Next chapter! By the way, if any of you are wondering what I think the stray dog looks like, I picture him looking a bit like Dierks Bentley's dog, Jake—just a little bigger and a little less shaggy—for no other reason than I really like the way that dog looks. (Google images can help you out.) And no, his name won't be Jake. As of right now, he doesn't get a name until the last chapter. ;)

Flynne

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– Chapter Four –

"Caught by the Tail"

Well, it's Friday night, an' ol' Bo and Luke have had a slow couple days if you ignore the part where they got arrested. But right now it looks like they're gonna get the ball rollin'…my question is: once that ball does start rollin', how hard is it gonna be to stop it?

The night was dark and overcast as Bo and Luke turned off the last light in the house and slipped silently out onto the back porch. The hands of the kitchen clock had just inched past 1:45. Daisy and Jesse were asleep, but the boys hadn't bothered to go to bed; their nerves were wound tighter than a pair of kite strings in a gale.

The dog was curled up just outside the barn, and his tail swished sleepily against his bed of straw as he saw the boys walk past. He stood up when he heard the General start, watching intently as Bo backed the car around. As the cousins drove away, they could see the dog standing in the dark barn doorway, an eerie green glow in his eyes as they caught the gleam of headlights. The sight sent a little chill down Luke's spine.

He took a long breath and glanced over at Bo. "You ready for this?"

"As I'll ever be." Bo shook his head ruefully. "Tell you one thing…I never expected my return to shine-runnin' to be for Boss Hogg."

The drive to the Boar's Nest passed in tense silence. Bo brought the car to a halt at the loading dock. The sudden stillness felt thick and heavy, and both boys were nervous as they waited for some sign of life from the building. Before too long, the back door creaked open and a too-familiar round white shape approached.

"Well, well, you're right on time!" Boss said with a delighted chuckle. "I'm glad to see you Dukes listen for once."

"Aw, can it, Boss," Bo said impatiently. "Let's just get this over with." He grabbed hold of the window frame and started to pull himself outside.

"Ut ut! Just you boys sit tight. I'll load up the car, and then I want you to take my cargo out to that abandoned schoolhouse off of Badger Trail. You know where that is?"

"Sure."

"Good. Now, don't get out when you get there, neither. My, uh, customer will unload the crates on his own. He'll be waiting there around three o'clock." Bo plopped back down on the seat without another word. Boss gave a sigh of relief that Bo hadn't tried to argue with him and bustled back into the building.

Mighty smart of Boss to keep those boys in the car, ain't it? See, he knows that Bo an' Luke was raised on shine. They been drinkin' it, makin' it, and haulin' it since they was wet behind the ears. Boss knows if they touch those crates they'll know right away that they're too light to be full of liquor, and the last thing he wants is for those boys to be pokin' their noses in his business.

The Duke boys sat in resigned silence while Boss hurried back and forth from the stockroom, setting four wooden crates in the General's trunk. The pudgy commissioner slammed the lid closed and walked forward to lean in the driver's side window.

"Remember, now…just stay in the car. Come right back here when you're done and you can have that little ol' picture." He patted Bo's shoulder companionably, a gesture which the young man shrugged off in irritation. "Take care now, and don't let nobody stop you."

Bo rolled his eyes. "Boss…remember who you're talkin' to."

"Don't get cocky. Just git." Boss turned his back and stalked away, disappearing into the back of the Boar's Nest. The minute he heard the General drive away, he picked up his phone and dialed rapidly.

"Hogg?" It was Marvin who had answered.

"Yep, it's me. My shipment just left."

"All right. Jake and I are leaving now. Consider the job a success." Marvin chuckled and hung up.

xxxxx

As soon as the General was out of the parking lot, Bo sped up and cut the lights. The darkness engulfed them immediately, and for a minute he was driving blind as his eyes adjusted to the night. After a moment, he could make out the dark shapes of trees flashing by, and the road ahead unwinding in a dim ribbon across the open countryside.

Despite the circumstances, he couldn't keep a laugh from escaping his chest. "Woo! Sure takes you back, don't it, Luke?"

Luke grinned. "Yep. All you need now is a truckload of revenuers on your tail and a shotgun in the back seat."

Bo leaned forward to look out the windshield at the black, thickly clouded sky. "Well, it's a good night for running. There's moonshine in the trunk, but there ain't none on the road."

Luke chuckled at the familiar joke, folding his arms on the edge of the window and leaning out to let the cool night breeze brush through his dark curls. He started scanning the edge of the road, watching to make sure there weren't any deer that might take a sudden leap in front of the car. He grew suddenly still as his sharp ears caught the faint drone of a car engine—and it wasn't just the General. He leaned out of the window a little more, squinting into the darkness behind them to look and listen again, then hastily drew back inside the car.

"Hey, Bo…I think there's a car behind us."

Bo's brow furrowed and he tossed a look over his shoulder. "You're right. Who d'you think it is?"

"I dunno. They got their lights off, though."

