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 16
Her perch on the low rooftop gave Sapphire Angel an unobstructed view of the alley below, and allowed her to see anyone who might approach from either direction. Beth had parked her car three blocks away, behind a deserted building where she had transformed and become Sapphire Angel.
She had arrived thirty minutes early to canvas the area and wait for her source, Mick Mullen, a sergeant in the Harrisburg Police Department. She trusted Mullen, who had risked his job to give her several helpful tips over the last few months, but she didn’t trust his fellow officers, who might spy on him if they suspected he was meeting the heroine. Some people in law enforcement resented the attention Sapphire Angel received, and would be happy to see her harmed.
The unseasonably warm March weather had broken, but Sapphire Angel didn’t notice the cold, since her necklace protected her from the elements. She peered down at the alley, twirling a strand of her silken hair in her fingers as a long shadow came into view. Her eyes turned to take in a tall figure walking in her direction. He was an African-American man, tall and built like a football linebacker. He walked with long, looping strides, causing his bald head to bob up and down. The man looked over his shoulder only once, about half-way down the alley, before continuing. She saw no other signs of life in either direction.
When he reached her position, he looked up at her on the rooftop and nodded. She smiled at his perceptiveness and stepped off the two-story structure, starting to freefall. Halfway into her descent, she grabbed the edge of a fire escape, swung outward, and dropped the rest of the way to the ground. Her boots clicked down on the pavement just a few feet from the man as she crouched to absorb the landing. He looked even larger up close, well-built with broad shoulders stretching his blue jacket, but he wasn’t freakishly huge like the men she had fought two nights earlier.
“Hello, Angel,” he said in a deep but gentle baritone voice, as he flashed her a smile. He had gentle brown eyes and a strong, square jaw.
“Hi Mick,” she said as she rose from her crouch. “Thanks for seeing me.”
“Anything for you, you know that,” he answered, the hint of a chuckle in his voice.
“What can you tell me about these gang members?” she asked. “Are they talking?”
He grimaced and shook his head. “Not a peep. You’d think they were mute.”
Sapphire Angel crossed her arms and frowned. “Who has been doing the questioning?”
Mullen let out a deep sigh before giving another shake of his head. “Two of our lieutenants, in the beginning. Then one of the assistant DA’s came down. But they all seem scared shitless of these goons, who we assume are from the Savage Gang. Our guys have heard stories of what this gang does to cops who don’t stay out of its way. But it doesn’t matter, because the FBI showed up today, and now they’re running the show.”
The FBI. Sapphire Angel had wondered when they would get involved.
“That’s a good thing, right?” she asked. “They have more resources than you guys, don’t they?”
Mullen scowled.
“Two. Two agents,” he muttered. “That’s all they sent. And the lead agent — pardon my French, but she’s a bitch.”
“Two agents?” Sapphire Angel asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief and putting a gloved finger to her chin.
“Yup,” Mullen replied, with disgust in his voice. “Rumor is even the feds are spread too thin, with all the cities this gang has spread to. The FBI is focusing its resources in other cities. We’re small potatoes here.”
Sapphire Angel nodded in thought. “Tell me about this lead agent,” she said.
“Her name is Olivia Lockheed,” Mullen began.
Sapphire Angel forced herself to maintain a poker face. She was well-acquainted with Olivia Lockheed, having encountered the woman six months earlier, when Lockheed was an attorney with the state agency tasked with overseeing corporate malfeasance. She also happened to be Conner’s ex-girlfriend, and she and Beth had butted heads from the start. Six months seemed to be too fast for someone to become a lead agent with the FBI, but if anyone could do it, it was Lockheed. She was a no-nonsense bitch, and her father was one of the most well-connected men in the state, if not the country.
“You know her?” Mullen asked.
“Let’s say I know of her.”
“She showed up like she owned the place,” Mullen said “Started ordering everyone around, and didn’t take shit from anybody. I think the chief is scared of her, to be honest. She could probably kick the ass of half the men in the department.”
Sapphire Angel nodded and smirked. “What has she done so far? Are you in the loop?”
“I’m not in the official loop, no,” Mullen answered. “But I have sources. She got in a little trouble when she went down to talk to the prisoners. One of them got his hands on her, through the bars of his cell. Nearly choked her to death before anyone could get to her. She was pretty shaken up. Lots of our guys weren’t too upset about it.”
Sapphire Angel raised an eyebrow. Lockheed wasn’t the type of person to make such a mistake.
“Did she get any information from the prisoners?”
