The Golden Couple (The Samantha Project Series, # 2) (12 page)

Erik and I listened but again only heard a few words here and there and no complete sentences.
 

“This happened to me once before,” I said. “It was when I was on that bus to Texas. I met that girl, Ruby, and I tried to read her thoughts but I could only get a few words. She had her cell phone in her hand so, maybe this is dumb, but I was thinking that the phone was interfering with her brain waves, making it so I couldn’t read and interpret her thoughts.”

“That’s not dumb. That makes total sense,” Erik said. “Except that nobody has a cell phone, right?”
 

We all shook our heads. Erik glared at Brittany.

“What are you looking at me for?” Brittany asked. “I don’t have a cell phone. If I did, I’d be using it.”

“Something’s not right.” Erik looked up and around. “We heard everything when you guys were down in the woods. So what’s different? It’s like there’s some type of interference.”

I noticed a sound off in the distance. “Erik, do you hear something?”

Erik listened. “Yeah. It kind of sounds like a helicopter.”

Brittany yawned, stretching her arms out. “So you hear a helicopter. Who cares?”

Erik listened closer. “Helicopters fly low. They survey what or who is on the ground.”
 

I looked at Erik. “GlobalLife has helicopters.”
 

“Everyone inside!” Erik yelled.

We sprinted back to the house. When we got inside, Jack was looking out a back window. “When did you notice it, Erik?”

“Just now. It came out of nowhere.”

“It’s not close enough for me to see any detail on it. Tell me what it looks like.”

Erik joined him at the window, using his enhanced vision to get a better look at the helicopter. “It’s all black. No markings.”
 

“Go check out front,” Jack said. “See if anyone’s there. Be discreet. Don’t open the drapes.”

Erik ran to the front window. “Nothing. There’s nobody there.”
 

Jack went to the kitchen. “I want all of you to get over here. Hurry up!”

We joined Jack in the kitchen. “It’s still off in the distance, so listen up. We’re going to run to Paul’s underground shelter. It’s hidden in that shed.” He pointed to the shed Colin and Brittany had been in earlier. “Got it?”
 

We nodded.

Jack motioned Erik to move in front of us. “I want you to go first, Erik, and open the door to the shelter. It’s right in the middle of the floor. Everyone else follow him. Go as fast as you can. I’ll be the last one in. Ready?”

The sound of the helicopter got significantly louder. “Erik, now!” Jack shouted. Erik bolted out the door and the rest of us followed him into the shed. We got into the shelter and Jack shut the door behind us.
 

We moved to the far end of the shelter and waited. The helicopter sounded like it was circling the house. As we listened, we stood there in total disbelief. It didn’t make sense. We’d come all this way only to have GlobalLife swoop down and get us now? Out of nowhere? For that to happen, someone would have had to tip them off. And the only person who knew we were there was Paul.
 

Jack was thinking the same thing. “I can’t believe he would tell them we were here. He wouldn’t. I know he wouldn’t. But if it wasn’t Paul, then how the hell did they find us?”

Erik went up to Jack. “Maybe it’s not GlobalLife, Dad. Maybe it’s a military helicopter, like the kind that used to go over our farm. Maybe they’re just doing some type of training exercises.”

The helicopter continued to circle above us.
 

Jack nervously rubbed his beard. “We can only hope that’s what it is.”

“What is this place?” Brittany whispered.

“It’s an old bomb shelter,” Jack said. “Paul made it into an underground bunker because he’s so paranoid about things. Good thing he did. It’s the only place we can hide. If that’s GlobalLife, their equipment won’t be able to detect us out down here.”

He stopped to listen. The helicopter was still circling. “If they truly suspect that we’re here, they could have people all around us. Around the house. In the woods. They’ll eventually find—”

“Dad, listen,” Erik pointed up. “Do you hear that? It sounds like it might be leaving.”
 

We all listened. It did seem to be heading away from us.
 

“It may not be above us anymore, but I still hear it,” Jack said. “We’re staying here until we’re sure it’s gone.”

After an hour of waiting, Jack slowly opened the shelter door. He went up and looked around, then came back. “Okay, I don’t see anything. Let’s go.”
 

