Fracture (F-BOMB: Curvy Vigilantes #8)

Chapter 22

22

The next night, Lorelei was waiting for Vinnie to get home from work when her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number, but she knew there were likely people whose numbers she never saved, so she answered it.

“Hello?”

“Lorelei?”

“Yes. Can I help you?”

“I hope so. I wanted to meet with you again. You said to call if I had new information. I have something to share with you. Something you’re really going to want to hear.”

Lorelei closed her eyes. The memory came back in a rush, too fast for her to capture it all. Too much.

“You were there,” Lorelei breathed.

“Where?” the woman asked.

“I… I was kidnapped,” Lorelei admitted.

“What? When?” she gasped.

“I… When we met before. My memories have been slowly coming back.”

“Wait, you have amnesia? You don’t know who I am, do you? Oh, God, how do I know they didn’t flip you? You could be working for the other side.”

“I’m working for the FBI. I’m not a double agent.”

“Isn’t that what anyone would say? I never should have called you.”

“You said you have information. That it’s something I would want to hear.”

The woman was silent. Her soft breath was the only sound coming through the phone.

“Are you still there?”

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“I was the one who was kidnapped. How do I know you weren’t involved?”

She gasped. “I would never.” A soft sob came through the line. “I went to you because you said you would always fight for the right people. That you wanted to stop the people who’ve been killing and kidnapping others.”

“I do. I’m still trying to do that.”

“You don’t even know what you’re looking for.”

“It sounds like you do.”

The woman sucked in a breath, letting it out slowly.

Lorelei waited. She knew this was the informant she spoke to the night she was taken. More memories were trying to fight to the surface, but she needed to set a meeting with this woman. She needed her to trust Lorelei.

If she was involved, she could lead them to whoever was in charge. If she wasn’t, she had information that could help. Either way, Lorelei needed to meet with the woman.

“You can tell me what you want to say over the phone,” Lorelei prompted. It was never a good idea, and it wasn’t something she’d ever advise anyone. If they were sharing information, there was a chance their phone was being monitored by someone. But if the woman refused to meet, Lorelei was willing to take the chance.

“You said never to do that. Always meet in person. Never share information that could blow up an investigation over the phone.”

“Then we need to meet.”

“Fine, but it has to be tonight. I don’t want the people who took you to come after me.”

“Neither do I. Where do you want to meet?”

“Do you remember where we met last time?”

Lorelei drew a breath and closed her eyes. She saw flowers, big red ones. Water ran by, not too fast but steady. There was a building, glass. Like a greenhouse or conservatory. Lorelei knew the place. “Yes. I know where we met.”

“Two hours,” the woman said, then hung up the phone without another word.

Lorelei sucked in a breath and lowered the phone. She kept her eyes closed and replayed the conversations with the woman. The one that just ended, then the one they had when Lorelei was at the wedding.

“I need your help. That case you’re working on. I have information for you, but someone’s been following me.”

“Can you get to our usual spot? I can meet you in an hour.”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. You’ll be there, right?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you.”

Lorelei hung up and headed for the exit. Mackenzie and Dawn stopped her and asked where she was going. She knew the informant. They’d met before. It was safe.

Lorelei went to the hotel where she’d been staying. She changed out of the dress she wore to the wedding, swapping the satin and heels for jeans and sneakers.

Meeting an informant alone was something she’d done a million times. She didn’t need backup for it. She was fine alone. Even though this meeting was more important than any other one she’d ever had in her career.

Lorelei parked her car and walked down the path toward the large glass building. The dome seemed to sparkle in the black of night, the inhabitants sleeping. A cluster of trees in front hid a bench that was perfect for quiet conversations. It had become a spot Lorelei used for meeting informants more than once.

The woman crept out of the dark when Lorelei arrived. Her jeans and black shirt made her almost invisible until she moved.

“Were you followed?” the woman asked.

Lorelei shook her head. “Were you?”

“I don’t think so. Not tonight.”

“Who’s been following you?”

“I don’t know. I’ve seen the same vehicle parked outside work three nights in a row. And it was down the street from my apartment before that.”

“What kind of vehicle was it?”

“A black SUV. Tinted windows and black roof racks.”

Lorelei fought the eye roll that ached to come out. Black SUVs were a dime a dozen and could have been a different one every time. “How do you know they were following you?”

“When I would leave, the SUV would follow me.”

Lorelei nodded. That was something. But the informant was paranoid and frequently thought someone was after her, even though Lorelei had never found any evidence of it.

“You said you had information for me?”

