Page 19 of Kian

“Yeah, there’s just too much snow on the trees to be able to see through them to the ground. Even if there were tracks or clues anywhere, we’d never see them. I was hoping he would be out in the open, but with all the snow, it’s hard to tell where he is,” Grady replied with a sigh. “I can only imagine what you’re going through, Killian.”

“My brother never goes this long without at least texting me back.” Killian swallowed hard at the thought of Kian being in danger, or worse.

“Did he mention where he was when he last texted you?” Grady asked sympathetically.

“No, he just said he thought he found men who were killing wolves for their pelts. I sent a text asking for specifics, but I never got a response. Dave gave him the coordinates where snowboarders said they saw a horse where there shouldn’t be any. I have a feeling Kian got bored and decided to check that out.” Killian’s voice cracked with emotion. “He was on vacation but took some work with him to get ahead of the game. It seems like he might have stumbled onto something.”

“Damn. I really hope we find him soon.”

“Me too.”

“Did you try tracking his cellphone?”

Killian sighed. “Yeah, I have a tracker app on my phone for him, and he has one for me, but nothing is showing up. The phone must be off.”

“Why would he turn it off?” Grady asked.

Killian looked at him and shook his head. “He wouldn’t.”

A call came through their headphones, telling them a snowstorm was moving in fast, and they needed to return.

“I’m sorry, Killian but we have to go back.”

“It’s alright, Grady. It’s not your fault.”

“Let me make one more go. Since we haven’t headed toward the mountains, we’ll swing by there on the way back and over the trees toward the road.”

“I appreciate that, Grady.”

“It’s no problem.”

They flew over Gatlin Road, but there was nothing.

“I don’t even see his truck.”

“Let me swing back over the woods.”

As the chopper flew over the forest, Killian sat up.

“Is that smoke?” He pointed toward a dense section of the forest.

“Sure looks like. I don’t know where smoke would be coming from, but we’ll check it out.”

Killian anxiously watched as Grady flew closer to the smoke rising from the woods. He prayed it was Kian with a fire going to signal for help.

“Is that a cabin?” Grady muttered.

Killian sat up, leaned over toward Grady to look out his side of the chopper.

“Yes, with smoke coming from the chimney. Any idea who it belongs to?”

“I don’t have a clue, but we can look up the coordinates and see if we can find out who lives there.” Grady circled over it. “There’s no place to land.”

“Can you set it down back by the edge of the woods? I’ll walk in if I have to.”

Grady shook his head. “There’s no place to set her down. I would if I could. I didn’t think there would be this much snow out here. I thought we’d find some place to land.”

“Grady, get back here. The storm is close,” a voice said over the radio.

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