We last read Chapter 44, in which Raven Tristan breaks into Sapphire Angel’s hidden garage, overcoming Stanley’s security measures. Tristan finds Beth Harper’s car parked within the structure. At the same time, on the Xavier Wheldon’s land, Sapphire Angel spies men unpacking crates outside the mysterious tower near Wheldon’s lodge. She snaps photos before creeping closer for a better look. Xavier Wheldon picks that moment to spring his trap, and his men surprise the heroine with gas canisters and shock sticks. The men nearly defeat her, but Sapphire Angel manages to fight them off before slipping away, stumbling through the forest. Wheldon curses the failure, and vows to turn Raven Tristan loose on Sapphire Angel.
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!
Back on the road, Sapphire Angel continued to chastise herself. She was hard enough on herself as Beth. She expected perfection as Sapphire Angel. To nearly be taken down by Wheldon's goons was humiliating and hard to swallow.
She pulled off the road into a deserted dirt lane, retrieved her cylinder device from her boot, and plugged it into a cable attached to a port below the dash of her car. The blond woman punched a button on her dashboard, having promised Stanley she would report in. The sound of a ringing phone filled the interior of the car, followed by Stanley's voice.
"Hello, Angel," he said. "How did you make out?"
"Not as well as I would've liked," Sapphire Angel responded. "There was a lot of activity going on at the tower, so I couldn't get close, and then I had a run-in with Wheldon's men."
"Run-in? What kind of run-in?"
"I can fill you in later."
"My gadget didn't help you avoid them?"
"Your gadget worked fine. It was my fault. I was too absorbed with watching the tower and forgot about looking at your gizmo. Either that, or they had something to protect themselves from thermal imaging. They got the jump on me."
"But you're okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Them, not so much. And I lost your gadget in the process."
"Not a big deal. I scrub all my gear of any serial numbers or other identifiable info. I'm just glad you're safe. What kind of activity did you see?"
"I'm not sure. If this thing you installed in my car works, I'm uploading photos to you now. I saw several people carrying crates and boxes into the tower, and a few people on top. I overheard talk of the work lasting all night."
Stanley didn't immediately reply, but she could hear him clicking his tongue.
"Interesting," he said after a few seconds. "They sure want to keep something secret, to be doing it under the cover of darkness."
"Or maybe they have a deadline and are working around the clock?"
"Perhaps," Stanley said. "Let me chew on this a bit. I can't imagine you'll ever get close to the tower now. We seem to be running out of leads."
"There's still Wheldon's military service," she said.
"I haven't had any luck with that, remember?" Stanley said.
"Conner is looking into it, too. Maybe he can find something."
"Perhaps," Stanley said, doubt in his voice.
A smile crossed the heroine's face.
"Stanley, you're not the only one who can do things like this," she said, teasing him like a parent might chastise a child. "Conner might come through on this. He has his own contacts."
"I guess we'll see," Stanley said. "I looked into that senator you saw talking to Wheldon at the conference."
"Mark Bishop? Anything jump out about him?"
"He's a powerful man, Beth. He's the chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Officers and executives from utility companies have thrown themselves at his feet for years. He holds the key to making their lives much easier, and much more profitable. That might be the only reason he was talking to Wheldon. I can't find any other explanation."
"You think Wheldon might be bribing him to get this deal through?" Beth asked.
"Perhaps, but I haven't found any evidence of that."
"I'm sure this guy has covered his tracks pretty well," Beth grumbled.
"I'll keep looking," Stanley said. A few moments later they said their goodbyes and ended the call.
Before returning to the main road, Beth unlocked the glove box, opened a hidden compartment in it, and retrieved her personal iPhone, hoping for a message from Conner. She didn't like playing the role of a giddy schoolgirl, but it felt nice to be interested in someone again.
She saw two missed calls and a text message from Conner. The message read, "Trying to reach you. Some news to share. Going to bed now, but let's catch breakfast in the a.m. Colonial Park Diner at 8:30?"
Using the nearly invisible conductive fingertip on one of her long gloves, she tapped a reply. "Sounds great!" She waited a few minutes for a response to make sure he was in fact asleep, and, receiving none, returned the phone to its hiding spot and locked the glove box. It was time to return to her garage and finally call it a night.
Sapphire Angel whistled on the drive back to her secret garage. Her disappointment over the encounter at the tower had faded, replaced by optimism over the situation with Conner. And she had Ethan to thank for it, as she never would have invited Conner to dinner without Ethan's insistence.
After she pulled into her garage and hopped out of the car, she paused, spotting her keyring on the ground a few feet away. She always left her keys sitting on the front seat of her Volvo when heading out in Sapphire Angel's car, but must have dropped them in her rush to get to the tower. She frowned. Another example of her growing carelessness. She needed to pay closer attention to details, before her sloppiness caught up with her.
Sapphire Angel walked to the keys and leaned to retrieve them, her long blond hair dangling down as she bent her supermodel legs. When her gloved hand was inches from the keys, a sound rustled above her and a shadow passed on the ground. She twisted from her bent position to look up, and gasped as an object dropped toward her. Before she could spring away, it hit and enveloped her. A weighted net. If she had been ready for it, she may have been able to stay on her feet. But it caught her off guard and off balance, and bore her to the floor as she let out a cry.
