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 35
Olivia Lockheed was almost ready to leave for her meeting with Beth Harper when her mobile phone rang. The number on the screen belonged to one of her few trusted contacts in the Harrisburg police department.
“Lockheed,” she answered.
“I have some news for you,” a male voice said in a hushed tone, as if he feared being overheard.
“About the gang?” Lockheed asked.
“In a way,” the man said.
“What do you mean?”
“There’s a bit of a buzz going around here,” the man replied. “I wasn’t here, but word is that Sapphire Angel paid a visit to our prisoners last night.”
Lockheed froze and didn’t immediately respond. Her face flashed with warmth, and her grip on the phone tightened.
“Did they talk to her?” Lockheed asked after a few moments of silence. She shook her head at the heroine’s audacity. These were high-value prisoners who were off limits to everyone except Lockheed. If Sapphire Angel upstaged her again, by extracting information from the prisoners, Lockheed’s head would explode.
“That’s what people are saying, although nobody knows what they said,” the man replied. “It was just her and them, and nobody is saying how she even got in. The desk officer is telling everyone he never saw her, and thinks she came when he was on break.”
Lockheed gritted her teeth and put a hand on the table in front of her to steady herself. Her entire body trembled with rage.
“Don’t you have a surveillance system in the cell block?” Lockheed asked.
The man sighed. “Yes, but Sapphire Angel isn’t on any of it. There’s about ten minutes of blank footage from late last night, which corresponds with the time the desk officer was on break.”
“So you don’t know anything?” Lockheed asked, her voice dripping with disdain.
“Would you rather I didn’t call?” he snapped.
“No, no. Just continue to keep me in the loop.”
She hung up her phone. “Fuck!” she screamed. How was one girl so effective, and one step ahead of her at every turn? This needed to stop.
Lockheed stumbled over to the easy chair in her room and sank into it, her mind churning. Despite her earlier rebuff of the costumed woman’s offer, perhaps it was time for Lockheed to work with her. But it wouldn’t be in the manner the superheroine envisioned. The heroine needed to respect law and order, and not stick her nose where it didn’t belong. Lockheed smiled. She would show Sapphire Angel who was in charge.
Beth's mind kept replaying the image of Conner storming from her apartment, angry. She had spent the night in bed, listening for the opening of the door and expecting him to walk in, apologize, and climb in bed with her. He didn’t, and as the minutes ticked by, her sadness turned to anger. Beth had taken an enormous step when she had revealed her secret to him months earlier. He had promised not to become overprotective, and had insisted their relationship wouldn’t change. He had been wrong, or even lied.
For the thousandth time in the last few hours, she cursed her alter ego. If she had never discovered her powers, she might be living a normal life right now. Of course, she might not have met Conner in the first place, as her life would have taken a different path without her dual identity.
But did she have a choice? It didn’t feel like it. Her life presented her with an impossible choice between two different kinds of guilt — guilt over neglecting her loved ones, or guilt over failing to save innocent people. It was a no-win situation.
Perhaps she shouldn’t have told Conner about her secret. But their problems had existed even before her revelation, since she spent many evening away from home with flimsy excuses. Conner had grown suspicious and resentful.
Or perhaps the answer wasn’t choosing between her two lives, but in putting them into a better balance. Maybe then things could be different.
The more she agonized over it, the sadder she became, and a gnawing worry grew inside her — a worry that she would never find long-term happiness with someone, as long as she was Sapphire Angel. But she couldn’t live with herself if she stopped helping people.
By the time sunlight peeked through her curtains, she hadn't slept, and melancholy had settled over her. She stumbled out to the kitchen and grabbed a container of yogurt from the old refrigerator, which creaked on its hinges when she opened the door. After retrieving a spoon from a drawer, she sat down with her laptop at the kitchen table.
She clicked on an icon on the screen and waited while Stanley’s program routed her connection around the globe. She didn’t understand it, other than to know his program bounced her connection through various servers, making it impossible to track. This was how Sapphire Angel went about her business.
She checked Sapphire Angel’s email address, finding an empty inbox. After closing her laptop, she scurried to her bedroom, reached under the nightstand, and grabbed the mobile phone she used for her alter ego. She sat on the edge of her bed and unlocked the phone to scan her voicemail. One message waited for her, so she tapped the button to play it.
