Once again, thank you all so much for the feedback and encouragement! I really appreciate it. :)

Quick note to avoid any possible confusion for anyone who has seen the episode "Cool Hands, Luke and Bo", since I haven't directly come out and said this: I've stuck this story in after the Dukes instigated the prison break but before the episode wrapped up, so Osage Prison is still up and running. (If you haven't seen the ep, it shouldn't matter…I tried to include enough background that there shouldn't be any gaps, but feel free to ask me if I didn't.) :) There wasn't any mention of how much time passed between the escape and the end of the episode (and since Claibourne had been running the county for so long, I figured it would take time to deal with him completely), so I decided to stretch things out a bit. It should be clear later on, but I realized it might be a little fuzzy now…so that's just FYI. Carry on!

- Flynne :)

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– Chapter Six –

"Two Spiders, One Web"

Luke looked over at his cousin sitting comfortably behind the wheel of the General, a peaceful expression on his face as he watched the dirt road unwinding before them. "Bo, I'm real glad you decided to drive."

Bo sighed deeply. "Yeah. I figured it was a dumb thing to do, bein' scared and punishing myself for something I didn't do. It was a terrible feeling, thinkin' I'd killed somebody…and I ain't gonna forget it any time soon, but I don't gotta let it run my life." He looked at his cousin out of the corner of his eye. "By the way, you didn't fool me none yesterday morning. I knew you weren't doin' as good as you said you were."

Luke gave him a rueful look. "Sorry. Am I that see-through?"

Bo's mouth turned up in a half smile. "No. You just keep forgettin' who knows you better than anyone else. Besides, I know when you do somethin' like that you're just lookin' out for me. I can always tell what you're up to, but that don't mean I don't appreciate it."

"Well, you're welcome," Luke said with a smile. "And I'm glad you're used to it, 'cause it ain't the kind of thing I can turn on and off. I don't think I'll ever be able to quit."

"I don't want you to quit. I wouldn't know what to do with you if you weren't bein' a mother hen."

"Yeah? Well this so-called 'mother hen' whupped your tail the other day—so I'd be careful who you're callin' names if I was you."

Bo snorted. "You just got lucky."

"If that's the case, then I been 'lucky' for the past twenty-six years, Cuz. It ain't lookin' good for you."

"Luke, you are exaggeratin'…and you are just beggin' for a rematch, and I ain't gonna go easy on you!" Bo threatened cheerfully.

Luke scoffed and rolled his eyes, but his sarcastic reply faded on his lips as something in the road up ahead caught his eye and distracted him. "Hey, Bo, check it out." He pointed out the windshield at a green car sitting haphazardly across the roadway up ahead. "Looks like they've got a flat."

"We got time to see if they need help?"

"Sure. Don't take us hardly no time to change a tire."

Bo braked and brought the General to a stop behind the other car. "Hey, Luke, he's under the car," he said, noticing a pair of legs sticking out from beneath the front end. "Wonder if he's got more trouble than just the tire?" The boys climbed out of their car and trudged over to the broken-down vehicle.

"Hey, mister, you need any help?"

"Nope. Just stand right there and put your hands in the air." The man's arm snaked out from beneath the fender, leveling a pistol at the pair of cousins.

"What—?" Luke stared incredulously. "Mister, if you want money, we ain't got much," he stammered, raising his hands in surrender.

"I don't want your money. I'm here for you." The gunman slid out from beneath the car and stood up. Luke was baffled as to why this rough-looking stranger would be coming after them, but when he heard Bo's breath catch in his throat, he looked over to see a shocked expression on his cousin's face that was rapidly turning into alarmed recognition.

The man smirked. "Hey, you do remember! I'm impressed. It's been a while, hasn't it, kid?"

"Bo, who is he?" Luke asked in a low voice, not taking his eyes of the armed stranger.

Bo gulped. "He worked for Bulldog Brock."

An icy fist clenched around Luke's stomach as he heard the nearly-forgotten name of the gambling boss for the first time in eight months. "What?"

"I don't know his name, but he was with Brock that night they chased us down on Jessup Road."

The man gave Luke a calculating look. "Ah, so you were the guy that got knocked out of the car! We heard you survived, but we didn't know how bad the damage was. Looks like you made a full recovery." His lips curled in a mocking smile. "Not that it's gonna matter in the long run." He gave an almost imperceptible nod, and a second man who had crept up unnoticed behind the boys lashed out and struck Luke on the head with the butt of his shotgun. He fell without a word. Bo spun around, startled and angry and ready to fight, but the other man's hand was already falling. Bo caught a glimpse of a malicious grin on the other man's face before sparks flew across his vision and the world went dark. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

Rod looked down at the two fallen young men with grim satisfaction. "Good work, Max."

