by: Kristy Duke

Silence heavily engulfs within the full and stuffy cab of Jesse’s truck as Jesse stares silently ahead at the road ahead of him, Daisy looks the same way, as I stare out the passenger door at the deep ditches that fall from the side of the dirt road. Eyeing the ditches while my thoughts fall upon the past month since Shawn has returned to Hazzard, of all that has gone wrong since he has returned to Hazzard. And yet, I’ve been able to ignore the coincidences of all that has gone on since he has returned to Hazzard; the robbery at The Boar’s Nest, Bo’s attack, and now Hogg’s house being broke into.  But after thinking of the long and boring meeting we had just attended and the slim file of information that Rosco and Boss gave us, I am forced to stare the ugly facts in the face. Before he returned to Hazzard, life had been quiet and peaceful. As quiet and peaceful Hazzard can be with Rosco’s speed traps and Hogg’s greedy plans to steal as much money he can for himself. Life before Shawn had been normal. Then on the day of his surprise visit, The Boar’s Nest is robbed, a couple of days later Bo is beaten almost to death. A few weeks later, Hogg’s house was robbed.

No one at the meeting had even suggested or thought of Shawn. After all, Shawn had always treated the law and any one in authority with respect; that is unless he was caught doing something wrong. He always was there to help anyone out in need of help. Shawn always treated people with his unique charm that made most everyone want to like him. Even upon returning to Hazzard from Atlanta, he’s been helpful on the farm, helpful to people in town. He has put a face upon that he’s the same good ol’ boy that he was when he returned.

And being the likeable guy that Shawn was, everyone was eager to believe him. Including myself.

That is until I saw Shane, Shawn’s younger brother, after the meeting and had made a casual statement about how he must be thrilled to see Shawn back in Hazzard. Only to learn that Shawn has only been out to the old farm once, the day after his return, to demand half of the farm so he could sell it for money; which had started a fight between the two of them until Shane had threatened to call the Sheriff. Shawn had abruptly left after the threat to not call or show up after that. Leaving me to wonder where Shawn went when he said he went to his brother to work on his car, to get to know him again, to hang out with his kids. Where he went and why he lies to us about where he is going. Where he is now that he had claimed to be at Shane’s house to watch his kids while Shane and his wife was at the meeting. . .

“Hey y’all,” Daisy abruptly breaks the silence, her voice fully alert, “I just thought of something. We have absolutely no food left in the house. With Shawn at the farm, we ran out of food faster than I had expected.”

Jesse slows the truck down a bit. “We don’t have money for unexpected grocery shopping,” Jesse firmly states.

Daisy shrugs sandwiched between us. “Well we’ll be left with a piece of bread and water for dinner tonight. That’s if we’re lucky enough to find a piece for everyone to eat,” she bluntly states, “Perhaps Rhuebottom will put it on a bill until my next pay day?” Daisy questions as she goes silent for a moment, “I was thinking. I feel bad for Bo…we all do. He’s been through a lot.” She goes silent once more. “Perhaps we could pick up some cornbread and the makings for apple pie. Have some cornbread and chicken for dinner with apple pie and ice cream for desert. Bo’s favorite.”

    Jesse nods silently. “Well,” he finally states, “perhaps that’ll get him to eat something.”

I silently watch momentarily, my thoughts lost upon Shawn and the lies he has been telling, of Bo’s constant fear around him, as well as Bo’s distrust of Shawn that he has had of him since day one. Was I always blind of Shawn? Had all the times Shawn had picked on Bo, been really his way to bully him? Had all Bo had claimed against Shawn been real and not said out anger or jealousy of Shawn? Guilt roughly soars within me as I think of the past and all the times I had turned a blind eye upon Shawn and how he had treated Bo, blindly believing Shawn when he had claimed to only be ‘teasing or picking’ on Bo.

“Wait,” I abruptly say as my heart seems to freeze momentarily as my thoughts turn upon Bo left home alone. We left him home alone, worrying about doing so, for the meeting. Worry about an attack or if he should fall or if he’d try to escape as he had yesterday. But now my worry turns to Bo being left alone if Shawn were to decide upon going to the farm, what he would do to Bo if that were to happen. Seeing both Jesse and Daisy eyeing me with alert in their eyes, I slowly state, “look, I think we left Bo alone long enough today. Why don’t you drop me off at the farm before going into town? That way I can check on him and see if he needs anything.”

“Good thinking, Luke,” Jesse states as he stops midway from turning around to straighten the truck to go back home, “give us a call on the CB if anything’s wrong or you need anything.”

“Yeah, sure thing,” I slowly state as I look back out the window, once more returning to disturbing thoughts of Shawn. I hadn’t allowed anyone to treat Bo as I had allowed Shawn to treat him. In the past and present. And yet I  had allowed Shawn to do so with the exception of  yesterday when  he had yelled back at Bo that everyone would have been better off if his attacker had finished his job; of killing him. Yesterday was the first time I had attacked him for what he had said to Bo, for how he treated him. Once more, I begin to wonder and fear if it had been Shawn who attacked Bo in the barn, if that is the reasons behind all the lies. And now Bo left alone. . .

“You’ve been quiet, Luke,” Daisy interrupts the silence once more, “ever since we left the meeting. What’s troubling you?”

“Who said something was troubling me?” I am quick to throw back, not wanting to startle them before I know anything for sure.

“No one did,” she shrugs, “you just have that look on  your face. That look that says you are thinking about something…something that is troubling you.”

I shrug.  “Just thinking,” I state as the farm comes into view, “but for now, no one needs to know what about.”

“Well, you know what you’ve been telling Bo the past few days,” she starts in on me, “it may help to talk about it.”

I shake my head at her. “Nice try, but it’s not going to work on me. I’ll tell you if anything comes of it,” I pause as the driveway comes into view, “for now, there’s no  reason to bring it up when it could be nothing.” I go silent for a moment. “Just drop me off at the driveway. I can walk to the house.”

Jesse nods. “I think Daisy’s right. Something is troubling you…you’re worried about Bo,” Jesse pauses as he slows the truck down to a halt, “I think you know something that you don’t want to worry us about…that you are worrying about.”

“Maybe. I’ll let you know if there is anything to be worried about,” I nod at him as I throw open the door to step out, “I’ll see you later.” I wave at them as I shut the door before walking out in front of the truck to walk onto the dirt drive way before hearing the truck slowly drive off, on their way into town.

I hear myself sigh heavily as I slowly turn around to face the old farm house before my attention falls upon the old barn, my thoughts fall upon Shawn’s frantic call for help. Of following Shawn into the barn to find Bo badly beaten and barely alive, of Bo’s refusal to talk about it, and of his harsh and intense nightmares that awakens him each time he falls asleep. Only to send the fearful question to loudly scream within me. Had it been Shawn who had attacked Bo in the barn? If so, why?

