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 33
Beth appreciated her ability to operate with little sleep, since her exploits as Sapphire Angel often kept her out late. This was one such occasion. When she slipped in the back door of her townhouse, took off her coat, and kicked off her shoes, it was only a few hours until sunrise, which meant she’d only get a few hours of sleep before meeting with Lockheed to travel to the gun shop. Her body needed extra sleep to aid the healing process, but it would have to wait.
Beth reached for the lights, turned them on, and jumped back when she saw two figures sitting at her kitchen table. She relaxed, but only for a moment, when her eyes settled on Conner and Ethan. Her boyfriend and her best friend. 3 a.m. This wouldn’t be good.
“You lied to me,” Conner said. He must have meant her text message, in which she told him she’d be going to bed early tonight. His eyes were weary and tense, and he wore the same jeans and black sweater he’d worn earlier in the day. He hadn’t slept.
Next to him, Ethan squirmed and didn’t meet her eyes, as if he didn’t want to be there.
She looked down, pawing at the ground with a toe. “I had a lot to do,” she murmured.
“You did, or Sapphire Angel did?” Conner asked, with an edge to his voice.
She raised her head and met his gaze, hoping she showed no outward signs of the beating from the gang.
“It was nothing dangerous,” she replied. “Just some surveillance, and talking to some people.”
He stared at her for a few long moments, until she looked away, twirling a strand of hair. At least she was able to do that without pain.
“What’s this about?” she asked, turning back to them. “Shouldn’t you guys be in bed? And shouldn’t you be at that convention in Philly, Conner?”
“I’m leaving for Philly when we’re done here,” Conner replied. “But this is important. It's an intervention.”
Beth set her jaw and stared back at him. She clenched her fists at her side.
“Beth, we’re worried about you,” Ethan said, his voice gentle. She knew Ethan well. He was a peacemaker and wouldn’t have confronted her on his own. It was Conner who was behind this.
Beth tilted her head back and looked at the ceiling, growling in frustration. “There’s nothing to be worried about,” she said, looking back at them.
Conner sighed and rose from his chair. Ethan stood as well.
“Come with us,” Conner said, taking her by the hand and leading her toward the living room. She followed, not saying a word. Ethan trailed behind them.
“Sit,” Conner commanded, pointing to the sofa. She bit her lip, scrunching her eyes and wrinkling her nose, but dropped onto the sofa and crossed her arms across her chest.
Ethan and Conner sat on either ride of her, and Conner grabbed a remote from the coffee table. He used it to turn on the television and her Apple TV. He fiddled with his iPhone before sending a video to the television screen.
She tensed, not because of the content, but because Conner and Ethan were trying to manipulate her. The video showed the gangsters in one violent scene after another. The gang's second-in-command, whom she had encountered in the alley, figured prominently in the footage, as did Savage himself. Conner or Ethan, or both, must have rounded up all the videos they found online, and spliced them together in one long video. It showed the gangsters brutalizing people — breaking limbs, smashing faces, and causing mayhem.
“I don’t need to see this,” Beth hissed, her face red. The footage brought back memories of the beatdown in the alley.
“You do!” Conner retorted. “Look at this! Many of the people they’re destroying aren’t meek and helpless! Some of them are police officers. Bodybuilders. Military types. The gang buzzes through all of them like they’re up against little kids!”
“There are a couple of videos you don’t have,” Beth said, raising her chin as her eyes flashed with defiance.
Conner rolled his eyes. “Yes, I know, we don't have video of Sapphire Angel taking on the gang. Do you think it will always be that way? That you'll always win?”
“As a matter of fact, I do,” Beth answered with a curt bob of the head. She wouldn’t tell him about the ambush at the garage.
“Beth,” Ethan said, his voice calm as he held up a hand to quiet Conner. “The problem is there is just one of you. If this keeps up, Sapphire Angel will become a target. They will keep coming after you, more intensely every time, until they succeed.”
“Then I’ve got to stop them before that happens,” Beth said. “Stanley says they don’t bring a full contingent into cities until about ten days after their first appearance. So by my count, when the sun comes up I’ll have five more days to take them down.”
As she spoke, the video ended with footage of the gang's second-in-command wading through a group of huge bodyguards, incapacitating them with little effort as he advanced toward the mayor of a city. Within seconds, all four bodyguards were on the floor with broken limbs or dislocated joints, writhing in pain, while the mayor cowered in fear.
“I can’t take this,” Conner said, shaking his head. He rose to his feet. “When you come to your senses, call me. Until then, I need a break. From us. I can’t sit by and support this, and worry about you every moment. Have a nice life. I’m heading to Philly.”
Beth opened her mouth to speak but closed it, watching as he marched to the front door. She should stop him or go after him, but didn’t know what to say. They had said all there was to say. He paused before flinging the door open and storming out into the darkness. It slammed shut behind him.
