A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3) (35 page)

“Get it out! Help me!” he called out frantically. “Don’t just stand there! Hurry up!”

Erik approached him. Owens rolled onto his back. Something was sticking out of his chest. It was the syringe. But only the very top. The rest of it was lodged deep into his left side, blood pouring from him.
 

Owens began gasping for breath. “I think it punctured . . . my lung. I can’t . . . breathe. Call for . . . help.”
 

I hated seeing people suffer, even Owens. “Where’s a phone?” I asked him, scanning the room for one.

Erik grabbed my arm. “Sam, you’re not seriously going to help him, are you?”
 

“Of course she . . . is.” Owens could barely get his words out. “She’s a good . . . just like we . . . programmed her to . . .”

“It’s too late, Sam. If he survives the wound, the genes will kill him. Just like they killed Eve and everyone else who got them.”
 

Owens continued to gasp for breath, almost like he was drowning. And then he was gone.
 

I raced over to Colin and took the tape off his mouth. “What did he give you?”

“I don’t know. He said the paralysis was temporary. He said he wanted me to feel the pain when he put the genes in me.” Colin wiggled his fingers. “I’m getting a little feeling back. I can move my hands now.”

“I’m so sorry, Colin. We shouldn’t have left you alone at the house.”

“It’s not anyone’s fault. Who knew Owens would do this?”

“I should have.” Erik nudged Owens with his foot, making sure he was dead. “Something about that son of a bitch has bothered me since day one. I should’ve listened to my gut. But I gave him a break because he helped us get out of GlobalLife. I should’ve known he was just using us.”

Colin looked down at Owens. “So what just happened to him?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “He tripped, I guess, and the needle accidentally went into his chest.”

“No. He didn’t trip,” Colin insisted. “He jammed the needle into himself. And then he fell.”

“What? No, that can’t be right. You had your eyes closed, remember?”

“Yeah, but I opened them again.”

“Colin, I didn’t want you to see Erik and me—”

“Sam, I’m telling you that I saw Owens do it. He jabbed the syringe into his own body.”

“That doesn’t make sense. I was in his head trying to get him to back away. I guess I must’ve confused him. Unless—” I glanced at Erik. “Did you do this?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. How could
I
do that? You were the one controlling him.”

I didn’t question Erik any further. I wondered if the barrier I’d felt inside Owens’ head was Erik. Had he entered Owens’ mind and made him stab himself? But how? I was drawing off Erik’s energy and using all his strength. There was no way he could make that happen by himself. What happened to Owens had to be an accident.

“Let’s get Colin and go into the other room. I don’t want us anywhere near Owens, even dead Owens.” I walked behind Colin’s chair, pausing when I saw the open vault. “Wait a minute.”

I went into the vault and picked up the metal box that Eve had stolen days earlier. Inside were the vials containing the alien genes.
 

“Are they all there?” Erik was behind me. I handed him the box as I spotted another smaller box sitting there. It held five vials. Two of the vials were the ones we’d taken in Iceland. The other three Owens had probably taken for himself when he first discovered the genes, which meant that he’d had them all along. He could have stopped the timer in Erik and me without ever involving GlobalLife. Erik and I never needed to get those genes in Iceland.
 

I showed the vials to Erik. “I think this is everything.” I smiled. “All that exists.”

He smiled back. “Let’s destroy this shit.”

We moved Colin outside of the room, then went back in and smashed the vials on the tile floor. I searched the cabinets for any corrosive chemicals I could find. Erik and I dumped them over the spilled vials, covering the floor with liquid.

Erik stared at it. “Damn, that felt good.”

“Really good,” I said, admiring the mess it made.

We got out of the room and shut the door. “Did you tell anyone where we were?” I asked Erik as we moved Colin farther into the main room.

“Yeah. They should be here soon, if they aren’t already.”

“How did you get here so fast, Erik?”

He grinned. “I stole a motorcycle from a guy who was at the house. There was so much going on and so many people there that I took the key from his jacket and left. Nobody even noticed. It’s a hell of a lot easier to get through traffic with one of those.”

“So when did you tell everyone to come here?”

