We heard people leaving the room and hanging up from the call. “Rachel, check that we’re disconnected, then take this phone out of here,” Loflin ordered. “When you’re done, come right back. We need to draft a memo to send up the corporate ladder.”
Rachel left the room. When she returned, we heard Loflin talking to Owens, who seemed to be the only other person in the room.
“Where the hell are those genes, Preston? We have to find them! We’re dead if we don’t!”
“Let me correct you there, Alistor. You’re dead if you don’t find them. I don’t work for GlobalLife. It’s not my job to find them. I’ve already helped you enough by finding out about Eve and bringing her here.”
“But when your men picked her up last night, where the hell were the genes? She’d just left the building! She had the vials with her! Where could they be?”
“She obviously gave them to someone soon after she left the building. She must have had someone waiting in the alley to take the vials so she wouldn’t be caught with them.”
“How could she think she’d ever get away with this? Why would she even try something like this?”
“I can show you the flight records, Alistor. Eve had a private plane ready and waiting. The money from the deal was probably being wired to a foreign bank account. She was a rich woman prepared to start a new life somewhere. And if it weren’t for me, she’d probably be on a beach enjoying a cocktail right now.”
Loflin sighed. “Yes, Preston. I’m sorry to have discredited your role in all of this. You’ve helped me a great deal bringing Eve here last night. And you’re right. It’s not your responsibility to find the genes.”
“So I assume you’ll get the material into Eve yet today?”
“Yes. I’ll make sure it’s done within the hour. But you know it’s Samantha’s DNA she’s getting. It’s from the samples we took from her in Iceland. We’ve tweaked the software, hoping to lessen the chance of rejection, but I’m not hopeful it will work.”
“Speaking of Samantha, do you have any idea where she and Erik might be hiding out?” Owens asked.
“No. So far, our search has found nothing. It’s like they disappeared.”
“I’m sure you’ll find them. I need to get going. Tell Eve I send her my best.”
“Rachel, I need to get them started on Eve,” Loflin said. “We’ll have to meet later to work on the memo.”
We heard the listening device shut off. Dave turned off the speaker.
“Well, I guess we won’t have to worry about Eve anymore,” Erik snickered.
“Don’t make light of this, Erik,” Jack scolded. “We may not like Eve, but we don’t want her dead.”
“Owens sure played his part well during the meeting,” Dave said. “Do you think he was really having her followed?”
Jack considered it. “I think it’s a possibility. That would explain why his men were there waiting for her when she left the building. We’ll have to see if Rachel has any details to share.”
“Sam, Erik, we should get going.” Dave got up. “You two have another brain scan today. Abigail said we should make sure there wasn’t any damage from last night. Neither one of you had symptoms, right?
Erik glanced at me. Dave noticed. “What is it? Samantha, did something happen?”
I glared at Erik. “A minor headache. Nothing big.”
Dave didn’t believe me. “There’s no use lying about it, Samantha. The scans will tell us what happened.”
“Okay, it was a bad one. After I disconnected from Eve, the headache started and kept getting worse.”
Colin leaned over to whisper in my ear. “Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“Not now,” I whispered back.
Dave sighed. “I don’t know why you feel the need to keep this a secret, Samantha. We’re only trying to keep you healthy.”
“Because you overreact like this,” I muttered.
We all headed to the rebel group house. Abigail was waiting for us. Out of the blue, she hugged Erik and me. Abigail had always been very businesslike around us, keeping her emotions in check. But today her emotions were front and center.
“I was so concerned last night when we lost contact with you.” Abigail looked like she might cry. “I’m so glad you’re both safe again. We all are.”
“Okay, well, we’ll be downstairs,” I said, feeling awkward.
Erik and I had our scans, then the doctor met with all of us to go over the results. “It’s not good, Samantha. You’ve done quite a bit of damage to this area.” He held up a diagram of the brain and circled a section. “And some of it may not heal. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Everyone’s eyes were on me. Brittany looked as though she thought I was going to die. Colin had his hand tight around mine.
Erik was angry. “I told you to let me help more, Sam! When we were in the car, I said if anything—”
“I wasn’t trying to do any damage. It just happened. And I feel fine now.”
“Controlling that woman for such an extended period of time was too much for you,” the doctor explained. “You should’ve given Erik control of her for more of the time. He suffered almost no damage from last night.”
Erik threw his hands up in the air. “See? I told you.”
I ignored him and focused on the doctor. “How long before this heals?”
“I’m not sure. We’ll check you again in a week. For now, you need to let it rest. That means no mind-reading and no mind-talking with Erik. And if you hear someone trying to contact you, like your friend did before, you need to block it.”
Dave looked at me to agree.
“Okay. I’ll let my brain rest. But what about the genes? Aren’t we going to try to get them from Owens? And what about the other—”
“Sam, stop,” Dave ordered. “Didn’t you hear the doctor? You’re going to take it easy.”
