A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3) by Stephanie Karpinske Page B

quiet. Owens noticed us, but before he could say anything his phone rang. “Yes,” he answered. “Tomorrow morning? Excellent. What time?” He listened. “That’s early. But good. It will still be dark. And the plane is ready?” He nodded. “Fine. Yes. Very good.”
    Owens put his phone away, then took his coat off and set it on a chair. “That was about Brittany.”  
    I immediately feared the worst. “What about her? Is she hurt?”
    “My team is getting her tomorrow. Well, they’re attempting to. She’s being moved at 5 in the morning. We’re going to ambush the transport vehicle. It’s very risky. And, well, I’m sorry, Samantha, but this will be our only attempt. We can’t try this again. If we don’t get her now, then—”
    “You’ll get her,” I insisted. “You have to.” Part of me wondered why Owens was even trying to rescue Brittany. If he was a bad person, wouldn’t he just forget about her? Maybe Owens wasn’t so bad after all. He had saved Erik and me. And now he was trying to save Brittany.
    “Where is GlobalLife planning to take her?” Jack asked.
    “To their storage facility,” Owens replied. “It’s out in the middle of nowhere. It’s where they keep some of their test animals and supplies.”
    “They’re storing her with animals?” I felt tears forming, but fought them back. “Why are they even keeping her? Why don’t they just let her go? They don’t need her.”
    “They need her to get to you, Samantha,” Owens said. “They know you’ll give yourself up if it means freeing your sister.”
    “Did I hear mention of a plane?” Dave asked.  
    “Yes. We’re all leaving tomorrow afternoon. We’re going to New York. I have my plane ready to go. GlobalLife is stepping up their search efforts. They’ve been checking all commercial flights for Samantha and Erik. I told them I have business in the States and that I’ll be flying out tomorrow. They think it’s just me going. But you’ll all be on the flight.”
    “Including Brittany?” I asked.
    “If we have her then, yes,” Owens said. “Jack, I got your message about agreeing to help me open those files. I was very happy to hear that. I’ve got the house all set up for you. My security team is already in place. We can talk more on the plane tomorrow.”  
    Owens’ phone rang again. He answered it and disappeared down the hall.
    “This is good,” Jack said quietly. “We’ll finally get out of Iceland and back in the U.S. I’m going to go pack up my things.”
    Erik went with him. After they left, I turned to Dave. “What if they can’t get Brittany? We can’t leave without her.”
    “We might have to, Sam. We can’t stay here. We just have to hope they’re able to get her tomorrow.” He got up to leave. “Do you want me to update Colin?”
    “No. I’ll do it. We’re not fighting anymore. He’s playing the friend role now.”
    “Okay, honey. I’ll be in my room if you need me.”
    I went to Colin’s room and knocked on his door. This time he opened it right away.  
    “Hi, Colin. I just wanted to let you know that we’re leaving tomorrow. Owens just told us.”
    “That’s good. Do you want to come in?”
    He sat on the bed with me rather than across the room. I took it as a sign that he was slightly less angry.  
    “We’re flying out in the afternoon. I don’t know exactly what time, but you should be ready in the morning in case things change.”
    “What about Brittany?”  
    “Owens has a plan to get her tomorrow morning when she’s being taken to a new location.”
    “What if they don’t get her?”
    “The plan is that we’ll still leave. But I can’t do that, Colin. I can’t just leave her behind.”
    “You have to, Sam. They’re looking for you and they won’t stop until they find you.”
    “They’ll look for me wherever I go. It doesn’t matter where I am.”
    “Yes. But this is a small country. And it’s isolated. You’re easy to find here. I’m sure