“No, but the agent with her, Michaels, reviewed the weapons from the Thompson Center crime scene. All the serial numbers had been removed, but he found a few with faint traces left, like somebody got sloppy. He sent them out for analysis, to see if the lab guys can retrieve them.”
Sapphire Angel steepled her index fingers under her chin.
“A gang like this has to gets it weapons from a supplier, or multiple suppliers, right?” she asked. “They have to have a good source, if they’re armed like they are in other cities. If the FBI can get serial numbers off some of the guns, can they trace them back to the sellers?”
Mullen frowned and shrugged. “Maybe. Unfortunately, it’s not like on TV. There’s no supercomputer to spit out the info automatically. They’ll be sending info from the guns to an ATF tracing center in West Virginia.” Sapphire Angel knew ATF stood for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the agency that worked with law enforcement on solving gun crimes.
“It’s a lot of legwork for the ATF from there,” he continued. “They’ll call the manufacturer, who might be able to trace it back to a wholesaler, and, with a bit of luck, to the retailer who sold it. The retailers, if they do their job, keep records showing who buys each gun. But the paperwork isn’t always accurate, and some people in the chain are out of business. It takes a bit of luck to follow the trail all the way back, and that’s assuming someone sold them legally.”
This sounded familiar. Beth Harper had written an award-winning expose on the gun lobby in Pennsylvania, interviewing lawmakers, lobbyists, and gun dealers, so she was familiar with the hurdles.
“Will you find out if the FBI gets somewhere tracing the weapons?” she asked.
“I’ll do my best. The chief wants to manage the flow of info and doesn’t even want us talking to each other about the investigation. He says it’s because this is a hot story in the press right now, but I think it’s because he’s scared, just like some of the other guys. But I should still get word if the FBI learns anything.”
“Please contact me right away. That could be a break we need. I need to hit the gang now, before they bring too many men to the city. If we’re lucky, the guns could lead to their supplier, and, if we’re really lucky, the supplier could lead us to their base of operations.”
“That would be more than lucky. The FBI has been trying to find a hideout in one of their cities from the start, to take the fight to them. They’ve struck out.”
“Keep the faith, Mick,” she said. “Anything else I should know?”
“Yea, this is actually what I came to tell you about. One of our detectives thinks the gang is planning to hit Chase Bentley’s mansion one of the next couple of nights. Sources saw some goons scoping the place out and heard some chatter, too. The detective is pretty well connected.”
“Chase Bentley, the actor?” Everyone in Harrisburg was familiar with Chase Bentley. He was a twenty-something local who had made it big in Hollywood, but still spent much of his time at a mansion he had purchased and restored in Harrisburg. Women across the country swooned over him, and people in Harrisburg took the idol worship to another level. Even Sapphire Angel was enthralled with him, and she could have any man she wanted.
“The one and only. The detective took it to the chief, but some guys think the chief ain’t gonna do jack shit about it. Coward.”
“I’ll look after Bentley,” she reassured him. “But we shouldn’t be too hard on your chief. Even if lying low won’t guarantee the gang won’t come after him and his family, standing up to them is sure to increase the risk.”
“He’s a damn coward,” Mullen said. “He’s worried about what might happen, instead of what has happened. So far the gang hasn’t hurt any locals. Everyone at the Thompson Center hit, from the security guards to the violinist, was from out of town.”
Sapphire Angel shook her head. “That was just the gang's first job. In every other city they’ve been in, they’ve ramped up the violence as needed. We can’t blame the chief, but we can’t mess around with this, either. I won’t stand by and let these guys run roughshod over this city. Any chance you can get me in to talk to the prisoners?”
Mullen raised his eyebrows. “Into the jail? Hmm. That will take some doing.”
“But can you do it?”
“I have to be careful. You’ve got a ton of fans in the department, but more than a couple people think you should leave stuff like this to the police. Let me see what I can do. It might take a while.”
Mullen’s cell phone chirped. He held it to his ear. “Mullen,” he said. He scowled as he listened, before saying “I’ll be right there,” and ending the call. He looked at Sapphire Angel and said, “They’ve hit again.”
“What?” she asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, they hit the hotel where the Nationals guys were staying.”
“The Nationals?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Not a baseball fan, I take it?” he asked, and the superheroine shrugged her shoulders. “The Nationals are the Major League Baseball team from the nation’s capitol. Our local team, The Senators, is their minor league affiliate. Spring training in Florida just started, and most years the Nats send up a few players for public relations. Usually its guys who are rehabbing injuries and can afford to miss some time. Anyway, some goons hit the hotel and messed up a few of the guys pretty bad, before making off with some loot.”
