A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3)

by Karpinske, Stephanie

  She seemed sincere and I already trusted her more than I did Owens.

  “And I’m really sorry that I made that stuff up about you,” Rachel added. “It was the only way. Otherwise they would have forced you.”

  “What are you talking about?” Erik asked. “What did you make up?”

  Rachel gathered her things and got up to leave. “The pregnancy. I had Ridley fake the results to make GlobalLife think Samantha was pregnant.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The Procedure

  Erik stood up. “Rachel, why would you do that?”

  I went over to her. “Do you know how much trouble that’s caused us? Do you even understand what that—”

  “I had to do it,” she insisted. “They were going to force you to, you know, and then if you really did get pregnant—well, never mind.”

  She turned to leave, but I grabbed her arm. “What? What were you going to say, Rachel?”

  “Well, it’s just that they had plans for any offspring that came from you and Erik. I can’t get into it right now. Just be glad that they bought the story.”

  “Did you have anything to do with what happened that night of the gala? Erik and I couldn’t remember anything the next day.”

  “Well, I did slip a little something in your champagne. And I’m sorry for that. But it worked, because you both assumed that something happened. We needed you to believe the pregnancy was a possibility or the plan would’ve failed. If you’d remembered everything, you would’ve insisted that the pregnancy wasn’t real, causing GlobalLife to run more tests and find out the truth.”

  “But we woke up without …” I was too embarrassed to say it front of Jack. But in my head, I still couldn’t figure out why we woke up the next morning without clothes. Did Rachel have something to do with that? Or had something really happened that night between Erik and me?

  “They had cameras watching us,” Erik pointed out. “GlobalLife would’ve seen that the pregnancy wasn’t possible.”

  Rachel smiled. “The cameras weren’t working that night, Erik. Convenient, huh? Only you and Samantha know what really happened in your room that night. I’ll see you all later.” She quickly walked away and left out the door to the parking garage.

  Erik sat down again. “I liked her until I heard that part about the fake test results.”

  “What was she thinking? Drugging us? Making up a pregnancy?” I took a seat next to Erik.

  “I wouldn’t be so hard on her,” Jack said. “It sounds she did a lot for you two. She put herself at risk. And so did that other scientist, Ridley. Being undercover, they couldn’t tell you things until you were out of there. And I think she’s right to have concerns about Owens. Dave, I know you like the guy and he has been helpful, but we need to know what his motives are.”

  “I agree. But I don’t want to assume anything until we know more.” Dave glanced at his watch. “Lab results should be in by now. I’m going to go see if anything came up that might complicate the procedure.”

  Jack got up. “Yes. I had the exact same thought. We’ll see you two at dinner.”

  Erik and I stayed behind. Before either of us said anything, Colin walked in, heading to the kitchen. He darted past where we were sitting.

  “Colin, wait. I need to talk to you.” I followed him into the kitchen. He was getting a sandwich from the fridge.

  “I’m not here to talk, Sam. I just wanted to get something to eat.” He grabbed a plate for the sandwich and headed back to his room.

  I kept close behind him. “But I only need a few minutes.”

  He stopped when he reached his room. “Just go, Sam. We have nothing to talk about.”

  I wasn’t used to Colin acting that cold toward me. It was like he never wanted to see me again.

  He went inside his room and began to close the door.

  “I have the procedure tomorrow, Colin.” I backed away from the door, figuring it was no use trying to force my way in. “I wanted to talk to you about it. But I guess—I guess Dave could just tell you. I’ll tell him to stop by later.”

  As I turned to leave, Colin called after me. “All right. Just tell me whatever it is you need to tell me.” When I came in, he was seated at a table across the room. “You can sit over there.”

  The chair he told me to sit in was by the door, far away from him. I felt like I had to yell to be heard above the hum of the heater.

  “Okay, well, like I said, the procedure is tomorrow. They’ll be putting the base pairs from the alien genes in Erik and me.” Mentioning Erik’s name wasn’t the brightest move, but it just came out. I was so nervous. I couldn’t remember ever being nervous around Colin. But now I felt like he was judging my every word.

