A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3) Read online

  “Thanks for your help,” Erik said. “We couldn’t have gotten out of there without you.”

  “Well, we had a few snags along the way, but it all worked out. And you two retrieved the genetic material, so you really did all of the hard work. Now that you’re free and we’ve got the genes, we’ll get you fixed up.” Owens turned to Dave. “I hear the procedure is on as planned.”

  “Yes, everything is ready,” Dave confirmed. “And I’m guessing you heard that the pregnancy was—”

  Owens nodded. “Not true. Yes. I actually just learned that from—”

  We heard the clicking of high heels from the hallway that led to the parking garage. Owens looked back. “Oh, here she is now.”

  Out of the dark hallway, a young woman appeared. I recognized her instantly.

  I could hear Erik shouting in my head. “What the hell is she doing here?”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Double Agent

  It was Rachel, the young woman Erik and I knew as the head of public relations at GlobalLife Genetics’ Iceland facility. The place we had just escaped from!

  Rachel walked up to us, looking beautiful as ever in a tight black dress and heels. Her long blond hair was pulled back into a loose knot at the base of her neck, showing off her large diamond earrings.

  She smiled. “Nice to see you again, Sam, Erik.” She turned to Jack and Dave. “I’m Rachel Wyncroft. It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

  She went to shake Jack’s hand, but Erik darted in front of him. “What are you doing here, Rachel?”

  “Erik, do you know her?” Jack asked.

  “She’s head of public relations at GlobalLife Genetics.” Erik kept his eyes on her as he talked. “She’s dating Drew Chamberlin, the man in charge of the company. Worthings’ replacement.”

  “I know it’s confusing, Erik,” Rachel said calmly. “Do you mind if we all have a seat?”

  Everyone sat down, still staring at Rachel. Owens had left the room to answer his phone.

  “Erik. Sam. I’m not who you think I am.”

  “And what does that mean?” Erik asked.

  “I’m not actually working for GlobalLife. Well, I work there, but undercover.”

  Owens walked back in the room. “She’s a double agent,” he said, smiling at her.

  “I don’t call myself that, but yes. Preston is right. I’m trying to get the alien DNA from GlobalLife. I learned about their plans for it a few years ago. And ever since, I’ve been trying to stop them from making these hybrid genes.”

  “But you’re dating the head of the company,” I said. “Is he in on this, too?”

  “No. I’m only dating him because of his position at GlobalLife. It was the only way I could get the information I needed. I pursued him back in LA and he took the bait, inviting me up here to Iceland and giving me the PR job.”

  “So you’re not a model?” Erik asked. Back at GlobalLife Rachel had told us she was a model and aspiring actress.

  Owens laughed and answered for her. “No, no. She’s a biochemist. She just pretended to be a model to get Drew’s attention. He doesn’t have a clue about her background. Rachel is a very smart woman. She played her role so well that nobody suspected her. I only did because of some comments she made when she and I were planning the gala. I see now that she was actually giving me clues that she was on my side. I just didn’t pick up on them right away.”

  “So what happens now?” Jack asked Rachel. “They no longer have the alien genes, so do you plan to resign from GlobalLife?”

  “Samantha and Erik took just a few of the gene samples. We still need to get the rest of them. So, no, I won’t be resigning. In fact, I just received a promotion. I’m transferring to the GlobalLife offices in New York. I requested the transfer.”

  We looked at her to explain. “When some executives at the GlobalLife headquarters in Sweden found out that Drew and I were dating, they approached me with a deal. They asked me to spy on Drew and make sure he didn’t try to sell any of the alien DNA or the genetic software to a competitor. If I agreed they said I’d be rewarded. So I said I’d do it.”

  Owens butted in. “Every now and then she would give the higher-ups some inside information on Drew, which only made them trust her more.”

  Rachel continued. “For instance, the past few months, I repeatedly told Drew’s superiors that he was getting far too arrogant when it came to securing the DNA. He was certain no one could ever get to it. Too certain.”

