Savaged

           "Mr. Savage!"

          Ryan jumped suddenly and his paper work scattered to the ground. It took him a moment to realize where he was and what he was doing. 
This was his court ordered anger management evaluation, some self righteous judge’s idea of teaching him a lesson because he got a little too rough
 with a criminal and the idiot’s lawyer helped him file a complaint, thinking that it would help his own case. It didn’t, but now he was stuck paying the price.  
“First door to the right.” The secretary in the lobby shot him a sweet smile, momentarily making eye contact, as she let her eyes him up and down with
 her eyes travel and down his  physique, Ryan felt slightly violated as if she was undressing him with her eyes. The unmistakable aroma of sex hormones 
drifted through the air into his nose, almost demanding his attention. 

          He tried to ignore it, he always did. Not that he wasn't flattered, or at least he tried to appear that way. He had always seemed to attract
 strong attention from the opposite sex, his self consciousness would not allow with to even consider that anyone would feel the same attraction to
 him if they knew the truth about who and what her was. He felt it would be easier and safer if he  introverted himself and played oblivious to any kind
 of flirtation. 

“Thank you.” Ryan nodded politely, getting up and making his way down the corridor, feeling her eyes follow him until he was out of her view.
 He then stopped and felt an uncomfortable shudder go through his body. 

Thankful that was over, Ryan opened the large Victorian doors of the office and walked in. Dr. Simmons was a fair skinned attractive woman.
 His heart stopped.

"Great, just what I need."  He thought.

She got up from her mahogany desk and walked over to greet him with a hand shake. Ryan was so annoyed that he did not return the gesture.

“Can we just get this over with?”

“Mr. Savage, you called the appointment.”

“Not willingly.”`

“Well, have a seat Mr. Savage.”

“I would rather stand.”

“That's fine. I'm going to sit.” Ryan watched her soft strides back behind her desk and as she plopped back down on her chair.
 A stray bang slid in between her eyebrows and she tucked it behind her ears. 

Her heart beat was loud in his ears as it picked up speed. A thought for a moment that was it his own, as loud as it was. "Impossible" he thought.  

“ What do you want to talk about?”

“There is nothing that I want to talk about.” He notice a small crease in the middle of her crystal light brown eyes and her red puffy
 lips turned down. In a swift motion she grabbed a pen from a small cup on her desk and began tapping it incessantly on her desk. Every tap sent an annoying 
shock to his brain.

“Can you please stop that?”  

She quickly stopped tapping the pen. “Mr. Savage; your chief has asked you to take an anger management evaluation.”

Ryan grit his teeth.“I am not angry.”

“No one is saying you are Mr. Savage; this is an evaluation. This is just a way to let us know if you might be having trouble dealing with your anger.”

“Well, I don't. So can we speed this up!”

“Let me be the judge of that, Mr. Savage.”

Ryan gave in and sat down across from the large desk.  He folded his arms like a little boy being sent to the principal’s office. Dr. Simmon’s 
sat on the edge of her desk so close that Ryan could small the light floral textures of her perfume. His heart thudded harder against his chest. 
He struggled to keep his calm demeanor, it was like his inner beast was ready to burst out him. He didn’t understand, but all he knew was that 
he needed to control it.

“Now Mr. Savage is there anything you want to talk about?”

“No, I can't think of anything! Are we done?"
Ryan thought that Dr. Simmons recognized that she was making him uncomfortable by invading his personal space, because she got up and 
sat back in her chair and crossed her legs. Ryan exhaled.

“Mr. Savage; the sooner we are able to finish this anger management evaluation the sooner you can leave. “

“Dr. Simmon’s I am a good cop. I may get a little worked up from time to time but what do you expect considering my line of work and the scum 
I have to deal with.”  Ryan felt himself beginning to cave.

“That is understandable Mr. Savage, but what concerns me is that your anger might be keeping you from effectively doing your job; as well as 
stressing you out to the point you give yourself a heart attack at an early age.”

“Unlikely, I have never been sick a day in my life.”

Her eyes widened. “Not even a common cold?”

“Nothing.” Ryan was flattered that she seemed genuinely impressed but, he still felt as if he was wasting time. “Plainly put; I do not have a 
problem. I do not need to be here.”

“This is required Mr. Savage.”

Just then Ryan’s cell phone rang. Ryan answered it. 

“Mr. Savage to telephone calls during sessions.”

Ryan ignored her. It was his partner Aaron. He was so thankful. It was about a murder at the college. 
He was ready to get right on it. 

“I have to go.” Ryan stood up.

“You will still have to make this up.”

“Hold your breath.” Ryan smirked and then walked out the door.

Ryan stormed out if the office passed the secretary.

“Come back soon!” Ryan did not hear her. 

