The Price of Love:
The Dukes were excited, Bo and Luke were free men, and they can't wait to have a real vacation, Jesse, the Duke Patriarch, decided to stay home, cause too much traveling will do some wear and tear on his body, he told his niece, and nephews to have some fun in Atlanta, and Luke is gonna have some fun, and he can't wait until he introduces his old girlfriend, Anita Blackwell, to his cousins.
Meanwhile that night, Anita's band, "The Colts" were performing at the Astrodome, in Atlanta. Their Manager, Bob Cole was doing a toast in the Relaxing Room, for Anita, her husband, and all of the band members. "The new single went to #1 with a bullet!" and everyone clapped, hollered, and cheered, and Anita was looking around for her husband, Danny, and she asked, "Where's Danny", and everyone is muttering "I don't know", and she said, "Hold the toast", and Bob said, "Yeah, you go ahead and find him, Darling", and she went off to search for him, and she saw her Dressing Room door opened a bit, and she saw that her husband was on the floor, and not moving, and she let out a blood curling scream in response.
The next day, the Dukes woke up, and had a wonderful breakfast, and then they went for a drive in the "General Lee", and they were listening to music, and all of sudden the news came on, and the Deejay said, "A Special Bulletin: 3 time Grammy Award Winner, Anita Blackwell's husband, Danny Martin, Former Manager to the stars died last night, it appeared to be an overdose of drugs, Police are investigating, more news to come", and Luke and his cousins, are in disbelief, and Luke said exclaiming, "Bo, step on it!", and Bo said exclaiming back to him, "Hang on, Cousin!", and the "General Lee" picked up speed.
Anita went to the stage of the Arena, and she told anyone who works for her, and the Arena, that she didn't want to be disturbed for an hour, and they understood, and she went to the piano, and thought about the worst 2 days of her life, and she didn't want to think about anything else for a while.
Daisy and Bo were worried about their oldest cousin, and they knew his history with Anita Blackwell, and they knew he had to see her, and they made their way to the Arena, and when they got there, they found Anita on the piano, and he pointed her out to them, and then a flood of memories came through, and it was like this.
Anita and Luke were two peas in one pod, and they were Montana's hottest couple, and they met in Montana, and ever since then, they were together, and then she moved away to Los Angeles to do her career, and it was a sad breakup, and they had moved on, and had some relationships, and it seemed like fate, when he got a job as Senior Smoke Jumper for the Forest Service in Montana, where he stayed all that time, since she left, and she was on vacation, and they resumed their hot, and steamy affair. They did everything together, they ran through the meadows, and had picnics at the nearby lake, and they played music, and then one day, Anita tried for a big time record company, at Luke's urging, and she made it, and Luke told her to do it, and then he and she had their sad goodbye, and she moved to Nashville, and got married, and then they met years later, and she and he resolved some of their issues, and she came to Hazzard County, and she played at Hazzard's Annual Ho-down, for the new Hospital. Then he never saw her again, and then he was snapped to the present, by Anita's soft, sweet, voice.
"Hello, Luke", she said with a sad smile, and Luke said, "Hello, Anita", and they hugged, and he introduced her to his cousins, and they shook hands, and they all went outside to talk, and find out exactly what happened, and help and protect Anita, during this whole process.
"Danny would never do drugs, Luke, he was against them, he was a poster child, he always made sure that he set the right example", and Luke said, "Who would want Danny dead?" and Anita said frustrated, "I don't know, it's driving me crazy, I think it's someone in the group", and Daisy said, "That's a lot of people, Sugar", and Anita said sighing, "I know", and Bo said, "I wish there was some way of getting in there, and finding out what happened", and Anita said with a smile, "Maybe there is", and she proceeded to tell them about a friend of hers, who arranges undercover identities, and arranges away finding out what they want to know.
The Dukes and Anita met with Anita's friend, Scotty, who deals with Security, and Identities, and he said, "It was no easy task", and he said to Luke, "You are an up and coming singer just coming home from Italy", and he said to Bo, and Daisy, "You are gonna be his backup singers", and they all nodded, and he said, "If you need something, let Anita know, and she will contact me", and Anita gave him a kiss, and said, "Thanks, Scotty, I owe you one", and he said with a smile, "You bet you do, I will have fake concert footage of your friends to impress Bob Cole with", and they left to get ready for the next day.
Bob Cole, and Barbara Taylor were having a conversation about what happened the other night, and he said, "We can't continue like this", and she replied, "Just one more score, and then we will get the hell out of here", and he nodded, and announced, "They got some new members for the band", and she said, "So what? They won't interfere, and if they do, we will get rid of them, just like Danny", and they both smiled at that thought, and went back to their work for the Colts' new video.
