We last read Chapter 10, in which Beth and Conner Bennett, the OCO investigator, face a hail of bullets as they explore the scene of a prior shooting on the land of Xavier Wheldon, near the nuclear power plant. They make a frantic dash for safety, splitting up, and Beth tumbles over the edge of a cliff.
This is the second story, so if you want to start from the very beginning, you can jump over to book 1, and begin with the Prologue of Sapphire Angel, Superheroine. Or to start at the beginning of book 2 (this story), click over to the Prologue of Power Play.
Thanks for reading!
For a millisecond, doubt entered Beth's mind as she hurtled toward the floor of the ravine. She remembered the delay in her transformation when she had saved Bud Tanner. She pushed those doubts from her mind and forced her flailing arm to the base of her neck. She concentrated.
A flash surrounded her, just in time. She was Sapphire Angel, righting herself and getting her feet below her just before she hit the ground. She flexed her knees on impact and went into a roll.
She came out of the roll, springing to her feet with a glare in her sapphire blue eyes. The glare only added to the aura of the stunning woman. It was almost as if the forest sensed her presence, as the sun broke through the trees overhead, gleaming off her long blond hair and the stretchy blue fabric of the costume as it hugged her petite form. Even her long legs and the white elbow-length gloves shimmered in the light.
With a twirl of her short white skirt, she turned, ran toward the side of the ravine, and leapt. Midway through her jump, she brought up a leg, sweeping her hand past her boot and retrieving a device shaped like the handle of a small flashlight. In the same motion, she pressed a button on the cylinder and flicked her hand above her, firing a cable from the end of the cylinder. The cable shot through the air until it reached a tangle of branches hanging over the ravine. The costumed heroine gave a tug on the cylinder, twisting the cable among the branches. Not very secure, but good enough.
Sapphire Angel touched down just before the branches snapped and the cable slipped free, retracting into the cylinder. She was back above the ravine again, twenty yards from where she had gone over. She scanned her surroundings, spotting her pursuer just as he reached the spot where she had jumped. He looked down, oblivious to the heroine's presence.
After slipping the cylinder back into her boot, Sapphire Angel sprinted and leapt, clearing the remaining distance to the shooter and landing behind him. He spun as she touched down. Before he could raise his weapon, her gloved hands seized the front of his shirt and heaved, sending him sailing into the trunk of a tree ten feet away. Somehow he had held onto his rifle during his flight, but it tumbled to the ground at his feet when he landed.
He fumbled for the weapon as he sat back against the tree. She rushed to him, and he got off a shot when she was almost there. She gave a slight flinch as the bullet dropped away a millimeter from her body, repelled by an invisible force. As his jaw dropped in surprise, she landed a whirling kick to the side of his head. He smacked to the ground and didn't move.
Sapphire Angel paused only long enough to make sure the man was out of the fight. Conner was running for his life. She used the sun coming through the trees above the ravine to orient herself, and sprinted off toward the car. She hoped she wasn't too late.
Faster than an Olympic sprinter, Sapphire Angel burst through the forest, her eyes scanning for any movement ahead. It didn't take long for her to spot the other shooter and Conner, just a few seconds ahead of her. Conner was exhausted, barely keeping his feet as he plodded forward like a wounded animal. His pursuer was only twenty yards behind him. The man stopped, lowered to a knee, and raised his rifle to his shoulder. There was no way he would miss from this distance, and Sapphire Angel wouldn't be able to reach him in time.
The superheroine leapt at him, once again swiping the cylinder from her boot in midair. The cable shot forward, closing the distance to the man and lashing around his neck. As she sailed through the air, a jolt of electricity surged through the cable and into the man's body, short-circuiting his senses. Sapphire Angel gave a tug on the cylinder as her feet hit the ground, and the man toppled backward, his body convulsing.
Sapphire Angel rushed to his side and knelt down next to him as he went still. He was alive but unconscious. She raised her gaze and spotted Conner, oblivious to the events behind him as he continued his slow trek toward the car.
The costumed heroine rose to her feet scanning the surrounding forest. It was silent, and she saw no movement. For the moment, her job was done. She raised a gloved fist to the base of her neck, a flash surrounded her, and she was Beth Harper once again.
Beth Harper sprinted the forest toward the car. She would have preferred to stay behind and question the shooters as Sapphire Angel, but Conner would be looking for her, unless he was planning to leave without her. He very well might.
He didn't leave. To the contrary, just before she broke free of the forest and reached the road, she saw Conner turn from the car and totter back toward the forest. He came up short when he saw her, his eyes wide.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Coming back for you," he said, barely able to breathe.
"What exactly were you planning to do?" she asked. "They have weapons. You don't."
"I don't know, but I wasn't just going to leave you. But shut up for now. We may have lost them for the moment, but we need to get out of here before they find us."
Unable to tell him she had neutralized the threat, Beth nodded and jogged to the car. Once Conner had climbed into the passenger seat, she pulled onto the road and stomped on the accelerator, leaving a trail of dust behind them.
"What the hell was that?" Conner asked as the car bounced down the road. His shoulders heaved as he struggled to catch his breath.
"Somebody didn't want us to see what we were about to stumble upon," Beth replied. She looked sideways at him as she drove, seeing him in a new light. Had she misjudged him? Not only had he not left her, but he had risked his life to try to draw the pursuit away from her.
"No shit they didn't want us to see something!" he exclaimed. "Don't you think this might be out of our league now? We need to let Richard know about this. Your editor, too. Someone shot at us."
Beth raised an eyebrow. "You want to go running back to our bosses now? And let somebody scare us off? I think we need to go talk to the investigating officer, just like you wanted."
"Beth, you're a writer and I investigate corporate wrongdoing. We need someone who looks into crimes for a living. Crimes like attempted murder."
Beth shook her head. "The last shooting got investigated too, and it got nowhere. 'Careless hunting,' remember? Do you expect our little incident back there to be handled any differently? If we report this, it will work its way to the local police, with the same result. And they'll pull you off this investigation."
Conner was silent for a few moments. Beth almost didn't care what he said. She would continue her own investigation regardless of his decision. She glanced over at him. He was deep in thought and remained silent for a few more moments before speaking.
"Beth, I'm going to tell you something I probably shouldn't. Olivia told me to report back to her about you. Everything you did. Everything you said. Everything you know."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because, between you and me, I have my doubts about her motives. I get the sense she wants to get in your way. So I won't report this — yet."
"Her motives?"
"I can't put my finger on it. Nothing specific, but I dated her for a while, so I can tell when she's up to something."
Beth was taken back by his honesty. Perhaps nearly being shot had forged a bond between them in his mind. He was full of surprises today. Conner continued.
"I don't like the thought of this getting ignored any more than you do," he said. "But I will only ignore my orders to a point. Let's go talk to the investigating officer, but if it gets crazier, we have to kick it up the chain of command, even if it means Richard pulls the plug on the case."
"I want the agency's help, Conner, but if I have to do this alone, I will. Two shootings in the same area can't be a coincidence."
Conner gave her a long look before looking forward and saying, "To the police station, then, to track down the officer who investigated the shooting." He motioned to their turn ahead.
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She sounds like she’d make a great leader. And she’s amazing in both forms, I swear. Always good to see the Sapphire in action every now and again. I’d say to just continue the investigation ourselves; such ineptitude from the original search crew assigned to the first shooting absolutely CANNOT happen again.