"Could be another runner. Boss ain't the only one in these parts, you know."

"Yeah…I dunno, maybe I'm just jumpy 'cause we ain't where we're supposed to be, but something don't feel right."

Bo tightened his grip on the wheel, and his mouth drew into a thin line. "How about we see if we're bein' followed?"

"You're the driver."

Bo stepped on the brake, slowing the General just enough so the big orange car could swing around a sharp bend in the road. He had disconnected the brake lights earlier that day so there was no telltale red glow to give them away.

"He still behind us, Luke?"

"He's hangin' back a bit, but yeah."

"Okay, then." A grim smile made its way onto Bo's face. "Been a while since me and the General have gone cross-country in the dark. Let's see where this gets us." He spun the wheel and the General bounced off the road, cutting across an uneven field. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw as he stared intently ahead, fingers tight against the wheel as the car jostled its way across the long grass.

The car following them abandoned all pretense of lagging behind, and Luke could hear the roar of the engine as the driver floored it. "Here he comes. Stick your foot in it, Bo!"

"You got it!" The General surged ahead. Bo felt an old, familiar thrill of excitement race up his arms into his chest as his hands gripped the wheel. He hardly needed his eyes; he could feel every movement of the car through his hands as the tires tore through grass, gravel, and thickets. He risked a glance behind and was mildly surprised that the other car was still with him. "He's pretty good!" he commented. Then the bright flare of headlights sliced through the darkness as the other driver was forced to turn on the lights so he could see. Bo laughed aloud. "But he ain't as good as me!"

A shimmering curtain of water rose and splashed against the windshield as the General plowed through a shallow creek, glinting like sparks in the glow from the other car's headlights.

"There's a cutback on the other side of that ridge," Luke said, pointing off to the left. "If you can get in there before he sees you, he won't have a chance if he can't drive blacked out."

"Way ahead of you, cuz!"

The General flew over the crest of the ridge, hovering over the ground for a split second before it landed with a lurch. The cutback was less than an eighth of a mile ahead. Just a little farther and—

Bo suddenly gasped as a painfully bright light abruptly glared in the night. He cranked the wheel hard to keep from crashing into the car that was sitting smack in the middle of the roadway. The General swiveled around and slammed up against the bank that ran along the dirt road. The headlights of the other car were immediately switched off, plunging the road into darkness.

"Back it up, Bo! Let's get outta here," Luke urged.

Bo was shaking his head, rubbing his eyes with one hand and gripping the wheel with the other. "I can't see!" he said in irritation. "Dag-blasted idiot was waitin' for us and switched his high beams on when we came over the ridge—all I see are spots in front of my eyes. Can you tell me which way to turn?"

"Yeah. Put him in reverse and floor it. Ain't nothin' behind you but—" Luke broke off as he saw the first car come barreling over the ridge. "Dang it!"

In the increasingly bright glow of the oncoming headlights, Bo could see the road again. "Hold on!" He jammed the General into reverse and revved the engine, but by the time he had recovered it was too late. The second driver saw him start to move and lurched forward at an angle, hemming the Dukes in against the bank. The first car came screeching to a halt, kicking up gravel as it skidded sideways, blocking the boys' last chance of escape.

Darkness and silence settled over the road again as the lights and engines of the other cars were shut off.

Bo swallowed hard, feeling as if his heart was about to pound its way out of his chest. His eyes were wide in the darkness, and as he looked over at Luke he could see dread and disbelief mingling on his cousin's face.

"Oh, no…" The strained whisper was all that Luke could force out. If they had been stopped by lawmen, that was it. There would be no more second chances. For a terrifying moment, all Luke could see was a row of iron-barred cells in an echoing, gray building.

He was jerked back to reality as two car doors slammed and two pairs of feet crunched on the gravel. He clamped his hand tightly on Bo's arm and hissed, "Run!"

The cousins slipped through the windows quicker than snakes on an oil slick. Bo started sprinting the instant his feet touched the ground, but the driver of the second car was between him and the open road. The big man lunged forward and tackled him, rolling over with him on the ground. Bo landed facedown in the dirt, pinned down by the other man's knee pressing hard between his shoulder blades. He squirmed and tried to free himself but grew abruptly still when he felt the cold muzzle of a pistol press against the nape of his neck.

"Hey, you there!" the other man yelled, directing his order at Luke, "Cut it out right now or your friend here gets a sudden case of lead poisoning!"

Luke, still trading blows with the driver of the first car, heard immediately and instantly backed away. "All right, you got us!" he said hastily, raising his hands in surrender. "I ain't gonna fight no more…just don't hurt him."

Bo's captor stood and roughly dragged the young man to his feet just in time for Bo to see the first driver step up to Luke and hit him hard enough to send him stumbling back against the General.

"Hey, he said he wasn't gonna fight!" Bo burst out angrily. "There weren't no call for that!"

