Thanks a million to GrayWolf84, who was my second pair of eyes and a huge help reading this chapter and chapter eight over for accuracy! Her help and advice let me fill in gaps I didn't see and made playing with fire a lot more fun. (Heehee…) Um. Fire on the computer, not real fire. :P The management would like to state that playing with real fire is dangerous and belongs on the list of Don't Try This At Home. (Go to a friend's house.) ;)

(My sarcasm is going to get me in trouble some day, I know it…)

I know it was a little longer between updates this time…but between five finals, two midterms, and upcoming spring break, things got just a teensy bit hectic. It'll be a little longer between chapters this time, too, but chapter eight is almost on deck…just let the world spin around a few more times and we'll be good.

- Flynne :)

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– Chapter Seven –

"Flashpoint"

Hour after uncomfortable hour dragged by for Bo and Luke. They spoke little, but spent the time vainly trying to loosen their bonds. Their efforts gradually slowed and stopped as their arms cramped and their fingers grew numb, and they sat in exhausted silence with their painfully stiff backs against the iron pipes, wrists rubbed raw where the rope had burned them. They could tell it was getting late but there wasn't a sound from outside, and in spite of their discomfort they found the heaviness of sleep encroaching on the edges of their minds.

Now, I thought for sure those boys woulda got themselves loose by now, but they couldn't. It ain't too often that Bo and Luke can't find a way out of a tight spot, but if they're gonna do it, they better do it soon…'cause right about now is when things are fixin' to squeeze a whole lot closer.

Bo's eyes suddenly snapped open in alarm as he heard the sound of wheels crunching on gravel outside. He could pick out the sound of two cars, and one of them was as familiar to him as the sound his own voice. "Luke, you recognize that engine?"

"Yeah. It's the General." Luke felt his heart start beating a little faster. "I guess we're supposed to have parked it outside before we torched the place."

The door suddenly creaked open and a bright flashlight beam cut through the darkness. Bo looked away as the light hit his face. "You gotta point that thing right at me?" he growled.

Slater snickered. "No." The beam stayed where it was. Claibourne had come in behind his deputy. He stepped behind Luke and surprised the young man by cutting the cords that bound him. Slater saw Luke tense suddenly as if to fight and drew his pistol, leveling it at Bo's head. "Don't get any funny ideas, Duke, or I'll blow his brains out. You just sit still and don't move."

Luke immediately froze. "Okay, I am!" he said quickly. He blinked in confusion as Claibourne used a thinner rope to re-tie his hands behind his back—they weren't wrapped around the pipe this time—and then tied his feet together. He did the same thing to Bo and stepped away, brushing the dirt off his hands with an air of finality.

"Don't do this, Claibourne," Luke said.

The commissioner smiled cruelly as he heard the undercurrent of fear in Luke's stern voice. "You did it to yourself." He turned and walked to the back of the warehouse, disappearing between the tall stacks of wooden crates.

"You're insane!" Bo shouted after him. "If you'd left us alone instead of—"

"That's enough out of you!" Slater snapped. He gave Bo's shoulder a firm shove with the sole of his boot. Bo had no leverage now that his arms and legs were tied, and he fell back against the concrete floor with a grunt.

Bo and Luke exchanged an alarmed glance as a red-orange glow suddenly flared from the back of the building with a whoomph and the first hint of smoke drifted past them. Claibourne re-emerged from the gloom, giving his prisoners one last, unforgiving stare. "Goodbye, boys." He gestured to Slater and the two of them disappeared. The sound of the door slamming closed echoed throughout the building, disappearing into the sound of the rapidly spreading flames.

"Bo, quick! Roll over towards me!" Luke ordered tightly. Bo obeyed instantly, stopping as he felt his back press up against his cousin's. He held as still as he could as he felt Luke's hands start tugging at the cords that bound him.

Now, that's more like it! Better work fast, Luke…

"Why'd he untie us like that?" Bo wondered aloud. "He had to know we'd be doin' this the minute he was gone."

"He planned it that way," Luke said, voice heavy with concentration. "He couldn't take the chance that we'd be found tied to those pipes. It wouldn't look like an accident. These ropes'll burn away quickly…and if his plan works—if anybody finds us, they'll just see us in the middle of the floor…or at the door tryin' to get out." He gritted his teeth in frustration as his fingers fumbled clumsily with the knots, stiff and tingling from his hands being tied for so long. "Dang it! He tied it so tight, and this rope is so thin I don't think—"

"Keep tryin'!" Bo said sharply. "Just slow down…you can get it, Luke, I know you can."

Luke forced himself to take a long breath—but it didn't do much to calm him when he felt the harsh touch of smoke in the back of his throat. He blinked away the cold sweat that was dripping into his eyes. When he finally felt the stiff rope begin to loosen, the heat of the blaze had already raised the temperature of the room, and the sweat beading on his temples wasn't caused by his anxiety.

