by: MacSas

Boss paced, sighed and puffed on his Cuban cigar. Imported illegally, of course, but that’s what made them all the more sweet to the taste – if not the lungs. He was getting anxious. Lex was nearly ten minutes late. Was he normally late? Was this a ploy to keep Boss on his toes? He didn’t know. But he didn’t like it. Things tended to go wrong when folks, crocks especially, weren’t punctual.

Boss had never dealt with a man of Lex’s calibre. So he had had Roscoe search for information on the man. Despite the little that Boss already knew about Lex, what Roscoe’s search turned up didn’t surprise him in the least.

Lex had basically lead a life of crime from the cradle. His mother died when he was seven. His father had tired of being a solo parent shortly after, so by the time he was eight, Lex started the first of a succession of foster homes. It interested Boss that the only reason Lex landed in foster homes was due to his Texan relatives not wanting to take him in. Had they noticed something, even then, about the child that would become a kingpin? Lex had some good families care for him, but according to reports, he showed no sign of social interest. He was a true loner; apparently he rarely even spoke to those around him. By the time he was fourteen, he had decided he’d had enough and simply walked away. It was two years before his own father knew he was ‘missing.’ By then, Lex had found the kind of family he could enjoy being with. The kind of family that encouraged his anti social attitude. The kind of family that taught him how to make money and how to demand respect. He had found the streets.

It didn’t take long for the boy no one wanted to become a big time dealer, one that even the toughest knew not to mess with. Lex had risen to a position where he called the shots. He didn’t get his hands dirty, that’s what those around him were for. And, like most successful dealers, he always looked like a legit business on the outside. Lex had even gone to the trouble of becoming friendly with a lot of police officers around the towns he worked. They knew him as a laid back easygoing kind of guy. A man that enjoyed the finer things in life, and who exuded power and money. Not too many of those officers would have ever thought that they were enjoying late night drinks with one of the biggest drug dealers in their town. Those that did know, or even suspected, were happy enough to overlook certain dealings of Lex’s. The money left in their letterboxes also made keeping quiet very attractive. This explained why Daisy’s reports of abuse had been dealt with as lightly as possible. Although she filed a restraining order, Lex knew that his friends on the force would simply slap his hand if he were caught. It wasn’t until the last beating, when Daisy had turned to her friend on the Texas Rangers, that Lex was really held to account. And, as a CSI working on top-level cases, she had come under the jurisdiction of the FBI as well. There was no slapping on the hand for Lex this time. So he had had to resort to the one thing that got him to the top in the first place. His survival instinct. He had made his escape from police custody while being transferred from the court to the jail. He turned up at Daisy’s home, brandishing a shotgun and telling her, loud enough for the neighbours to hear, that he could kill her at any time he choose. That’s when the Rangers decided to get her out of harms way. And now, here he was, in Hazzard. Still determined and still running on survival instincts.

“Listen, Clark” Boss said into the CB handset. “How long do you think this guy is going to be?”

“I don’t know Commissioner” Clark answered. He was also worried that Lex was late. This was not like him. “I don’t believe he wouldn’t show if he thought you really had the diary”

“Maybe he knows it’s a set up”

“Well, in that case, we need to prove to him it’s not.”

“How do we do that?” Boss asked.

“We get some information from Daisy that only Lex would know, and we broadcast it over the Hazzard Net.”

“Is she up to doing that?”

“Last I heard she’s awake for longer periods. I’ll give Martin a call and get him to get something on Lex from her. You can then write it in the diary. When he comes for the book, you just flash him the page you’ve written on. It should be enough to hold him there until we get inside”

“You know,” Boss sighed, “it would have been easier for us to use the real diary”

“No way” Clark said. “We can’t afford to loose that. That is Daisy’s ticket to putting Lex away for a long time.”

“Okay then. See what Martin can get from Daisy”

“Just don’t panic Commissioner. Its doubtful Lex will turn up if he’s this late. I’ll tell the QRT to stick around anyway.”

