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 40
The firm touch of a hand was Beth Harper’s first sensation. Her eyes were closed, but she sensed someone nearby. She struggled to open her eyes and winced as a stabbing headache exploded in her skull. She paused, and a moment later forced her eyes open.
Conner stood over her, holding her hand, with worry creasing his face. He forced a smile.
“Conner…” she murmured, smiling as best she could. She glanced at her surroundings and realized she was in a hospital bed. Even the movement of her eyes sent the room spinning, but not before she noticed an IV in her arm and a blue hospital gown on her body. Someone had pulled sheets up to her waist, and she sat in an inclined position.
“Hey beautiful,” he whispered, giving her hand a soft squeeze. “You had us worried.”
She wrinkled her nose as she tried to remember why she was here. She gasped when she remembered the gun shop and a deafening noise and pummeling force.
“What happened?” she asked.
“There was an explosion,” Conner explained. “You were lucky. The fire chief said that if you hadn’t been in that sturdy vault, you’d be dead right now.”
Beth remembered she hadn’t been in the vault at the time of the explosion, but just outside it. The force of the blast must have thrown her into it. Grim had been behind her, and Olivia Lockheed had been in front of her, just inside the vault.
“The shop owner and Olivia, how are they?” her voice trailed off at the end, almost as if she didn’t want to know the answer to her question.
Conner grimaced. “Olivia is fine,” he said. “She inhaled a lot of smoke, but they’ve already released her. Grim didn’t make it. They think he died pretty quickly.”
Beth looked away. She barely knew the man, but his death had to be related to the Savage Gang investigation. This wasn’t a coincidence.
“Any suspects?” she asked as she looked back at Conner..
He shook his head. “Right now, they’re calling it an accidental explosion. They say it looks like there was a propane leak, and a spark triggered a fire that burnt back to the source of the leak, causing the tank to explode, and taking some nearby gas canisters with it.”
“An accident?” Beth asked, her voice rising, before she winced and sank back into the bed. “And what exactly caused this supposed spark?”
“They don’t know yet.”
“Of course they don’t,” Beth muttered, disgusted. The authorities suspected foul play, but once again feared chasing down the Savage Gang.
“Wait a second,” she said, turning her head. “That’s an awful lot of information for them to get in a short time. How long have I been here?”
“Three hours,” Conner answered. “Ethan called me right away, and I came back. Stanley pulled some strings to get me in with you — they think I’m your brother.”
Three hours. Beth didn’t remember any of it. She surveyed her body, and aside from the massive headache, the only pain she felt was in her left hip.
“What’s the diagnosis?” she asked.
“The doctor will be back soon, but the good news is they took x-rays, and nothing is broken. You have a bruise on your hip. The bad news is you have a nasty concussion. You’ve been in and out of consciousness most of the time since I got here. The staff here woke you up every so often while they reviewed your testing. Something about ruling out brain bleeds and other stuff. Then they said they ruled out anything too bad, and it was okay for you to sleep. I guess everything I’d heard about not sleeping with concussions is off base.”
“Good,” Beth said. “I’m ready to get out of here.”
Conner shook his head. “They want to keep you for observation overnight. Even though you have the green light to sleep and rest, they want to keep an eye on you. You can go in the morning.”
Beth frowned. She wished she healed as quickly as she healed when she was Sapphire Angel. After the ambush in the alley, she suffered from some head symptoms, but they cleared up within a couple of hours. Here she was, three hours after the explosion, and her head still throbbed.
She didn’t have the time for this. There was too much to do with the gang out there. And if her name made the news, one or both of her parents might learn of the incident and worry, despite not living in the area. Her mother in particular monitored the local news, even though she lived in South Carolina.
As if reading her mind, Conner said, “Ethan has talked to your parents. Your dad was on a business trip and your mom was on vacation, but they were going to cut things short and come here. But Ethan claims that would be the last thing you want, so he told them you were fine and the ambulance ride was precautionary. That seemed to satisfy them, but they want you to call them.”
She nodded. Ethan was right. The last thing she needed was for her mom or dad to set up camp at her apartment and interfere. Even if her parents only stayed for a day or two, they would get in the way. Beth had impending plans, thanks to Lockheed’s voicemail message for Sapphire Angel. The FBI woman had wanted Sapphire Angel to call her, but had revealed she would be in her hotel room on Friday night. Beth had planned to pay her a surprise visit then, as Sapphire Angel.
“Conner,” she said, urgency in her voice. “It’s Thursday, right?”
“It is, yes.”
She could hardly believe only one day had passed since the gang ambushed her at the parking garage, and only two days had passed since she fought the gang at Chase Bentley’s mansion. And five days ago the gang first appeared in town. And in only five more days, if the gang’s history proved true, it would welcome reinforcements to the city. Time was running out. She needed to get out of here tomorrow, so Sapphire Angel could make her surprise visit to Lockheed tomorrow night.
Beth looked up at Conner, and emotion swept over her as she thought of their recent argument and apparent breakup. But he was here.
“Thanks for coming, Conner,” she rasped, blinking back tears. “I know you’re missing your conference.”
He leaned in, pushed away some of her hair, and kissed her forehead.
“I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” he said. “Enough talking, though. If you want to get out of here tomorrow, you’ll have to pass some more tests. So you need to rest. There's nothing to worry about here, so you can relax. There's a guard outside your door, and when we leave, we'll go to my place, or to Stanley's.”
"I'm sure I was collateral damage," Beth replied. "The gang was after Lockheed."