Her mind rushed through possibilities as she hit the floor. Wheldon's men? Had they followed her? Were they here? She needed to get free. In a rush, she forced herself to her knees, thrashing about and trying to raise her arms to rip at the thick strands of the net. A net could entangle a normal person, but a normal person couldn't use brute strength to rip her way free. Except, to her surprise, that wasn't what happened. Her movements only made her situation worse, as the strands of the net had an elasticity to them, and most stretched away instead of snapping. And every strand she snapped seemed to be replaced by ten more, tangling about her and making her superhuman strength feel worthless. The more she moved, the more the strands entwined her, and the harder it became to get her arms into position.
Angry and confused, she gritted her teeth, still determined to force her way out of this prison. Even with her arms at an awkward angle, she positioned her hands on a few of the strands in front of her torso. As she gripped the strands and pulled, she heard a familiar noise, and through the stands of the net watched with dread as canisters clattered to the ground all around her. Just like earlier, gas billowed up from them. A dense cloud enveloped her.
Desperate, Sapphire Angel threw caution to the wind, thrashing and tugging at the net. Why this was happening here, in her secret garage, she couldn't comprehend. But if she didn't get free soon, they would have her.
As the fumes from the gas invaded her nostrils, she heard the satisfying sound of several of the strands ripping. But her heart sank when she realized her movements caused the rest of the net to entangle her body even more. Her superhuman strength was working against her, solidifying the net's hold on her even as she ripped it apart.
The room was starting to spin as the dense gas pressed down on her, and she felt strength ebbing from her muscles. "No..." she murmured, in a sound almost like a whimper. This couldn't be happening. She worked her hands up to her face, where the torn gap in the net had shifted with her movements. She was in a crouch, swaying unsteadily under the onslaught of the gas. As she tugged, the net stretched beyond what a normal person might do to it, until several more strands broke.
It was a race against time. She was just past a crouch now, but her legs wobbled like a newborn colt. More strands tore, but not enough. No! At normal strength, she could tear this net to shreds. But now she hoped she could damage the net enough to work her way free before the fumes overtook her.
The dazed heroine tugged with her fading strength, and enough strands ripped free for her to peek her head through an opening. A bit more, and she could fit the opening around her slender body and slide free. But she was getting weaker and losing focus.
As dropped back to her knees, Sapphire Angel's arms sagged. With a surge of determination, she moved her hands back to the opening, trying to grip its edges, as the gas continued to hover around her. It was too much. With a feminine groan she collapsed onto her side, still trying to pull at the net and barely keeping her eyes open.
Then she heard footsteps approaching. Through blurry vision she saw black boots step next to her head, before she heard the clatter of chains dropping on the ground next to her body. An ominous chill of foreboding seeped through the fallen heroine as the sound registered in her befuddled mind. Someone knelt down next to her and brushed her blond hair back from her face. A muffled female voice spoke.
"Hello, Sapphire Angel. We have lots to talk about."
Sapphire Angel didn't have time to ponder the words, as the woman forced a cloth against her mouth. The cloth reeked of a sweet chemical and the superheroine tried not to breathe it in. In her weakened state, though, she couldn't stop herself from gasping for air. As another wave of weakness and sleepiness washed over her, she whimpered, the sound muffled by the rag. She tried to raise her weakened arms to fight off the assault, but the net and her diminished condition stopped her.
As she lay helpless on the ground, the once-mighty heroine fought back against her drooping eyelids, trying to focus on the blurred image of the person above her. Her eyelids flickered, and she groaned in protest under the force of the cloth against her face. The net's work was complete, her lithe body smothered and captive. Yet still she fought, or so she thought. Her slender arms moved, but barely, as soft mews escaped her lips. As she fought the effects of the chemical, her perfect legs slid and kicked back and forth on the ground as much as the confines of the net allowed. Her short white skirt was pinned to her body, and shifted along with every movement. The movements rode the skirt up, revealing even more of her long legs through the net.
Her struggles were for naught. Her legs slowed, her arms slackened, her whimpers through the cloth grew faint, and the flickers of her eyelids slowed. Then her struggles stopped and she slumped on the ground, unmoving. The last thing she saw before fading into darkness was the pile of chains on the ground, just within her view.
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!
I appreciate any comments or email.
This may have been the perfect capture scene. Love the way she drops the chains near her, strike fear in her before she goes out. Also love her patience as she lets the net secure her, then the gas to wear her down, then finishes her off with chloroform. Just fantastic.
Ladies and gentlemen, at long last, we got her.
Probably won’t have her for long, though.
......No, but seriously, this was quite a tense chapter. Wheldon might not have been able to come through, but Raven certainly did. She came in CLUUUUUTCH. Can’t believe she still doesn’t know about Sapphire’s true identity, but now that she’s at her mercy, Raven will probably get the information she needs sooner or later.