Liana's head hurt like a sonofabitch. She blinked, and peeled her cheek back from a very cold linoleum floor. She went to move, and discovered her arms were tied behind her back, her wrists aching from it.

"What the fuck?" she whispered, and squinted into the darkness. She was in a room, no idea where. She wiggled around so she was sitting up. The last thing she remembered was being shoved up against her car, and being gassed or something. Liam was already out cold.

"Liam?" she rasped. "You there?"

A mumbled "Yeah" met her ears and she scooted into the room, her eyes adjusting to the dark. A lump in the corner made another noise, and she scooted faster over towards him.

"Liam," she hissed. "Liam wake up, it's Liana."

Liam was curled up on a filthy mattress. "What?" he croaked as she nudged him.

"Hey, look at me, are you tied up? I can't see," she said. He wiggled, and groaned. "Yeah."

"Fuck. Okay. Think Liana," she said, looking around the room, forcing herself to be calm. Stacks of boxes loomed along one side of the mattress Liam was on, and a window let in slivers of light, boarded up with peeling, cracked plywood. A dusty fabric upholstered chair on the far side had a yellowed stack of papers on it, and other than a lamp that had no bulb in it, the room was empty.

Liana struggled to her feet, which weren't tied, and wobbled over to the window. A gap presented itself on the side, and she put her eyeball up to it to see if she could figure out where they were. It was bright, and she jerked back, blinking as her eyes watered.

"Dammit," she swore. What the fuck was going on? She'd been abducted with the kid, and they were god-knows where. Who would do that in broad daylight, in the middle of town? Were they stupid?

"Where are we?" Liam said. He had sat up as well. "What happened?"

"I don't know. Someone's taken us somewhere, and tied us up, left us here," she murmured. "Don't raise your voice just in case they're outside the door."

Liam nodded, and got up, poking one of the boxes with his toe. The thin black line of a zip tie around his wrists shone dully in what light they did have. She felt around with her fingers. She was too. Brilliant. Her heart jumped because that was something she could fix, right now.

"Liam, listen to me. I can help you untie your hands," she whispered. "Watch me."

She turned, and he shuffled over to her. "Am I tied with one zip tie or two?"

"One around both wrists. it's tight, your one wrist is bleeding a bit, I can see it's shiny," he said.

"Okay, that's good. Watch closely, okay? Then you can do the same thing."

She positioned her knuckles together, grimacing as the pain from the tie cutting her skin flared up. She raised up her shoulders, chicken-winged her elbows and then shoved her arms down hard. The tie bit into her hands, and blood welled around the tie, making it slippery.

"Fuck, come on," she hissed through her teeth. "Break, you motherfucker."

She did it again, shoving as hard as she could, pushing her wrists together. This time, the ziptie snapped, and her arms released. She gasped in relief, and put her bleeding wrist to her lips. She kicked the zip tie across the room for good measure.

"Your turn," she mumbled through it and Liam raised his shoulders up, and with eyes on her, pushed down with a grunt. His snapped easily, and he too rubbed his wrists.

"That is so cool," he breathed. "Where'd you learn tactical shit like that?"

"Self defence class. Now, are you okay? Did they hit you?" Liana asked and put her clean hand on his head, feeling for a lump. She felt none, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"No, nothing like that. A cloth over my face, which was weird. I thought that was just a movie thing, like not possible to gas someone with chemicals," he said when she finished her inspection.

"It was diesel on the rag, I remember that. Likely just knocked us out with fumes by suffocating us, rather than the chemical on it. I can't see to look at your arm for needle marks," she said, running up one arm and down the other. No bumps. She did the same on her arms. Nothing. If anything they would have given them ketamine, it was easy to come by in any farm vet cabinet, but Liana didn't feel groggy or out of sorts.

"Where's our jackets?" Liam asked. "And my backpack?"

They searched the room quietly, looking in boxes, but no coats or Liam's backpack were in the room. It meant her phone wasn't with her. She walked to the window again, and peered out one more time. This time she could focus. They were near a forest, facing west, the pine trees snow-coated, the even blanket of white sparkling away over a rise from their location. The sun was not near the horizon. Early-afternoon, most likely.

