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

  “If I had only inserted the new genetic material into your cells, then yes. But the vector had the software in it as well. That software tells the cells what to do with the new genetic material. In my model, the timer slowed right away. I figured it would work a little slower in real life but not this slow. It’s been several hours now. It should have at least started to work.”

  Paul was listening from across the room. “Jack, I wouldn’t get too fixated on that model. The body reacts slowly. Just give it time.”

  “Yes, I know. I’m just anxious because I need this to work.”

  “We all need this to work,” Erik corrected.

  As we sat there waiting, a short, round man in a white lab coat walked in. “Paul, I need to schedule this lab for next week. I’ve got some grad students that need it on Monday and Tuesday.”

  Paul seemed flustered by the man’s presence. “Yes, that’s no problem. I’ll put it on the schedule. I’ll block off both days.”

  “Good. Thanks.” The man glanced over at us. “Do you have visitors, Paul?”

  “Oh, uh, yes. These are some prospective students visiting the university.”

  “I see. Welcome, prospective students.” He smiled as he came over to shake my hand. “I’m Professor Wilkins. I work here in the genetics department with Paul.”

  I returned the smile. “Nice to meet you.”

  “And your name?” he asked.

  “Oh, it’s uh, Sara.” I almost forgot the fake name I’d picked out.

  Jack stepped in to save me. “I’m Archie Miller. I’m taking them around campus today. Sara is friends with my son, Matthew. He’s over there.” Erik did a quick wave. “And this is Jessica, Sara’s sister. And the young man over there is Alex, my nephew.”

  “Very good. Are all of you from California?”

  “Yes,” Jack answered. “San Diego.”

  “Great city. So what brings you to Stanford? Are you interested in a certain program? I’m guessing someone here is considering genetics.”

  “Yes, Sara is,” Jack replied.

  The man turned back to me. “Excellent. Well, Sara, I teach mostly graduate level courses, but I can tell you about the undergraduate program.”

  “Paul has already given me a ton of information. But thank you for offering,” I said.

  “Paul does mostly cancer research. He focuses on a very specific type of gene therapy. Is that what you’re interested in?”

  “Yes,” I answered, getting more nervous with each question.

  “Well, that’s one option. But just so you know, my area of research is really an up-and-coming field of study. It might change your mind.”

  “Um, okay. What is it?”

  “It’s called epigenetics. Do you know what that is?”

  “I’ve heard of it, but I’m not really sure what it is.” I knew exactly what it was but figured I should let the guy explain it to me.

  “It’s the study of how and when genes are expressed. You see, genes aren’t always turned on. Chemical reactions controlled by genetic switches actually turn genes on and off at strategic times. For instance, how does a cell know that it should be a liver cell and not a skin cell? Genetic switches! The genetic switch tells the body to make a liver cell instead of a skin cell. But only when the switch for that section of the gene is turned on.”

  “That’s very interesting.” His explanation was so basic I felt like a child. Growing up with a father who taught genetics, I had learned about these switches years ago. And I’d experienced their effects firsthand when I was held prisoner at GlobalLife. If only he knew.

  “I’m working on a big project right now. If you end up in our program here, there’s a good chance that you could help a grad student work on it.”

  “What’s the project?” Jack asked.

  “I can’t go into all of the details, but it has to do with these genetic switches and their effect on health. It’s funded by a grant from GlobalLife Genetics. Have you heard of them?”

  Jack tried not to react. “Yes, I believe I have. They’re an international company, right?”

  “Yes. Their headquarters are in Sweden. I’ve actually been there. Beautiful facilities. And their technology is simply amazing. At least what I was allowed to see.”

  Paul walked over to us. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but they’re scheduled for a tour soon.”

  “Oh, certainly. Go ahead. I didn’t mean to take up all your time. My office is just down the hall if you have any questions for me, Sara.” Professor Wilkins left.

  Paul closed the door, then raced over to Jack. “Remember when I said I had some suspicions about my colleagues? He’s the one I was most worried about. He’s been working on GlobalLife research for years.”

