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 48
Things were looking up for Rocco Lynch, even if his first week in Harrisburg had not gone as planned. By now, Savage had learned of the hit on the mixed martial artists in Hershey. Although it hadn’t been a lead story across the nation — the gang was causing mayhem in too many other cities — it had received ample coverage. Savage would be pleased.
The Hershey job might not be enough for Lynch to maintain his lofty status in the gang, but it should spare him his life. Savage had cancelled their morning video conference, and Lynch hadn’t given it a second thought. His boss was probably busy putting out fires elsewhere.
It was Saturday night, and Lynch was getting a case of cabin fever from his extended time in the dingy schoolhouse the gang used as its hideout. He needed to get out. The muscular man rose and moved to the steel cabinet in the corner, which he used for a closet, but he stopped as feet shuffled behind him. He turned to see the compact form of Vick Dillard, one of his most trusted men, standing in the doorway, his short red hair gleaming from a light bulb dangling from the ceiling. He wore a worried look on his face.
“What’s wrong, Vick?” Lynch asked.
Dillard clenched his teeth and shook his head. “This might not be good,” he said.
Lynch frowned and twirled a finger, signaling for Dillard to get to the point.
Dillard stepped into the room and said, “I can’t be sure, but Savage might be coming here.”
Lynch’s head recoiled, as if someone had smacked him. “No,” he replied. “I would know if he was coming.”
Dillard shook his head. “I heard the chatter among some of the guys. He’s pissed about something. But you’re right — you’d think we’d have heard if he was coming. This might be nothing.”
Lynch’s thoughts churned from one possibility to another, trying to guess what the news meant. Dillard was popular among the other gang members, and would be tuned in to their chatter. Sweat beaded on Lynch’s forehead. If Savage was coming to town, and not telling Lynch, it could only mean one thing.
“What do you think?” Lynch asked, his voice tight with tension. “Is he coming?”
Dillard shrugged. “The guys have no reason to make this up. And the info is pretty detailed, saying he’ll be here Monday, after an important meeting with a politician in Illinois on Sunday. And they say he’s bringing some of his inner circle with him.”
“Shit,” Lynch muttered. Today was Saturday, which meant he had two days. And maybe not even that long. “Did they say what he’s pissed about?”
“They don’t seem to know. They say the word is that you fucked up big time, and it has nothing to do with guns. Something new.”
“Shit, shit, shit!” Lynch muttered, and swiveled to pace the room as he ran a hand over his bald head.
Dillard said nothing as Lynch marched back and forth. Lynch paused as he glanced at a computer screen depicting the surveillance footage of Italian Lake, near the gang’s secret entrance. The sight of Italian Lake reminded Lynch of his first view of Sapphire Angel as she patrolled the lake. And it gave him an idea. Something he should have thought of three days earlier, when he first saw her. Lynch turned back to Dillard.
“If Savage is coming here without telling me, he’s coming here to kill me. And maybe you guys, too. There’s only one way to stop it. We need to nail the biggest job of all. We need to deliver Sapphire Angel to Savage, wrapped up like a present with a bow on top. Or we need to kill her.”
“How are we going to find her? It’s not like she lists her address online.”
Lynch smiled. “I have an idea,” he said. “Tomorrow we lay the bait for the superheroine. And once she takes it, we crush her.”
Larry Oberkfell felt like he was living in a movie scene as he walked down the dark alley, with fog swirling about his ankles. In the movies and on television, people always conducted secret meetings in misty alleys, or perhaps in warehouses. And in those movies and television shows, people ended up dead.
But if Oberkfell didn’t attend this meeting, he still might end up dead. He was out of options. Once Oberkfell’s concoctions stopped working, Savage would lose his patience and turn his anger on the pseudo-doctor. That would happen any day now. So Oberkfell would wait here in the alley, hoping he survived long enough to meet the strange man with silver eyes. And, of course, hoping he survived the meeting.
His eyes darted about the alley, taking in trash gathered around several dumpsters, its stench overwhelming his senses. A bird, or perhaps a rat, shrieked nearby, and he jumped, nearly leaving his feet.