The woman nodded. “There’s a house down the street from my apartment. One of those women who was on the news was there. Edie something.”

“Edie Warren?” Lorelei asked.

The woman snapped her fingers. “That’s the one. It was a few months ago, and I didn’t know who she was then. I just figured she was looking to score, but then I saw the news and I remembered seeing her there.”

“What’s the address?”

The woman recited an address Lorelei wasn’t familiar with, but she typed it into the notes on her phone.

“Did you see any other women there?”

The woman nodded. “A few, but none of them were on the news.”

“Can you describe any of them?”

Her nose scrunched. “They looked like they’d been on drugs. Vacant eyes and hollow cheeks. Clothes that barely covered them or that were so tight they were asking for a UTI.”

“If they were being held captive, I don’t think the people who had them were worried about their health.”

The woman shrugged.

“Is there anything else you can tell me?”

“Do I get paid now?”

“Not until we recover something. But you’ll get credit for giving me the information.”

“And then I’ll get paid?”

Lorelei nodded. “Yes, then you’ll get paid. But first, the information needs to be validated, so it might be a little while.”

“If I have something else, I get more, right?”

“Do you have something else?” Lorelei demanded. She wasn’t running a fucking charity. She was looking for women who were kidnapped and forced into sex slavery. Piecing out information was not okay.

“No. But if I do, I can call you again?”

“Yes, please call me again if you have new information.”

“Okay. I will. And you’ll let me know when you can pay me?”

“Of course.”

The woman nodded, then slipped back into the darkness.

Lorelei stood there for a few minutes, waiting to hear a vehicle or some other indicator of how the woman got there. There were homes not far, but the woman lived in the city.

Lorelei recorded her notes from the meeting, then returned to her vehicle. It unlocked with a beep, but a noise behind her had Lorelei turning.

And coming face-to-face with a fist.

Lorelei’s eyes popped open.

She gasped. She didn’t see the man who was behind the fist, but she knew it was the same one she had dreams of when she was in the hospital and shortly after. The one who held her.

A key in the lock had her screaming before she processed what was going on.

Vinnie rushed in, his gaze going right to her. He locked the door and dropped to his knees in front of her. “What’s wrong? It’s me. Are you okay?”

Lorelei nodded, her breath rushing out of her in pants of fear. She couldn’t get the words out. The rush of it all was too much. Too much.

Vinnie held a trembling Lorelei in his arms and rocked her. She shook with fear, but he didn’t know what she was afraid of. It didn’t matter, he wasn’t going to let anything scare her.

“I got a call from the woman I met the night I was taken,” she whispered.

“What?” Vinnie pulled back to look at her.

She worried her lip and nodded.

“Who is she? What did she want?”

“I don’t know her name. I know she was someone I’d spoken to more than once, but I don’t know her name. She asked if we could meet tonight.”

“Tonight?” Vinnie barked. He jerked his emotions back. Lorelei was an FBI Agent. She was strong and smart and tough. His desire to protect her was because he loved her, but she didn’t need his protection, and he needed to remember that.

Lorelei nodded and looked at the phone in her hand. “In an hour.”

“Are you going to meet her?”

Lorelei nodded. “I have to. She said she has information for me.” She looked up at him, her eyes wide as though really seeing him for the first time since he walked in the door. “Will you come with me?”

Vinnie nodded quickly, fighting the relieved sigh that filled him. “Yes. Of course. We should probably call Adam, too.”

Lorelei shook her head. “No. She’s easily spooked. If she even sees you, I think she’ll take off.”

“What’s her story?”

Lorelei stared off at the coffee table. “I don’t know. From what I remembered, she is paranoid and always thinks someone is after her. The night I was taken, she thought someone was following her.”

“She called you about that?”

“No, she called me because she saw Edie at a house down the street from her apartment.”

“She what?” Vinnie gasped. As far as he knew, Edie Warren as at Adam and Raina’s wedding the night Lorelei disappeared.

“She said it was months before, but that she didn’t know it was Edie until after she was out. There were other women there, Vinnie.”

“Adam needs to know about this. Do you know where that was?”

Lorelei nodded. “She told me the address. It was in my phone, but obviously, they didn’t let me keep that. Apparently, it wasn’t backed up before it was destroyed.”

“Neither was the woman’s contact information, or they would have talked to her. No one ever knew who you met that night.”

“Then I think it’s time we go find out.”

Lorelei drove, not wanting the woman to know someone was with her when she arrived. Vinnie hid in the backseat when they pulled into the parking lot, making sure he wasn’t seen by anyone who might be there.

