She brought her camera away from her face and glanced to where a young man stood, partially concealed by the trunk of the old oak.
He was an unremarkable presence in the busy park, albeit a vaguely familiar one. Gabrielle noted his mop of ashy brown hair, his drab button-down shirt and standard-issue khaki pants. He was the type of person who'd blend in easily in a crowd, but she was certain she'd seen him somewhere recently.
Hadn't he been at the police station last weekend when she'd given her statement?
Whoever he was, he must have realized she'd spotted him because he pulled back suddenly and ducked around the back of the tree to begin heading out of the park toward Charles Street. He dug a cell phone out of his pants pocket, then threw a glance over his shoulder at her as he strode at a fast clip toward the street.
The back of Gabrielle's neck tingled with suspicion and a sinking feeling of alarm.
He had been watching her - but why?
What the hell was going on here? Something was definitely up, but she wasn't about to stand around and guess at it any longer.
With her eyes trained on the guy in khakis, Gabrielle started after him, stuffing her camera back into its case and shrugging the straps of the small padded backpack up onto her shoulders as she walked. The kid was ahead of her about a block by the time she cleared the park's wide lawn and stepped onto Charles.
"Hey!" she called after him, breaking into a jog.
Still on his phone, he pivoted his head to look at her. He said something urgent into the receiver, then flipped the cell closed and fisted it in his hand. Turning away from her, his quick pace became a full-on sprint.
"Stop!" Gabrielle shouted. She drew the curious attention of other people on the street, but the kid continued to ignore her. "I said stop, damn it! Who are you? Why are you spying on me?"
He tore up crowded Charles Street, vanishing into the sea of strolling pedestrians. Gabrielle followed, dodging tourists and office workers on lunch break, her eyes fixed on the bobbing bulk of the kid's backpack. He turned down one street, then another, wending deeper into the city, away from the shops and businesses on Charles and back toward the tightly clustered area of Chinatown.
She didn't know how far she'd tracked the kid, or even where exactly she'd ended up, but all of a sudden she realized she'd lost him.
She spun around near a busy corner, utterly alone, unfamiliar surroundings closing in on her. Shopkeepers stared at her from under shaded awnings and doors left open to welcome the summer air. Passersby threw her annoyed looks as she stood stockstill in the middle of the sidewalk, blocking the flow of foot traffic.
It was then she felt a menacing presence behind her on the street.
Gabrielle glanced over her shoulder and saw a black sedan with dark-tinted windows slowly moving between the other cars. It moved gracefully, deliberately, like a shark cutting through a school of minnows in search of better prey.
Was it coming toward her?
Maybe the kid who'd been spying on her was inside. Maybe his appearance, and that of this ominous-looking car, had something to do with whomever had purchased her photographs from Jamie.
Or maybe it was something worse.
Something to do with the horrific attack she had witnessed last weekend. Her report to the police. Maybe it had been a gang slaying she stumbled upon after all. Maybe those vicious creatures - she couldn't quite convince herself that they were men - had decided she was their next target.
Icy fear lanced through her as the vehicle veered into the near lane, which hugged the sidewalk where she still stood.
She started walking. Picked up her pace.
Behind her, the car's accelerator roared.
Oh, God.
It was coming after her!
Gabrielle didn't wait to hear the peal of rubber being laid behind her. She screamed, and took off in a blind run, her legs pumping as fast as they could.
There were too many people around. Too many obstacles in her direct path. She dodged the milling pedestrians, too rattled to offer apologies as some of them clucked their tongues and swore at her in reproach.
She didn't care, certain this was life or death.
A quick look behind her would prove to be disastrous. The car was still roaring through the traffic, hot on her heels. Gabrielle put her head down and dug in harder, praying she could make it off the street before the vehicle plowed into her.
In her haste, her ankle twisted beneath her.
She stumbled, losing balance. The ground came up and she fell hard onto the rough concrete. Her bare knees and palms broke the worst of her tumble, both getting chewed up in the process. The searing burn of torn flesh brought tears to her eyes, but she ignored it. Gabrielle surged to her feet. She was hardly up off the ground before she felt the hard clamp of a stranger's hand gripping her at the elbow.
She sucked in a sharp gasp, panic pouring through her.
"You okay, lady?" The grizzled face of a municipal worker swung into her line of vision. His wrinkled blue eyes flicked down at her abrasions. "Aw, jeez. Look at that, you're bleedin'."
"Let go of me!"
"Didn't you see those pylons right there?" He hooked his thumb over his shoulder at the orange cones she'd blown right past. "I got this section of sidewalk all torn up here."
"Please, it's okay. I'm fine."
Caught in his helpful but hindering grasp, Gabrielle looked just in time to see the dark sedan pull up to the corner where she'd been standing only a moment ago. It rocked to an abrupt halt at the curb. The driver's door opened and a broadly built, towering man stepped out.
"Oh, God. Let go!" Gabrielle yanked her arm away from the man who was trying to assist her, her gaze rooted on that monstrous black car and the danger that was crawling out of it. "You don't understand, they're after me!"