Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (Book 4)
Savage Vengeance (Book 5 - this story)
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 14
Olivia Lockheed pulled the bedroom door shut behind her, before leaning against it and closing her eyes. She slid to the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest. Everything was falling apart. That had been a close call. Too close. And for what?
She, Lynch, and Michaels were now at an FBI safe house. They had driven around the city outskirts for two hours, waiting for authorization to use the safe house and to learn its whereabouts. The bureau only disclosed the location in exceptional circumstances. This situation fit the bill.
What a difference a day made. Yesterday she had thought the gang was extinct — finished by Sapphire Angel. Sapphire Angel.
The thought of the superheroine distracted Lockheed and sent her pulse racing. Like many people, Lockheed was infatuated with the blonde bombshell. Unlike many people, though, Lockheed had encountered the stunning woman up close and personal. In fact, to gain leverage over the heroine, Lockheed had trapped and ensnared her. For a moment, Lockheed had run her hands over the woman’s delectable body. Sapphire Angel had escaped, but the FBI woman had relived that moment in her dreams every night since.
After her own close call with the gang, Lockheed had a newfound appreciation for the costumed woman’s achievements. But Lockheed failed to understand why Sapphire Angel put herself in danger to save the city. She received nothing in return, except public adulation. Would the heroine still put herself in harm’s way, if it were a job? Would she do it if she received Lockheed’s paltry salary? If someone repossessed her rental car? If she were stuck in a safe house?
Lockheed climbed to her feet and looked around the room, which was one of four bedrooms in the small rancher. This one had a full bed, a nightstand and dresser, and an easy chair next to a window. The curtains were drawn, but, when open, the windows looked out on a field of grass behind the house, extending the length of a football field to a wooded area. No other houses or buildings were in view.
She was stuck here, since the gang was looking for Lynch. The accommodations weren’t terrible, but she couldn’t take advantage of the situation by vacating her hotel room and giving her credit card a much-needed breather. She would need to retrieve her items, which would fill a moving van. It would put her in the public view for too long.
She shook her head and frowned. The gang had no way to discover she was staying at the hotel, but she would wait a few days just to be safe. Maybe even a week. And in the meantime, her charges would continue to mount.
The only way to speed up the situation would be to track down the gangsters and put an end to them. Then this whole mess of an ordeal would be over, and she could return to Boston. Better yet, the media and her superiors would shower her with accolades.
But how would she find the gang, let alone stop them? She knew the answer. Her best bet at stopping the Savage Gang was to partner with Sapphire Angel. The heroine had already thwarted the gang more than once. But Lockheed had burned any bridges with the costumed woman when she had ambushed her, nearly stripping her and having her way with her.
There was another possibility. Lockheed glanced at the burner phone in her hand, frowning. She hated depending on Howard Vincent, her boss, but she was out of options. Lockheed needed to put an end to the gang.
She raised the phone, dialed a secure number, and, when prompted, entered her access code and a passcode. At the next tone, she dialed Vincent’s number. She waited while her call bounced through several secure relays, masking her location.
Vincent picked up after a single ring.
“Hello, Olivia,” he answered, his voice shaking and raspy. He sounded barely alive, as his battles with cigarettes and lung cancer had taken a severe toll. “Any news there?”
“Nothing, if you don’t count being stuck in a safe house,” Lockheed muttered. “We have Lynch with us. Savage and his goons attacked the police station, and we barely made it out.”
Vincent was silent for several moments. “I’m sorry to learn that, Olivia. Where is the safe house? I can try to send backup.”
His offer was tempting, but a sixth-sense kicked in. Lockheed remembered her training at Quantico. Only disclose a safe house’s location to a superior, and then only in situations of absolute trust, and where there is no risk of compromised communications. The sixth sense warned her not to share too much with Vincent.
“It’s… at a safe spot,” she said. “And I’m stuck here.”
Another few seconds passed before Vincent spoke.
“Chin up, Olivia,” he said, before coughing for several seconds.
