– Chapter Seven –

"Owning Up"

The first thing Luke was aware of was the shooting pain across his chest and right shoulder. He slowly opened his eyes and was startled to see the dim outlines of tree branches above his head. His brow furrowed in confusion when he realized he was lying buried in a tangle of brush by the side of a winding dirt road. How in the world had he gotten there? But as the cobwebs slowly cleared from his head, everything came flooding back to him. He gasped sharply and struggled to sit up, but his efforts caused the ache in his shoulder to spike unmercifully. A muffled cry of pain escaped him and he collapsed back onto the thick carpet of leaves.

He lay still for a minute, just trying to breathe, but that hurt, too. He'd had enough cracked ribs throughout his rough-and-tumble life to recognize the bitingly sharp twinges that came every time he took a breath.

Luke could feel soft darkness brushing against his mind and it was tempting just to give in and sink back into painless oblivion, but he knew if he passed out again, alone, there was a good chance he'd never wake up. So he slowly moved to get his left arm beneath him, braced himself, and pushed himself determinedly upright. His shoulders hunched forward reflexively to try to ease the pain, but it only made it worse. "Luke, I think you're in trouble," he muttered. But it wouldn't do him any good just to sit there.

Steeling himself against the fierce pain in his shoulder, he gritted his teeth and staggered to his feet to have a look around. The world tilted and swam in front of his eyes, and he nearly fell. He bumped up against a tree, which kept him on his feet, but the jolt sent another spear of pain across his chest that left him breathless, and it took him a moment to steady himself.

The road was dark and silent, and Bo and the General were nowhere to be found. That meant either Bo had gotten away, or…Luke refused to finish the thought, determined to believe that his cousin was all right. Now he had a decision to make: did he stay where he was or did he try to find help on his own? If he stayed, surely Bo would be back to look for him. But what if Bo couldn't come back? Their pursuers might come back to look for him, too. Luke took a few steps, testing his balance. He was hurting, but his injury was in his arm and shoulder, not his legs.

"One mile at a time, Luke," he said softly. Then he took his first step toward town.

Friends, if there's one thing to be said for that boy, it's that he's an optimist.

It was slow going. Luke's right arm hung motionless at his side; he had tried to move it and found that he still could, but it had caused his shoulder to hurt too badly for him to try it again. His left arm was wrapped around his torso, cradling his ribs in a vain attempt to ease the pain. He was so dizzy and sore that the thought of just lying down in his tracks was becoming more and more alluring; but the word "quit" wasn't in his vocabulary and he forced himself to keep trudging on, putting one foot in front of the other.

He had made it only a short quarter mile before the sound of a car coming down the road caused him to look up in alarm. Luke shrank back into the trees, watching cautiously as the vehicle came into view. He felt a surge of relief when he recognized the familiar shape of a Hazzard County patrol car. He hoped it was Enos behind the wheel, but right then even Rosco would be a welcome sight. He stepped back out into the road and just stood there, too exhausted to even raise his good arm to flag the car down. The patrol car screeched to a sudden stop as soon as the glow of the headlights washed over him.

"Possum on a gumbush! Luke Duke, you startled me so much my hair's standin' on end!"

"Enos!" Luke gave a quick prayer of thanks that he wouldn't need to try and double-talk his way around Rosco. "You gotta get me to town."

Enos' friendly face was covered by a worried frown as he got out of his car. "Luke, what happened to you?"

"I ain't exactly sure, but I ain't got time to figure that out," Luke answered. "Can you give me a lift?"

"You ain't sure? Luke, you got amnesia or somethin'?"

Despite his relief at being found, Luke felt suddenly overwhelmingly weary at the prospect of a dead-ended question war with Enos. "No, I don't got amnesia," he replied with deliberate slowness. "I know what happened, but I don't know why. I—I…just…" Uh-oh. The world was starting to sway under his feet again and his ears had started to hum. He swallowed through a suddenly dry mouth. His voice sounded thin and strained to his ears as he tried to speak. "Um…I need…Enos, can you…?"

