by: Kristy Duke

Worry and concern is written deeply across his chubby face as tears moisten in his dark brown eyes as he stares helplessly over my shoulder at the closed door. “I don’t know what to do, Jesse,” he finally breaks the silence as he grips tightly upon the arms of his old barber chair, “I started this…I brought them in and I made a deal with them. Now they have turned against me and Rosco is missing. I never – ” he cuts himself off as his voice quivers in emotions, “I never meant for this to happen. I never meant for them to beat Garrett or Ethan and I never meant for this to happen with Rosco. I don’t know Jesse.”

For a short moment I allow a moment of silence to fill his smokey office as I take in his sweaty body, taking in his fear and worry; take in his emotions. “We know you didn’t mean for all that to happen, JD,” I slowly reassure them, “to Ethan, or to Garrett, or to Rosco. What’s important now, is how we are going to deal with what has happened. How we are going to stop them.”

“And how are we going to do that?” JD sharply asks, his attention returning to me, “The phones are all cut…here and across town. Perhaps the whole county,” he stops to wipe sweat off with his handkerchief, “and the roads out of Hazzard are all blocked.”

“Damn it,” I state as my fear grows within me, “you checked all that already?”

“First thing this morning. I tried calling an old friend of mine in Atlanta for help last night and couldn’t get even a dial tone,” he shrugs as he pulls a cigar from his expensive cigar case “I had Rhuebottom go around town this morning asking about phones while Enos went around patrolling the border of Hazzard. Heavily blocked and secured.” He pauses momentarily to light his cigar, “It’s us versus them.”

“Damn it,” I mutter once again as a heavy dread settles upon me with thoughts of Luke and his friends out searching for the stolen truck, “us against their weapons.”

“Even if I pay them their ransom,” Hogg shakes his head, “I don’t see them just setting Rosco out. It’s not all about money, it’s about control.”

“They wouldn’t leave witnesses either by the way they’ve acted so far,” I slowly speak up as the CB upon Hogg’s desk begins to crackle.

“Shepard,” Kristy slowly comes through the static, her voice quivering in worry of some sort, “are you out there? Shepard.”

I nod in appreciation as Hogg hands me the handle to his CB set before I press the side buttons to respond, “I’m out there. What can I do for you Kristy?”

“I – I don’t know,” she hesitates before falling silent once again, “it’s Bo.”

“Bo?” I question as my imagination spins wild pictures through me of all that could be wrong with him, picturing him in some sort of trouble, “What’s wrong?”

“I think it’d be best if you came over,” she pauses once again, “instead of saying it over the air.”

“I’m on my way,” I slowly respond as I quickly set the handle back onto Hogg’s expensive wood desk while stiffly standing up.

“Me too,” Hogg huffs upon his cigar as he quickly rises from his old leathered barber chair to follow me out of his office and out in the hot summer sun.

* * * * * * * *

The ride from Hogg’s office in town to the Duke farm seems to last an eternity as an odd awkward and eerie silence thickly looms over us in the small cab of my old truck. Thoughts continue to swirl rapidly through me of what all could have happened to Bo only to force my fear to climb steadily within me. If he had heart attack or a bad asthma attack Kristy would have known to call for an ambulance and she wouldn’t have hesitated to tell me to meet her at the hospital. Instead all she had said that it was Bo and that it was better talked to in person rather over the air. So if it isn’t his health that is in jeopardy or behind Kristy’s urgency, then what could it be? Perhaps Levi and his men had broken into the farm? But then Kristy would be just in as much trouble as Bo, if not worse. Would Bo be dumb enough to go out on his own, to search for the truck by himself?

“Damn it,” I cuss aloud as the thought of Bo leaving the farm slowly and clearly enters my mind. I had intended on sneaking Kristy in as her coming on her own to visit, but if he got the idea that I had asked her to come over, he’d be upset. More than upset. He’d be hurt. If Luke didn’t insult him this morning by telling him to grow up, me pulling Kristy in to insure him staying home would be like putting salt into an open wound.

“I’m sure he’s ok, Jesse,” Hogg dryly says from the passenger seat as he pulls his attention from his side window to look at me, “probably some misunderstanding between the two.”

“Yeah like him sneaking out on his own,” I sigh as my dread and fear grow within me as the farm house looms clearly in view around the corner, “he was upset when I left…I wouldn’t put it past him to sneak out, out of anger.”

He slowly nods in agreement as he watches silently as I pull into the drive way, pulling my truck to a halt a few feet away from Kristy’s black new truck. “Well if that’s the case,” he slowly says as he steps out into the hot morning, “perhaps we could still track him down.”

“Hopefully,” I shrug as we hurriedly climb the stairs to rush into the farm’s kitchen to find Jamie coloring in her coloring book.

