A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3)

by Karpinske, Stephanie

“Right now?” Dave asked. “I thought we were leaving this afternoon.”

  “The plan changed. With Brittany gone, GlobalLife is on high alert. They’re searching everywhere. You need to leave right now. You’ve got 5 minutes to be at the limo.”

  We hurried back to our rooms, grabbed our stuff, and got in the limo. The airport wasn’t that far away but the fog slowed us down. When we got there, the fog had cleared. It was a very small airport, similar to the one we arrived at. Private planes were lined up in a row, some with GlobalLife logos.

  I whispered to Dave. “GlobalLife planes? Is Owens crazy having us leave from here?”

  From his expression, I could tell that he, too, was disturbed by the site of them. “It’s very early. I’m sure there’s nobody in them.”

  The limo pulled up right next to a covered walkway leading up to the plane. The walkway had black fabric on all sides, almost like a homemade tunnel meant to shield us from any cameras that might be aimed at the tarmac.

  I boarded the plane first and saw Owens in the first row. He was on his phone, his laptop in front of him. He nodded to acknowledge us. I didn’t see Brittany until I got to the very last row. She was wrapped in a blanket, huddled against the side of the plane.

  “Brittany!” I reached down and wrapped my arms around her.

  Her face lit up. “Sam! Finally! I was starting to think you guys weren’t coming.”

  “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” I stood back and looked at her.

  “Sam, relax. I’m okay.” She noticed Erik behind me. “Erik!”

  I moved out of the way so Brittany could get up. Her blanket fell to the floor and I could see that her clothes were still wet from the snow. She grabbed Erik for a hug.

  “Hey, Brittany,” he said, as they hugged. “Way to kick ass back there at GlobalLife. You never fail to surprise me.”

  I didn’t think he should mention GlobalLife so soon, but she laughed.

  Jack and Colin gave her a hug, too. Dave was next, but he stood there, not sure what to do. Brittany and Dave had never met. He stared at her as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The two of us looked so much alike. I could feel the emotion building in him. I was sure he was remembering what I’d told him about how Brittany had grown up with a drunk mother in a broken-down trailer with very little food.

  Brittany approached Dave, holding out her hand. “Hi, I’m Brittany. And I guess you must be—”

  “Dave.” He gave her a hug instead of a handshake. “Uncle Dave if you want to call me that.” He stood back to look at her. “I wish Stephen and Ellie could have—” He stopped as he started to choke up. “Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, Brittany.”

  “We’ll be leaving shortly, so everyone please get seated.” The pilot was in the front of the plane, motioning us to sit down.

  We all sat in the back of the plane, with Brittany and me on one side of the aisle and Colin on the other side by the window. Jack, Dave, and Erik sat in front of us.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked Brittany.

  “Yeah. I’m just wet from the snow.”

  “I’ll get you some clothes.” I stood up, but felt the plane moving and sat down again. “Once we’re in the air I’ll get them.”

  Erik poked his head up over the seat in front of us. “So how the hell did you get out of there? I mean, Sam and I barely made it—”

  I shot him a look. “Erik, maybe she doesn’t want to talk about it right now.”

  “I can talk about it,” Brittany said. “There’s really not much to tell. The guards messed up and I got out. And then I ran until I couldn’t run anymore.”

  Jack overheard us talking and leaned back across the aisle. “What do you mean the guards messed up?”

  “They just messed up. That’s all.” She looked out the side window, trying to avoid our stares.

  I nudged her. “You don’t have to tell us, Brittany.”

  She turned back. “Whatever. It doesn’t really matter. Basically, a few days ago I told this one guard that we would, you know, get together before they moved me to that new place. So last night, or I guess it was early this morning, he let me out of the room they had me in. There was only one other guard there at night. He thought he was getting lucky next, so he went along with it. And when things started, you know, heating up, I took the one guy’s gun.”

  I felt sick thinking of the GlobalLife guards touching Brittany in any way.