"Whoa, now!" The deputy bounded forward and caught Luke just in time to keep him from toppling over. He staggered back as he took the brunt of Luke's weight against his chest, but he stayed on his feet.

Enos finally realized that it would be a bad idea to continue questioning Luke in the middle of the road. "Okay, that's enough talkin'," he ordered in concern. "Come on, I gotta get you to the car." He stepped around to Luke's left side and put his friend's arm across his own shoulders, wrapping his arm around his waist as he walked him to the patrol car. Luke collapsed gratefully onto the seat, only half conscious, eyes drifting closed. Enos hovered over him and tried to fasten his seat belt, but when even that light pressure against his chest wrung a soft exclamation of pain out of his injured friend, he scrapped that idea and just got back behind the wheel.

He pulled a tight U-turn, heading quickly back to Hazzard. He reached down and flipped on the siren. "You still with me over there, Buddyroo?"

Luke dragged his eyes open. "Yeah, I'm awake. Thanks, Enos."

"Sure am glad I found you," Enos said. "After the whole thing with Bo, we was afraid you were hurt bad. Everyone's out lookin' for you."

A thrill of alarm ran down Luke's spine. "What about Bo?"

"They done took him to the hospital," Enos explained, staring grimly ahead as he drove. "I was out on patrol, so I don't know what happened."

"He's in the hospital?"

The high note of anxiety in Luke's voice made Enos' stomach tighten. He'd heard what Boss Hogg had said in his moment of panic—that he thought Bo could be dying—but he didn't want to say that to his friend. So he took a deep breath and said, "Now, Luke, I don't know what happened. I ain't seen him, but he's the one who told us where we could look for ya, so he's gotta be okay. Anyway, you can see for yourself in a minute. We're already on the way there." He darted a glance over at the young man's unnaturally pale face. "You need to be at the hospital, anyhow. You don't look so good."

Luke swallowed hard and shook his head, flinching as the patrol car bumped over a rut in the road and jarred his shoulder. "I don't feel so good. I fell out of the General."

"You what?" Enos squeaked. "Possum on a gumbush! How'd that happen?"

"We were headin' home when some car tried to run us off. I got my bow and arrow and got in the window to try an' shoot out their tires…but they came up alongside us and bashed into our car and sent me flyin'. I think got caught on a tree limb or something—knocked me clean away. That's the last thing I remember." Luke's heart gave a heavy thump as he realized how close a call it had actually been. "It's a good thing I was already falling—if I'd been stuck tight in that window when I hit the tree, I think it woulda killed me."

"Well, just you sit tight, Luke. We'll be at the hospital before you know it and we'll sort everything out then." Enos looked again at his friend's face, lined with pain and worry. His usually smiling mouth pulled into a frown as he leaned just a little harder on the accelerator. He didn't know why Bo and Luke had been attacked, but he was hoping with all his heart that his friends would be all right.

xxxxx

"Well, young man, this isn't so bad, is it?" the doctor asked conversationally. Bo was stretched on his right side on the exam table, waiting with almost-hidden impatience while the white-coated man put in the last stitch and began taping a hand-sized rectangular bandage over the knife wound. "It looks like you just caught a glancing blow," the doctor continued. "It's a deep cut and that's why it bled so much, but it was nowhere near life-threatening. Believe me, I've seen enough intentional stab wounds to know." He gently patted the last piece of tape in place. "All right, you can sit up now."

He watched critically as Bo slowly righted himself. "Are you still feeling dizzy?"

"Yeah, a little, but it's goin' away. I'm kinda tired, though."

"You said you lost consciousness when a man held a wet cloth over your face?"

"Yessir. It smelled sweet…kinda tasted funny, too."

The doctor frowned. "Well, I can't say for certain without getting a look at what that man used, but based on the rest of what you've said, it sounds like chloroform to me, although it's pretty hard for just anyone to obtain—legally. You're lucky, Bo," he said seriously. "Chloroform can cause fatal cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death…not to mention that a dose big enough to knock you out could easily be enough to kill you."