“Uncle Jesse!” she screams out in excitement as she throws her small body against me. “Mom! You’re boss is here!”

Hogg gives her a small laugh before saying, “I’m not here as her boss, but as a friend.”

Jamie glances questionably at him for a moment before glancing up as Kristy walks into the room while carrying Shay upon her hip. “JD. Jesse.” she nods at us for a moment as tears glimmer in her soft green eyes as she quickly looks away as she sets Shay down who immediately walks over to me, demanding me to pick him up.

“I don’t know how or when it happened,” she slowly starts to explain as she leans against the back of a kitchen chair, ” all I know is that after I had came inside from talking to you, I had went to put Shay down for a nap in Daisy’s room. Bo had been in the living room and was upset, he had heard what you said on the porch,” she pauses for a short moment, “he really didn’t say much, but enough to let me know he knew and was upset. He had went into his room right before I went to put Shay down, I figured he went to take a nap or wanted to be left alone.”

“What’s wrong mommy?” Jamie asks interrupting Kristy who forces a smile for her six year old daughter.

“I’m talking to Uncle Jesse sweetie,” she smiles at her before looking back at me, “Well a half hour ago, Shay woke up crying so I went to get him up. When I came back out here to be with Jamie, she was gone. She had went looking for Bo to show him a picture she colored for him, a moment later she came out saying he was gone. He’s not in there or the barn. I don’t -” she pauses once more as she looks worried at me and then to Hogg, “I don’t know where or when he left. There’s boot prints in the mud from the back door, but I guess that could be from anyone. I’m sorry, Jesse.”

“It’s not your fault Kristy,” I smile at her as I gently hug her before handing her Shay to quickly walk into the living room as my fear slides into anger towards Bo for doing this to her, to me, to everyone. How can he expect to deal with Levi and his men by himself? He’ll die trying. A shiver rushes through my sweaty body as vivid images flash behind my eyes of his beaten and bruised body in the hospital before images of his beaten and bruised body being thrown into the dirt, with pebbles of dirt pouncing on his wooden casket as they begin to bury his casket.

“Bo!” I yell out in hope as I throw open the white wooden door that leads into the boys’ room to find dark shadows from the sun light shining through the window to dance across the empty room. “Damn it,” I sigh heavily as I glance around before turning around to rush out of his room only to run into Hogg. After making my way around Boss, I quickly throw open the back door and step out in the hot morning to see the boot prints in the mud that seems to run off towards the back of Duke property. Heading towards the woods in the distance.”He’s gone.”

“What now, Jesse?” Hogg’s worried voice whispers in my ear and I slowly turn around to find everyone following me, looking at me, awaiting for my answer.

“I don’t know,” I sigh heavily, “the tracks will only lead us so far and even then, it might not tell us much. But I guess for now, the tracks is all that we have.”

“I’ll stay back in case he returns,” Kristy says, her voice quivering in emotions as she holds onto her kids’ small hands.

“Thanks Kristy,” I nod at her as I lead Hogg down the small hill, following the prints in hope of finding some answers. “I can’t believe he’d be stupid enough to go out on his own, angry or not. Getting himself killed isn’t the answer to anything!”

“Jesse,” Hogg says sincerely as a comforting fat hand reaches my shoulder and I glance over to find emotions swarming in his dark brown eyes, “Bo’s smart enough not to go looking on his own, without any help. Maybe he caught a ride with one of the teams Luke made to search, or maybe with Luke himself. Or maybe he’s not looking at all, just went to go away, went to make you upset. Which is working,” he pauses, “and put yourself in his shoes. You know you’d do the same thing if you were in his position.”

I sigh heavily in defeat as I recognize the truth behind his statement, because there have been plenty of times I had went out to do something just to spite someone after they had upset me. Especially when I was younger. And with Bo’s emotional disorder, he doesn’t always have a tight hold on his emotions or the knowledge of how to handle with them other than to do what he feels like doing. Which hiding somewhere dark and quiet has always been his solution when things got too hard to handle in the past. “The Indian Caves!” I quickly say aloud as my thoughts race into the past when he couldn’t handle his emotions any more, when it got too much. I had often times found him in the barn or in one of the caves, alone. “He use to hide there in the past when he got too upset at something or if he got too stressed out at something. His way of dealing with his emotions, hide somewhere dark.”

“The Indian Caves are a couple of miles away,” he slowly states as I slowly come to the wooded area to lose his tracks, “and he could have went straight, left, or right in order to get there from here.

“Yeah,” I sigh as I slowly turn around, “let’s go back and CB Luke in and tell them to meet us at the farm. Perhaps we can get something worked out while alerting them as well.”