  “And I shot ’em. Both of ’em,” she said, nonchalantly. “The guy I was with? That was easy. Close range. But the other guy was way across the room. He heard the shot and started shooting at me. I shot back, but couldn’t get him. Then I pretended that I was out of bullets. He came at me and when he got close enough, I got him. It was my last bullet.”

  We all sat there shocked. I was afraid to even be near guns, but Brittany had grown up with them and had no problem using one to defend herself.

  “So they’re, um, deceased?” Jack asked cautiously.

  “No. Just injured. Although I should’ve killed ’em. Sick bastards.”

  Jack looked concerned. “Brittany, we should talk later. That was very traumatic. And you’ve already been through so much.”

  She shrugged. “It’s survival. You do what you gotta do. That’s what my mom always said.” Brittany’s mom had been killed by GlobalLife just weeks earlier. Shot in the head and left for dead in the trailer that Brittany and she shared. Brittany claimed that her mom and she didn’t get along, but her words and actions said differently. I knew she loved her mother and would stop at nothing to get revenge for what GlobalLife had done.

  “Besides, no offense to you guys here, but men are stupid,” Brittany continued. “A pretty girl takes an interest in them and they’ll do whatever she says. When I heard the guards say they were moving me to some other place, I knew that was my chance. I flirted with both of those guys all week. I told them I’d give them a little goodbye gift. And they fell for it. After I took ’em down, I ran out the door, down the stairs, and ended up outside at the back of the building.”

  “They have security outside,” Jack said. “How did they not catch you?”

  “I don’t know. The car that was supposed to come get me wasn’t there yet. And it was super foggy, so I kept low to the ground to hide. Plus, I overheard the guard saying that the cameras and motion sensors weren’t working right since that power outage the other day. Was that you guys?” She turned to me.

  “Yeah. Erik and I had a little help getting out of there. I’ll tell you later.”

  “How did you guys know I was at that lighthouse?”

  “I heard you calling for help,” I said.

  “No way! Do you have like extra-super hearing now, Sam?”

  “No. It was a premonition. We have a lot to talk about, Brittany. But let’s get you in dry clothes first.”

  I grabbed some clothes from my bag. Brittany went to the bathroom to change.

  Erik turned to his dad. “Damn! That girl has guts.”

  “Well, she was fighting for her life, Erik.”

  “Yeah, Dad, but most girls—”

  I kicked the back of his seat.

  “Okay, most people,” he said, correcting himself, “would just give up. Do nothing. Not even try anything.”

  “She’s a smart girl. And she isn’t afraid to take risks. Like she said, she does whatever it takes to survive.”

  Brittany came out of the bathroom. We all watched as she sat back down.

  “You don’t have to act so weird around me. I’m fine. Really. Go back to whatever you were doing. I need to talk to Sam.”

  Brittany began asking me a million questions about what had happened since she’d been captured. I told her how Erik and I had escaped and how the timers in us were finally turned off. I couldn’t tell her everything with Erik sitting right in front of us. But she’d heard the guards talking about my supposed pregnancy and asked about it.

  “Obviously I didn’t believe it,” she w
hispered. “I mean, you and Erik? You would never do something like that to Colin.”

  “I can’t get into it now.” I pointed to the seat in front of me, where Erik was sitting.

  She grabbed my arm. “Wait a minute. It wasn’t true, was it? You’re not really pregnant, are you?”

  “No. It was a lie.”

  “Yeah, okay. For a minute there I thought you were going to say that you were really pregnant.” She lowered her voice. “So why didn’t you tell those people at GlobalLife that you knew they were lying?”

  “Because I, uh, I actually did think it might be true. But don’t—”

  “What? No way! Why?” Her voice got louder. “What did you two do?”

  “Shhh. Please, just talk about something else.”

  “But you’re still with Colin, right?” she whispered.

  “No, I’m not. It’s a long story.”

  “How did all this happen? I wasn’t gone that long!”

  Erik leaned over the seat. “Sam, can I talk to her now?”

  “I was kind of wanting to spend some more time with her.”

  “We can catch up later, Sam.” Brittany seemed eager to talk to Erik.

