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 49
A game changer. That’s what it would take for Rocco Lynch to save his life, if the rumors of Savage’s trip to Harrisburg were true. And that's why Lynch and three of his men sat in a van across from the Channel 10 studios, waiting for the right moment to move into action. This would be the first part of his plan — laying the bait for Sapphire Angel. The second part of his plan — eliminating the superheroine or delivering her to Savage — would come later. If he succeeded, Savage would spare his life. Or so he hoped.
“You guys know what you're supposed to do?” he asked, turning to Vick Dillard, Smash, and Mike Mitchell. The three men stood hunched in the rear of the van, their bodies tensed for action. He had told nobody of his plan except for these three men, whom he trusted completely. Anyone else might rat him out to Savage, who would think he was panicking. Savage might then accelerate whatever retribution he had planned. Lynch would wait to call in reinforcements until the next stage of his plan, when it would be too late for tattletales.
“Yep,” Vick replied. “As long as the floor plans are right.”
“They’re right,” Lynch replied, although he wouldn’t be sure until they were inside. To keep his plans secret, he hadn’t used his normal sources to get information for the operation, but had contacted a computer hacker from his former gang. It had taken the hacker all night, and part of the next day, but a few hours ago he had come through with floor plans for the studio, and a schedule of employees who would be present.
“Let’s suit up, then,” Dillard said, before the four men donned their black body armor and hard rubber masks. At a quick glance, they looked identical, although a closer look revealed them to be of slightly different heights and builds.
Lynch looked down at his watch. Six o’clock. He climbed between the seats into the driver’s seat of the van, started the engine, and moved the gearshift into gear, pulling the van forward to a stop sign. He waited for a break in traffic, before shooting across the main road and into the lane leading to studios. The lane made a gradual curve to the right for thirty yards, before extending another forty yards straight ahead and ending in front of wide concrete stairs. A bank of glass doors sat at the top of the stairs.
The building had been built in the 1970s, and it showed. It had curving lines, walls of concrete and glass, and the stations’ call symbol displayed in large swirling letters on the front of the building.
The van screeched to a stop at the base of the steps, stopping in the fire lane. His men poured out the side door of the van, and Lynch hopped out of the driver’s seat.
Without delay, they streamed up the steps of the building and flung open the front doors. They stormed into a large lobby, across from a curved reception counter. Two doors sat across the lobby on the wall to the left of the entrance, and a hall extended straight ahead, at the end of the counter. A young woman sat behind the counter and looked up in surprise as the men burst through the doors. Although the counter hid her hands, Lynch could see her reach for something in front of her.
“Do it and you’re dead!” Lynch barked.
Footsteps came from the hall, and a tall, skinny man in a security guard’s uniform came into view. The man skidded to a stop, his eyes wide in fear and shock, and a moment later both the woman and the guard raised their hands. Lynch nodded. Smart move. Perhaps he would have to spare the guard serious injury, as the man had recognized this situation as being above his pay grade.
“On your knees!” Lynch ordered. The woman and guard dropped to the floor in a heartbeat, and two of Lynch’s men came forward to bind their wrists and their ankles with rope, before slapping pieces of duct tape over their mouths and leaving them hogtied. They left the man bound on the floor in the hallway, and the woman trussed up on the floor behind the reception desk.
Lynch and his men rushed down the hall to a set of double doors at the end. An electronic sign above the door blinked a message in flashing red letters, “LIVE ON AIR - DO NOT ENTER.”
Ignoring the sign, Lynch crashed through the doors. He and his men found themselves in the television news studio, not far from the set for the live broadcast. Two large cameras faced away from them, toward a curved wooden desk with lights hanging at angles above it.
Vick Dillard peeled off to the left, toward a control room overlooking the studio from behind a wide glass window. Lynch, Smash, and Mitchell stormed forward toward the set. Two stunned camera operators and a director spun toward them, just before the three gangsters pummeled them with crushing blows to the face, sending them to the floor like marionettes whose string had been cut.
The on-air talent sat behind the curved desk. An attractive woman with dark hair sat to the right, and a middle-aged man with graying hair and strong features sat to the left. Another woman, this one a bit more plain looking, sat at the far end of the desk. The presence of these three anchors disappointed Lynch. Because it was Sunday night, the channel’s main anchors weren’t on the job, and the second string staffed the desk. As a result, the psychological impact of this attack would be less.
Lynch and the other two men rushed the desk, counting on Dillard to secure the control room. Each of the anchors slid their chairs back, tripping over themselves to get away. They didn’t make it. Lynch and his two men hurdled the desk, each man grabbing one of the three television personalities.
In unison, they dragged the women and man back toward the desk. The women screamed, and the man screamed even louder. Lynch and his men silenced them by slamming them forward, bouncing their heads off the desks. The sound of the man’s head hitting the wooden desk was the worst, echoing through the room as blood sprayed about the studio. The three television personalities stood unconscious on their feet, in the grasp of the gangsters, before the brutal men flung them onto the desk, where they lay there still.
Within two minutes after entering the building, the invaders controlled the studio. The entire time, the cameras kept running under Dillard’s watchful eye in the control room.
Lynch turned to the middle camera across from the desk, which had a light illuminated on the top to identify it as the live camera.
“We’re here today to deliver a message. To Sapphire Angel.” A malevolent grin crossed his face, below his mask.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
......Isn’t this the second time that Lynch and his crew hijacked some kind of live video feed and tried to send a threat to Sapphire Angel? The other one being that whole skirmish at the MMA match that Beth actually saw? Granted, at least when it comes to the fighters and the news team, none of them had the excuse of seeing the Savage Gang coming; it was a complete ambush, in other words, so the Gang would’ve likely gotten the upper hand anyway with their skills. But, like, especially with the MMA fight, I wonder if the victims would’ve fared any better if someone had gotten away and managed to warn the fighters in time before the Gang stormed their rooms; maybe they would’ve had more time to make a plan......or maybe they wouldn’t, considering how ruthless and effective the Savage Gang are. The news team, though, obviously aren’t combatants; they just get word out to people. Then again, I guess that shows how low the Gang’ll stoop, if they’re willing to attack people who aren’t even capable of defending themselves just to get their points across to a singular person.
Wonder what they have to say! I get that we tried to follow up on Lynch’s threats at the MMA match by trying further to find their hideout, but then we got caught up with the whole bomb shop attack, the hospital stay, the stay at Stanley Devor’s house, and the whole “Olivia Lockheed goes bat**** insane and tries to bend Sapphire Angel to her will” business. .....Maybe Lockheed will still be able to work with Beth even after that, as long as Beth agrees to hold off her sarcasm and Lockheed agrees to hold off on her domineering behavior.....both of which will likely never happen if we’re being real. Maybe they should’ve dragged one of the anchors in front of the camera and gave them a fatal headshot live on the air for everyone to see so that they’d come across as even more threatening......but then again, that’d probably set the authorities on them too early.
Let’s see how Sapphire wins against them this time!