"Probably," Conner said. “But what if they think you're the one person who knows where Olivia is staying in town? I have a cop friend who will keep an eye on your place for a day or two after your release. You can go back to your place only when he's sure the gang isn't staking it out."
"They're not going to kill her at her hotel. Think about it. This whole explosion is extremely out of the ordinary for them. Finesse isn't their thing. It reeks of a way for the gang to have plausible deniability. Why they care about deniability, I don't know."
“Still, better safe than sorry. At least for a day or two until we know your place is safe. Just don't fight me on this, okay?"
"Okay," she murmured. "But I can go to your place without you. You need to get back to your conference. Tomorrow night is the social mixer, when you get to meet everybody important.” Having Conner around would be as bad as having her parents staying with her.
"I'm not worried about that. You’re not going to be alone.”
"This conference was huge for you, Conner."
"Shhh, we can talk about it later, after you rest."
Beth nodded, still wiping at the tears in her eyes. She had been ignoring her headache, but it was still there, pounding away, and not healing like the headache from the ambush in the alley. Headache or not, Sapphire Angel would pay Olivia Lockheed a visit tomorrow night. The situation wasn’t ideal, but the clock was counting down toward zero.
Rocco Lynch needed to make a splash. Savage was in Phoenix, Arizona, meeting with the city’s gang leaders, but he would call Rocco soon. When he learned Lynch had failed to eliminate Lockheed and Harper, the repercussions would be severe.
At least Grim, the gun shop owner, was dead. He was one less loose thread, and if Lynch could catch a break, the explosion also consumed Grim’s records. Lockheed and her junior agent, Michaels, would certainly be scrounging for any clues.
It might not matter, as Lynch would be lucky to be alive in a week. The botched job at the gun shop was just another blunder to add to his list of failures in Harrisburg. Savage wouldn’t let him off the hook this time — unless Lynch had other news to give him.
Lynch scrolled down a website on his phone, scanning a list of local news and events. He needed a big target. A well-protected target. He needed to hit it hard, to demonstrate the gang’s true power, and to get Savage to focus on his accomplishments. The perfect target would be Sapphire Angel, but he had no way to find her. She seemed able to find them, but he couldn’t wait for her, and he needed a situation he could control.
His eyes settled on an article in the entertainment section of the local newspaper’s website, and a smile came to his face. Splashed across top of the page were images of muscle-bound freaks, covered with tattoos. He scanned the article, and his smile grew. Later that evening these men, mixed martial arts fighters, would square off in Hershey, less than thirty minutes away. A cable network was televising the event, so there would be cameras everywhere.
Savage would appreciate this type of target. In some cities, the gang ran underground fighting rings with combatants of all styles, including mixed martial artists. The gang would eventually start such a ring in Harrisburg.
A job like this would be difficult, but Lynch was desperate and needed to take a chance. If he and his men could pull it off, it would be perfect.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
I was so on the fence about whether or not Lockheed had actually died that I briefly forgot she was actually deeper inside the vault than even Beth was. And since Beth was revealed to have survived at the start of this chapter, I kind of figured that meant that Lockheed did, too. But, dang......I was expecting for Grim to be in the story a lot longer than that. Still, I have a feeling that the things he’s made and the effects he’s had on the story itself are nowhere near over. Kind of like how I intend to show more of Leo’s handiwork in “Coldsnap: Harbinger of Ice” despite him being killed off in Chapter 31.
And can I just say that I absolutely LOVED how Conner handled the whole “Beth got caught up in an explosion, nearly died, and is currently in the hospital” thing? It was such a stark contrast to how he treated her when he thought she was constantly putting herself in danger as Sapphire Angel. He was honestly so gentle, understanding, and updated Beth on everything so thoroughly. But, ahhh......I wonder how all of this would’ve gone down if he realized that this was all tied to Beth’s investigation into the Savage Gang......which was the exact reason why he was so worried for her safety in the first place. Instead of them making up at the hospital, it might’ve instead ended with them breaking up or something. And then I would’ve cried even more.
I have a feeling this puts the writing on the wall for Rocco Lynch, though. The whole point of this was to try and wipe Beth, Lockheed, and Michaels off the board before they got too close to the Savage Gang.....but with all of them surviving save for Grim, it’s not looking good for him. .....That rhymed, and I didn’t mean FOR it to rhyme. Whoops.
The mention of the mixed martial arts scene and the fighting rings reminded me of Mike Mitchell, the Savage Gang’s fight promoter and manager for the Gang’s future ring of their own. Or Maximus Savage could turn things around and have Lynch be the victim of their first bout, as a way of making him “pay” for his repeated failures while also taking the fighting ring out for a spin.
I can see it now.....Mike Mitchell yelling his lungs out into a wired microphone that hangs from the ceiling, the boxing bell going off constantly, and then him going “ONE! TWO! THREE! OH! DO YOU SEE THAT?! ROCCO LYNCH IS DOWN! I REPEAT, ROCCO LYNCH IS DOWN! GOOD NIGHT, EVERYBODY!” or something like that. And then he snags all the money from the bets and becomes the richest man around.
I’m interested to see how Sapphire Angel’s visit and conversation with Lockheed will go if her headache is still with her by that time. Maybe she’ll have trouble forming complete thoughts or sentences, and who knows how that’ll impact Lockheed’s view on her?
I see Labor Day doesn’t mean much of a break for epic superheroine novel writers like ourselves! I’m about to go write another chapter of my next one once I’m done here!