We last read Chapter 18, in which Sapphire Angel hides in Chief Biggins’ office as Biggins arrives with Xavier Wheldon (the CEO of StarPrime) and Wheldon’s bodyguard. She overhears the men planning to go see an unknown something that is “almost ready.” When the men leave the office, she hurries to her car and trails them to the woods where the shooting occurred. She follows the men into the woods, until three men toting rifles approach her position.
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.
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Sapphire Angel readied herself, knowing she would have to take out the approaching men if they detected her. She tensed and waited. The footsteps were almost to her now, and she balled one of her fists as she prepared to strike.
The men passed the tree, just a few feet away from her, and continued toward Wheldon, Biggins, and the bodyguard. They hadn't noticed her. She remained frozen in place and after a few more moments they had left her behind and reached the three men.
Sapphire Angel held the binoculars up to her eyes and flicked a switch on the side, illuminating the area with a black and white tint. The three guards spoke, gesturing to Biggins and Wheldon.
Wheldon barked some words, and the guards headed off to her right. Wheldon and his two companions continued deeper into the forest, starting up a steep rise. She lowered the binoculars from her eyes and picked her way across the forest floor.
When the flashlight stopped its bobbing at the top of the rise, she crept closer, hoping to gain a better view of the top of the hill. The superheroine slipped from tree to tree until she gained a view of the three men and a tall rectangular building looming behind them. The structure sat in the center of a clearing atop the hill, with the nearest trees siting thirty yards back, and the top of the building peaking above the treetops.
Even in the darkness she could make out the dull white of the building's concrete walls, and the metal door in the wall closest to the men. A power line ran from the side of the building to a utility pole nearby, and from the pole off into the woods.
As she raised the binoculars to her eyes, she saw the bodyguard touch the side of a light fixture near the door. A moment later the fixture swung to the side, revealing a keypad. She focused the binoculars on the keypad, watching as the bodyguard keyed in numbers. As she repeated the numbers in her head, the door slid open and the three men entered the building. As the door closed, she cocked her head and listened for the telltale chirping of an entrance countdown from an alarm system. She heard none.
The heroine frowned as the door closed. She rose and circled the building, staying back in the cover of the forest. Her frown grew as she realized the building had no windows. She saw the shadow of a rectangular column sticking up from the flat roof, but couldn't make out what it was.
She crept forward, determined to leap onto the roof to find another way in, but froze at the sight of three men on top of the structure, near the shadowy column. The rotund form of Biggins and the massive form of the bodyguard were obvious. The third figure had to be Wheldon. They milled about for a few moments before disappearing from sight.
Frustrated, she moved to find a position with a view of the front of the building. After a few moments of searching, she found a hiding place amidst an area of dense shrubbery.
As she waited for the men to exit, she pondered what was inside the building. Might it help connect the dots between all the unrelated events that had happened since Sunday? She rattled off those loose threads in her head. The attempted abduction of Bud Tanner. His fleeing. Being shot at with Conner. Biggins lying about his officer's vacation. Biggins meeting with Xavier Wheldon, the CEO of StarPrime. Wheldon owning land next to the nuclear plant. Beth balled her gloved fists in frustration.
Just over 15 minutes had passed when the metal door finally opened. She sank closer to the ground and peaked through an opening in the shrubbery. Wheldon and Biggins exited with the bodyguard behind them. The muscular man was on alert, his head swiveling about as the three men made their way away from the building.
"You gonna have things done in time?" she heard Biggins ask.
"You keep the locals out of our hair, and we'll be in good shape," Wheldon answered, his voice fading as the men stepped among the trees again. They were headed back in the same general direction from which they had come.
Sapphire Angel looked between the men and the building, biting her lip. She had a choice to make. She wanted to learn what was inside the building, so she waited. The costumed woman watched the light from the men's flashlight fade into blackness, and continued to wait another two minutes after that.
