that I have to get Colin back. And I’ll use every power I have to do it.”

“That’s suicide, Sam! Owens probably has an army lined up waiting for you. You’ll never get out of there.”

“I don’t care. I have to try. I don’t have a choice.”

“You DO have a choice. You can choose not to go. It’s not too late. Just turn back. Come home. We’ll find another way to get Colin back.”

“There’s no time! Owens is going to put the alien genes in him tonight. Colin will die! And he’ll suffer before it happens. Owens knows that! I can’t let that happen to Colin. I love him, Erik. More than anything.”

Erik was quiet for a moment, then finally thought back to me.
“Try to delay Owens. Do whatever you need to do. I’ll meet you there. I’ll leave right now. Tell me where to go.”

“But you just said—”

“I know what I said. I changed my mind. Now give me the address.”

“I don’t want you to do this, Erik.”

“Dammit, Sam! I’m doing this. Now give me the freakin’ address!”

I gave up arguing and told him the address. I knew he’d never make it on time anyway.

At 8:50 I was still a couple blocks from Owens’ penthouse. There was no way I would make it there on time. Traffic wasn’t moving. I got out of the car and started running down the street, leaving the car behind. I ran as fast as I could through the crowds of people. Owens’ place was near the Empire State Building; tourists lined the surrounding sidewalks.
 

I continued to run, bumping into people and pushing them aside. I finally reached his building, racing past the doorman and into the elevator. Other people boarded with me, pushing the buttons for the floors beneath Owens’ penthouse. Each elevator stop seemed to take forever. I checked my watch. 8:58! I gave up on the elevator and searched for the stairs. I ran as fast as I could up 15 flights and finally reached the door to the penthouse. When I rang the bell the door opened automatically, then shut behind me.

“Welcome, Samantha.” I heard Owens’ voice from a room off to the right. “We’re in here. Come join us.”

I looked around at the expansive penthouse. It wasn’t what I expected. I thought it would have marble and gold everywhere and antique furniture. But instead it was very modern, with sleek stainless-steel fixtures, abstract art hung on white walls like a gallery, and straight-lined black leather furniture. Large windows surrounded me on two sides with a perfect view of the Empire State Building.

The penthouse was eerily quiet. Where was everyone? Where were the armed men waiting to take me? Surely Owens wouldn’t be the only one there. He had to have backup somewhere. He had to know I’d try to use my powers against him.

“Samantha, what’s taking you so long? Hurry up.”

I followed Owens’ voice to a room that looked like some type of lab. It had glass cabinets along the walls that held bottles of powders and liquids. Strange-looking medical equipment sat on one side of the room next to a black leather chair. Some type of IV system hung on a metal pole behind the chair.

“There you are.” I turned to see Owens on the other side of the room coming out of a smaller room that reminded me of the vault at GBL Capital. “Such a pleasure to see you again. And where is Erik?”

“I’m sorry to say that he’s running late. Traffic, you know,” I said, playing along with his ridiculous attempt to act cordial.

“That’s a fatal error in judgment, Samantha. I asked you both to be here at 9 sharp. I’m afraid our deal is off.” Owens picked up a syringe from the table next to him, then went back into the vaultlike room and rolled out a metal chair that held Colin. His mouth was taped shut, but he seemed alert. His body didn’t move.

“Colin, get up!” I yelled to him. “Come over here by me.”
 

He was trying to tell me something with his eyes. I couldn’t read his mind or Owens’ mind, which meant that Owens had installed a brain wave scrambling device in the penthouse.

“The boy can’t get up, Samantha. I’ve given him a rather strong muscle relaxant.” Owens kept the syringe in one hand and used his other hand to get a surgical knife from a drawer. He used it to make a long cut along Colin’s left forearm.
 

“No! Stop it!” I yelled as blood oozed from the cut.

Colin remained still. Owens grinned. “You see? He felt nothing.”
 

“You paralyzed him!” I lunged at Owens, but stopped when he pointed the syringe at Colin as if it were a loaded gun.
 

“I hate to waste such precious material on this boy.” He held the syringe up as if inspecting it, then positioned it near Colin’s neck. “But then again I have plenty more. Thanks to you, I have all of it. All of the alien gene samples.”

“What do you want with Erik and me? Why are you doing this?” I was hoping to buy time. Owens loved hearing himself talk, so I figured if I just kept asking him questions, I could distract him from Colin until Erik arrived.