"You got it!" Bo suddenly exclaimed. He wrenched his arms against the rope and felt it fall away with a rush of relief. He immediately swiveled around and untied Luke's hands in a flash.

"What d'you think our chances are of gettin' out that door?" Bo asked, reaching for the rope around his ankles.

"Knowin' Claibourne, slim to none," Luke replied grimly. He untied his own legs and jumped to his feet, reaching down to give Bo a hand up. "But come on, we've gotta check it out." They ran over to the door, wishing rather than believing it would open. Bo reached for the doorknob, but he immediately jerked his hand back when he felt the startling warmth of the metal handle.

"What?" Luke asked in confusion.

"It's hot!" Bo examined the palm of his hand. The doorknob hadn't been quite hot enough to burn him, but it had caught him by surprise.

Luke tensed. "Hot like there's a fire on the other side, too?"

Bo looked frightened at that possibility, but he carefully reached out to rest his palm against the metal door. "I don't think so…it's cool over here, but…" he slid his hand along the smooth surface. "It's only hot on the edge of the door right here and around the handle."

"Well, why…?" Luke leaned closer, straining to see in the dim light. He ran his fingers lightly along the edge of the door, and his eyes grew hard as he realized what the problem was. "Bo, this door's been welded shut!"

Uh-huh. That there is one last dirty trick from Cassius Claibourne. He done welded that door shut from the outside before he and Slater drove away. Somebody oughta tell him you're only s'posed to do that to racecars.

Bo set his face determinedly, putting his hand on Luke's arm to move his cousin out of the way. He braced himself and rammed his shoulder against the door with a wham that echoed off the brick walls.

"Bo…"

"What?"

"Pull."

Bo rolled his eyes. "I know! But I can't shake the door hard enough by tugging on it! Lemme whack it and see if I can rattle it enough to crack the seam."

Luke gestured his cousin forward. "Whack away!"

Bo flashed him a little smile and threw himself against the door again. Luke stepped up to help him, but it took only a few hits before the cousins realized it wasn't going to do any good.

Bo shook his head in defeat and backed away from the door, rubbing his sore shoulder. "Ow."

"Yeah, don't hurt yourself."

"You see any other way outta here?" Bo asked, looking fearfully around him.

"No," Luke replied with a sinking heart, "but we're gonna look anyway. Come on." He turned and started feeling his way along the wall. Bo kept one hand on Luke's back as they started their sweep of the building—he didn't want to lose track of his cousin in the dark.

The red-orange light from the fire grew brighter as they explored the building, though…and they grew more afraid as they realized the door Claibourne had used had been their only way out. There were no windows, no ventilation ducts low enough to reach or big enough to crawl through, and the smoke was rapidly thickening, curling down from the ceiling in dark billows.

"Luke…?" Bo's eyes were wide as he looked for some sign of reassurance in his cousin's face. He didn't see it.

"I don't know what we're gonna do." Luke replied, voice already going hoarse from the smoke.

"Wait!" Bo suddenly clapped his hand on Luke's arm. "The only place we ain't looked is back where the fire started! What if…?"

"What if there's a way out back there that Claibourne didn't want us to get to?" Luke finished, eyes brightening with sudden hope. "Good thinkin', Bo! Come on!"

They darted to the back of the building, crouching low as they tried to stay beneath the smoke. They knew crawling would be better, but neither of them wanted to be off their feet. When they wove their way between the stacks of crates, they found the rear third of the building ablaze. Both young men were coughing roughly now, struggling to keep their breathing under control in the rapidly souring air. Bo stumbled back involuntarily as the full force of the heat smote him. He blinked his tearing eyes and shielded his face with his arm, straining to see through the wildly flickering glare.

"We were right," Luke groaned. "But there ain't no way we can get through that." He could just barely make out the shape of a door embedded in the brick wall. It might have been unlocked when the fire started, but now it was already warped and melted from the heat, completely blocked off by a wall of flame. As his desperate blue eyes scanned the remainder of the building, he caught sight of the rusty metal drums against the side wall and he immediately backed up in alarm.

"Bo, that's kerosene!" he burst out.

Bo quickly backpedaled, fisting a hand in Luke's shirt. "Come on, we gotta get out of here! When that stuff goes—"

"Get to the far end of the building!" Luke gave his cousin a shove and they hurried as fast as they could through the crates back the way they had come.

They had barely cleared the maze of crates before the kerosene in the first of the battered old drums hit its flashpoint. The roar of the flames suddenly blossomed out in a deafening explosion, and a shockwave of blistering heat flooded out in a rush. The wooden crates closest to the explosion were splintered, and the force of the blast flung debris through the air. The rest of the stacks trembled, and when the next drum exploded a heartbeat later, they tumbled down like a pile of giant building blocks.

