Thanks for sticking with me so far. Hope you are liking it.

Hope and a Prayer

Chapter 4

In the car, knowing what was going to happen, Bo had time to prepare for the inevitable and shoved Larry away from him as soon as the car was air born. Larry, having recovered quickly from the shock of flying in a car and being shoved, turned and fired his gun at Bo, hitting the young man in his left shoulder. Bo cried out and felt his back slam hard against the car door jarring it open.

As soon as the vehicle splash landed into the fast flowing water, Bo felt the door pop open and was sucked out by the strong current and into the swiftly moving stream as he frantically kicked his feet trying to find the surface. Normally a strong swimmer, he found himself hindered without the use of his left arm. Suddenly his head broke the surface and he gulped a deep breath before being sucked back down into the swift torrent.

The fast moving water continued to push him further and further downstream, allowing him to bob every so often for a breath. He found his strength waning as the cold water began draining him and a feeling of panic started to set in as he felt himself being tossed around like a rag doll. His struggles to again breach the surface were hindered when he found himself being slammed into a large rock. Reaching for it in desperation he was elated when he found a finger hold but because of its slippery exterior and his fingers being too numb with cold, he soon lost the tenuous grip that he had.

Breaking the surface again, Bo took another gulp of air before being pulled back down under only to be slammed chest first against more rocks. The unexpected intensity of the blow forced the remaining air out of his lungs and before he could stop himself, he gasped in a lungful of water. Spots swam before his eyes as he sank further beneath the waves, passing out as he made contact with another boulder.

The rest of the Dukes stood by while the rescue crews worked on saving everyone that was trapped in the vehicle. They watched as the three "Santas" were helped out and brought to the shore, sloshing their way onto dry land. Panic began to build in the family and friends when the teams started making their way to the shore without the youngest Duke in tow.

"Where is he? Where's Bo?" Luke asked as he clenched his hand around one of the rescuer's arms.

The man shook his head. "These three were the only ones in the car."

Luke spun to face the gunmen. "Where is he? Where's my cousin?"

A soggy looking Larry just sneered back as Rosco cuffed his wrists. "Blondie? Not real sure. He sorta fell out of the car when we landed in the water. Could be to the ocean by now."

Luke tried to lunge at the man but was held back by Jesse. "Easy Luke." Luke could feel that his uncle was shaking just at hard as he was but he wasn't sure if it was fear or anger.

The two Dukes turned when several state troopers pulled up behind the rest of the vehicles along with a couple of plain looking sedans. Boss' caddie came to a stop just behind the other cars as he scrambled his way out in search of the sheriff. "Rosco! Rosco, where is it? Where's my money?" Rosco sighed as he handed Larry over to one of the FBI agents and then grabbed the waterlogged sack handing it to the smaller man. Boss tightly hugged the bag of money that his brother-in-law handed him but stopped his laughing when he saw the sad look on Rosco and the Dukes' faces. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Rosco shifted his feet a bit, not quite sure what to say. "Uh, ya see, Boss, when the crooks drove their car into the water, Bo got pulled out by the current and…and now, he's missin'." The devastated look on the sheriff's face told Boss that Rosco was telling the truth about the younger man.

"Missing?"

"Yeah, missin'," the sheriff swallowed, trying hard to hold back the tears that were forming. "He…he's the one that saved your stolen payroll by makin' them crooks crash into the river."

"Oh my," Boss whispered as he looked at the devastated family. Luke and Daisy were holding each other tightly, neither one having any intentions of letting the other go, while Jesse stood there staring at the river as if it would give back what it had taken from him. His own heart broke at the site. Moving slowly, he made his way over to the grieving family. "Jesse?" The Duke patriarch turned at the mention of his name to see his old friend and adversary standing beside him. "Jesse, I'm truly sorry for what happened ta Bo, I really am."

"Thank ya, JD. That's mighty kind of ya ta say," Jesse answered as tears steamed down his face.

"I just want ta say that what Bo did was a very brave thing ta do and I'm not talkin' about him rescuin' my money. No I'm talkin' about how he willingly allowed those men ta take him instead of Sue Ann, just because he didn't want ta see her get hurt. Yes sir, a very brave thing indeed."

Jesse stared at the smaller man and nodded. "Thank ya again, JD."

"That boy's a real hero," Boss added, not noticing the cringing Luke as he held Daisy even tighter.

"Mr. Hogg?" The two men turn to see one of the FBI agents coming over to them. "We'll need you to go back to town with us so that you can give us your statement and make sure that all your money is there," the man said as his indicated the bag that Boss still held onto tightly.

"Uh, yes sir, yes sir," Boss answered before taking one more look at the Duke family. "Jesse, you call me if you need anythin' and I mean that." Jesse stared back at the smaller man and just nodded, shocked by the offer that was just made.

Jesse turned and walked over to Luke and Daisy and the three of them fiercely hugged each other. "Do ya think Bo's alright?" Daisy sniffed as she clung hard to the men.

