Link glowered at them and then roared with laughter. "So, you found us. What are you going to do?! You're too yellow-bellied to fight me one at a time. Besides, I can take you all on at once. Try me and see!" He yelled. He stood there, arms akimbo, daring them to do take him on.
Fran and Honey had found Sweetie and were dragging her back to the bikes. She was cursing and trying to fight them off. They pushed her next to Link and joined the circle surrounding them. No one had said anything yet. They stood there staring at Link and Sweetie. Link began to feel uncomfortable, impatient. "Well?" he yelled, "Anyone want to take the challenge? Or
are you all cowards?"
Finally Paul said quietly, "We're going to call the police. Let them take care of you. We all want to see you two rot in jail for what you did." He turned to John and Eagle and said, "Am I right?" John and Eagle looked at each other and slowly nodded to Paul. Paul smiled and looked at Link. Link grabbed his arm and said, "Hey, buddy, don't call the police. We can settle this among ourselves. We were just having a little fun. Hey, we got
insulted because you wouldn't let us join you for a decent meal. Maybe we were hasty but we didn't mean any harm."
Paul shook off his hand and said, disgustedly. "You've gotta be kidding! You call that a joke!? You destroyed other peoples' property! You didn't mean any harm? You're pathetic! I'm going to call the police right now!"
As he started to walk away, Link grabbed him again by the arm, turned him around and punched him in the stomach - hard. Paul was taken by surprise and before he could strike back, Link punched him on the chin. Richard, John and Eagle lunged for Link to stop him from hitting Paul again.
At the same time, Sweetie kicked Kate in the shin and punched her in the mouth. Fran and Honey grabbed Sweetie threw her on the sand face down. Fran and Honey sat on her while Nancy went to help Kate. Her lip was bleeding and her foot hurt, but she was okay. Suddenly she yelled "Look out!"
She had seen Link pull out a knife and he was just about to stab Richard. Richard saw it too and stepped aside to avoid the knife. John and Eagle grabbed Links' hands and twisted them around his back, he had to drop the knife because of the pain.
"That does it!" exclaimed John. He had to give this guy at least one punch. He and John let go of Links' hands and John let go with a powerhouse of a punch that knocked Link unconscious. John stood there and laughed. Boy, that felt good! he said to himself. Eagle patted him on the back. They went over to help Paul but he was already getting to his feet. "I saw that, John. Boy, you have one helluva punch! I'm glad you had a chance to hit him. He certainly deserved it. Okay, let's call the police and get this over with."
John got on his bike to find a phone. The others sat on the sand watching Sweetie trying to breathe with sand in her mouth. She had quieted down at this point and was just trying to collect herself. Fran and Honey had stood and were watching her very carefully. Link was still unconscious and Eagle was tying Links' hands with rope he had found on Links' bike.Richard was by Kate's side holding her and they were talking quietly. Nancy was with Paul, helping him.
The sound of a siren turned everyone's attention to the road as a police car and John were arriving. The shrill sound woke Link who was trying to stand, falling back down, still dazed by the KO by John. Sweetie was trying to calm him down as the others waited for the police car and bike to come to a stop.
The whole story was retold by the bikers to the cop who took Link and Sweetie toward the squad car, another squad car pulled up as back up. The officers from the second car came over, one taking the arm of Link and escorted him into the back seat of that car, the officer of the first car placed Sweetie into the back seat of his car. After the exhange of information the two squad cars left the scene. As everyone else headed for their bikes, they could hear one officer calling the tow truck to come pick up Link's bike.
"Well," Paul said, "I guess that's that. One of the cops told me they would get in touch with us to bring charges against those two. I'm glad we were able to see justice done here. Nancy and I really enjoyed being with you guys. I hope we'll get to see each other again, after this mess is over with."
Richard and the others nodded. "You bet we'll see each other again." Richard said. "I think we've all become good friends because of this and I, for one, don't want to lose this friendship." John and Eagle agreed. "You guys were great to help us with this, and Nancy, we can never forget your generous hospitality. We've got to keep in touch. Make plans to get together in the near future. I think we should form a club."
said John excitedly.
"Yeah," said Eagle. "That sounds like a great idea! Let's talk about this some more!" The girls all agreed that it was a great idea. They all talked at once giving ideas of what they can do for the club. Finally, Richard said they better get started for home.
John, Honey, Eagle and Fran agreed to head west on Hwy 27 all the way into town, closer for them, Richard and Kate said they would ride along with Paul and Nancy west on Hwy 27, then these four would break off from the group onto Hwy 24 to their place, leaving Richard and Kate to continue to Expressway 495, Heading into the city that way.
Now Richard and Kate are on their own once again, this time heading into town, back home, Kate would return the bike the first thing Monday morning. She would have to explain about the damage, since it was a rented bike. They hoped the store had insurance. Otherwise they would probably have to pay for it themselves.
A slight smile came over Richard's face as they sped along the highway. What a great weekend, he thought. Not only did he meet the woman of his dreams, but he made a lot of good friends. New York is certainly a wonderful place. So much can happen, and did. He held onto Kate a little tighter and kissed her lightly on her shoulder. He saw her smile. He was content, thinking to himself, "My math teacher would be proud of me, I just figured out that one plus one could equal 14, on a hell of a week end.........
