The Golden Couple (The Samantha Project Series, # 2) (32 page)

“Erik, stop. I can’t do this with an audience. That’s disgusting!”

“Then pull the covers over us,” he muttered, continuing to kiss me.

“No. Now get up.”

He groaned. “I am. That’s why we need to—never mind.”

“I’m not kidding around. Go get dressed.”

He rolled onto his back. “I can’t believe this is happening. Again! You’re killing me, Sam!”
 

“I’m sure you’ll survive.”
 

I grabbed some clothes and went to shower while Erik got dressed. While I was in there, I kept trying to explain what had happened. Why was I acting that way with Erik? Sure, Erik was hot and we shared some crazy connection. But how could I cheat on Colin? He was the guy I loved. The guy who’d always been there for me, no matter what. I barely knew Erik. Although we’d become close friends, I’d never meant to take things any farther than that.
 

I started coming up with reasons for my behavior. I figured a part of me was convinced that Erik and I would never leave that place. That we would be stuck there forever and I would never see Colin again. So I was simply trying to find comfort in Erik. Even with my reasoning, I felt a tidal wave of guilt wash over me because as hard as I tried, I couldn’t stop my craving for Erik. And I knew he felt the same way about me. I could feel it whenever we were together.

I put on a skirt and blouse and came out of the bathroom. Breakfast had arrived and Erik was already eating, wearing dress pants and a shirt.
 

“So are you mad at me?” I asked, taking the seat next to him.

“No.” He smiled. “I’ll wear you down eventually. Maybe tonight.”

“I don’t think, so, Erik. And besides, the cameras will still be there.”

“Then I’ll have to make you forget about them,” he teased.

I changed the subject. “So what do you think they’ll make us do today? We don’t need those lessons anymore, now that the gala is over.”

“Maybe they’ll give us a day off.”

“I doubt it.”

But it seemed that we did have the day off. After breakfast, nobody came by to get us. Nobody showed up in the afternoon either. So Erik spent the day working on the cipher while I made a list of all the possible phrases that Drew might use to unlock the globe.

“I bet Rachel knows what it is,”
I thought to Erik later that afternoon.
 

“He wouldn’t tell her that, Sam.”

“Well, maybe it’s one of those phrases he uses all the time.”

“No. I think it’s just a bunch of words. Like a bunch of passwords put together.”

“That would be hard to remember. It’s gotta be a phrase that has meaning to him.”

“Well, good luck trying to figure that out. I’m almost done with this cipher. Just one more piece to figure out and it’s done.”

“Erik, that’s great!”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t do us any good if we can’t open that thing. And how are we supposed to get access to it with security guards everywhere?”

“Owens is working on that. He told me last night at the party. Hey, we should try mimicking each other’s brain waves again. Let’s practice tonight after dinner.”

“Tonight? We’ve been working all day. We should at least take a break and—”
His eyes wandered over to the bed.

“Erik, we’re not doing that. So don’t even start thinking about it.”

He smiled.
“You know I had to try.”

As we were mind-talking, dinner arrived along with Eve.

“Good evening, Samantha. Erik.”

“Mrs. Taylor,” I responded back.

“I hope you both had a restful day. I wanted to stop by and tell you what a success you were at the gala. We raised more money than I ever imagined we would. You really impressed everyone. Of course, they’ve all seen the recordings of you, Samantha, from back at the Minnesota facility. So they knew about your abilities. But to see you live and in person, it really sold them. And we let Erik be a surprise. They didn’t even know there was a male version until last night. They were thrilled! The money just came rolling in after they learned of Erik.”

“So Mrs. Taylor, how much do these people know about the project?”

“They know it’s the way of the future. They know it will make them part of a very select group.”

Eve, like everyone at GlobalLife, talked in vague terms. She sounded like she was reading off a brochure.

“I mean, do they know about the base codes? Do they know that’s why we have these abilities?”

“They know about the unique sequencing of your DNA. And how GlobalLife is patenting those sequences so they can sell them and use them to improve humanity,” she said, once again in brochure-speak.