  “GlobalLife actually agreed with Drew on that one.” Owens swiped through his phone messages as he talked. “They thought his brain wave fingerprint idea was genius. But Rachel was right. It wasn’t foolproof. And now GlobalLife thinks even more highly of her.”

  “So, Rachel, were you working with anyone else on this?” Dave asked. “It seems like you’d need some help if you really wanted to get the genes.”

  “Yes, I was working with another scientist. He works in the GlobalLife lab. His name is Ridley. And you’re right. We’re too small of a team to do much. That’s why I was so happy to find out about Preston. Working together we can do so much more.”

  The name sounded familiar. “Ridley? I think I remember that guy. Wasn’t he working in the same lab where Erik and I were being tested?”

  “Yes, that was him,” Rachel said.

  Owens put his coat on. “I should be going. I have a meeting back at GlobalLife later today.”

  “On a Saturday?” Erik asked.

  “Yes. I’m on the board of directors. We’re having an emergency meeting tonight. We’re voting to officially release Drew Chamberlin from his duties as head of GlobalLife Genetics. I’m quite confident he’ll no longer have a job after the vote. Allowing the company’s two most prized possessions to escape and its most valuable assets to be stolen is definitely grounds for dismissal.”

  Dave looked at him. “Do you mean ‘dismissal’ as in leaving the company or leaving this Earth? GlobalLife tends to pick the latter.”

  “I don’t make that decision, Dave. They have other people who do that. But I am going to meet with him before anything happens. Drew will obviously be furious over the firing, and that means I’ll be able to get information from him regarding GlobalLife’s plans for the genetic material that’s still in their possession. You know how disgruntled employees are. They’ll tell you anything.”

  “Do you really think he’ll meet with you after he gets fired?” Jack asked.

  “He will if I ask him to,” Rachel answered. “I’m going to convince Drew to ask Preston for help in getting his job back. Then I’ll host a dinner for the three of us at Drew’s apartment Tuesday night.”

  “She’ll plant cameras and listening devices so we can record the conversation,” Owens added. “I would like Samantha and Erik to use their telepathy to hear what Drew is thinking.”

  “We can’t hear from that distance,” Erik said. “Where’s his house? It’s gotta be miles from here.”

  “It’s about thirty miles away, but with the cameras and listening devices, it will be like he’s sitting right here in this room,” Rachel explained.

  “And by then, you’ll have those missing base codes inserted, which should boost your abilities.” Owens checked his watch. “I need to go. Rachel, don’t take too long here. You need to get back to GlobalLife or Drew will get suspicious.”

  She stood up. “Yes, I know. I’ll be there shortly.”

  Owens left and Rachel sat down with us again.

  “He’s right. I really need to get going, but I have to tell you something first.”

  “What it is?” Jack asked.

  She lowered her voice. “I’m not just working with Ridley on this. I actually work for a group that has been trying to get these genes for years. I haven’t told Preston that. I don’t know if I can trust him. But I know that all of us here share the same goal. That’s why I’m telling you this. And I’m counting on you to keep what I say confidential.”

  “We’re listeni
ng,” Dave said. I could tell that he wasn’t convinced we could trust Rachel. He’d known Owens for years but just met Rachel. “So what is this group?”

  “There are actually several groups out there with the same mission. But the one I’m working for consists of science and technology experts who are fighting back after having their research and discoveries being used improperly. We also have some medical experts and even some former members of the military that help out when needed.”

  “How did you get involved with this group?” Jack asked.

  “Back in college, one of my biochemistry professors told me about it. He knew my story and that I—” She stopped as if she was considering how much to tell us.

  “What story?” I asked. “Why did you get involved with these people?”

