In no time at all, it seemed, the pickup had the supplies needed loaded into the back. Jo drove the pickup with the kids while Luke drove in behind her in the Mustang so that once he was finished helping her set up in the Indian cave he'd be able to go and catch up with Bo. The group drove toward the Hatchapee County line and once they neared the Indian caves Luke hid the car before hopping into the back of the pickup truck as Jo drove it the rest of the way towards the caves just a bit further away from the road. They found a set of caves as well as an outcropping of boulders. Luke indicated which cave for Jo to pull up at and stop. The two then set to work unloading the supplies that they hoped would only be needed for a very short time. But they knew that they'd best be prepared in case this turned into an extended camping trip.
With that done, Luke then began setting up strings attached to tin cans along the perimeter of the small makeshift campsite. When he'd finished, he took the children along the lines so that they knew how far they'd be able to go without setting off the old shiner's alarms. He knew that they'd get restless if they were told that they had to stay in the cave, which they will be, and will likely want to play outside. Particularly if this situation becomes prolonged. He figured that it would be best to go ahead and assume that they'll sneak out and let them see where the perimeter had been set up.
Jo set the campsite up as comfortably as she could for the children. The children and she each had a sleeping bag and a few board games and toys had even been brought from the farmhouse to keep the kids occupied. Kim had even found a few books that the boys would be able to practice their reading while in isolation with. The cave that was chosen had an airshaft further in the back which would serve as an appropriate chimney for the fire. By not having the fire set at the cave's entrance, even if someone came looking for the children by using the smoke, it would be harder to find which cave entrance was connected to the campfire.
The truck was then backed into the boulders and covered to camouflaged it so that it wouldn't be noticed until you were right up on it. Afterwards, both portable CBs that were being left behind were double checked to make sure that they were in good working order. With that done, Luke reluctantly headed out to join his cousin to look for the missing Duke. His wife was guarding the younger members of the family who had been put in danger the night before. It felt so odd to see Jo with her pistol on her hip after all of this time being out of the Marines but he knew from experience that she could shoot the wings off of a bee at amazing distances. If there was anyone that those kids would be safe with, it would be his wife.
Luke contacted Bo via the CB and learned which of the local junkyards he and Cooter were at to meet them. The pair had discounted the first of the three in the surrounding area nearly right off of the bat. The one closest to town didn't have a crusher, currently. It had broke down last week and the parts for it were backordered. That meant that it hadn't been the crusher that Bo had heard in his dream. Cooter had long ago learned to not ask too many questions when it came to the uncanny connections of the Duke Twins. Though it had been a while since it had been the older pair of twins who astounded him.
When the search party got to the second junkyard Bo did his best to call out to his sister. The fact that he couldn't get her to respond to him still was causing a different level of panic to rise up in him. He knew he had to control it, though, since he knew that panic would block him from contacting Kira. He wondered if that was why she couldn't respond as well or if there was another reason for her silence.
"I'll go and get a car ready for the crusher. That way if it's the same machine, hopefully you'll be able to tell." Cooter headed over to the crusher's controls to check things out as Bo called out a reminder.
"Don't forget to check to make sure it's empty!"
Cooter shot him a look that said that he'd already planned on it but kept his mouth shut since he knew that his buddy was under a lot of stress as it was. Instead he got a car that was scheduled to be crushed and put it in the beast and turned it on. From his position, when the machine was turned on he could tell that this wasn't the right one by Bo's reaction to the sound of the gears grinding. Cooter wasn't sure just how he knew it wasn't the right one but it was clear that Bo was certain. So off to the next one, and hope that they found the missing woman there.
Jebb sat aggravated in his chair as he knew that most of the rest of the family were all out either looking for Kira or were watching over the children to make sure that they remained safe until the man who apparently hated Kira so much that he'd not only strike out at her but her children as well. He couldn't remember feeling so helpless in his whole life. He looked down at the fresh bandages that Kim had wrapped his burned feet and legs and groaned as it felt as if his burned flesh knew that they were being looked at so they flashed over in pain as a result. Jebb rolled his chair away from the window in frustration only to realize that his Uncle Jesse was watching him.
"Kim left some pills to help with the pain when she left the antibiotics. Why don't you take some to help take the edge off?"
"I don't think so, Uncle Jesse." Jebb shook his head. He knew his uncle was just wanting to help him but he really didn't want to take any pills. "Any word on the others, yet?"
"They've not been gone long. I'm sure that we'll know the moment that they know somethin'. But since we're alone, why don't we talk for a bit?"
"About?"
"Well, I know from talkin' to your daddy that you didn't plan on comin' back."
Jebb looked away, back toward the window. "Mikey wanted me to be in town for Jay's race."
"And that's all?" Jesse watched the back of his nephew hoping to see something, anything, that would tell him that he'd come back to Hazzard to stay. Instead Jebb just shrugged awkwardly. "Jebb, are you sayin' that if it wasn't for Kira's disappearance and the fire last night that you'd have already gone home?"
Jebb thought over the question. If he'd been asked the same question a couple of days ago he would have said yes. Now… He just wasn't sure. The flash of memory when he found that paperwork regarding Shawn Kyle's parole seemed to have triggered something in him. He still couldn't remember much but it was like that didn't really matter right now.
Jebb looked around as if the answers to the numerous questions that have gone through his head in the last several weeks were hanging in the air around him. When he did he spied the crutches that Kim had left for him when he needed to go to the bathroom since it wasn't designed to give room for a wheelchair in there. Standing on his feet supported only by the crutches was sheer agony but at the moment he didn't care. He wheeled over to them as he called over his shoulder to his uncle.
