Page 58 of Close Protection

His hands shake as his breathing picks up. His whole face covered in sweat now.

‘Take off the necklace, Daphne,’ he says.

‘Teddy, please put down the gun.’What did Milosh teach me? What did Milosh teach me? How can I disarm him?

‘I can’t do that, Daphne,’ he starts, his face racked with fear. ‘I didn’t want to do this, but you wouldn’t give it up.’

Is he… crying?

He silently starts to sob, pointing the gun at my face with his shaking hands.

He’s never done this before.

He’s inexperienced.

He’s not even holding the gun correctly.

If I took a few steps forward I could disarm him, but I’ve only ever done that with Milosh and a fake gun. I really don’t think now is a good time to play Black Widow but I don’t have a choice.

Amelia is on the ground, unconscious, and we’re all alone. No one is coming to rescue us. This is what Milosh has been training me for.

‘Teddy, listen to me,’ I say as softly as I can, taking a small step towards him. ‘I don’t know what’s going on, but let me help you.’ I take another step but stop when he tightens his grip around the gun. I hold my hands up.

‘Stay back, Daphne. I will shoot you.’

‘I know, I kn-know,’ I respond, halting.

‘You don’t believe me, do you?’

‘What?’ I ask, terrified. I don’t want to die. Least of all at the hands ofTeddy.

‘This is a real gun.’

‘I know, Teddy.’

But apparently my words aren’t enough. He fires awarning shot that nicks my upper arm. The adrenaline of the situation delaying any pain.

All I need is one more step and I can disarm him.

‘Teddy, please stop. I’ll give you the necklace, okay? I’m going to walk towards you and hand it to you.’

He nods once, still holding the gun to my face as I take one more step.

Moving fast, like Milosh taught me, I reach up to the gun before Teddy can react, pushing it away from my face. I clutch it, twisting until the trigger is out of his reach, and lift up. Because of the height difference it’s hard to pull away, so instead of the gun ending up in my hands it drops to the ground. I reach for it but before I have time to grab it I feel a shoe connecting with my stomach, dropping me to the ground.

Then I feel it again.

And again.

Teddy kicks me repeatedly until I can’t move.

I can’t talk.

I can’t scream.

The pain is searing.

But then it stops.