“I want you to keep watching for it, Erik,” Jack said when we were back in the house. “I need to keep working on that file. If you hear or see anything at all, let me know.”

“So now we’re stuck in here?” Brittany plopped down on the sofa.

I sat down next to her. “You could read one of Paul’s books. He’s got plenty to choose from.”

“Yeah, right, Sam. Like I really wanna read a book about,” Brittany glanced at the books on the shelves behind her, “alien encounters, war profiteering, or artificial intelligence. Yeah, that’s fun. Let’s look for a TV instead. Maybe he has one hidden in a closet somewhere.”

“He doesn’t own a TV,” Jack called out from behind his laptop. “He’s never had one the whole time I’ve known him. Doesn’t see the need for one.”

Brittany rolled her eyes as she got up and picked out a book. “Here’s one.
The Pyramids and Other Ancient Mysteries
. Do you want that one, Sam?”

I grabbed the book. “Yeah. I love reading about the pyramids. Because really, how did people build those back then? I don’t understand how they did it without big equipment.”

“Aliens,” Colin said. “Whenever you can’t explain something, blame the aliens. Works every time.”

“I can’t explain women,” Erik mumbled from the chair next to me.

Colin laughed. “Because they’re aliens. Mystery solved.”

“Ha, ha,” I said.
 

“Do you think aliens look like humans?” Brittany asked.

“No,” Erik replied, “but I don’t think they look like the movie aliens with the massive heads and big black eyes.”
 

We continued discussing the crazy topics in Paul’s books for the rest of the afternoon. Erik kept checking outside but the helicopter never returned.
 

“I don’t think it was GlobalLife, Dad.” Erik went to sit at the table with Jack. “If it was, like you said, they would have sent someone up to the house.”

Jack didn’t respond. He was concentrating on whatever was on his laptop screen. His face looked both worried and confused.

“Dad, are you listening?”
 

“What? No. What did you need, Erik?” Jack was very distracted by something.

“Never mind. Doesn’t matter.”
 

Jack looked up from his laptop. “Since it’s safe out there now, why don’t you guys go outside before dinner? Get some fresh air.”

Erik laughed. “What are we, 5? You’re sending us outside?”

“Just for a little while. Paul will be home soon and I need to talk to him about something.”

“All right. Everyone out,” Erik ordered.
 

We all went out back. Erik and Colin searched the shed for some sports equipment while Brittany and I sat on the porch. After a while, I went inside to get a drink of water and heard Jack and Paul talking intently in the other room. It sounded like they’d been discussing the helicopter incident.

“Yeah, I should have told you about those training exercises they do,” Paul said. “There’s a military base just north of here. But you usually don’t see them at that time of day. And the training is often on the weekends, so it is suspicious. Good thing you thought to use the shelter.”
 

Jack moved on. “So going back to what I told you earlier about what I found in this file. You don’t really believe that, do you, Paul? Because if you do, then I think you’ve read too many of those conspiracy theory books. I know the file is very detailed but this is obviously a hoax. And here I spent all night and all day getting this file open. For some silly hoax.”

“Dan wouldn’t go to all this trouble for a hoax.” Paul lowered his voice. “Listen, Jack. I’m now certain that Dan was killed. And I know it was GlobalLife. They did it because of what was on this disk. It finally makes sense.”

“Come on, Paul. He wasn’t killed. It was an accident.”
 

“It wasn’t an accident. I didn’t tell you the whole story, Jack.”

“Okay. So what’s the story?”
 

“I talked to the medical examiner who did Dan’s autopsy. He said there was a drug in Dan’s body that’s not even on the market yet. It’s in clinical trials at GlobalLife Pharmaceuticals. If administered in very high doses, it burns the skin from the inside out. You feel like your body is on fire. And then paralysis follows. So Dan must have jumped in the water trying to relieve the burning and then the paralysis hit and he drowned.”

“Are you sure about that?” Jack kept his voice down.

“I talked to the medical examiner myself. I tried contacting him later to ask him more about it, but it’s like he disappeared. I don’t know if he went into hiding or if GlobalLife got him, too.”

“How would GlobalLife know that Dan had this file?”
 

