They barked and began to jump and whine when they saw him.

Emmett took the time to pet and scratch each one before feeding them and making sure their numerous bowls had clean water. He liked dogs more than he did humans, so after bagging the poop and tossing the loaded bombs into the far corner he took his favorite dog out to walk the perimeter of the property.

No one seemed to be snooping around.

He didn’t feel as though he needed to worry about being discovered, but he couldn’t bring himself to go back into the processing plant quite yet. He needed a longer break. Although he was afraid Evelyn might go into labor while he was gone, that was part of the reason he couldn’t make himself stay. He couldn’t tolerate the constant threat.

There was nothing he could do to help her even if she did have the baby early. He wasn’t about to incriminate himself and serve more time in prison, so he figured he might as well return the dog to the pen and go have a drink.

9

Anchorage, AK—Wednesday, 10:40 p.m. AKDT

At least she knew where to strike. Evelyn had gone to med school. If she could sever one of her captor’s carotid arteries, it would cut off half the blood oxygenating his brain and render him unconscious in about sixty seconds. That sounded extreme, even to her, desperate as she felt, but if she had just one shot, she needed to make it good. That was the only way she’d be able to get out of her small prison.

The only problem was the weapon she’d be working with. A sharpened wire had no width. It would be easy to miss the carotid, especially if they were struggling with each other or he suddenly put up his hand to block her.

Even if she stabbed him in the perfect place and made a run for it, she’d have only ten minutes or so to get help before he bled out.

Ten minutes wouldn’t be enough; she probably wouldn’t be able to save him.

Could she live with that—add yet another nightmare to the collection in her brain?

She’d have to; she didn’t see any other choice. She knew how Bishop felt toward her, what he would do. Her baby’s survival, and her own, depended on escaping before he arrived.

But getting close enough to the man he’d hired wouldn’t be easy. She had to do more than moan and writhe to convince him she was in labor. She needed to make her Goliath of a captor believe she was on the verge of giving birth the second he saw her—believe it so strongly that he’d rush into the room without a moment’s hesitation. Only if he was completely unprepared and totally surprised would she be able to stab him, especially in such a targeted place.

What would alarm him to that degree?

Blood, she decided. If anything was going to draw him to her side that would be it.