As he caught his breath, another movement startled him, this time from his right. Out of the fog, appearing like a ghost, walked the stranger, stalking toward him. The stranger’s face was pale, with the hood of his black robes darkening only some of his sharp features. His eyes, though, were what stood out. Silver in color, they were lifeless, but they filled the alley with their presence. They went right through Oberkfell, as if they saw to the center of his soul, and stripped him bare. Oberkfell swallowed, and almost choked from the effort.
“Hel… hello,” Savage’s doctor stammered.
The hooded man said nothing, pulling a small briefcase from the folds of his robe and extending it toward Oberkfell.
“I put instructions for mixing and storage in the front pocket,” the man said, his voice soft and almost melodious, but still commanding.
“Okay,” Oberkfell nodded, his hands trembling as he reached out and took the briefcase. “I’ve already wired the payment as you instructed.”
“I know,” the man replied, standing still and taking in Oberkfell, who shrank under the gaze.
The man continued to stare, and Oberkfell felt compelled to speak.
“Wh… why, if this works as well as you demonstrated the last time, are you selling it only to me?” he asked. Then he had a thought. This strange man was frightening, but so was Maximus Savage. “Does Savage frighten you, too? You want to win his favor? Because I’m not sure I can tell him where I got this.”
For the first time, an expression crossed the strange man’s visage. A thin smile, or perhaps a smirk, appeared on his face.
“I have my reasons,” he said in his haunting voice. “I will get something out of this arrangement, too. Something far more valuable than your paltry funds. I play the long game. That is all you need to know.”
When he finished speaking, the silver-eyed man stepped back into the fog, and a moment later disappeared from view. He might have simply walked away, but to Oberkfell it seemed as if he vanished like an apparition.
Still shaking, Savage’s doctor looked down at the briefcase. If this worked, and amplified Savage’s strength and abilities, his dealings with the silver-eyed man would continue. The thought terrified him, but not as much as the alternative — death or horrible pain at the hands of Maximus Savage. Taking a deep breath, Oberkfell turned and retreated down the alley. He needed to get home and pack for Savage’s upcoming trip to Pennsylvania.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
$100 that Lynch’s plan fails here. .....Or at least, that’s what I WOULD be saying if college life wasn’t currently making me broke AF at the moment. I don’t know what’s worse; the boss telling his subordinate that he failed him and that he’s coming to dispose of him because of it, or just outright not telling him at all and leaving him with that constant, overwhelming sense of lingering dread. Sapphire’s tenure against the Savage Gang hasn’t gone TOO badly; she’s beaten their agents at almost every turn, foiled a few of their hits, and also successfully bailed out against Lynch and his crew themselves, though not without the help of her car. We’re also a decent way into the novel at this point; maybe Sapphire gets out of this okay, Savage kills Lynch and his crew for their failures, and he officially moves into Harrisburg, ready to start Book #5? And with Howard Vincent still acting as his mole in the police force, there’s no telling what he’ll be able to get away with.
I feel like the silver-eyed man is taking a WAY better approach to dealing with Sapphire than Majid Azari is. I’d even go as far as to say that Azari bites the dust first, out of the two of them. (gasp) Maybe the substances that the silver-eyed man is providing to Oberkfell are how he plans to mold Maximus Savage into the “Sapphire Angel-defeating champion” that he’s been looking for for the past few novels! I’m still slightly worried that Savage will just die from the drug overdose effects before even getting a crack at our heroine, but if the silver-eyed man really IS keen on making Savage into his champion, then I don’t think he’d let him die THAT easily. .....Or Savage could die in his very first encounter with Sapphire due to a combination of her combat prowess and the drugs, and then the silver-eyed man will just be like, “Okay, f*** him. On to the next subject.”
Maybe the silver-eyed man kidnapped Cal Valik somewhere along the line and forced him to use his intellect to develop the new drugs! But.....but then again, Roy Valik’s work was mostly on Sapphire Angel and her attributes/powers; he never really dabbled in anything performance-enhancing besides potentially the Noctecite.
I wonder if Azari will be making another appearance here, and if he does, whether or not he’ll have anything to say about the silver-eyed man’s dealings with Oberkfell. Maybe he’d get “impatient” at the man’s “slow approach” and further decide to take care of Sapphire himself.
I’m interested to see what the new substances do to Savage. Let’s get to it!