"It was my pleasure," Max said with a thin smile, spinning the shotgun in his hands. He nudged Bo's motionless body with his boot. "You sure we ain't gonna finish 'em off now?"

"No. Not yet. Claibourne wants to take care of them himself. Just put them in my trunk and help me get the tire back on. Then take their car and follow me. We won't have much time."

Ol' Bo and Luke sure are popular all of a sudden, but I don't think they're too glad to know it. I ain't surprised that those gambling heavies are after the Dukes—after what happened a while back, Brock's gambling ring got busted wide open and every crooked member lost so much money it'd make Boss Hogg cry—but what I can't figure out is where they came from and why they's helpin' Cassius Claibourne.

xxxxx

"I can't believe it," Daisy said brokenly. Her lovely face was marred by guilt and disbelief. "I told that man right where Bo and Luke were!"

"Daisy, it ain't your fault," Jesse said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "You had no way of knowin' he weren't who he said he was." They were sitting on the couch in the living room while Nate Miles sat across from them, watching in concern. Jesse had come back from the fields looking for his overdue nephews shortly after Daisy and Miles had realized that a trap had been set for them. It had taken only a few minutes to apprise him of the situation, and less time than that for him to realize that his nephews were in serious danger.

He looked over at the inspector. "Mr. Miles, what do you suggest we do?"

"Claibourne can't go many places without being noticed," Miles replied. "My guess is that he's still in Osage County where he's still got power, and I'm betting that's where he's got Bo and Luke. I already called the state police and had them check the prison. They checked all the buildings and questioned the guards and Sheriff Cathcarte—there's no sign of your nephews there. Claibourne hasn't been back since he disappeared, either. I think we should go over to Osage and start looking ourselves…it's a big county, but I don't see any other choice."

"I'm glad you said that, 'cause that's what I was gonna do anyway, and you woulda had to hog-tie me to keep me from doin' otherwise," Jesse said. His bearded face took on a determined look. "Come on, Daisy. Let's get crackin'."

Daisy looked at Miles. "Does your car have a CB?" When he shook his head, she took hold of his arm and tugged him along with her. "Then you'd better ride with me."

"Good idea. Just let me report in and tell my office how to contact me. I'll tell 'em to get some state troopers out on the road, too, and then we'd better hurry. It's almost five now, and it's going to be a lot harder to find them come nightfall."

xxxxx

It wasn't a pleasant awakening. Bo could feel every last muscle in his back as it cramped, protesting his first hesitant movement. He was in a very small space, curled up leaning against a rough wall. At first he thought he was getting wet, but then he realized it wasn't water, but sweat that was running down his face.

He dragged his eyes open, looking muzzily around him. He was sitting with his knees up against his chest in a hot, tight little shed. It was so small that he could only move his legs about three inches forward before his boots hit the opposite wall, and the ceiling was so low that not even a child could have stood upright. A single square of harsh sunlight glared down at him through a barred, square window no bigger than eight inches across. He couldn't quite remember, but he knew he'd been somewhere like this before…but he felt so hot and achy and fuzzy-headed that he couldn't quite place…

Oh, no.

He gasped and a sudden cold shock rushed over him as the memory came back with alarming clarity. It was three months ago that he had been shut in a little shed like this: solitary confinement at the Osage Road Prison.

His heart started to pound. He's got us. Claibourne's got us. He didn't know how Brock's men had gotten involved, but with people coming after him and Luke from both sides, he knew they were in big trouble. He wondered if Luke was somewhere nearby and thought about calling out, but he really didn't want to draw attention to himself. He figured someone would come get him eventually anyway, and he had a feeling he wasn't going to like it when they did. So he tamped down his worry and tried to talk himself into believing that Luke was okay.

Bo shifted his weight a bit and tried pushing against the door to the shed. It didn't budge. He had known it wouldn't, but he couldn't help trying. The air was thick and heavy, and even though he could breathe just fine, the feeling of being suffocated was still there. He leaned back against the wall again, panting a little in the heat. His head was throbbing, and he gingerly reached up to touch where he had been hit, relieved when no blood came away on his fingertips.

It was impossible to track the passing hours shut up inside the little shed, but eventually he heard the sound of tires on dirt as a car pulled up and stopped. The square of sunlight in the barred window was darkened as a man approached, and Bo heard the sudden clattering of a key in the lock. The door swung open, flooding the box with bright sunlight. He blinked painfully at the sudden glare, but the rush of fresh air that washed over him was a welcome relief.

