Page 51 of Shielded Hearts

Reaching the end of the road, Gray shot onto the road. The SUV’s tires squealed as they hit dry road, and the vehicle picked up speed.

“What the hell happened up there, Colt?” Gray wasn’t going to stop pressing him for answers until he provided them.

Again, he replayed the moments in his head. “I heard a weird noise and I felt the ground rumbling. I knew an avalanche was coming. We just got out of the cabin before it got wiped off the mountain, along with my truck. Aspen’s hand was ripped out of mine.” He flexed his hand and gulped against the thick lump lodged in his throat.

“You didn’t see who took her?”

His knuckles popped as he tightened his fist. “By the time I got out, she was gone. I followed footprints to the road. I could see that someone must have carried her out and put her in a vehicle.”

“Fuck. Who could it be, Colt? Any ideas? Does she have any bad breakups in her past? Pissed-off exes?”

“Not that she told me. She’s single. She’s dedicated to building her business and she had some health problems.”

“What kind of problems?”

“Cancer. She’s in remission.”

“Jesus.”

The airport loomed into sight.

“The runway’s lit.”

Gray threw him a look and stomped the gas pedal to the floor. When they screeched to a halt in front of the hangar, both of them jumped out and sprinted to the building. He threw a wild look around at the empty bay where Aspen’s plane had been days before.

He ran into the office, a cold, sparse place at the front of the building. Two employees were there, kicked back, foam cups of coffee on the desk between them.

At his entrance, they looked up.

“Malone.” He looked past Colt. “And Malone. What’s going on?”

“Aspen Grace’s jet. Where is it?”

“It took off about thirty minutes ago.”

Dread swept him like an icy tide. “Where did she go? Who was with her?”

The men exchanged a look. One of them stood. “Let me get the flight plan.” He walked out and a minute later returned carrying a sheet of paper.

Colt ripped it out of his hand and stared at the location. “Montana.” With a sinking feeling, he realized it was the same private airfield that he and Aspen flew from when they took the trip to Lake Tahoe.

Gray leveled the employees in his stare. “Ready our jet.”

“I’ll call the pilot on standby—”

“No time,” Gray interrupted. “I’ll fly it.”

Colt jerked his head to look at his brother.

“What? I’m a Navy pilot. I didn’t go into that profession for nothing.”

“I thought you went into that profession so you didn’t have to get your hands dirty.”

Gray’s mouth twitched at the corner. “That’s the Colt I know.” He nodded at the employees. “Get that plane ready. We’re leaving immediately.”

In a much shorter time than he could have guessed, they were seated in the cockpit with Gray at the controls.

He flipped switches and set the flight path while Colt sat next to him, reeling at what they were about to do.

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