"Do you know where we are?" Liam asked, sitting down on the mattress again, his head in his hands. "This sucks."

Liana swallowed the dread creeping up on her. They were not near town, the pine outside the window indicated they were upcountry somewhere. Maybe on the ridge north of town? There was an abandoned lumber mill that had a quarry as well. There'd been good swimming in the summer, and some abandoned office buildings and worker quarters before it had been barricaded off.

"Not sure," she said, and sat down beside him. "It's okay. We'll figure this out. If we don't show up to the ranch, you know your dad and my friends will come looking."

It was a platitude, and she grimaced as she said it. They wouldn't know where to start looking. Her thoughts turned to Tanner, and she hoped that if it was noticed she hadn't shown up, they'd be looking. One more problem for him to solve.

She was out of her depth here. For once, she wasn't handling it, and she needed to. She put her arm around Liam. He leaned into her and she quietly took some deep breaths to centre herself. They were somewhere remote. It was cold, and there was no way, if they escaped, they could make a run for it and not risk freezing. They had no way to contact anyone. The only way out was through whoever had them, if they showed up. She detached her wrist from her mouth, the bleeding had mostly stopped. Her shirtsleeve was coated in blood so she pulled it down to cover the slice. It throbbed, but it wasn't intolerable. She'd manage.

"I'm scared. What if the people who took us are going to kill us or something?" Liam whispered.

Liana's stomach dropped as he voiced it. "We'll fight like caged badgers, Liam. You kick, scratch, bite, whatever you have to do."

"You're really tough, you know that?" he said. "Did you get hurt a lot growing up the way you did?"

"I learned pretty quickly how to stay out of trouble," she said.

"Did you have to fight a lot?"

"Sometimes. More often I was defending other kids. I didn't take self-defence until I was in college. Made walking across unlit parking lots a bit easier to handle," Liana said. She'd not had reason to use it much, but the few times she had needed it, it had worked, like now, with their restraints.

"My dad says I need to stop getting into fights because it'll ruin any chances I have of getting into a good college."

She looked at Liam. "He's right," she said.

"What if I don't?" he asked quietly. "What if this is who I am? I'm just so angry all the time."

"Why are you angry?" she asked. "Is it because of your parents splitting?"

He let out a sigh and nodded, and she patted his back. "Part of it, I guess. Mom just left."

"Does your dad know where?"

"Yeah. Dad says she's got a new boyfriend and lives about an hour from us or something."

Liana was going to have words with Trevor over that, once they got out of here. He needed to go to bat for his son and make sure he could still see her. It wasn't as if she'd died, or disappeared. She was starting a new life. It irritated Liana that she'd walk away from a child she had responsibilities to. She'd have to get the adult side of the story.

"If you want to see your mom, you have to say so, right?"

"She left us," he spat, "Why would I?"

"She's your mom, Liam. Always will be, even if you're angry with her for it."

A noise at the door jerked them both to their feet, and Liana held Liam's hand because he was shaking. She was terrified as well, but whatever faced them on the other side, she would deal. She couldn't let them hurt a kid on her watch, and if she got a chance, she'd give them what for.

The doorknob rattled and then the door swung open, light flooding into the room. Both Liana and Liam squinted, holding up a hand, and as the door slammed again, she blinked away the flashes and spots to focus on their captor.

It was one of the men that had been with Dermott that night at the salon. His eyes ran up and down her body, and he hmphed. "Shoulda known you'd get your ties off," he said.

"What do you want with us?" Liana said, doing her best to keep the waver out of her voice. "Did Dermott put you up to this?"

"That idiot? No, he's got nothin' to do with this. Purely personal, sweetie," he said and moved into the room.

He'd brought a bag of chips and what looked to be a package of beef jerky. He threw them at her feet, followed by two small bottles of water.

"Personal? I don't know you. Certainly this one doesn't. Why the fuck are we here?" she blasted. She noticed that the beef jerky had a sharp vacuum seal top. She drew it towards her with her foot.

