---15---

"Now ya'll have prob'ly been a-frettin' an' a-worryin' about ol' Bo, well he's pretty poorly right about now, but he's a Duke an' if there's one thin' I've learned, its never underestimate a Duke."

The nurse checked slow drip of blood into Bo's veins and then his pulse, which was still rapid but starting to even out. His breathing seemed calmer now, not so gasping. It was a good sign.

She smiled down at the sleeping boy. His face was almost as white as the sheets on which he lay, but given time, the transfusion would help with that. He was one very lucky kid.

Con, she silently corrected herself, not kid.

He hardly seemed old enough to be in jail.

With a sigh, she touched his pale cheek and found it cooler than she'd like so she gently tucked more of the blanket around him, taking care not to dislodge the oxygen tube under his nose. He murmured softly, reacting to the touch, but he didn't waken.

---

Jesse held Daisy to him as she sobbed. "Is he hurt bad?"

She looked up at her uncle, but couldn't say the words. She nodded.

"I'm sorry, Jesse." Rosco said sincerely.

Jesse nodded. "I know ya are."

"We have to go!" Daisy pleaded. "Bo could be-" The words choked off and then she whispered. "He needs us, Uncle Jesse."

Jesse looked at the papers he held and then at the door to the ATF offices and finally down at Daisy.

"I'll take 'em up for ya, Jesse." Rosco held out his hand. "There's still time ta get 'em signed. You…go be with ya kin."

"Rosco!" Boss protested.

"Bo's hurt cos he was in that prison, Boss." Rosco told him. "He don't belong there. Ya know that."

The commissioner frowned; chubby face screwed up in frustration but there wasn't any heart in it. And he made no move to stop Rosco as Jesse handed the papers over to him.

Then Boss and Jesse watched as the sheriff disappeared through the doors of the ATF.

"Jesse, I…" Boss began. "Ya know I never meant fer…"

Jesse nodded. "I know." He turned to leave.

"Rosco'll let ya know when they're signed, Jesse." Boss told him.

Jesse stopped. "I'd appreciate that, JD."

---

"So while Jesse an' Daisy were burnin' rubber ta get ta Tri-County, an' even as the ink was a-dryin' on the parole papers, Luke was pickin' over his prison slops an' thinkin' about his cousin an' about the long stretch they had ahead o' them. An' how he ain't got much ta lose. Now how's that fer irony?"

Luke pushed his supper around his plate but this time it wasn't the un-appetising look of the prison food that was putting him off, but the fear in his belly for Bo. The prison officers had given him little information, just that Bo was out of surgery and that he was critical, but stable. He hoped that his message had got to Jesse and that they were with him.

Luke looked up. On the other side of the food hall, Louis Canner, the man Griff had told him had bartered for a knife and used it on Bo, sat with a couple of other cons, laughing.

Luke's stomach clenched.

"I sure don't like the look on ol' Luke's face."

---

"Now ya'll prob'by woulda bet ya last dollar that there ain't nothin' a lawman had ta say to the Dukes that'll make them cheer like it was the 4th of July. Well ya'll hear that?"

Daisy grinned and laughed as Jesse hung up the CB. He gave her a grin and a chuckle of his own.

"That there is the sound of freedom. Bo an' Luke's freedom."

It didn't take long after Rosco had given them the good news to arrive at the hospital, almost as if, with the weight of their kin's future on them now lifted, the car could go faster.

The doctor's face was grave as he showed them both into Bo's room. "He's heavily sedated at the moment," he explained, "but you're welcome to sit with him."

Daisy gasped when she saw how pale her cousin looked.

"He's lost a lot of blood," the doctor told them, "which we're concerned about, but he's responding well to the transfusions. Fortunately the knife hit his shoulder blade, and didn't penetrate the bone, but there was some muscle damage which will take a while to heal."

Jesse took his nephews hand in his own. "He's so cold."

"That's common with blood loss." The doctor assured him with a smile. "We're keeping a close eye on his temperature, don't worry."

"All respect ta ya, doc, but the day I quit worryin' about ma boys, is the day the good Lord calls me home."

Daisy looked up. "Does he know we're here?"

"Talk to him. It'll help." He told her, avoiding the question.

"But…he'll be OK, won't he?" She asked.

"He's a strong, healthy young man." He assured her.

Jesse looked up. He knew that wasn't an answer.

---

The showers were starting to empty as the cons filed back to their cells for the night lock-in. Luke stood in the doorway, watching one of the last men still at the sinks. It was Louis.

Another con glanced Luke's way and then at Louis before shuttling out of the block, head down. The last con followed, leaving only Louis.

Luke's feet made no noise as he crossed to the sinks.

Louis caught Luke's reflection in the mirror but before he could do more than gasp, Luke had his arm around the man's throat.

Thanks for all the reviews and encouragement!