Bo gulped a little and put his hand over his heart. "Whoa."

"Doc, is he gonna be okay?" Daisy pressed anxiously, putting her arm around her cousin's shoulders.

The doctor nodded reassuringly. "Oh, yes. It looks like he slept it off just fine. He may be dizzy or tired and have a lingering headache for a little while, but after a good night's sleep he should feel back to normal. You can take him home, now…we just need to finish some paperwork. The waiting room is down the hall to your right. I think your uncle might be out there—you can sit there until we're finished."

"Thanks, Doc." Daisy slipped her hand through cousin's arm and helped him off the table to guide him out into the hallway. Bo didn't really need the help; even though he still felt a little unsteady, he could walk on his own—but it felt good to have Daisy's gentle presence beside him.

Just as the doctor had said, Jesse was in the waiting room,pacing slowly around the rows of empty chairs. His bearded face lost some of its anxiety when he saw that Bo was all right, and he hurried to put a strong arm around his nephew's shoulders. "It's good to see you on your feet," he said. "Some folks were sayin' that J.D. said you was dyin'."

Bo's eyebrows shot up. "I was?"

"No, he wasn't, Uncle Jesse. Boss saw the blood and panicked." Daisy shook her head and rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Can't say that I blame him, but I ain't seen him so shook up in a while. It's awful strange."

"Well, I think I know why," Bo said with sudden darkness in his voice. "But I ain't worried about that right now." He turned beseechingly to his uncle. "Have you got any word on Luke yet?"

"Yep. Enos found him right where you said he'd be," Jesse said. "I saw both of 'em when they came in just a little bit ago. Luke's pretty banged up, but he was walkin' and talkin' just fine. Doc's with him now. They said they'd bring him here when he's ready to leave." Bo let out a long sigh of relief at his uncle's words.

Jesse reached behind him and picked up a neatly folded shirt that was sitting on a nearby chair. "Here, I brought you this from home…Cooter said your other one was pretty near ruined."

"Thanks." Bo slipped into the dark green garment and started fastening the buttons. "Where's Cooter at, anyway?"

"Well, after he brought the dog and the General back home, I drove him back to the Boar's Nest and dropped him off at his truck. He was out lookin' for Luke, but when he heard Enos had found him, he came back here. He wanted to stay, but he's had a long week too, an' he looked 'bout ready to drop. I told him you boys wouldn't mind an' I sent him home."

"'Course we don't mind. I'd rather be in bed, too. I'm 'bout done in," Bo replied. He left his clean shirt untucked and eased himself down into a chair, leaning his head back against the wall. The chair was uncomfortable and he had a nasty headache, but he felt so fatigued that he was soon struggling to stay awake. Jesse sat down beside him, and before long, Bo had drifted into a light doze with his curly blond head resting on his uncle's sturdy shoulder.

Daisy paced anxiously around the waiting room until Jesse finally told her to sit down before her back-and-forth walking wore a hole in the floor. She obediently sat on Bo's other side and settled for tapping her foot on the carpet. As if it weren't bad enough that her two cousins were hurt, the fact that she didn't know why made it worse. She wished she could drop off like Bo and just sleep and forget where she was, but she was too agitated. She was so tense that when the sound of approaching footsteps echoed down the hall, she jumped and startled Bo awake.

"Whassa matter?" he asked, blinking sleepily.

"Sorry, honey…I didn't mean to wake you up. I thought I heard—"

Before she finished her sentence, the door swung open and Enos made his way inside, arm slung around Luke's waist for support. Luke's shirt hung open and his right sleeve was empty because of the sling that was wrapped snugly around his torso to immobilize his arm against his chest. His clothes were covered in dirt, and tiny drops of blood stained the fabric where the skin underneath had been scraped raw in his fall.

"Luke!" Bo jumped up immediately, but a swirl of dizziness caused him to stumble and he would have fallen if Jesse hadn't reached out to catch him by the arm. "You okay?"

