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 21
As Maximus Savage reclined on a sofa, a needle plunged into his arm, and a moment later fluid flowed through surgical tubing into his body. Larry Oberkfell, in his dirty lab coat, stood over him, looking at a screen and running his fingers through what was left of his wiry brown and grey hair.
This felt good, but Savage couldn't be sure if it was from the chemicals flowing through him, or his knowledge of what they would do to him. He gave a guttural sigh of pleasure, but stopped when he noticed the tense visage of Oberkfell peering down at him.
"Chill, Larry," Savage said, looking up with a sneer. Oberkfell bit his lip, his head bobbing as his eyes darted back and forth.
"Y-Yes-Yessir," Oberkfell stammered. "It's… It's just that this is getting more and more experimental. I don't know how safe it is."
Savage waived his free hand and made a "pffft" noise. Oberkfell worried too much.
"Fuck it," Savage said. "Nothing has hurt me yet, and I can feel myself getting stronger every day. You're doing good."
Oberkfell gave a weak smile. "This might not continue to work for you. Although I keep finding alternative ways, eventually I will hit a dead end as your body builds up a tolerance."
"No, you won't hit a dead end, Larry. If we could build up a tolerance to this shit, we would see it in some of our guys."
"I don't give them the same injections I give to you, since there's a limited supply. Their stuff is good, and gives them ridiculous strength, but it's nothing compared to what you get. And their stuff doesn't have the same issues with building up a tolerance."
"I'm not worried. You always find the next big thing."
The doctor bit his lip as Savage turned his attention to the other man in the room, Benjamin Drummond. Drummond seemed out of place here, with his wire-rimmed glasses, head of neatly trimmed blonde hair, and boyish looks. His thin build looked almost childlike next to the muscle-bound gang leader.
"Where did we leave off?" Savage asked with another sigh, closing his eyes and sinking back into the sofa.
"Are… are you sure, sir? You know how your attention gets when you're —"
"Just get on with it, Benjamin," Savage muttered, not opening his eyes. Drummond was right, of course. These meetings with his advisor bored Savage, but were a necessary evil. He needed Drummond's keen analysis, so he could focus on more important matters.
"Okay, then," Drummond said. "I had just given you the earnings for each city, along with projections for the coming month based on expected hits. I was about to report on cities where we are having problems, and those where we've solved our problems."
"Begin, then," Savage muttered before opening his mouth in a yawn. Drummond nodded and looked down at the iPad in his hands.
"Roanoke continues to go well. If you recall, the police recently stood down. Our men are having the run of the city, but they're not taking things so far that the FBI might move in there."
Savage smirked and kept his eyes closed. His gang's definition of "too far" might differ from most people's.
"Cleveland is doing better," Drummond continued. "I think you got your point across with Daniels, and his men have upped the pressure on the police. They should cave soon."
"Good, so it's all sunshine and roses then, right?" Savage asked. He wasn't in the mood to hear about any bad news.
"No," Drummond replied in a flat voice. "Harrisburg is a problem."
Savage let out a long sigh. "I've talked to Rocco. He understands he can't fuck up again. And I talked to him about Sapphire Angel, so he'll be ready for the blond bitch the next time."
"Um, well, apparently not," Drummond said.
Savage opened one eye at the hesitation in his advisor's voice. "What do you mean?" he asked, his body tensing. Drummond took a deep breath.
"Rocco had the successful operation with the baseball players, but things went bad last night. The hit at the actor's mansion last night was interrupted."
Both of Savage's eyes shot open, and his jaw tightened. "Interrupted?" he asked. "What do you mean by 'interrupted?'"
"I mean Sapphire Angel took down six of our men. They are in police custody."
Savage sat up, causing Oberkfell to scramble to make sure the IV remained in his arm.
"Six?" Savage thundered, disbelief in his voice. "Our Harrisburg team isn’t big enough for us to lose six more! How the hell did that happen? Rocco said he'd be ready for her!"
Drummond shrank back at Savage's rage.
"He was, in a way," Drummond offered with a cringe. "He sent four men to the mansion, and kept two men in hiding, waiting in case she appeared. She showed up, and they sprang the trap, but she took them all down."
"Fuck!" Savage yelled. He ripped the IV from his arm, and pushed the IV stand away from the sofa, sending it toppling to the floor.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" he repeated as he climbed to his feet.
