Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
VIOLENCE WARNING: The two stories in the Savage Gang saga, and especially the second story, involve a gang practicing extreme violence toward everyone — women, the elderly, the protagonist, etc. The stories contain mature sexual content and violence as well. I am placing this warning on all chapters, including those without such violence, so you can choose whether to continue.
CHAPTER 11
Olivia Lockheed circled her prey, licking her lips, before flicking her wrist and snapping the cat-o'-nine-tails across her captive's bare stomach. The naked woman, strapped as she was to an x-shaped cross, had nowhere to go. But even without the restraints, the wafer-thin girl, with her pixie blond hair, wouldn't have been able to resist, exhausted as she was from a long night of bondage, sex, and sadomasochism.
The prisoner's body flinched as the cat-o'-nine-tails struck home, but Lockheed noticed a slight quiver of pleasure run through the young twenty-something girl. Lockheed growled deep in her throat as she blinked through the eyeholes of her leather hood, before stepping forward, her leather corset creaking in the otherwise silent room. The place looked and felt much like a dungeon of old, with dim light coming from sconces mounted to the dark stone walls. Other racks, straps, and implements of pain sat propped about the room, with a bed of red satin sheets in the middle, out of place in the grim surroundings.
The ringing of Lockheed's iPhone from a nearby table jarred her from the moment. She swore under her breath before strutting to the table and grabbing the phone. She glanced at the time on the screen. 3:43 a.m. There must be an emergency at work. She grabbed the phone, scurried into a bathroom a few feet away, and pulled the door closed behind her.
"Olivia Lockheed, Assistant Chief Deputy, FBI National Violent Gang Task Force," she said in a steady, confident voice. She listened to the voice on the other end, before replying, "I'll be there within the hour."
Lockheed ended the call and returned to her dungeon, placing the phone back on the table. Weariness crept over her as the adrenaline high of the last several hours faded. She yawned and arched her back, revealing her firm breasts under the leather corset, and the solid, muscular curves of her five foot, seven-inch frame.
She approached the woman and moved to the straps securing her ankles and wrists, unfastening them. The woman toppled forward, but Lockheed caught her and lowered her to the ground. The naked woman lay still, curled up at Lockheed's feet and murmuring incoherently.
"Your clothes are in the bathroom," Lockheed said, as if she were conducting a casual conversation. "You know the way out, in the back."
Lockheed turned away, moving through a doorway at the front of the room and locking it behind her, before climbing a set of stairs. She didn't worry about the woman in the room below her. Lockheed's playroom contained only two exits — the stairs, which led to the rest of Lockheed's modest home, and an exit to an alley. Once a guest stepped outside, the door would slam shut, locking and preventing reentry.
After reaching the second floor, Lockheed walked into her small bedroom, which stood in stark contrast to the dungeon in the basement and looked no different than the bedrooms of many women her age, with throw pillows on the bed and color coordinated bedding, curtains, and upholstery. She removed her dominatrix gear before stepping into the adjacent bathroom. She hurried, taking a quick shower, before pulling her sandy brown hair into a tight bun. Lockheed applied a touch of eye shadow above her icy blue eyes before slipping into a black pantsuit.
Five minutes later she was out the door, and fifteen minutes after that she was pulling into the parking garage below her office building in suburban Boston. She took the elevator to the eleventh floor, and strode with long, assertive strides through bland hallways to an office in the front corner of the building.
A man sat behind a metal desk in the office, sitting with a view down the length of the hallway. The man looked to be in his early sixties, with a grayish-brown head of thinning hair, and skin that was smooth in parts, but sagging in others. He watched with dull eyes as Lockheed approached. Those eyes were misleading, as Howard Vincent, her boss, was a brilliant man.
"Come in," he called out in a shaky voice. According to her colleagues, his voice had been booming and full of authority once, before cigarettes had taken their toll. Most recently, a battle with lung cancer had weakened Vincent, but he was nothing if not a fighter, and he had beaten the odds, defying the doctors' predictions when they had diagnosed him five years earlier.
Howard Vincent's scrappy nature carried over to his career. He was a career employee of the FBI, and throughout his career the FBI brass had moved him from one assignment to another, whenever a hot issue arose. He knew how to put out fires, so he traveled the country, never putting down roots in one spot for too long. His current office reflected his frequent moves, with a generic metal desk and chair, a metal filing cabinet, two padded guest chairs, and little else.
Most recently, Howard Vincent had placed his retirement plans on hold in order to confront the national terror known as the Savage Gang. The Bureau was spread thin, with the gang on the loose in several major cities, and it was Vincent's job to stem the tide.
Bureau offices in each city confronted gang violence, but the powers in Washington soon realized it would take a coordinated effort to stop the gang. The National Violent Gang Task Force was born, and despite its generic sounding name, it really had one purpose — to stop the Savage Gang. Vincent was the director of the task force, and Lockheed was one of his deputies.
The young woman stepped into his office, and he motioned for her to sit in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. The two could not have been more different. He had soft, sagging features, and looked to be on the verge of death, while Lockheed was the picture of vitality. A soft wind might blow him out of his chair, while Lockheed boasted a statuesque, commanding physique, and sharp, angular features. She didn't possess the body of a bodybuilder, but exuded a solid strength evident even in business attire.