“I don’t know, Jack. Maybe they could see that the file was copied from their server. Dan’s house was burglarized soon after he died. Nothing was taken, but they tore the place apart. They had to have been looking for that CD.”

“So the information in that file is worth killing for.” Jack said it slowly, as if something had just occurred to him.

“Yes. And I can’t believe I’m still alive with that in my possession all these years. I’m guessing GlobalLife figured it didn’t exist after all. Either that, or they didn’t know where to look next.”

There was silence for a minute. Then Jack finally spoke. “Paul, what you’re saying is that—”

“I’m saying that what you found on that disk is the real deal. That’s the answer you’ve been looking for, Jack. Although I know it’s the last answer you expected. Or wanted.”

Jack lowered his voice. “If this is true, then I don’t know what to do now. This changes everything.”

“Are you going to tell Sam and Erik?”

“Yes, I have to. They need to know.”

Jack stood up and I snuck back outside. Erik, Colin, and Brittany were laughing and kicking a soccer ball around in the back yard.
 

“Hey, come inside,” Jack called from the kitchen. “We need to talk.”

“Aww, do we have to, Dad?” Erik called back, using a child’s voice. “But you told us to play outside.”

Colin laughed. “Yeah, come on. Just a few more minutes.”

“This is serious,” Jack said. “Get inside.”

Everyone filed into the house and sat at the table, where Paul was already seated.
 

“I got the file open,” Jack announced.
 

“Yeah, so what did it say?” Erik asked.

Jack sighed. “I don’t know how to tell you this. I can’t even find the right words.”

“We’ve heard just about everything by now, Dad. I don’t think you can shock us anymore.”

“That code you figured out, Erik, was right. This file identifies the source of those unique nucleobases in your genes. The ones that we need in order to repair that section of your DNA and stop the timer.”

I was getting impatient. “Yeah, we know all that. So what are they? Where did they come from?”

Jack hesitated. “Well, they’re uh, they’re not from Earth.” He paused for a moment. “What I’m trying to say is that they’re not human. The base pairs came from alien DNA.”

Erik laughed. “That’s real funny, Dad. So what does it really say?”
 

Jack’s tone darkened. “I’m not kidding, Erik.”
 

“I get it, Jack,” I said. “You heard us talking about aliens earlier, so now you’re making a joke about it.” I turned to Paul. “We were looking at some of your books, Paul. Hope that’s okay.”

Paul didn’t answer. He kept his eyes on Jack.
 

“I wouldn’t joke about something like this,” Jack said. “I can’t believe it myself. In a million years I wouldn’t consider this to be a possibility. I never even believed in aliens. Well, I believe other life forms exist in some far off galaxy but not—”

“Wait a minute,” Erik stopped him. “So this isn’t some stupid joke you’re playing on us? Because now I’m almost starting to think that you’re serious.”

Jack sighed. “I don’t know how else to say this to make you believe me. According to this file, those nucleobases in your DNA—the ones that I’ve never been able to identify—are from an alien life form.”

“Then the file is fake,” I insisted. “You can’t trust anything it says.”

“She’s right,” Erik agreed. “This is a hoax, probably to get us to go on some off-beat path looking for something that doesn’t exist.”

“But nobody knew we would open it,” Jack pointed out. “Anyone could have opened that file.”

“Well, it found us. So is that just a coincidence?” I asked.

“It was given to Paul, not us,” Jack corrected.

Erik and I shot a suspicious glance at Paul.

“Don’t start making accusations that aren’t true,” Jack warned. “I knew Dan, the guy who made this file. And like Paul was saying earlier, Dan wouldn’t steal this information from GlobalLife and preserve it on a disk if it wasn’t of utmost importance. And he wouldn’t have given it to just anyone.”

“If this shit were true, then he would have emailed the file to the news media,” Erik said. “You don’t hide something like that in some bank deposit box.”

“GlobalLife owns stakes in the major news outlets, Erik. This would never get out. And if it ended up at some reporter’s desk, do you think they would even believe this? Only a handful of people would take this seriously.”
 

“I had no idea that’s what was on the disk,” Paul admitted. “I thought it was just backup files from some old GlobalLife research. As you can tell from my books, I love a good conspiracy, but even I never would have guessed this could be true.”