  Erik took my seat and I sat across the aisle next to Colin. “Care if I sit here?” I wasn’t sure if he was in one of his “I hate Sam” moods.

  “Go ahead.” Colin was reading a sports magazine that had been left in the seat pocket in front of him.

  “Erik said there’s a plane waiting in New York to take you back home.”

  Colin looked up from the magazine. “Yeah. Owens set it up.”

  “Are you sure you can trust him?”

  “What do you think he’s going to do? I know that Owens doesn’t like me, but I don’t think he’ll blow up his expensive plane just to get rid of me. There are easier ways to do that, Sam. Cheaper ways.”

  “Yeah, so maybe you won’t be safe when you get home. Maybe he has something planned.”

  “I’ll be safe. Don’t worry about it.” His eyes returned to the magazine.

  “Listen. I know it’s your decision, but I’m asking you not to go. I need you, Colin.”

  “You don’t need me. You have Dave. And your sister.” He paused. “And Erik.”

  “It’s not the same. I need you.”

  He kept reading.

  “Colin, would you put that down and listen to me?” He looked up again, still holding the magazine. “Please, don’t go back to Minnesota. You’re mad at me. I get that. And you don’t want a relationship with me anymore. I get that, too, even though it’s not what I want. But if your goal is to get away from me, I’ll just leave you alone. You don’t have to go back home. GlobalLife will find you there, Colin. And they’ll come after your parents. Your sisters.”

  “They won’t do that. They’re done chasing me. They want you and Erik. And you know, maybe me going home isn’t about you. Maybe I miss my friends and my family. And my last semester of high school.”

  “But when will I see you again?”

  “I don’t know, Sam. Maybe our high school reunion.”

  “That’s not funny, Colin. I may never go back to Minnesota. I’ll probably have to hide out for the rest of my life. Maybe move to a different country. Don’t you get that? We may never see each other again.”

  He lowered his voice so Jack and Dave wouldn’t hear. “I don’t want to get into this right now.”

  “But there’s no time left. You’re leaving when we get to New York.”

  “The plane doesn’t leave until later tonight. And, Sam, we’ve already talked about this. We’re not getting back together.“

  “You talked about it. I didn’t. You made the decision for both of us.”

  “You’ve been doing that for years. It’s about time that I make a decision.”

  “If you think I made all our decisions, then it’s only because you told me to. You always asked me to decide stuff. Don’t act like—” I stopped, not wanting to fight during our last hours together. “I’m sorry. Forget that. It doesn’t matter. I just think this is a decision we should talk through together.”

  “I’ve already given this a ton of thought, Sam. It’s not like I just decided this after I found out about—” He glanced over at Erik. “I’ve been thinking about this for months. I kept wondering if you’d break up with me before you left for college.”

  “Who told you that? Allie?”

  “No. Why? Were you really going to do that?” He rolled his eyes. “Of course you were. I was just some high school boyfriend. Someone to do stuff with on weekends.”

  “That’s not true.”

  He looked at me, knowing it was a lie.

  “Okay, it’s kind of true. I used to think that. Like months ago. But not anymore.”

  Colin went back to reading his magazine. It was no use talking to him. His mind was made up. I glanced over at Erik and Brittany, who were deep in conversation. Jack and Dave had gone up front to talk to Owens.

  I could have moved to a different seat, but I remained with Colin for the rest of the flight. Even if he hated me and refused to talk to me, I wasn’t going to leave him if we only had a few hours left together.

  The plane landed at a small airport. Two limos were waiting: one to take Owens to New York City and one for the rest of us. Owens talked briefly to Jack and Dave, then left.

  Erik went up to Colin. “Good luck with everything.”

  “Yeah, thanks.” The tension between them was thick. I thought Colin might hit him one last time, but Erik walked away.

  I grabbed Colin’s arm. “Aren’t you coming with us? You said your flight doesn’t leave until later tonight.”

  “I’m staying here and waiting for it.”

  “But that’s like hours from now.”

  “It’ll go fast. Owens said there’s a TV in there. And magazines, books. A vending machine.”