          He left office and went out to the parking lot and got into his midnight blue Dodge Ram and took on the early 
morning traffic jams; this had only agitated him more than he already.
Traffic was extremely backed up. A white Corolla cut him off and he felt like he was going to rip the steering wheel off the column.
"Son of a bitch!" He shouted to himself.
Ryan was all too eager to get to the crime scene. He was tired of juggling things in his mind about the evaluation. It wasn't that he was
 under the impression that there was no problem at all, it was just that he thought his position as a cop that was supposed to give him an outlet. 
No one had ever complained about his technique before. Ryan then looked up a few yards ahead. There had been an accident, which explained the 
slow traffic. The traffic was a lot better the rest of the way to the crime scene.

          Aaron said the accident was near the field parking lot. The crime scene was full of police officers, college
 students and even a news crew. Surprisingly, Ryan found a close parking space and went toward the police tape the scrolled the 
crowd for Aaron, his partner.

“Hey where have you been?” Said a familiar voice from behind him.

“Traffic. So what's going on?”

“A football player shot and killed left for dead and his girlfriend is missing. They think maybe she got kidnapped. “

“Really?”

“And get this; it is the mayor’s daughter.”

“No way!” 

          The mayor was a new client of his father’s. Ryan himself did not know the man that well, or his family for that matter,
 but that did make his work a little more personal and he was happy to help an acquaintance.

“So can we see the body or are we just going to stand here.”

Aaron led the way as they made their way through a large mass of people and then went under bright yellow police tape
 surrounding a lifeless body in a puddle of blood.


“He was a sports scholarship student. All A’s, minor juvenile infraction with the law, but other than that a good kid and not to
 mention, we called all the numbers of his contact sheet. They are all disconnected. I am thinking somebody must miss this kid. 
Oh, and I also asked around about the connection, to the mayor’s daughter, now evidently him and her were an item, only her 
dad didn’t know about it.”

“Maybe he found out!” 

Aaron smiled at the idea of a conspiracy concerning the mayor. Ryan just rolled his eyes. He considered the mayor’s 
involvement but then wondered why the mayor would kidnap his own daughter. 

          Ryan’s phone vibrated in his pocket.  Normally, Ryan did not answer it while he was in the field, but he was eager to
 hear from his sister Angela, it had been a few weeks since he had seen her and she had been extremely secretive lately.
 It wasn’t until she had called him out of the blue yesterday and told him that she had some big news and that she did not want to 
say it over the phone.He was just happy that she was talking to him again and she was not still upset with him, for being an
 “over-protective” big brother. He looked at the screen, and it was the chief. 

“Savage!”

“Detective Savage, I need you in my office right now!” 

“Chief, is everything okay?”

“I let you know when you get here! Where are you?”

“At the college!”

“I am going to need you to step on it, this is important.”

“Sure thing!”

Ryan hung up.

“What was that about.” Aaron had been unsuccessfully eavesdropping in the conversation.

“I have to get to the precinct. Just let me know what happens!”

Ryan got back in his truck and then headed to the police station.

          The chief had a small quaint office with wall the color of pea soup. Something new the chief was trying out. Ryan still had not 
decided if he had liked it or not, he really didn’t notice the difference in the room until he had pointed it out to him. He just excepted it as
 the chief’s young girlfriend’s over obsessive ways to control his environment.

“Ryan, finally you are here. How did the evaluation to go?”

“I really do not think it was necessary.”

“But you cannot tell me Dr. Simmon’s wasn’t hot.”

Ryan was taken aback. Was he serious?

“Chief, can we change the subject please.”

“Sorry, but I am guessing that this might be where the frustration may be coming from. But the reason I have called you in 
my office is that I needed to talk to you about your sister.”

Now Ryan was concerned. “What is wrong with Angela?”

“Nothing is wrong with her.” Chief Gibson held his hands up defensively. “Although, I do not know how to say this but, 
Angela is now a police officer, she just graduated police academy this morning.”

Unlikely She would have told him, but then again, it could have been the news. This had to be a sick joke.

“Funny I thought you would be more hysterical about this. You are taking it will”

“No you are not talking about my baby sister. Angela, would not put herself in harm’s way like that. And if she did she 
wouldn’t keep it a secret, she has never kept a secret from me.”

“Settle down, Ryan, I understand.”

Ryan realized that his body was tensing up. 

“I am afraid it is no joke and she requested that I not tell you until she graduated, of course I’m sure that meant to 
give  her the opportunity to tell, but I had to let you know.”

“You couldn’t stop her try to dissuade her?” 

“It wasn’t my department; Ryan you know that, besides there wasn’t much I could have done; she was going 
to school to be a lawyer, she threatened to sue me for unjustified practices. Threatened to smear my name; 
call me a woman-hater and I love women, you know that.”
If loving women meant being an old womanizer. Ryan thought. 