  “Yeah, I already knew that.” Colin kept his head down and ate his sandwich.

  “The people doing the procedure are concerned that filling in those base codes could cause some type of—I don’t know, destruction sequence. Kind of like the one that would happen if the timer ran out.”

  He looked up, but I couldn’t tell if he was concerned. “So what are the odds of that happening?”

  “They don’t know. It’s more of a theory given the fact that GlobalLife doesn’t want their technology—well, me—getting into the hands of someone else. Same reason they made the timer. If they can’t have me, nobody can.”

  Colin set his sandwich down and sat back in his chair. “Do you get a choice in this? Can you choose not to do the procedure?”

  “Yes. Of course. But I decided to go ahead and have it done. I mean, we’ve been searching for these base pairs and now we finally have them. And if I don’t get this procedure done, I’ll die when the timer runs out. That’s a fact. At least with the procedure, there’s only a chance that something bad will happen.”

  Colin crossed his arms. “So why are you telling me this?”

  My heart sank hearing his words. He really didn’t care. Just like I’d thought. Any feelings he had for me were gone. I was shut out of his life now. And I would never get back in. Not even as his friend.

  I stood up slowly. “I’m sorry. I thought you’d want to know what could happen. But I guess you don’t need to know now that we’re—” I couldn’t finish the statement because I wasn’t ready to accept that we were no longer dating or even friends.

  Colin remained quiet, his arms still crossed. I wanted so badly to go up and hug him and tell him how sorry I was, like a thousand times, but I knew he would only push me away.

  “I’m sure it’ll go well.” He went back to eating his sandwich.

  “Yeah, I’m sure it will,” I said softly. Silence filled the room. I figured it was best to get out of there and leave him alone. But then I remembered my other news. “Oh, and Colin? I had a doctor’s appointment today. They did blood work. And they found out that, um, that I’m not pregnant after all.”

  Colin kept eating, not reacting to the news.

  “It was all just a lie. Actually, this woman from GlobalLife set the whole thing—” I stopped, realizing that he had no interest in the story. He didn’t even look up or say goodbye as I left.

  Around 2, Dave came by my room. “Did you talk to Colin about the procedure risks?”

  “Yes. And he didn’t care.”

  Dave sat down next to me. “Oh, come on, Samantha. I know Colin and I know he’s worried sick about you.”

  “Then he has an odd way of showing it. He wouldn’t even look at me. He just sat there eating a sandwich.”

  “He’s just putting on a brave face for you.” He paused. “So did you tell him your other news?”

  “About the pregnancy? Yes. And he didn’t care about that either. The damage is done, Uncle Dave. He’ll never forgive me.”

  “You two can get through this. It’s just going to take some time. And patience. And we both know you’re not very patient.” He smiled. “But if you want this to work out, Sam, then you need to give him time. Colin’s not going to forgive you right away, especially when he has to see E
rik every day.”

  I remained quiet.

  “So tell me, Samantha, is this thing between you and Erik over? Or is there something still going on with you two?”

  “What do you mean?” I didn’t expect the question, especially from Uncle Dave, who had never shown much interest in my love life.

  “Well, you clearly like Erik. I can see that. So I guess what I’m asking is, do you really want Colin back? Or are you using this fight of yours as a reason to go back to Erik? Because you seem to be giving up on Colin awfully fast.”

  “Colin won’t even talk to me. He’s never going to take me back.”

  “That’s not what I asked. I asked if you even wanted him back.”

  “Of course I want him back. But I guess—” I stopped to think. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just confused. I love Colin. I really do. But I also have feelings for Erik. I mean, Erik and I are the only two people in the world with these genes.”

  “In your heart, you know who you should be with. Or maybe you’ll find that it’s neither one of them.” Dave sighed. “You need to really give this some thought, Sam. I know you’ve always had difficulty making decisions for yourself, but this is a big one. This could affect the rest of your life. Believe me, I made the wrong decision in love once and I’ve always regretted it.”

