The Golden Couple (The Samantha Project Series, # 2)

by Karpinske, Stephanie

  Colin was waking up beside me. “Where are we, Sam?”

  “Wyoming. We’re almost in Nebraska.”

  Colin checked the view from the window. “I’ve been asleep that long?”

  I stopped at a large travel center. Jack got out of the van and came over to the driver’s side. “Why didn’t you wake someone, Sam? I didn’t want you driving all night. That’s a dangerous stretch of road.”

  “I felt good so I kept going. Besides, I practically had the road to myself. And we haven’t hit any weather problems.”

  We were extremely fortunate that it had been the driest and mildest winter on record for the middle of the country. Normally, that stretch of road would be nearly impossible to drive on during that time of the year.

  Jack opened the door, motioning me to get out. “I’ll take over driving now. Everyone up. Take a restroom break. And we might as well get some food while we’re here.”

  After our brief stop, we hit the road again. I went to the back of the van to sleep. When I got up, we were almost through Nebraska. I heard Erik digging through some boxes behind my seat.

  “What are you doing back there?” I asked him.

  “Going through Luke’s stuff. Can you move over?”

  I sat up, giving Erik a place to sit. He set the box down between us.

  “Luke didn’t have much,” Erik said, sifting through the box.

  “Well, it sounded like he moved around a lot.”

  Erik picked up one of Luke’s surfing trophies, then tossed it back in the box. “I wonder how long he lived like that. He was basically homeless.”

  “We don’t know that. All we know is that he was living with that guy. Before that, he could have been living with someone else.”

  “If he had a home, he wouldn’t have asked the old man if he could stay there. And he would have had more stuff than this.”

  Erik took a book from the box. “It’s a surfer’s guide. Lists all the best beaches for waves. He’s got stars by some of them, like he was rating them.”

  As Erik flipped through the book, a photo fell out. He didn’t notice so I picked it up. There was a nice-looking young couple in the photo. They were smiling and the man and woman each held a baby. It was an old photo and had yellowed a little. It’d been folded and the crease had distorted part of the image. I looked closer at the faces of the man and woman. They looked familiar. Very familiar. The man looked just like Erik, but about 10 years older. The woman had Erik’s eyes and smile.

  “Look at this photo, Erik. It fell out of that surfer’s guide.”

  Erik put the book aside. “Yeah, it’s an old photo. So what?”

  “Look at the man in the photo. Don’t you think he looks familiar?”

  Erik looked but didn’t react.

  “Erik, he looks just like you. Well, like you in 10 years. And the woman. She has your eyes. Don’t you see the resemblance?”

  He held the photo up to the window. “No, not really.”

  “And they have two babies. Twins. Do you get what I’m saying?”

  “Yeah. And they’re not my parents, Sam. Why would Luke have a photo of our parents?”

  “But they look just like you.”

  Erik checked the photo again. “Okay, so they look a little like me. But it doesn’t matter. Even if it is them, what do I care? They were part of the GlobalLife project. They gave their kids to a corporation. Like I really want to think about them, Sam.” He tossed the photo back in the box.

  “But Erik, don’t you want to keep that somewhere?”

  “Hey, check this out.” Erik picked up a small leather-bound book with a string tied around it.

  “It looks like some type of journal. Open it up, Erik.”

  He undid the string and looked inside. “There’s a bunch of equations in here. Math equations.”

  I scooted over to see what he was looking at. “That’s not basic math, Erik. That’s like really advanced math.”

  “I know. I used to work on stuff like this back in Texas. It was kind of a hobby. Some people do crossword puzzles. I figure out math problems. I know, it’s nerdy.”

  “It’s not nerdy.” His genius math skills only made me more attracted to him.

  “Hey, you know what this looks like?” Erik reached behind the seat for his dad’s computer bag. He pulled out the envelope that Paul had given us. “This code I solved.” Erik turned over the envelope to look at the handwritten code on the front. “I think the same code is here in Luke’s journal. Yeah, look. It’s the same.”