Finally she rose, creeping from her hiding place and tiptoeing up to the door. She examined the light fixture, finding a small lever on the side of it. After she pulled the lever down, the fixture swung aside and revealed the keypad. She keyed in the number she had memorized, and the door slid aside. It was time to find out what was inside the mystery building, and, if luck was on her side, get answers to some of her questions.
Jake Rockford scanned the forest as Wheldon and Chief Biggins approached their vehicles. Something didn't feel right to him. He couldn't place it, but the sixth sense he had developed during his time in the U.S. Army Special Forces was nagging at him. He stood by the driver's door as Wheldon climbed in, before he made his way around the front of the vehicle and climbed into the passenger seat. The whole time, his head swiveled back and forth, scanning his surroundings.
They drove away, with Biggins following them in his police cruiser. As they headed down the dirt road, Rockford continued his vigilance. They had gone less than 100 yards down the road when he called out.
"Stop!" he barked in his deep voice. Wheldon slammed on the brakes, and Biggins did the same behind them.
"What is it?" Wheldon asked, looking at his bodyguard with a raised eyebrow.
"There's a car hidden in there," Rockford said, pointing into the woods to the right. With Wheldon's car still idling in the middle of the road, Rockford hopped out and made his way around the shrubbery lining the road, to a car barely visible.
He let out a soft whistle as he approached it. It was a nice car — a Ferrari, if he wasn't mistaken it. It was a deep blue color, with sleek lines that screamed power. It shimmered even in the dim moonlight. He had never seen the car before, but he recognized it from news stories. Sapphire Angel was here. She must have followed them, and might be at the building in the woods right now.
He checked the car doors. Locked. He moved around to the hood and placed his hand on it. Still warm. He nodded and darted back to Wheldon's car. Wheldon was out of the vehicle, standing next to Biggins, who had come forward from his car.
"Somebody has been following us," Rockford warned.
"Are you sure? I didn't see anyone." Wheldon asked.
"I didn't notice anybody either, boy," Chief Biggins said with his country drawl.
"It's Sapphire Angel, sir. Her car is over there, still warm."
Wheldon looked over at the concealed vehicle, barely visible from his vantage point, before casting a pondering gaze back into the woods.
"Damn her!" Wheldon growled. "I knew her prior appearances weren't just coincidences. If she's sneaking around up here, she's a big problem. We need to know if she's found the building. We should go back."
Rockford shook his head. "Too risky, sir. You can't have anything to do with this. You and the chief take his car and go alert the men at the tower. I'll go back and check things out."
"Why don't I get some of my men to check it out?" Biggins asked.
Rockford shook his head again. Sapphire Angel could defeat those bumbling fools. Of that he had no doubts. If they wanted to neutralize the superheroine, it was up to him.
"This isn't one we can sweet talk our way of, Jake. Can you handle her? She's a badass."
"So am I sir," Rockford said with a straight face. "I can take care of Sapphire Angel. Have the men near the tower ready protocol 92 in case she shows up there. I went over it with them after she showed up the last time."
Wheldon pursed his lips before taking a deep breath.
"Fine. But call in reinforcements if you need them."
Rockford nodded. Biggins was watching all of this with amusement, his thumbs stuck inside his waistband.
"You boys should let me handle that little lady. I'm the law up here, remember? I can tag her and bag her, and wrap that hot little bitch in a bow for ya."
Rockford paused and scowled. "Just get going, and put tonight's plans on hold until we figure this out."
Biggins glared at Rockford, before muttering and climbing back into his car. Wheldon joined him, and the two drove off.
Rockford turned into the forest, his pulse quickening at the thought of a showdown with Sapphire Angel. He would become a legend, his name whispered in reverence, if he took down the famous superheroine by himself. He would be able to name his own price on future jobs.
The woman might be tough, but he had defeated some nasty people in his military days, and had nearly won a fighting championship for military veterans after his discharge. People feared him. One girl would not be a problem. Even one with Sapphire Angel's reputation.