"You don't know us, sweetie but we know your asshole boyfriend. This one, he's just collateral."

"Careful, that's a big word, might break your tiny brain," Liana snapped, and picked up the jerky bag. She thumbed over the edge. It was sharp, so she pinched it, ready to slice if he got close.

"Enough bullshit. Eat up, it's gonna be cold tonight and there's no heat," he snarled and then went for the door.

If she didn't try something now, there was a chance they'd be left here, and with no way to stay warm, they'd have hypothermia by morning. Liana leapt as he turned, and sliced at his neck with the edge of the jerky bag, grabbing a hold of his hair at the same time.

The bag did nothing, just glanced off his skin, and he turned and his big meaty hand clamped down on her already injured wrist, removing her hand from his head.

"That's how you want to play it, eh?" he twisted her wrist, and the bones crunched as he turned her down onto the floor.

"Hey, knock it off!"

Liam launched himself, and punched the man in the eye. The man backed off, dropping Liana and she held her wrist as she collapsed to the floor. That hurt. She wiggled her fingers, and pain shot up her arm, new blood from the scabbed over gash dripping down her arm.

"Fuck," she wheezed. Liam was screaming like a possessed thing, kicking and punching for all his willowy teenage body was worth. Their captor was halfway to the floor, arms up, trying to fend off the kid, who had decided now was the time to—as she had just put it—fight like a badger.

"Percy! PERCY!" the man bellowed, and another man came running. Liana picked up the bag again, firming up her grip on the edge of it. When he saw Liam, he ran for him. She leapt up, and aimed for Percy's cheek.

"FUCK YOU!" she screamed, and Percy flinched back, his hand covering over a bloom of blood on his cheek as she made contact. She stumbled back when he pushed her, but kept her feet, ready to kick or bite him to get somewhere. She dropped the bag of jerky to the floor to clamp her good hand over her throbbing wrist.

Liam landed beside her in the next heartbeat, his lip split, and the other guy was standing back up, shaking out his fist. Liana clenched her teeth from the pain of her wrist and bent her legs, ready to leap. The two men stood, one holding his cheek, the other dabbing at his own bleeding mouth.

"You're a handful, aren't you? It's a wonder West can even hold on long enough to get his rocks off," the first man said, and Liana growled.

"Where are we," she demanded. "Take us back to town now."

"You aren't goin' anywhere, sweetheart. You or this one," Percy mumbled, and gestured at Liam. "Not until we get what's due to us from those bastards."

"If you don't keep us warm, you won't have a bargaining chip because we'll be dead. Hypothermia, assholes, look it up, another big word. Give us our coats, give us a heater, blankets, or something if you're going to keep us prisoner," she shot back.

Percy looked at the other guy and tilted his head. "DJ, she's got a point."

DJ lifted his hands and stomped out of the room, then came back with their coats, he threw them to the floor, and Liam scrambled from his spot on the floor to grab them both quickly.

"That's all you get. Don't try this again or next time I'll break something more important," he sneered and both of them left, and closed the door with a slam.

"Fuckers!" Liana screamed as she launched at the door, kicking it as it closed. They didn't respond.

Liana sagged, the pain radiating out of her arm almost blinding her and she whimpered. Liam shoved the papers off the chair and pulled it over, and helped her down onto it. The springs in it squeaked. It smelled musty, but right then, she didn't care.

"You did good," she managed as Liam put her coat around her shoulders. She rummaged in her pocket. Her phone wasn't there. "They've taken the phones," she said tiredly. "Dammit."

"I didn't get very far," Liam replied. "You got that other guy good. What did you use?"

"Edge of the jerky packaging. They're always frigging sharp."

"Whoa. Nice," he said, and shoved his arms into his coat, and pulled out a tuque from an inside pocket to put on his head. He rummaged as well. "Mine's gone too."

"What now?" he asked after a moment. Liana was holding her wrist, her eyes closed, leaned against the side of the chair.

"We wait, Liam. That's all we can do."