Page 51 of Married to My Master

“Okay,” Dane said, as he brought the gun up and pointed it at Charlene. “We're done here. Time for you to go. You tell Edward Barker to get the money together, and get ready for a phone call from me.”

To her credit, Charlene just glanced down at the barrel of the gun, slowly blinked twice, then refocused her gaze on Emily. “Can I have that email info, so I can log in from home?”

The women exchanged information. Charlene jotted down the email address and password.

Dane grimaced as he thought of all the guns pointed at the house and of the kind of danger he'd put Emily in. They were going to come in after him. They were always going to, and he'd known that from the start. Benton’s voice came to him from a great distance, reminding him that the longer he stayed here, the longer Emily was in harm's way.

“Got it?” Dane asked. “You have what you need?”

Charlene sighed and capped her pen with finality. “Yes, I have what I need. It's a fantastical story, you know. I hope the facts back you up.”

“They will,” Emily and Dane said the same time.

“Let's go,” he said, gesturing with his pistol for her to move along.

This position was untenable, and Dane knew it. He needed to get her out, one way or another. Either out of the house, or out of danger's path. He wasn't sure which, yet. But, one way or another, he was going to have to remove the cops from the equation. There had to be away.

And, right now, the easiest way to do that might be to just remove himself.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Dane

Emily's home phone rang minutes after he'd safely ushered Charlene from the home and out into the arms of the surrounding police and SWAT.

Dane picked up the receiver.

“This Dane Bishop?” the officer on the other line asked.

“Sure is. Who's this?”

“Det. Moore. Stephen Moore. Fine if I call you Dane?”

“Mr. Bishop will do, Detective. Are you getting my list of demands together?”

“Listen, it's going to take some time for everything you've asked for, Mr. Bishop. There’s quite a bit you're asking for, here.”

“Well, let me help you out by speeding the timetable along. You call Edward Barker, BioSphere's head of sales. You tell him he has four hours to get the money together, and that I'll be meeting him at their home office.”

“Mr. Bishop, I don't-”

“I'm walking out of here with Emily West as a human shield, so if you guys want to pull that sniper bullshit on me again, you'll be shooting up a Fortune 500 CEO on international television. Got it, Detective?”

“This is—I can't agree—”

“Get off the phone,” Dane said, his voice cold and level. “Call Edward Barker. Now. Her life's in your hands.” He slammed the phone down into the cradle and headed back over to Emily, who was still taped to the chair. He bent down and began to cut through her bonds.

“What's going on?” she asked.

“I'm getting you out of danger, that's what,” he said, cutting through the straps binding her ankles.

She was suddenly frantic. “How, Dane? How are you getting me out of danger?”

“By leaving here, and taking the cops with me. If anything happens, and I don't think it will, I don't want you around it, okay?”

She bit her lip and tightly closed her eyes. “Dane,” she whispered, “I don't want to lose you.”

He frowned and bent to her wrists, slicing the bonds surrounding first one, then the other. “I don't know how I can stay,” he said, as he sliced through the last one. “I can’t stay and keep you safe at the same time, Emily.”

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