  Rachel paused before answering. “Because of my older brother. He and I were really close growing up. And when he was 16, he became very ill. The doctors only gave him a few months. GlobalLife Pharmaceuticals approached my parents, asking them to enroll my brother in a study for a new drug that could save him. I still don’t know how they even knew about him. Anyway, my parents enrolled him in the study, agreeing to keep it confidential. And the drug GlobalLife gave him actually worked. It was saving him. But then they—” Her voice got shaky. “They took the drug away.”

  “Why would they do that?” I asked.

  “Because they got what they wanted.”

  We all looked at her, confused.

  She took a moment to compose herself. “My brother’s illness was very rare. GlobalLife just wanted someone to test their drug on. Once they knew the drug worked, they stopped giving it to him. They said they would release the drug once there was more of a market for it.”

  Jack seemed puzzled. “A market for it? I thought you said your brother’s illness was rare. If that’s true, then there would never be much of a market for the drug.”

  Rachel sighed. “They’re going to make a market for it, Jack. I learned that later from a scientist who used to work on the drug. He said that GlobalLife was planning to intentionally give people the illness that my brother had. Given how fatal it is, GlobalLife knew they could make a fortune on the drug. People would give up their life savings for it if it meant saving a loved one.”

  There was silence as we all tried to comprehend how such an evil plan could be possible. Finally Erik spoke. “So what about your brother?”

  “He passed away on his seventeenth birthday. And since then, I promised I would do all I could to stop companies like GlobalLife from playing God. Making decisions about who lives and who dies. Profiting off the suffering of others. Suffering that they inflicted!”

  “So that’s the mission of the group you’re working for?” Dave asked.

  “We all have our own reasons for joining, but the goal is to stop corporations like GlobalLife from misusing science and technology.”

  “Why aren’t you going after GlobalLife Pharmaceuticals?” Jack asked. “Why are you involved with the genetics division?”

  “Because of this project,” Rachel glanced at me. “What they now call The Samantha Project. It’s so much bigger than anything the pharmaceutical division is doing. GlobalLife is playing God once again. On a huge scale. And I won’t let them. I’ll do anything to stop this.”

  “How did you learn about this project?” I asked.

  “When I was in college, I came across some articles about how computers the size of nanoparticles could be embedded into cells. And how software run on those mini computers could direct genes to turn off the sections that caused illness. That technology could have saved my brother. He would have never been sick in the first place. I wanted to learn more, so I did some research and found that GlobalLife Genetics was the leader in genetic software technology.”

  “And given your history with GlobalLife, you knew that people like your brother would never have access to it,” Jack said.

  “Yes, exactly! Which infuriated me. I asked my professor if he knew anything about the research, not realizing he was part of this group of rebel scientists. Just as I thought, he told me only some people would have access to the technology. Rich people. Powerful people. And that’s when he introduced me to the group I’m working with now. Soon after I joined, I learned how the project involved much more than just the software. I found out about the alien component and the plans for hybrid genes.”

  Dave watched Rachel as she talked. I could tell he was trying to assess if she was lying. “Rachel, tell us your concerns about Preston. Why do you think you can’t trust him?”

  “I don’t know his intentions. All I know is that he wants to get the alien DNA out of the hands of GlobalLife. But for what purpose?”

  “What does your group want it for?” Erik asked.

  “We want to destroy it. Every last bit of it. We realize that it’s part of history and should be a discovery shared with the world, but we know that will never happen. Look what GlobalLife has already done with it. Testing it on children knowing it could kill them. Destroying the lives of you and Samantha and all the people around you. And if GlobalLife didn’t have the DNA, someone else like them would. There are too many powerful people like Preston trying to get access to it. And they all have their own agenda. That’s why it has to be destroyed.”

  “I’ve known Preston for years as a business acquaintance,” Dave said. “And although I don’t know everything about him, it seems like he’s on the side of good. He risked a lot helping Sam and Erik.”

  “I understand that, Dave. But I wouldn’t assume that his actions were selfless. Men like Preston always get something out of the deal. Otherwise they wouldn’t be as rich and powerful as they are. Listen, I know you have a history with Owens. But I just ask that you use caution around him. At least until we know why he’s so anxious to get those alien genes.”

