We last read Chapter 20, in which Sapphire Angel is ambushed in the strange tower by Jake Rockford, the imposing bodyguard for Xavier Wheldon. She recovers and prevails, but not before he lands some blows. After leaving the tower, Sapphire Angel pays a surprise visit to Conner Bennett, and gives him a copy of the document she found in Chief Biggins’ office, which showed that Biggins lied to them— the chief suspended the officer investigating the shooting near the nuclear power plant. Bennett is smitten with the superheroine. The chapter ends with Xavier Wheldon furious upon learning of Sapphire Angel’s defeat of Jake Rockford. He daydreams of adding her costume to his trophy case.
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!
The morning came too early for Beth Harper, following her nighttime activities as Sapphire Angel. After stumbling out of bed and taking a quick shower, she rushed off for her meeting at the Office of Corporate Oversight. The waiting room was quiet upon her arrival, except for a receptionist who summoned a secretary to greet her. As the woman led her through the halls of the OCO, Beth yawned and looked through notes on her phone. When she entered a small conference room, Conner was already there. He rose when she entered.
"I didn't think you would make it," he said. "Richard and Olivia are almost ready for us."
"Sorry," Beth replied, collapsing into the nearest chair. "I was up late doing some research on Wheldon, and then had trouble sleeping." She left out the part about running around as Sapphire Angel.
"We've only got a couple of minutes, but what did you find?" he asked. She paused, surprised he wasn't bursting at the seams to talk of his meeting with Sapphire Angel.
"Not much," she muttered. "I wish we had a smoking gun or something, but all I found was some disjointed stuff."
"Such as?"
Beth had to be careful to only reveal what she had learned as Beth, and not what Sapphire Angel had discovered. She had paid him the late-night visit to give him information without drawing attention to herself.
"I took a closer look at satellite imagery and real estate tax records," she answered. "We were definitely on Wheldon's land when someone shot at us. He's the StarPrime CEO, in case you forgot."
Conner gave her a frown. "I didn't forget. I'm not an idiot."
"Sorry, just making sure," she said, giving him a teasing smile. "He bought the land three years earlier. Looks like a massive place. He made the purchase right around the time his position on nuclear power changed. That can't be a coincidence, although I guess it's not out of the realm of possibility. Maybe he warmed up to nuclear power and wanted to put his money where his mouth is by showing he's not afraid of having a plant in his backyard."
"Yeah, right," Conner replied with a scowl. "Anything else on him?"
"He was in the military, but I'm having a hard time finding anything out about it," she said. Even Stanley uncovered only cursory information about Wheldon's service. "He served in the U.S. Army for nine years, before receiving an Honorable Discharge. But that's all I found. No official data anywhere. I have someone who can usually peek into that sort of thing, but he said the records are sealed tight. I did find an old news story, mentioning that Wheldon had served in a platoon with the current President of the United States. That was years ago when the President was an officer. Perhaps that's why the records are sealed?"
"I'm not sure how that works, to be honest," Conner said with a shrug.
"Me either. Between you and me, I emailed a college friend this morning to see if he could help. He works in a sensitive position at the Pentagon."
Conner raised an eyebrow again. "So Beth Harper has highly placed contacts. I would have never guessed."
Beth frowned. "I could surprise you in many ways," she said curtly.
A grin crossed Conner's face, and Beth blushed. She knew he was about to twist her words.
"Oh shut up," she blurted before he could speak. She looked away.
Conner laughed.
"This guy would do that for you?" Conner asked. "Couldn't he get in trouble?"
"He... liked me in college and has always tried to impress me. I hate playing that card, but I made an exception here. And I only asked him to find out about Wheldon. I stayed away from questions dealing with the President."
Conner wore an amused expression on his face, and asked, "How about Chief Biggins?"
"He's in the news all the time, but none of it seems relevant to what we're doing. He's an attention hog."
"No surprise," Conner said as a flash of annoyance crossed his face. She remembered his tension with the chief.
"And you?" she asked. "Did you find anything, or am I doing all the work? How about the police officer who investigated the Tanner shooting?"
"Oh, I found a few things," Conner said with a playful twinkle in his eyes. His mouth turned up at the corners.
"Care to share?" Beth asked, as she waited for him to tell his tale of meeting Sapphire Angel.
"Well, first off, I found the officer's address. Easy to find with ordinary search tools." He paused, making her wait.
"What else?" she asked impatiently.
"He's not on vacation."
"He's not?" she asked, feigning surprise. "How do you know that?"
"I have a document showing Biggins suspended him," he answered with a grin.
"And how did you get that?" Beth asked.
He took a deep breath. "Sapphire Angel gave it to me."
"What?" Beth asked, putting on her best shocked expression.
He gave a nod. "You heard me. Sapphire Angel gave it to me."
"You met Sapphire Angel?"
"Yes, she came to my house last night."
Beth titled her chair back, scrunched her eyes, and gave him a look as if he were crazy.
"I'm not kidding," he said, holding up his hands. "She gave me this envelope."
He dropped an envelope onto the table. She opened it and looked inside, seeing the photocopies she had taken in Chief Biggins' office. She pretended to study them as if viewing them for the first time.
"I can't imagine why Biggins would lie about him being on vacation," she murmured. "But it has to be significant, doesn't it?"
"I would think so," Conner said. "I tried all the phone numbers on the contact page and couldn't reach him. When we're done with the meeting, I plan to track him down though the family members listed there, if I have to. Even with what we have now, though, we have enough to interest Richard."
Beth thought for a moment. "Let's play it by ear and keep this in our back pocket at the meeting, in case we need to use it to buy ourselves some leeway. If they're still on board with the investigation, we can hang on to it. But if they need to see some proof, we use it."
Conner stared at her for a moment. "You're a bad influence, you know," he said, shaking his head. "You want me to keep my mouth shut about somebody shooting at us, and now you want to hide this from them."
"Oh, come on. You're having fun. And I said let's play it by ear. We might decide to share it. It depends on how things go."
Conner looked down at his watch, grinning. "Let's get to our meeting."
Thanks for reading! I publish a new chapter every Monday and Thursday. If you’re reading this on the website and enjoyed it, please hit the like button or leave a comment — or, better yet, sign up to get future chapters delivered to you via email. Every bit of feedback helps me figure out what people like, and motivates me to keep going. If you’re reading via email, feel free to reply and drop me a line. Thanks!
For real, though, I was laughing pretty good during that entire scene with Beth, Conner, and the file that Sapphire Angel gave him. He literally has no idea and it’s brilliant.
JUST TELL HIM I---