  “We should get out of here in case he comes back,” Erik said.

  “Yes. And Jack, you need to be at the Student Health Center at 11,” Paul reminded him.

  Jack checked his watch. “Oh, right. I didn’t realize it was so late.”

  “Student Health Center? Why are we going there?” I asked.

  “Paul has a friend who works there. A medical doctor. I’m having him check Colin over.”

  “What?” Colin stood up. “When were you gonna tell me this?”

  “I wasn’t thinking about it until just now.”

  “I’m not sick! I feel fine.”

  “You almost died a few days ago, Colin.” Jack sounded like a concerned father. “And we’re not getting on the road tomorrow until you’re checked out. I don’t want another incident like last time. I want the doctor to look at your injuries. Make sure you’re healing okay.”

  “But I told you. I feel fine. I don’t need to go—”

  “Colin, please just do it,” I urged. “It would make me feel tons better if you did. It’s one less thing I have to worry about.”

  Colin sighed. “So how long is this gonna take?”

  “Not long.” Jack shook his head. “I swear, you and Erik are like little kids. He’s afraid of shots. You’re afraid of the doctor.”

  Brittany laughed. “Colin has to go to the doctor,” she sang in a kid voice.

  Colin’s checkup took about a half hour. When it was over, Jack talked to the doctor briefly, then we went out for lunch.

  “See, that wasn’t so bad, Colin,” Jack kidded.

  “I didn’t need to go. The doctor said I was fine.”

  “You got stitches because the cut on your forehead’s not healing,” Jack pointed out. “I hardly call that fine.”

  “You got stitches? Let me see.” I brushed Colin’s hair aside to see a row of fresh stitches.

  “And his other cuts were starting to get infected,” Jack added. “Which reminds me, I have to stop at the drugstore later.”

  Colin was getting annoyed. “Can we talk about something else now?”

  After lunch, we headed back to the lab for more blood work. Then we waited as Jack analyzed the results. Paul was off teaching his afternoon class.

  Around 2 we heard the door open. It was Professor Wilkins again. “Hey, you’re back. How was the tour?”

  Jack slowly closed the laptop. “It was very informative. You have a lovely campus here. They were all very impressed.”

  Wilkins sat down in Paul’s chair. “It’s the largest contiguous campus in America. Did they tell you that on the tour?”

  “Yes, they did,” Jack lied.

  “Good. So what brings you back to the genetics department?”

  “I’m actually friends with Paul, so we’re just killing some time here. We have an appointment at the college of business later this afternoon.”

  “Oh? Who with?”

  Jack froze. “Um, I don’t remember. I’d have to look it up.”

  “I know several professors over there. Was it Professor Jamison? Or Kendoff? Myerson?”

  “No, those names don’t sound right.”

  It was my turn to save Jack. “Hey, Archie. I wanted to go see some of the artwork she talked about on the t
our. Can we do that now?”

  Jack looked relieved. “Yes. That’s right. We should go see that artwork.”

  “Okay. Well, nice seeing you all again.” The professor finally got up and headed down the hall.

  I watched to make sure he was really gone. “That was weird. Why would he come in here again?”

  Jack opened his laptop. “Okay. I have some good news. There is a tiny amount of change in the timer. It’s beginning to feel the effects of the new DNA and the software. It’s still not reacting the same as my computer model, but at least it appears to be disrupting the timer sequence.”

  “That’s great, right?” Colin, the most optimistic of any of us, was smiling from ear to ear. The rest of us sat there, unimpressed. It would take more than a “tiny change” in the timer to get us excited.

  Brittany got up. “We should get out of here in case that guy comes back.”

  “Yes, but I need to do one more round of testing later on, before we head back to Paul’s house.”

  “Why don’t we just go back there now?” Erik suggested. “You can do the test at his house.”

  Jack thought about it. “I guess I could. I was doing the tests here in case this new software fails and I need to reload it. But it seems to be working without any problems. So we can go. Let me leave a note for Paul.”