Trying to shake the thought out of my mind, I continue to walk down the dirt driveway with my attention focused upon the old farm house that sends an unknown chill of intense fear rippling through me. Fear that I struggle to shake off and to ignore, only for the feeling to seem to accelerate within me.

Breathing in deeply, I slowly walk around The General and as I cross the hood of The General my fear explodes within me as my eyes suddenly drop to the ground to find the dirt to be disturbed by heavy foot prints as well as prints that look as if something heavy was being dragged, the dragging marks lead away from the house and leads to the barn. But more disturbing is the  heavy streaks and drops of blood. Blood that trails up the porch steps and onto the porch with a large blood smear mark upon the screen door and seemingly to trail from within the farm house. Bo!

Staring at the blood marks, I am momentarily paralyzed by intense fear and throbbing worry as my mind falls upon Bo who had been left alone and once more my thoughts fall upon the disturbing thoughts that had plagued me on the ride home. “Bo,” I hear myself force out Bo’s name as my chest seems to grow  heavy within me and I quickly run up the old steps and tear open the screen door and abruptly become terrified of the bloody scene that resides in the kitchen. The wooden door and the floor at the door way is streaked heavily in blood while the kitchen table lies broken and splintered upon the floor as the chairs are shoved every which way, with one chair lying splintered to pieces at the edge of the middle of the table.  My heart comes to an abrupt halt as my eyes fall upon the edge of the counter that lies four feet  to my left to find a thick puddle of blood upon the sharp edge, a puddle of blood that drips down the counter and onto the floor to create another puddle of blood.

“Bo!” I hear myself yell aloud, my voice trembling in fear as I force myself to walk farther into the kitchen, eyeing the damage and the blood that is splattered and smeared everywhere. Reaching the broken table, I glance down at the splinters of wood from the broken chair to spot an edge of the wood to be covered in blood. “Bo!” I scream my cousin’s name louder in hope of getting a response and I force myself to walk over to the puddle of blood to examine it for a moment. A heavy wave of nausea floods over me as my thoughts fall upon Bo, left alone and vulnerable in his pain.  “Bo!” I yell again as I quickly leave the kitchen to find both of Bo’s crutches to be thrown upon the floor, one to be splattered in blood.

I stare at the crutches as the small hope of all that blood not belonging to Bo quickly evaporates and my fear abruptly steals my breath away and I find myself gasping for air. “No, no, no,” I mutter as I run away from the crutches, eyeing the living room that looks to be undisturbed except for Bo’s crutches. “Bo!” I continue to yell his name as I run down the first hallway, looking into the bathroom, Jesse’s, and Daisy’s room. All to be empty. “Bo!” I cry out once more as I run down the small hallway that leads to the room I share with Bo. Hoping to find Bo asleep on his bed, though knowing with all that blood he is either badly hurt or dead and I become painfully aware of where my unknown fear had originated from before I had reached The General. It wasn’t from the thoughts I had in the truck or my conversation I had with Shane that had planted the firm fear in me, it was the feeling of knowing something was wrong with Bo. The same feeling I always seemed to have when Bo was in trouble or hurt no matter how far apart or close we were. The feeling that had originated from the bond we had together, from our friendship, from my protectiveness over him. The feeling that has been seldom wrong; the feeling I had always seemed to recognize and to accept. Yet I had been blind to it before I had walked around The General to see the blood.

“Bo!” I yell as I reach the closed door and I quickly turn the metal gold handle of the door to throw it open and walk into the room to nearly run into Shawn who stands half way in the room, standing between the two beds and holding a hand gun, pointed at my chest. “Shawn,” I hear myself say as I eye him hardly before looking down at Bo’s unmade and empty bed. Looking back at him, anger and hatred grow thickly within me toward Shawn for whatever he has done to Bo to hurt him so badly. “I trusted you,” I finally state, eyeing Shawn harshly, “Daisy and Jesse trusted you. We gave you our farm, we welcomed you home. Daisy made meals for you.. And this is how you treat us?” I take a step forward closer to him, fighting the urge to attack him and take that gun away from him as I know I could easily do by performing a few heavy attack methods I had learned in the Marines. I could easily attack him and turn the table around and the thought brings some pride within me. But with all the damage and blood in the kitchen and out on the porch and no sign of Bo tells me he has Bo hidden somewhere, hidden hurt, but most likely still alive. To attack Shawn would be to sign off on Bo’s death and would rob me of any chance of finding him in time to rescue him. Knowing Shawn, in order for him to do all this, he had help; help that is probably with Bo do who knew what else to him.

“And I appreciate all y’all did for me. All your hospitality, your friendship. It has been great, Luke,” he grins at me as he shifts from foot to foot nervously, “but as with all great things, it has to come to an end. I’m just sorry it has to end like this.” He goes quiet as he watches me before he thrusts the gun closer to me. “I wouldn’t think of trying anything, Lukas. They’ve got Bo. You try one thing and they’ll kill him.” He states as if reading my mind. “If you cared any for that retard of a cousin of your’s, as you seem to do, you’ll do as I tell you to do.”

I nod slowly as my thoughts race rapidly within me. “Where’s Bo, Shawn?” I finally ask.

“You’ll find out soon enough. Turn around slowly,” he slowly states and I do as I am told to do, “hands up and let’s slowly make our way back to the kitchen. Don’t try anything!”

I nod with my hands in the air as I slowly walk out of the room I share with Bo and back out into the living room. “Tell me, Shawn,” I state, my mouth going dry, “it was you who attacked Bo in the barn. Wasn’t it?”

He laughs nervously. “Damn Luke, I wish you were there to see how much fun I had attacking him. To see the fear in his eyes. To hear him pleading me to stop. You don’t know how long I wanted to do that. Only sad thing was, was that I wasn’t able to finish the job. But today,” he pauses and I eye the fallen crutches once more, my imagination drawing scenes of what they have done to Bo, “but today I get to finish the job. To do what I have always wanted to do. To end his miserable life. I bet if you stopped and let yourself see what a burden he was and is to you, all he’s done to you, you’d want the same thing. Deep down, you know you’re begging me to kill him off for you.”

I quickly turn around to face him and quickly grab him by the throat to harshly throw him into the wall, pinning him there. “I would never think or feel that way about him! The only one that’s been a burden to me is you! I’ve just been too blind to realize it…too blind to see through your nasty little lies. I trusted you too much to see who you really are, who you become! Too blind to realize that I’ve been wasting my time hanging out with the enemy to realize what I’ve been missing by leaving Bo behind all the times you wouldn’t allow him to come! I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid, so dumb as to believe in you. To trust you!” I back hand him across the face and for the first time notice the swelling upon his cheek and the large cut that slices through his cheek. Sighing heavily, I throw him down and step away from him to slowly walk around the corner and into the kitchen and more nausea hits me in final realization that all the blood belongs to Bo. As Shawn walks into the room, holding the gun at me, I state, “What you do to him, Shawn?”

