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 51
Beth awoke the next morning, shivered, and pulled her blankets up to her chin. It was the day of Sapphire Angel’s showdown with the Savage Gang, so she had returned last evening to spend the night in the guest bedroom at Stanley and Betsy Devor's home. Stanley had suggested she stay over so they could wake up and immediately start preparing for her big encounter.
Beth rose from the bed, stretched, and moved to the window. She slid back the curtain and saw frost forming in the corners of the window panes, and noticed an ominous cloud cover in the sky. With a frown, she grabbed her iPad and headed to the kitchen. There was no sign of Stanley or Mrs. Devor. After pulling her chair up to the table, she tapped to load the weather forecast on her iPad.
A storm was coming. Not just any storm, but a big nor’easter was moving up the coast, and was due to hit the area by the evening. According to the forecast, it should drop several inches of snow before her confrontation with the gang. That might make things… interesting.
Perhaps the storm wouldn’t be such a bad thing. The town had been abuzz with anticipation for the confrontation, with people posting on social media about their plans to locate the showdown. A pummeling snowstorm should send most of them back inside before the encounter and make it hard for anyone to stumble upon it.
After checking the weather, Beth loaded some local news sites. A surreal experience awaited her. Normally, she read of Sapphire Angel’s exploits after the fact, but now headlines jumped out at her, anticipating the superheroine’s clash with the Savage Gang, and pondering the fate of Megan Lawlor, the kidnapped news anchor.
Sapphire Angel vs. The Savage Gang, one headline read. Will Our Angel Take the Challenge? another queried. Beth skimmed the articles, which discussed the obvious — the confrontation was surely a trap for the superheroine. The articles mentioned, though, how Sapphire Angel had proven she wasn’t stupid. If she did confront the gang, she wouldn’t walk blindly into whatever they had cooked up for her.
“They’re right,” Stanley’s voice came from behind her. “You won’t be going in blind.” She turned to find him peering at the story over her shoulder.
“What do you mean?”
“I have cameras out at the lake,” he replied.
“What?” she exclaimed. “They warned against that sort of thing! You could have gotten killed.”
“I put the cameras up a few hours before they gave the warning at the TV studio,” he said.
“I… I don’t understand. We didn’t even learn of the showdown until then.”
“No, but I learned about the lake before then. Do you remember the recording from the audio bug at the jail? The one with the inaudible parts? I was able to boost and enhance it yesterday morning to make it out. Not the whole thing, but I heard them mention Italian Lake. I didn't know why it was important, but I went up to there by myself yesterday afternoon and planted some of my surveillance cameras. I was hoping the cameras would record something for me to turn over to the police, but then the whole thing at the TV station happened, and I knew you’d never let it pass.”
“Stanley! It still could have been dangerous. They could have been there themselves.”
“All they would have seen would have been an old man with a metal detector, searching hopelessly for treasure, and occasionally bending down to examine a potential discovery, or reaching up to admire a tree, or stopping to examine the beautiful light posts.”
“Why didn’t you tell me last night when I got here?”
“For the same reason I didn’t mention the weather forecast, when I realized you were oblivious to the approaching storm. You needed your sleep, so I didn’t want to get you too excited.”
“Fair enough, I guess,” Beth murmured. “Will the cameras work at night?”
“Yes. They can toggle between night vision and thermal imaging. Night vision requires some light, so heavy snow and fog might mess with it. But thermal imaging picks up heat sources and is still pretty good in the snow. Not perfect, though.”
Beth wanted to reach out and hug Stanley, but refrained. She turned, blinking back tears, touched by all he continued to do for her. Her dangerous lifestyle had to be difficult for him, but he had been the one to call her after seeing the gang’s challenge. He had tried to dissuade her from confronting the gang, but once she made clear she intended to go through with it, he had channeled his energy into helping her.
Mrs. Devor entered the kitchen, and Beth and Stanley turned to small talk. Although Mrs. Devor knew of Beth's impending showdown, there was no sense dwelling on it and getting her upset. The motherly woman moved about the kitchen, and within a few minutes was placing plates of pancakes, bacon, eggs, and fruit on the table. They ate without saying much, as tension hung in the air like the dark clouds of the looming storm.
After everyone finished, Beth pushed herself back from the table and looked at Stanley.
"Ready to get to work?" she asked.
Beth emerged from Stanley's office four hours later, feeling good about her chances. She held a tiny earbud in her hand. The device would allow Stanley to communicate with her, and it would remain hidden under her long hair when she wore it down as Sapphire Angel.
Stanley, with Mrs. Devor's help, also had spent an hour securing a miniature microphone to her costume, hiding it underneath the edge of one of the white buttons on the collar. The microphone was directional, and aimed toward her mouth, so Stanley should hear her even if she spoke softly. It also would serve as a tracking beacon, so he could observe her location as long as she stayed in range.