"All right, get outta there," the man outside commanded. Bo could see him silhouetted a few feet away, holding a shotgun. He crawled out of the hut as quickly as he could, but it was tough. The pain in his head hadn't lessened, and he was stiff and sore from being locked up in the little space for so long. The heat inside had left him tired and dizzy, and he slumped heavily against the shed's roof as he staggered to his feet. As his eyes adjusted to the late afternoon light, he saw Luke come stumbling out of a second hut about ten feet away.

And standing next to him, holding a shotgun against his ribs, was Cassius B. Claibourne, razor-sharp features hidden behind mirrored sunglasses. Bo was easily two heads taller than the commissioner, but he couldn't quite squelch the nervous twist in his gut at the man's sinister appearance. The invisible glaring eyes were more than a little intimidating…and the loaded rifle didn't exactly soften the image.

"Welcome back to Osage County." His flat, gravelly voice was forced out through perpetually gritted teeth. Across the narrow yard they were in, the mean-tempered deputy, Slater, was herding Luke toward a small, grim-looking brick building. Looking around, Bo discovered that they weren't in the Osage Prison like he'd thought they were; evidently Claibourne liked to build those confinement sheds wherever he thought he might need to keep close tabs on his prisoners. Bo was glad not to be in that barren prison again, but at the same time he knew it meant that nobody would know where to look for them.

"Get movin'," Claibourne ordered, giving Bo a jab with the shotgun barrel.

"I'm goin' already!" Bo snapped. He started walking, following his cousin and Slater into the dilapidated brick building.

The inside of the building was dark compared to the brightness of the sun outside, and it took a moment's blinking and shuffling before Bo and Luke could see clearly. They were in what appeared to be a storage facility about twice as big as the Boar's Nest. The windowless building was full of stacks of wooden crates and dimly lit by aged bare bulbs on the ceiling. Bo felt another jolt of alarm as he realized that Brock's henchmen were waiting inside, seated around a beat-up card table and joined by a third man he recognized from the night of the near-deadly chase. He darted a glance over at Luke. His cousin's face was flushed and covered in a sheen of sweat like his own, but he looked to be all right.

"All right, Duke. Sit down," Slater ordered, gesturing with his shotgun. When Luke just scowled and remained standing, the deputy stepped forward and pressed the barrel against Luke's chest. "I said: sit down," he repeated threateningly. "Don't think I won't enjoy puttin' a bullet in you."

Luke reluctantly complied. Slater shoved him toward the wall and roughly pulled his arms back, binding his hands behind him around a rusted metal pipe that stretched from floor to ceiling, part of an ancient plumbing system that had obviously long ago stopped functioning. He pulled out a second length of rope and wrapped it around Luke's chest beneath his arms, pinning his torso against the pipe as well.

Max watched as the deputy started tying Bo in the same way a few feet away from Luke. He rose from the card table and sauntered forward to squat in front of the prisoners, slowly pulling a knife from his belt as he looked at Bo with a spiteful smile.

"Didn't expect to see me again, did ya, kid? You didn't think I'd forget about you did you?" he asked. Bo remained silent, staring defiantly back into the other man's face even as the tip of the knife pressed against his ribs. His heart gave a heavy thump as he felt the cold steel bite through his shirt and scrape his skin, but he forced himself to remain stone-faced and mute, refusing to let the other man goad him into responding.

Max chuckled as he sensed Bo's tension. He smiled gloatingly. "Sure got yourselves in a bind, didn't you?" he asked snidely. "Bet you never expected Rod would toss that poor sap in front of your car." Bo turned a shade paler before his face tightened in anger, looking past Max to fix his stunned and accusing gaze on the gambling ringleader.

"Max, will you shut up?" Slater snapped. "You talk too much for your own damn good." He tightened the rope around Bo's chest sharply enough to make the young man wince.

"Aw, it don't matter much now, does it?" Max drawled. "They ain't gonna be able to tell anyone what they hear." He narrowed his eyes and pressed nearer, watching to see if Bo would flinch as he twisted the blade closer against his side.

"I don't know who you are, mister, but you'd better back off of him," Luke said warningly.

Max laughed. "You ain't exactly in a position to tell me what to do, friend." But he stepped back and put his knife away, rapidly growing bored of trying to torment someone who didn't betray his fear.

Slater gave Luke's leg a sharp nudge with his steel-toed boot. "You keep your mouth shut, Duke," he ordered.

Luke looked up at the deputy with open hostility. "Whatever you say, 'sir'." There was no mistaking the contempt in his voice.

