Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
Amal Nassar's excitement was palpable to Mark Devlin as they marched toward the WarTech warehouse. Two hours earlier, Nassar had been much more subdued. Devlin had broken the news of Sapphire Angel's escape in Chicago, after the customs officer finished with the plane. The news had devastated Nassar and his employer, but they had recovered by the time the plane made its final stop at a private landing strip a few miles from the WarTech campus. Nassar's employer wanted and needed WarTech's technology.
As Devlin, Nassar, and four guards approached the warehouse, the door opened and Steve Hains exited. Dread filled the security chief's face.
"Wait here," Devlin said to the other men, and walked forward to meet Hains.
"What's wrong?" Devlin asked, keeping his voice low.
"There are eleven of our men in there, lying on the floor, battered and beaten. My group just found them."
Devlin's eyes narrowed. "Sapphire Angel?"
"I just discovered them, so I haven't had a chance to ask. But that would be a logical assumption, even though some appear to have sustained gunshot wounds."
"That bitch!" Devlin muttered. "Any sign of her here?"
"No, sir. She's not inside."
Devlin's mind raced, imaging what she might have discovered. Should he call off the presentation? No. She was probably trying to learn about Devlin's plans, but she wasn't here now. Nassar had come a long way, and the deal would fall through if they didn't continue. And Nassar didn't need to know about Sapphire Angel's latest interference.
"I'm going to take our guest around the back of the building to show him the rest of the campus. Get the men out of there and make sure everything is cleaned up and in order for the presentation. You have five minutes."
From a copse of trees on a small hill a mile away, Sapphire Angel looked through binoculars as Mark Devlin stepped away from his guards and one another man, and approached his security chief.
"Are you getting this?" she asked Conner, who crouched next to her holding a camera with a long telephoto lens.
"Yes. I hope Stanley can identify Devlin's guest. He looks Middle Eastern. Or maybe Greek. Hard to tell from here."
Sapphire Angel said nothing as Conner clicked away with the camera. As she watched, Devlin returned to the other men, spoke for a moment, and led them around the back of the warehouse and out of sight. A few moments later, the warehouse door opened and several men spilled out. She recognized the men she had just defeated in combat, battered and bloody, and being helped by some new arrivals. They moved in a slow procession toward the production facility, taking a few minutes to reach it. When they did, they disappeared inside.
Sapphire Angel turned her attention back to the warehouse. After two more minutes, Devlin and the other men came back into view from the rear of the building, circling around to the door and disappearing inside.
"What do you think they're doing?" Conner asked.
"I bet this is the buyer Devlin mentioned," Sapphire Angel said, forcing herself to forget she would have been for sale if she hadn't escaped. "Devlin is showing him whatever he's buying. They probably needed to get his injured guards out of there first."
"Who do you think he is?"
"I don't know. Hopefully Stanley will find out."
They watched for fifteen more minutes before the door opened again. The men exited, made their way across the grounds to the production facility, and disappeared inside.
"We've seen what we can see," Sapphire Angel said. "Let's head back so we can get these images and the data from the laptop over to Stanley."
Roy Valik had never seen Mark Devlin so angry. The CEO certainly had issues — including a dangerous mix of narcism and insecurity — but uncontrolled rage wasn't one of them. Devlin had stormed into the lab twenty minutes earlier, screaming at Valik about Sapphire Angel. He was gone now, but his anger lingered in the air like the stench of a forgotten dumpster.
Although the magnitude of Devlin's rage was unusual, Valik understood it. Devlin's sole goal over the last few months had been to consummate the sale of their latest technology, and after today's presentation they were on the verge of finalizing the deal. But it seemed Sapphire Angel wouldn't give up, and she now threatened to put the entire project at risk.
Valik turned his attention back to the black rock, the Noctecite, sitting underneath an array of sensors. One of his men had delivered the rock two hours earlier, after Valik finalized its purchase from a company just over the state line.
Valik would have made little progress with the Noctecite, except for one stroke of good fortune. A Pennsylvania company, Fizzure Technologies, had researched the strange rock a year earlier, only to lose all its data and progress in a terrible explosion. In the days prior to the explosion, one of Fizzure's scientists had shared some incomplete information online, in the same online discussion forum Valik had used to first learn of the substance.
