He seemed to shrink into himself, as if his years had caught up with him in a single heartbeat.

And in the space of a single heartbeat he made a decision that still haunted him.

In the space of a single heartbeat, the plan was arrayed before him.

That single heartbeat in time when he was no longer inside his mind.

There was a strange noise, like a single, loud heartbeat.

Her body left a dark spot for a single heartbeat before the oozing plastic filled it in.

He went from relaxed to command in a single heartbeat.

For an instant they seemed sustained by a single, collective heartbeat.

But he knew better than anyone that a life could change in the space of a single heartbeat.

While its being empty helped, they still moved quietly and quickly, because she knew that fortunes could change with a single heartbeat.