"I'm callin' the shots here, kid, not you," the first driver said coolly. He pulled his own handgun out of his jacket and nudged Luke with it. "Give me the keys."

Luke slowly reached in through the driver's side window and pulled the keys out of the ignition, dropping them in the other man's hand with a metallic jingle. Bo's guard walked him forward to stand next to his cousin and gave him a little shove, saying, "Both of you: get back in the car." He kept his gun trained on them while his partner opened the trunk.

"Luke, you okay?" Bo asked quietly.

Luke gingerly rubbed his hand against his face. "Yeah. He sure hits hard, though."

The cousins watched in confusion as the first man methodically removed every wooden crate from the trunk and loaded it into his own car. The General's trunk was slammed closed. Bo let out a shaky breath as the man with the gun slowly drew away. Then the car lurched once, twice—and he felt the familiar sinking list of a flat tire. The two men tossed the keys through the window onto Bo's lap, climbed into their cars and drove away without another word.

"What—what just happened?" Luke stammered.

Bo gulped. "I don't know." He turned on the headlights so he could see, hauled himself out the window and knelt by the car, running his hands over the tires. "Dang it! Luke, they done knifed both tires on the left side and we only got one spare. Ain't no way we can go after 'em."

Luke climbed out and surveyed the damage, shaking his head in dismay. "And now we gotta go back to Boss Hogg and tell him his shine was stolen."

Bo paled. "Luke…ain't no way he'd ever believe us. He's gonna lock us up and throw away the key."

"Don't jump to conclusions so fast," Luke said in a vain attempt to reassure his friend. "Just—lemme just get him on the CB. With a shipment underway you know he'll be listening."

"If you say so."

Luke reached a hesitant hand into the car and pulled out the CB mike. "This is Luke Duke callin' J.D. Hogg. You got your ears on, Boss?"

"Oh, it's you is it? Well, whaddaya want?"

Luke winced. "Boss, we've—we've run into some trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Boss asked, voice thick with suspicion.

Luke decided just to cut to the chase and get it over with. "Couple of guys just run us off the road and took all the cargo we were carryin'. We got two flats and one spare, and we're stuck." The boys waited for the expected explosion. Luke held the mike gingerly in his hand as if he were afraid it would burst into flame.

"Oh, they did, did they? Well, where you at?"

"Uh—the access road running between Tucker Lane and Badger Trail," Luke replied uncertainly, obviously surprised that he hadn't just gotten his ear chewed off.

"Fine," Boss grunted. "Just you stay put. I'll be out there in a minute. I'm gone."

Bo gaped at his older cousin. "'Stay put'? What happened to the cussin' and screamin'?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"We ain't really gonna wait here for him are we?"

"We can't exactly push the General outta here."

"I guess not." Bo sighed and dropped down to sit next to the car, leaning against the flat front wheel. Luke tossed the mike back into the car and sat down next to him. The cousins sat alone in the dark until they heard the familiar rumble of Boss Hogg's big white car. The commissioner was driving it himself with a grim expression on his face. Bo rose to his feet and extended a hand to help Luke up as Boss trudged over to inspect the General.

"Hm. Trunk's picked clean, all right." He ran a hand over the slashed tires and turned a critical gaze on the two young men.

"Boss, it happened just like Luke told you," Bo started to say, but Boss cut him off with a raised hand.

"Boys, I know you're gonna try and convince me—"

"But, Boss—!"

"Dah dah! Bo, you hush and let me finish! I was gonna say…" He pulled a cigar out of his pocket and lit it casually. "…I believe you." Bo and Luke stared at each other, struck speechless. "I got a lot of competitors, you know," Boss continued, voice heavy with professional pride. "Could be one of 'em found out about this run and wanted to cut me off. Ain't your fault there's people out there smarter'n you. I think you'd be used to that by now. But…at least you tried. So…" He fished inside his money belt to pull out the incriminating Polaroid, tore it in half, and handed one part to each of the boys. "There. Now get outta here and don't let me catch you causin' no more trouble."

He hefted a spare tire out of his back seat and tossed it unceremoniously on the ground at their feet. Before the Dukes could say a word, he had hopped in his car, gunned the engine, and disappeared.

Bo stared dumbly at the torn photograph in his hand. "Did—did Boss just do what I think he did?" he finally forced out.

"Yeah," Luke said absently. He was still staring down the road after Boss' car.

"So…should we be relieved or worried?"

"I got no idea. This is Boss we're talkin' about…"

Bo finished Luke's thought. "…which means we're probably in a lot more trouble than we think we're in." He wet his lips. "So what do we do now?"

Luke shrugged. "Change the tires and go home. Ain't nothin' more we can do tonight." They changed the tires in record time and drove home in uncharacteristic silence. By the time they fell into bed, they were exhausted, but anxiety and uncertainty kept them awake for a long time before they slipped into the quiet relief of sleep.

If I was Bo an' Luke, I'd be worried, too. Boss Hogg don't never give anybody anything with his right hand unless he's gonna take it away with his left.