"I've got to go clear my head. I'm goin' for a drive."
"I don't think that's a good idea, Jebb."
"I'm just goin' as far as the house. I got to see it for myself." With that Jebb hobbled out the door while biting back the pain that being on his feet caused. He had to get out of the house before his uncle asked him anymore difficult questions to which he didn't have the answers to.
Luke watched on helplessly as his cousin tried to reach out to his missing sister. This was the last of the junkyards within an easy drive of Hazzard County. It was just on the other side of the county line in Riverdale County. Cooter had convinced the worker at the junkyard to get a car ready for the crusher, though Luke wasn't sure how since he couldn't exactly tell him that Bo needed to hear it so that he could tell if it was the same one from his vision of Kira. When the crusher's gears revved up Bo's eyes snapped open at the sound.
"She's here, Luke. Somewhere, Kira's here!"
Luke knew better than to ask how Bo knew but he had to ask, "But where? There are hundreds of cars here, and thousands of places to hide someone. Where do we even start?"
Bo grabbed up a crowbar and headed off toward the closest car and pried the trunk opened. "Anywhere."
"But we have to figure out a better way than just open all of the trunks without a plan," Luke said as he glanced over toward Cooter where he was still speaking to the employee of the junkyard. Cooter must have guessed by Bo's reaction and prying open the trunk that the crusher was the right one. "Look! The guy's pointing toward the other end of the yard. There might be something amiss in that area."
The three men headed off toward where the worker had indicated and Cooter explained that he'd noticed a car seemed out of place back there. Three cars up in a stack was a brown foreign made car in an area that only had Fords stored. It was when Bo saw the car sway slightly in the breeze that he remembered the sound of the wind blowing in his dream. That car had to be it. Cooter got behind the controls of the crane and moved the car down onto the ground where both Dukes worked together to pry the trunk open. When they did what they saw turned their stomach.
Inside the trunk was the missing woman. She was bound, gagged, and had clearly been beaten with an object of some kind. Dried blood covered her face, making her identity impossible to discern from looks alone.
"Oh God!" Bo panicked at the sight. Were they too late? He reached forward to try to find a pulse but he pulled his hand back when he felt how cold Kira's skin already was. Bo looked down toward Kira's hands and saw that she was clutching something in her hands. He heard Luke scream to Cooter to call and ambulance as he tried to pull the doll from his sister's hands. They were frozen tightly though so Bo left it where it was. "This must have been how he got her to cooperate. Kira wouldn't have fought back if she thought that one of the kids were in danger."
Luke searched for a pulse as he considered what the doll's presence meant. Crystal had lost her doll at school. That meant that Shawn Kyle had been at the kid's school and could have easily grabbed one of them there without any of them being the wiser. He made a mental note to contact Daisy and tell her to get Jimmy and Faith out of school just to be safe until the bastard was found.
Finally, Luke found the slight indicator that Kira was still alive; barely. "Cooter! How about callin' for Kim? She might can get here before the ambulance."
Bo swallowed hard as he heard his cousin's orders. "Hang on, Kira. We'll get you to the hospital soon. But you've got to hang on."
Jebb pulled up the truck at the house that he'd lived in for most of the last decade and stared at the house in disbelief. The second story and the attic were completely gone. The blaze had overtaken them and reduced much of it to ash. The bottom floor would be ruined from the smoke, soot, and water damage from the battle against the flames.
Sitting in the truck he felt like Kira was sitting right beside of him. Was it a memory?
"Jebb, if you keep bringing us here, Hansen is gonna have to start chargin' ya rent."
"No he ain't." Kira raised an eyebrow at Jebb. "Remember how you said that you'd be willing to live anywhere?" Kira looked outside the truck looking around the old farmyard. "Well, how about Hazzard?"
"I figured that you'd want to live in Placid, closer to your folks."
"Well, I chose Hazzard for a couple of reasons. One, I think that for the sake of everyone livin' in Georgia, it's best to put as many counties between you and my mother as possible." Jebb laughed at the look Kira gave him for that comment. "Two, I've always said that if given the choice, I'd like to live here in Hazzard. No matter where a Duke lays his head, this corner of the state will always be home."
Jebb could almost, almost, remember the excitement of that day. This house was something that he knew Kira had never had; a home. Staring at the house, he could smell the varnish that he'd put down on the floors. Remember hearing the kids screaming from one room to another. Rooms that were no longer. Glancing out into the yard he could even swear that he had a memory of a food fight. But that was rubbish and he knew it. Dukes never waste food.
He knew that it would cause him pain but he felt the need to get out of the truck and walk through the debris. He hobbled toward the house and felt waves of nostalgia as he saw some of the kids' toys in the yard. He hoped that they'd be able to save some of them for the children. The sharp, acrid stench of the burned wood filled his nostrils as Jebb walked with his crutches up the back steps that would head into the kitchen. Or what was left of the kitchen. Part of the ceiling was collapsed toward the hall to the dining room where the family dinners took place. Off to the side was Kira's office. The door was hanging barely on its hinges. He knew that the family would have to try to salvage what they could from the office as well.
Jebb wanted to walk further into the house but knew that to do so would be reckless while on crutches. Jebb stepped out of the kitchen door and was met by an intense sense of pain as he felt a large weight crash into his side, causing him to fall off of the steps onto the hard ground.