The Dukes had lunch with Anita, and the rest of the Colts members, and the band was real receptive of the Dukes, and promised not to reveal the real reason why they were there, and the only member that didn't like Luke, was Brandon, the Head of Security, who loved Danny as a brother, and Anita as a sister, and he told Luke, as they were leaving the restaurant, "I love Anita, and I will die to protect her, and I hope that you don't have anything to do with Danny's murder, and if you do, I will come down on you, and I will be watching you, Are we clear?", and Luke said simply, "Crystal", and they all left, to go to practice at the Arena.
A meet was set up between Bob Cole, Luke, Bo, and Daisy, and Anita was the one, who did the introductions, and they were in a limo driving along the road, and they were watching footage of Luke, and his cousins singing, and he was enjoying it, and when it was over, Anita asked, "What did you think of it, Bob?" and Bob was silent for a minute, and said, "I loved it, and you are hired, Welcome to the Colts", and the Dukes exclaimed, "Yeehaw!" and Anita poured some Champagne, and said raising her glass, "Here's to the beginning", and the Dukes, and Bob joined her, and said, "To the beginning, and the rest of the time, they spent it celebrating on their way to their destination.
A week later, Luke and Anita were practicing the songs for an upcoming show, and they were at the piano, and they were doing the arrangements on the hit single, and as she was doing the piano, Luke sang, and she looked at him, and nodded, "yeah", and they continued to practice, and the show opened with Luke doing the second verse, and they did their moves, and everyone was loving it, and then it ended up Anita on Luke's knee, and they received so much applause, and when they were done, they went behind the stage, where they were met by Toby, the Stage Manager.
"You were great tonight, Anita", he said shyly, and Anita beamed a smile at him, and said, "Thanks, Toby", and he handed over a black duffle bag, and he said, "The guys and I found this on the back of the bus, it's Danny's, we thought you might like to have this", and Anita said, "Thanks, Toby", and she took it, and Toby looked at Luke this time, and said, "You sound good, it's hot, man", and Luke said, "Thanks, Toby", and the chubby man left, and Luke looked at Anita, and was worried about her, and she said, "Luke, I want to be alone for now, Can you take me back to my hotel?", and he said nodding, "I understand, I am just gonna hang out with Bo, and Daisy, and then we can hang out later", and she nodded in agreement, and they went to shower the sweat off their bodies, and change into some fresh clothes, then leave the Arena for awhile.
Jesse called when the Dukes entered their room, and he talked to all of them, they explained what is going on, and then he talked to Daisy once more, and she reassured him that they would be careful, and she ended the call with, "I love you, Uncle Jesse, see ya soon", and then she went over to her handsome male cousins, and she said to Luke, "We are gonna be careful right, Cousin?" and Luke said, "Yes, I won't be happy or satisfied until Anita is safe", and Bo said, "Then we are with you, Luke", and Daisy nodded in agreement, and Luke said with a smile, "Thanks, Guys, I knew I can count on you", and Daisy said matching her smile, "It's nice to see you smile again, it's been awhile", and they went to have a nice dinner, and relax a bit.
Anita found a tape in Danny's bag, and she played it, and it was a past concert in San Antonio, and she figured he was looking at this on the day he died, and she was Fast Forward it, and then saw a code of some sort, and rewound it, and paused it, and she gasped, and exclaimed to herself, "Oh my god!" and she ran to get the Dukes to show the tape.
The Dukes were beginning to relax that late afternoon, and it was nice for Luke to see his cousins relax for a change, and Bo was reading a car magazine, and Daisy was napping, Luke was busy with his guitar, when a knock on the door, all shocked them, and Luke went to it, and he said in a clear voice, "Who is it?" and the voice answered, "Anita", and Luke let her in.
Bob and Barbara were having another conversation about Anita, and how to get rid of her, and he said, "She is getting nosy, and so is her friends, I don't like it", and Barbara said, "Stay cool, we have one more score to do, then on the Video shoot, we will kill them both, but if we don't give them something to suspect about now, they will let their guard down, and back off", and Bob nodded, and they went to have a late dinner.
"I found a tape of one of our old concerts in San Antonio, I think Danny was looking at it before he died", Anita said to the Dukes as they were walking back to her Hotel room, Luke said, "Who handles your publicity for your Videos?" Anita said, "Barbara Taylor does", Luke said, " We would like to meet her", "You will meet her tonight when we do the first part of the video" and when they entered the room, the tape was missing from the deck, and she exclaimed, "It's gone!" and all of sudden, they heard a noise in the closet, and the prowler came out, and knocked down Bo, and Luke, and Luke said exclaiming out loud, "Dang it all, there he goes!" and he said barking orders, "Daisy, stay with Anita, Bo, let's go!" and Bo said, "Right behind you, Cousin", and they got to the "General Lee" hopped into it, and took off after the crook.