“Right” Boss said in a non-committal voice. “No problem”

*   *   *   *

In a private room at the Tri County Hospital, Daisy lay sleeping. She had an I.V tube running from her right hand. Her right eye was covered to protect it from the light. She had a small knife wound, which started at the top corner of the right eye and ran to the middle of her cheekbone. There was a laceration to her left cheek, and bruising to the bottom of the left eye. She also had bruising to her chin. Her neck was wrapt in a bandage, covering the puckering of the stitches to her throat. There were lacerations to the top of her chest. Her arms were covered in cuts and bruises. Her right forearm had taken most of the damage, as she had used it to protect her face and neck. It had been badly sliced by Lex’s knife, in his attempts to get to her face. The wound was at least an inch deep and ran about 10 centimetres down the outside of her forearm. Her legs were badly bruised and there were even a few lacerations to her upper back. The worst injury may have been to her throat, but the doctors were also worried about the stab wound to her right side. It was located just above her hipbone and had required surgery to repair the damage. The surgeon in charge of her case was thinking of doing a minor skin graft to cover the worst of the wound.

Daisy had been kept under sedation for the last few days. Now the doctors wanted her to have longer moments of awakness, to test the level of pain she was in. The few times that she had been awake were brutal for Martin, who had been a constant fixture at her bedside. She barely knew where she was, let alone who he was. She had asked for both her cousins repeatedly. Martin had had to tell her that they were on their way. Each time she awakened, she seemed to have forgotten the last time she had been lucid. So the lie had worked so far. Martin sat watching her, knowing that soon she would wake again and ask for the boys. Again he would lie to her, and again she would simply sigh and close her eyes. The doctors would come in and test her reflexes and consciousness, while the nurse changed her bandages. All the while, Martin would cringe hearing her moan in pain. The doctors had allowed him to stay at her side, although he had refused a bed in favour of sleeping beside her. This he was able to do due to the beds size and his ability to sleep in hunched positions without moving all night. Stakeout training finally counted for something. Although she was awake for longer periods, Daisy had refused to discuss the attack with him. She would get a sorrowful look in her eyes and turn her head from him whenever he bought it up. She had given a statement to Clark, Roscoe and the leader of the QRT, all at separate times. So Martin believed it was just himself that she didn’t want to discuss the attack with. He couldn’t stand not knowing exactly what had happened though. And it didn’t help that Bo’s words kept ringing in his mind: “The people assigned to protect her just led him right to her.”  It was true. Lex had been alerted by the alarm at the moonshine still site. It wouldn’t have taken a genius to figure out that his best plan would be to follow them from the farm, knowing that the still site was probably about to be swept by police. Lex was smart enough to know that the best defence when backed into a corner is a good offence. By returning to the farm he had done what no one thought he would dare do. And all he had to do was follow Clark and himself to know where they would be hiding Daisy. That gave him all the time in the world to stake out the shift rotations by the QRT, and plan his best time to attack. He was brilliant, Martin had to admit. Damn him.

Martin’s cell phone shrilled just as Daisy stirred.

“Kent”

“Martin? It’s Clark. No sign of Lex.”

“He knows we’re up to something”

“That’s what I thought. I have an idea though.”

“What’s that?”

“We could use some information from Daisy”

Martin watched as Daisy stirred, a little closer to being awake, the pain etched on her face.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” he told Clark.

“Look, I know your worried, partner, but right now we need all the help we can get.”

“She’s in so much pain Clark” Martin whispered.

“All we need is just one piece of information that only Lex would know, something that would bring him out of hiding if he knew that she had it written in that diary.”

Martin was silent. He watched as Daisy slowly open her eyes, wincing against the dim light overhead. She turned her head slowly towards him, looking for him. When she saw him she smiled and reached her hand out to him. As he took it he debated Clark’s idea. Dare he risk hurting her to bring Lex to justice?

“Martin?”

He smiled at Daisy as he addressed Clark.

“I don’t know Clark”

“Shouldn’t it be her decision?” Clark asked.

“Yeah” Martin sighed, watching Daisy close her eyes again. He squeezed her hand as he told Clark, “Ok, let’s do it”