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 15
“You’re a monster!” the voice screamed, and Maximus Savage cringed. The voice belonged to his sister, even though she had been dead for five years — killed by his own hands. He realized he was dreaming, but still the scene played out as it always did. He told her of the atrocities he had committed in Afghanistan, and she showed him no forgiveness. Only judgement. Every time.
And it wasn’t just her. It was all of them. Friends. Family. Everyone. They all levied judgement upon him whenever he risked sharing his past. His government’s betrayal was bad enough, but this was worse, feeing his loved ones turn their backs on him, too. He didn’t consider it might have more to do with who he was, deep down, than what he had done. He only knew they had shunned him.
Savage came back to the present, opening his eyes and looking out the window toward the ground far below the Gulfstream G200. They should reach the prison soon. He would see Augustus Bell, the only living person who had been there when the match had been lit. When Savage’s country had betrayed him.
Behind him, back in Harrisburg, the rest of the gang was moving into high gear. Before leaving, he had made his point clear to the rest of his men — the city should feel their full wrath without delay. The setback in Market Square wouldn’t deter them.
Maximus Savage turned away from the window and reached into a backpack on the seat next to him. He retrieved two pills from a small cannister and swallowed them. One would sooth his nausea for several hours, while the other would numb the pain from the rushed dental work performed an hour ago. The dentist had assured him the pain would be gone by morning, and he would be as good as new.
As he washed down the pills with sips from a bottle of water, he took in the plane's cabin. Several of his men sat nearby. If the FBI agents and analysts had been smarter, they would have thought to keep eyes on the commercial airstrip just south of the city. The airport, used for chartered flights, allowed for quick departures and arrivals. This was one such trip, as Savage hoped to be back in town by the morning.
Savage’s satellite phone rang. He recognized the number — Howard Vincent, the FBI’s Director of the National Violent Gang Task Force. Vincent’s calls often meant trouble, as he gave Savage advance notice of potential problems.
“Hello, Howard,” the gang leader answered. “What’s wrong now?”
“The hard drives,” Vincent said. “I don’t know what’s on them, but I’ve received some news through my channels. Our people have recovered some information.”
“What information?”
“I’m not sure. I only know they got something off them. And they’ll try to get the data to Olivia Lockheed, my lead agent in the city.”
“Damn it,” Savage muttered. “You need to have that bitch stand down. Make sure she doesn't do anything with the information.”
“You don’t know Olivia Lockheed very well, do you?” Vincent asked.
“I know her well enough to know she almost pissed her pants when she saw me at the Harrisburg police station.”
“Ah, yes,” Vincent replied. “I heard about your little caper. I also heard she got away with your guy.”
“Rocco Lynch is no longer my guy,” Savage snarled. “He stopped being my guy when he let some costumed superbabe kick his ass. That’s why I was paying him a visit at the police station. Your bitch — Lockheed — was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and could have gotten herself killed.”
“You might want to check with me next time,” Vincent replied. “I might have been able to tell you she was going to be there.”
“Can you tell me where she is now? I can make sure she doesn’t use any information on those drives, and I can get rid of Lynch at the same time.”
“I can’t tell you, because I don’t know. She’s in a safe house with Lynch, and even I’m not privy to the location. But be patient. She’s getting desperate, like I did a year ago. I’m waiting for the right time, and then she might come into our corner.”
Savage remained silent, chewing on this information. Having the head local agent under his thumb could be handy. Even more handy than having Vincent under his thumb, since Harrisburg was his biggest problem. In fact, Vincent might become redundant. If he could corral Lockheed, she might even help him get what he wanted more than anything — Sapphire Angel, broken, beaten, and on her knees.
“Fine,” Savage replied. “I’ll sit tight — for now. I’m busy for the night, anyway.”
“Care to tell me doing what?”
“Let’s just say I’m off to repay a debt that I can’t really ever repay. But I won’t stop trying.”