The "General Lee" was roaring like a tiger, when it comes to chases, and Bo, and Luke followed the crook until they hit traffic, and the crook escaped, and Luke yelled, "Damnit, this isn't our day!" and Bo said, "Let's go back and make sure that the girls are OK", and Luke said, "Good idea", and they made their way to the hotel.
Everything is all set for the first part of the Video, and Barbara told Bob as they were done setting up the room, "Don't worry, I can spot a phony from 50 paces away, I will ask him some questions, that would get him either stumped, or saved from the fire", and Bob said nodding, "Good", and then he told the Engineer to make sure all microphones were working", and then he and Barbara went into the booth, to wait for everyone else.
When they got back to the hotel, they decided that Anita is safe at her apartment, and Bo, and Daisy were gonna do some investigating, and when Luke, and Anita got to her apartment, they went in, and Anita closed the door on Luke, as he was bringing in the luggage, and she laughed, and said, "I am sorry", and she helped him, and as he got in, he asked, "How long have you been living here?" and she answered, "Three months, no four, yeah four, Do you like it?" and Luke said, "Anita, It's you", and she went into the bathroom, and he asked, "Where do you want this stuff?", Anita called out, "In the closet", and he did it, and he found Danny's Colts jacket hanging up, and Anita came out, and said, "Luke, what should we…", and she found what he was looking at, "I am so sorry, Luke, I couldn't get rid of his stuff, not yet, he knew how I felt about you, but he loved me anyway, and he treated me right, I tried to get over you, but I see you at the Market, Rodeos, and Bars", and Luke said with a smile, "Me too", and then they were kissing, and they were on their way to the bedroom, shedding off clothes, and they made love for the rest of the afternoon.
Meanwhile Bo and Daisy were glad that the crook dropped the tape, and they went to Scotty and began to investigate the tape, and he ran a program to break the code, and he typed in some commands, and he said with a smile, "I got it", and he showed them, and he announced, "What you are looking at is a drug schedule", and he pointed to abbreviated states, "LV is Las Vegas, and MO is Missouri, and so on and so forth", and Daisy and Bo nodded, and Scotty said, "They probably will have one more schedule to put out, so they are gonna hit something, and something big, all we need to do is figure it out", and Bo said, "Easier said than done", and Daisy nodded, and they left to get ready for the Studio.
Luke and Anita got to the Studio in time, and Anita introduced Luke to Barbara as promised, and she asked, "So Bob mentioned you played in Italy", and Luke nodded, and Barbara said, "Beautiful Country", and Luke said, "It sure is", and she asked, "Did you ever play the Crystal Palace Club in Rome?" and Luke said, "As matter of fact, my last gig was there", and he saw Anita signaling him to her, and as he went to her, he said to Barbara, "Excuse me", and leaving Barbara more suspicious than ever.
Everything was set, and the band, Daisy, and Bo took their positions, and then Anita, and Luke, and the Engineer signaled that playback was already, and Barbara called, "Playback" into her microphone, and Anita and Luke switched into their roles, and they were hot, and the chemistry was there, and when they were done, Barbara clapped, and as she was doing that, she said, "Wow, that was hot! It looked like you were star crossed lovers", and Luke and Anita looked at each other and thought Barbara wasn't far off from the truth, and she said, "Well, I will see you tomorrow" and Luke was amazed, and said, "There's more?" and Barbara said, "Honey, If I did a video in one day, it would be my last", and everyone laughed, and Barbara said, "Get some rest", and Bo and Daisy told Luke that he could go with Anita, and he told his cousins to be careful, and they all left for their destinations.
The next morning, Bob asked, "How are you gonna take care of our little problem?" and she said with a smile, "Let's say that they are gonna have a little car problem", and he chuckled, and she said, "I called Rome, and the Crystal Palace Club, they never heard of Doug Johnson, or his back up singers, then everyone got into position, and Bo and Daisy were watching from the sidelines, and Barbara yelled, "Playback!", and the music started, and Luke and Anita were following the Camera Car in the car that Barbara gave them, and Luke pretended to drive, and he sang, and then Anita joined in, and they blended in, and the music ended, and Barbara said, "That's a wrap", and Luke proceeded to hit the Brakes, it wouldn't work, and Anita said, "Luke, slow down", and he said, "I can't", and she saw the tree dead ahead, and she exclaimed out loud, "Luke, the tree!", and he said, "Hold on", and they hit it, and Bo and Daisy took off in the "General", and everyone else followed behind, except Barbara and Bob.
"Damn, it didn't work!", muttered Bob and Barbara said, "Never mind that, we have a job to do", and he said, "We need the equipment to pull it off", and she said, "Not necessarily, Jessie Smith, "The Thunderbolts'" manager called, they have to pull out at "The Mansion Club", cause someone is sick, so guess who we are gonna put in?", and Bob said, "That is a big time show, and they are not ready for it", and she said, "Trust me, It will work out", and he nodded, and she went over to Luke and Anita, she has no idea that Scotty was listening to the whole conversation.
