at one time we were all without the knowledge of God’s love and forgiveness. And in Angelina, we see how sometimes we just can’t learn to let go of the past, forget about it and strive onward, toward the goal that God has set for us—and that is Jesus Christ. If you hurt or have pain, please let it go and let God show you His love. Know that God will use those things to shape us and form us so that we can do His work as he did with Angelina. He loves you, dear one, and He won’t ever leave you.
I love to hear from readers, and I now live in Oklahoma. If you write to me, please be sure to make note of my new address: P.O. Box 106, Faxon, OK 73540, though my e-mail address remains the same: [email protected].
In Christ’s love,
Prologue
You’re coming here, Angelina. You have no idea what you’re walking into. I’ve waited a long time for this and I’m not going to let you get in the way this time. Oh, no, not this time. I can kill two birds, as the saying goes. Angelina Harding. It’s been a long time. And you’re coming right to me here in Australia. You’ll be within my grasp. Though this is going to put a kink in my plan, you’re finally going to be mine. Time to play the mind games—again. And you won’t even know it.
Come on, Angie, doll. I’m waiting. Come on and try to find your brother and walk into the maze of my own making. Search for him and play awhile, before you die.
Contents
Prologue
About the Author
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter One
The fuss over her pistol was not the most auspicious start to Angelina Harding’s flight. They’d made her check it—fortunately she had a smaller bag she could unzip from her backpack and check.
She’d gotten no sleep on the ride over, but she needed to be here for her brother.
Oh, how she wanted to be back in Pride, Louisiana, the tiny little town with a population of less than one hundred. She’d lived there for three wonderful years, with several of her friends who’d started a security firm. She liked it there in the small town, and she didn’t want to venture out into the real world.
But what could she do when she got the call…a call she hadn’t expected? She hadn’t talked to her brother in over fifteen years, and he needed her help.
Stepping into the cool air of Australia, she realized she hadn’t dressed for spring but late summer.
It was hot as an oven in Baton Rouge.
And it was just finishing winter here.
She shivered and cupped her hand over her eyes to glance toward the sunny sky. Wearily she grabbed a handful of her dark hair, tied it in a knot at her neck and then released it when she realized it had been shading the back of her neck.
Taking a deep breath, she paused to slip her pistol back into her ankle holster, rearrange her backpack and find the paper containing the information she’d jotted down about her brother.
Her internal clock told her it should be nighttime.
Her brother had said catch a plane to Sydney—and to hurry. Like she should drop everything for him. Glancing around, she noted the cars driving on the wrong side of the road.
She’d been so angry with her brother when he’d become a Christian nearly twenty years ago and decided to move to Australia….
She shook her head as she watched the hustle and bustle. Same as in any city but different too. Not seeing her brother, she started down the sidewalk looking for any sign of him. Bitterness nipped at her as she remembered her one visit to Australia when she was sixteen. She’d come here to see her brother.
He had sent her back home, telling her she shouldn’t have stolen money from her uncle and should have gotten his permission.
Permission!
She’d hated her brother for not letting her stay, and yet, he was her brother and when he called, she couldn’t ignore him as he had her.
Oh, man, she didn’t want to be here. Maybe Providence had been trying to keep her from coming. Maybe she should have turned around and left when the airline had hassled her about the gun.
The beep of a horn when she accidentally stepped out in front of a taxi brought her back to the present.
She hated Australia.
Or at least hated what it stood for.
Where was her brother?
Glancing around at the noisy area, she only wanted to be somewhere else.
Her brother’s decision to leave her in that forsaken place they’d both called home—at the mercy of her drunken uncle—had stuck with her all these years, haunting her dreams at night when she was all alone in the dark, scary night.
Her brother had left her because he felt called to become a missionary out in the bush of Australia—to start up a church. But in leaving to follow his calling, he’d left her to fend for herself. He didn’t mind being alone. She wouldn’t have minded being alone either. It would have been better than dealing with her uncle.
She didn’t like to remember that time of her life, but coming to Australia forced those memories back into the forefront of her mind.
She hadn’t talked to her brother in years because of that incident. She hadn’t seen him either.
And now he was in trouble.
Deciding her brother had forgotten to pick