  “Before we leave, could we do a quick walk around the campus?” I asked Jack. “I did the tour last fall but, well, I was supposed to go here in a few months, and since I can’t now—”

  “You don’t have to explain.” Jack put his arm around me. “Of course we can see the campus, Sam. You can take as long as you need.”

  We spent an hour walking around, seeing the giant sculptures outside, and checking out some of the buildings. I felt a lump in my throat as I remembered being there with Mom and Dad. I was so excited when I got that acceptance letter. As soon as I read it, I saw myself living in the dorms, sitting in the lecture halls, and combing through all the great books in the library.

  “You fit right in here, Sam,” Colin said as we strolled through the middle of campus on our way back to the van. Erik, Brittany, and Jack were ahead of us. “I can see why you were so excited to go here.”

  I noticed all the students scattered around the lawn reading books. “Yeah, I would’ve really liked it. But it’s not gonna happen now.”

  “I bet you’ll go here someday, Sam.”

  “I bet I won’t.”

  “Hey, wait.” Colin stopped. “That’s a good idea. Let’s make a bet.”

  “There’s nothing to bet because I know I’m not going here.”

  “Just give me a minute to think.”

  “Come on, Colin. We have to get to the van.”

  “Okay, I got it. I know what we can bet.”

  “All right. I’m all ears.”

  “If you end up going here, which I admit is a HUGE long shot, then,” he paused, “you have to marry me.”

  “What?!” I said it so loud that Erik and Brittany both glanced back at us. I waved them on. “What did you just say?” I asked, much quieter this time.

  He smiled. “You heard me.”

  “Um, okay. And if I don’t go to Stanford—the chances of which are about 99.99%—then what happens?”

  “You get to choose to marry me. You can say yes or no.”

  I laughed. “Great, thanks for giving me the option.”

  “You’re welcome. So is it a deal?”

  “Colin, that’s crazy! Plus you know I’m not going here.”

  “Then it works in your favor. You get a choice.”

  “Wait a minute. So are you asking me to—”

  Colin interrupted. “Do you see a ring anywhere?”

  I felt myself blushing. “No.”

  “Then for now, it’s just a bet. Shake on it.” He put his hand out.

  “This is insane. But okay. It’s a bet.” I shook his hand and the deal was done.

  On the way back to Paul’s house I went over the whole bet thing in my head. Had Colin planned that? It seemed so out of the blue. He couldn’t have. But Brittany made those comments about him wanting to marry me. So maybe he was tossing the idea out there to see how I’d respond. Maybe he was now certain I was going to die soon and decided to propose. Just thinking about it was making me stressed. I was too young to die or get married.

  An hour later, it was time to run more tests on Erik and me. Jack worked on analyzing the results while the rest of us made dinner. Although we’d made dinner together all week, we still weren’t very good at it. In fact, watching the four of us try to cook a meal was completely comical. The kitchen was only big enough for one or two people, so we were constantly bumping into each other.

  “What’s going on in there?” Jack yelled after hearing us drop yet another pan.

  “Nothing, Dad,” Erik called back.

  Brittany started laughing, which made everyone laugh.

  Jack came into the kitchen holding his laptop. “Well, I’ve got some results back. And it looks like the timer is finally slowing the way I predicted it would.”

  I went up to see the laptop screen. “That’s great! How much is it slowing? Can you tell?”

  “I haven’t measured it yet. It’s better to wait and give it more time. I’m guessing it will slow even more.”

  Colin walked in from outside with a platter of chicken. He was stuck on grill-duty again.

  “Colin, the timer is slowing just like Jack predicted,” I told him.

  He set his platter down and gave me a hug. “Sam, that’s awesome!”

  As we celebrated, Paul walked in. Jack gave him the good news.

  “Jack, I’m so happy it worked,” Paul said. “I didn’t mean to be a downer, but you never know about those computer models. And I didn’t want you to get your hopes too high.”

