Treacherous Skies
HIGH FLYING, HIGH DANGER After years of peace and quiet, Maya Carpenter thought she was safe—that her druglord father’s world would never catch up with her. Then she’s abducted and secretly stashed on a plane. And once she and the test pilot who finds her land in the Keys, the real threat begins….Daredevil pilot Connor Jacobson is no one’s hero. And this time, he’s in way over his head. Yet he can’t leave Maya to face danger alone. Besides, he’s got a few tricks up his sleeve that might keep them safe…as long as he’s willing to put everything at risk, including his heart.
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HIGH FLYING, HIGH DANGER
After years of peace and quiet, Maya Carpenter thinks sheâs safeâthat her drug-lord fatherâs world will never catch up with her. Then sheâs abducted and secretly stashed on a plane. And once she and the test pilot who finds her land in the Keys, the real threat begins....
Daredevil pilot Connor Jacobson is no oneâs hero. And this time, heâs in way over his head. Yet he canât leave Maya to face danger alone. Besides, he has a few tricks up his sleeve that might keep them safe...as long as heâs willing to put everything at risk, including his heart.
âIâm not the bad guy. I donât know why youâre on this plane.â
Her dark eyes studied his, looking for the truth in his words.
âThe nameâs Connor Jacobson, by the way.â
âMaya,â she said. She tugged a strand of her beautiful dark hair away from her face, revealing the shadows under her eyes.
âMaya?â he asked, hoping for a little more.
Thatâs all she would give. It was enough for now.
Connor leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. âI have a feeling, Maya, that you might know more about whatâs going on than me. So why donât you spill.â
He wished he knew how to completely convince her he wasnât involved in her kidnapping, but that was only one of the many problems her presence on the plane presented.
The woman had been traumatized, and Connor would give her the space she needed for as long as he could, before he pressed her for information.
He glanced at his watch. She had half an hour.
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, 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.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
â2 Corinthians 5:21
Dedicated to my loving husband, Dan. Always.
Acknowledgments
Let me express my deepest gratitude
to two extraordinary pilots, Steve Ferrell and Rodney Henderson, for their willingness to answer my many questions with detailed accounts of how things work, and for reading through my scenes and offering suggestions and corrections. I couldnât have written this story without the assistance of these two dedicated and experienced pilots. You guys are real heroes!
Contents
ONE
Belize City, Belize
Maya Carpenter glanced around the crowd in the Blue Moon Café, searching for her father, a man she hadnât seen since she was five years old. A man wanted in ten countries, including this one.
Though uncertain sheâd recognize him, heâd said he would know her. A glance at her watch told her he was already twenty minutes late. This wasnât the type of circumstance that allowed for tardiness.
Something was wrong.
That meant he probably wasnât going to show. Sheâd spent a lifetime trying to escape her heritage, but heâd sounded so sincere on the phone two weeks agoâthe first contact since she was fiveâwhen he shared that he was terminally ill and wanted to see her one last time.
In that moment, heâd been convincing, and how could anyone deny their father a dying wish? She hadnât even realized it until his call, but she needed closure. Maya had finally agreed, but now?
Doubts suffused her to the core.
She scraped her bag from the chair as she stood and rushed from the table in search of the door. She weaved her way through the dining patrons and dodged the tray-toting waiters until she spotted the exit.
Had she walked into some sort of trap?
But this was her father. Heâd supported her mother fleeing to the U.S. from Colombia with Maya after the kidnapping that almost cost her life. Heâd never harmed her other than with his poor career choice.
Outside the Blue Moon Café, she found the sidewalk rimming the street and hurried to the parking lot.
A black sedan edged to the curb next to her and she picked up her pace. The door opened and a man in a suit stepped out and into her path. She tried to skirt around him, but he gently grabbed her arm.