  Dave was referring to the woman he almost married back in his twenties. Instead, he chose to start his business and break it off with the woman, knowing the business would consume all his time and energy.

  “Can we not talk about the boyfriend situation right now?” I asked.

  Dave smiled. “Sure. New topic.”

  We spent the rest of the afternoon discussing what had happened while we were apart. Dave explained that GlobalLife had held him prisoner at the facility in Minnesota, but he escaped in the chaos that followed after the building explosion. Then he described how he worked with Owens to get all of us up to Iceland.

  “Uncle Dave, did you ever know about my sister, Brittany?”

  “No, I really didn’t. If I’d known, I would have told your parents. They would’ve loved to have another child. They would’ve been thrilled.”

  “She had a horrible life, Uncle Dave. Brittany’s mom drank all the time and they barely had money for food.”

  “I know. Jack told me. I wish we’d known about her so we could have done something to help out.”

  “Now she’s gone. GlobalLife will never let her go.”

  “Owens’ team will get her out, Sam. There’s nothing we can do. I don’t want you to worry about her right now. You don’t need the stress. You have the procedure tomorrow. I want that to be your focus.”

  Around 6, Dave got up to leave. “How about some dinner?”

  “Do you think Colin will be there?”

  “Yes, I’m guessing he will.”

  “Then I can’t. Not yet. Not after what happened. You go ahead.”

  “Okay, honey. But afterward, I’ll come back and check on you.”

  While Dave was at dinner I fell asleep. I didn’t wake up until 7 the next morning, when I heard someone knocking on my door. It was Dave again.

  “Morning, Sam. How are you feeling today?”

  “All right, I guess.”

  “Good. I came back last night, but you were already asleep.” He checked his watch. “They need you there in a half hour. I’ll walk down with you when you’re ready.”

  I showered and got dressed. Dave was back knocking on my door again at 7:25.

  “Why are they doing this so early?” I asked him.

  “Jack and I scheduled it early. We figured you’d want it done and over with rather than waiting around all day. Ready to go?”

  “Yes. I’m ready.” I really wasn’t ready, at least not mentally. Part of me was terrified that I might actually die.

  Dave pulled me into one of his big hugs. “It’s going to be okay, honey. Everything will be fine.”

  When we got to the end of the hall, I stopped. “Shouldn’t we wait for Erik and Jack?”

  “No. They already left. Come on.”

  “Why didn’t they wait for us?”

  Dave turned to face me. “The procedure is already being done on Erik. They started it an hour ago.”

  I grabbed Dave’s shirtsleeve. “What? Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t he tell me?”

  “Calm down. He didn’t want you to worry. And well—he didn’t want you to go through with the procedure if something, you know, happened. He wanted to go first to test things out.”

  It was just like Erik to do something like that without telling me. But it wasn’t fair! This was too big a deal. He should have told me.

  “We were supposed to get this done at the same time! What was he thinking?”

  “It was his decision to make, Sam, not yours.”

  “How is he? Have you heard anything?”

  “I just talked to Jack. So far, so good. Now let’s go.”

  When we got there, I saw Erik asleep in a hospital bed, tubes still in his arm. Jack sat next to him, nervously watching the monitors.

  I raced over to him. “How is he?”

  “It’s too early to tell. The base pairs haven’t integrated into the DNA yet.”

  “But there aren’t signs of anything … bad happening?”

  “No. Nothing yet.”

  A wave of relief washed over me, but it was short lived when I remembered how GlobalLife had tried to kill Colin. They gave him a drug meant to send him into cardiac arrest hours after taking it. They could do the same type of delayed reaction with the base codes. Erik seemed to be doing okay, but as soon as the new genetic material was fully integrated into the DNA, completing the rungs on the double helix, the destruction sequence could begin. It was a wait-and-see game now.