***LUKE DUKE***

“What do you mean, you don’t know where he is?” I hear my voice raise in anger as Kristy slowly finishes explaining how Bo had seemed to have disappeared. Fear harshly washes over me as my thoughts turn to Bo all alone in Hazzard with dangerous men milling around. How could he be stupid enough to go out by himself? If Garrett had allowed himself to get beaten as bad as he did by them, Bo doesn’t stand a chance against them by himself. Chills rapidly race across my numb body as my imagination spins rapidly around Bo, picturing them beating him slowly and steadily to death. The men’s evil laughter ringing in my ears mixed with Bo’s scream of pain and fear. “You mean, he’s out there? By himself?”

“Now Luke,” Jesse slowly interrupts Kristy to bring my frozen gaze from Kristy and onto him where he sits comfortably in the kitchen chair, holding onto his cup of coffee while watching me with worried crystal blue eyes. “It’s not Kristy’s fault, Bo went out on his own.”

I slowly shake my head in disgust as I run my hand through my hair as I struggle with my thoughts of Bo, struggling with what to do now. We had been searching for the hijacked truck, now that’ll have to wait until we find Bo. “I never said it was her fault,” I slowly respond bringing my eyes back onto Jesse, surprised to see how calm he seems to be, “I can’t believe you would do such a thing.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jesse quickly looks away, his voice lowered.

“Yeah you do,” I quickly come back as my anger and fear inflame within me, “I can’t believe you would go behind Bo’s back and talk Kristy into coming to the farm to watch him -”

“To watch him?!” Jesse looks harshly at me with angered eyes to stiffly stand up, “You’re upset at me for that?! You knew as well as I did that he’d be upset not being able to go off with you and your friends, that he wouldn’t be able to help. What you think he’d do if I were to just up and leave him alone? Just stay in his room and wait for me to come home?” he takes an angry step closer to me, “No, he would be long gone when I or you got home with intentions of looking for the damn truck his own way. You know how he is.”

“So do you,” I shrug back in reply to force him to take a step back, “you knew that if he were to even think that you got Kristy here to watch him, to make sure he wouldn’t leave, that he’d be upset. More upset than what he already was at having to stay home. He was already feeling like we were babying him. So what you do? You go hire a damn baby-sitter!”

“I didn’t hire -”

“Fine you went and got a baby sitter,” I quickly interrupt him, “You should have seen him leaving the second you asked Kristy to come over. He’s upset, so what’s he going to do? He’s going to go out in order to upset you in return, prove to you that he isn’t a baby. That he can take care of his own stubborn self!”

An awkward silence abruptly builds in the small stuffy kitchen as everyone’s eyes are locked onto us, wondering who is going to do the next thing. “It’s not whose to blame that’s important here,” Cooter abruptly interrupts the awkward silence as he steps up, standing between us, “but where Bo is. You both know as well as I do, that if Bo gets caught by Levi and his men, he’ll be worse off than Garrett.”

After a short moment of silence, Jesse slowly nods and says, “Cooter’s right.”

“What ya know?” LB smirks as he elbows Cooter in the stomach, “That’s a first.”

Silence once again begin to reside in the kitchen as Jesse slowly glances around the room, taking everyone in as he takes a step back, his tense shoulders slowly relax and his own fear and worry shines in his eyes. “So now it’s onto the next step,” he sighs heavily, looking up at me, “where’s Brodie, Dobro, and Ethan? Where’s Daisy?”

“Brodie, Dobro, and Ethan are still out looking and Daisy out in town looking for new information there,” LB responds for me as he hugs onto Kristy, “we were with Luke. That’s why Cooter and me are here.”

“Makes sense,” Jesse nods sitting back down to take a long drink from his hot coffee, “perhaps they keep looking for the truck and we can split up looking for Bo? I know it’ll delay everything -”

“I’m not looking for the damn truck until we find Bo,” I stubbornly respond, “I’m not going to do anything until we find Bo. This is as much my fault as it is anyone’s. If I hadn’t snapped at him or said what I said to him this morning. . .”

I fade into silence as I allow my guilt to sink in while our argument this morning replays in my head while thinking of his attack he had this morning. “Well as Kristy had said earlier there is tracks in the mud leading out back,” Jesse dryly speaks up, “JD and me followed them to the back of the property and to the woods where we lost them at. I was thinking that,” he pauses to think for a moment, “that Bo often times likes to go away to be alone when he gets too upset or too stressed out. Something to deal with his emotional disorder,goes somewhere dark and alone. He likes -”

“The Indian Caves,” Cooter responds for Jesse.

“The Indian Caves,” Jesse repeats, “or the barn. He’s not in the barn, so if he was going to be alone and not out looking for the truck, he might be at the old caves.”

I slowly glance over at Boss who sits quietly in the corner lost in his own world while listening to what is going on around him. Looking at Jesse, I slowly respond, “Be a good place to look.”

“We could split up,” Cooter speaks up, “someone drive there, someone walk there by following where his tracks lead up to.”

