Thief Read Free

there,
but he was doing the same thing Abby was. He was watching the
crowd.
    Looking for another victim.
    Abby tried to signal Ryan and Jimmy, but they
weren't looking her way. She didn't want to yell. She didn't want
the thief to run again, not when they weren't ready to chase him.
So instead she followed him, keeping her distance but keeping him
in sight.
    He must not have found what he wanted.
Instead of circling back across the quad, he moved off and trailed
behind a group of women headed toward the Humanities building. From
there, he could follow a service alley that ran behind the building
to the student union, and then take any one of a number of pathways
that led off campus, and he'd be gone again.
    Abby couldn't let him get away, not without
getting a really good look at his face this time.
    She adjusted her backpack and fell into step
with the rest of the students leaving the quad for classes in the
Humanities building. She only hoped that Ryan and Jimmy would see
her leaving the quad and follow.
    She thought she'd lost the thief for a minute
when the students bunched up at the entrance to the Humanities
building. By the time Abby had worked her way around the group, she
realized the thief was no longer there. She breathed a sigh of
relief when she caught a glimpse of his denim jacket as he rounded
the side of the building, walking down the service alley toward the
student union. Abby hurried to catch up, and in her hurry, was
totally unprepared when the thief reached out from behind a bush at
the side of the building and grabbed her elbow.
    His grip was hard and rough, and he was more
than strong enough to pull her behind the bush and shove her up
against the building. Only Abby's heavy backpack kept her from
hitting her head against the building's brick facade.
    "You're following me," the thief said. "I
don't like people following me. It makes me nervous, you
understand?"
    Abby had more than a good enough look at his
face now. He was standing so close that his nose was mere inches
from hers. He wasn't quite as tall as Ryan or Jimmy, but tall
enough that he was looking down at her. His eyes were dark and
angry, and he looked a little older than the average college
student, but other than that, he was perfectly average. No
distinguishing scars or facial features. He was clean-shaven. His
hair was long enough to make him fit in with the rest of the
college crowd but not so long as to make him stand out anywhere
else. She didn't know what she'd hoped for. A mole? A tattoo? A
piercing? How would she have described him to security even if
she'd gotten a good look at him the first time?
    She couldn't have. Neither could any other
woman whose purse he'd stolen.
    "I'm sorry," she said, surprised her voice
actually worked. "I thought you were someone else."
    He leaned into her harder. The corners of her
Sociology text were digging into her back even through her
backpack's padding. "Why don't I believe you?"
    His lips lifted away from his teeth in a
sneer -- he was actually sneering at her! -- and she caught a good
look at his teeth about the same time the smell hit her. This guy
hadn't seen the business end of a toothbrush in far too long. She
might not be able to describe his face, but she'd have no trouble
describing his breath.
    Provided she got out of here in one
piece.
    Why couldn't she just have let it go? She
wasn't cut out for this kind of thing, not if the way her legs were
threatening to give out from under her was any indication.
    "Please," she said. "I don't know what you
thought, and I'm sorry if I--"
    He leaned in closer like he was going to kiss
her, and instinct took over. The last thing in the world Abby
wanted was his mouth on hers. She squealed and pushed at him with
her arms, turning her face away, but he was strong and he had a
good grip on both her shoulders. She dropped her hands to the
waistband of his jeans, got a good grip, and then held him in place
while she rammed one knee up directly into his