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 29
A low mist hung over the dark waters of Italian Lake in uptown Harrisburg, bringing a chill to the March air as Sapphire Angel crept around the lake's perimeter. She was impervious to the cold, but wasn’t impervious to the frustration building within her. The heroine had searched the lake for almost an hour, examining every inch of ground, including the banks of the shallow stream feeding the lake, but had found no hiding places. She felt a clock ticking in her head, as she had only six more days until the gang would increase its numbers in town, becoming unbeatable. She had to find the gang’s hideout before that happened, and drive them out of town.
Italian Lake was rectangular like a football field, but with a narrow midpoint, where a Japanese-style footbridge spanned its width. The bridge arched out over the lake’s waters and was a favorite place for wedding photographers, who also favored the antique streetlights illuminating the park's paths, and the gardens bordering the waters. In the winter months, though, the gardens turned brown and the water often froze, lending an aura of decay to the area. Even the cottages near one corner of the lake felt dark and distant in the gloom.
Sapphire Angel, radiant as always, was the only source of vitality as she moved around the lake. She crept toward the bridge, far enough from the homes to be invisible to the residents. At the late hour, the bridge loomed like a specter in the darkness, with fog creeping up to its base, and moonlight casting shadows down into the mist.
As she walked onto the bridge and surveyed her surroundings, she stopped, standing with her hands on her hips and shaking her head. This was a dead end. The gangsters had not come from here. She would need to look elsewhere to learn why they had wet boots.
That wouldn’t be tonight, though. It was getting late, and she had a busy night ahead. She headed toward her car, which was parked on a quiet road near the backside of the lake.
Rocco Lynch and three gang members lay on a rise overlooking Italian Lake, holding low-light binoculars to their eyes as they watched Sapphire Angel prowl the grounds around the lake. Even at a distance, she was unmistakable. With her shimmering hair, long legs, vibrant costume, and subtle curves, she was like a goddess moving among the shadows.
The men were fortunate to have the superheroine in their sights. One of their first tasks after moving into the old schoolhouse on the bluff had been to set up a security perimeter. This included hiding cameras along the streets of the neighborhood below the school, to provide warning if a police raid was imminent. As luck would have it, Smash, the gang’s behemoth fighter, had been observing the video feeds when the heroine’s unmistakable blue sports car appeared on screen, parking on a side street. Smash wasn’t the brightest among those in the gang, but knew enough to summon his boss upon spotting the superheroine exit her vehicle and head off toward Italian Lake.
In under a minute, Lynch was scurrying for the exit with Smash and two others at his side, clutching their helmets, weapons, and body armor. One man was Vick Dillard, who was shorter than most of the other gang members, at five feet eight inches tall, but he made up for it in strength. He looked like a cross between a linebacker and sumo wrestler, with biceps wider than many people’s waists. His hair was bright red and cut close, in the style used by many of the gang members.
The last gangster was Mike Michell, a tall, nondescript man with sharp features and intelligent eyes, who some might confuse for an accountant if not for his hulking build. Dillard and Mitchell, along with Smash, were Lynch’s most trusted men.
Not wanting to risk discovery, they waited until Sapphire Angel moved to the opposite end of the lake before exiting through a manhole cover at the end of their access tunnel. Once outside, Lynch, Smash, and Mitchell scurried across a shallow stream and moved to the overlook, while Dillard hurried to retrieve a vehicle.
The costumed woman’s appearance so close to the gang’s secret entrance couldn’t be a coincidence, and caused Rocco to swear aloud. Had they left a piece of evidence behind at the actor’s mansion? Or did she have other intel? If she did, her information was incomplete, or she would have marched straight to the manhole cover. At worst, she only suspected its presence, and didn’t know its exact location.
If she didn’t know its exact location, she would never find it. The manhole cover lay hidden in a stream flowing through a decaying concrete channel, out of sight of the charming lake. The channel emptied into a natural stream closer to the lake, but the manmade culvert contained mini islands of rock and metal, formed by crumbling concrete and twisted rebar. An elevated pile of debris surrounded the heavy cover, which sat a few inches above the water level. A heavy layer of moss grew over the cover and surrounding rock, making the metal disk invisible even to someone standing on top of it. And the chances of someone reaching the cover were slim, without knowing the exact path to take, as the crumbling channel appeared impassible.
“Do we jump her now?” Smash growled from his crouched position, his deep voice quivering with excitement.