“Other than attacking him in the barn?” he laughs as he regains his composure from my attack, as if ignoring it had even happened, “You know, Luke, life is damn ironic. You just gotta laugh at it.” He pauses to take in the damaged kitchen and back at me, “When I came up with the plan to return home and to hide out among old friends, I figured you and Jesse would be too damn smart to fall for my lies. That you would see right through me. But you were too busy seeing me as who I once been. Wanting to see who I had been. As if I didn’t change in twelve years,” he snorts as he shakes his head, “Yet the one person I gave little thought to, little worry to was the one person that saw right through me from day one. The town’s retard. Your cousin.” He pauses to shake his head once more as he begins circling around me, “Yeah him walking in on me in the barn was a dead give away as to who I have become while in Atlanta, but I could tell when  he stepped out of The General on that first day in Hazzard, that he suspected me of something. He just didn’t have any proof of it until he walked in on me.” He stops in front of me. “And damn, Luke. You were too busy believing and trusting me to believe in your own cousin…your own best friend as you use to call him.” He shrugs for a moment, “Then again, why should that surprise me? It was the same way before I left Hazzard. Now wasn’t it? I’d do something to him and you’d take my side and tell Bo to give me a break. That I was only teasing him. You may have believed that, but Bo surely didn’t. Damn, life’s ironic.”

I eye him heavily as his words sends guilt heavily plummeting deeply within me, guilt of being so blind to Shawn and for turning my back upon Bo when he needed me. Not just now, but before Shawn had left. For believing Shawn, that he meant no harm to Bo. He was just messing with him. How could I be so blind to Shawn’s hatred of Bo? Of how he treated Bo? So willing to accept Shawn that I would neglect Bo the way I did. And yet, Bo has seemed to have continued to forgive me each time. And why? He should have hated me instead of being so kind and accepting of me.

“But enough about old times, Lukas. It’s time to move on,” Shawn breaks the silence I had welcomed between us to drag my attention away from the puddle of blood and back onto him to find him once again pointing the gun steadily at me, “Listen and listen good. You are to pick up the CB and call in Daisy, Cooter, and Jesse. Tell them to meet you in the barn. . .that you need them all to come as soon as possible. Tell them that without saying a word of what you now know.”

I eye him  heavily, my thoughts upon Bo as he motions me towards the CB box that lies on top of the small refrigerator and I slowly shake my head at him. “I’m not getting them involved in this. In you,” I quickly state.

“Really?” he smiles, “I was hoping you’d say that.” He quickly drags a black cell phone out of it’s leather case on his belt and hit’s a number before bringing it to his ear. After a short moment he states, “Cliff, it’s Shawn.” he goes silent a moment, “Well you see, I got Luke in here and ready to go, but he’s refusing to call the rest in. Perhaps you can have Bo talk to him for a moment.” He eyes me for a short moment before he thrusts the phone at me. “Bo wants to talk to you.” He laughs as I slowly grab the phone away from him.

“Bo?” I question in attempt to hide my emotions out of my voice.

In the background, I hear Bo’s heavy and forceful wheezy breathing before I hear a strong male’s voice whisper loudly, “Tell your damn cousin what we’ll do to you if he don’t listen!”

More of Bo’s wheezy and forceful breathing and I can tell that he is painfully fighting for air through an attack that all this has created. A moment later, Bo hisses aloud in agony before his voice slowly comes on the other end of the phone. “Luke,” he starts before he falls into a coughing fit, “don’t. . .do what. . .he says. Don’t. . .do it.”

Bo goes silent as I hear the other guy say something to Bo that is inaudible to me and a moment later Bo lets out a loud and agonizing scream full of fear and pain to send a ripple of fear and anger through my body. “Bo!” I yell out only to get a dial tone to ring in my ear as the guy hangs up on me and I quickly throw the phone at Shawn as Bo’s scream continues to scream within me.

“I heard the scream. I take it he got the message through to -” he starts to say as his phone begins to beep in his hand and he opens it up to hit a couple of buttons before a smile crosses his handsome face. “Ah look. Cliff sent ya a photo of Bo.”

Shawn once again thrusts the open phone at me and I hesitantly grab it to look down at the phone to send my heart to an abrupt halt to see a grainy colored picture of Bo sitting tied to a chair. His face and clothes look to be covered thickly in blood while his injured right leg looks to be sticking out in what looks to be in an odd position. In the photo, Bo is looking down, refusing to look up at the guy’s phone while a large gun is pressed heavily upon his blood soaked bright blond hair. “You won’t get away with this,” I hear myself saying before I quickly throw the phone down on the ground and harshly step on it to feel it break under my boot. “Sooner or later, you’re going to pay for what  you all did to him!”

He shrugs. “Maybe so. And just because you broke my phone, don’t mean they I can’t let them know you aren’t doing as I tol’ you to do. They got this place hooked to cameras and bugged so heavily…you might as well as wave and say hi…they’d see you. And believe me,” he pauses as he walks over to the puddle of blood, to bring my attention upon it, “their patience for you, for Bo is running thin. They’re real eager to pull the trigger to that there gun. I wouldn’t give him the reason to do so.”

I eye him for a long moment before I hesitantly walk past him and over to the fridge to pull the CB and the radio down. Pressing the button down on the CB, I say, “Crazy Cooter, Jesse. Daisy. You hear me? This is Lost Sheep number one. Please answer back.”

“Crazy Cooter here,” I hear Cooter’s voice quickly respond.

“You got Jesse and Daisy,” I hear Jesse answer back a moment later.

I eye Shawn who nods and smiles in approval.

“Hey look y’all,” I slowly state, looking away from Shawn, “I hate to pull you away from whatever you are doing, but I think all of you should come back to the farm as soon as possible. I found something in the barn that I think you all should see.”

“Now?” Cooter’s voice squeaks over the CB, “I’m in the middle of working on -”

“I don’t care, Cooter!” I abruptly snap at him, “Have Ethan or LB take over for you. As I said, I need you all at the barn as soon as possible so that we can deal with it quickly.”

“I’m on my way,” Cooter slowly replies, hesitancy and surprise in his voice.

“As are we, Luke,” Jesse responds, “what is it?”

I shake my head as if they could see me. “I’d rather not say it over the air if I can help it. Just get here as soon as possible.”

“Ten four,” Daisy replies before static comes over the air.

“Very good, Lukas,” Shawn states taking the CB out of my  hand to  yank it out of the box and places the gun back to my head, “Now once again, turn around, hands up and do as you are told and no one has to get hurt. Or any more hurt than he is. We are going to join Bo and my friends out in the barn. Thought it’d be ironic to end all of this where it all started.”

I eye him for a long moment, thinking of struggling against him before taking in the blood and thinking of the photo of Bo beaten and covered in blood that I had just saw. As he  pushes me forward, I turn around to open the front door to be pushed again from Shawn to find myself walking through Bo’s splattered blood. With the gun resting against my head, I slowly walk past The General as I am reminded of the intense fear I had as I walked down the driveway of how I had take time to stop and look at the barn as I thought of Bo’s attack. I had stared right at the barn, right where Bo was tied, beaten, and bloody. “Why, Shawn?” I slowly ask as we get closer to the barn.