“Easy for you to say!” Lockheed snapped. “You’re probably in your waterfront condo, while I’m stuck here with minimal resources. And now Savage is in town, and I might be on his hit list! Shouldn’t the entire bureau be here to hunt him down?”
“Like I said, if you tell me where you are, I can try to send reinforcements.”
“So you’ll send reinforcements to back me up at the safe house, but that’s it? Why aren’t those reinforcements already on their way here to take down the gang?”
Lockheed’s mind raced, trying to make sense of Vincent’s position. Something didn’t add up.
“Is that what you want?” he asked. “I know you, Olivia, and you don’t want to share the glory. And Savage may be in Harrisburg, but the gang has been quiet there, at least compared to the hell they’re raising in some bigger cities. Am I supposed to let those cities burn to the ground? Sending a few people to help guard Lynch is a lot different than sending a force capable of taking down the Savage Gang.”
Lockheed frowned. She still couldn’t shake the feeling something wasn’t right. The FBI had been pursuing Maximus Savage since before she joined the bureau, and now her boss knew where Savage was, or at least which city he was targeting. And yet Vincent wasn’t planning to seize the moment. It didn’t add up. But he was right about one thing — she wanted a chance to do this herself.
“You’re right,” she said. “Give me a chance before you send anyone. Have you gotten any results back on those hard drives?”
Ten days earlier, a clue had led Lockheed to a gun shop south of Harrisburg. She had taken Beth Harper with her, as the owner had dealt with Harper in the past, and had been fond of her. Lockheed hoped Harper might entice him to cooperate. After Lockheed and Harper arrived, though, an explosion had ripped through the shop, injuring Harper, killing the owner, and damaging his computer. FBI technicians had been attempting to salvage the computer’s hard drives ever since.
“I haven’t heard a peep,” Vincent replied.
“Nothing, sir? That’s odd.” Very odd. The lab would have told the FBI boss about any failures, at the very least.
Vincent remained silent as Lockheed continued.
“I’ll check on it myself,” she said. “I know someone in the labs at Quantico who should have access to that sort of info.”
“Olivia, that’s not a good career move. You need to follow the chain of command here, just like you did with the safe house.”
“But —”
“No ‘buts.’ Any word on those drives will come to me first. Understood?”
A tense moment of silence hung in the air before Lockheed replied.
“Understood,” she said. “I need to go. Enjoy your view.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Lockheed closed her eyes and inhaled. Did she want to get into this? Yes. To hell with protocol.
“It’s just like I suggested a minute ago. It means you’re enjoying the good life up there, while I’m down here on the shitty bureau stipend, staying in a cramped safe house.” And now stuck with a shitty government-issued car, since they repossessed mine.
Instead of consoling her, Vincent did something unexpected — he laughed.
“What’s so funny?” she hissed, as his cackling filled the line.
“I’m not clueless, Olivia. I’ve seen the balance in your bank account, and on your credit cards. You’re lucky you’re in that safe house, because your credit cards won’t get you much further.”
“How dare you pry into my private —”
“Olivia!” Vincent interrupted. “My job is to learn about all my people. Everything about them. Everything.”
Lockheed froze, and she felt beads of perspiration on her forehead. Was he trying to imply he knew about her sexual adventures? She gritted her teeth. The old bastard had gone too far.
“Don’t worry, Olivia,” he continued. “You have nothing to worry about — compared to some people, at least. Just keep your head down and do your job.”
Lockheed didn’t reply. Was that a threat? Was he telling her to toe the line and follow orders, or he’d reveal her most private secrets? She couldn’t be sure, but she didn’t want to find out. Here in her hometown, certain parts of her life — certain domineering proclivities — could be very embarrassing.
“Yes, sir,” she said. “Please, just let me know if you hear anything about the hard drives.”
She hung up the phone, biting her lip. She wouldn't let the old fart bully her, if that was what he was trying to do. Lockheed could trust her contact in the FBI labs to keep his mouth shut. She would see what he could find out, Vincent be damned. As she sat back and shook her head, she couldn’t shake the feeling something wasn’t right with the old man.