  I compared the two codes and sure enough, they were an exact match. “Why would Luke have that same code? That’s impossible.”

  Erik took a minute to think. “That IT security guy who left this envelope for Paul. What was his name? Dan something? He must have somehow known Luke. But how?”

  “I don’t know, Erik, but this is freaking me out. Why would they know each other?”

  “Dan probably saw something about Luke in the files at GlobalLife. And if they had been in contact with each other and if Paul was right about GlobalLife following Dan, or I guess, killing Dan, then—”

  “GlobalLife was also tracking Luke. Which means your brother’s death may not have been an accident.”

  We sat there, trying to think of any other possibilities.

  “Paul said that Dan died months ago,” Erik said. “If GlobalLife really did kill Luke, why did they wait so long to do it?”

  “Maybe Dan told Luke about you and Luke tried finding you. If that were true, GlobalLife would want to follow him to see if you really were alive. After a few months, Luke probably gave up looking and that’s when the accident happened. He knew too much for GlobalLife to leave him alone.”

  Erik searched the box for other clues. “There’s nothing else in here. Just his surfing trophies.”

  I flipped through the leather journal. “How could he be so smart in math? With his lifestyle, he must’ve missed a lot of school and probably didn’t even graduate.”

  “Some people have a talent for math. I always have. It comes natural to me. I guess he was the same way.”

  “Erik, did you see the other codes in here?” I showed him a page in the journal that had several more codes.

  “No. I didn’t see those. Let me work on them and I’ll see what they say.”

  While Erik did that, I went up and sat with Brittany, who was complaining to Jack. “This van is starting to stink, Jack. Can’t we stop and spend the night somewhere so we can shower?”

  “We’re almost in Iowa. We’re not that far, now. We’ll be in Minnesota by evening, then we’ll get a motel where everyone can clean up.”

  Brittany folded her arms. “Then we need an air freshener. Or make Colin and Erik change clothes.”

  Colin shot a look back at her. “Me? I don’t stink. Why are you blaming the guys? Maybe you girls stink.”

  “Hey, there.” Their argument was making Jack laugh. “Nobody stinks. I’ll get one of those scented pine trees at the next gas station.”

  Brittany made a face. “No. I hate those things. They stink even worse. I’d open a window but it’s freezing out.”

  “That reminds me. We need to get winter coats,” Jack said. “The weather forecast for Minnesota is for highs in the forties.”

  Colin laughed. “The forties? Sam and I would wear shorts in that weather!”

  “No, you wouldn’t,” Brittany insisted. “Nobody would. That’s freezing.”

  Colin turned to her. “Just wait. If it’s that warm in February, you’ll see Minnesota people wearing shorts.”

  “Well, we’re still getting coats,” Jack said. “At least us Texans are. I’m guessing there’s a store or two off this exit. Might as well stop here.”

  Jack took us to a thrift store that was right off the interstate exit. Everyone picked out coats, hats, and gloves. Brittany protested about wearing “used” clothes, although I knew that she’d probably worn thrift store clothes her whole life.

 
We got on the road again and were now only 6 hours away from my old hometown. I was getting excited even though I knew going back would be dangerous. I’d been all over the country the past week and seen some beautiful places, but I still missed Minnesota, the only place I knew as home.

  “Jack, where are we going to stay when we get there?” I asked.

  “I was going to ask you and Colin for suggestions. We need to be outside of town, someplace small, no chain hotels.”

  Colin looked back at me. “There’s that motel off county road 10. That one with the big wooden sign? Remember that, Sam? I don’t even know if it’s in a town.”

  “Yeah, I know which one you’re talking about. That would be a good place. And it even has a pay phone out front for Jack,” I kidded.

  “That’s right, it does.” Colin crawled back to where I was sitting. “Are you getting nervous about going back?”

  “No. Well, yes, because of GlobalLife. But I miss home. I wish we could go to my house or go see Allie.”