“Not now, Lukas,” he states as he places a heavy hand upon my shoulder and I fight the urge once more to push him away and to attack him as in the back of my mind, I know that once I allow him to lead me into the barn, both Bo and I are as good as dead. That my whole family is as good as dead once I’m in the barn. But the thought of Bo being held captive, of his loud scream of pain replays in my mind, pushes me forward. I’d never be able to forgive myself, to live with myself if I were to attack Shawn and they were to kill Bo because of my actions.

I come to an abrupt halt as we reach the opening of the barn as more fear rushes through me, fear of seeing how badly they have beaten Bo this time; of seeing Bo in more pain due to my incapability to detect harm in Shawn. Shawn mutters something behind me before he grabs me by the back of the shirt before shoving me into the barn and directs me to the left; to the boxed in area where we had found Bo last time. It takes a long moment for my eyes to adjust to the dark shadows and when they do I find myself staring at Bo who is tied to a wooden chair with a tall muscular man standing in front of him. Everything seems to come to a halt as I take in my cousin’s beaten body as he eyes blankly ahead of him with right leg extended crookedly out; blood soaking through his right jean leg. “Bo,” I hear myself whisper aloud. A large cut is spread across Bo’s right eye brow and blood continues to flow from it and down his face, his face is covered in dried and wet blood as is his yellow shirt that has been ripped. His thin chest slowly moves in before moving out and a loud raspy sound comes from each breath he painfully manages to take. “Bo!” I yell out to him in fear and he slowly lifts his lifeless eyes towards me, lifeless eyes that are void of hope and life that I had seen in them only hours ago. I quickly run towards him only for Shawn to yank me back to him and a couple more men come out from other places in the barn.

“Not so fast, Luke,” Shawn says to me before he turns to Bo and to the muscular man that is standing in front of him, “I see ol’ Bo there has gained himself more injury to that lame leg of his since I left.” Shawn laughs aloud in my ear as my eyes remain glued upon my cousin in fear and anger towards all that he has gone through so far,

The muscular man runs a long hand through his dark crew cut before nodding and turning towards us to eye me with piercing brown eyes. “The dang fool spit at me!” he angrily states at Shawn and shakes his head in disbelief, “So I gave him a little example of what all Cliff is made of, of what I can do if he thinks of doing something like that again to me! The damn fool spit at me…landed a big wad of his saliva and blood all over my face!” He shakes his head again and turns and back hands Bo across the face who gulps in pain and his breathing becomes worse. “Wish I could do more to him. But Boss tol’ me to leave that to you.”
“Damn right,” Shawn states angrily behind me, “I’ve been looking forward to having some fun with ol’ Bo. No way you going to take that away from me!” With that, I angrily break away from his hold upon me only for him to grab the back of my shirt and pulls me back to him and away from Bo.  “I don’t think so, Luke. This is as close to him as you’re ever gonna get to him!”

“He needs his inhaler,” I state out of habit, of always looking out for him to send a wave of laughter around everyone. Everyone but Bo and I. “He’s going to die without it!” I hear myself yell aloud as no one moves or says anything and more laughter comes from Shawn and his friends.

“Cliff, get him his inhaler,” Shawn states and the man in front of Bo eyes Shawn angrily before moving towards Bo and I watch as he roughly shoves his large fist into Bo’s chest pocket and Bo cries out in pain. He yanks out something out of the pocket before he walks over to Shawn and drops it into his hand before walking back to his position in front of Bo. “Here it is,” Shawn drops it into my hand and I look down at Bo’s inhaler that is shot in two. Just like last time. “I have a nice shot, don’t I?” Shawn laughs in my ear, “Well there’s his inhaler if you think you can get it to work. Not that it matters. After  we’re done with him tonight…done with all of you, him or anyone will be beyond any medical help.” More laughter is spread around the room. “OK Luke,” Shawn grows serious as he directs me back a couple of steps before motioning me to sit down and a member approaches with rope and Shawn shakes his head at him. “No need of the rope for now. He’ll be getting up soon to greet the rest. But you so much as move without being told, ol’ Cliff there will put a bullet in Bo’s empty head. Understand?”

I slowly nod as I glance across the isle and into the open gate at Bo who silently eyes me for a moment before looking up at Shawn. “You liar!” Bo yells and I am surprised to hear him say anything.

“Shawn laughs at him as he approaches him. “You call me a liar as if you’re surprised,” Shawn states, “but you know me by now, Bo. You of all people know how well I lie.” With that he back hands Bo across the face and I gasp in anger as Bo’s head is thrown back.

Forcing his head back up to eye Shawn with dead eyes, Bo concentrates on breathing for a long moment before he says in a whisper, “I didn’t tell anyone!”

Shawn nods and laughs. “I know you didn’t and I’m amazed and proud of you too. For once you didn’t run off and tell on me as you always do. Of course that all has to do with my threat,” Shawn shakes his head as he once again back hands Bo across the face, “but sadly Bo, we have to leave Hazzard. And to leave you all knowing what you know, would be to leave a witness and we don’t leave witnesses. Luke and the rest of them are also a liability so, we’re going to have to do it anyway. Sorry Bo…Luke,” he turns to me, “it wasn’t suppose to happen this way. If you hadn’t walked in on me and hadn’t been dumb enough to step on the stick, we wouldn’t be here doing this. But you did and you are dumb enough to step on that stick to give your sorry self away. So here we are.”

Bo eyes Shawn for a long moment. “You’re the dumb one that attempted to hide your stolen money in my barn,” Bo snaps back at him and Shawn angrily steps closer to him to yank his head back by pulling on a handful of blond blood stained hair and Bo bites his lower lip from crying out in pain.

“No one talks back to me like that! By now you should know that…if you were smart,”  Shawn throws his head forward, “You were suppose to be out with the rest of them to your sister’s…if I remember right.” With that Shawn slowly moves away from him to eye me again. “Sorry Luke to bring you into this. To have to do this to you. To our friendship. But thanks to him, it has to happen.”

I shake my head at him. “You liar…Bo should be able to run a parade through here at any time he wishes not a lone worry about stepping on a damn stick!” I state to him and he backhands me across the face and pain washes through my head. “You won’t get away with this. None of you will!”

“Watch us,” Shawn grins at me as he walks away to eye the driveway, watching for Jesse, Cooter, and Daisy.

 

***UNCLE JESSE***

 

“Something’s wrong,” Daisy frets aloud, interrupting the silence that had lingered within the cab of the truck ever since Luke’s call over the CB. I slowly glance over at my niece who stares out through the passenger window, hugging her thin arms across her chest. “For Luke to snap at Cooter like that,” she pauses to look at me, her blue eyes shine in worry, “something’s wrong. Maybe Bo’s in trouble again.”

