Author's notes: Thanks to all who read, and special thanks to those who review. You guys make my day.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Dukes nor any of the main characters, and no one's paying me anything for this. Andy's name isn't mine, but unfortunately, I have to take credit for his personality and actions.

Chapter 8 – A Nice Ride in the Countryside

If he'd realized the river was there, Andy Roach never would have tried to jump it. Before he knew what was happening he was flying up into the air, car and all. He didn't have sufficient momentum to completely clear the river, though, and his tail end landed in water before the car rolled out and sputtered to a halt. The young man had been quite fortunate, actually, to have landed short that way. The water provided a softer landing than land would have, and he hadn't braced himself for the impact. Not to mention that if he'd gone much further, he probably would have crashed into the deputy's cruiser, which was waiting along the bank.

Regardless, Andy was shocked to discover that not only was he on the other side of the river, he was also alive and able to move quite normally. Ahead and slightly to his right, he could see that the Duke boys' black Ford had not faired so well. The dark haired boy was already out of the car and standing by the driver's side door, reaching into the window for something. The ATF agent moved quickly.

"All right, Duke, you're under arrest. Don't make this any harder than it has to be," he said in his most menacing voice, pulling the boy's left hand out of the window and handcuffing it.

Roach was ready for a fight, remembering how good these boys were at that little skill. What the agent was not prepared for was the absolute rage that emanated from the man who wheeled around at him.

"I ain't goin' nowhere with my cousin hurt, so you can just take this thing off me now, or you'll see what it's like to get a handcuff up the side of your head." The older Duke boy made a move to demonstrate exactly what he was talking about when a quieter, calmer voice came from very close by.

"Luke, now, do what Agent Roach tells you to. I don't like pointin' this gun at you, and I sure don't wanna use it. So you just do what he says, an' I'll tend to Bo."

The boy growled, "Enos!" but seeing that the gun never wavered, surrendered his right hand for the other cuff.

Luke had never felt worse. He had failed to protect Bo from getting hurt behind the wheel, and now he couldn't even care for his injured cousin, because he'd allowed them both to be caught by a revenuer. When he'd last seen Bo, the boy was out cold in the driver's seat. Luke had checked his pulse and knew his cousin was alive, but aside from that, he hadn't gotten a chance to really assess Bo's condition. Now he was sitting on a stump probably a hundred feet away from where Tilly had landed, hands cuffed behind his back, and kept at bay by Andy Roach's gun.

Enos turned back towards the conscious Duke. "I don't think it's too bad, Luke. He ain't bleedin'. I think he's just bumped his head."

Ignoring the man who was keeping him prisoner, Luke appealed to the Deputy. "Enos, he's just a kid. If he wakes up and I'm not there, he'll be scared. Can't I just stay with him until he comes to?"

Enos looked at the revenue agent, and saw no leeway there. "I got to call an ambulance, Luke, then maybe both of us can sit with Bo. I'll keep my gun on them, agent." Enos added this last hoping to sway Roach. To his surprise, it seemed to work. Enos went to his cruiser and called for both an ambulance and some tow trucks, then quickly returned to where Luke sat.

"Come with me, Luke." As the older Duke boy and the deputy walked to the front of the car, Andy Roach headed for the back. He was sympathetic to Daisy's cousins, having learned in the past month just how close the family was. But there was no way he'd take a chance on them somehow destroying the evidence before he could collect it.

"Deputy, before you let that boy get in there, get those keys out of the ignition and throw them back here."

"Yes, sir." Enos did as he was told, then he and Luke went around to the passenger side of the car, where Luke got in, and Enos stayed, with the door open, gun trained on the Duke boys. He hadn't known, until they'd crashed on this side of the river, exactly who Agent Roach was chasing. Although he would have done his best to trap them even if he'd known it was Bo and Luke, his heart broke at the fact that they'd been caught. They were nice people and good friends.

With his hands cuffed, there was nothing Luke could do except slide close to his cousin and talk to him. "Bo… Bo, wake up now." It seemed to Luke as though hours had passed since the blonde had been awake, but in truth it had been only a couple of minutes. "Come on, Bo, it's all right, you can open your eyes."