Lorelei’s heart raced as she got out of the SUV and made her way around the building to the bench under the trees. The plan was for Vinnie to follow her after two minutes and to hide in the shrubbery that surrounded the building. It would give him a view of the meeting but would also keep his location concealed.

Five minutes after Lorelei sat down, the woman came out of the darkness like she did before. Her jeans and black tee were similar to what Lorelei remembered before. Her dark hair was tied up in a ponytail. Her face was pale, almost ghostly in the darkness.

“Are you here alone?” the woman asked.

“I made sure I wasn’t followed. I want to protect you.”

“But you don’t remember me?”

Lorelei shook her head. “Not entirely. What new information did you have to share with me?”

The woman didn’t speak for a moment, staring at Lorelei with her head tilted to the side. Studying her. “Where were you taken?”

Lorelei sat up straighter. “Excuse me?”

“Where did he take you? Was it to one of the houses where they keep the other women?”

“What…?” Lorelei had a flash of memory. She saw half a dozen women in a room. Mattresses on the floor, a bucket in the corner. The door was wide open, but none of them were trying to get away.

“What did he do to you?”

“You set me up,” Lorelei whispered.

“You weren’t supposed to survive,” the woman said. “You won’t this time.”

“What?” Lorelei jumped up as she heard a noise behind her.

“Lorelei, watch out!” Vinnie shouted.

Lorelei moved just before a bat hit the bench she was sitting on. The wood splintered.

The woman’s eyes went wide. She scrambled backward.

Lorelei was not going to let her get away. She went after the woman into the darkness, knowing Vinnie would take care of whoever had the bat.

The tree cover was thick, and the darkness didn’t help. Lorelei stopped for a second, listening for a sound to tell her where the woman went. A twig snapped to her right, and she turned to go that way.

The woman ran toward the parking lot. It was empty when Lorelei and Vinnie got there, and she didn’t hear any cars pull in.

The sound of fighting behind her made Lorelei pause and think about turning back to help Vinnie, but she had to find the woman. Needed to know why she handed her over. Who she was. What was going on.

The woman turned the corner of the building and was out of sight for fifteen seconds when Lorelei heard a gunshot.

Lorelei crouched low, unsure which direction the shot came from or who took it. Behind her were footsteps. Did the woman somehow get behind her? And who was shooting?

“Lorelei!” Vinnie shouted.

“I’m here,” she replied.

He was close, the footsteps she heard. “Was that you?”

Lorelei shook her head as he cupped her jaw and ran his hands over her body. “I don’t have my gun. I don’t know who fired.”

“You’re not hit?”

“No. I’m good.”

Vinnie pulled his gun from his holster and handed it to her. He took his second one and nodded to her. “Let’s go.”

Lorelei took the lead, feeling a mix of relief and gratitude that he was still going to let her lead. They were side-by-side when they came around the edge of the building.

The woman was on the ground. Blood poured from her head. Her vacant eyes stared up at them.

“They’re getting away,” Vinnie hissed, moving around Lorelei.

She looked up and saw a vehicle driving along the edge of the parking area. A man ran toward the silent SUV with a splintered bat in his hand. The door opened, and he jumped in, and the SUV took off before Vinnie or Lorelei could get close enough to see anything.

“Dammit!” Vinnie shouted.

“What the hell just happened?” Lorelei asked.

Vinnie sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know, but if we’re lucky, she can tell us something.”

“She’s dead, Vinnie.”

He nodded. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find out everything there is to know about her.”

Law enforcement swarmed the park within minutes. Adam, Marcus, Pryce, and a few other familiar faces were there. Vinnie and Lorelei told their stories to all of them, and then were left alone while the cops gathered evidence.

“I can’t believe I didn’t know she was the one who handed me over to them,” Lorelei said when she and Vinnie sat down. “How did I not see it?”

“She gave you information. Why would you think she was playing both sides?”

Lorelei shook her head. “I don’t know. I just…” Lorelei looked at the body covered in a white sheet. The medical examiner wasn’t there yet, so the woman was simply covered. “It’s my job to be able to read people.”

“She was good.”

“Yeah, but I should have been better.”

“You were better.”

“No, I wasn’t. She surprised me. Again.”

“But this time you weren’t alone,” Vinnie said.

Lorelei drew a breath. He was right.

“You aren’t the same person you were when you met her before. When you thought being independent was the best way. You’ve learned that sometimes you need your team. Sometimes going at it alone isn’t the right answer.”

Lorelei hugged Vinnie. “Thank you for being here for me. If you hadn’t come, I’d be gone again. This time for good.”

“I’m not going to let that happen.”