  Jack and Dave came up to him. “You’re sure this is what you want to do?” Dave asked Colin.

  “Yeah. I need to finish school.”

  “Well, I wish you’d change your mind, but I can’t force you to stay. We’ll sure miss you.” Dave gave him a hug. Jack and Brittany did the same. Then they all piled into the limo, leaving Colin and me behind.

  The scene didn’t seem real. But given the flood of emotions I was feeling, I knew it was definitely real. Panic, loss, and sadness hit me all at once.

  “I’m not ready for this, Colin. I thought we’d have more time before you left.”

  He gave me a hug. “Be safe, Sam.” I held on. But he pulled away, then picked up his bag.

  “No, wait! I need more time! I’ll go inside with you.”

  “You guys need to go.” He pointed back to the limo. “The car’s running. Everyone’s waiting for you.”

  “I don’t care! I need to talk to you. You know I can’t call you in Minnesota. Please, Colin. I’m asking you again to stay here. You won’t be safe at home. I’ll worry about you constantly.”

  He leaned down and gently kissed my forehead. “Goodbye, Sam.”

  I grabbed his hand, but he took it back, then turned and walked away. “Colin, don’t go! Just wait!”

  I felt Dave behind me, tugging on my shoulder. “Come on, Sam. We need to leave.”

  As we drove away, I watched Colin walk toward the airport building. He never turned back. I knew I shouldn’t read his mind but I did anyway.

  “Dammit, Sam!” he thought. “Why didn’t you fight for me? Why didn’t you fight for us? I can’t hold this thing together by myself anymore. I love you, but I can’t do it anymore. I wish you understood that.”

  His words weren’t what I expected. He hadn’t given up on us. He’d given up on me.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Speeding

  When we turned onto the main road, I lost sight of Colin. I had to do something, but I didn’t know what. I’d already begged Colin to stay. So what did he mean saying I didn’t fight for him? For us? What else was I supposed to do?

&n
bsp; Jack and Dave started going over whatever Owens told them, but I didn’t listen to any of it. My mind was back with Colin. I refused to believe that he was gone. I didn’t even cry because I kept telling myself that he would change his mind and not get on that plane.

  About a half hour later, we arrived at a small house that was similar to the house I grew up in. Probably built in the early 1900s, it had dark wood floors, thick wood trim, and short ceilings.

  Two of Owens’ security guys were waiting for us when we got there. Both were very large. They stood up straight with shoulders back, like military guys. Jack presented them with a piece of paper that Owens had given him.

  One of the guys went up to Dave. “I need the word and the phrase, please.”

  “The word is ‘scorpion,’” Dave answered. “The phrase is ‘the grass is always greener.’”

  “Good. Welcome, I’m Darius,” the first man said. He was bald with dark skin and eyes. He spoke with a deep, clear voice that was pleasant to listen to. And despite his intimidating size, his smile was very warm and friendly.

  “And I’m Kendrick.” The other man held out his hand to us. He had a blond crewcut and tattoos along both arms and the back of his neck.

  “So you’ll be staying with us?” Jack asked Kendrick.

  “Yes, both of us will. So this is the house and there’s a car out front if you need it. Samantha and Erik will be staying down in the basement bedrooms, which are highly secured. Come downstairs and I’ll show you.”

  The house looked completely ordinary until I saw the basement, which was filled with computer equipment and big monitors that covered one wall. There were two small bedrooms off to the side. And there was an even smaller room with a steel door that almost looked like a bank vault.

  Darius motioned us inside the vaultlike room.

  Jack seemed wary of the room. “That’s all right. We can see it from—”

  Darius put his hand up, silencing Jack. He and Kendrick went into the tiny room and waited for us. We reluctantly went in and Darius shut the door.

  “This is a safe room,” Darius said. “Owens had it installed just last week for Sam and Erik. It’s the only place we can talk in private. The rest of the house is covered in listening devices. We’re in here because we need to tell you something. Kendrick and I are part of the rebel group trying to stop GlobalLife’s genetic enhancement project.”