Wayne “the Hammer” Steele paced among the rows of men standing at attention in the locker room. The wealthy business executive felt at home in this role — overseeing others. He had been a colonel in the United States Marines, and now worked as an entrepreneur and real-estate developer, leading a company of several hundred people.
“At ease!” Steele barked, and the sixteen men relaxed.
They stood four to a row, wearing military-style fatigues. The fatigues, though, weren’t desert or green camouflage. These outfits were a bright gold. The Hammer was known for his flair, and the uniforms of his men reflected that flair. The gold contrasted with shiny black body armor, strapped to various points on the men’s bodies. Each man wore a gleaming gold helmet with a dark visor hiding his face.
A chest emblem on each uniform depicted a fist clutching a hammer. Steele wouldn’t pass up the opportunity for a little branding. Each man also wore a hip holster containing a powerful handgun, and sported several knives sheathed at several points on his body.
Steele surveyed his men. He would have preferred twice this number, but he stressed quality, not quantity. He had vetted each man to ensure one trait — each man was a combat machine.
“You men have shown your dedication by arriving here so quickly,” he said in a deep but gravelly voice. “I will pay you well, but our calling is noble, and more important than money. You know why you are here — to save this city from the Savage Gang. Where law enforcement has fallen down, you — the Justice Seekers — will rise. We will no longer rely on an overrun police force, and we certainly won’t leave this job to a little girl in a costume.”
Steele allowed his words to sink in before continuing.
“I have thought this through,” he said. “The gang uses terror and intimidation as a weapon. We won’t let that affect us. You each arrived here alone, with no past knowledge of one another. I planned it that way, to keep your identities and backgrounds secret. I won’t allow the gang to target your friends or family. And this place is secret, too. Make yourselves comfortable, but not too comfortable. Before long, we’ll be hunting the Savage Gang.”
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (Book 4)
Savage Vengeance (Book 5 - this story)
So I realized while reading the first portion of this chapter that, yes, Howard Vincent has thrown his own lot in with the Savage Gang, assisting Savage out with Harrisburg's police department. And I'm definitely sure that ties into his interactions with Lockheed in the opening part.....but I think he may have taken it too far when he revealed that he knew way more than he was supposed to know. Maybe he inadvertently set Lockheed on him and didn't know it? Either way, it seems like she's closer to finding out more about the Savage Gang than she thinks. And.....ugh. Speaking of which, the last half of the first part really got me thinking about whether or not there even IS hope of a Sapphire Angel/Olivia Lockheed team-up anymore, especially after the fiasco in the previous novel. I highly doubt Sapphire would want to see Lockheed's face again, or if she did, it'd certainly give her at least a brief episode of PTSD. It'd certainly be better than Howard Vincent, of course, because he's a dang mole for the Savage Gang.
More about Wayne Steele, too! But the "Justice Seekers"? I chuckled for a good bit at that. I think they're just going to be that group that gets constantly shown up by Sapphire over and over throughout the novel just to highlight how skilled she is, perhaps. Maybe eventually, Wayne Steele will concede that Sapphire has potential, and might want to form an alliance? Or maybe he'll get "jealous" that she's coming along further in her investigation than he is, and start hunting her down instead/in addition?
Either way, it looks like the Savage Gang has way more people after them than ever: Sapphire Angel & her allies, Olivia Lockheed & the FBI, and now Wayne Steele & the Justice Seekers. Turns out that no matter how dark and sick humanity can be at times (looking at you, Lockheed), they can still act as one when threatened by a common foe. If all three factions teamed up by the novel's climax......that'd be one heck of a backdrop indeed! I get that the Savage Gang's a particularly big threat.....but just imagine how the Justice Seekers would've been if they came out to combat Fizzure, StarPrime, and WarTech, too!
Will certainly be dropping by again next time! Oh, and is this novel longer or shorter than "Savage Dawn"?