She had to battle for every inch. Karim held her uncomfortably close, folding his body over hers as she leaned lower for the keys, his armpit at her ear, the knife at her throat. The smell of his aftershave had turned sour with sweat. As she bent over, her T-shirt and pants parted and she felt the bare flesh of her lower spine touch the buttons of his shirt and she flinched at the intimate sensation. She strained for that horseshoe. It was still beyond her fingertips and she stretched as far as she could, as Karim slowly extended the knife forward to allow her more movement. She sobbed, despite herself, and he laughed and pushed into her from behind, and she could feel the hardness of him pressing between her legs. She kept her head down, not wanting Archie to see her face. Her fingers touched the horseshoe. It was black rubber, with four little white squares along each side and a white squiggle at the top of the hump. It was the kind of squiggle that kids use to indicate a bird in a drawing. The white bird’s wings were open. It was flying right at her. She just needed another millimeter and she’d have it. The blade pressed against her throat and she heard the chilling sound of the sharpened metal scraping against her own flesh. She felt something wet crawl down her collarbone under her T-shirt and into her bra, but she didn’t know if it was blood or sweat. She had the keys in her hand. As her fingers closed around the horseshoe, she felt Karim’s right arm brace against her shoulder. It was a tiny movement. Nothing anyone would have noticed. But their bodies were so close that Susan could actually feel him plant his stance, and adjust his shooting arm ever so slightly.

Susan didn’t have time to think. She jammed her elbow back hard into Karim’s solar plexus the instant before he fired. Karim grunted in pain and the knife dropped a fraction of a centimeter, but it was enough. Susan was able to duck out from under his arm. She lifted her head, to see if Archie had been hit. Archie was still in the doorway, gun raised. The moment she was out of Karim’s reach, Archie fired. The gunshot reverberated off every concrete surface. Susan dropped to the floor. She was still on her hands and knees, her bad arm dragging on the floor, when Karim swooped behind her and wrenched her upward. She struggled to free herself but he took hold of her wrist and twisted her arm so hard she put her head back and yowled. She was still whimpering when Karim pushed her, face-first, into the wall next to the door, and held her there.