From behind, a hand clamped her shoulder.
Her heart ricocheted. Casey jerked around to see a man with piercing blue eyes staring back. Though the look on his face was anything but friendly, relief swept through her. This man didnât have the look of a crazed killer. She should know. For a fleeting moment, she had feared Will Tannin had caught up with her. Her breathing slowed, if only a little.
âWhat are you doing here?â he asked.
Taken aback at his guarded tone, Casey struggled for words, something that didnât happen often to her as a journalist.
âYou shouldnât be here. Letâs go.â He glanced over her shoulder at something behind her, a sense of urgency in his eyes, and grabbed her arm. âThe loading dock is off-limits. It isnât safe. You could get hurt.â
Casey sensed that this story had just got a lot more interesting.
Dear Reader,
Often we find ourselves in a difficult situation and we wonder why. Many times, the answer to that is a simple oneâour own choices have taken us on the course to unhappy circumstances. Thatâs exactly what happened to both Casey Wilkes and Jesse Mitchell in Freezing Point. Although their choices and the resulting circumstances are different, their paths cross, and they are each given an opportunity to do something different this time, to make better choices.
Casey realizes that digging too deep for a story sent her into hiding. Jesse knows he canât stand by again and watch others be hurt because heâs working undercover. We canât change the past, but we can always make different choices for the future.
Thank goodness our God is a God of second chances, or weâd all be in trouble. I love writing stories about characters who learn from their mistakes and grow. After all, if weâre not learning and growing, then weâre not living. I pray that you look to God to direct your path in all your ways.
I enjoy hearing from my readers. You can contact me through my website at www.ElizabethGoddard.com and sign up for my newsletter to receive updates.
Elizabeth Goddard
ELIZABETH GODDARD is a seventh-generation Texan who grew up in a small oil town in East Texas, surrounded by Christian family and friends. Becoming a writer of Christian fiction was a natural outcome of her love of reading, fueled by a strong faith.
Elizabeth attended the University of North Texas where she received her degree in computer science. She spent the next seven years working in high-level sales for a software company located in Dallas, and traveling throughout the United States and Canada as part of the job. At twenty-five, she finally met the man of her dreams and married him a few short weeks later. When she had her first child, she moved back to East Texas with her husband and daughter and worked for a pharmaceutical company. But then, more children came along and it was time to focus on family. Elizabeth loves that she gets to do her favorite things every dayâread, write novels, stay at home with her four precious children, and work with her adoring husband in ministry.
As always, my stories are dedicated to my loving husband and my four beautiful children.
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and
my fortress; My God, in Him will I trust.
âPsalms 91:2
I couldnât have written this without help from
Mindi Smith, a twenty-year veteran with the FBI.
Thanks, Mindi, for your invaluable assistance
and sticking with me on this project.
Thanks to Ken Ackerman of Dryiceinfo.com
for explaining how to make dry ice work for my story, and to Dale Pierce of Creative Ice for answering questions about ice sculpting.
To my critique partners (you know who you are),
and to Ellen Tarver, thank you for making my stories shine. A special thank you to my agent, Steve Laube, for believing in me, and to my editor, Emily Rodmell, for believing in this story!
Beautiful ⦠but dangerous.
Jesse finished shoving the last block of dry ice into the back of the specially designed truckâwell insulated, yet ventilated to allow for sublimationâthe melting that would give off deadly CO>2 gas.
The solid form of carbon dioxide would be used to create the snow effect around the ice sculptures along with fogâa mysterious yet stunning display.
He tugged off the gloves used to protect his hands from ice burns or, worse, frostbite. Because his father was a chef and master ice sculptor, Jesse had learned a few techniques of his own, even entering competitions during his college days.
Thatâs what made him the perfect candidate for this covert operation, and the only reason Robert McCoffey, his superior, had pulled Jesse from the desk job and visits to the psychiatrist and put him back into the action. Working as an undercover agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Jesse had nearly blown his last assignment and thought heâd never get the chance to restore his reputation and career.
But ICEâs bulk cash and smuggling division decided Helms Ice and Trucking Company was hotâlaundering money for the Mexican cartelâand they wanted someone on the inside. Since the trucking company also had a catering side business specializing in ice sculptures, Jesse was it.