“JD and I will drive there,” Jesse nods as he stands back up and Hogg slowly rises to his feet, “we’ll circle around it to each direction that can go there in case we can come up with something. We’ll have our CB open, but since y’all be walking…we can meet back here or at the cave.”

“The cave,” I quickly respond before heading into the living room, heading for the back door with Cooter and LB right behind me.

***BO DUKE***

Abruptly I am thrown out of my internal darkness by intense and throbbing pain to send a harsh wave of dizziness through my numb body. Struggling to remember what happened while wondering where I am, I squint through the thick blurriness that clogs in my eyes to see nothing but darkness. More darkness, but this time the darkness surrounds me, thickly and heavily. “So I see you’ve finally decided to awake,” a thick masculine voice booms somewhere close and abruptly a bright light flairs up to direct my attention towards a dark tall shadow that slowly moves towards me, holding a lantern up by his left hand. “Huh Bo?”

Fear steadily grows within me as I watch the tall shadow moving towards me until he slowly comes to a stop a foot in front of me. Through the dancing flames in his lantern, an evil and broad smile reflects upon an older and withered face. Glaring up at him, I slowly remember walking into the nearby conversation as my asthma had began to act up and the dropping of my inhaler that had alerted them. Fear accelerates within me as I feel the pressure building upon my chest as I struggle for air to only receive a little painfully, a loud wheezing sound escapes with each breath.

“Answer me!” he abruptly yells and a heavy boot kicks into my ribs to force the pain accelerating within me and I yell out in pain, attempting to tighten up in pain only to find my wrists to be tightly tied behind my back. “I am the boss around here, when I speak, you answer. Understand that, plowboy?!”

“Yes sir,” I gasp out as the darkness around me seems to spin quickly around me in my lack of air.

“Very good,” an evil laugh escapes from the dark shadow, “well I guess I should introduce myself to you. I’m Whinston, you’re new boss; the one you’ll grow to fear. Anyway, I’ll be stopping by from time to time, in the mean time Braiden will be here to watch you. Make sure you behave yourself. Have a nice day, Bo.”

With that he sends another harsh kick into my ribs sending sharp pain rushing through me before slowly walking away, fading into only a light shadow before fading away completely. Watching the darkness spin around and attempting to ignore the sharp pain spring through me, I attempt to concentrate on my thoughts, of what all had happened. A deep sadness and guilt rushes through me for walking out as I had on Kristy, walking out in anger. Not only have I upset my family, but now they don’t know where I am at or what happened. They may never find me, at least in time to save me. Anger quickly follows, anger towards my own stupidness and towards the temper that had sent me away from the safety of the old farm house.

“Bo,” a soft whisper comes from somewhere close, sounding familiar but through the pain in the voice, I struggle to think of who it is. After a short moment of silence a slow movement brushes against my right shoulder and I glance over to find a dark shadow sitting tightly next to me. “It’s me,” he slowly says again, “Rosco.”

“Rosco?” I gasp out in surprise as I slowly wonder what he could be doing here.

“Yeah Rosco,” he quickly responds, “you don’t sound too good.”

“I don’t feel too well,” I force out, struggling for air, “either. I can’t breathe.”

Silence slowly fills the dark area as my thoughts race rapidly through me, sending raw emotions through me. I could die down here, trapped in darkness with Rosco, my last words spoken to Kristy, Jesse, and Luke all being words of anger. Guilt soars through me at thinking of the angered words I had spoken during the moment as I am reminded of why I was upset. Of Luke’s cold statement to Jesse’s unspoken statement. “Where are we?” I slowly asks, breaking the silence as I feel the ropes or whatever is tied around my wrists tightening as I struggle.

“The old mine shaft,” he slowly responds and I nod despite him not being able to see me. It makes sense, it had been a few feet from where I was standing, if only I had thought of that at the time. “I’m sorry Bo.”

“Sorry?” I ask in surprise as my thoughts reach an abrupt halt, “For what?”

“For this,” he slowly responds before falling momentarily into silence, “for helping Hogg with his plan. I didn’t trust Levi or Trent the minute I saw them and yet I went along with the store and by the beatings, it was too late to back out. Hogg didn’t mean for any of this -”

“To happen. I know,” I slowly respond, feeling his guilt through his words.

“And well since we’re held prisoners together down here, I think there is something I should tell you about Whinston and I,” Rosco fades into silence as his body stiffens besides me while I wait patiently for him to go on. After a moment of silence he slowly begins to explain the past to me. About Rachel and Warren, about Jesse holding Whinston prisoner while it all happened and the death threat during the trial. “You…Hazzard has just gotten into the way thanks to Hogg. Whinston’s got Hogg and Hazzard by the palm of his hands, and us. He has a plan, otherwise we’d be dead by now.”

