Cornered and hopeless

The woman made it through one more door before the combined handicap of her heels, skirt and fear let me catch up to her in a dead end. Sensing the hopelessness of her situation, she dropped to her knees. I could hear her uttering a prayer as I closed the last meter. I thought about leaving her unclaimed. Then I thought about what a stupid idea that was. The volume of her prayer grew louder as I reached to grab her head. It wasn't in English. Probably Spanish, I thought.