“I didn’t. Brittany did. I told her where I was going before I left. I had her wait before telling anyone so they wouldn’t try to stop me.”

“Go see if they’re here. I’ll stay with Colin.”

Erik couldn’t get the front door open. It was locked shut with whatever security contraption Owens had set up. He went back to the room we just left. Within seconds the door opened.
 

“Ha! Not that secure, is it?” he said as he left the penthouse. The door remained open.

I sat next to Colin and held his hand, which was now moving normally.

“I’m sorry you had to hear all that stuff about Erik and me being a couple. Owens was completely insane. Don’t believe a word he said. And that kiss? It was all for show. It didn’t mean anything.”

“Yeah, it’s okay.”
 

“And what he said about Erik? It’s not true. In fact, Erik and Brittany are kind of dating now. Well, Brittany is a little farther along in the relationship than Erik, but—”

He smiled. “I get it, Sam. You don’t have to explain.”
 

We heard people exiting the elevator. Dave came running through the door. Abigail was behind him. Other people from the rebel group came in as well and started searching through Owens’ things.

“Samantha, I was a nervous wreck!” Dave pulled me into a hug. “When you disappeared, you almost gave me a heart attack. I swear, I had chest pains, didn’t I, Abigail?”

“Yes, David, but I think we figured out it was just indigestion brought on by stress.”
 

Abigail kneeled down next to Colin. “How are you feeling? Can I do something for you? Erik said you’re still not able to move.”
 

It was nice seeing Abigail so concerned about Colin. She really had a kind heart. I hoped that it would work out with her and Dave.

Colin lifted his hand off the chair. “I’m starting to feel part of my arm now.”

“Let’s get him to the door, David, so the ambulance can take him right away.”

“There’s an ambulance?” I asked. “But we always avoid hospitals. What if GlobalLife finds out he’s there? They’ll take him.”

“He’ll be okay,” Dave assured me.

“What do you mean?”

Some paramedics came off the elevator and into the room.
 

“I’ll explain later, Sam,” Dave said. “Let’s take care of Colin first.”

Brittany came in as the paramedics took Colin. “Stop running off like that, Sam. I’m done covering for you.”
 

Jack came racing in behind her. “Samantha, I’m glad that you and Colin are okay.” He turned to Abigail. “I’m taking Erik to that clinic to see what’s causing this.”

“Yes, good. I’ve already called and they’re waiting. It’s just a few blocks from here.”

Erik walked in, holding a towel to his nose. “Erik, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“Just a nosebleed. It’s nothing.” He turned away to hide the blood-soaked towel.

“You should come with us, Sam,” Jack said. “Whatever you two did in there, it caused some real damage to Erik. It could have done the same to you.”

“I don’t think it did anything to me,” I said, noticing how good I felt. “I don’t have a headache at all. And I’m not bleeding.”

“You should get checked anyway,” Dave insisted. “Abigail and I can go with Colin.”

“No. Really, I’m fine. I don’t want to leave Colin. Besides, if anything happens to me, we’ll already be at a hospital.”

Dave hesitated. “All right, but you’re getting checked out later.”

“Let’s go, Erik.” Jack led him out.
 

“I don’t understand,” I said as I watched Erik leave. “How could he have hurt himself like that? I was the one in Owens’ mind. Erik wasn’t. So I don’t know why—” I stopped. I was now sure of the cause of Owens’ demise.
 

“Ready to go?” One of the paramedics was waiting at the door.

“What about Owens?” I asked.
 

“They’ll take care of everything.” Abigail pointed to the people who now filled the room. “They have a lot of work to do tonight. I’m sure Preston has plenty of secrets hidden in here.”

By the time we arrived at the hospital, Colin could feel his arms and part of his legs. The doctor gave him a drug to counteract the drug Owens had given him. Within the hour he was back to normal.
 

Erik and Jack met us at the hospital, then we all headed back to the house.
 

“The doctor said I broke my brain,” Erik joked on the car ride back.

“That’s not funny, Erik,” Jack said. “You did extensive damage. Some of it could be permanent.”

“You’re overreacting, Dad.”

