Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
“I’m going to get us close to my rental car, and then we need to ditch this SUV,” Conner said as he and Beth listened to the chatter coming over the SUV’s radio. The WarTech security director had dispatched his entire fleet of vehicles to search the area for the escaped superheroine. Conner and Beth had been driving for only a few minutes, with Conner taking an erratic, zig-zag route away from the WarTech campus.
“Don’t you think we should stay with this car?” Beth asked. “They might mistake us for one of theirs.”
“Too risky,” Conner said. “They might be able to track their vehicles. That’s why I’ve been making so many turns instead of heading right for my car. I’m trying to throw off anybody who might try to relay our position to our pursuers.”
As if on cue, they heard the roaring of an engine, and between buildings they spotted a WarTech patrol car, lit up by the streetlights, speeding one street over, parallel to them. It didn’t slow down or turn toward them, so its occupants either didn’t spot Beth and Conner’s vehicle, or assumed it was another WarTech patrol. As the sound of the car faded, Conner turned hard on the wheel, heading down a side street. He made several more turns, and two minutes later pulled to a stop in the road next to an open field.
“Come on,” he said and hopped out, leaving the car in the middle of the road. Beth gave him an odd look and jumped out. The cold night air bit through her borrowed shirt, and her teeth chattered. Conner leaned back into the car and bent down below the steering wheel, and a moment later the car started rolling forward. Conner slammed the door closed and jumped clear as the car crept down the road.
“No sense letting them know exactly where we ditched it,” he said. “Let’s go. My rental car is nearby, so you’ll be warm in a minute.”
Beth ran with him as they took hands and sprinted through the field. As they ran, she prayed she didn’t step upon any sharp objects in the dark. Three minutes later they came to Conner’s car on the other side of the field, hopped in, and sped away.
Once in the car, Beth looked down at herself, wearing only the button-down shirt over her shivering body. The shirt was too large, but still barely covered her legs. She was numb from the cold, but it wasn’t the cold that left her dazed. It was the contrast between the shirt and what she had been wearing the last time she had been with Conner. When she left Conner, she had been Sapphire Angel, proud and radiant in her costume. Now she sat with him, stripped, depowered, and humbled. She closed her eyes, bit her lip, and bowed her head. After a moment, she spoke.
“So how did you manage to get into the facility and find me?” she asked, her voice flat. “And with perfect timing?”
“It wasn’t a coincidence. Stanley’s been trying to find you, and you were off the grid until just before I came in.”
“Stanley?”
“He’s been helping, ever since I learned that they got you. I would have figured it out eventually, when you didn’t come out, but I discovered the bad news sooner. After you headed in, when I was prowling around the perimeter, a couple guards came near my location and stopped for a smoke. I dove into a ditch and overheard them chatting. One of them said something like, ‘I can’t believe they got her.’”
“They sure did,” she murmured.
“I would have come sooner, but I needed to improve my chances. I spent most of the day out there, hiding, while Stanley tried to track you down inside. He mentioned you had planted something on one of their computers?”
She nodded. “That’s about the only thing I accomplished. I got the USB drive in place before they captured me.”
“How did they—”
“I’ll tell you later,” she said. “I don’t want to relive it right now.”
“Of course. I won’t push you, but I’m here if you want to talk about it.”
“Thanks,” she intoned.
“It took Stanley a little while, but he used that USB thing to hack into their network. Even then, he still couldn’t find you for a long time, until he finally picked up a surveillance feed of them taking you to the third floor. You must have been off the grid before that. Somewhere without cameras.”
“I was a special guest of the Enigma Project,” Beth said, bitterness seeping into her words. “Stanley must have spotted me when I was on my way to meet a sadistic bastard who was downright gleeful about hurting the not-so-super Sapphire Angel. But I got away.”
Conner glanced sideways at her and said nothing for several moments. When he spoke, his voice was softer.
“Once Stanley found you, I got moving right away. I had already scoped out the guard I was going to take out, for the uniform, the SUV, and the, uh, finger.”
Beth held up her hand and cringed. “That’s really gross.”
“Stanley was still working on the elevator, so I had to do it, Beth. I needed to get to you before you went off the grid again. Stanley was ready to roll, and set things up so I could get to you quickly. He hacked the network to feed some fake footage to their security cameras, and he even unlocked the side gate to give me easy access. He also shut down their communications and made it appear like just a glitch. That man is damn talented and made my job much easier.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without him,” Beth said, looking down and biting her lip.
“I knew exactly where they took you, thanks to him, and I had a pretty good idea how to avoid people. I was making a beeline right to where they took you, although I didn’t realize you’d just broken free and were coming right at me. My biggest worry was that somebody would move the SUV while I was inside, and we wouldn’t have a getaway car. I had a feeling we might be coming out hot, so I had it waiting.”
“Thank you, Conner,” Beth said, but guilt ate at her. She had kept her identity secret so she wouldn’t endanger him, and yet within a day of telling him, he had put himself in harm’s way.
