Whatever else happened in the next several minutes, I decided, my mother was never going to have to stand in front of that man and be afraid again.

I would stand in front of him instead.

And I was not afraid of him at all.

I want to be precise about that lack of fear, because it was not bravado and it was not because I imagined myself invincible.

It was because I had done the preparation.

The police already had his threat and were already coming.

The cameras were already running.

The doors were already secure, and my mother was about to be somewhere he could not reach.