Owens sighed. “Well, I suppose we could wait a few more minutes for Erik. Have a seat, Samantha. Sit in that chair over there. Oh, and I wouldn’t recommended any heroic attempts to save your friend here.”
 

If I even startled Owens a tiny bit, that needle would end up inside Colin. I focused on getting into Owens’ head despite the brain wave scrambling device, but all I could hear was static.
 

“Let me explain something to you, Samantha. When you have the amount of wealth that I do, life can get somewhat boring. You can only have so many yachts and cars and Monets. After a while, it gets dull. And you crave more. Not more money. But more meaning in life. You wonder, ‘What else is there?’ You start to ask the bigger questions about the universe and your place in it. How can you make your mark on mankind? How can you affect future generations?”

He took a seat in the chair next to Colin, keeping the needle aimed and ready. “Other people—people who have to work for a living, raise a family, pay bills—get so bogged down in their everyday existence that they have no time to even ponder the important questions in life. They rely on people like me to do that. And so I’ve taken it upon myself to make the difficult decisions. See the bigger picture. Do what needs to be done to continue life on this planet.”

“I don’t understand. What does any of this have to do with Erik and me?”

“You and Erik are the future, Samantha. You always have been. Well, it didn’t start out that way. At first it was only you. But then I found Erik. And finally everything was working just as I had planned. That is until you had to bring him into the mix.” Owens waved the syringe at Colin. “I tried to be nice, Samantha. I offered to take this boy back home so he could live his life in peace. He would have gone free. I even convinced GlobalLife to leave him alone. But then you had to go and ruin it!”

“Ruin what? You’re mad because I wouldn’t let Colin go back to Minnesota? Why are you so upset that Colin and I are together?”

“Because you are meant to be with Erik! And only Erik! He is your match. Your genetic match. Together you make the perfect couple. The golden couple. You’re the start of a new human race. A better human race. A new generation of humans built from a perfect model.” He stood up again. “And I created you both! I made it happen. Don’t you see? I made my own Adam and Eve. You’ll have children and your children will have children and I will have started an entirely new and superior human race. No amount of money could buy such an achievement. No other person has ever done this.”

“Erik and I are not a match. We’re not a couple. And we’re not having children.”

“You have no choice in the matter.”

“Why? Do you have GlobalLife waiting for me outside your door?”

He smiled. “GlobalLife isn’t involved in this, Samantha. I simply used them to create my golden couple. And GlobalLife has been very helpful over the years. Doing my research. Finding outside funding. Keeping me updated on your progress.”

“You’ve been watching me? For how long?”

“I’ve been following your development since you were born. When GlobalLife said that your body was ready for the switch to be turned on, I insisted we take action and do what needed to be done so we could move forward with your training.”

“Do what needed to be done.”
The words swirled in my head as I tried to decipher their meaning. “Are you saying you gave the order to kill my parents?”

“Don’t look at me that way, Samantha. It was a necessary step. GlobalLife would have eventually done it anyway. I simply moved up the timeline.”
 

Not even thinking, I burst up from the chair, then stopped when Owens moved the syringe even closer to Colin’s neck. I slowly sat back down. “But why? You could’ve just taken me! You didn’t need to kill them!”

Owens ignored my outburst. “For years I thought you were the only survivor from the project. GlobalLife insisted that there were no other living subjects. I finally asked to see the old research files. I knew that Jack’s sudden departure from GlobalLife at the exact time as Erik’s supposed death was more than just a coincidence.”

“So you used that online code game to find him, but instead you found Luke, Erik’s twin.”

“Yes. And I convinced Dan Jacobs, a former GlobalLife employee, to work on locating Erik. Dan thought he was helping Luke find his long-lost brother, so it worked quite well. But then Erik turned up on a store’s security camera down in Texas and I didn’t need Luke or Dan anymore. Erik’s face was an exact match to Luke’s. I knew he was the boy I’d been looking for. And I had Worthings go down and get him.”

“But Worthings went to Texas to get Brittany.”

“And you. And Erik. He didn’t know that, but I did. I knew Erik’s location and I knew that you’d find him when you were on the run from GlobalLife. You’re deeply connected to Erik. You’re drawn to him. And as I predicted, you ended up finding him.” He paused. “Although I must say that I was surprised that Erik lived in the same town as your control twin. I really didn’t see that coming. GlobalLife knew Brittany’s whereabouts all those years, yet they had no idea Erik was just a few miles down the road? It’s almost comical.”

“I guess we really ruined your plan when we killed Worthings and took off.”