We went home. I rested all afternoon, even though I felt perfectly fine. At dinner everyone was quiet, as if talking would somehow further damage my brain. After a while, I couldn’t take the silence anymore. “Would someone please say something? Anything? It’s not like I’m dying. You could at least—”
There was a knock on the door. Nobody moved or spoke. We weren’t expecting anyone and people never showed up at the house unannounced. The knocking continued, followed by silence.
Dave got up just as the knocking started again. He looked at Jack. They both went into the living room.
“Is anyone home?” We heard a voice from outside. It sounded like an older man. Jack nodded to Dave. They both seemed to recognize the voice.
“Yes, we’re coming,” Dave called out. He opened the front door.
“Good to see you again, Dave.” It was Owens, wearing a long dark coat and a gray scarf. “It’s frigid out there. I was hoping for an early spring, but I don’t think we’re going to get it.”
Owens acted like the whole scene was perfectly normal, when it was anything but. We hadn’t seen Owens since leaving his house. Jack and Dave kept working on the files he gave them, but they hadn’t talked to him. And Owens wasn’t supposed to know where we were staying, even though we knew Rachel had told him our location in her pretend role as his spy.
“Nice place you have here. Rachel said you’d found a new house out in the country. Seems quite cozy.”
“Preston, what brings you by?” Dave played along, acting like Owens’ visit was no big deal.
Owens took off his coat and sat down. “I just wanted to express my sincere apologies for how I’ve acted toward all of you.” He noticed Erik and me sitting at the table in the other room. “Samantha, Erik. Please join us, will you?”
We went into the living room and sat down. Colin and Brittany came, too. Owens ignored them and continued talking. “I overstepped my boundaries before and I’m sorry for that. It was wrong of me to insist that you live in that house of mine. And I never meant to lose my temper like that, Dave. I was just concerned for the safety of Samantha a
nd Erik. I felt like it was my fault they were captured by GlobalLife in Iceland. I wanted to ensure that it never happened again. I was only trying to protect them.”
Dave seemed surprised. “Well, that’s good to know, Preston. Was that all?”
Owens laughed. “Are you trying to get rid of me, Dave?” Dave didn’t answer. Owens got serious again. “Another reason I came by was to inform you that the last remaining samples of the alien genes were stolen last night from a vault at GBL Capital Management. I hadn’t even considered that’s where they’d be. But anyway, Eve Taylor took them and sold them to someone.”
We all pretended to believe the story. It seemed that Owens really didn’t know about our involvement with Eve. So maybe there wasn’t a mole in the rebel group. Maybe he really did think Eve was trying to steal the genes.
“I’ve been following Eve for several months now,” Owens explained. “I suspected she was up to something, and it turned out to be true. So the genes are out of GlobalLife’s hands, but unfortunately we don’t know who they ended up with.”
“That’s very concerning, Preston.” Dave continued to go along with the story.
“Yes, well, I’m telling you this because I no longer need you and Jack to keep working on those files. I assume that means you’ll be leaving here soon. If so, I wanted to tell you that my offer still stands. Samantha? Erik? My home in Switzerland is ready and waiting. I can fly you both there whenever you’re ready.”
“No, thanks,” Erik said. “I’m fine right here in America.”
“Yeah, same here,” I agreed.
Owens stood up. “Well, I guess that’s it then.” He put on his coat and scarf. “Jack, Dave, I wish you the best. And I sincerely hope that you can keep those two out of GlobalLife’s hands.”
Dave nodded. “We’ll do our best, Preston.”
Owens came over to Erik and me. “I’m so sorry it didn’t work out with you two. You really do make a wonderful couple.” He smiled. “The golden couple.”
I shivered when he said it. It was like the words had some hidden meaning. I tried to read his mind but couldn’t because he was wearing the brain wave scrambling device.
Owens finally left. Jack locked the door and watched to make sure Owens’ car was gone.
“What the hell was that?” Erik asked.
“That was Owens playing some kind of game with us,” Dave replied. “Either that or Rachel was right and he’s starting to lose his mind.”
“He must know that we’re aware that he has the genes, right?” Jack asked Dave.
“I don’t know, Jack. It’s possible that he doesn’t know about our involvement.”
We heard knocking on the door again. We practically jumped out of our seats, still rattled by Owens’ visit.
Dave glanced at his watch. “It’s Abigail.” He answered the door. As soon as she came in, he started to explain what had just happened with Owens. The rest of us got up to leave.
Jack stopped us. “Erik? Samantha? Abigail’s actually here to talk to you both about something.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” I asked him.
“Nothing’s wrong. We just need to talk. Let’s go downstairs.”
“Just talk here, Dad.” Erik sat down again. “Go ahead.”
“No. We need to talk to you two alone. Let’s go. This won’t take long.”
Erik and I followed Jack, Dave, and Abigail to the basement. Abigail started. “As you know, I’ve become somewhat of an expert on the alien genes. I’ve studied them for years. I’ve built models showing their effects on the human body.”
“Those models have been extremely accurate,” Dave said. “She predicted the abilities you would have as well as complications around those abilities. This was before she even met you two.”
“So you can tell us what will happen in the future?” Erik asked. “Will we get even more abilities?”
