Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: While I made some attempts to truly research the area around Bozeman, I can't say that I found the exact information I was looking for, so I was forced to make some stuff up. So, for any Montana natives out there, forgive me.

The ringing of the phone jarred Lindsay from her sleep and she fuzzily looked around. Her throat felt dry, her eyes stung, and her body was stiff. The phone rang again and Lindsay blindly reached for it, dimly aware that she was on her couch, still dressed in her work. Something clattered onto the carpet at her movement. The day from hell, she thought as everything rushed back to her and she picked up the receiver. To hear a dial tone. The phone rang again and she looked at it blankly before cursing and realizing it was her cell phone. Diving for her purse, she snatched it out before whoever it was hung up.

"Hello?" she croaked out, wincing at the scratchiness of her voice.

"Linds?"

It took a moment before Lindsay recognized her brother's voice. "Evan?" She cleared her throat.

"Yeah."

Slowly sitting up on the floor to unzip her boots, thankful at least that it was early fall and she hadn't tracked mud or snow all over her furniture. "Hey." Her voice was soft.

"Hannah said you called earlier today," her older brother's voice was quiet, subdued. "Are you still at work? I could call back." Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was nearing 11:30 at night. Evan knew about her crazy schedule.

"No, no." Lindsay threw her boots in the vicinity of the front door, hearing them thud against it. Jockeying the phone around in order to take off her jacket, she said, "My boss sent me home when he told me. Gave me the day and tomorrow off." She paused. "How are you?"

She heard him sigh heavily and felt the same. Tired. Heavy. She'd cried herself to sleep, dragging her body to the couch, wrapping her arms around a picture frame of her whole family. Lindsay's swollen eyes spied it on the carpet. She didn't even recall talking to Hannah, her sister-in-law, earlier.

"Probably the same as you I guess." He paused and it sounded as if he was raking a hand through his hair, a habit she'd seen him do a thousand times when he was stressed. "I had to go out to mom and dad's."

"I heard." Talking to her brother, she felt the numbness glide over her. It was if something inside of her was saying, Okay, bad news acknowledged, had your emotional deal, now go fix it. It was probably the CSI part talking. She was too tired to cry anymore.

Evan's next words proved she could still feel pain though. "All of mom's china was smashed. You know, the ones she got from grandma. Some of mine and Noah's clothes were missing." Her brother sounded numb like her. "Your room Linds..."

Lindsay's eyes slammed shut. Of course her brother would have more knowledge of what was going on. "Yeah?"

"Your room was trashed. Your books were all scattered, your posters..."

Katum. Bastard.

"I've spend the entire morning and afternoon helping, but then Jessie came home from school, and..."

Jessie, her five year old niece. Apple of her grandmother's eye. The two chatted some more, but Lindsay came to realize that Evan had a family of his own to look after and couldn't put his full participation into the search. Hanging up, her fingers were already dialing a still familiar number.

"Sorrell speaking," a voice with a country twang answered. Lindsay could almost picture her old mentor chewing on tobacco or something.

"Bill." Her tone conveyed all her questions and more.

"Lindsay! Girlie...how you holdin' up?" There sounded as if there was a lot of activity going on in the background, people calling out orders, running, gear rustling.

"I'd be better if you told me exactly what's going on."

Bill sighed over the phone and got right down to business. "Your parent's truck was found at the base of Bridger Mountains a short while ago, abandoned. Fingerprints on the steering wheel indicated that your father was driving. Your mother was in the backseat, we found a coupla' stray hairs. Two men, whom we can now safely assume to be both Katum and Dakin were in the other two seats."

"Bridger Mountains?" Lindsay murmured faintly. Located only twenty minutes from Bozeman, the mountains were a familiar 'stomping ground' for her and everyone else in the town. She had been up there countless times.

"As soon as Charlie sent out the call, we set up immediate road blocks and patrol cars are routinely checking the roads outta' here. The Big Sky Search and Rescue have been lending a hand from the air; they're the ones that actually spotted the car, by the way, we've got this town sealed, girlie. Best as we can figure, the two bastards panicked when they discovered we had blocked all roads heading north, to Canada. Probably got it into their desperate minds to ditch the car and hike across the mountains to the other side, good luck it'll do them, we'll be waitin' on the other side too. Maybe hoping that if they hide out in the mountains long enough, we'll give up or they may try to trade your parents. It's anybody's guess right now, girlie, but we've been scrambling to mobilize search teams to head on up all afternoon. We're lucky it's not winter season yet. It's still early in the game, so to speak, Charlie immediately requested search dogs; they couldn't have been far, the kidnapping happened less than seventy-two hours ago - "

Lindsay cut him off with a bitter snort. "You'd be surprised at how far someone can go in that time."

"Linds, have faith. We will find them. All the search and rescue teams are gearing up to go out there, some are already combing the mountains and these people know that range better than anyone."

"That's not the point!" she exploded before taking a shuddering breath. Her jaw started to tremble and for the hundredth time in less than two days, tears rose to the surface. "That's not the point, Bill," she repeated quietly, chest hitching. "Those mountains range far, the search area is huge. You could check that place twenty times over and still miss them. There are tons of nooks and crannies that they could hide in. They could live off the land if need be." The constant panic rose within in her once more as she easily envisioned the situation her parents were in. Alone with two desperate killers, dragged up, unprepared, into the mountains. People who wouldn't hesitate to kill them. Oh god. "Bill..." she whispered dishearteningly. "What if...What happens if..."

"Don't talk like that girl," he said sharply. She could almost see her old friend scowling at her, his finger pointing sternly in her direction, berating her for her lack of faith. "I don't wanna hear none of that nonsense coming out of your mouth, ya hear me? Don't wanna hear it. We'll find these sons of a bitches and we'll deal with them. You trust me and you trust everyone else out here, alright? Christ, girlie, you disappoint me with your lack of faith." She let him berate her, letting his angry words wash over her, knowing that he was only doing it to cover his own fears. Bill had been a dinner regular over at the Monroes' for the better part of her life there. He probably still went. He adored her mom's beef stew, the one she always made on Friday nights. Lindsay swallowed hard. There would be no beef stew on the table now.

The only thing wafting through the ranch would be a lingering tinge of pure unadulterated fear. Her parents' fear.

AN: I know, I know, no Danny yet. But I'm still building up to it! It's only the third chapter! Bridger Mountains are in fact real and located near Bozeman, Montana (is Bozeman a town or city? I have seen it referred to as both, so I've decided to go with the town route 'shrug') From the pictures I looked at while researching, it looks for some nice skiing and mountain hiking!