"Now, we expect ya to stay here like a good boy, can you do that?"
Luke tried to make his eyes focus, it was very clear to him that someone was speaking, and he had a feeling that the sneer and barely detained disgust in the voice was meant for him. He could not figure out why between still feeling half asleep and the pounding in his head, but he still had a feeling that it was meant for him.
Hearing that kind of thing was not how he wanted to start his day, not at all. Even a few wake up calls from Bo had been pleasant in comparison, and that included the quarterback wake up call. That was Bo when he came dashing from his bed and threw himself at Luke, landing on top of him and most often sending both of them to the floor. It might be that the only reason why that was more pleasant was that Bo never meant to hurt him, while he had a nasty feeling that Jack would find it more amusing.
Jack, he forced his eyes into focusing on the man, yes Jack. It had been nicer not knowing, at least then he had the hope of being wrong. Now he suddenly had a clear image of what had happened.
He knew one thing for sure, Bo was in trouble, more trouble than he had though before. Anyone who thought that kidnapping was a good idea wouldn't stop at much else. Suddenly he wasn't so much afraid of them taking to break his cousins golden heart anymore, he had a feeling that all the breaking would be carried out in a more bodily manner.
Gritting his teeth he tried to take stock of his surroundings, tugging at the restraints that held him.
Jack gave a laugh, and Luke glared at him.
"Ya ain't gonna get lose ya stupid hick." Jack laughed. "See there, there ain't no way that ya can get lose."
He grabbed a fistful of Luke's hair and turned his head to look at the restraints. His hands were not tied, they were cuffed, a pair of handcuffs and the fact that they were in front of him instead of on the back did little good. The cuffs had been attached to a chain, and that chain was attached to an iron hoop on the wall with a big pad lock, a combination one so picking it was out of the question. There wasn't any real way of getting the chain loose from the wall either. He was in an animal pen, and a hoop meant to restrain a bull on a half ton, well, he could tug on it as much as he wanted. Not even the combined stubbornness of Bo and Maudine the mule would be enough for that one.
"See there, now there ain't no way ya can meddle when we conduct our business." Jack laughed. "Ain't it nice knowing that ya helped us by driving ya darling cousin away?"
"It's nice knowing what my darling cousin is gonna do to ya when he finds out about this." Luke never doubted it. Even if he and Bo had been fighting, the moment Bo found out what they had done to Luke, there would be no safe place for them.
Jack however didn't have enough sense to realize something like that. The kind of guy he was might count on family bonds being strong enough to make them pay a good strong sum of money to get a loved one back. Yet he had no comprehension of the kind of bond shared between the two cousins, the idea was to make Luke lose hope in Bo, but in reality he only made Luke more and more determined to get back at them for what they were doing to Bo.
So Jack kept goading him with insults, and Luke kept trying to figure out the best way to get back at them.
Jesse frowned as he peeked into the boys bedroom in the morning and found that both beds stood empty. He wasn't really surprised but it still made him worried. Seeing as how they had argued he assumed that Luke had preferred to sleep somewhere else. However he was not on the couch, thought it was possible he had already started on the day.
With Bo away it meant more chores to go around and his heart was already heavy enough with worry for his youngest one. He didn't need more things to go wrong now, he needed a way to figure out how to make the first set of wrongs right. He wanted to have all his three younglings back at the farm where he knew they were more or less safe. The way the two lads had turned out with their way of scrambling all over speeding cars like a pair of squirrels all safe seemed too much to hope for most of the time.
What worried him was that the eggs were still with the chickens, and well, any chore Bo or Luke was supposed to do was still left undone. If Luke had been at home, he would have been working on them, that was something he knew for certain. There were spoilt city folk that refused to do pretty much anything before they had gotten their breakfast but the two boys were farmers and knew better.
Even if they tried to trick each others into thinking that it was the other ones turn to get the eggs or something, both of them knew it had to be done. Some said Jesse spoilt them by taking on as much of the work as he did when he could simply give each boy just one more chore. Yet he didn't want them to be burdened down with chores at such a young age. It was the age where they should be allowed to enjoy their freedom; he had always hoped that one day sooner or later they would both settle down with a family. The two boys always seemed almost younger than they were, and there had always seemed like there was more than enough time.
Yet now Bo had taken of the night before and Luke was no where on the farm to be found. Jesse hadn't seen him since yesterday when Bo left, and suddenly he felt as if he had run out of time after all.
A hard tug on the chain didn't make them yield the tiniest bit, and Luke hadn't expected them to either. In fact, he had been sure enough that they wouldn't that he wouldn't even have bothered trying. It was all Jack's idea, it was Jack who hit him so he fell and as a result tugged on the chains.
One thing was for certain. If it took a brave man to hit a bound and defenseless man, than there was none braver than Jack. For he not only did it, but he took pleasure in it as well.
It wasn't the first time that Luke had been hit though, and he wasn't very easily impressed by that kind of bravery so Jack found himself entertaining a tough audience.
He could hit, he could kick and he could insult, and he was actually quite good at it. What he couldn't do was making Luke stop caring about what happened to Bo. Jack seemed to have some misconception of animosity between the two boys serving his purpose, and it would, as long as he could keep it there, but he didn't understand just how close they were. He didn't understand that he couldn't make Luke angry at Bo by hitting him and saying it was because of Bo. He didn't understand that all it ever did was make Luke more devoted to get back at them for putting his cousin through the experience.
Jesse sighed, he had looked around the farm for half an hour trying to spot at least one of the boys, but the chores couldn't wait a minute longer. He took care of them and for once he actually hurried through them. A small breakfast for him and Daisy because he knew they needed it even if neither of them really felt like eating, and then they took off trying to spot either one of the two Duke boys.
Jesse took his pick up and Daisy took her Jeep, taking of in separate directions and looking for tracks. Jesse supposed that Bo would be around those who had hired him, so at the moment he was more worried for Luke, he knew something had to be really wrong for him not to show up. Especially since Bo had the General, and a call to Cooter let him know that the mechanic hadn't seen him either.
Luke would never take off for real without telling them about it. So hearing he was no where to be found Cooter decided that he didn't have any work that couldn't wait, and if it couldn't, then it would have to anyway. Instead he jumped into his tow truck and took of himself.
The mechanic in town was said to be able to fix pretty much anything short of a broken heart, but when it came to his friends, Cooter sure gave it his best shot. At times like this Jesse wondered what he would do if it wasn't for the scruffy young man. He was an expert on cars, and on getting into trouble. Not to mention that whenever he got himself into trouble he always seemed to drag Jesse's two nephews right in with him, and the good lord knew that those two boys didn't need no help with that.
Still, there was never anyone more willing to help getting them out of it than Cooter. There were times when Jesse almost forgot himself and thought about him as another one of his young charges, though he would never admit it to him. On the other hand, maybe Cooter knew, and maybe that was why he was always there calling him 'Uncle Jesse' no matter how many times Jesse snapped at him that he wasn't his uncle.
Cooter and the General Lee just was part of the family, and there was no way to get around that. Even though at the moment a large part of that family seemed to be pretty hard to track down, they were still family and nothing could ever change that.
He just hoped that it wasn't too late for this family, but he was almost afraid that it was.