In this day and age? Cell phones - and barring that, land lines. There are still enough pay phones out there that could be used.
We use cell phones with a 2 mile range but there are better units. We're never very far apart and they do work if we are in our vehicles. Ours are cheap enough to be throw aways as they were rebuilt.
I guess if they're in vehicles and close enough, they could use these and toss them if they get stopped since they have serial numbers.
I believe cell phone calls are traceable but I guess they have throw aways for those also.
Sac