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.
CHAPTER THIRTY
One Moment
“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.
&n
bsp; “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.”
Brittany didn’t seem sold on the idea. “What would we do in New Hampshire?”
“My cousin runs a small private school in town,” Abigail said. “You and Colin could finish up your last semester of high school there.”
“Colin, I know you’ll probably choose to return to Minnesota,” Dave said, “but I wanted to offer this as an option. Oh, and it’s safe to call your folks now. You should do that today. Let them know you’re okay. And Samantha.” Dave smiled at me. “Given the recent events, I think that you’ll be able to go to Stanford.”
“Are you serious? Aren’t you worried about GlobalLife?”
“Yes. But Abigail and I have already been discussing ways to deal with those concerns and although we have some issues to work through, if all goes as planned, there’s a good chance that you’ll be attending there in the fall.”
I went over and hugged him. “That’s awesome!” I sat back down next to Colin. “But about New Hampshire, Uncle Dave, I need to think about that some more.”
“Yes, I understand. We just wanted to offer it as an option. We realize you’re all technically adults now and are free to do what you want, but Jack and I think it would be best if we stuck together, at least until the dust settles.” Dave’s face got red, as it always did when he tried not to cry. “And I selfishly don’t want to see all of you leave. I love you kids. I’m not ready for you to go your separate ways.”
“Oh, David.” Abigail reached over to hold his hand.
Erik looked at Jack. “I don’t know about moving there, Dad. I’ve never had the chance to go out on my own. I think I’ll take off. Maybe go back to Texas and figure out what I want to do.”
“I know, Erik. And I don’t expect you to stick around. It’s your decision. And if you want, we can both go back to Texas.”
“Well, all of you think about it and let us know later,” Dave said. “Abigail and I are leaving next week. We’d love if you all came with us, but we understand if you don’t.”
Hearing Dave talk about leaving almost had me in tears. I got up, not wanting to break down in front of everyone. I finished breakfast, then went back to my room.
“Sounds like we might get a break from all this for a while.” Erik was standing at my door. He came in and sat down next to me on the bed. “Have you decided what you’re going to do?”
“No. Not yet. But it sounds like you’re taking off.” I felt tears forming again as I thought of Erik leaving. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him. And I knew he wasn’t ready to say goodbye to me. But I also knew how hard it was for him to see me with Colin.
“I need to get away, Sam.”
“I know.” We sat there in silence for a moment. “Brittany won’t like that you’re leaving, Erik. She’ll really miss you.”
“She needs to focus on school. She’s on the right track, Sam. I don’t want to get in the way of that. She’s better off without me.”
“She’s not the only one who will miss you.”
He looked at me with those piercing blue eyes. “Are you saying you’ll miss me, Sam?”
“You know I’ll miss you, Erik.”
“You have Colin now. You don’t want me around. And I know he doesn’t want me around.”
“Of course I want you around. I understand why you want to go, but I wish you’d change your mind.”
He stayed quiet.
“Erik, I know what you did to Owens. And I want to say thank you. You saved Colin. Owens was ready to put that needle in him. He would have done it if you hadn’t stopped him. You saved Colin’s life. And you hurt yourself doing it. You could’ve done permanent damage to your brain doing what you did.”
“It’s over now, Sam. It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. You didn’t have to do that.”
He smiled. “Well, I did kind of owe Colin a favor after trying to steal you away from him.”
“You didn’t do it because of that.” I hugged him tight. “I really am going to miss you, Erik.”
“We can still talk, Sam.” He kissed my forehead as he got up. “You can come knocking on my brain anytime you want. I’ll always listen to your thoughts.”
A little later, Colin stopped by. I was sitting up in bed leaning against the headboard thinking about how much had changed in just 24 hours.
“Sam, is something wrong?” He sat next to me. “Why are you hiding in here?”
I rested my head on his shoulder. “I’m just sad. I mean I’m relieved that we can live halfway normal lives again. But I’d gotten used to the idea that we’d all be together forever. And now everyone is going their separate ways.”