  “No worries,” Jack assured him. “You were just being a good scientist. Well, it looks like dinner’s ready so I’ll go put the laptop away.”

  Paul smiled. “Wow. Dinner’s ready when I get home? I hate to see you guys leave tomorrow. I’m going to miss all of you.”

  “Believe me. A few more days with four teenagers, you wouldn’t be saying that,” Jack kidded as he left the kitchen.

  “Hey!” Brittany protested.

  After dinner, we all played a trivia game that Paul had stashed away in a closet. Jack didn’t want us talking or thinking about the alien DNA or the timer. And playing the game did just that. At least for those couple of hours.

  Since Paul would be at work by the time we left on Friday, we thanked him and said our goodbyes before heading to bed.

  The next morning, Jack ran another round of tests on Erik and me. The analysis showed that the timer was still slowing at the same pace as the night before.

  We packed up the van, then left Paul’s house and headed into town. We had to get some supplies for the road, including the things Jack needed to take care of Colin’s stitched-up forehead. Jack spotted a bookstore and decided to buy a few newly released conspiracy theory books for Paul.

  “We’re so close to campus, I’m going to drop them off rather than try to mail them later,” Jack decided. “He doesn’t have class until 10. It’ll be a nice surprise for him.”

  When we got to the genetics department, Paul wasn’t in the lab. We checked his classroom; it was dark.

  “He probably just stepped out,” Jack surmised. “Let’s go back to the lab and wait a few minutes.”

  We waited but Paul didn’t show.

  Jack checked his watch. “It’s almost 10. Erik, go down and see if he’s in the classroom. He’s gotta be there by now.”

  Erik went to the classroom but was back right away. “It’s still dark in there. Maybe they moved the class. Or canceled it.”

  Jack got up and searched for a pen. “I’ll just leave the books here and attach a note. We can’t keep waiting. We need to get on the road.”

  As Jack was writing the note, Professor Wilkins came racing in, fluste
red. “What are you doing here?”

  Jack looked up from his note. “Oh, hello. We’re heading out of town and wanted to say goodbye to Paul.”

  Wilkins gave us a strange look. “Haven’t you heard the news?”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Side Effects

  “What news?” Erik asked.

  “The news about Paul,” Wilkins answered. “I can’t believe you didn’t—”

  “What happened?” Jack interrupted.

  “When Paul came in this morning, he wasn’t feeling well.” Wilkins’ speech was fast and a little shaky. “I was talking to him and he seemed disoriented. He didn’t look good. But he insisted that he was fine. I came back later to check on him and I found him here on the floor.” Wilkins pointed to an area about a foot from where he was standing. “He wasn’t responding so I called the ambulance right away. They were here within minutes and took him to the hospital.”

  “What hospital? Give me the number,” Jack demanded. “I need to find out what—”

  “No,” Wilkins said. “That’s not necessary. The hospital already called here. About an hour ago.”

  “And?” Jack asked anxiously.

  “They said Paul had a brain aneurysm.” Wilkins hesitated. “And I’m sorry to have to tell you this but … well, he didn’t make it.”

  Jack slumped into a chair, too shocked to stand.

  “I’m sorry. I thought you knew.” Wilkins seemed on edge. I was getting a weird vibe from him.

  I glanced over at Erik. “Erik, do you feel that?” I thought to him.

  “Yes, there’s something he’s not saying. Let’s see what he’s thinking.”

  Erik and I focused on Wilkins’ mind. He was standing right in front of me so his thoughts were loud and clear.

  “I’ve gotta get out of here! I’m a horrible liar. These people will see the guilt on my face! I can’t believe I did this! I do their research. I keep quiet. Isn’t that enough? How could they force me to kill a man? A friend! Just because they found out he had some file? What the hell was in that file that was worth killing a man for?”

  My heart began to race as I realized what Wilkins had done to Paul. I listened for more, but Wilkins turned to leave.

  “Well, thank you for telling us,” Jack said, still in shock.