“We don’t know that,” I slowly state, trying to comfort her despite having the same feeling myself, “Luke wouldn’t have insisted upon Cooter to return to the farm if Bo had been hurt again or in trouble. He’d have called us to meet him at the hospital. Not the barn.”

“Then what?” she says, aggravation thick in her voice as she eyes me for answers.

“I don’t know, honey,” I shake my head at her as I hear my own questions of what Luke’s call had meant, what he wasn’t saying, and didn’t want to say over the CB, “but we’re almost home now. So I’m sure we’ll find out in a few minutes now.” It goes silent again as our drive way comes into view as does Cooter’s tow truck coming towards us in the opposite direction. “And look at that,” I state, forcing a smile at Daisy, “looks like we’ll be pulling in right after Cooter.”

“Yeah,” Daisy answers as she goes back to looking out the passenger window, “I just can’t think of what would be so urgent and important that we all had to be there in the barn. What all this could be about.”

I nod. “I have the same questions myself,” I slowly say as I follow Cooter’s old tow truck into the farm’s parking lot and a moment later pull to a halt besides him and the barn. “Let’s go find Luke and see for ourselves what is troubling him.” I slowly open my door and Daisy slowly follow suit before we meet up with Cooter who eyes us wildly before our attention is drawn onto the barn as Luke slowly walks towards us. As he approaches, my heart yields in fear and worry for him as a bruise is starting to show upon his left cheek and his bright blue eyes shine intensely with agonizing fear. “Luke,” I hear myself say, “what happened to your cheek? What’s wrong?”

Luke eyes us all before he checks over his shoulder before he looks back at us. “What is it, Luke?” Cooter asks, his irritation from the CB has disappeared in worry for his friend.

“It’s Bo,” Luke finally states, his eyes falls upon us before going over our shoulder at the old house. Looking back at us he says, “it’s Shawn.” He goes silent once more as we all eye him with confusion.

“What’s Bo?” Daisy finally asks, “What’s Shawn?

“Shawn and his friends,” Luke goes silent and shakes his head at us as a look of lost hope and desperation covers his face, “Shawn and his friends beat Bo up bad. He can’t breathe, Shawn shot his inhaler in two again. All that blood. . .”his voice trails off and we look up as Shawn comes out of the barn and Luke quickly looks back at him and then at us. He raises his hand at stomach level so Shawn can’t see it and makes a gun motion with his hand, “Shawn and his friends has Bo tied up and at gun point. I had no choice but to call you in. . .”he goes silent as Shawn approaches us. Looking up at Shawn and then at us, Luke states,  “I’m sorry to call you away from what you were doing. To bring you here. To this.”

Intense silence abruptly falls upon us all as his words seem to continue to ring loudly around us as the world seems to come to an abrupt halt. I stare at my older nephew in disbelief as his words build vivid images in my mind of my youngest nephew tied and beaten, covered in blood and his thin chest at a halt. In my mind, Bo’s baby blue eyes shine brightly in fear and in agony, eyeing me, pleading me to make it all go away. As they often had done in the past when he was younger and suffering from an asthma attack.

“Well y’all,” Shawn interrupts the thick silence to draw everyone’s horrified attention away from Luke and onto himself. Anger and hatred thickly rushes through me as I find a bold confident smile spread across Shawn’s handsome face and I am quickly reminded of how Bo and him had never gotten along. Reminded of Bo’s mistrust of him. Of how everyone just shook it off as Bo being jealous of Shawn’s time with Luke and of Shawn’s constant picking on him. But now, I am harshly shown that there was much more behind Bo’s mistrust of Shawn. “I’m glad you were all able to come to the party. Now if -”

“How dare you stand there with that ugly smile on your face after what you did to Bo!” Cooter angrily steps forward to get into Shawn’s face, “You better think again if you think you can get away with-”

“I have and I will get away with whatever I do or want to do,” Shawn returns Cooter’s gesture by getting into his face before he pulls out a heavy hand gun and places it to Cooter’s head and I hear Daisy gasp in fear next to me. With gun at Cooter’s head, he slowly walks around Cooter and places his arm around his shoulders with another wild grin. “As I tol’ Luke there. When I came to town with this wild plan, I figured y’all would see right through me once you got past the fact that I was back in Hazzard. But y’all were so mesmerized by my presence that you were too blind to see that I changed. That I’m not the Shawn Graham that I was when I left Hazzard twelve years ago. Heck,” he stops to laugh and shake his head in disbelief, “I was gone for twelve years…twelve years!  And yet you all still saw me as the good ol’ boy that I supposedly was when I left…as if I didn’t change at all! Tell me…who doesn’t change after twelve years?” he shakes his head again as he applies more pressure upon Cooter with the gun, “Well, most people do. Hazzard remains the same ugly boring place that I had left…so I guess not everything changes.” He pauses as his attention drifts to the barn. Looking back to us he continues, “Well surprise…I’ve changed. Ironically, it was the one person that I didn’t even think about worrying about to see who I really was. The one person I thought would be too stupid and dumb to see who I’ve become…it was him who saw who I had became over those twelve years. Not any of you as I thought would after a couple of days, but the town retard. The thing y’all call Bo.”

Anger and hatred intensely flows heavily within me, anger and hatred like I have never felt towards anyone or anything in my entire life, all directed towards one man I had welcomed into my house. Anger and hatred that I had never known throughout my life, after a life full of giving and helping others, after a life of being taught to love one’s enemy, to pray for them. Yet as I stare at Shawn, hear his words, and see Bo’s broken body within me, I feel anger and hatred like never before towards Shawn that makes me want to attack him and show him exactly how I feel towards him. If only the gun wasn’t to Cooter’s head. . .

“Come on, Shawn. Don’t you think you did enough damage already?” Luke says besides me, his weak voice pleading to draw everyone’s attention towards him. More sadness engulfs within me to see the fear and horror trapped within his crystal blue eyes, harsh emotions that he generally hides from everyone, now seeming glow from his eyes like a neon light. His skin has faded to a deathly pale color that has been brought upon him from his intense emotions trapped within him, from what he had seen; from what lies hidden within the barn.  He shifts his weight from one foot to the other as his muscular hand goes through his thick hair as he often does in stressful situations or when he is lost in thought.

Shawn laughs. “You’re funny Luke. Damage? What damage?” Shawn asks sarcastically as he pushes Cooter forward who eyes everyone with wild eyes, “Nah, Lukas, what you saw, is only the beginning. Then again, when we’re all done, y’all will be too dead to see all the damage that we had done.” Shawn goes silent a moment. “OK if you want Cooter to arrive within the barn alive, you better turn around with hands up and walk into the barn. Nice and easy. You try anything, Cooter gets a bullet in the head. Got it?”