“But do they know where GlobalLife got those base codes? Do they know about the alien genes?”

“It doesn’t matter where the genetic material came from. They don’t need to know that. Besides, the type of DNA we offer for sale will be much different than what’s in those genes. It will be more of a hybrid mix, like what’s formed in the two of you. Your regular genes have incorporated the foreign genes so successfully that we’re hoping to replicate those sequences rather than those from the original foreign genes.”

The term “foreign genes” was more acceptable to Eve than “alien” genes. Knowing the term bugged her, I kept using it.

“So GlobalLife won’t need the alien genes anymore?”

“Well, we need to keep them as a backup, just in case, but for the purposes of replication, no. Which is fortunate because, obviously, there’s a finite supply. Just what we have here and then the remainder in—” Eve stopped, knowing she’d said too much.

“What were you saying?” Erik asked.

Eve ignored the question. “Starting tomorrow you’ll be spending time in the lab. They’ll be doing some testing on you. But don’t worry, Samantha. It’s nothing like they did before. That was simply barbaric,” she said, trying to sound sympathetic. “Anyway, you’ll spend a few hours in the lab each day, some days longer than others. Any questions?”

“No,” Erik answered.

“Then enjoy your week. And again, thank you both for a wonderful performance last night.”

As she left I called after her. “Mrs. Taylor?”

Eve turned back. “Yes, Samantha, what is it?”

“I was wondering how Allie was doing. Have you talked to her?”

Eve seemed surprised that I would even ask. “Allie? Oh, she’s doing wonderful. Achieving at school. Enjoying time with her friends before we move. I did tell you we’re moving, didn’t I?”

“Has she said anything about me?”

Eve looked as though she felt sorry for me. “Samantha, you know she wasn’t really your friend. I already explained that to you. My daughter was just doing as I told her to do.”

“That’s a lie. Allie’s been my friend for as long as I can remember. And she’ll always be my friend.”

“That’s sweet. Live in your little delusional world if it makes you feel better. Now goodnight.”

We watched her leave. Erik reached over and grabbed my hand. “Hey, don’t listen to her. She’s a total bitch. You know she’s making it up.”

I felt a lump in my throat. “That’s what I keep telling myself, but what if it’s true? What if Allie was just pretending to be my friend all these years?”

“When did you become friends?”

“In kindergarten. We were five.”

“You can’t force a 5-year-old to be someone’s friend, Sam. A kid that young wouldn’t understand. She was your friend because she chose to be your friend. Why are you letting that bitch get into your head?”

“Because maybe she’s right. Allie is completely different than me. She’s super pretty. Super outgoing. Super fun to be around. When we got older, I wondered why she even stayed friends with me.”

“What are you talking about? You’re pretty and outgoing and fun.”

“I’m not any of those things. And you didn’t know me in high school, Erik. I was quiet. I didn’t go out much. I didn’t wear the right clothes.”

Erik nudged my chin up. “Look at me. That girl was your friend.” He talked softly to avoid being overheard. “Eve is trying to mess with your head. Make you think they’ve controlled everything about you. Your whole life. Don’t believe her. You’re only doing what she wants.”

I whispered back. “But the last time I saw Allie, she gave me that leather bag and I’m sure it had a location tracker on it. That explains what happened at the airport. That’s how we ended up here. So why would she do that if—”

Erik put his finger to my lips and started mind-talking.
“Stop. That was all Eve. She did that. Not Allie. Now stop letting that bitch get to you.”

We had dinner and then pretended to read while we got to work attempting the
brain wave mimicking.
“I don’t even know how to start,”
Erik thought.
“When we tried this on Friday, nothing worked. Do you have any new suggestions?”

“I don’t know. I guess I was thinking that I’ll say something out loud and then you listen to my brain waves as I say the words. You need to pay close attention to how the waves change when I use different tones and inflections. Then try to replicate that when you think those same words back to me. When I hear your thoughts in my head, it should sound like me, not you.”

“Okay. I’ll try it. Go ahead.”