Olivia Lockheed walked down the safe house hallway and rapped on the bedroom door of her partner, Dave Michaels. The FBI man’s room sat between Rocco Lynch’s bedroom and the house’s small living room.
“Come in,” Michaels called from within.
Lockheed opened the door to find Michaels in jeans and a t-shirt. She thought of one word whenever she saw him — wholesome. He had a stocky build and short, red hair, paired with his bright, freckled face. Dave Michaels was an all-American boy.
“Any more reports?” she asked.
“Yes,” Michaels said with a despondent shake of the head. “It’s not good. The attack on the police station was only the tip of the iceberg, even though that's what the media is focused on. The gang is ramping up everything around the city. We have word they’re already setting up protection rackets in some areas, and that they’ve encroached on the turf of the local gambling bookies. And they’re moving into drugs, too. That’s on top of the normal hits on high-value targets. There have been several of those.”
“What?” Lockheed asked, her eyes bugging out. “It’s barely been twenty-four hours since Savage showed up at Market Square. They never move this fast! And that shouldn't even be possible!”
“This info has all just come in over the last hour. My guess is they’re trying to make a statement, to make up for the way Sapphire Angel embarrassed them.”
Sapphire Angel. A mix of emotions flooded Lockheed. Anger. Embarrassment at being shown up. And lust.
“That costumed floozy needs to butt out!” Lockheed snapped. “She’s causing more trouble than she’s solving.”
“You —” he began, but stopped.
“What?” Lockheed asked with a glare.
“Nothing. Is that why you stuck your head in my room? To find out what the gang is up to?”
“Yes and no. Dave, you powered down your phone, right?”
“Yes, like you told me to do. Why?”
Lockheed sighed. “What do you think about Vincent?” she asked.
Michaels stared at her for a moment.
“Vincent, as in Howard Vincent, our boss?” he asked, before giving a shrug. “Very accomplished. I’m never sure what he’s thinking, to be honest. He always seems two steps ahead of the rest of us. But you deal with him more than I do, so maybe you have a better idea.”
“Do you ever wonder how he affords his lifestyle? He doesn’t talk about it much, but he lives a very comfortable life.”
“Howard’s been around for a while,” Michaels replied. “He might save a lot. Or invest. What are you getting at?”
“I just have a bad feeling, which is why I wanted to make sure our phones are offline. He’s always pushing to know more about what we’re up to. And it's not in the way a boss would do it. I can’t explain it. It’s just a funny feeling I have. And that’s why I don’t like the idea of relying on him to figure out what to do next. But I’m out of ideas, and we need to find the gang.”
That wasn’t entirely true. Lockheed had an idea, but it was a long shot. It would involve reaching out to Sapphire Angel and enlisting the superheroine’s assistance. But after their last encounter, the costumed woman might not want to help.
Michaels stared at her, and his gaze moved to the top of the dresser a few feet away. A thin circular device, smaller than a dime, sat next to Michaels’s keyring. To the left of the keys sat a rectangular black box, the size of a smartphone, but with a smaller screen.
“What’s that?” Lockheed asked.
“If we get really desperate, it could help us find the gang. The small thing is a tracking chip, and the box monitors the chip. It was in the gear kit here in the house. I went through it earlier.”
Lockheed’s eyes narrowed. “Can the lab nerds use it to track us?” she asked.
“No,” Michaels replied, shaking his head. “The tracking chip pairs to a single device — that monitor right there. There’s no central repository or server where the data is stored. It’s transient, and just passes through a server.”
“Couldn’t they intercept it?”
“The data and the connection are encrypted. I suppose they could do something with some NSA-level stuff, perhaps. But the bureau isn’t doing that, as best I understand.”
“Good,” Lockheed replied. “But I still don’t understand how this helps us. We would need to find the gang first, to track them. And if we could find them, we wouldn’t need this gadget.”