Bo and Daisy were glad to see that Luke and Anita was ok, and they took off when they saw Scotty, and Barbara came up to them, "Guess what I have to offer for you?", Luke said, "A car that works?", and Barbara said, "Yeah, I am sorry about that, we will get that taken care of, "The Thunderbolts" are pulling out of "The Mansion Club" gig, so guess who is filling in for them tonight?", and Luke and Anita looked at each other, and he said, "We'll see you tonight", and Barbara smiled and said exclaiming, "All right!", and Luke and Anita went to the wrecked car, and he called Bo and Daisy over, and he said, "I got a suspicion", and the young Duke nodded, and they checked it, the Brake lines were cut, and Luke said, "Let's be careful", and the others agreed, and they went to get ready for the show.
After spending the day together, Anita and Luke were arguing, "Luke, I have to go to Sound Check, if I don't, they will get suspicious", and Luke said, "OK, I will drop you off, but please be careful", and she nodded, and when they got to the Club, he kissed her goodbye, and she went in.
Barbara said, "Everything is all set", and Bob said, "Good", and they were talking about that night, and Anita was going to see Bob about a song, and she listened, and then gasped, and when the door opened, she tried to escape, but Bob grabbed her, and covered her mouth so she wouldn't scream, and Barbara had a gun in her face, "OK, Anita, no more Cat and Mouse, You and Luke are gonna sing, and give the best performance of your lives, and if you warn him or try to, there will be a man in the audience with a gun, Got it?", and she nodded.
Luke met Bo and Daisy at Scotty's house, and Scotty said, "They are gonna hit the Mansion Club, I got a device to put in the Sound Booth there, and when the schedule is decoded, I will notify the Police, and we will get them", and they nodded, and headed for the Club.
The Dukes were changing in their costumes, and when they were done, Anita came out looking fabulous, and Luke, and Bo whistled, and Luke said exclaiming, "Wow, You look fantastic!" and she said nervously, "Thank you, Shall we?" and they picked up on it, and Luke said, "Anita, What's wrong?" and she said panicking, "Nothing, let's go!", and Bo said, "We know something is wrong", and Daisy said, "Did they threaten you?" and Anita said, "There is a man here with a gun", and they went on stage, and Barbara and Bob went to do what they have to do.
As soon as the music blared, Luke and everyone got into it, and they did a couple of songs, and then Luke did his audition song, and everyone was loving it, and then Scotty was working in the Sound Booth undetected, and he got the program going, and once it happened, he called Lt. Morris, and he said, "Lt., This is Scotty, you're on", and then he told the Dukes.
Once Bob and Barbara did the deed, they went out in a hurry, and Scotty said shouting into his mic, "Luke, they're escaping!", and Luke said commanding into his portable microphone, "Kill the lights!" and Scotty did, and the music was cut off with a gunshot, and everyone screamed, and Luke said, "Let's go", and they went after them, and Daisy and Anita took care of Barbara, and Luke and Bo took care of Bob, and then the man with the gun came out, and was gonna take a shot at them, but he was knocked out by Brandon, and Luke gave him a nod, and said, "Thanks, you are sure earning your keep", and Brandon winked, and said, "Anytime", and when the Police came, they had Barbara and Bob in custody for Danny's murder.
A week later the Dukes were ready to go back to Hazzard County, and Bo and Daisy said their "Goodbyes" to Anita, and then left Luke to do his, and Anita said, "I need some time, Luke, for my career, and to grieve for Danny, and I need some time to think…" and she said concluding with a smile, "You never know, we might be back together", and Luke said with a smile, "Yeah, we might, I understand, I will always love you, Anita", and she said, "I will always love you too, Luke", and she touched the side of his face, and he shivered at the touch, and he took her hand and kissed it, and she said, "Goodbye", and Luke said, "Bye", and they shared a hot passionate kiss. Then he watched as the Colts Tour Bus took off, and out of sight, then he went to join his cousins, and they drove off in the "General Lee" back to Hazzard County, Georgia.
Jesse was glad to see his niece, and nephews home again, and he asked, "Did you enjoy your vacation?" and they all said in unison, "Yes, Sir", and they went in for Jesse's prepared dinner to welcome them home, and Luke was silent throughout the meal, but Jesse didn't notice, and after dessert, Luke went to spend some time on the porch, he thought about Anita, and what she was doing at that moment, and he was sad, and had tears in his eyes, and Bo, and Daisy came out and saw their older cousin, and the condition he was in, and they comfort him, and they spent the rest of the evening talk about the fantastic time they had with Anita Blackwell.
End of: The Price of Love:
Balladeer: Will Anita come back to Luke? Will they be happy together as they were the first time, and while Luke was on vacation? Of Course! Stay Tuned for the next adventure, y'all!