“Even if people move away that doesn’t mean you’ll never see them again.”
“I know. But I’m not ready to leave Uncle Dave. He’s like family to me. Plus I can’t leave Brittany. We need more time together.”
“Why would you leave them? You still have months before college starts.”
“Because I want to be with you. And you’re going back to Minnesota.”
“I never said that.”
“You have to go back. Your family’s there.”
“You’re my family now, Sam. I don’t need to go back there.”
“Yes, you do. Your parents are there. Your friends are there. And your sisters will be home from college in the summer.”
“I can still go see them. And I just got off the phone with my parents. We had a long talk and I explained things.”
“What did you tell them?”
“Well, I didn’t tell them about the genes or GlobalLife or any of that. It’s better if they don’t know about that stuff. I went with the story I’d already told them about me going to find you. And I told them that we were both okay and that I was finishing school.”
“And they weren’t mad?”
“I’m their third kid. They don’t care.” He laughed. “I’m just kidding. They’re not thrilled with me living away from home. But I’m 18 and I was leaving in the fall anyway, so they kind of just accepted it.”
“Are you going home to see them?”
“Yeah, I’m going there in a couple weeks. Dave’s going with me. He thought it would be good if you went, too. He needs to take care of some stuff and thought you’d want to go back and see your old house. Maybe get some of your things.”
“Yeah, I’d like that.” I got excited just thinking about going back to my house. “So you’re okay with us living in New Hampshire?”
“Sure. I’ve never been there, but why not? And besides, we’ll only be there for a few months and then we’ll be at college.”
I felt sad again, knowing that going to college meant I would be apart from Colin. “So you’re still going to U of M, Mankato?”
“No. Mankato wasn’t my first choice.”
“I guess you don’t know if you got in anywhere else.”
“Actually my parents said that I got some more acceptance letters.”
I perked up again. “Colin, that’s great! You applied at Iowa, too, right? And University of Wisconsin, Madison? So you’re saying you got into both?”
He smiled. “Yeah. And one more. It was kind of a long shot, but I figured I’d apply anyway. And according to my parents, I got in.”
“So what school?”
He couldn’t stop smiling. “Stanford. I got into Stanford, Sam.”
I jumped up from the bed. “Are you serious? Because I’m going to kill you if y
ou’re making this up!”
“I’m totally serious.” He laughed. “Now get back over here.” He pulled me into his arms.
“Why didn’t you tell me you applied there? How could you keep that a secret?”
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think there was a chance in hell I’d get in. I mean, my grades are good, but not perfect like yours. I guess they liked the fact that I was so involved in sports and school activities. And I’m sure your dad’s recommendation helped a ton. They like to hear from alums.”
“My dad? He did that? He never told me.” I felt tears forming as images of my dad flashed in my mind. I missed him and my mom so much that it still hurt to think of them.
“I asked him not to tell you. Your dad was the one who suggested I send in an application. I told him it was crazy, but he talked me into it. He said I’d never know unless I tried.”
“Sounds like you guys talked more than I thought you did. He was always really good at giving advice.” I bit my lip to keep from crying. Even though I was still mourning my parents, I didn’t want to keep crying whenever I thought of them. I wanted my memories of them to make me smile.
“So what you do think?” Colin asked.
“Are you kidding? It’s awesome!”
“But we still don’t know if we’ll be able to go there, Sam. You heard Dave. He said he’s still working on it.”
“Well, as of right now, let’s say we’re going, okay? And if we do end up there, then I guess you’ll be collecting on that bet we made.”
“What bet?”
I sat up and looked at him. “Come on. You remember. It was your idea. Back when we were at Stanford walking around the campus? I told you I’d never go there because of GlobalLife and you bet me I would. You said if I ever did go there, I had to marry you.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I remember. I was just kidding when I said that.”
“You’re letting me off that easy? You’re not even going to try to collect?”
“No. That’s not something I want to force you to do. Besides, you’ve told me a million times that people shouldn’t get married until they’re at least 30.”
A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3) Page 28