CHAPTER TEN
KENDALL SQUARE T STATION
CAMBRIDGE
SAME DAY
VICKI HAD THE FEELING SHE WAS BEING FOLLOWED. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly why, but that sense had become increasingly keen since she left MIT. The constant threat of attack while she was in the Amazon had led her to take up Krav Maga self-defense training, and Garon had taught her how to detect when she was being trailed while they were in Rio. She also knew that with her activism, she now had powerful enemies. The phone call made that only too clear.
She paused in front of the University Stationery store’s large plate glass window and pretended to be considering one of the many items displayed. In fact, she was studying what she could see reflected in the glass. She caught a glimpse of a tall man moving quickly into the shelter of a nearby doorway. Maybe she should go inside and see if she could leave by a back door. But that wouldn’t tell her if she really was being followed. So she moved on, and stopped again seemingly to take off a shoe and shake dirt out of it. As she stood up, she glanced to her left, where she had seen the man before. This time she caught a flash of black as someone appeared to be taking cover behind a different doorway. It might or might not be the same man.
The metro could be a good ruse, she decided. She headed for the nearby Kendall Square station and came to the location for inbound trains. She would have been taking an outbound train, but that didn’t matter. There was a flight of stairs down to the turnstiles where she inserted her card and headed onto the platform. It was rush hour so there were a lot of people waiting for the train to Porter Square. A sign overhead announced in bright red light that the next train was due in two minutes. She stood away from the tracks and watched everyone who was anywhere near her. A tall man dressed entirely in black caught her eye. She wasn’t sure if it was the man she’d seen before, but she wouldn’t take a chance. When the train stopped, she got on, and he quickly moved in near her. Not good. Just as the doors started to close, she squeezed back out. She could see that he was trying to prevent them from closing fully, but it was too late. The doors snapped shut, trapping him. Vicki ran back up the stairs and caught a cab.
When she got home, she picked up her mail and the Boston Globe and went inside. On top of the stack there was a legal-size envelope with her address printed in block letters and no return address. Surprised, she tore it open with a fingernail. There was a single sheet of plain paper with letters cut from magazines forming words. It read, “LAY OFF THE PIPELINES. OR ELSE”. She tore it up and threw it in the recycle bin.
Or else what? she wondered.