His words and actions stung Beth like a slap across the face. She sat with her jaw hanging open and tears welling up in her eyes. What an awful night this had been. She turned her head to Ethan.
“Damn it,” she muttered, shaking her head and gritting her teeth to stop herself from crying. “He just doesn’t understand.”
Ethan frowned. “Maybe not,” he answered. “But I don’t think you understand, either. This is really hard on everyone close to you. I’ve had a few sleepiness nights myself since this gang business started.”
Beth sighed, and her lips trembled. “I’m sorry,” she said as she wiped at her eyes. “I don’t mean to hurt anyone. But I just can’t stand by and do nothing while people are out there getting hurt and killed.”
“Please, just think about what we said. There are people who get paid to handle this sort of thing.”
The words went through Beth as if he hadn’t said them. Her thoughts were on Conner, not on whether she should give up her pursuit of the Savage Gang.
“Is he ending things?” she asked. “Because that’s what it sounded like. Or is this a ploy to get me to stop going after the gang?”
“I think he’s done for at least a while, Beth,” Ethan said. “We talked before you got home, and this is eating him inside with worry. Maybe if this gang thing ever ends, it will be different, but he’s hit his limit.”
Beth stared ahead, frozen.
“He’s never understood what I do,” she murmured.
“He’s tried, Beth. Conner cares about you. You have a… unique life.”
She did have a unique life. A life nobody would ever understand.
“Maybe I’m better off alone.”
“Let’s not get into that now. You need to get some sleep. Just remember that I’m here for you, no matter what.”
He rose and paused, hovering above her as she continued to stare ahead, her eyes blank. He leaned in and kissed the top of her head, before turning and walking to the door. She watched him go, wanting to reach out and pull him back. He was the only person who understood her. As if sensing her thoughts, he stopped and turned to face her.
“I left a folder on your kitchen table with some detailed maps of the riverbank,” he said. “I was trying to see whether there were any caves along the river, where the gangsters from Bentley’s mansion might have come from, and gotten only part of their feet wet. There aren’t any caves. But I wanted you to see it with your own eyes, since you always need to.”
He turned back to the door, and a moment later he stepped outside, closing the door. She groaned and leaned back into the sofa with her eyes closed.
Conner had never understood her complicated life. Why couldn’t he be more like Ethan? Ethan hated how she put herself in harm’s way, but at least he understood why she did it, and didn’t try to stop her. And even his parting words revealed just how well he understood her, knowing she had to see things with her own eyes, and learn things for herself. He didn’t hold it against her. If she could mix Conner’s charm with Ethan’s patience and understanding, she’d have the perfect man. That was impossible, though, and she may have lost Conner for good.
But what if Conner was right? Should she step aside and let the police and FBI handle the gang? The gang had already defeated her once. But she knew the answer. She couldn’t stop. She had to stop the Savage Gang, even at the cost of losing Conner.
For most people in the country, the five-bedroom apartment in Khartoum, Sudan would have been the lap of luxury. With two bathrooms, a large kitchen, and a balcony overlooking the junction of the Blue Nile and the White Nile rivers, the apartment’s amenities were among the best in the city.
Majid Azari was not most people. At first glance, Azari didn’t stand out. Handsome, but not too handsome, with bronzed skin and a close-cropped afro, his looks didn’t command attention. Instead, his confidence and wealth drew people to him. He hadn’t yet passed forty years in age, but his earnings from his extensive business empire had allowed him to live a life of opulence. It had also allowed him to finance a nascent terrorist organization, RIFT.
RIFT wasn’t a name of his own creation, but a term Western intelligence services had coined, and that Azari had embraced. The actual name of his organization had no direct translation into English, but was roughly pronounced “Malgadab Alsahina al’Islam,” and loosely meant, “Righteous Islamic Fury.” Intelligence officials in Washington wanted a tidy acronym, so they had added a “T” to the end, and the group thereafter was known as RIFT.
Until four months earlier, Azari’s two worlds had coexisted, with only a chosen few aware of how he spent his money. That anonymity had ended when American intelligence services suspected the presence of a wealthy benefactor behind the new terrorist organization. And it had all come to a head when Sapphire Angel had foiled his plans in America for a third time, even if she didn’t realize it on the first two occasions. This time, she exposed treason committed by an American military contractor, and unknowingly had blown the lid off his role as leader of RIFT.
U.S. Intelligence services had followed a trail back to Azari, forcing him to flee his opulent life. He escaped from Saudi Arabia across the Red Sea into Sudan, where he hid in plain sight. He had planned for such an occasion, maintaining access to much of his considerable wealth, and to the contacts needed to manage his terrorist organization. One such contact sat across from him, on the sofa in his living room. The man wore a long, black robe, and the robe’s hood cast shadows across his features. Those shadows couldn’t hide his eyes. They were silver, and cast an ominous presence about the room, almost as if evil flowed from them.