"We can only hope," Jesse choked out, fighting hard to keep it together for the sake of his niece and nephew. He forced himself to pull away when one of the rescue workers called out to him.

"Jesse? I'm sorry about Bo but I thought that ya would want ta know that we'll keep searchin' for him as long as we can."

"I appreciate that, Albert," Jesse answered shaking the other man's hand.

"I'm gonna have teams start searchin' downstream. We'll let ya know as soon as we find him."

Jesse swallowed back the tears and nodded his thanks allowing the man to get to work. He slowly turned to his other kids and cleared his throat. "Come on. We'll head on home and wait for word."

Luke adamantly shook his head. "No, I ain't goin'."

"Luke, there ain't much ya can do here," countered Jesse.

"I'm gonna help search."

"But Luke," Daisy pleaded, wanting both her cousin and uncle with her.

"No, I'm gonna keep lookin' 'til I find him. I'm not…I'm not leavin' him out here alone."

Jesse could see the determination in his nephew's tear swollen eyes and knew that nothing he said would change his mind. He finally nodded in agreement. "Alright Luke. Ya can help look for Bo, but on one condition."

Luke turned expectantly to his uncle relieved that he was actually going to let him help. "You'll listen ta Albert Winston since he's in charge and you'll do everything that he tells ya ta, whether or not ya like it. Understand?"

Luke couldn't help the small grin that formed on his face. "Yes sir, Uncle Jesse."

Jesse moved closer and pulled his nephew into a hug. "Ya just make sure that ya take care of yourself too. I may have already lost one nephew I don't want ta lose ya as well."

Luke held his uncle firmly trying to calm himself down, not wanting to break down in front of the others. "We'll find him, Uncle Jesse, we'll find him."

Jesse pulled back and nodded his understanding, knowing that nothing was going to stop Luke until Bo was found. Luke turned to Daisy and gave her a final squeeze before turning and offering his services of help to Albert.

Luke Duke was beside himself with frustration as the sun starting dipping towards the horizon and the already chilly air was turning colder. They had been searching most of the day and there was still no sign of Bo on either side of the river. The oldest Duke boy was feeling guilty about how he had treated his cousin earlier this morning and now that the darkness was closing in he was becoming scared that he might never see Bo again. Luke put all of his military training to practice as he thoroughly scoured this side of the river while still keeping a lookout for any signs of his cousin on the other side. Albert finally made him stop long enough to take some water and so that he could contact the others by radio on their status.

Luke watched the other man with growing agitation at being held at bay from searching more but he had made a promise to his uncle that he would listen to what Albert told him since the older man was in charge of the search. But Luke's impatience turned to shock when he heard Albert's next words.

"Alright people, let's pack it up for the night. We'll start again first thing in the mornin'."

Before Albert could even sign off, he found a very angry Luke Duke yelling in his face. "What do ya mean you're callin' off the search? We haven't found Bo yet!"

Albert sighed as he took a step away from the angry Duke boy, having already expected this reaction. "Luke, it's getting dark and there is no way we'll be able ta see anythin' once the sun goes down."

"But ya can't just leave him out here by himself," Luke hollered back.

"I don't want ta leave Bo out here by himself, Luke, but I've got other people's safety ta consider. We can't be traipsing around here in the dark. There's too much undergrowth for someone ta get hurt on if they're not careful and the last thing we need is for someone else ta get hurt while we're searchin' for Bo."

Luke ran a frustrated hand through his hair, realizing that what Albert was saying was making sense but it didn't do anything to ease his concern about his cousin. "Can't we search a bit longer?"

"I'm sorry, Luke. As much as I want ta, it's just not a good idea, besides we may end up missin' him completely because of the darkness."

Luke took a defiant stance and shook his head. "You can head on back in but I'm gonna keep searchin' even if it takes me all night."

"Luke ya can't. It's too dangerous ta be out here all by yourself, lookin' in the dark. Ya can end up hurtin' yourself if you're not careful."

"I'll be alright Albert. I've done this before. I'm not leavin' Bo out here by himself!" Luke hollered back but his anger quickly dissolving as he looked around and saw just how hard it was to see already. Albert saw the guilty look in the younger man's eyes. "I promised Uncle Jesse that I'd find him."

Albert nodded and stepped closer to the younger man placing a hand on his shoulder. "Ya also promised him that you would listen ta me and that ya would come back safely yourself. If I left ya out here ta continue on, your uncle would tan my hide and then yours once he found ya."

Luke hung his head in defeat while blowing out a heavy breath. "You're right," he finally answered as he looked up at the older man.

Albert moved and wrapped his arm around the defeated Duke boy. "I know that you're worried, Luke, we all is, but at first crack of dawn, we'll all be out here ready ta start lookin' again. Besides, ya know that Bo is strong and he's a Duke. Why I seen ya two get yourself out of so many different kinds of scrapes that is just makes my head spin."

"Thanks Albert," Luke smiled slightly as the two started heading back to the base.

"We'll find him Luke, we'll find him."

"But what condition will he be in," Luke silently asked as he slowly walked along.