He imagined himself hauling her back to Wheldon, her sleek body slung over his shoulder, battered and beaten. She would make a very pretty prize, but it would be up to Wheldon to decide what to do with her. For all Wheldon's public charm, he was ruthless at heart. Rockford's defeat and capture of Sapphire Angel would not bode well for her.
Darkness greeted Sapphire Angel after she entered the building. Her slender body shivered, but not from the cold. The concrete building felt as if it were pressing down around her, filling her with foreboding. She retrieved the cylinder from her boot and activated its flashlight. The illumination revealed an open doorway ahead of her and another to her right. She left the entrance door slightly ajar behind her, so she wouldn't get locked inside.
The heroine shone her light around the cinderblock walls as she stalked across the concrete floor, her boots making quiet clicks on the floor. The walls and floor were bare and bland. Utilitarian. Aiming her light ahead of her, she peered into the doorway to her right. The room was about ten foot square, with a stack of cinderblocks arranged against the far wall. She wrinkled her nose in puzzlement, putting a hand on a cocked hip.
She moved into the room, aiming her light to look for something hidden or unusual with the cinderblocks. They were just as they appeared, though, so she activated a switch on her cylinder and snapped a few photographs. Perhaps Stanley would see something she couldn't.
She fought back her frustration and returned to the entryway, peeking through the other door and into a room that filled the rest of the building. It had the same bland cinderblock walls and concrete floor. The room was empty, except for a metal staircase in the center, spiraling up into darkness. Sapphire Angel moved into the room, studying the staircase. Dull gray, the staircase had an industrial quality to it, like something found in the corner of a warehouse or factory.
The dimpled metal surface clanged slightly as she stepped onto it with the heel of her boots. She froze and listened, but nothing but silence filled the air. She ascended as the staircase circled toward the ceiling. After just two twists of the stairs, darkness enveloped the floor below.
Her ascent ended when she reached the ceiling, nearly bumping her head. The stairs ended above her, where the stairs met the ceiling. She aimed the light upward, scanning until she spotted a square outline in the concrete above her, with a metal handle at one side. A trapdoor. She gave a push on the surface with one hand. It was heavy, but she pushed it aside with ease, causing it to swing upward and open with a thud.
Sounds of the forest greeted her as she climbed out onto the roof of the building. After allowing her eyes to adjust, she scanned her surroundings. The rooftop, also made of concrete, was empty, except for a single pedestal standing in the middle of the structure. As she approached it, she realized it wasn't a pedestal at all, but another stack of cinderblocks.
The blond bombshell frowned again. She examined the cinderblocks, but found nothing unusual. She took more photographs, unsure if she was missing something obvious.
Once done with the photographs, she moved about the top of the rooftop, but found nothing else. In the darkness, she could make out the looming tops of the trees on the hillside, which sloped away from the building. The blackness swallowed up the forest after a few yards.
She returned her cylinder to the inside of her boot and stood for a few moments, hands on her hips, perplexed. Sapphire Angel had hoped to find answers here, but found only a building filled with cinderblocks. She shook her head before moving to the trapdoor and descending. Once her chest was level with the surface of the roof, she reached and grabbed the handle of the trapdoor, and pulled the trapdoor shut as she sank into darkness.
She descended the stairs quickly this time, frustration bubbling up inside her. Perhaps if she hurried, she might find Wheldon and the other men back at the police station. Maybe they would lead her elsewhere.
When she reached the final turn of the stairs, she saw, too late, a pair of hands shoot out from below and to the side of the stairs, grabbing and tugging her ankles. The tug send her tumbling, head over heels. With a yelp of surprise, Sapphire Angel crashed down the stairs, a tumble of blue and white.
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Not sure if those hands at the end were Rockford’s or not. Regardless, this next chapter should be interesting! Can’t wait for Sapphire Angel to give Rockford a beating; would definitely humble him after what was going through his mind at the end of his section! I’d just hop in the car and hit him with it, to be honest. Quick, easy, and painless. xD