"I remember you had a mouth on you," Slater sneered. "When you call me 'sir', you better mean it!" He stepped forward and lashed out, kicking Luke sharply in the side. Luke gasped and flinched from the painful blow, but bound to the pipe, he couldn't get away.

"Hey! Stop!" Bo shouted, face turning red with anger as the deputy kicked his cousin again. "Dangit, Slater! Leave him alone!" Bo lunged against the ropes that held him, furious but powerless to intervene.

Slater kicked Luke a third time, wringing a strangled cry of pain from his prisoner. He spat on the ground by Luke's feet and turned his back, leaving him panting as he sagged against the ropes.

Bo glared daggers at the deputy. "What kind of yella-bellied coward are you to kick a man when he can't fight back?"

Slater turned to Bo with a snarl. "Don't you ever call me a coward, boy!" He raised his hand and struck him across the face.

"That's enough, Slater." Claibourne didn't speak loudly, but the tone of command in his voice was unmistakable and the deputy stopped and backed away, looking at the white-haired man with a mixture of annoyance and grudging respect.

But Bo was still mad and he turned his anger to Claibourne. "There weren't no call for him to go beatin' on Luke like that! You shoulda stopped him!"

Slater started for him again, but Claibourne waved him back. He regarded the pair of cousins for a moment before grating out, "It ain't none of your concern when I decide to give my orders. And don't act like you don't deserve to be here. After all the trouble you caused, you had to know it would only be a matter of time before I got my hands on you."

"Well, you got us now," Bo said stonily. "What are you gonna do with us?"

"Nothing—as far as the public is concerned," Claibourne replied. "You see…I didn't even know you boys were here. You had an unfortunate accident two days ago that you blamed me for, so you broke your probation to come snoop around in my county. Everybody knows you Dukes have a reputation of pokin' your noses where they don't belong." He shook his head in false pity. "Too bad you boys tried to burn down my building in the middle of the night…by the time anyone saw the fire and realized you'd been trapped inside, why…it was too late to save you."

Bo's chest grew tight, and he stared aghast at the iron-faced commissioner. "You wouldn't!" he forced out.

For the first time, the granite-hard features cracked in a chilling smile. "I would. And I will." He turned and started walking toward the door.

"Nobody'll ever believe we tried somethin' like that!" Luke called after him angrily. "You'll never sell anyone that story!"

"You'll never live to find out if I do!" Claibourne said savagely. "You've got about eight hours, boys. That's plenty of time to think of all the things you could've done differently the last time we met." He stared back at them for a moment longer before he disappeared out the door. Slater and the three gamblers followed him. The door closed with a resounding bang, and the Duke boys were left in the dark.

"Luke, are you okay?" Bo immediately asked, anxiously trying to peer through the gloom. The building wasn't completely black—a sickly red glow came from an EXIT sign flickering fitfully above the bolted door—and as his eyes adjusted, Bo could see his cousin where he was tied a few feet away.

Luke took a long, slow breath, testing his abused ribs to see how much they hurt. "Y-yeah, I'm all right," he said quietly. "I'm hurtin', but it's goin' away. Nothin' too bad."

"He just remembers what happened the last time he and his thugs tangled with us," Bo fumed. "He's afraid to take you in a fair fight."

"Believe me, if I had a fair go at him, I'd take it."

"I'd bet on you."

"I appreciate that, but it don't help us right now." Luke shifted uncomfortably where he was pinned against the pole, giving the dying EXIT sign a dirty look. He didn't appreciate the irony.

Bo shivered. It was considerably cooler in the storage building than in the hot little solitary confinement shed. The iron pipe behind him was sending chills up his back, and the concrete floor was cold beneath him. His shirt had been damp with sweat, and now it was cold and clammy against him. He was also terribly thirsty, but he knew there was no chance of relief. Even if he had bothered to ask for water, he knew their captors would have just laughed at him. Then he heard Luke take a sudden shuddering breath as he felt the chill of the dark room and he knew his cousin was feeling as bad as he was.

"Luke, what are we gonna do?"

"You got me. You got any wiggle room at all?"

"No. Slater tied me so dang tight it's a wonder I can still breathe. There ain't a chance I can get loose."

"Me neither." Luke sighed and shook his head. "Guess we just have to wait for someone to find us."

Bo didn't answer. He knew as well as Luke that Claibourne was too smart to be caught easily. And with the help of Rod and his crew, well…there didn't seem to be much they weren't capable of. If they were hidden, they were hidden well. It would take time to find them…and there wasn't much time left before the building would start burning down around them.