My thoughts abruptly twist onto the outside world, onto Hazzard and my family to send my fear tripping over me, not for me, but for them. Maybe it’s too late to save anyone. “No,” I hear escape from me as the throbbing in my head from being hit by the butt of the gun seems to grow steadily with the pain my chest.

“He escaped from jail,” Rosco says in a way of an explanation, “Levi and Trent are working under him. My guess is they are his main men.” He pauses into his own thoughts before turning the subject around, “Please say that Luke or someone knows you are gone or where you went. Do they?”

“No,” I slowly respond feeling the guilt rush through me, “Luke and them went searching and I had to stay home. Jesse had left to talk to Hogg and left Kristy at home to watch me. I got upset and left, ” I pause as I struggle with the emotions running through me, “I wasn’t even looking for them, I just over heard them and they caught me.”

“Damn it,” Rosco says, his voice coated in frustration.

***LUKE DUKE***

“He’s not here,” Jesse’s voice quivers in raw emotion as he slowly steps through the thick darkness of the large rocky cave and out into the bright summer late morning. Silence once again begins to build within the open wooded area that surrounds the cave upon the hilly and rocky ground. For a long moment I stand silently still near the line of thick trees that surrounds the cave on both sides while watching Jesse slowly walking forward, closely followed by Boss Hogg. Jesse’s quivering voice continues to echo through my ears of his dreaded news sending my raging emotions building heavily within me. If he’s not here, where could he be?

“You searched the whole cave?” I finally ask aloud to break the silence while taking a few steps closer to the mouth of the cave and towards Jesse. As Jesse slowly approaches me, my heart seems to come to an abrupt halt at seeing the thick trail of tears that streak his withered face and dampening his thick beard. Raw emotions is clearly spread across his face and through his body posture, emotions that he has always kept hidden from everyone else, hidden by his pride and stubbornness.

“JD and I did,” he slowly nods as he motions for Hogg to approach us and he reluctantly does so, “Where’s Cooter and LB?”

“They’re coming, they took different paths,” I slowly answer as my thoughts rush rapidly through me. I had relied on Bo being in the cave, picturing him all curled up in a back corner, left in darkness to deal with his feelings, with his emotions. Now I am forced with the possibility that he had been found and attacked by Levi and his men, spreading my dread and fear thickly through me.

“Here we are,” a thick voice comes from the other side of the trees as Cooter leads LB out into the open area as a large bird caws from above, “we caught up with one another a few feet back so we just followed the paths together. You find him?”

“No they didn’t,” I slowly speak up for Jesse as he sadly shakes his head no at them while sadly stepping back to sit down upon an large rock and JD slowly joins up with him, whispering in his ear.

“What we do now?” Cooter asks, his own emotions wrote across his face, “I mean if he’s not in there, where else is he?”

“I don’t know,” I sigh heavily as I run my hands through my hair once again, fighting against my own imagination. “I don’t know…this was my only hope. I guess,” I go silent as I glance around, struggling to organize my thoughts, “we go back to the house and go through everything.”

“You think, they got to him?” Cooter speaks my fear aloud as Jesse slowly gets up to move towards his parked truck that is parked just off of the road.

“I don’t want to jump to any conclusions,”I harshly snap at him as I glare at him and then at LB who stands back a few feet, lost in his own thoughts, “Lets go.”

* * * * * *

Fear rapidly shoots through my tense body as I stare blindly through Jesse’s dirt splattered passenger window as I allow my thoughts to thickly take over me. Thoughts rapidly roll through me, from the fight at the Boar’s Nest that had started all of this to Rosco’sdisappearance and to finding the empty cave where Bo should have been at. Is it possible that he went somewhere else than what Jesse had predicted him to go? Where else could he be?

“Damn it,” I slowly mutter to break the silence that fills the cab of Jesse’s crowed truck to break the thick silence as my thoughts quickly reach Garrett’s beaten and broken body. Forcing a rough and ragged deep breath, I slowly close my eyes as my imagination vividly flashes scenes of Bo’s broken and beaten body and his nightmarish death. Despite the positive thoughts of him hiding out somewhere else, struggling with his emotions and with his thoughts; deep down I know he’s been caught, or that he’s in some sort of deep trouble. For the first time since returning for war, I can feel or sense the mental psych that I had with Bo before leaving. I had always been able to sense or feel when Bo was in some sort of trouble or hurt but had never been able to put a finger on it until afterwards, until it was known. I just knew. Like now.

Slowly opening my eyes filled with dread and lost hope, I find the old farm house looming proudly above with the powerful orange car parked out front. Sadness continues to grow deeper within me as I wonder if I’ll ever be able to share the room with Bo again, have our discussions we had before I had left for war. War had separated us more than I was willing to admit, until now as I think of all the things we had once done, what had once been. Our friendship is a lot stronger than what it had been over a year ago after I had returned, but not the same. Now it may be too late to regain what I had lost. Guilt quickly joins the dread and sadness as my last words spoken to him echos loudly in my ears, of me telling him to grow up.