Luke turned to the deputy. "Please, Enos, I promise I won't try anything. Just, can't we get these cuffs off?"

Enos had known Bo and Luke pretty much his whole life. Though Luke was a few years older than Enos, and Bo a year younger, the Hazzard school system was tiny, and kids of all ages had eaten lunch together then played at recess. For all the things that the deputy had seen his friends experience, from playground fights to the death of their aunt, Enos had never seen Luke Duke cry. And right now, it looked as if he might do just that.

"Well, I can't do that," Enos said, watching the agent rummage around through Tilly's trunk. "Maybe I can cuff them up front?"

"That'll work," Luke said.

"Then you'd probably better tell Agent Roach where to find the 'shine so he'll stop searchin' back there and give me the keys."

Luke sighed, but didn't waste any time. "Tell him to pull the plastic side panels out, Enos." The deputy went to the back of the car to negotiate the deal.

When Jesse could no longer reach the boys on the CB, he headed for the sheriff's car, where Rosco still sat, stunned.

"Rosco, are you all right?"

"Jesse?"

"Yes, Rosco, it's me," Jesse sighed, frustrated. Rosco was known for being a little slow at times. "You all right?"

"That was horrendous."

"Rosco, have you heard anything on the boys?" Jesse asked, trying to get the man to focus. The sheriff might have been a lawman, but the Duke patriarch knew that if anything happened to Bo or Luke, badges and guns wouldn't matter. Rosco would tell him the truth.

"Gij, no, I haven't."

"Okay, Rosco. I'm goin' back to my truck to call the Davenports to come get our cars. Then I'm comin' back here and we'll listen to your CB together." Jesse's tone left no room for argument, but the sheriff was in no condition to disagree anyway. He was physically sound, but terribly addled.

No sooner had Jesse returned to the patrol car than there was a CB transmission from Enos Strate, calling for an ambulance on the south bank of the Uchee River.

When Cooter had told Jesse Duke that he was on his way, he meant it literally. Although his official residence was out of town, on his parents' farm, Cooter spent many a night crashing in a small room over the garage. It afforded him not only the independence that the young man needed, but also the chance to keep tabs on all the happenings in the county. With a repeater on the roof, the garage got the strongest CB signals in the area, and could even pick up transmissions from Chickasaw, on the other side of Iron Mountain. Like most of the young men in Hazzard, Cooter loved his Citizen's Band radio about as much as his car.

After his "hike" with his friends, and talking to Brody about the condition of the Mustang, Cooter was ready for a restful evening. A lot of people might have chosen to sit in front of the television, but the mechanic turned on his scanner and stretched out on his pitiful excuse for a sofa. Because he was so well endowed with electronic equipment, Cooter was able to listen to the ongoing chase from all sides. At first he was not worried; the Dukes had outrun more revenuers than anyone in the county. But as he heard some of the more panicked transmissions, the Dukes' friend pulled on his shoes and prepared to head out towards the Uchee River Bridge, the landmark he'd heard both Roach and Enos mention. The last transmission he heard before getting into his tow truck was Uncle Jesse's report of colliding with Rosco's car.

The truck did not have quite so many gadgets as the garage itself, so Cooter flipped back and forth between the two channels as he drove. His understanding of what had occurred was somewhat fragmented, but he did know that at least two Dukes would need his help. By the time he actually get Jesse's request for assistance, he was almost to the remote area.

He arrived a few minutes later to find a startled sheriff and a frantic uncle.

"Forget the cars, we gotta get to the boys!" Jesse snapped when Cooter got out of the tow truck to check on the damages to the vehicles in the middle of the road. The white haired man and the filthy mechanic piled into the tow truck and proceeded on towards the bridge. Cooter radioed his family to let them know that there was more than one wrecked car and they should bring another truck out that way to rescue Rosco.

