The young man was sweating and pale. Malinov couldn’t understand why he hadn’t just set off the explosives on his vest straightaway but he appeared to be having trouble pressing the detonator in his hand and had allowed himself to become hemmed in by police. It appeared as though he might want to be stopped. He looked terrified. Maybe Antonia did have a chance to convince him not to do it.
The suicide bomber couldn’t have been more than twenty at a push. His entire body was trembling as was his hand holding the detonator. The grip he’d placed on it was unstable and his trigger finger could slip at any moment.
Nervously, Antonia stepped in front of the police taking her life in her hands. It made Gabriel sweat. He stepped forward to be at her side, aiming his Glock 17 at the young man. Kareef flanked the other. Antonia made the mistake of trying to get close to him and not adhering to the safe distance Gabriel wanted her to maintain. He placed a restraining hand on her arm and forced her to stop her movement. If she was going to do this, she was going to do it his way. They were taking a risk standing six meters away from the bomber. Malinov had never killed anyone so young before but if the time came to stop him setting off the vest, then he would do it. Too many lives, including Antonia’s, were at risk.
“Laraib, do you remember me?” Gabriel heard Antonia speak tentatively. He could detect the fear lining her voice but he could also distinguish the strength she was using to contain it.
The whole place fell into silence as the young man turned to look at her. The only sound that could be heard was a child crying.
Laraib looked at her quizzically but did not say anything as he tried to place her in his mind.
“I recognize your voice. But I do not know you,” he challenged in perfect English.
“Laraib, I lived in the tent next to you in the refugee camp in Marzello,” she continued trying to help him make the connection. “I am Jamila.”
“Jamila? But…”
“Yes, it is me. I am an English journalist. I wore a Burqa and went undercover to the camp to report on the conditions everyone was being forced to live in.”
“You lied to us,” he said with contempt looking at her with disgust.
It made Gabriel uneasy and he tightened his grip on the Glock. He prayed Antonia would bring Laraib back from the edge with the right words and exploit her connection to him. Words were her job and he knew already how well she used them.
“I do not want to talk to you.”
Antonia started to move forward again and Gabriel was forced to make his point about staying still stronger than before. He removed one of his hands from the Glock and thrust it against the top of her chest bringing her to a stop. He shook his head at her and only let go when she nodded and obeyed his ruling.
“You have to listen to me. I want you to stop what you are doing. This isn’t you. Laraib, you are an intelligent young man. Your mother used to boast about how you wanted to become a doctor and care for people. I know you don’t want to kill anyone or yourself. You had so many plans for your future. I don’t believe you want to throw all of that away.” There was genuine disbelief in her tone.
She continued when the young man didn’t respond and his eyes lowered to the floor in what could have been perceived as shame and despair.
“I know how caring and loving you can be. Look how you protected little Nazila and Qaifa. You played games with them… now you want to kill yourself and all of these innocent people. I refuse to believe it. I won’t,” she finished angrily.
Laraib raised his head and revealed the tears swelling in his eyes. They started to stream down his face.
“Those were silly naïve dreams. I have to do it. I was born for this.” His eyes suddenly narrowed with hatred. “They all deserve to die and so do you.”
Laraib turned to look at the detonator he was holding in his raised hand. Breathing hard he appeared to be attempting to summon the courage to press it and end his life. Malinov started to press on the trigger on his Glock.
Antonia put up her hands and screamed at him.
“Stop. Please stop,” she begged him.
Her shrill tone appeared to wake him from his reverie. He turned to stare at her and lifted his finger away from the button. Gabriel eased back, along with the rest of the armed team and Kareef.
“I need to know. How can someone who wanted to be a doctor get to this point? I thought you wanted to save people. Now you want to kill them. Why?”
Antonia was refusing to give up.
The twenty-year-old began to pace back and forth in the small enclosed space he had been confined in, inducing frightened murmurs between the people around them.
His voice was hard and angry when he spoke again.
“I want to save my own people, those who are being oppressed by the West. This is how I am to do it. This is my life mission not being a doctor.”
He thrust a digit at his chest with his free hand.
Trying to negotiate with him and appeal to his sense of humanity wasn’t working and he was becoming more agitated. Malinov’s heart began to thud. Any time now, Laraib was going to press the detonator. In preparation the agent took hold of Antonia’s arm and started to pull her backwards ready to swing her around behind him and propel her away from the blast.
“Where are Nazila and Qaifa?”
