Kelly felt warm as she sat on the couch before the fire. Sam had given her a hot cup of coffee and a small meal of scrambled eggs and bacon. She made herself eat a little to get warm, but she really wasn’t hungry. After an hour, she lay down on the couch as the two men sat at the table playing cards and talking.
"When will we call her folks?" asked Steve.
"Let them wait and worry a while. The more worried they are, the more they'll be willing to pay up. We'll call first thing in the morning. I'll go into town and use a pay phone so they can't trace us. Everything will be fine and she'll be home in time for Christmas Eve."
"How will we get the money without being followed?" asked Steve.
"We won't get cash. Too dangerous. I'll have the old man wire the money to a bank account. I have a friend in a small town in Mexico. He opened an account for me there last year. I'll have the money wired there to my account, and then we'll go down and pick it up. After that, we can go anywhere in the world and nobody can stop us."
Steve lowered his voice to a whisper.
"What about the girl?"
Sam looked at Kelly and said, "Once I get word that the money has been transferred, we'll leave her here and then send a message to the Sheriff telling them where she is. They'll come and get her right away, which is why we have to be long gone before we tell them where she is."
Steve looked anxiously at Kelly. Sam smiled, "Don't worry. She'll be fine."