The Fizzure data was fragmented, but it helped. Fizzure had tried to harness the rock, believing it might act as a conduit to an unknown power. It would take Valik months or years to pursue that angle. But another possibility grew in his mind as he compared the data with his research on Sapphire Angel — another way he might use the rock. As before, the stone's readings, while more erratic, were the exact opposite of the data from the superheroine. Valik didn't believe in coincidences, especially considering the rumors of Sapphire Angel's interference with Fizzure's activities.
Valik sat back, rubbing his eyes. He needed sleep, but there was work to be done if he wanted to put his theory to the test, and harness the power of the stone for a new purpose. It would be difficult, since the stone’s power ebbed or slipped away too quickly to be useful. But perhaps he might overcome the limitation with more study. If he succeeded, and he could harness the rock for his limited purpose, Mark Devlin might forget about their setbacks. Better, Valik would have quite a surprise for Sapphire Angel, if she returned and tried to stop them. Or, if he was wrong or failed, it might kill him.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
Nassar and (I’m assuming) Azari really took Sapphire’s escape surprisingly well. Then again, she wasn’t exactly the main thing they were there for, though I’d imagine she would’ve made a neat bonus for them. Bet the sight of the downed guards really sent Devlin into a bit of a panic, but that’s what Sapphire Angel does to any villain, really.
That spy work from Sapphire and Conner.....they do a good job of staying out of sight. Or maybe one of the people on the grounds already noticed them and they have no idea. Wouldn’t that be a twist? I could see Sapphire having traumatic flashbacks when spying on a place that did such negative things to her, but something tells me she’s about to pay them back for it soon enough. It seems to me like both Stanley and Conner are technology people to an extent, though right now it looks like Stanley is definitely more so. I would love to have him at the backline of a spy team if I ever put one together!
That last section with Roy Valik was quite interesting. So Fizzure Technologies---the company from the first novel---researched the Noctecite before Valik did.....except that the place went up in an explosion before they found anything, which I’m pretty sure might be the same explosion that the silver-eyed man caused near the end of that story in order to get rid of any evidence regarding their plan. I still think he’s a super.....silver eyes aren’t particularly that common. Since it was specified that the Noctecite’s readings are the exact opposite from Sapphire’s powers, I’m guessing Valik might use it in some kind of device/gadget that will serve as an inhibitor for her abilities. To take away her bulletproof attributes and render her a sitting duck, you know? Kind of like a whole “energy waves can be counteracted simply by releasing opposing waves” thing. Or maybe he’ll be able to use it to recreate the machine that killed John and gave Sapphire her powers! I doubt it’d do anything harmful OR beneficial to him, though, since he’s dressed like a scientist.
Although.....with that last sentence, I’d imagine this is a high-risk, high-reward thing. Devlin’s already angry as is, and I’m sure Valik wouldn’t want to disappoint him further. But is that chance really worth his life? And that’s not even getting into what would happen to his son Calvin if Roy wasn’t around. If he does succeed, though, and finds a way to counteract Sapphire’s powers.....she’s going to be in for quite the fight indeed. Wondering how she’ll get out of that one. They might not even need any kind of shrewd trap/plan in that case.....they could probably just rush her at that point and they’d be fine.
About 9 more chapters for this novel to throw me another curveball! Waiting on Sapphire to (probably) sabotage the presentation somehow and maybe bring all of these men in.....? Then again, these novels have thrown me for several loops on numerous occasions, so there’s that. Can I at least write Mark Devlin off? Because Demarco Dominick and Xavier Wheldon both died.
Demarco Dominick had an ill child. Xavier Wheldon’s brother was killed in war. Mark Devlin dealt with severe failure/insecurity issues in his youth. I put myself in a lot of peoples’ shoes relatively easily, so I probably felt bad for them a lot more than what was intended. Maybe there’s some alternate universe out there where they actually managed to get those issues taken care of without resorting to villainy, but....oh, well. At least they’re dead now and they don’t have to worry about any of that anymore. Well.....Dominick and Wheldon, anyway.
Let’s keep it going! See you on Thursday!