I stiffly nod as I slowly turn around and do as he has instructed us to do, too afraid to oppose him as my anger and hatred towards him urges me to do. I fall into line behind Luke and Daisy before stepping in front of Cooter to follow them toward the old barn and with each step closer we take Bo’s beaten body becomes more clear. Bo’s beaten body as we had found him when we had returned home from Kristy’s to be greeted by Shawn who led us to the barn where Bo lied beaten and covered in blood in one of the pens. Only to send my harsh emotions towards Shawn to accelerate within me as it becomes clear to me that it was Shawn who had attacked Bo. Who had almost beat him to death. Guilt rides behind my anger and hatred for Shawn, guilt for trusting and believing Shawn, for not seeing it as it was, and for allowing Bo’s attacker to sleep in Bo’s bed while he was in the hospital, for allowing his attacker to stay at the farm. A violent shudder runs through my body as my mind puts myself in Bo’s position, out of the hospital and hurt so badly and the person who had done that to him, still at the farm. Being forced to live with his attacker.

“Bo!” Daisy high pitch scream of fear and horror abruptly breaks through my thoughts as she follows Luke into the barn, her attention is drawn to the left side of the barn; where we had found Bo beaten and unconscious at only weeks before. As Daisy freezes in horror, a couple of men jump out of other stalls and she yells out in surprise and fear as they grab tightly onto her and pull her away from whatever she is looking at. “Let me go!” she yells as she kicks back at the strong men behind her only for them to force her to sit upon the ground with one man holding her kicking legs and the other one holding her from behind.

“Daisy!” I hear myself yell, standing still in front of the entrance to the barn, too afraid to move forward. Too afraid to see what she had just seen. One of the men yells something at Daisy as they tightly begin to tie her onto a thick wooden beam that leads up to the loft.

“Come on old man,” a brisk voice states as another tall muscular man grabs a hold of my arm and I look at him, surprised to see someone there and I slowly allow him to lead me into the barn. As we approach the wooden pen on the left, I force myself to look in, to see what Daisy had seen. I abruptly grow numb with intense fear and horror to see Bo tightly tied up to an old wooden chair, his right leg extend out at an odd angle with blood thickly oozing out through his thick denim pant leg. His head is bowed down to the ground and his blond hair is splattered with blood as his torn yellow shirt is drenched in his own blood. His thin chest lies nearly still and I begin to wonder if he’s breathing at all until it moves slightly outward and he begins to make loud gasping sounds as he struggles painfully for air.

“Bo!” I hear myself yell as I shove the man away from me and begin to run towards Bo and Bo slowly glances up at me and my heart painfully halts to see his lifeless eyes. A thick heavy cut spreads across his upper right eye, his right eye is thickly swollen, and blood heavily drains from the cut and down his face while a dark bruise covers his left cheek. “Bo,” I state his name once more as I reach the entrance to the pen and the man in front of him abruptly stands in front of Bo, guarding him from him. I yell out in horror as he harshly backhands Bo with the butt of a black handgun  and Bo’s head is thrown back, Bo gasps in pain. As Bo raises his head back up from the hit, chills abruptly run down my spine at  the void look that spreads over Bo’s beaten face as I realize that Bo is taking the blows with little emotion, that he has already given up hope. That he’s already accepted what his fate will be tonight.

“Get back old man!” the man in front of Bo yells at me as he places the gun heavily against Bo’s forehead, applying more pressure upon his thick cut, “Or I’ll shoot his ugly head off of his shoulders right now!”

“No, no, no,” I gasp as tears rush down my face and the guy once again grabs me and I once again allow him to pull me away where he turns me around and I find both Cooter and Luke being tied up to the wooden fence of the pen on the right side of the barn, several feet away from each other and Daisy.

“Sit down,” the man grunts and I slowly and stiffly comply in fear for Bo’s life and I numbly feel the man tying my arms together and onto the wooden fence post. Looking ahead, I can plainly see Bo sitting in the chair and looking down the line, I can tell so can Cooter, Daisy, and Luke. As well as Bo can see us clearly.

“Thanks Darrell,” Shawn nods, “I got it now.” He goes silent as Darrell joins several other men that is scattered around the barn. Turning to us, Shawn says, “I know right now, it’s hard to believe me. But trust me, I am really sorry that it has come to this. It wasn’t suppose to come to this.” He goes silent as he shakes his head and evilly eyes Bo before looking back at us. “We were suppose to hide out in Hazzard, blend in, while things kinda cooled off in Atlanta. I was suppose to return to who I once was to belong with you while the rest hung out and regrouped. Get a new plan on where to go to next. And it all would have worked out well if it hadn’t been for him!” Once more he goes silent as he points in at Bo who refuses to look at any of us. “So, if you wanna be mad. Be mad at the retard in there that just had to follow me to the barn. Who just had to put his business where it don’t belong.” He laughs sarcastically. “But I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised, huh Luke? That’s all Bo ever did before I left Hazzard…following you where ever you went. Wanting to know everything you did, everything you knew.  Heck, I guess some things don’t change.”

He goes silent as he quickly walks over to Bo where he places his right leather work boot upon the wooden wrung that runs from one leg on the side of the chair to the other wooden leg. He looks down at Bo for a long moment with an evil smile before he abruptly grabs a handful of Bo’s hair and yanks it back quickly and as far back as possible. “Lucky for me, the retard stepped on a stick to announce his arrival and I was able to deal with him promptly. Y’all don’t know how hard it was for me not to beat him to death. I wanted so badly to see the life drain from his eyes. To know he was gone once and for all, but I couldn’t. We weren’t done with Hazzard,” he smiles up at us, continuing to pull on Bo’s hair, “but now we are and I’ve been given the job to finish the job I had started in the barn a couple of weeks ago. Sadly, I am being forced to kill the rest of you too. Due to him, y’all stand as a liability to us and our freedom. But don’t worry. I’ll make sure your’s will be short and sweet. Unlike his,” he laughs as he pushes Bo’s head forward as he lets go of his hair.

“Why Shawn?” Luke boldly asks, “Why you feel so strongly against Bo? He ever do anything to you? Other than walk into his own barn while you were trying to do something you didn’t want anyone to know about. According to all you’ve said, you always felt this way about him. Why?”

Shawn eyes Luke as he steps out of the pen and shrugs. “Perhaps it comes from him always having to follow us around everywhere we went. Perhaps it was from him always telling on me. Perhaps it was from you always dropping our plans just because Bo didn’t feel good or that he had an attack or that Bo needed you. I was damn tired of him slowing you down, of seeing him ruin your dreams, your freedom. I was damn tired of him slowing us both down from what we wanted to do, all because you had to baby-sit him all the time. You may not admit to it, Lukas, but you damn well know you feel the same way about him,” Shawn states as he begins to pace back and forth in front of us, “Face up to it, Lukas, he was and still is a burden to you. Always has been and always will be.”

“All this because you are jealous of Bo, of our friendship?” Luke angrily hisses at Shawn and Shawn angrily comes to a halt in front of Luke, “Because that is what it is sounding to me. That you hated him for taking me away from you and what you wanted. I may have considered you a good friend, but no one gets in the way between Bo and I. Not then and not now.  Bo’s needs has always been more important to me than your’s and that’s what you’re jealous of.  What you’re upset about.”