“I’m almost certain that you will get more abilities, but I don’t know what those are,” she replied. “The models I built work best when applied to a growing body, meaning childhood and adolescence. The adult body is harder to predict. You would think the opposite would be true but it’s not.”
“What are you trying to tell us?” I asked.
“Sam, none of us fully understand what these genes will do to you as you get older,” Dave said. “And knowing that, Abigail has been working on a project that you and Erik might be interested in learning more about.”
“It’s a procedure,” Abigail said. “A series of treatments to take the alien genes out of you. You’d be normal again.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Normal
Abigail shook her head. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have used that term. You and Erik are completely normal. What I meant is that your genes would have only human nucleobases. No alien bases.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You can do that? Are you sure?”
“Not 100%, but my models have been correct thus far. I wouldn’t even suggest this if I wasn’t confident it could work.”
Erik was surprised as well. “So we wouldn’t have our abilities anymore? None of them?”
“That’s correct,” Abigail answered.
“But this doesn’t come without risk,” Jack warned. “The treatments could have unintended side effects. We can’t test this in any way other than in those models Abigail built. So we can’t be certain what will happen.”
“That’s why you both need to give this a lot of thought,” Dave added. “There’s no rush. You can decide months from now or even later.”
Erik and I sat there thinking about it. Minutes passed, then eventually Dave spoke. “Well if you have any questions, Abigail can—”
“I’ll do it,” I said, getting up. “I’ll do the treatments. When can we start?”
Dave came over to me. “Samantha, you need to think about this. Take some time to consider the risks.”
“I don’t need time. I’ve made my decision. I hate having this stuff in me. It’s ruined my life. It’s the reason my parents are dead.”
Dave led me to the side of the room to talk privately. “Honey, I want you to give this more thought. I know it sounds good. I was excited by the possibility, too. But then I thought of everything that could go wrong, and I want you to do the same.”
I told him I’d think about it just to appease him. But there was nothing to think about. I wanted the genes out of me.
Erik and I went upstairs. Colin and Brittany were watching TV in the living room.
“What did they want?” Brittany asked.
“They said we could get this alien crap out of us,” Erik said, sitting next to her. He didn’t seem at all enthusiastic about the news.
Brittany smiled. “Really? That’s awesome! Aren’t you guys excited?”
“It involves a series of treatments and the treatments have some risks,” I explained. “So they want us to think about it.”
“What kind of risks?” Colin asked me.
“They don’t know. Since it’s never been done and they can’t test it, we’d kind of just be hoping for the best. But Abigail built some models, and based on those, she thinks it could work.”
“And if it doesn’t work, it could kill us,” Erik said.
Colin looked at Erik. “Are you serious?”
“I’m totally serious.” Erik locked his eyes on me. “And Sam’s already decided to do it.”
Colin grabbed my arm. “Wait. You’ve already decided to do this, Sam?”
I shot a look of disapproval at Erik. “Yes. I want these genes out of me. I’m willing to accept whatever risks come with that.”
Brittany looked worried. “Do you have to do the treatments now, Sam? Or can you wait?”
“I can wait, but I don’t want to. I’d rather start them right away.”
“Sam, we need to talk about this.” Colin got up. “Let’s go somewhere else.”
I sighed. “Okay, but I’m not changing my mind.”
&nbs
p; We went to his room. He shut the door hard behind us.
“I thought we had an agreement here, Sam. You’d be open with me? Talk to me about stuff? And now here you go again making this huge decision without even asking my opinion.”
“We can talk about it, but it’s not your decision, Colin. I don’t know why you’re getting so mad about this.”
He threw his hands up in the air. “Because you could die, Sam! You heard what Erik said. And you don’t see him rushing to make a decision.”
“He’s known about the genes his whole life. He’s used to having these abilities. He doesn’t know any differently. But I do. I used to have a life. A life where I was safe and didn’t have to run and hide all the time. I just want to have that again.”
Colin pulled me into his arms. “I know you do. And I want you to have that, too. But not if it means losing you. You can’t rush into this, Sam.”
I pushed him away. “Don’t you get it, Colin? This procedure could give us a normal life. If I stay this way, we’ll always be living in secret. Always worrying. We’ll never go to college, never have a job. And you and I can, well, we can never have kids. I mean, if we wanted to some day. We couldn’t combine our genes that way. You know that, right?”
“I don’t care about that, Sam. Besides, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of nieces and nephews. You know my sisters. They’ll probably each have two or three kids.”
“Look what these genes are doing to me, Colin. I’ve already damaged my brain. What other damage is being done? We don’t even know. It’s just as great a risk to do nothing and keep this stuff in me than it is to get it out.”
“Is that true or are you just saying that?”
“Okay, I’m just guessing about that. But it’s true that nobody knows what will happen to Erik and me as we age. Even Abigail said that, and she’s studied the alien genes for years.”
“Sam, I want you to think about this some more. You can do this a year from now, right? Or two years? Is there a time limit?”
“No. I just really want this out of me so I can be normal again. So we can be a normal couple again. Go to the movies. Eat out at a restaurant. Go to the park. I want to do all the things we used to do.”
A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3) Page 24