“No,” Lynch said, and sensed the disapproval in his two men. He didn't blame them. The temptation to confront Sapphire Angel was great, as they could imagine Maximus Savage's reaction when they presented the beaten superheroine to him. But he couldn’t risk a confrontation here, so close to the hideout. If they didn’t prevail, the attack might tip off to her just how close she was to their base. He couldn't afford such a colossal screwup, given his tenuous standing with Maximus Savage. He needed to face her in a lower risk environment.
“That's why I sent Vick for the van. Once Vick is in place, we’ll move to him. Then we follow her and can suit up while we drive. We'll take her down when she doesn’t expect it, and when she's not near our headquarters.”
Vick, Mike, and Smash would trust his decision. They had come with him from his former gang, and were almost like family to him. As his position in the Savage Gang grew more tenuous, he had drawn them close, surrounding himself with people he trusted. These were going to be a crucial few days, but his standing with Savage would skyrocket if he demolished Sapphire Angel.
As Sapphire Angel traveled the streets of Harrisburg, other drivers stared at her sapphire blue Ferrari 488 Spider. Even with the convertible roof up and the windows tinted, everyone knew who sat behind the wheel. If she had wanted, she could have concealed her presence. The car was straight out of a science fiction novel, with a special paint that changed colors at the push of the button. And she could extend and retract a spoiler on the back, making the car look like a different vehicle. But the heroine usually saved such changes for when she approached her secret garage, so people wouldn’t locate the car’s hiding spot.
She could thank Stanley for the vehicle, and for the special paint. He had used some of the settlement money from John’s death to purchase the car, using a dummy corporation and fake tags. She hadn’t believed him when he had told her about the paint, but she had looked it up online and discovered such technology existed. He had made her take a driving course before handing the beast over to her.
The downside of driving such a flashy car was the attention she got from paparazzi and awestruck fans, who sometimes tried to pursue her. Most citizens kept their distance, though, which made it easier for her to use her powerful and agile vehicle to slip away from any who followed her.
After making a few quick turns to evade any gawkers, she rolled the car to a stop in the alley behind the Hilton’s parking garage. She turned off the ignition, but paused. Before paying Lockheed a visit, she needed to purge the FBI woman’s words from head. Sapphire Angel is a coward who works out of the public eye, so I have no way to communicate with her. The heroine’s reasons for secrecy had nothing to do with cowardice and everything to do with practicality. Her life would be different — almost unmanageable — if she didn’t stay out of the spotlight. She wouldn’t be effective and would never get a moment’s peace. She had no choice.
But she was going to make an exception and emerge from the shadows for Olivia Lockheed. No, not for Lockheed. For herself, and for the city. As Beth had suggested to the FBI woman, Sapphire Angel and Lockheed might be able to help one another. By coming out of the shadows, Sapphire Angel would remove any excuse Lockheed had for not cooperating.
After climbing out of the sleek vehicle, the door closed and locked behind her.
“Ariel, arm security system,” she said in a soft voice, giving a voice command to the car. She had a picked the car's name herself, and Stanley had programmed the vehicle to respond only to her voice. A moment later, a blinking red light appeared on the dash as the alarm system activated.
She glanced up at the garage towering above her, before bending and sliding a short cylinder from her boot. She stood at full height and aimed the cylinder upward, pressing a button and shooting a cable into the darkness. Above her, three floors up, a hook at the end of the cable latched around a railing on the parking deck, as if drawn by magnets. With another push of a button on the cylinder, Sapphire Angel shot up through the darkness.
“Fuck!” Lynch yelled, slamming a fist onto the dash of the old white panel van. With Vick Dillard driving, he and his three men had been following Sapphire Angel’s vehicle, but had lost her when she made a few quick turns on the city’s narrow streets. The lumbering van was no match for her agile car.
“Ya think she saw us?” Smash asked from behind the front seats.
“If she did, she didn’t know it was us,” Lynch said. “If she knew we were following her, she wouldn’t run. She’d come at us, or try to lead us somewhere. This is probably just her normal way of evading gawkers.”
“What do we do?” Dillard asked as the van crept down the street.
“Let’s just keep looking,” Lynch replied. “Let’s canvas this immediate area. If she isn’t around here, we’ll never find her, anyway. Maybe we’ll get lucky and she made another stop.”