“Where’s Kristy’s truck?” JD asks besides me, squished between Jesse and I while LB and Cooter sit in the bed of the truck, talking amongst themselves.

“She said she was going to take Shay and Jamie home for a late lunch,” Jesse slowly answers, his voice etched thickly with harsh emotions that he attempts to hide. Slowly the cab falls back into silence as I regretfully watch Jesse pulling into the dirt driveway in thoughts of what is to come next. Will we get a ransom call as Hogg did or perhaps someone will stumble across Bo’s beaten body? Like LB did with Garrett and Ethan.

“Probably for the best,” JD slowly says as Jesse pulls the truck into park in front of the porch and slowly climbs out, “for her not to be here with the kids.”

I watch as Jesse nods while standing near the steps that leads up into the porch as JD follows them before I slowly step out into the hot early afternoon just as Cooter and LB join me. “You have that look, Lukas,” Cooter says as a worried look thickly melts across his crazy eyes as he holds me back with a caring hand upon my upper right arm, “that look that says you have a feeling of what happened.”

“Maybe I do,” I pause to look up at Jesse and JD who stand on the porch waiting for us before looking back at them, “but for now I am keeping it to myself until I find out for certain. Let’s go.”

He reluctantly lets go, knowing I won’t cave in with their pleas and promises of not saying anything before following me up the stairs. Watching JD puff upon his thick cigar for a moment I slowly ease past him and Jesse to walk into the farm’s kitchen to find Bo’s inhaler upon the kitchen table. My heart abruptly and painfully comes to an halt at seeing Bo’s inhaler on the table as I desperately think back to before we had left. Through the fear and confusion of everything, I can’t remember anything being on the table, it being empty from Daisy doing the dishes before she had left. Motioning LB and Cooter to stay where they are I quickly walk around the table to the inhaler to see thick blood sprayed heavily across the inhaler, blood that has mostly dried. My fear accelerates within me as I numbly pick up his inhaler, inspecting his blood, while allowing my imagination to vividly run through me.

“What’s wrong, Luke?” LB speaks up from the door way, “What is it?”

I glance back at them for a short moment before glancing at the inhaler in my hands, the inhaler that Bo’s life depends on. Without it he could die. “Just a minute,” I whisper back to them as I force my attention off of the inhaler in my hand to find a folded up note book paper that had been held down by Bo’s bloody inhaler.

Dread fills me as I hold tightly onto the inhaler , looking at in fear, before grabbing the paper, taking in the frayed edges of the paper where they had ripped it out of the spiral notebook at. Feeling LB’s and Cooter’s eyes on my back, I slowly open the paper to find the piece of paper filled with sloppy handwriting in blue ink, blue ink that is smeared in places. My heart comes to a fearful halt as I slowly begin to read the lengthy note.

Dukes,

I hope you will read the message that is written in between the lines of what you are reading and seeing now. If not, let me explain, if you continue to pursue your current mission and refuse to pay what we are asking, someone you all know will be seeing their last day very soon. So back off. That goes for Hogg or anyone else that may be along in your little hunt party. As of now, I currently have two prisoners that I’d love to see suffer til their deaths, so don’t go ahead and give me a reason to do so.

As I had asked Hogg, I am asking of you. You are to leave five hundred thousand dollars under that big rock near Yellow River by tomorrow morning at eight. In fact, how about this? Instead of doing this separately, I am demanding that you and Hogg work together for one million dollars in order of the safe release of the two prisoners I currently hold. I don’t see the money, all of it, by eight in the morning, you might as well as start preparing for two closed casketed funerals.

Don’t try anything stupid or they both will pay for your stupidity. For your mistakes. BACK OFF!

Your’s truly,

Hazzard’s Nightmare

PS: If you haven’t noticed we have Hazzard blocked and the phones cut, but if by chance you get by, I wouldn’t think of going to the feds. Because my prisoners will be the first to pay, very heavily, for your mistake. They’re life is in your hands, so think and act wisely. The choice is yours.

“Bo,” I hear myself say aloud to break the thick silence as I numbly sit down upon the old forest green chair as thoughts explodes within me. Thoughts filled of what the letter says and what the letter means, of what will happen.

“What’s it say, Luke?” Cooter slowly asks from behind me as I feel them both taking a step closer to stop behind me, his voice quivering in emotion and I slowly hand the paper back to him. After a long moment of silence, he says, “They got him…Bo and Rosco.”

“What about Bo and Rosco?” Jesse asks, his voice filled with emotions, as the flimsy screen door slams shut to grab my attention and I turn to watch Cooter handing the letter to Jesse and JD.