“I’m not jealous of Bo. No way would I want to be him…I pity him for being who he is. I just don’t see what you see in him that places him above everyone else. All I can think of is that you pity him as well, you feel sorry for him,” Shawn shakes his head, “I hate him for who he is, for what he’s done to me, and to you.  Just think what could have been if it wasn’t for him…about our dreams that he ruined and that you allowed him to ruin. We were going to be in a band…tour the south. If that didn’t happen, then we’d go to the NASCAR circuit; work on cars or race them if we were good enough. Did any of that happen? No, because he had to be where ever you were, had to do everything you did.”

Luke forces a sarcastic laugh. “A band? The whole idea sounded ridiculous at the time and more so now. You were horrible at the guitar, Shawn…horrible. No one said anything because they knew if they did you’d get upset and start throwing things at them as you always did. And I? I don’t play no music instrument and I’m not much better as a lead singer either. Bo had nothing to do with your dream of becoming part of a band to be ruined. And the NASCAR circuit? That was always Bo’s and my dream. You were never in it to begin with. You just sorta overheard Bo talking about it and welcomed yourself into it!” Luke pauses to look in at Bo and I clearly read the guilt that he feels. He looks up at Shawn before continuing, “Bo didn’t ruin anything., Shawn.”

Shawn angrily back hands Luke across the face before standing back up and begins to pace in front of us once more. “You’re so damn blind, Luke! I can’t believe you can be so smart and yet so dumb at the same time. If it wasn’t for him, I’d still have my Corvette. Instead my old man had to go off and give it to Will Jenkins…all because he had to go open his big mouth to the sheriff of what he saw. Had to run off and tell on me just like he always done and then was too ashamed to admit that it was him who told. Didn’t want you to know what a big baby he is,” Shawn shakes his head  as he looks at the gun, “If he hadn’t gone and told Rosco what I done, I wouldn’t have been arrested. Wouldn’t have had to watch my old man give the only thing I cherished to the one guy I hated the most. But he did and I had to watch my old man give my car to Will. All that hard work I put into that car wasted because of him!” With that he runs into the pen where he places the gun harshly against Bo’s chest and Bo blankly eyes him and attempts to say something only to close his mouth again. Shawn shakes his head. “I’m so looking forward to finishing you off.”

The barn grows deathly silent as I watch Bo, fearing each breath will be his last as my mind falls upon the event that Shawn has just described and the little I had known of it. All I knew was that Shawn had caught Will cheating with his girlfriend and had angrily smashed up Will’s beloved car before lighting it on fire. A fire that had spread upon the Jenkin’s old farm house.. A fire that everyone was lucky to escape from. Shawn had been arrested with it with a witness that had came forward where Shawn’s dad was forced to hire the town’s only defense lawyer that won Shawn community service for nine months and a year of probation.  Never did I know it was Bo, who was almost eleven at the time, was the witness that had put Shawn in jail. Never knew it was eleven year old Bo who had ran into the farm house to wake everyone up in the Jenkins’ household to alert them of the fire, which had saved their lives. Only to send questions within me of why or how Bo was out alone at that time of night to see and to do all that?

“That was  fourteen years ago, Shawn,” I dryly state, surprised to hear myself talk.

“I don’t give a care, Jesse! He took everything away from me! My car that I built, took Luke away from me, and now he’s threatening to take my freedom away! Again!” he yells as kick’s Bo’s outstretched leg and Bo yells out in pain to force me to jump. “And now, because of him, I’m being forced to kill you all. As I said, be mad at him!” He kicks Bo’s foot and this time Bo only lets out a gasp in pain before his lifeless eyes land upon me before he eyes Cooter, Luke, and Daisy.

“I didn’t tell anyone!” I am surprised to hear Bo’s voice strong as he yells at Shawn, eyeing Shawn with defiant lifeless eyes.

“And I’m so proud of you for that, too, Bo. Surprised you didn’t,” Shawn shakes his head at Bo, “but as I told you earlier, I have orders to follow. And since you saw what you did, you have to die…as I said earlier, your family and Cooter are a liability because of you. So they too have to die. And now you’re going to watch them die!”

The barn grows eerily quiet as Shawn leaves the pen and a few of his friends talk amongst themselves, watching us and Shawn as if watching a fight on TV.

 

***SERGEANT FBI AGENT FRANK MILLS***

 

“Ever get the strong feeling of déjà vu?” Treyton’s tired voice interrupts the heavy silence that has flooded the government owned car ever since we had left Atlanta, everyone lost in their own thought. I slowly look up from the new article clippings that the kid from Hazzard had given to me in time to see a large bulletin board several feet away. On the bulletin board the commissioner’s fat face with a greedy smile is prominent and besides him in bold black letters that say: Welcome to Hazzard. Enjoy your stay! Shortly after the bulletin board lies the green dented sign that states we are now crossing the borders and are now into Hazzard County. “Weren’t we just here a year so ago?”

“Yeah. Last year. Where your boy was kidnapped and you were shot at by one of the hostages,” I nod as my mind floods back to the case we had last year that had led us to Hazzard and the pain and fear we had witnessed amongst the locals. A deep yearning sadness grows within me as I think of last year’s case and onto the newspaper clippings that I have in my hand and the small note that had been scribbled down next to Liam’s headshot photo. A sadness at the thought that the same family that had been put through such violence, pain and fear last year are once again involved in our current case of finding the men who shot the mayor in Atlanta. “Same town, same county, the same family. Everything’s the same, but the case.”

Trey nods from the driver’s seat as he looks into the rearview mirror and I do the same to see three other government cars following us with the white van. “OK Brody. Tell us where to go,” Trey states, looking into the rearview mirror at the kid who had urgently got our attention by requesting us at the front desk. Requesting us that he has information on our case.

“Yeah, sure,” he quietly responds and I look into the rearview mirror to check on him to find him staring out the window, lost in his own thought.

 

After several minutes of driving around on the dirt road and following Brody’s instructions, we are parked in front of a large pond and with Brody eyeing the pond and all around. Looking at his watch worriedly, he states, “Bo would have been here by now. We’re a couple minutes late as it is.” He turns around to face us, “He stated in the letter that if he weren’t here then something was wrong. That we should go to his farm…to the Duke farm.”

I nod. “Well hop back in. Tell Trey where to go,” I state as I slowly climb back into the passenger seat and Trey and Brody climbs back in as well before Trey drives off from his parking spot. “Sure wish we knew what we were walking into. Bo tell you anything else?” I turn around in my seat to eye him directly.

“I told you everything he has told me. I told you that several times already,” he states heavily and he looks at me with dark brown eyes that are filled with fear for his friend, “As I said, he didn’t want to tell me whatever it was. Don’t know if he thought he was being watched or what, but he just gave me that and told me to follow his instructions for me. Which I did.”

“Easy now, son,” I state, raising my hands in surrender, “didn’t mean to offend you. Just a question is all.”