“I mean, so what if Angela is a police officer anyway? They said she graduated top in her class. I’d say she is a lot like her older 
brother. I think having two Savages on the force might 
not be so bad.”

“Did you tell our father?”

“No I didn’t.”

“Good! Don’t!”

“Lips are sealed!”

“So that’s it?” Ryan started to get up.

“Afraid not.”

Ryan sat back down. “Okay! What is it now!”
The look on Chief Gibson’s face said enough.

Ryan let out a sigh. “What’s wrong? A new bozo come forth saying I was too rough?”

“Not exactly! All I know is that I have to take you off this latest case and possibly put you in lock up.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow “Why?”

“Someone gave you a positive I.d.. They are saying that they saw you near the scene of the crime, around the time it happened.”

“But you know that is impossible. Since I was…” Ryan trailed off remembering he had told Chief Gibson 
not to tell anyone about the anger management evaluation. 

          Just then two officers a heavy set guy with black hair and a skinny blonde came in the room almost on 
cue, and pushed Ryan down against the desk. Ryan could have taken both of them, and was tempted too, 
but he would surrender.

“Hey, take it is easy jackass! He’s not fighting back. He’s a cop for Christ sake!”

They both in a swift motion jerked him up and headed out of the chief’s office.

“They just have to put you in lock up. Don’t worry about this Ryan. I promise you I will get this straightened out,
 just call your dad. He is a lawyer he will know what to do.”

          Ryan kept a stern posture and kept his eyes to the ground. He did not want to explain anything to his
 colleagues. This had to be one of the most humiliating things he had ever been through as a cop other than 
having to go to court for a criminal’s bullshit allegations.  

Ryan was so agitated that he could not think straight, but he went with the officers to lock up and was booked. It was a strange 
predicament to be in but he knew it was all part of a well greased plan and he just needed to stay calm. 

          He would call his father in lock up. He wondered if he should have called Angela. He was more concerned with her. 
With her being a police officer, he knew made her harder to protect and he had always felt a sense of responsibility toward her.
 This angered him more.  

          Although, Angela was not his blood sister, it could not have made them more close. They met in foster care when he was 
fourteen and she twelve. He could never forget, that fateful day he was being picked on when he got off of the bus from school, one of the 
bigger kids was picking on him, something over a girl from his class handing him her number,  and the tall husky boy that was in foster
 care with him, had liked her, but she would not give him the time of day and what girl in her right mind would, Ryan thought, he was
 obnoxious, pushing, just a bully, all around.  And this was the time in Ryan’s life where he was beginning to notice and uncanny attraction,
 of the opposite sex. The husky kid noticed to. 

It was when Ryan stepped off of the bus when he realized how angry  this kid really was. Ryan was face down in the ground, 
when his entire body began to sting. It was as if his skin was stretching, he was going to get up and claw that kids eyes out,
 it wasn’t until he heard he voice.

“Hey! Leave him alone!”

Ryan turned over and saw this small, little girl sticking her chest out about as threading as a kitten. He almost wanted to laugh, but he 
was more shocked than anything. The bully thought that this was funny too, so much so that he, taughted her.  This filled Ryan with 
unspeakable rage and I got up picked him up and heaved him at least five yards up the street. This scared him so bad that he never
 bothered him again, or Angela for that matter. It didn’t take too long for him to just give up bullying all together.
From then on Ryan and Angela were inseparable, even adopted together. Only, it was no real adoption, it was more like a 
business deal. Their “father” Lawrence Savage, was quite a gambler and when he found out about Ryan’s special abilities,
 he used them to cheat every dog fight to east of the Mississippi. Angela was the icing on the cake, because as long as 
Lawrence had Angela, he could control Ryan, now Angela was obviously not playing by the rules, and although she was
 oblivious to Ryan’s double life, and since he could not get to her, she was in grave danger and there was nothing that he 
could do from a jail cell.

He wondered if he should have just stayed at the doctor’s office, but then he dismissed it.  He would call his father and get 
everything straightened out. He was sure his aggravation could in no way work to his advantage. It was his aggravation that had gotten 
him into enough trouble and every aspect of his life.  That is what he felt made him a good cop. He used his anger to get things done, 
He was a man fueled my anger always and that is all it was. It was how he survived; it was how he protected his sister, it was how he lived;
 it was also how he related to his foster fathers and how he related to others. It was so much embedded in who he was he did not know 
who or what he was without it or how else he could trigger his unique abilities. Ryan was a killer; a fighter; and all about getting his man. 
He had nowhere to run to ad nowhere to hide. He was useful to the force; they could not afford to lose him; but he wondered why they 
were now attacking him for his “anger issues”.  Basically who he was. Who he had been all of his life.  He felt like a caged beast; always. 
There was something missing in his life; he felt controlled by everyone and there was a strange feeling that he had nowhere to run to. 
It did not matter now. Now he was I a real cage and they were closing in all too quickly.