"I'll live." Luke looked as if a light breeze could blow him over, but his eyes had immediately brightened when he heard Bo's voice. Enos guided him over to Jesse's vacated chair and he sank wearily into it. "I got a broken collarbone from hittin' the tree, but Doc said it ain't too bad…just cracked, not broken all the way through. I gotta keep the sling on for a couple weeks, but after that it should heal fast. Couple ribs on that side are cracked, too." He forced a shaky smile onto his face. "Just try to keep the jumps to a minimum when we're in the General, huh?" Bo tried and failed to smile back.

"Did ya hit your head?" Jesse asked, worried at the sight of the beginnings of a bruise on the left side of his nephew's head.

Luke gingerly touched his temple. "Yeah, maybe a little. I think the landing was a little rough after that other car sent me flyin'."

"I tried to find you," Bo said earnestly. "I turned around the minute I could and I went back for you, but those guys had friends with 'em. They headed me off and caught me first."

Luke's gaze grew sharp with concern as he remembered what Enos had said in the car. "They hurt you?"

Bo shrugged. "Like you said, I'll live. They roughed me up some and used chloroform to put me out…left me in the back of the General. Somehow I wound up at the Boar's Nest, and when I woke up, Daisy was with me and Cooter was drivin' us here. I don't know how I got to the Boar's Nest, though."

"I brought you back." All heads turned to see Boss Hogg hovering uncertainly in the doorway.

Are y'all as surprised to see him there as I am?

Bo's eyes widened and a mixture of confusion and anger skated across his features. "You?" he finally forced out in disbelief. "After you sold us out, you go and do a thing like bring me home?"

Luke tensed, looking at his cousin in surprise before turning a gaze of increasing suspicion toward the uneasy commissioner. "Boss, what's he talkin' about?" he asked slowly. Boss didn't answer…just shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away.

Jesse's face had gone very still. "J.D….somethin' tells me you got somethin' to say. So if I was you, I'd start talkin'. Now." Boss shut his eyes briefly and took a deep breath before launching into a hesitant explanation of what had happened over the past few days.

He told them all about the rigged gambling, about his plan to use Bo and Luke so he could steal the money from himself, and what Brock had done when the money hadn't been delivered as promised. Then, with a regretful look on his face, he confessed that he had led Brock to believe Bo and Luke had stolen the money, and that he had let the gambler go after them to catch them and save himself the trouble.

"And that's why they was after you boys," he finally finished. "And if I know Brock, he already knows how things turned out. He and his crew are still out there and I ain't got the slightest clue where to look for 'em. They'll—they'll come after you again, I know it…they don't call him 'Bulldog Brock' for nothin'. When he gets his teeth in somethin', he don't let go." A heavy silence fell.

"And now he's got his teeth in my cousins," Daisy said in dismay, putting her hand on Luke's good shoulder.

Jesse's face was like a thundercloud. "J.D. Hogg, this is probably the lowest thing you ever done! You done a lot of rotten things, but forcin' my boys into breakin' the law just to save your sorry hide—and to take the fall for you—well, that just tears it! I didn't think there was anyone so cowardly that would—"

"Jesse, I didn't think Bo and Luke would actually be—" Boss started to protest.

"I don't wanna hear it!" Jesse cut him off with a sharp wave of his hand. "I got two boys hurt because of you—and it's only by the grace of the good Lord they ain't been killed!" He stepped forward and jabbed a finger against Boss' white vest, causing the other man to take an alarmed step back. "Now, I want you and Rosco to stay away from my boys and leave them alone!" He turned brusquely away, putting a protective arm around each of his nephews' shoulders as he beckoned to Daisy. "Come on, kids. Let's go home."

Looks like Boss Hogg just learned confession is good for the soul, but it sure can be hard on people…Bo and Luke know what's goin' on now, but they still ain't outta the woods yet. When trouble comes a-knockin' on the Duke door, it sure likes to set a spell, don't it?