“What did you do?” Brittany asked him. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

“Are you sure we should be going back to the house?” I asked. “It seems dangerous.”

“We’ll be okay,” Jack assured me. “Owens is gone and GlobalLife should be backing off for at least a little while.”

“I don’t understand.”

“An anonymous source presented the people in charge there with a little, well, I guess you’d call it blackmail,” Abigail explained. “Those files we got from Eve contained some very interesting revelations. Things GlobalLife would never want to go public.”

“So we sent copies of those files to everyone in the rebel group,” Dave added. “If GlobalLife threatens to harm any of us or anyone in the rebel group, the files go public. Or they go to whoever matters. Investors. A news outlet. Politicians. Competitors. Whoever will do the most damage. We didn’t think GlobalLife would take the threat seriously but Rachel informed us that the people at the top just released an internal memo announcing that The Samantha Project is on hold indefinitely.”

“Are you saying that we’re safe?” I knew it couldn’t be true. Certainly GlobalLife wouldn’t give up that easily.

“Maybe not safe, but definitely safer. At least for the near future,” Dave said. “Plus with the latest deaths, including Eve’s, GlobalLife is finally realizing that the technology in you and Erik can’t be applied to others. And thanks to some information Rachel just leaked to the Founders, I’m fairly certain GlobalLife Genetics will soon be drained of a substantial amount of investment money for this and other future projects.”

“Are you sure that the alien stuff is really gone?” Brittany asked Dave.

“We’ll never really be sure. But Sam and Erik took care of what we knew existed. And even if there’s more, someone would have to find a new use for it.”

“Uncle Dave, Owens had all these plans for my DNA,” I said. “Well, Erik’s and mine.”

“We can talk about it later, Sam. You’ve been through a lot tonight. It can wait until tomorrow.”

When we arrived at the house, I was so exhausted that I went right to sleep. The next morning I was greeted with the sunshine of early spring. It flooded the room with light. I could hear water dripping from the roof as the warm sun melted the snow.
 

I looked over to see Brittany sound asleep. I smiled, realizing that the night’s events meant that she, and all of us, might finally have the chance at a halfway normal life.
 

As I got up, I heard Dave and Abigail making breakfast, clanking pans together while music played. It reminded me of when my mom and dad used to make breakfast together on the weekends. I snuck out of my room and went over to Colin’s room. He was still asleep, so I snuggled beside him.

“Sam?” he whispered, turning toward me.

I laughed. “Yeah, it’s me. Who else do you think would be in your bed?”

He kissed me then gave me a strange look. “Why do you smell like bacon?”

“That’s not me! Dave and Abigail are out there making breakfast. Let’s go join them. It’s almost noon. Come on! Hurry up!”
 

“Okay, okay. I’m going.” He sat up, smiling at me. “You know, I don’t think I’ve seen you this happy since, well—”

“Before my parents died. I know. It’s because for the first time in months I feel like there’s hope. Like maybe we’ll be safe, at least for now.”

We heard Dave outside the door. “Colin, we’ve got breakfast out here if you’re hungry.”

“Yeah, okay. Thanks,” he called back.
 

Colin and I went to the kitchen. Dave and Abigail were at the table along with everyone else.
 

“Well, this morning, while you were all sleeping, Jack, Abigail, and I were discussing some things and we have a proposition to share,” Dave said, looking at Erik, Colin, Brittany, and me. “For the past few weeks Jack and I have been trying to figure out where we should go next. And during one of those discussions, Abigail offered to let us stay at her house in New Hampshire for a few months. That’s where she lives when she’s not helping with one of these missions. It’s a fairly small town and would have been a safe place to hide out.”

“What are you trying to say?” I asked him.

“Well, now we don’t really need to follow through on that plan, but she’s—well, she’s invited me to stay there with her. And I told her I would.”

“That’s great, Uncle Dave. So you’re moving in together?”

He blushed. “Yes, but her offer still stands, Samantha. She’s invited you and Brittany to stay with us. And you as well, Colin. She has a small guesthouse in the back that even has a kitchen.”

“There’s a house down the street from her that’s for rent,” Jack said to Erik. “I was thinking you and I could stay there for a while.”