High above the desert, catastrophic failure strikes a small plane. One passenger records the last few minutes of chaos before the crash and, miraculously, the recording is thrown free. Its contents mesmerize the world and spark a firestorm of controversy. What caused the crash? A terrorist attack, simple engine failure, or a government conspiracy to prevent the leak of top-secret information? And what are those shadowy shapes that seem to fill the cabin and surround the terrified men in their final moments? In a dank prison cell in the infamous French prison La Santé, a sociopathic arms dealer plots his revenge on the man who captured him. With the help of his murderous lover, he plans an escape littered with corpses for one purpose only: to torture and slowly kill the man who brought him down. Chance McCloud, freelance security expert, is too stunned by the death of his younger brother to pay much attention to the speculation about what happened. Until he arrives in California and finds himself up to his ears in conspiracy theories, alien lovers and `rod nuts¿¿that peculiar brand of crazies that believe beings from another dimension exist all around us, and simply haven¿t been able to communicate. Until now. Eleanor Rose is one of the world¿s finest test pilots, on loan to the Navy from Boeing to help test the latest ¿ and deadliest ¿ fighter plane the world has ever seen. When her neighbor Jim dies in a suspicious crash, Eleanor can¿t help but be curious. And when she gets involved with his handsome brother, Chance, she quickly realizes she¿s going to have to choose between playing it safe, and finding out the truth. But whoever heard of a test pilot who wanted to play it safe?