Dillard made a left, following Lynch’s instructions. Lynch’s shoulders sagged as Dillard made one turn after another, finding only deserted streets and alleys. They had been so close. So close to getting their hands on the superheroine, and having the perfect prize for Maximus Savage before a larger contingent of the gang arrived in six days. Perhaps he had made the wrong call, and they should have taken her at the lake. It would have been risky, so close to their hideout, but at least they wouldn’t have lost her.
“Stop!” Smash yelled from his spot in the back seat as he leaned forward. Dillard slammed on the brakes.
“Back up,” Smash said.
Dillard threw the gearshift into reverse. As the van passed an alley to the right, Smash pointed down its length, his arm extending into the front seat and across Lynch’s chest. Dillard brought the van to a stop at the entrance to the alley.
Lynch squinted, rolled down his window, and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. When they did, he saw it. The glint of a vehicle far down the alley. He threw open his door, jumped out, and stepped a few feet into the alley to gain a better view. When he did, the car came into focus. Sapphire Angel’s car. It sat alone, with no sign of the heroine.
“Come on, boys,” he said as he approached the open window of the van. “She’s gone, but her car is there, so she’s gotta come back. We’ll have a nice surprise waiting for her. She’ll never know what hit her. Ready to pummel a superheroine?”
Forward to Chapter 30 (link works after Chapter 30 goes live)
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
I wonder what the gang has planned for Sapphire Angel when she returns. This will be a difficult confrentation for her, no doubt. I feel likek they won't capture her this time, she will get away, but it they willl hurt her enough to let Savage know they can get her. She has proven already that she is formidable, but that was when she was getting the drop on them. True they had 2 waiting for her in the last battle, but this time they will have 5, and some of their strongest. We'll see what happens.
I figure the next chaper will focus on Sapphire Angel's meeting with Olivia. That should be interesting. Wonder if Olivia will come out of the club alone, or with a poor young girl, which would probably surprise Sapphire Angel. I think the interaction between those two should be very entertaining.
From there not sure if she will make it to the police station, but rather face a confrentation from the gang. We know that is coming, wonder how that will go. I can't wait to find out though.
🎵What hurts the most......is being so close.....🎵
That’s the song I thought of when it was revealed that the lake that Sapphire was searching was practically right on top of the secret entrance to the Savage Gang’s hideout. I can just imagine the sheer contrast between the lively, vibrant heroine and the dark, dank, isolated environment of the lake, however. I suppose sometimes it’s a good cover for the Gang’s hideout, and sometimes it isn’t (i.e., when other people frequent it constantly and take pictures on the bridge).
The whole dynamic between Rocco Lynch, Vick Dillard, Smash, and Mike Mitchell was oddly touching, in a way. A lot of people who are part of gangs try to defend their actions by saying that the gang is the only place where they truly feel like part of a family; where they are actually surrounded by people who love them and care for them. Sometimes, for people who come from bad homes, this DOES actually hold true. The need for friends or a positive atmosphere can oftentimes drive someone to join a gang just for that, unaware of what exactly they sign themselves up for. But here......it looks like all four of them know exactly what they’re doing. Still, their connection is unmatched. I wonder where their actual families are right now, though, and whether or not they would approve of their actions if they could see them now. And before you say “oh no, they DEFINITELY wouldn’t”, you’d be surprised......
Looks like my thoughts about Sapphire not quite meeting with Lockheed inside the club---but rather someplace near it---held true. Would’ve been quite a funny scene if she had gone inside, though; I’m picturing Sapphire desperately trying to get information out of Lockheed, only to keep getting interrupted by creeps. Kind of like how Talos (disguised as Nick Fury) attempts to talk to Peter Parker/Spider-Man inside his dorm in “Spider-Man: Far From Home”, but keeps getting interrupted by other people outside the room’s door. (I’m just going to be dropping MCU references left and right if I think of them.)
But, ahhh.....crud. These guys aren’t just any Savage Gang grunts.....they’re some of the best of the best besides Savage himself. Rocco Lynch, Vick Dillard, Smash, and Mike Mitchell.....but then again, Mike Mitchell is more of a fight manager.......
First time I’m somewhat worried. Not too much, though. (gasp) Maybe she’ll fail, and then Lockheed will hear about it, and then she’ll have been so touched by Sapphire’s prior decision to open herself up to the public eye that she’ll personally lead a rescue mission to save her! ......Nah, who am I kidding? Lockheed HATES Sapphire. She (Sapphire) is going to have quite the surprise coming back.....let’s just hope she can stall the meeting for as long as possible so Lynch and co. will eventually just give up and leave. Though......knowing them, they’d probably steal the car instead as consolation......