“That’s not what I had in mind. We could take Lynch somewhere, plant the tracker on him, and leak his location.”
Lockheed raised an eyebrow.
“Use him as bait?” she asked.
“Yes, if we’re lucky. We’d have to count on Savage wanting to take him back to their base for more… punishment, and not just killing him outright.”
“Michaels, you surprise me. That sort of plan doesn’t fit your Boy Scout image.”
Michaels frowned and shrugged.
“I want to stay alive as much as anybody, Olivia. And the longer we’re in this town hunting the gang, the more likely I end up in a wooden box.”
“So that little coin-sized thing could track Lynch?”
“Until the battery dies. So about a day or two. It piggybacks a connection on any nearby smartphone or open Wi-Fi network to send its location. It uses GPS tracking when it can get a signal, or, if it can’t get a signal, it uses an advanced chip that combines an accelerometer, compass, magnetometer, and gyroscope. If there’s no signal, it won’t broadcast, obviously, but it will store all those measurements. All those measurements come pretty damn close to what a GPS signal will give it, according to our tech nerds.”
“That’s fine, but a day or two isn’t very long.”
“We wouldn’t need much more than that, would we? It lasts a lot longer if not transmitting. It can go into just record mode if you press the button on the back for three seconds. But then you need to retrieve it to download all the GPS coordinates and other data to that bigger device. That doesn’t help us, since we won’t get it back again if they take Lynch.”
“So we need to use the live-tracking feature and hope a day or two is enough.”
“Correct. To turn that part on, you press the button for about ten seconds.”
Lockheed stepped to the dresser and looked down at the chip and the monitoring device. After a few moments, she grabbed them both.
“I’ll hold on to these. I’m not willing to risk Lynch — or us — by luring Savage out. Not right now, at least.”
She paused, looked down at the device, and pictured Rocco Lynch in her mind’s eye. She looked up at Michaels and spoke in an even voice.
“But the gang is getting busier, in addition to some of the hits that we’ve been learning about. We might need this tracker yet.”
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (Book 4)
Savage Vengeance (Book 5 - this story)
I honestly love how you've gradually been revealing more and more of Maximus Savage's backstory over the course of several separate chapters; it's such a great way to bring everyone up to speed while still keeping the narrative going the whole time! I kind of feel bad for him in a way, but at the same time, I always keep in mind something that Rocket Raccoon said from Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and I think I've referenced this already before:
"Everybody's got dead people! It's no excuse to get everyone else dead along the way!" -Rocket Raccoon, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
It really just leads to a cycle, right? Of suffering, and of misery. And corruption, betrayal, and pretty much everything else in this case, with how Howard Vincent is towards Olivia and the rest of the FBI in general. Still, the second half of the chapter gave me a little hope, as Lockheed and Michaels are (apparently) starting to catch on. Let's just hope Vincent never learns of it. And speaking of that, Michaels's plan to use their tracker on Lynch and have him function as bait sounds like a very high-risk, high-reward kind of plan. Like they recapped, it'd need to rely on so many chance occurrences: Savage taking Lynch back to the hideout instead of killing him on the spot, Savage never discovering the tracker, and the length of Savage taking Lynch and "punishing" him taking less than two days. And combined with the fact that he's about to visit Augustus Bell at the moment.....yeah. I don't think he'll get around to that for a while.
I don't see a Lockheed/Sapphire Angel team-up ever successfully occurring again after the hotel room scene in the previous novel, so Michaels, the tracker, and the "use Lynch as bait" plan might be the FBI faction's best bet. Or maybe Sapphire Angel and her allies OR even Wayne Steele and the Justice Seekers might get to the Gang first. There's so many key players here, and Azari and the silver-eyed man aren't even the main threats yet.
I'll add the three factions and their known members to my notes so I don't slip up on what's going on. Or.....technically, it'd be four factions, counting the Savage Gang and everyone involved with them.
Let's keep things rolling!