"Can I pour you a cup of coffee?" he asked as she sank into the padded chair.
"No, thank you," she said, shaking her head. Lockheed was a fitness nut, and coffee was not part of her plan.
"Thanks for coming on such short notice," he said with an appreciative nod. He took a long sip from his cup as he looked away from her. Vincent seemed to be lost in thought, but she didn't interrupt him. He gazed back at her after a few moments and continued.
"The blight has grown again, Olivia," he said. She didn't need to ask him what he meant. Their sole objective was to take down the Savage Gang, and they hadn't been doing a very good job of it. The gang was spreading from one city to another, and getting larger and more powerful every month.
"Where are they now?" she asked and sat back. She studied him, trying to detect any sense of emotion. He couldn't be taking this well. After achieving one success after another throughout his career, he faced an insurmountable enemy in the final chapter of his professional life. The task force's utter lack of progress was almost shocking, given the success of Vincent's other ventures. The FBI had made just two arrests so far, and was no closer to penetrating the gang's inner circle than when the task force had started nearly ten months earlier.
"Harrisburg, Pennsylvania — your hometown," he answered as he studied her.
She kept her face passive. Her family had raised her in Harrisburg, and she had worked in the capitol city in her prior job, with the Pennsylvania Office of Corporate Oversight — the OCO. She had catapulted past her coworkers and into a senior role at the OCO in record time, using her skill and her father's unparalleled political connections. That same skill, and her father's same connections, helped her land her current job, and bypass normal steppingstones and processes, after she left the OCO, escaping a potential scandal. As usual, Olivia Lockheed had not just landed on her feet, but stood at the front of the line, again reaching her position in record time.
"It's not confirmed to be the Savage Gang," Vincent continued, "but it has all the markings of them. The masks. Musclebound freaks. Extreme violence."
"What did they hit?" Her mind was already working through potential targets in the city. She hadn't visited in several months, but she could still close her eyes and imagine herself there.
"They were trying to seize a violin, worth millions. A famous violinist, Lena Erb, was to use it at a concert in the city's performing arts center." His words again conveyed no disappointment or other emotion. This was not unusual for him, as he almost always spoke with a perfect poker face. "It's all in here," he said as he slid a folder across the desk toward her.
"You said 'trying to seize?'" Lockheed asked with a raised eyebrow as she reached for the folder. Vincent was very precise with his words, so his phrasing wasn't accidental.
He nodded. "Yes," he said, cocking his head. "Something very interesting happened. Are you familiar with a woman they call Sapphire Angel?"
Lockheed inhaled sharply. "Yes, I'm familiar with her. Everyone is. A real-life superheroine, costume and all."
Lockheed was more than familiar with Sapphire Angel. She was obsessed with the woman. The heroine had saved the President of the United States in the StarPrime matter, catching the attention of Lockheed and the world. Sapphire Angel was the perfect woman — or at least she seemed to be, based upon photographs, videos, and news reports. She was slender, petite, athletic, strong, incomparably beautiful, and, by all accounts, supremely confident. With the heroine based in Lockheed's native city, the FBI woman found her even more desirable.
"The stories about her might be true, it seems," he said. "The news reports say she showed up during the robbery, and single-handedly took down four members of the Savage Gang. They are now in police custody."
Before she could stop herself, Lockheed scowled. She might be obsessed with the heroine, but that didn't mean she approved of the heroine's ways. The apprehension of criminals was a job for those in power, like Lockheed, and not of a woman who ran around in a costume. And to make matters worse, it seemed Sapphire Angel had accomplished more in one night than the task force had achieved in ten months around the country. The superheroine needed to learn her place.
Lockheed noticed Vincent studying her. "Sorry," she murmured.
"No, no, it's okay," he said, a grim smile crossing his face. "I agree. I worry about how bad this makes us look." He drummed his fingers on the desk before rocking back in his chair.
Lockheed flipped through the sparse contents of the folder. It contained press clippings of the events in Harrisburg, and the police materials on the arrests. The prisoners wouldn't talk to the police, so that part of the file was empty. Evidence from the scene wasn't helping much, either. The gang used a stolen getaway truck, so it didn't provide any clues, and someone had removed the serial numbers from the weapons. The police had recovered communication radios from the gangsters, but they were off-the-shelf models, and provided no leads.
"There doesn't need to be a downside," Lockheed offered. "If we can get these guys to talk, or if we somehow make some headway with the weapons, it might lead us somewhere. And then we'll be back in the driver's seat, instead of Sapphire Angel."
"Exactly," Vincent answered. "That's why you are on the first flight to Harrisburg Monday morning. This is your home turf, so the job is yours. See if you can get the prisoners to talk."
Lockheed perked up at his words. Vincent had sent some of her peers to the bigger cities while she had waited on the sidelines. Now she was getting her chance in what was a smaller city, but with a potentially big reward. Her peers didn't have four gang members waiting for them in jail.
"What kind of team will I have?" Lockheed asked, trying to keep excitement out of her voice.