Daisy Duke was furious. Not only had her boyfriend betrayed her, but now Boss Hogg had interfered in her attempt to right the wrong she had done to her family. She should have known that Boss would be a part of any serious attempt to bust the Dukes' 'shine business. Long before she'd been born, J. D. and her uncle had been partners, even sharing a still. The man who would eventually become County Commissioner had double-crossed her uncle, and since that day they'd been competitors. Jesse'd always had the stronger following, largely because he made better 'shine and dealt fairly with his customers. Honesty was not Boss Hogg's preferred method of succeeding, so instead he'd tried to put Jesse out of business. And now by blocking her from helping her cousins, he might have succeeded.

As soon as she'd let the boys know she was out of the chase, the angry young woman climbed out of her car and, with determination flashing in her eyes, made her way around Lulu's car to the driver's side door. In a flash, Boss had locked the door, and rolled the window up almost all the way. Daisy pulled on the handle to no avail, then let loose with a verbal lashing.

"Why, Daisy Duke, I don't know what you're talking about," Boss simpered sweetly, after Daisy's tirade ended. "I was just goin' for a nice ride in the countryside and then all of a sudden you smashed into the side of my car. You ought to be more careful." At first Daisy raged against the man, kicking the car and giving him a piece of her mind. Exhausting quickly, she got a better idea. Boss would have to come out sometime, and when he did, she'd be sitting on the hood of his car.

"Come on cousin, wake up for me." Bo didn't want to wake up, but then, he never did. Morning always came too soon for his tastes. And this morning he seemed to have a terrible headache. He hated to leave Luke with all the chores, but he wasn't up to them just now.

"That's it Bo, you can do it." Strange how gentle Luke was being. Normally he'd just push and shove at his younger cousin until he got the response he sought. Another weird thing was Luke's hands on his face, stroking his cheek. His older cousin never did that unless he was sick or…

Hurt. His head really hurt. And there was no sunlight coming in through the bedroom window, or he'd have been able to tell, even with his eyes closed. Something was wrong.

"Please, Bo." Something was very wrong. Luke sounded awful. When Bo finally forced his eyes open, the first things he was able to focus on were two very worried looking blue eyes.

"Lukas?"

"Yeah, Bo, I'm here. How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts, but I think I'll live." Then, seeing the continued distress in his cousin's eyes, Bo asked, "What about you?"

"I'm okay. Let me see your head," Luke said, pulling Bo practically down into his lap. Suddenly the younger cousin was aware of the awkwardness to the way Luke's hands moved. Finally seeing more than just Luke's face, Bo noticed the handcuffs on his wrists.

"Shoot." With Bo half on top of him, Luke felt, more than heard, Bo's breakdown. "I got us caught, didn't I?"

"Easy, cuz. Shh. It ain't your fault," Luke soothed, while his fingers served the dual purpose of checking for bumps on the head and stroking blonde hair. "You got a pretty good goose egg there, but no bleeding. You'll be all right. You probably got a concussion, though, so stay awake for me, okay?"

Enos watched his friends as they took care of one another. Not for the first time in his life, he wished he'd had a brother or at least as good a friend as the Duke boys had in each other. He cleared his throat.

"Bo, Luke, I'm real sorry about this, but Bo, I gotta cuff ya."

"Enos, he's just a kid. You got me. Can't you just let him go?"

"I'm real sorry, Luke." Enos couldn't meet those pleading eyes.

"It's all right, Luke," Bo said, sitting upright again. "If they got you, I'm goin' with you anyway."

"You don't know what you're getting into, Bo."

"I said it's all right."

Enos came around to the driver's side and cuffed the blonde's hands in front of his body instead of behind. He knew that the revenue agent wouldn't be happy about it, but Enos had seen how upset Luke was when he wasn't able to touch his cousin earlier, and he couldn't bear to make either boy feel any worse than they already did.

"I'm gonna cancel the ambulance. Bo, you ain't hurt bad enough that we can't take you in ourselves and Doc Petticord can check you out at the station. I'll be right back, now," Enos said.

Under different circumstances, Luke might have protested, wanting his cousin to get the best medical care. But seeing that Bo was responding normally, and knowing that if the boy was taken to the hospital, they'd be separated, Luke determined that Enos' plan was best. While the deputy did his job, Luke awkwardly picked up Tilly's CB mic with his cuffed hands.

