She started for her car again. Faster. Across the lot.
A footstep.
Crap!
She was almost to the Subaru.
More footsteps.
Faster.
Running!
A flash of movement in the corner of her eye.
A dark figure was racing toward her.
All in black. Head to toe.
Running fast!
She hit the door-unlock button.
The car beeped, and its lights blinked on, and in the darkness, she saw that the Subaru was already damaged, something scratched into the driver’s side.
The rush of footsteps stopped.
She yanked on the door handle.
Saw her assailant haul back.
Something hurled through the air.
She ducked.
A rock the size of a baseball whizzed past her head.
Crash!
The rock hit the windshield hard and bounced back.
A thick web of jagged cracks sizzled through the glass.
“Hey!” Nikki yelled, her heart jumping.
The dark figure took off.
Fast.
No longer running at her, but away.
“Hey!” she shouted again, moving forward, telling herself that if he had a gun, he would have already shot at her. “You! Stop!”
Too late.
Whoever it was darted through the row of untended shrubberyseparating the parking area from the street. She followed, running, hurrying to catch up, her eyes on the spot where he’d disappeared between a copse of live oaks and crepe myrtles.
Be careful, she warned herself, heart pounding, her gaze scouring the thicket, but coming up empty.