  As Rachel talked, I replayed in my head all the encounters I’d had with her at GlobalLife. “So, Rachel, were you helping Erik and me get the DNA that whole time we were at GlobalLife?”

  “Yes. I knew it was secured with Drew’s brain waves. And I knew one of you would be able to open it. Well, Ridley knew that.”

  “Were you giving Erik and me clues during that tour of the building?”

  “I was trying to. I told you about the brain wave security feature, but at the time I wasn’t sure what phrase was needed to open the globe. So I gave you several possibilities to practice with. Then on the night of the gala, Drew had a few too many drinks and when we got home, I tried guessing what phrase he would use. I acted like it was just a game. Eventually he got fed up with me trying to guess and he just blurted it out. The next day, he didn’t even remember us talking.”

  “And then you planted that phrase in the announcement letter.” The pieces were coming together in my head as I spoke. “So that’s why you had Drew review it while we were in the lab that day. You knew we were reading Drew’s mind as part of the telepathy exercise.”

  The scene finally made sense. When Drew reviewed the announcement and crossed out the phrase that was needed to access the DNA, that was my clue. He couldn’t say that phrase in his announcement because he would be reading it in the lobby, right next to the globe that held the alien genes.

  “What about the cipher that Owens gave me?” Erik asked Rachel.

  “It’s strange because I didn’t know you needed a password once you got the globe open. Drew never mentioned that. But somehow Owens knew. It was just pure luck that we both provided you with the pieces you needed to access the genes.”

  “I assume you asked for the transfer to New York because that’s where GlobalLife is storing more of the alien genes,” Jack said.

  “Yes. Actually, all of the remaining genetic material is there. When Drew was put in charge of the DNA, he placed part of it in the New York facility and the rest in Iceland. But now, since the genes have been stolen from the Iceland facility, GlobalLife is sending the remaining vials in New York back to the headquarters in Sweden,
where they’ll be under much tighter security. That’s why I’m in such a hurry to get to New York. The group I’m working with is already there.”

  Dave still seemed suspicious of her story. “How did you know Preston was helping Sam and Erik?”

  “Ridley discovered it. He noticed the energy spikes that resulted whenever Sam and Erik were around Preston. The spikes indicated they were using telepathy. Everyone at GlobalLife wore those brain wave scramblers so Sam and Erik couldn’t read their thoughts. That meant that we only saw the energy spikes when Sam and Erik were together, talking telepathically to each other. When Ridley saw the energy spikes when Sam was alone with Owens and again when he was alone with Erik, he knew there was something going on.”

  “I can’t imagine Preston would be that careless,” Dave remarked.

  “He didn’t realize how sensitive the equipment was. He figured that if Sam or Erik was just listening to his thoughts, it wouldn’t create much of an energy spike and therefore wouldn’t show up on the GlobalLife energy field monitors. But it did.”

  “How did GlobalLife not find out about this?” I asked.

  “Ridley was able to go into the system and even out those energy spikes.”

  Erik stared at Rachel as she spoke. He had a crush on her back at GlobalLife, but I was sure he found her even more attractive now that he knew she was smart and a spy. “So I’m guessing Rachel isn’t your real name?”

  Rachel smiled. “Actually, it’s Serena but I changed it legally to Rachel years ago so I could join this rebel group without getting caught. It was part of my new identity.”

  “Does the group you work for know about Sam and Erik?” Jack asked.

  “Yes. But we weren’t aware of the timer in them. Drew told me about that just recently. Trust me, Jack, we would have made sure the timer was turned off in both of them before we destroyed the alien genes.” Rachel looked at Erik and me. “I tried to keep you two as safe as I could when you were at GlobalLife. If Preston hadn’t been able to get you out, I would have found a way. I wouldn’t have let them keep you there.”