Any of them might kill him if they knew they couldn't take him. But they would try to take him first.

那些国家都知道要是得不到他就一定要置他于死地，不过他们更愿意先试着抓他。

youdao

Since the bandits had not despatched him at once, he felt that they would not kill him at all.

那些强盗既然不想立刻结果他的性命，那么他认为他们根本不想杀他。

youdao

But the ministers of Qin believed Meng Changjun would not work for their state wholeheartedly and that they should kill him because he would be harmful to Qin.

可是秦国的大臣们认为孟尝君不会真心为秦国办事，留着他会对秦国不利，应该杀了他。

youdao

But only their senior abbot could do this and he told the soldiers they would have to kill him first.

ECONOMIST: Repression in Yangon

Even the surviving Mercury astronauts--a plumpish Wally Schirra, a leathery Scott Carpenter, a frail Gordon Cooper--were there, showing the colors the way they always did when a member of their elite fraternity was setting out on a mission that would kill him or not, but in either event would provide him with that transcendent thrill he got nowhere else.

CNN: Victory Lap