Page 34 of Desperate Justice

Glancing at Diana fiddling with her phone, Allison felt a surge of relief. Rafe did this for her sister. He probably suspected Diana wasn’t going to last more than three hours without a break.

“Before we leave, here’s the rules one more time. We ride in staggered formation, single file, on all roads except the interstate. Sam takes the lead in the left part of the road, Keith and Debbie behind Sam at the right, Diana behind them on the left and so on. Allison you ride in front of me. I’m in the rear.”

“I’ve never ridden in staggered formation,” Diana said. “Must we?”

Allison wanted to groan. She turned to her sister. “Staggered means every rider can see upcoming obstacles and maneuver if necessary.”

“Or if a car decides to cut into your lane,” Keith chimed in.

“Or if there is road debris,” added Debbie.

Comet barked, as if even the dog understood.

Rafe nodded. “Use the usual hand signals to let us know if you need to stop, slow down, if you’re running out of fuel. You know the drill.”

To her relief, Diana smiled. “Paul taught them to me. Left hand tapping at your helmet means police ahead.”

All the others stared at Diana. Allison cleared her throat. Couldn’t her sister ever read the room?

“I’m not real fond of getting pulled over by cops,” Diana said.

Leather creaked beneath his oh-so-fine butt as Rafe leaned back in his bike seat. “None of us are, which is why we don’t speed.”

This was going south, fast. “Di, you remember the other hand signals? The other ones you said Paul taught you? Like raising your left arm up and down to indicate you’re speeding up, or left arm waving over your head that says you need to pull off,” she said.

Diana nodded. “Those, too.”

Mirrored sunglasses masking his eyes, Rafe looked neutral. He continued.

“Stay together. Have a problem with your bike, signal your partner, who will signal me.”

Sam started to open his mouth, saw Rafe’s slight head shake and shut it.

“No cell phones, texting. No calls on the road, only in an emergency. No speeding up unless you signal. No brake checks. We ride, rain or shine. Slow traffic or an accident—no breaking off from formation, unless Sam does, and deciding you want to ride in the breakdown lane or between cars to make time. If you have an emergency, call me or Sam. Our numbers should be in your cell phone.”

“That’s a lot of rules,” Diana complained.

Allison glared at her. “Di,” she muttered.

Rafe’s gaze remained steady. “My group, my rules. Don’t like it? You can go off on your own.”

“We should get going,” Allison said, desperate to bring peace between her sister and Rafe.

“Let me get the bears first. Lou picked them up for us. They’re inside.”

Rafe slid off his bike and went into the diner. He emerged with a bag. When he opened it he handed out the teddy bears, all wrapped in plastic.

“Lou had a hard time getting them because this year it seems a different guy is organizing the bear dropoffs, so please don’t lose your bear.”

All six bears were wrapped in plastic. All were dark brown.

Diana shook her head. “We already got our bears.”

Plastic crinkled as Allison removed a bear from the pack tied to her bike with a bungee cord. Soft and tan, it was double-wrapped in cellophane and seemed to grin knowingly at her.

Rafe frowned. “Where the hell did you get those? That’s not part of the plan.”

“Well, we improvised because we were running late.” Holding up the toy, Allison looked at Rafe. “We picked them up at a designated spot close to home to save time.”