He would track her from his van, which had all the equipment he needed. He would mount several computer screens in the cargo area of the van, so he could monitor the cameras hidden around the lake while she stalked the gang. They had decided to use the van, since it had all-wheel drive and a higher clearance than Sapphire Angel's car, which wasn't suited for driving in a snowstorm.
"One more thing," he said, calling out after her as she stepped away from his office. She turned and stepped back into the doorway.
"Yes?" she asked.
"We don't know how many of these goons you'll be facing tonight. You need to promise me you'll retreat and pull the plug if there are too many."
Beth twisted her mouth in a frown, opened her mouth to speak, and stopped. Stanley raised an eyebrow and gave her a long stare.
Beth sighed. "Fine," she said. "I'll pull the plug if there are too many. But that goes both ways. I don’t want you hanging around if things go bad. Not that I expect it to, but if they somehow subdue me, and discover the earpiece and mic, they might suspect someone is nearby. Just get out of there if it goes south. No sense in both of us getting in trouble. And take off if they get near your location, even if I’m still okay."
It was Stanley's turn to twist his mouth in a frown, but after a few moments, he nodded. "If that's what it takes to get you to agree to abort the mission if there are too many of them, fine."
"Good," Beth said with a smile. Before Stanley could say more, she turned and scurried back through the kitchen, down the hall, and to the stairs, hoping he didn't try to parse her words. She hadn't agreed on the meaning of "too many" because it was now or never. Tomorrow was the tenth day since the gang’s appearance at the Thompson Center. If she didn’t stop the Savage Gang tonight, reinforcements would arrive in the city, and they might grow too powerful for her to stop.
As she stepped onto the stairs, she realized she hadn’t given a single thought to her physical condition all day. She felt completely recovered from the explosion. Beth verified her health a moment later by sprinting up the stairs to test herself. Just the thought of being at full strength filled her with excitement.
She descended the stairwell, hopping down every other step, and experienced no symptoms. Or did she? She couldn't determine whether she felt a very faint tinge of lightheadness, or if she was just buzzing from the excitement of looking forward to tonight's encounter. It was probably just excitement, but it didn't matter — tonight she fought the gang, no matter what.
As turned to climb the stairs again, she spotted Stanley at the end of the hall, near the kitchen, with a smirk on his face.
“Glad to see you're feeling well and weren't giving me a white lie," he said. "But now go get some more rest. We’ll eat a late dinner, find a movie to watch, and then head out to take down this gang, once and for all.”
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
I AM HYPED, MY GUY! (gives hug)
I mean, the previous novels ALSO had neat, amazing climaxes, but this one.....oh, boy. It’s still less high-stakes than, say, “Power Play” (which revolved around averting a nuclear breach and saving the President’s life), but for some reason, I’m preparing more popcorn for this climax than I did for that climax. For “Deconstruction”, I’d say it was my huge, Marvel Cinematic Universe-like expectations that kind of made me feel a little winded at how short the fight with Sapphire Angel, Mark Devlin, and Senator Chappelle was, and I feel like that same problem is happening with me here. Still, I would love to see a chaotic, multi-faction fight going on inside that garage. It could be Sapphire Angel, the Savage Gang, Olivia Lockheed and the FBI, Stanley & Mrs. Devor (via the technology), AND maybe throw Conner and Ethan AND the sentient car in there somewhere for the heck of it.
Sapphire Angel tries to take down the Gang, Lockheed and the FBI try to arrest the Savage Gang while Lockheed also tries to apprehend Sapphire Angel, Stanley & Mrs. Devor keep tabs from the base, and maybe Conner comes home early from his trip (after somehow learning of the showdown) and drags an unwilling Ethan with him to try and stop her. .....Unless Conner leaving for his conference was his last appearance for this novel; it sure sounded like it was, at least to me.
Stanley Devor is really coming into his own as the “tech guy” of the whole operation, though Conner isn’t necessarily a slouch himself, either. He’s MORE than earned his position as Beth/Sapphire Angel’s mentor/provider/advisor/what have you. That inconspicuous way he placed the cameras, though.....dang. I wouldn’t have thought twice about his suspicious activity if I were a guard over there, that’s for sure. I just hope he stays on Sapphire’s side; if he were to defect to the villains (and similarly, if Raven Tristan from “Power Play” were to defect to the heroes), then both of those would certainly throw wrenches into things.
You did say this novel would end with some “false hope”? ‘Cause of that, I’m probably going to be looking for both positive and negative elements by this novel’s “end” (I say that ‘cause it’s a two-novel adventure). Can’t want for the scene when Conner and Ethan just barge into the garage and start driving up, then Conner nonchalantly runs over and kills Rocco Lynch, Vick Dillard, Smash, AND Mike Mitchell.....before berating Sapphire AGAIN for getting into such a dangerous situation, all while Ethan just stands back awkwardly and twiddles his thumbs. .....I’m sorry, I’m just going to be suggesting imagined scenarios in my head until we get to the ACTUAL climax. Whole reason I started the Paragon Cinematic Universe over on Wattpad was to vent said imagination, anyways!
Can’t wait for it! I’ll tune in again on Monday!