“You’re aware of what is happening in Pennsylvania’s capitol city?” Azari asked, a perpetual look of amusement not leaving his face, even though this robed man sent chills down his spine. Azari exuded confidence in almost all situations, and he should be accustomed to the strange man by now. But those eyes would always unnerve him.
“I am,” the robed man replied in a soft, haunting voice. He didn’t have a name, or at least one he cared to reveal, and Azari had never pressed him on the matter.
“If this gang, this Savage Gang, is as lethal as it seems, it might beat us to the punch, and eliminate Sapphire Angel before you find your champion,” Azari said with a raised eyebrow, glancing at the robed man for only a moment before looking away.
“Perhaps,” the silver-eyed man said. “Would that be such a bad thing?”
Azari frowned. “For all she has done to thwart my plans, I want to be the one to best the woman, and bring her back here, defeated, for all the world to see.”
“You may yet have the chance,” the other man replied. “Think of this as a no-lose situation. Whether or not the gang defeats her, we will learn something.”
“And what is that?” Azari asked.
The robed man bent to unbuckle the latch to a small suitcase at his feet. He opened it, revealing a padded interior, with slots holding several clear vials filled with a black liquid.
“I am still discovering and testing certain enhancements to use with my — our — future champion. I need a test subject, and the leader of this gang — Maximus Savage — is the prime candidate. It could kill him, but it also might be what he needs to crush the American superheroine. Or it might still kill him, even if he crushes her. But we need to learn this now, before finding our champion.”
“What is that stuff?” Azari asked, leaning forward and peering at the vials. The robed man didn’t answer, giving only a thin smile.
“Of course you won’t tell me,” Azari scoffed, giving a dismissive wave of his hand. “Yet another matter I’m not supposed to ask you about.”
“That’s the way it must be. Suffice it to say the contents of the vials are nothing you will find elsewhere.”
“Fine,” Azari said with a scowl. “What makes you think he’ll take that stuff? From what we know, he isn’t the most trusting man.”
“I don’t need to win his trust,” the robed man answered. “There is another man I must convince, and it is only a matter of time until I do so.”
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
Ahhhhhh.......darn it. I knew that was gonna happen, I knew that was gonna happen, I knew that was gonna happen.......man, what a waste. I kind of get how conflicted Beth feels, being faced with the prospect of losing Conner while also dealing with the Savage Gang and also being off the heels of John’s death. Sure, I get that Conner’s being worried for Beth’s safety (or.....kind of still is......? Obviously not enough to continue his relationship with her, though.....), but, like, that’s the whole point of being a hero, you know? It’s about having valor and possessing the bravery and courage to endure sacrifices in the name of keeping OTHER people safe, with your own needs coming last. If someone’s going to be in a long-term relationship with a superhero, then that other person needs to understand all of that; to understand that there might be one day when he/she (the hero) goes out one day and never returns. I feel like this could’ve worked out a lot better if Conner had become, like, Stanley Devor Jr., helping Beth out from a technological standpoint without actually throwing himself into the action.....or just taking a way more active role in helping Beth as Sapphire overall. But at the moment, at least she has Ethan to lean on. He has the patience and the understanding---which we obviously need a LOT of right now---but he doesn’t have Conner’s looks or charm, apparently. Right now, I actually feel like Ethan’s the better fit for her. And Conner will get terminated by the Savage Gang---maybe by the “silver-eyed man-empowered” Savage, though it may be a bit risky---and then I get to say “HAHAHAHAHA I TOLD YOU SO” to him.
I mean......I would say it looks like Sapphire did quite a number on Azari over the past three novels, but he seems like the kind of guy to always have some kind of trap card up his sleeve. At least it was confirmed (I think) that the Savage Gang aren’t aligned directly with Azari or the silver-eyes man, though he’s currently “eye”-ing Savage as one of the candidates for his champion. I don’t think that’s gonna turn out well; with all the drugs already in Savage’s system, this is most likely going to kill him before he does any lasting damage. Maybe he should power up Rocco Lynch instead. It’d be hilarious if he somehow rescued T.L. “Tip” Grim from the gun shop attack and powered HIM up instead. Instead of “gun”, we’d now have BIG “gun”! A big gun that still wouldn’t do anything (against Sapphire, at least)!
I don’t know what exactly is in the vials, or who that second guy is that the silver-eyes man is looking to recruit. Maybe he liquefied the Noctecite from Valik’s WarTech lab and unlocked its secrets? That second guy could be a lot of people. Maybe Calvin Valik? .......I could also be completely off the mark, but we’ll see!
......On Monday!