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 30
The morning dawned without a cloud in the sky and with sunlight peeking through Beth’s bedroom curtains. She yawned and squinted as she rose from the bed, before she grabbed her iPhone from her nightstand. She typed a message to Stanley.
Any luck figuring out Olivia’s clue?
She stared at the screen, and a few seconds later, his reply appeared.
Not yet. It would help if we had the actual words, instead of her paraphrasing. But don’t lose faith.
Beth sighed and flopped back onto her bed. As much as Stanley amazed her, she was losing faith. The gang was out there, causing more havoc with each passing hour, and she had no hope except to encounter the gangsters by chance.
She needed more than chance. She needed Olivia Lockheed to come through for her with the actual data from the damaged hard drives, to improve Stanley’s odds. And if Lockheed delivered, and if Stanley found the gang, Beth would be ready. Ready to face Maximus Savage again.
And this time she would win. She now knew what to expect. His strength had surprised her during their last encounter, and seemed to have increased from their first fight. But he wasn’t as strong as Sapphire Angel. And she was quicker and more agile than the gangster. She would use these traits to her advantage when they next met, so his strength wouldn’t matter. She would take him down. Once and for all.
“You may have pissed off the wrong person, Olivia,” Howard Vincent said, as Lockheed held her phone to her ear. “But Savage has agreed to your terms. If you don’t deliver Sapphire Angel, though, I don’t want to imagine what he’s going to do to you.”
Lockheed swallowed, glancing out the window as the sun peaked over trees at the back of the field behind the safe house. The FBI woman wondered if this might be her last morning to see the sun. To stay alive, Lockheed needed to lead Sapphire Angel into a trap.
It wasn’t an easy decision. Her life would change if she betrayed the superheroine. A dark cloud would hang over Lockheed forever, regardless of how the encounter between Savage and Sapphire Angel turned out. Lockheed would always look over her shoulder, wondering if someone would discover her treachery. But she would be alive.
There was another option, though. She could backstab Savage. She could lead the costumed bombshell to the gang, but not into a trap. She could alert Sapphire Angel to Savage’s plan, and swear she had intended all along to trick Savage. With that information, Sapphire Angel might spring a surprise of her own and defeat the gang leader, and take down the gang. Then Lockheed’s career might take off.
“I’ll hold up my end,” Lockheed said, crossing the fingers on her free hand. “Tell him to get ready. I’ll let you know when I’m bringing her, so you can let him know. It will be up to him to take care of the superheroine. I’m just serving her up to him.”
“Fine, Olivia,” Vincent said with a resigned sigh. “It’s your life. Is there anything else?”
“Yes. Have you heard from Michaels? He abandoned the safe house, and I have no way of contacting him. Savage destroyed my burner phone. Michaels hasn’t emailed me or reached out any other way.”
“Yes, Dave is safe. He’s worried about leaks, so he’s staying quiet. Rocco Lynch is still with him.”
Lockheed paused. Safe for how long? Vincent was the mole, she was sure — the one who had used his sources to discover the safe house’s location and give it to Savage. If he had done it once, he would do it again. Michaels was in danger.
Vincent seemed to sense her worry, and spoke.
“Don’t worry about Dave, Olivia. Yes, Savage made me turn over Dave’s location, but Savage promised not to harm him if you help snare Sapphire Angel. You have no idea how big this is for him — beating the unbeatable heroine. He said it will be like knocking a goddess off her pedestal, or from the heavens. That means, though, I can’t tell you where Dave is located. Savage wants that leverage. He doesn’t want you giving Dave the heads up if you change your mind about betraying Sapphire Angel. So do your part.”
“I’m not changing my mind,” she muttered, and ended the call.
She groaned and sank onto the bed. After staring at the far wall for almost a minute, she held up her phone and typed out a message to another number — one she had committed to memory. Sapphire Angel’s number.
Meet me in the alley between Susquehanna Street and Jupiter Street, off Crescent Street, tonight at 11 PM. I have another lead to the gang.
Lockheed hit send and smiled. She couldn’t help herself. She loved being in control. Sapphire Angel wouldn’t be able to resist the lure of the message. But the question remained — was Lockheed leading the superstar heroine to victory, or to her doom?
Maximus Savage grunted as he sat on the seat of the weight machine, using the hand grips to pull the cables across his chest. He grimaced, and his hands inched closer. And closer. Finally, he moved them as far as they would go. He released the grips with a growl, and the cables snapped back into place.
Savage glanced at Larry Oberkfell. The pseudo-doctor leaned forward, peering at the screen of a laptop on a table a few feet away from Savage.
“Well?” the gang leader asked, his voice dripping with impatience.
Oberkfell gave a slow nod, and a smile crept across his face.
“You did it!” the wiry-haired man exclaimed. “There’s no way to be one-hundred percent certain, but it seems you now measure up to the superheroine’s strength! Or exceed it! I can’t speak for her other attributes, like her speed or agility, but your strength matches hers. And the substance might still be at work inside you, making you even stronger.”
A malevolent grin spread across Savage’s face as Oberkfell continued.
“There’s still the issue of any side effects for the extra dosage. How are you —“
Savage waved his hand, cutting off the doctor. He rose and yelled, “Benjamin!”
A few seconds later, as the doctor frowned and turned his attention to the laptop screen, Savage’s advisor, Benjamin Drummond, scampered into the room. The wiry man was out of breath.
“Yes?” Drummond asked.
“I’ve got a simple job,” Savage said. “Have Julian leak something — that we have many more men coming to town on Friday. I want word of it all over town. Don’t make it too obvious, but put it in the hands of people who can’t keep their mouths shut.”
The advisor’s face twisted in confusion. “There aren’t any more men coming. But I can get some here if you need them. But maybe not by Friday.”
“No,” Savage said, shaking his head. “I don’t need more men. I just need Sapphire Angel to think they are coming, to give her even more urgency to find me. So I can crush her on my terms.”
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 highly doubt Beth’s going to pick up on Lockheed’s summons now (especially since she still thinks that Lockheed intentionally bailed out on her when that REALLY wasn’t the case), but something else tells me that her determination and drive to beat Savage might just end up winning out in the end. She’s just as desperate to find and defeat Savage as she is at “avenging” herself and “restoring” her honor after the previous “defeats”…..which could end up making her play perfectly into Lockheed’s hands, should the latter genuinely choose to backstab Savage by leading Sapphire Angel to them and serving them up to the heroine on a silver platter.
(jokingly) Maybe then Sapphire will actually start taking a shine to Lockheed and let her do whatever she wants with her—okay, no, I’m kidding. She DEFINITELY doesn’t seem like the type of person to do that.
My personal opinion is that Lockheed should attempt to betray Savage by engineering yet another showdown between him and Sapphire Angel; one where Sapphire (hopefully) wins this time. Then, Sapphire and Lockheed can make amends, the Savage Gang will be finally taken down for good, and the two women can part ways on (relatively) peaceful terms. But knowing how much longer we have to go in this novel, that probably isn’t the case. Would be a heck of a team-up, though. And somehow Wayne Steele & the Justice Seekers could get word of it too, and attempt to intercept the Savage Gang during the battle for a three-faction fight!
I know this is (technically) just their first novel, but I’m legitimately interested in the Justice Seekers arc, to see what ultimately ends up happening to them. Are they actually as great as they say? Are they just a wannabe vigilante group who only exist to prove how much better Sapphire is than them? Should the Savage Gang even be worrying about them at all? Those kinds of things.
I suppose I’ll find out, won’t I? Catch you on the flip side!