“No, no,” Jesse gasps aloud in disbelief as his aged skin quickly turns ghostly pale and tears instantly build in his crystal blue eyes. A brief moment passes until he finishes reading it over JD’s shoulder before he looks up at me, asking me silently if this can be true. “Not Bo.”

I slowly nod as I force my wobbly legs to stand up to show them all Bo’s bloody inhaler only to force Jesse’s ghostly pale complexion to turn paler and the tears slowly begin to melt down his cheeks and into beard. “I’m keeping it,” I quickly pocket it into my right jeans pocket and everyone numbly nods as I quickly make my way between them to walk to the entry way.

Silence quickly explodes within the kitchen, leaving everyone in their dreaded and fear-filled thought of what all the letter had said. Of what the bloody inhaler had silently implied. Bo is in someway hurt. Anger and hatred intensely grabs a tight hold of me upon the men that has done this to Bo, that has hurt him and threatened him. “One million dollars,” JD is the first to break the silence, his thoughts remaining upon the thoughts that control his actions. Money.

“You better damn have it, JD!” Jesse abruptly yells out to quickly draw a threatening step closer to the his old friend and enemy, anger and fear shining brightly in his blue eyes as he stares coldly at him. “I’m not losing Bo due to your stupid plans backfiring in your face! You’re the one that brought -”

“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” JD softly interrupts Jesse as he takes a step back, “they’ve got Rosco as well as Bo.”

His statement echos within the silence of the kitchen for a long moment before I take a small step back into the kitchen, my thoughts racing quickly through me. “As well as having the town of Hazzard in the palm of their hands. They can pretty much do anything as they please,” I pause, taking in everyone’s worried looks, “and there’s not a damn thing that we can do about it.”

“Damn,” Cooter silently states as he leans upon the back of a chair while eyeing everyone, “any of you have a plan on getting a million dollars before tomorrow morning?”

“We could all add all that we have up together,” LB shrugs, making himself heard, “I mean we don’t have much at the garage and I’m sure y’all don’t have much here either. So it all depends on how much Hogg has.”

“Not a million dollars on hand,” Hogg quickly snaps back, “people owe me, but most of those are out of town. With Hazzard blocked in, we can’t go get what they owe me.”

“It don’t matter anyhow,” I slowly say and everyone glares angrily at me, “well it don’t matter. Y’all are here counting money as if you expect them to just up and let Bo and Rosco out because you gave them the money they asked for.”

“Well that’s what they said,” LB protests.

“That’s what they said, but I can guarantee that they don’t mean it,” I slowly respond, “because in doing so, will mean letting go of witnesses. You honestly think they’d let them go?”

Thick silence abruptly surrounds us as the fear upon their faces intensifies with what I had just told them as they allow it all to sink in. “Not Levi,” Hogg slowly admits, “at least I don’t see him doing that.”

“Me either,” I agree and reluctantly everyone slowly nods.

“We can’t not pay them, Luke,” Jesse says, his voice pleading me to agree, “they’ll kill Bo.”

“I know,” I slowly agree as I begin to pick away at an idea that had began to form amongst the silence in the crowded kitchen, “but I’m not going to sit back and do nothing just to allow them to kill him once he gets what he wants.”

“You have an idea,” Cooter points out.

“I don’t know yet,” I shrug as everyone eyes me, demanding me to tell them what it is, “just get a hold of everyone and tell them to get here. I think I have a plan and I want everyone here to hear it.”

“What will you do?” Cooter asks as he joins me.

“I’m going to my room to sort it out,” I sigh heavily, feeling the pressure thickly building within me, “make sure it will work out before I say it aloud.”

* * * *

Walking into the empty room that I had shared with Bo most of my life, an explosion of memories flood rapidly and vividly through me. Happy, sad, and fearful memories thickly dances within me of the times I had spent in this room with Bo, talking and laughing with him, hugging onto him as he cried in pain, fear, or sadness. Memories of the times I had spent lonely nights in the room, snuggled into Bo’s full sized bed, hugging tightly and fearfully onto his pillow while Bo lied deathly sick at Tri-County, struggling for his young life. Memories of watching his health deteriorate and the pain that had eaten him away before bouncing back, still struggling with pain, but healthy enough to play and laugh. Memories of the day he had been dropped off on the porch crying in his car seat until I had left for war dance vividly through me as I stand in the open door way, watching the shadows rush across the beds.

“Bo,” I silently say aloud as I feel the intense emotions grab a tight hold of me as thoughts of the future quickly mixes with thoughts of the past. Thoughts of a life without Bo. Since the return of his heart disease, the possible chance of him dying had been high, but it was expected to be because of his heart disease or his asthma, not because of some hijackers had taken over Hazzard. A chill icily spreads across my body as thoughts of all that they could be doing to him flashes vividly within me, scenes of Bo alone, cold and in pain. Without his inhaler, he could be dead with the lack of oxygen. He could be dead already due to the hijackers. “No, Bo,” I once again hear myself say as the possibilities rush through me, of all that could be.