Olivia Lockheed's confident voice was unmistakable. “Sapphire Angel, it’s Olivia Lockheed. We got off on the wrong foot. Perhaps you were right, and we can help one another. I possess some information about the gang, and I suspect you do, too. We need to meet. You can call me at this number. I’m on the job today and possibly tonight, but I’ll be in my hotel room all night tomorrow for sure, going over information. Call me.”
The message ended. Beth paused and leaned back in her bed. This was a surprising turn of events, and she needed to be cautious. Lockheed liked to be in control, and if Sapphire Angel called the FBI woman, Lockheed would try to set up a meeting where she controlled the variables. A surprise visit would be more effective.
Beth sat up and returned the mobile phone to its hiding spot before finishing getting ready. Exhaustion weighed on her, and she would love to climb back in bed, but a very busy day loomed ahead of her.
Larry Oberkfell walked into his office, closed the door behind him, and wiped his sweaty palms on his dirty lab coat. He was lucky to be alive. Savage had just chastised him, screaming that Larry’s latest regiment of injections wasn’t producing the desired results.
Oberkfell had known this day would come. His creations pushed the bounds of science and medicine, but they had their limits. One of those limits was that a patient might build a tolerance for the drugs, causing the concoctions to lose their potency.
A choice faced Oberkfell. He could stick around and receive a beating he might not survive, or he could flee and forever look over his shoulder, waiting for Savage to hunt him down for his failures. Or he could pick a third choice. One he had wanted to avoid.
Oberkfell lowered himself into his chair, put his hand to his mouth, and nibbled on his fingernails. He shouldn’t fear this choice, which involved obtaining a new formula to administer to Savage. Oberkfell had seen the formula’s potential with his own eyes. This should have given him hope, but there was a catch. To get this formula, he needed to deal with a new supplier. Not an organization, but a single person. And there was something about this person that set Larry’s senses on alert. Every time Oberkfell thought of the man, a shiver ran through his spine. Perhaps it was the man’s silver eyes, or perhaps it was the evil emanating from him, but Oberkfell knew there would be no turning back once he did business with the man.
He sat thinking for a moment longer, picturing his own body broken on the ground, with Savage standing over him. He picked up the telephone and made the call.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
Again......I thought that Lockheed was nothing but an obnoxious, nigh-unredeemable nightmare in the second novel, but I absolutely LOVE how this one fleshes her out much more. If she would just agree to see herself and Sapphire as equals, maybe everything might have blown over just a little bit better. But alas.....it wasn’t meant to be, at least not at the moment. Kind of like how I’m still breaking down on the inside over Beth finally moving on from John’s death and moving on to Conner......which totally stings in hindsight with everything that’s currently happening now. I feel like Ethan---though he lacks Conner’s charm or good looks---would be a way better person for Beth to get involved with. He understands her, always seeks to compromise, and is overall less aggressive, at least for now.
Good to see that Lockheed’s giving in for the time being and requesting a partnership with Sapphire, but I worry about what’d happen if Sapphire showed up while Lockheed was officially on the job, and not during the hours that she (Lockheed) stated that she was free. Maybe the “surprise visit” will still be during her free time. We’ll see!
The whole concept of Oberkfell’s drugs having their limits could really hold true for a LOT of medications in the real world as well. We’ve had antibiotics that used to be so effective.....and then the bacteria they usually neutralized ended up evolving to tolerate them, thus reducing said antibiotics to near-uselessness. But, like......what length are you willing to go to to keep having a way to overcome said diseases? Maybe now, with Oberkfell forming a reluctant working relationship with the silver-eyed man, we’ll get to learn more about that fluid from a while back. Would Savage blow his top if he knew Oberkfell was working with the silver-eyed man? Or if he knew with whom exactly the silver-eyed man was working with? Given that he absolutely LIVES for the stuff, I’d picture him as a “get me my drugs and I don’t care who or where you get them from, so long as I GET THEM”-kind of person; the type most drug addicts are like. But Savage seems more complicated. For one, he’s the member of a violent gang. But that’s just one of many.
Can’t wait till we get to the ambush at Grim’s gun shop! I think Beth arranging for a meeting with Lockheed later (as Sapphire Angel) ensures that both of them survive the bombing, but.....I don’t know. I’ve had a lot of curveballs thrown at me in reading lately. And have thrown out quite a few myself. Let’s keep going!