“Of course,” he said. “But I was just the tour guide to get you past that locked elevator. You did the hard part, getting free on your own. From the looks on the faces of the people chasing us, you pissed them off, whatever you did. And Stanley did more than I did.”
Beth twisted her lips into a wry smile, remembering her attack of the two guards, and her takedown of one guard during her sprint. But then she gave a slight shiver as she remembered Gregor’s look as the elevator doors closed. He had really wanted a piece of her.
“Now what?” Beth asked, her voice despondent. “I’m pretty sure they have Eric. The scientist told me they might throw me in with the others when he finished with me. He might have been referring to Eric.”
“Finished with you? What do you mean?”
Beth inhaled slowly. “My capture wasn’t a coincidence. The whole thing was a trap, aimed at me. They wanted to study me. My necklace. My costume. Try to figure out what makes Sapphire Angel tick. They did… experiments.”
Conner swore under his breath, and his jaw set and his hands tightened on the steering wheel. He said nothing, staring ahead as he drove. She was thankful he didn’t question her on the specifics of her capture and imprisonment.
“I feel lost, Conner. Eric needs help, but I have no powers, and the police won’t help.”
“We need to regroup, but it’s not safe to go back to the townhouse,” Conner answered. “They’re combing the entire area right now, and might go there looking for you.”
“Maybe not. I don’t know that they figured out my identity, since they’d never seen me before as Beth. To them, I was just Sapphire Angel, minus my costume.” Beth’s face flushed red.
“Can you be sure?”
“No. Their lead scientist did mention I looked different. I guess they could try to match up my appearance with facial recognition, or something like that,” she said, and then groaned. “Or they could even circulate my photos online. What a nightmare. You’re right — it might lead them back to Jack and Ross. We need to call them. They need to get out.”
Conner nodded and made the call to the two roommates, explaining only that there had been a problem and people from WarTech might look for them at their townhouse. Beth listened as Conner dodged questions, avoiding any mention of Sapphire Angel. Finally, after Jack and Ross promised to leave, Conner asked them to take his bag and Beth’s luggage and await further instructions. By the time he ended the call, and after many random turns to foil any pursuit, the lights of Wynton had faded in the background. They headed north on a two-lane road.
“Where are we going?” Beth asked.
“Finding somewhere to stay tonight. Ross suggested heading to a town this way. Before we get there, you need to call Stanley. By now he knows you escaped, but he’s probably worried sick.”
Stanley. Without him, she wouldn’t be here right now. She opened the glove box and pulled out her iPhone, which she had placed there before starting the disastrous events at the WarTech facility. She dialed Stanley’s number.
“Beth,” he said, answering immediately, his voice strained. Regret and guilt flooded over her as she heard the worry in his voice.
“I just wanted to say thanks, Stanley, for helping get me out of there. My brain is about to shut down for the night, so I’ll have to fill you in later. But Sapphire Angel is done.”
Her voice cracked as she said the words. Sapphire Angel is done. Beth thought back to when her life as Sapphire Angel had started, and how reluctant she had been to become a hero. Now they had taken it from her, and her heart ached.
“We can talk about it later, Beth,” Stanley said, his voice quiet and filled with empathy. “Get some rest.”
“I will. We’re going to a hotel, in case they discovered my identity, or are in the process of trying. They could be circulating my photo could on the Internet as we speak.”
“About that,” Stanley said. “I have some news.”
Beth’s heart leapt into her throat.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
Awwww, YEAH! I had a feeling, from the amount of technology-related stuff going on, that Stanley might be involved in one way or another. Then again, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Conner had done everything by himself, either.....dude’s brilliant himself as well. But.....oh, boy. That escape was quite pumping, and we also denied WarTech the chance to fully apprehend and/or study Sapphire Angel.....but this looks like quite a dark hour. I don’t see any way we can quickly get Sapphire’s costume back, and it seems like we’ve been forced to flee town as well.
You’re the author and all, but if this really is the last we’re going to hear from Jack and Ross, I felt as though this was a bit anticlimactic. I wanted them to see more action......but hey---I guess without them, Beth wouldn’t have even been made aware of Stump going missing, and wouldn’t have headed to Wynton to investigate in the first place. They kicked off the story, and it was time to get them out of there before things got too action-packed. If I were either of them, I would’ve raised a stink about it and not agree to leave. I would’ve insisted on joining up with them and helping. And even if they didn’t include me in a plan, I would include MYSELF into the plan. I’m that stubborn. Probably means I’d get killed straightaway.
I get that Beth’s a superhero and that Conner’s her partner and lover and all that, but Jack and Ross were close college friends of Beth. They know her, too, and for them to seemingly not play further parts in this story really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. They also should’ve been made aware of her secret, too. Then again, I haven’t finished the novel, so there’s room for that to change, but the wording really made it seem like they were jumping ship. ......Maybe that’s the “news” that Stanley was referring to at the end of the chapter. Perhaps the pictures have already shown up online and have made their way into peoples’ hands.
Boy, that wouldn’t be good.......
I’m honestly on edge as to what both parties (Sapphire’s team and WarTech) are going to do next. Gonna continue to read on, as always! 👍🏽