  Jack overheard us talking. “Listen, Sam. We can’t risk driving by your old house or anywhere near where your friends hang out. Same for you, Colin. Your parents will be looking for you.”

  “Probably not,” Colin said. “Before I was drugged, that guy from GlobalLife said he left a fake message with them using my voice. They, or the fake me, told my parents that I took off to go search for Sam.”

  “Well, we can’t be sure they believed that,” Jack said.

  “I’m pretty sure they did. Right before GlobalLife took me, I had this huge fight with my dad because I wanted to go look for Sam and he wouldn’t let me. I’m sure he thinks I just took off. I’m 18. When he was 18, he ran off with my mom. He probably thinks like father, like son.”

  “You didn’t tell me you had a fight with your dad about me,” I whispered to Colin.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he whispered back.

  Jack glanced back at us in the rear view mirror. “Sam, that professor we’re going to see. Do you have any idea where he lives?”

  “No. I only met him that one time after the memorial service.”

  “Then hopefully he’ll be listed in the phone book so we can find his house.”

  Colin smiled. “Phone book? What’s a phone book?”

  Jack didn’t answer, just shook his head.

  “I figured out one of these codes.” Erik crawled over the seats, landing up front next to Jack. He had a piece of paper with him. “You’re not gonna believe what this says.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Directions

  Jack looked confused. “What code? What are you talking about?”

  Erik briefly explained what we had found in Luke’s journal.

  “This is very concerning,” Jack said. “How could they be connected? How would Dan know Luke?”

  “I don’t know, Dad. But listen. There’s this other code in Luke’s journal that’s like the one I figured out at Paul’s house.”

  “Yeah, so what does it say?” I asked.

  He held up the paper he’d used to work out the code. “‘Erik Reid. Comfort, Texas.’”

  Jack snatched the piece of paper from Erik. “It even has the correct spelling of your name! So Luke knew about you?”

  “Yeah. It’s almost like he wanted to find me. But he wrote my name in code so nobody would know.”

  Jack tossed the paper on the floor of the van. “But who would have told him about you? It had to be Dan. But how would Dan know that you’re alive? And how did he know the name I gave you? That information wasn’t in the GlobalLife files. Dan found out some other way. Someone else told him about you. And then Dan must have told Luke. Either that or Luke found out some other way. This is very bad, Erik. There’s someone else out there who knows you exist and knows your real name.”

  “Maybe GlobalLife told Luke my name. Maybe they were trying to get Luke to find me so they could capture us both. GlobalLife knows about me because of what happened at the trailer. You said those guards were wearing recording devices that link up to GlobalLife security. So they knew my name from the recording.”

  “But Luke died before any of that happened,” Jack said. “So someone knew about you before the trailer incident. Luke made that code weeks or maybe months ago. Were there other codes in there?”

  “Yeah, and I started figuring out another one. But I must have done something wrong. The numbers should stand for letters, like in the other code, but instead I got a mix of numbers and letters.”

  “The numbers could be the message,” I suggested. “They could be an address.”

  Erik looked at the piece of paper again. “It doesn’t sound like an address. What I ended up with was 64D09N.”

  “Sounds like a locker combination,” Brittany said, “or the combination to a safe.”

  “There’s another code in the journal,” Erik said. “Let me see what that one says.” Erik got to work while the rest of us tried to come up with possible meanings for the strange sequence of numbers and letters. Within the hour, Erik had finished the other code. “This one is also a mix of numbers and letters. It’s 21D57W.”

  “Oooh, I got it. It’s a license plate number.” Brittany suggested.

  “Hmm, maybe,” Jack said, “but I feel like it’s something else.”

  Colin leaned up front. “Hey, Jack, your exit is coming up. I-35 North. That’s what you need for Minnesota.”

  “Oh, yes, thank you. I would have missed that.”

  We were in Des Moines now, the city where I’d ditched that truck driver and met up with Ruby and the bus to Texas. That whole event seemed so long ago even though it had only been a few weeks.