“And it definitely was the gang?”
“Yep, masks and all. The hotel surveillance cameras caught them roughing up some people on their way into and out of the building. It’s all over TV now.”
“Oh, no,” Sapphire Angel muttered. She almost felt sick to her stomach as she thought of the gang hurting people, while she stood here talking. She set her jaw and spoke through clenched teeth. “I hope they show up at the Bentley mansion tomorrow night. If they do, they’re going to get more than they bargained for.”
Mullen’s face twisted in concern. “I knew you were gonna say that. Just be careful. These guys aren’t what we normally see around here.”
“Don’t worry, I can take of myself.”
“Yea, I kind of noticed that,” he said with a soft chuckle.
“Let me know when I can see the prisoners,” she said, before sprinting off into the night.
Rocco Lynch leaned back in the recliner his men had hauled into the old school building, and breathed a sigh of relief. If he had screwed up the operation at the hotel, he would have been a dead man. Savage would have seen to it.
Instead, the hit on the baseball players had gone down perfectly. He grinned, thinking of the terror pervading the hotel as his men swooped in. He was a Mets fan, so injuring three players, and possibly ending their season, gave him extra joy. They had crushed the knee of one player so badly his career might be over.
Savage would be pleased. Not only had they been successful, but the attacks were already on the local news. Soon they would make national news, furthering the terror the gang instilled when it moved into a city.
Sapphire Angel had not appeared, which was a disappointment. They would see her again, though, he was sure. When they did, she would pay for her earlier interference.
Forward to Chapter 17 (link works after Chapter 17 goes live)
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
Ahhh......ahhh, yeah.....that’s.....interesting. Not sure how I feel about Sapphire using Olivia and Michaels’ clue to further her own investigation, but I suppose it’s all we currently have at this point. A lot of emphasis is being put on the Savage Gang’s guns and general weapon arsenals at the moment; I wouldn’t be surprised if T.L. “Tip” Grim makes an appearance soon. I personally don’t get why all the police officers of the Harrisburg Police Department aren’t like Mick Mullen; for people who are devoted to keeping the peace and ensuring people are safe, they sure give in quickly to jealousy, envy, and resentment. Rather than going all-in on collaborating with Sapphire Angel, it still seems that some of them think she should “mind their own business”, so to speak, as if they were doing completely fine by themselves (which they’re not). If they worked together rather than being against each other, things would’ve been so much better. Kind of like with Sapphire and Olivia Lockheed. Bet she’s salty at the heroine for taking his man, isn’t she?
Speaking of which, that line concerning Chase Bentley---“Even Sapphire Angel was enthralled with him, and she could have any man she wanted”---like, what?! NO, she freaking CAN’T! She’s already IN a relationship with Conner; if she tried to start dating someone else while they were still together, that would amount to cheating, which is a huge travesty no matter HOW you look at it! Ugh.....I’m sorry, I might have been misunderstanding that line, but holy crud, that set me off. Like, legit. If you’re in a relationship, you are taken, and that’s that.....at least for the amount of time you’re IN that relationship, until you officially break up (if at all). Now I’m worried that Conner’s going to walk in on Beth/Sapphire getting it on with someone else and we’re going to have to open a whole other can of worms and potential drama if that occurs.
Moving on (I really need to take an aspirin later after that.....), I’m seriously worried for Mick Mullen and his job. I will literally cry if he gets fired for this; he was just trying to do something good to help the people, after all. Not so much as when Wheldon or Valik died, or when Beth officially moved on from John to live her life with Conner, but I’m still gonna be crying. We got a lot of good information out of him---particularly with the Savage Gang’s weapons---but it looks like we missed something else major in the process.
.......Gosh darn it, Rocco Lynch. I thought their next hit was going to go poorly because Savage didn’t give them time to properly plan it, but turns out that they got through it without a hitch. Still, I completely believe that the only reason they were successful was because Sapphire Angel wasn’t there to protect them; instead, she was speaking with Mullen. Maybe this is going to drive her to be more diligent in protecting Chase Bentley (to make up for not being their for the Nationals hotel hit)? .......Oh gosh, what if she DOES end up having a fling with him? Like a gender-flipped “bodyguard falls in love with their charge” situation a la Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala on Naboo in “Attack of the Clones”? It already said she was “enthralled”......(faints)
Back to studying for my Genetics exam! (Why does it have to be such a hard class.....?)