"Lost Sheep to Shepherd, you got your ears on?"

"Luke? What in tarnation is goin' on out there? Are you boys all right?" Luke heard the fear in his uncle's voice, and also noted the break of radio protocol. It was all right to call each other by name on air, but never during a 'shine run. Luke guessed that Jesse probably already knew they'd been caught. Still, he found the words almost impossible to say.

"Yes, sir, we'll be okay. But me and Bo's…" Luke swallowed, tried again. "Me and Bo's wearin' them silver bracelets right now."

"10-4, Luke. Don't worry none, so long as you ain't hurt. We'll meet up with you as soon as we can." The calm tone that had returned to their guardian's voice soothed both boys. Sitting on Tilly's bench seat, they leaned against each other and waited for what they knew was coming next.

Sitting sentry on Lulu's car, Daisy was glad to see the tow truck approaching from the north side of the bridge. She was still angry, but now she was frightened, too. She realized that she had lost sight of the goal, which was to protect the boys, not to get revenge on the men who had been chasing them.

Daisy was doubly relieved to see not only Cooter, but Jesse, getting out of the truck. Despite the gravity of the situation, Cooter had to snicker at the way Boss sat cowering in his car while Daisy kept him trapped there simply by sitting on his hood.

"Daisy-girl, you all right?"

The young woman finally left her post and ran to her uncle, burying her face in his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Uncle Jesse, I'm so sorry."

"Nothin' for you to be sorry about, you did your best."

Daisy knew she had plenty to be sorry for, but that wasn't the most important thing right now. "Bo and Luke… what happened to them?"

"They got caught, sweetheart, but they're okay."

"I'm gonna have to move these cars for us to get out to the boys," Cooter announced. For the first time, Jesse checked out the scene around him. The Yellow Plymouth was sitting perpendicular to the direction of traffic on the bridge, blocking all of one lane and most of the other. Half embedded in the side of Daisy's car was another car that Jesse now recognized as belonging to Lulu Hogg.

"J. D. Hogg, you old sidewinder, you get out here right now," Jesse stormed.

Cooter put a hand on the man's arm, "We ain't got time for this now, Uncle Jesse, we gotta move these here cars." Jesse shook the mechanic off, but calmed down.

"All right, but this ain't over J. D.," he said, putting his arm around his niece once again.

Having finally located and transferred all the evidence to his own car, Andy was ready to take the boys in. He knew his car probably wouldn't go anywhere soon, but it had a locking trunk, and he didn't quite trust the local law to keep his evidence safe. Although he was pretty sure that Coltrane had been the one who'd tipped him off in the first place, he knew that crooked law could swing any way it wanted, setting up a criminal one day and another agency the next. His evidence would have to make its way back into town behind a tow truck.

He headed back to the black Ford where the deputy and prisoners waited. Unholstering his gun for the second time that night, Agent Roach trained it on the blonde, having recognized that the brunette was extremely well behaved when his cousin was in danger.

"Deputy, cuff the prisoners properly."

"Yes, sir." Enos holstered his own gun, which he had only been holding for the agent's sake anyway, and got the boys out of the car, one at a time. Bo stumbled some and Luke complained on his behalf, but both came easily enough and obediently allowed Enos to cuff their hands behind their backs. The agent marched them over to the deputy's car, where they were secured in the back seat.

"Deputy Strate, I'm going to ride with you, but I want a tow truck called immediately to bring my car back to the station, is that clear?"

"There's one already on the way, sir," Enos answered. He didn't like the way the agent spoke to him, or how he'd treated the men in the back, but it was not his place to question the man. He would do his duty for now, and make any complaints through the official channels later.

No sooner had Cooter cleared the south end of the bridge than Enos' cruiser approached, lights flashing, from along the bank of the river.

"Looks like we don't have to go after them after all," Cooter commented.

"No, it looks like we're gonna have to follow 'em in. Let's go Daisy," Jesse said, and the three of them piled into the cab of the tow truck, with the yellow Plymouth hooked up behind. Boss Hogg, still locked into Lulu's car, was left to fend for himself.