  For the rest of the drive, Erik and Jack sat up front discussing their theories about Luke. They ended up with no conclusions, but I could tell Jack was getting even more concerned. Someone knew about his son, and it didn’t seem to be someone from GlobalLife. It was someone else. And the fact that he didn’t know who they were or why they had an interest in Erik was making Jack a nervous wreck.

  We finally reached the outskirts of the Minnesota town where Colin and I grew up. Colin showed Jack the way to the motel. It was kind of a dump, but the only other options were either too close to town or too far away. And we were so desperate to get out of the van that we didn’t care about the condition of the motel. We just wanted a hot shower and some dinner.

  After we cleaned up and ate, everyone met in the “boys’” room to discuss next steps. Luckily, the professor that I’d seen in my dream, Michael Fisher, was listed in the phone book.

  “So we have an address, but now what? We just show up at his house tomorrow?” I asked Jack.

  “We’ll drive around first and see if we notice anyone watching his house. We’ll go in the morning. If he’s not there, we’ll have to try again later. But I really hope he’s there. We need to know if that flash drive can help us. Because if it can’t, we have to make another plan fast.”

  There is no other plan, I thought. If this doesn’t work, we’re screwed. Erik’s timer would go off in a few months, then he’d be gone. I’d be next. Since having that dream about the professor, I’d put all my trust in Dave. There had to be something useful on that flash drive.

  Jack continued. “When we get to his house tomorrow, I want you to go to the door, Sam, since he knows you. Tell him you need to talk and then ask him if we can come in. If he says no, don’t go inside the house by yourself. You never know who could be waiting in there.”

  “So if that happens, you just want me to leave?”

  “Make a plan to meet him somewhere public, like a park.”

  I agreed to the plan but I wasn’t confident in it. I’d only met this guy one time and wasn’t sure if we could trust him.

  “We’ll plan to leave around 9,” Jack said. “We’re not coming back here, so be sure to pack everything up. Any questions?” Nobody answered. “All right then. See you in the morning, girls.”

  Brittany and I left and Colin followed us
out.

  “Hey, Sam, wait.” Colin tugged at my coat. Brittany went inside our room and shut the door.

  “Yeah, what it is?”

  He laughed. “Don’t I even get a kiss? We’ve been stuck in that van forever. You can’t go running off yet. We’re finally alone.”

  I kissed him, then stayed close for a hug. “Colin, I’m really freaking out about meeting this guy tomorrow.”

  “It’s gonna be easy, Sam. The guy knows you. He said he owed your dad a huge favor. Now it’s time to pay up. He’s not gonna turn you away.”

  “I guess. But what if I was wrong about that dream? Or what if the dream was real but there’s nothing on that flash drive that can help us?”

  “Don’t think that way. The dream was real. And there’s something on that flash drive. Otherwise Dave wouldn’t have sent it to the guy.”

  “I hope you’re right.” I shivered. “It’s cold out here. I’m going inside. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Colin smiled. “Maybe Brittany wouldn’t care if I stayed over there with you tonight. I’d keep you warm.”

  I smiled back. “Goodnight, Colin.” We kissed once more before I went inside.

  I couldn’t explain why, but that night I felt like Colin and I were getting on track again. Maybe it was being back home in Minnesota that made me feel closer to him. I wasn’t sure, but things just seemed right again.

  Morning came too soon. As I got ready, I began to feel nervous, not just about meeting with the professor but also finding out what was on that flash drive. What if it was bad news, like the file we’d opened at Paul’s house? The last thing I needed was more bad news.

  When we got to Professor Fisher’s house, we noticed the lights were on inside. Jack circled the house looking for any suspicious cars or trucks. There were only a few cars parked on the street. It was Sunday morning and most people would be at church services. Jack parked on the street a few houses house down, so Fisher wouldn’t be alarmed by the sight of a big white van when he opened the door.