"Sir —" Oberkfell protested, but Savage turned to him with a withering gaze. Now was not the time for the doctor's inane babble. Oberkfell closed his mouth and backed away. Drummond, meanwhile, stood still, his hands trembling.
Savage looked about the room, as if searching for someone to hurt. In the end, he tilted his head back and emitted a rough howl of frustration.
"What the fuck is so special about this girl?" he screamed. "She's just one small chick!"
Drummond started to speak and then stopped. Savage looked at him. He recognized the look on Drummond's face, and didn't like it.
"What?" Savage snapped.
"Nothing," Drummond answered, shaking his head.
"I know what you’re thinking," Savage said, waving his arms. "You were going to say 'I told you so,' because you warned me about her, and you said Harrisburg was a bad choice."
"I was going to say no such thing," Drummond answered in a meek voice.
Savage stared at him for a few seconds. He wanted to bury his fist somewhere, but he would only hurt himself if he injured or killed his top advisor.
"Get me the Harrisburg police chief on the phone," Savage said. "Call his mobile number."
Drummond hurried to a desk on the other side of the room and picked up a large phone. It was an encrypted satellite phone and was what Savage used whenever communicating with the outside world. Drummond dialed a number, listened for a moment, and said, "Savage is here to speak with you," before handing the phone to his boss.
"I'm going to make this short," Savage barked into the phone. "Your shithole of a city has become a problem for us, and you won't like how we handle problems."
"Sapphire Angel, right?" a shaking voice asked on the end of the line.
"Yes, fucking Sapphire Angel," Savage snapped. "What do you know about her?"
"Very little. We don't have any contact with her. I'm not a fan of hers — she operates outside the law. Makes us look bad, by sometimes getting done what we can't."
"That shouldn't take much," Savage snapped. "You at least have some sort of file on her, right?"
"Yes. It's sparse, but we've tried to piece together what we’ve learned about her — where she's made appearances, what abilities she's showed. That sort of thing."
"Good. Get it scanned, and get it sent to me via the secure email address I gave you, okay?"
"Right away, yes."
"And here's what else is going to happen. Every time she causes us a problem, one of your men, or maybe someone in your family, dies. Got it?"
"But she wasn't part of the deal!" the chief protested, panic in his voice. "All you said is we need to stay out of the way!"
"Well, I'm changing the fucking deal!" Savage snarled. "So make sure your men keep watch for her, and you can report anything to me. The sooner we get her out of the way, the better!"
There were a few moments of silence before the chief spoke. "I will do that. But I think you're making a mistake."
"You're telling me I'm making a mistake?" Savage asked, not believing what he was hearing. "How fucking stupid are you?"
"She's powerful," the chief said. "We haven't seen anything that can stop her." He paused again. "That includes ten of your men."
"Just remember what I told you to do," Savage yelled and punched a key to end the call. He turned and hurled the device against the wall, smashing it into pieces.
When Savage spun to see Drummond staring at him, he sneered at his advisor. "So the pussy police chief is afraid of this little girl in a costume, too," Savage snarled. "That doesn't mean you were right."
Drummond shrugged and said nothing.
"That asshole needs to be taught a lesson," Savage snapped. "Call Rocco when we're done. Tell him to eliminate someone near the bottom of the chief's persuasion list. We need the chief to worry we might move up the list, to people even closer to him."
Drummond straightened and swallowed hard. The "persuasion list" was a list the gang kept of people to kill or harm in each city when the police needed to be brought into line. It included members of the police department, along with friends and relatives of high-ranking officers. So far, the gang hadn't used it in Harrisburg.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Drummond murmured. "So far, the police there have stayed in line. They may figure there's no point in listening if you're going to kill someone, anyway."
"Holy shit!" Savage exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "When did it get so hard to get people around here to fucking listen to me? I'd knock you off first if you weren't so valuable to me. I'm already wondering if I need to go to Harrisburg myself to clean up this mess. We need to get on top of this Sapphire Angel thing. Call Rocco and tell him to make the hit. That will get the police motivated to help us find the girl."
"I'll go get another secure phone," Drummond said with a nod as he stepped away, leaving the room.
Savage watched him go, before clenching and unclenching his fists. Sapphire Angel was becoming the biggest problem the gang had faced to date. That couldn't continue.
