Kirsten was scared.
And she was doing a pretty good job at trying to stay calm, and Ryan wanted to tell her that it wasn't necessary. He knew that she was scared, and she had every right to be. Because what the hell was going on?
Kirsten's eyes were closed, but there was a frown on her face, and Ryan sighed. He glanced around the room. There was a small window with bars over it, and a small bathroom with a toilet and a shower. They had opened the door earlier and pushed through a tray of food. Kirsten had gotten up and pulled it over to them. It had looked extremely unappetizing, but both were starving, and so they ate everything on the tray and then had leaned back against the wall and talked about everything but what was happening, and how they would get out of it.
It had been Ryan who had brought it up first.
"Do you think they're looking for us?"
"Sandy and Seth?"
"Yeah." He looked up at her and she took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze.
"Yes, sweetie, I think they're looking for us."
The door flew open, and Kirsten pulled Ryan back against her.
"Mrs. Cohen, we need you," he said reaching behind Ryan and grabbing Kirsten and yanking her to her feet. Ryan was quick to jump to his feet and reach out for Kirsten.
"Where are you going with her?" Ryan asked.
"We'll bring her back," the man grinned at Kirsten and ran his hand down her cheek. "Maybe." Kirsten closed her eyes and shuddered.
"Don't touch her," Ryan growled. A voice came from behind and the driver of the van walked in.
"We just need her to make a phone call," he said. "You, kid, you stay here." With that, he pulled Kirsten out of the room and closed the door leaving Ryan alone.
The phone rang and Sandy jumped to his feet. Officer Davies nodded and Sandy grabbed the phone.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Cohen?"
"Yes?"
"I believe I have a few things that belong to you." Sandy closed his eyes.
"Please don't hurt them," he asked. There was a shuffle and he heard his wife's voice.
"Sandy?"
"Baby? Are you okay? Is Ryan okay?"
"We're okay," Kirsten confirmed. Before he could say anything else, she was yanked away.
"Mr. Cohen, did you get my note?"
"Yes, I have the money. I give you the money, and you give me my wife and son. We can work this out." Don't hurt them, Sandy thought to himself. Please, don't hurt them.
"I knew that you would come through. You're really a stand up guy, Mr. Cohen. Don't anyone ever tell you differently. I'll call you with the details of the trade off." The line cut off and Sandy stood for another second as if hoping that Kirsten would come back on the line. Finally he hung up the phone.
"That was Mom? Is she okay? Is Ryan okay?" Seth asked immediately.
"She said that they were okay," Sandy confirmed. A trade off. That was what he had called it. Kirsten and Ryan for a million dollars. At least Sandy knew that they were okay. That was something at least. "What happens now?"
"We wait for him to tell us where and when, and then we start making the arrangements," Officer Davies told him. Sandy nodded. "We're going to get them back, Mr. Cohen."
Kirsten was thrown back into the room with Ryan and he scrambled over to her.
"Are you okay? I swear to God, if they did…"
"I'm okay," she said softly, placing a hand on his arm. "They called Sandy."
"They did?"
"They've asked for money," she said sighing and closing her eyes. "Ransom." Ryan sat silent for a second, that meant that this was planned. He wondered briefly if they just meant to take Kirsten, if she was the one being ransomed, if they even considered him worth something to Sandy.
"How much?" He finally asked.
"I don't know," Kirsten replied shrugging and opening her eyes again. "I can't…" Her voice trailed off and she bit her lip to stop from crying.
"Hey, it's okay," Ryan said placing an arm around his foster mother. "We're worth something to them." Kirsten nodded and gave Ryan a small smile.
"I should be reassuring you," she said. "Not the other way around."
"You're allowed to be scared, I'm scared shitless."
"Ryan, don't say shit." And he started to laugh, and they both found themselves laughing until they both began to cry. And Kirsten's laughs turned quickly into sobs and she held onto Ryan as she cried.
When the phone rang the second time, Sandy had to wait for the nod from the officers to pick it up. They were recording and trying to trace the call.
"Mr. Cohen? Do you have what we need?" Sandy looked to the bag at his feet.
"Yes, I have the money. 500,000 for my wife, and 500,000 for my son," Sandy replied.
"Good," he began to give Sandy the details of where to drop off the money, and when, and he ended the call with a warning, "Come alone, Mr. Cohen, no cops, or else I'm going to have to make use out of your wife. She's a very beautiful woman." Sandy heard the dial tone, and felt himself get sick.
Kirsten.
Ryan.
A million dollars for their safety.
"I'm going by myself," Sandy announced to the cops.
"Mr. Cohen," Officer Davies started.
"No," Sandy said adamantly. "I'm going by myself. No cops. He said no cops." Or else, Sandy didn't want to think about that. "Just me. No one else." He stomped out of the living room, and Seth jumped off the couch and followed his father into the kitchen.
"Dad, do you think that's a good idea?" Seth asked.
"Seth, please don't argue with me about this," Sandy said placing both hands on the counter to support himself. He closed his eyes. Make use out of your wife. A beautiful woman. Sandy shook the thought from his head. For now, they were okay, they were safe, and he was going to do everything in his power to keep them that way.
If he said no cops, Sandy was going to make sure that there were no cops.
Kirsten wore herself out from the crying, and she had fallen into a fitful sleep when the door opened and another tray of food was pushed in. Ryan reached for it, and pulled it over to them.
"Kirsten?" He shook her gently. "You need to eat." She nodded numbly, pushing herself up to eat. They ate in silence, and when the tray was empty, Ryan placed it back over by the door.
"When we get out of here," Kirsten started as Ryan sat down by her again. "I want a Big Mac."
"Really? A Big Mac?"
"Yep, what about you?"
"Chili cheese fries," he answered with a small smile. She nodded in approval.
"Then I'm going to eat an entire tub of Chunky Monkey by myself," she continued. "It's going to be glorious. And I'm going to refuse to share."
"Well, I don't like Chunky Monkey, anyway," Ryan said. "Phish food."
"Fair enough," Kirsten said with a small laugh.
"We should ask them if we can have a deck of cards, or something," Ryan suggested.
"Next time we chat, I'll ask them," Kirsten grinned. Ryan grinned back.
"Ask them for better beds too," he replied.
"Cable television?" Kirsten suggested.
"We're picky hostages," Ryan added. She placed a hand on his and gave it a squeeze. She wished that it was just her being held, she wished that Ryan was safe at home with Sandy and Seth, but a part of her was glad for the company. Because as horrible as it was, she shivered at the thought of being here alone.
The door opened the driver, who Kirsten had gathered was in charge of this whole thing, walked in and smiled at her.
"You're coming with me, Blondie," he said yanking her to her feet. "You'd better hope that your husband lives up to his end of the bargain." Kirsten shot a terrified glance back at Ryan, who stood up and grabbed her arm.
"You're not taking her," he said firmly. "Not without me."
"You don't want to go there kid," the man said pulling out a gun and training it on Kirsten. "Or this gets a lot harder than you want it to."
"Ryan, it's okay, I'm okay," Kirsten said softly. Ryan's eyes darted between the gun and Kirsten and finally he let go of her arm. He would not be responsible for getting her hurt, or worse.
"She'll be back, if your father can fulfill his promise, and then you can go free and you can forget about all of this," the man sneered at Ryan. "Otherwise, we're going to have to make good on a promise that we made." With that, he pulled Kirsten out of the room, and she was pulled into another room and the door locked behind her.
Why separate them? Why put her in a different room?
She sunk down onto the bed, and for the second time, sobbed into her hands.