Closing the door behind me, I numbly walk over to Bo’s bed to slowly sit down upon it, silently revisiting the past while forcing my thoughts upon the note. One million dollars by eight in the morning for Rosco and Bo. Even if we collected money across town, we would never get a million dollars by tomorrow; even if they were good on their word. Which they won’t be. “Damn it,” I whisper to break the eerie silence that had filled the room, silence that had barely filled the room while growing up. At least with Bo being awake, he always had something to say or to talk about. Now the room is filled in silence.

“Luke,” Cooter’s heavy voice abruptly filters through the closed door momentarily before he softly knocks before opening the door a couple of inches to squeeze his head through, “they’re all here.”

For a long moment I stare blankly at him, taking in his tear filled brown-green eyes while struggling to extinguish the raw emotions that is set aflame within me. “OK,” I hear myself finally say, my voice barely above a whisper as I force myself to numbly stand up. “ThanksCooter.”

He sadly nods slightly in acknowledgment as I slowly join him at the door before I quietly follow him out into the living room, silently going through the idea that has slowly formed after finding Bo’s bloody inhaler on the table. “There he is,” Jesse abruptly says as I numbly walk into the farm’s kitchen to find it crowded with people. Silence quickly falls upon the crowded kitchen as people look at Jesse who stands nervously near the front door, looking at me with saddened eyes. “What’s this idea of your’s, Luke?”

Momentarily, I glance around the room, taking in everyone’s expectant glares as they await my response, of my idea as their own worry and fear displays vividly across their faces. “Well,” I slowly start off, “first of all, it requires most of your help. So if you want out, you better get out now. I don’t want to be half way through this and have someone step out on us. I, nor, anyone else should think otherwise of you…these are some heavy and dangerous men that we are dealing with here. Men that are armed and willing to use them. Anyone wants out?”

Silence quickly follows my statement and I once again glance around the room, staring from one person to another, knowing ahead of time that no one will walk out. Not on us and not on Bo. “OK then,” I speak up after a long moment of waiting for someone’s hand to go up or for someone to leave, “thank-you ahead of time for your help and for your support. It isn’t only us on the line here, but the rest of Hazzard.”

“What about Bo?” Brodie’s thick voice filters the room from the back right corner where he stands, holding onto his bottle of beer that must have been handed out before I had left my room, “The note says that if we don’t back off that-”

“I know,” I sigh to interrupt the violent threat that had been plastered heavily upon the thin piece of paper, “but I don’t see any other way around it. We give them what they want, their million dollars, they’ll kill them anyways. These boys are in the big leagues, they don’t leave witnesses behind and that’s Bo and Rosco. So it’s dang if we do and dang if we don’t. I’d rather go and try to save them than to follow through and have them kill them anyway.”

I slowly step into the middle of the room, feeling awkward with everyone’s eyes on me once again, reminding me of my days when I was in the Marines and had been a sergeant and in charge of a few men. Working strategies, the best ways to stay alive. “So how do we stop them?” Dobro says from besides Brodie, his crazy green eyes flares with excitement from under his copper brown hair despite the situation we are in. Excitement for some action. “I mean, what’s your plan to get Bo and Rosco back?”

“Like I said everyone has a part in it,” I pause as I feel my adrenaline rush solidly through me, “Like earlier, I think it is best that we team up with each other or with someone. I was thinking that me and Cooter would join up. Daisy.”

“Yeah?” Daisy glances up from her glass of water that she clenches tightly onto, either out of fear or anger.

“That guy that flirts with you? He still goes -”

“Every night. Braiden,” she slowly nods as she looks up at me, freely showing me the tears that cloud in her dark eyes, “comes in around a quarter to seven and leaves around nine at night. Like clock work.”

I slowly nod as I allow my idea to flow rapidly through my head, looking for any holes that might mess everything up. Finding none, I slowly and clearly explain my idea with little interruptions as everyone watches and listens intently with hopes of finding a way to help Bo and the rest of Hazzard.

Finishing up with my idea a thick air of silence lingers heavily upon the kitchen as I numbly sit down at the table as I grab Bo’s bloody inhaler our of my pocket. “I think it could work,” Cooter is the first to speak as I continue to stare at Bo’s inhaler, my thoughts lost upon my cousin, wondering where he and if he’s still alive. He could die without the inhaler not alone by the hands of the hijackers.

“Our only hope,” LB echos Cooter as he takes a step forward to toss his bottle into the trash can, the bottle hits loudly against the side before ricocheting back down into the garbage.