Luke felt Bo slam into his back as the explosion flung them forward. A wave of searing heat washed over them, and Luke's vision grayed out as they hit the ground. He dimly felt the impact as debris tumbled over them, burying them completely as they huddled on the cold concrete floor.

xxxxx

Daisy's hands tightened on the wheel and her tired blue eyes scanned the side of the road for any sign of a side road or moonshine trail; anything leading to where her cousins might be hidden. It was after one in the morning, but she was too worried to think about sleep. In the passenger seat, Nate Miles held a small flashlight in his mouth while he scanned the map that was open in front of him.

"We've been up and down every road on this end of the county," he said, removing the flashlight to stifle a yawn. "I don't know, maybe we should move on."

"Where else can we look?" Daisy asked. "Uncle Jesse's already on the west end…and you said there's state police helpin' out, too. The more we stay spread out, the more chance of finding 'em, right?"

Miles sighed heavily. "I hope so." Suddenly his brow furrowed and he straightened in his seat. "Do you smell smoke?"

Daisy sampled the air, craning her neck to look around. "Yeah, but…the sky's so dark, I can't see where it's coming from."

"There's hardly any breeze…we can't be too far from it," Miles said thoughtfully. "I don't know what could be burning, though…this is a pretty deserted part of the county. Besides, who would start a fire at one in the morning?"

Daisy tensed and her eyes went wide as a chilling thought occurred to her. "Do you think Claibourne would?"

There was a stunned silence from the passenger seat. When Miles spoke, the flat sternness in his voice sent a fresh stab of fear through Daisy's heart. "Daisy, I think we'd better find that fire now."

Daisy took a sharp, cold breath and sped up. She could see the road beginning to rise up ahead, and as Dixie crested the ridge, she slammed the Jeep into park and stood on the seat, turning slowly in a circle as her eyes scanned the horizon. Miles stood up as well, knuckles turning white as he clamped his hand on the rollbar in frustration.

Daisy suddenly tagged his arm. "Miles, look over there!"

Miles looked where she was pointing, off to the left. At first he didn't see anything, but then he noticed with a jolt that the stars were obscured in part of the clear night sky. "I see it! Good eye, Daisy!"

"Come on, we're gonna find out what's over there," Daisy said determinedly. She started her car again and sped on down the road, looking for any way to cut over to where the smoke plume was. She slammed on the brakes, then, nearly speeding past a tiny clearing through the woods. They had missed it earlier, thinking it looked like a dead end…but now that they were nearly due west of where the fire was, she was willing to chance it.

"Hold on to something!" she ordered, spinning the wheel and steering her Jeep into the trees. They ducked low in the seats as tree branches whipped past their heads. Before long, the narrow trail opened up into a winding dirt road, gone unused so long that it wasn't on any maps. By now the smoke was plainly visible, and a dull orange glow was just beginning to show over the trees. While Daisy drove with fresh determination, Miles grabbed the CB to alert the search team of the new developments and call for the volunteer fire department to be roused.

As the dirt road gradually widened, it became clear that they were in fact headed straight for the source of the fire. They rounded the last bend in the road and Daisy gasped as she saw the familiar shape of the General Lee parked in front of a brick building. Part of the roof was ablaze and the thick smoke was sprinkling the area with soot and ash.

"Oh, no! Miles—they can't be inside!" Daisy cried in dismay. She jumped out of her Jeep and ran forward. Miles paused just long enough to update the rest of the searchers on the situation before he ran after her. She had tried the door on the front of the building, but had seen the scorch marks and melted handle instantly and realized it would be impossible to open, and she was already halfway around the back, running as close as she dared to the burning building.

"Daisy, wait!" Miles put on a burst of speed to catch up with her. A sudden deafening explosion shook the air, and he threw his arms around her and fell with her onto the tangled grass as half the back wall of the building blew out in a cloud of flame and shattered brick. He bent over her and covered his head as chunks of smoking brick littered the ground around them. "Don't get so close!" he barked, but the sharpness in his voice was from concern rather than anger. "We don't know what's in there—it could blow again at any time!"

"I'm sorry," Daisy said immediately. "I—I just hoped I could find…" She sat up and looked past him at the fiery ruin, blinking against tears that weren't just from the smoke. Nearly a third of the roof had collapsed, and the small building was riddled with holes and glowing fissures as the dry, brittle brick and mortar crumbled and cracked, no match for the heat and intensity of the explosions. "Miles, if they're in there…"

"The fire department is on the way," Miles said, raising his voice to be heard over the roar of the fire. "They're coming as fast as they can! Now, come on, we've got to get back!" Daisy let him take her by the hand and help her to her feet, following behind as her tearful gaze stayed fixed on the churning fire and smoke. The entire area was lit with a fierce orange glow as a result of the explosion and Daisy knew the rest of the search party would have no trouble finding them now.

But what if they're too late? Her heart ached at the thought, and she forced the bleak whisper from her mind. No, she couldn't let herself think like that! So she stood with Miles a safe distance away while her stomach churned with anxiety, doing her best to believe that somehow, her cousins were all right.