Forward to Chapter 22 (link works after Chapter 22 goes live)
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
Wow, Savage was pissed. No surprise there, but now we know he has the Police on his side, sort of anyway. We will see how taking out family and friends of the police motivate them, or will it blow up in his face? I am thinking it won't be too long before he decides to show up himself. The deck is starting to stack up against Sapphire Angel, but so far she has been unstoppable. Hopefully she learned she needs to protect herself better, and always be prepared for an additional ambush. I think things are really going to heat up now. I cannot wait to see what happens next. Then there is still Olivia, and her role in this story. I know it takes time to develop the story, but it is certainly keeping us interested. I am glad to see Sapphire Angel doing so well against this gang so far, but the last battle thought successful still makes me concerned that one blow from one of these guys can hurt her. If she got put in a position where 2 of them were getting the better of her, I am not sure she could turn it around. She has to stay on top of them and use her speed to avoid getting manhandled.
Then of course there is Rocco. Hard to feel sorry for him, but Savage might be ready to rip his head right off. With the drugs they are pumping him with, he might be able to do it.
Hate to wish away another weekend, but can't wait til Monday!!
I kept forgetting Benjamin’s last name in the early chapters of this novel, for some reason. Drummond, Drummond, Drummond, Drummond. Maximus Savage, Larry Oberkfell, Benjamin Drummond, “Smash”, Rocco Lynch, Mike Mitchell, Augustus Bell, and T.L. “Tip” Grim. And Howard Vincent as Savage’s mole in law enforcement. Substantial villain cast, as always. Then again, I’ve kind of grown to appreciate that. Gives the antagonists more depth and characterization, as well as the potential for multiple different arcs with each of them (i.e., some could remain evil until the end, some could turn good and survive, some could turn good and die, some could be arrested, etc.).
No one died? No one died? No one died?! I can’t believe no one died. Not yet, anyway. Especially knowing what Maximus Savage is like. So the Harrisburg Police Department---or at least some faction OF it, the chief included---are so jealous of Sapphire Angel “one-upping” them that they’re throwing in their hand with the Savage Gang? Dang.....you have “petty”, and then you have these guys. They’d even put Frost King Alpin to shame.....
He sure seems angry, though. Perhaps him killing someone would’ve been better, so they wouldn’t have to put up with serving him any longer.....? I don’t know! And it’s looking like those drugs he’s been pumping himself with are starting to reach their limit.....only heaven knows how he’ll start acting once he doesn’t have them to calm himself down and bring himself in line.
The “persuasion list” is probably one of the most unnerving blackmailing concepts I have ever read in anything ever. Assuming that, so far, they’ve pulled off every single one of the “persuasion hits” without any complications, it sounds like a good way to threaten people into compliance. But Harrisburg still has it better off than most other cities because they have Sapphire Angel; the violin theft at the Thompson Center and the attack on Chase Bentley’s mansion would have turned out much worse if it weren’t for her. I wonder who’s ON this “persuasion list”, though. If it really is the friends, family, and loved ones of people in law enforcement, then the HPD might end up seeing a “mysterious” drop in its numbers, soon. (gasp) Then they’d need to turn to Sapphire for help.....who is the exact person they had spite for. Oh, how glorious that’s going to be! xD
Are there any notable characters who might be on the “persuasion list”? They can’t be TOO important yet, right? ‘Cause Savage said to eliminate someone “near the bottom”? Mick Mullens comes to mind. Or.....no. They won’t target Conner, will they? Crud.....crud, crud, crud, crud, crud......or maybe they could just target a random one of the jealous police officers.
Hope Sapphire can stop this hit before it happens, like she did with the attempted hit on Bentley’s mansion. We stopped the Thompson Center robbery and the mansion breach.....but didn’t stop the hit on the baseball players. 2 for 3 isn’t bad.....but I feel like this one is one that she can’t afford to fail. So, it’s like.....if she knows a hit is going to happen somewhere, the chances of her stopping it go up greatly; which makes sense. If you know your enemy’s move, that’s practically half the battle. There’s also that puddle of water.....
If I were a devil’s advocate (I’m not; I’m an Angel’s advocate; a SAPPHIRE Angel’s advocate, actually), I’d tell Rocco Lynch to use two flamethrower-wielding men again whenever he goes to pull off the “persuasion list” hit. If the goal really is to kill them, those flames would send quite the message. And we don’t exactly know whether or not Sapphire is vulnerable to them.
Still piling on victory after victory after victory for Sapphire, excluding the baseball one. Can’t wait for you to throw me that curveball; I KNOW it’s coming! 😄