It took Saavik a fatal instant to understand what had happened.

In that fatal instant my mind was decided.

At the fatal instant he had become aware of his predicament, and he had done what was best in the circumstances.

He'd let his mind wander for a fatal instant.

At the fatal instant," the man recalled, "I did not see in him what he had been before.

The headlights of the truck had struck full into Mark's face in that fatal instant of collision.

The second priest paused a fatal instant to gape at his fellow's fate, then sloshed through the water, pushing the boat away from shore.

The thought came into his befuddled mind just at the fatal instant when he was standing before a bust of Nero.

Or would he wait that fatal instant too long?

The other two were startled, and stopped for a fatal instant in which he shot them, also.