"Well, Bo, it looks like you've got a couple of bumps on your head. How did you manage that?" Doc Petticord did not know the full story behind this late night jailhouse-call, but he'd made many before. Usually they were as the result of some activity at the Boar's nest, whether a brawl or just a case of extreme intoxication. Bo Duke's injuries matched neither of these activities.

"I know I hit my head on the roof of the car," Bo began, then looked to his cousin.

"I think you hit the side of your head on the door frame after that."

"What were you boys doin' out there?" the country doctor asked, then thought better of it. "Never mind. You've got yourself a concussion, Bo. I can take you to the hospital," he offered, thinking he'd be saving the boy from a night in jail.

"Uh, Doc, is there any reason I have to go?"

Somewhat surprised, the doctor said, "I assume you boys will be spending the night here?"

"I assume," Luke answered dryly.

"All right then, Enos, I want you to keep both of these boys in the same cell, and Luke, I want you to wake Bo up several times in the night, to see how he's feeling and whether his pupils are even. If there's any change, I want to be called right away, you understand?"

Luke nodded. He'd seen men through much worse than concussions and under far scarier conditions. There was no question that he could handle his younger cousin.

Packing his bag, the doctor reminded Enos, "I want them in the same cell."

"Uh, Doc, can you tell Agent Roach that? He's gonna want them separated." Enos locked the cell behind the exiting doctor.

The doctor nodded, as both men walked through the door, heading to the main office and leaving the boys alone.

"I'm sorry, Luke," Bo said, dropping his midnight eyes from Luke's face to his own feet.

Luke reacted in complete surprise. "Sorry for what, Bo?"

"That I got us caught. If I'd jumped better, or landed better…"

"Oh, Bo. You couldn'ta done better on any of that. You had to change plans at the last second and you managed to land us so that neither us nor Enos really got hurt. No one could have done that better than you did, Bo."

"I got lucky."

"Nah, nothing lucky about it. You're good, kid. Better than I'll ever be. If there was any luck involved, it was bad luck that Enos was right where you needed to land."

"Nah, Enos used to swim with us out there, too, remember? He knew where that trail came out. He may be shy, but he ain't dumb."

The boys sat on the single bunk in silence for a little while, thinking about the night's events and trying not to worry too much about what was to come. When the thoughts got overwhelming, Bo broke the silence.

"There's one way I got lucky though, Luke."

"How's that?"

"You were with me."

"Aw, Bo…" Luke never knew how to handle it when Bo said stuff like that. His younger cousin would just come out with these things, and it wasn't really natural for Luke to respond in kind. He usually tried to turn it into a joke, which was what he'd intended to do now, but Bo stopped him.

"Luke, I mean it. For all the bad luck we've had, there's always been something that kinda balances it out."

"Like what?" Luke had never been as optimistic as his cousin, but he always enjoyed the way Bo could turn something bad on its head and make it good. Sometimes he had to go through some pretty convoluted steps to get there, but that never fazed the young blonde.

"Well, when our parents died," Bo paused and looked at his cousin. Luke didn't like to talk about this a whole lot, but Bo needed to, from time to time. "I mean, you could say that was really bad luck. Even the way it happened. Jesse always said it musta been especially bad luck because no one could drive as good as my daddy. He never thought they'da got killed in a car. Or if they did, he thought they woulda at least been runnin' from the law." Bo shivered at the thought, remembering what had happened this very night. Luke put an arm around his cousin's shoulders, but didn't move to make him stop talking. "But instead they got killed goin' out to dinner together. So it had to be bad luck."

"Right." Luke was really hoping this was leading somewhere.

"But then, if that hadn't happened, you woulda moved up north like your parents was planning to, and we never woulda known each other very well. I'm not sayin' I'm exactly glad it happened. But I am really glad that I got you, you know? So there was good luck too, because now you're here with me."

"Geez, Bo." Why did his cousin do this to him? Right when he needed to have his guard up to protect them both, Bo would say something like this and the façade would instantly fall away. "I love you, too."