  “Come on, Sam.” Dave put his arm around me, leading me away from Erik. “They need to get you prepped.”

  I went into a back room and changed into hospitallike scrubs, similar to the ones I’d worn at GlobalLife. All-white cotton drawstring pants and a short sleeve white cotton shirt. I lay on the operating table surrounded by equipment and beeping machines.

  The lab was not nearly as high-tech as the one at GlobalLife. I was sure it was very expensive equipment, but GlobalLife’s equipment was far more advanced. Jack had said that GlobalLife didn’t let the rest of the world have their superior technology until they were ready to dole it out.

  Lab techs surrounded me, cleaning my arm where the needle would enter to insert the alien DNA. They hooked me up to monitors and started an IV. The bright fluorescent lights were already giving me a headache. I started to relax as the drugs in the IV began to take effect.

  “Uncle Dave, don’t leave me,” I called out, trying to find him. “I don’t want to be alone.”

  “I’m right here, Sam.” I felt Dave clasp my free hand. “I was just talking to Jack.”

  “Will you be here the whole time?”

  “Yes, honey. In fact, I set aside the whole day for this.”

  I smiled. Even in my groggy state, I knew he was making a joke. He had nothing else to do at that place but wait around. He certainly didn’t need to set aside any time.

  “The doctor will be in shortly and then we’ll start,” a lab tech said to Dave.

  “Uncle Dave, I’m scared.” I squeezed his hand, but my strength was fading from the drugs.

  “There’s no need to be scared, Samantha. It’ll be over before you know it.”

  I could feel my eyes and head getting sleepy.

  “Is she still up?” I heard a voice in the distance. I assumed it was the doctor finally arriving.

  As Dave let go of my hand, I struggled to hold on to it. But my muscles were too relaxed and my hand rested back down on the table. Moments later I felt someone take my hand again, but it wasn’t Dave. And then I recognized the hand that was now wrapped around mine. It was a perfect fit. I opened my heavy eyelids just enough to confirm that it was Colin.

  CHAPTER FIVE
r />   Close Call

  “Colin?” I tried to say his name but the drugs were making my voice weak.

  I felt Colin’s hand tighten around mine. I finally relaxed and fell into a deep sleep.

  “Sam? Sam, can you hear me?”

  I heard the voice but could only see darkness and heavy fog.

  “Sam, it’s me. Brittany. Can you hear me?”

  “Yes! I hear you, Brittany!” I tried to speak, but no sound came out.

  “Sam! Please! I need you!”

  I searched frantically through the fog, but couldn’t see Brittany anywhere. “I’m coming! I’m coming to get you. Just tell me where you are!” I yelled, but still no sound would come out.

  “Sam. Hurry! I’m running out of time.”

  “Where are you! Tell me!” My scream was silent again. I couldn’t hear Brittany anymore. But I could feel snow around my legs and I could hear ocean waves. A light kept flashing in front of me. It seemed to be coming from a lighthouse. I stared at it. When the light flashed again, I saw the lighthouse was all white with a large red stripe around the top.

  “Brittany, please talk to me. Tell me where you are. I’ll come get you. I promise. Just tell me where to find you!” I began running. My legs felt like heavy weights being dragged through the snowy fields. I was getting more and more out of breath, but I wouldn’t stop running. I had to find her.

  “Sir. Her heartbeat! It’s way too fast!”

  I heard footsteps racing around me. “Get the monitor up. Now!”

  I felt Colin stand up, still holding my hand. “What’s wrong? What’s happening?”

  “Get him out!” a voice ordered. I felt Colin being pulled from me. My hand dropped back down on the table.

  “No! I’m not leaving!” Colin yelled.

  “Someone help me get him out of here,” another voice called out.

  “She’s having trouble breathing. Should we intubate?”

  I heard Dave’s voice behind me. “What’s causing this?”

  Jack’s voice bellowed from across the room. “Dave, come look at the monitor! It’s just like Erik’s.”