Page 113 of Fracture

Word came through that they were ready, and Lorelei watched as the women in the room with her transformed. Every single one of them stood and moved toward the door. They were willing to sacrifice themselves for this. To take down the people who’d affected their lives. To end this hell.

“You guys can’t come,” Lorelei said. “You’re civilians.”

Frannie chuckled and shook her head. “You’re wrong, Lorelei. We’re vigilantes, and we’re not letting you go in there alone. We will be there, no matter what.” Frannie slid a black mask onto her face, and all the others followed suit.

Lorelei remembered the mask Frannie gave her. She’d never worn it, but it was in the handbag she had slung across her body. Lorelei pulled it out and put her mask on, looking at the other women.

They all nodded and walked out together. The Curvy Vigilantes.

24

Lorelei sat in the SUV and let her instincts settle around her. For months, she’d been doubting them, telling herself her instincts were wrong and that she needed to know and understand things in order for them to make sense, but that was bullshit. That was the amnesia and the uncertainty talking.

She knew who the fuck she was. And nothing was going to stop her from going into the fortress of a house and taking back what was stolen from her.

Lorelei knew Vinnie was going to be there, but she didn’t know what his team was doing. It was no longer her case to lead since her memory hadn’t fully returned, but Lorelei was happy to follow Adam’s directions and knew her partner would run a flawless operation.

With the search warrant in hand, the SUV parked beyond the gate with all the other vehicles. They were prepared for a fight. It wasn’t going to be an easy mission, but they were going to come out of it victorious. Lorelei had to believe that.

When it was time to move, Adam and Marcus led the way to the front. Their vehicles were surrounded before they made it to the house that Lorelei remembered with such clarity she had no doubt it was where she was taken. Where she was held. Where others likely still were.

The shootout started before anyone got to the mansion. It didn’t matter that they expected it, it clicked everything into place.

This was real. People were going to try to kill them. As many as possible. And someone was going to try to get away.

Lorelei moved with the other agents as a unit, working their way closer and closer to the door. As soon as they picked off one shooter, another took their place. The guy beside her fell, someone in front did, too, but the rest of the group kept moving.

They couldn’t stop.

When they made it to the door, they fanned out. One group went left, one right, and Lorelei went with Adam straight ahead. She knew that was the direction she’d been carried and demanded that as her path. Adam couldn’t refuse her.

The pop of gunfire echoed through the house. Screams of people in fear and the telltale sound of flesh hitting the floor added to the carnage. This level of security didn’t exist unless they were protecting something valuable.

Or someone.

Lorelei wanted to search her memory for the name. Something told her it was there. She knew who the boss was.

But she didn’t. So she kept pushing forward.

As her group followed the twists and turns of the hallways, it got down to Lorelei and Adam. They barely had to speak as they went deeper into the hell of the house that held more secrets than all the FBI combined.

Lorelei’s heart raced. Her body pumped with adrenaline. Sweat poured from her, soaking the clothes she wore beneath her bulletproof vest.

They didn’t stop. They kept moving, searching.

“Freeze,” Adam barked at a pair at the end of the hallway.

The two people stopped. One cried out, a female.

Lorelei followed Adam down the hallway, their guns locked on the two people. It didn’t matter that the woman seemed to be fighting to get away from the man, they were both there, which meant they were both threats.

Adam shined his flashlight on the woman, and as soon as he did, the man shoved her at them.

Unsteady on her heels, the woman tripped and landed on Adam, knocking him to the floor while the man took off down another hallway.

Lorelei didn’t move, her gun on the woman. She was barely clothed, her dress torn, no bra, and heels that cut into her red flesh.

Adam pushed the woman back, moving her easily. “I got her. Go.”