I slowly turn around and look back down at the article and the three hardened faces that look up at me from the article before reading Bo’s messy hand writing that that had wrote by Liam’s picture. Liam Brock’s real name is Shawn Graham and he’s in Hazzard. Currently staying at the Duke farm. Looks different than photo, but I know your Liam is Luke’s friend, Shawn Graham. Meet me in Hazzard and I’ll explain how and what I know. ~Bo Duke~

 

Several more minutes we find ourselves on a familiar road surrounded by familiar scenery to allow us to know that we have to be getting close. Abruptly, several feet ahead of us, a man jumps out from the woods that line the left side of the road and Trey cusses heavily as he steps upon the break and the car lurches to a stop.  “What is he, suicidal?’ Trey asks angrily besides me as we watch the man quickly approaching us and as he passes my door, I recognize him as Garrett Duke. The one who had helped bring in the leader we had been in Hazzard to get a year ago. He knocks on the window and I hesitantly unlock the door and he quickly opens the door, climbs in and closes the door behind him. “You must be suicidal to jump out at us like that!” Trey yells as he starts the car back up.

“Stop the car. You can’t go any farther,” Garrett gasps and surprisingly, Trey stops the car as well as the line up of cars behind us, “Look, I recognized this parade as to be some sort of government and was hoping for the FBI. Glad it was you,” he pauses breathlessly, “I saw you coming and thought I would stop you, but you can’t go any farther, otherwise we’ll all be in a load of trouble. At least I will.”

“Well stop your yakking,” Trey harshly snaps at him as I turn in my seat to eye him, “and tell us what all this is about. We’re stopped already!”

He nods. “Look, I assume you’re here for Landon, Shawn, Cliff and the rest of them, right?” he eyes me and I blankly nod at him, recognizing only Shawn’s name from Bo. “Well, I’ll be honest with you right up front. When they first came to town, I forced my way into their gang by blackmailing them. But all I did with them that was illegal was help them rob Commissioner Hogg at his house. All the other times, I was forced to baby sit and watch over Shawn to make sure he didn’t mess up with any more than he already did.” He admits, “But that’s all. Then they grew serious and I’ve been looking for a way out and know if I try to get out, they’ll kill me so I’ve been playing along. Waiting for an opportunity. Well you’re it.”

I eye him harshly, not knowing what to make out of his story. “You’ve raised more questions than answers, Garrett,” I gruffly state, “What you mean they grew serious?  What are they doing? Why you have to watch Shawn?”

“Shawn got caught with stolen money from some place or someone they robbed in Atlanta. A whole briefcase full of it. Most money I’ve ever seen in one place. Anyway, he tried hiding it at the Duke farm in their barn when he thought they were all gone. But Bo was still there and walked in on him. He beat Bo nearly to death and threatened to kill the rest of his family if he told anyone about it. Made Landon mad and he did a little beating upon Shawn. Landon would have killed him, but were too close of friends to do that. So he elected me to watch over Shawn so he wouldn’t try anything stupid like that,” he pauses for a long moment, “They got serious, because now they want to get out of Hazzard, but in order to do that, they’re going to kill Bo. Kill Cooter, Luke, Jesse, and Daisy too. Kill Bo because of what he saw and the rest due to their liability. Damn,” he shakes his head, “I’ll be more than glad to help them rob Hogg and all that. But I ain’t going to get messed up in killing innocent people like that. Especially the cowardly way Shawn is doing it. Landon has put Shawn in charge of killing them. Calls it his test to see if he’s still one of them or if he switched sides again. He messes up, Shawn is supposedly to be killed too.”

It goes deathly silent in the car and I glance over to Brody to find tears in his eyes and a look of horror across his face. Looking back at Garrett I state, “Who’s Landon? We know all these guys by different names it seems. We know Shawn as Liam Brock. . .” I let it hang for a moment, “And where are they doing now? What are they doing now?”

Garrett eyes us blankly. “Landon’s the boss man. The guy in charge of it all. Very powerful and violent. All his guys respect and honor and fear him,” he pauses, “And right now they are all at the Duke farm. They beat Bo up good, have him tied to a chair in the barn and have the rest tied in the barn on the opposite side of Bo. Shawn is suppose to be killing his family first in front of Bo before killing Bo. But at the moment, at least when I left, Shawn was too busy going down memory lane with Luke to be killing anyone. Going over all the reasons why he hates Bo for.” He pauses for a moment, “I have to go. They think I’m guarding the barn. As I said, I saw you coming and saw you as a way out. For help. May not love any of the guys they have held hostage, but don’t want to see them killed this way either.”

I nod and Trey eyes him unblinkingly. “We’re suppose to just let you go?” Trey finally states, “Just like that?”

Garrett lets out a deep breath. “Yeah. Just like that. Otherwise Landon’s going to grow suspicious of me, if he hasn’t already,” Garrett pauses, “Look, I know you all have me good on this. I can go away for a long time for my involvement with them. But I was hoping to work out a deal with you two.”

“A deal? You’ve got to be kidding yourself if you think  we’re going to give you the light of day. Your family is about to die and all you can think of is yourself? Of making a deal?!” Trey yells, his voice ricocheting off of the car walls, “You join ‘em, you’re part of ‘em, you’re going down as ‘em!”

“Just hold a sec Trey. I agree with all that you said, this is low and greedy,” I turn to Garrett, “but out of curiosity, what’s this deal contain?”

Garrett eyes Trey angrily before he looks over at me. “I bring Landon to you and you all forget all that I said about belonging with them. Over look what I did already and don’t bring charges to me,” he goes silent as he notices Trey hateful hard look at him, “I can almost guarantee you that I can take Landon once I get him by himself. He thinks he’s tough stuff, but I bet he’s not as tough as he likes everyone to think he is. I don’t know about Shawn, but everyone else, I can almost guarantee that once Landon is taken care of, they’ll follow and surrender to you. Without Landon, they’re no one.”

“Yeah right. The lone cowboy,” Trey says skeptically, “all the while you go off and get your sorry self killed and we’re to blame to let you do it.”

Garrett shakes his head. “Then I get killed. At least I ain’t going to jail,” he states matter of factly, “either way, I’ve got to go.”

I look at Trey a moment as I think of Phil and his family. Of his guards and their family. Of the Dukes that are currently looking at their own death. Leaning over, I whisper at Trey, “I know you’re not going to like this, but right now, he may be our only choice. With Shawn this close to killing the Dukes and with the little that we know,” I pause, “I think we should go for it.”

He exhales loudly before nodding at me. “Well Garrett, looks like it’s your lucky day. My partner here says you may be our only chance,” he pauses, eyeing Garrett coldly, “but you better not mess up. You mess up and get a single person killed, it’s going on you! Understand?”

Garrett eyes him back with cold eyes. “Yeah I do,” he slowly states, “but I don’t plan on messing up.” With that he opens the door.

As Garrett slowly steps out of the car, Trey yells out after him, “This don’t change a damn thing about what I said I felt earlier.”