When the normally stoic Vincent shifted uncomfortably in his seat, Lockheed knew she would not like the answer.
"It's just going to be you and Michaels," he said. Dave Michaels was the youngest member of the task force — less experienced even than Lockheed. He was eager, but too idealistic and naïve. "Our assets are concentrated in the bigger cities right now, so we don't have enough manpower for Harrisburg. We don't know for sure that these guys are even members of the gang. They could be copycats, for all we know at this point."
As she thought about the situation, and realized Vincent was sending her out of necessity and not because of merit, she tried to put a positive spin on it. If she could get results, with just herself and one agent, her reputation would skyrocket.
"I understand, sir. I can still get the job done."
"Wonderful," he said with a nod. "I've been in touch with some of the other law enforcement agencies down there, and they've pledged full cooperation. Not that they'd do otherwise. The governor and other leaders are already on board with us taking the lead."
He paused, staring at her. "This is a real opportunity for you, Olivia."
"I know, sir. I won't let you down."
He nodded and leaned forward, before tilting his head up and looked at her, his brow creased in thought. "Olivia, I'm going to be frank for a moment. You have a bit of a reputation as a ballbuster and a control freak. You're going to need the help of other people on this one, so dial it back while you're down there. In small cities, you often need the help of the local authorities, and local people. Don't step on too many toes."
Lockheed swallowed hard and nodded. "I'll remember that, sir."
He smiled. "Good," he said as he grunted and wobbled up from his chair. "I'm sure you have much to take care of before you leave. Call me Monday after you arrive, and make sure you check in with me at every step on this one. I want to remain completely in the loop."
She rose from her chair and nodded back at him. "Very well, sir," she said, before turning and leaving the room.
As she marched down the hall, she tingled with excitement, thinking of possibilities. With luck, she might be the one to take down the Savage Gang. And with even more luck, she might cross paths with Sapphire Angel, and show her who was in charge.
Forward to Chapter 12 (link works after Chapter 12 goes live)
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
Interesting twist with Lockheed, didn't see that coming. I suppose she may want to have Sapphire Angel in the same postion the poor girl at the start of the chapter was in. She seems like she will be a complicated character. On one hand, she wants to defeat the Savage Gang, she will probably need help with that, and who better than Sapphire Angel to help. Only who does Olivia like less? I wonder if the 2 of them might square off in a Savage gang fight? It is getting very interesting. My guess is in the end, they will become friends, at least sort of, but only out of the necessity for both of them to work together to defeat the gang and save themselves.
I get what you were saying about making the heroine formidable and at the top of her game. Comparing again to Supergirl, and a certain point on the show, she was no longer "Super". It seemed like she needed help with every villain, no matter how strong or weak they were. The heroine needs to be strong, and Sapphire Angel certainly is. I think you are doing an excellent job advancing the character from book to book, from ealry mistakes, to learning from them and gaining confidence. I always look forward to the peril. It is also no fun if they win every fight, then what's the point. I do like the way she is growing and getting stronger.
Hope you put new chapters out on Holiday Mondays!
Did not take Olivia Lockheed for a dominatrix, of all things. A character you’ve already previously read about in the PCU eventually evolves into something similar to that later on down the road (Book #6), but this is about your story, so let’s get into that. I’ll admit, I initially thought she was just interrogating some kind of suspect in a very brutal, immoral way; a potential BDSM scenario didn’t really cross my mind until it was described in full.
I......guess now Olivia Lockheed’s technically on the side of good? As much as she could be, anyway. We know she still has a massive grudge against Sapphire, but a small part of me is hoping that when they do cross paths again, they’ll come to some kind of agreement/understanding (after initially clashing/trading blows) and then form up against the Savage Gang. But on the other hand, Lockheed’s rivalry with Sapphire may already be too far along for that; she may insist on wanting to show up Sapphire Angel once and for all after the whole OCO deal in the second novel.
So now we’ve got Sapphire Angel, Conner (kind of), Howard Vincent, Olivia Lockheed, and Dave Michaels all working against the Savage Gang, consisting of Maximus Savage, Rocco Lynch, “Smash”, Benjamin, Mike Mitchell, and their allies Augustus “Auggie” Bell and T.L. “Tip” Grim. Very expansive cast of characters here.....and I’m assuming we’ll probably see Majid Azari and/or the silver-eyed man again towards the end of either this novel or the next one? If the silver-eyed man decides to send his champion after Sapphire right now, that’d be a whole other can of worms she’d have to deal with; with her being pitted against the Savage Gang at the moment, it would definitely be taxing indeed. Or maybe he’s still looking. Oh, well. Always better to take quality over speed, I say!
In short; if Lockheed and Sapphire remain hostile, then things might stay stabilized for the Savage Gang (Lockheed’s group hasn’t been making notable progress, anyway). If Lockheed and Sapphire start working together, the threat to the Gang will have increased significantly.
Getting a bit sick, and breathing’s been a little off. So a nice, big, 12-minute chapter of Savage Dawn is just what I need when I’m chilling in bed! And you can bet I’ll stay tuned for many more!