I paused, trying to think what to say.
“I’ll say it slow.
‘I wish we could go outside.’
That’s the phrase you should replicate.
I’ll say it again the same way.
‘I wish we could go outside.’
Now you think it back to me the same way.”

Erik closed his eyes.
“I wish we could go outside.”

“No. It didn’t work. It sounded like
you
saying it. It has to sound like
me
.”

“How am I supposed to make my thoughts sound like a girl?”

“You have to concentrate, Erik. Focus on how I sound. The tones and inflections.”

“I can’t do it. I can’t sound like a girl. Not even in my thoughts.”

“Don’t think of it that way. Just imagine that I’m in your head, thinking those words. And then just let them come out. You have to stop your own thoughts from getting in the way.”

“Why don’t you try it. I’ll say something to you and then you mimic it back.”

“Okay. But this time just think it instead of saying it. Go ahead.”

He smiled.
“I’d really like to unbutton your shirt and—”

“Erik. Come on. Say something else.”

“Fine. Ready? I really want a cheeseburger and fries.”

He thought it again. And then I thought it back to him.
 

Erik shook his head.
“No, it just sounds like you repeating what I said.”

We did this over and over, trying different phrases.
 

After a few hours, we gave up.
“Let’s try it again tomorrow,”
I thought to him.
“It has to work. Otherwise we’ll never get that globe open.”

“We’ll never get it open because we don’t even know what phrase or word will open it. You know, Sam, maybe we’ll have to forget about the alien genes and just focus on getting out of here.”

“Then we’ll never get the timer turned off. We have to get the genes.”

“I guess, but another option is that maybe we let GlobalLife turn the timer off and then try to escape.”

“No. We can’t wait. Who knows what they’ll do to us once they fix it. They might move us to a new location. Then we’ll never escape. At least here we have Owens helping us.”

“We may not have a choice if we can’t get the globe open, Sam.”
 

“I don’t want to consider that yet. Let’s just see what happens tomorrow. Maybe we can get someone at the lab to tell us how brain waves work. You never know. We might get something useful out of them.”

I got up and put the book I was pretending to read back on the shelf. “I’m going to bed. They’ll probably make us get up early tomorrow. Maybe we won’t have to dress up. That’d be nice for a change.”

“Yeah, the suits are getting old. But I like those dresses you wear.” He came over and tried to kiss me but I backed away.
 

“It’s not gonna happen, Erik, so don’t even start.”
 

“It was just a kiss. Geez. I can’t even do that now?”

When I got into bed and closed my eyes, I began seeing flashbacks of the GlobalLife facility in Minnesota. I saw myself being poked and prodded and hooked up to machines that gave me such excruciating headaches that I passed out.
 

I feared this time would be no different, despite what Eve said. Maybe the lab experiments would be even more painful. My stomach was in knots, not allowing me to sleep. Erik knew I was worrying. When either of us had intense feelings, the other person could sense it without even entering the person’s mind. He moved closer and wrapped his arms around me.

“Erik, we’re not—”

“Shhhhh. I’m not doing that. I’m just helping you sleep. Just relax. Everything will be okay tomorrow. It’s not gonna be like last time.”

I could feel his calmness transferring to me. Being so close to him helped stop my thoughts from racing. I finally fell asleep.

We were awoken early the next morning. Breakfast arrived along with two sets of clothing. Two pairs of baggy white cotton pants with a drawstring waist and two short sleeve pullover cotton shirts. They looked like hospital scrubs but in white instead of hospital green.
 

“I don’t feel good, Erik,” I said, looking down at myself in the all white outfit. The flashbacks starting running through my head again. I could see myself strapped to the bed, unable to move. I could hear Worthings’ voice in my head. I ran in the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face.

“Sam, what’s wrong?” Erik called from outside the door.
 

“Nothing. I’m okay,” I said, even though I wasn’t. I wondered if I was having a panic attack, although I’d never had one before. I became short of breath and starting sweating. I splashed more cold water on my face.

“Sam, I’m coming in.” Erik opened the door and stood near the sink. “What’s going on? You’re shaking.”