Spittin' Image
Chapter 11
While Bo was searching around the barn, Luke contacted the others including Jesse to let them know what they had found before checking the General's trunk and finding a pair of bolt cutters that they had just used the other day. He smiled as he turned back to the barn but it faded somewhat when he found no sign of his cousin. His sixth sense that he had when it came to Bo being in trouble kicked in and he started heading back to the barn but stopped when he heard Cooter's truck pull up and his saw his two friends get out. He made his way back to them using hand motions to indicate that they needed to be quiet.
"What's goin' on, Lukas?" Cooter softly questioned when he saw the look of angst on his friend's face.
"We think we found the stash but now I can't find Bo."
"What? What do ya mean ya can't find Bo?"
"He went to check out the barn some more whiles I called ya and grabbed these," Luke answered as he held up the bolt cutters. "He should have made it back around by now and I was just gonna check it out when ya pulled up."
"Well let's go find him," Cooter ordered.
Splitting up, Cooter went to the right while Luke and Jon went left, all of them keeping an eye out for the missing Duke. The fear grew when the three of them rounded the back wall only to find each other and no sign of Bo. They quickly met up while searching for anything that would tell them where Bo had disappeared to.
"I didn't think it would be that easy ta lose a six foot four person like this," Cooter said as he pushed his hat back.
"He couldn't have gone far," Luke answered as he scanned the surrounding fields. "He hasn't been missin' that long."
"What about the barn?" Jonathan asked as he stared at something on the ground.
"The only door I saw was on the front unless there was one on the side y'all were checkin' out," Cooter replied ignoring what his friend was looking at.
"Nothin' on our side, Coot," Luke answered still puzzled as to what happened to his cousin.
"Then how do you explain those?"
Cooter and Luke turned to look at what Jonathan was pointing at. "Footprints!" Luke exclaimed as he went to examine them a bit closer. "And from the looks of it, there's at least two different people here."
"You think one of them was Bo?"
Luke nodded in certainty. "Sure looks like his boot print."
"But Bo would have ta be a ghost ta get through that wall," Cooter answered, confused when he saw the footprints disappearing under what appeared to be solid wood.
"Not if there was a door there," Luke stated as he examined the wall more closely.
Cooter moved to take a closer look. "A door? Ya mean there's a door there? How?"
"Well shoot, Cooter, Mr. Fitzgerald was an ole Ridge Runner just like Uncle Jesse was."
"That's right, he was, wasn't he?"
"A Ridge Runner?" Jon asked.
Cooter grinned as he continued looking at the wall. "Yeah a Ridge Runner. Men around these here parts would make homemade moonshine and ta keep from getting caught by the Feds, they would hide it in different locations some of which were small storage rooms built inta their barns."
"And so that the Feds wouldn't find these storage rooms, they built false panels and hidden doors that only the owner or possibly another Ridge Runner would know about, ya know in case the whiskey needed ta be moved before it was actually found. Our barn has two hidden storage rooms." The smile on Luke's face grew when he found a small knot in the wood in which he placed his finger and pulled. The secret door popped open and Luke caught it, holding it still, in case Bo's "new friend" was nearby.
Holding a finger up to his lips, Luke silently ordered the others to be quiet as he opened the door even wider and took a peek inside. The tiny slivers of light shining through the cracks of the wooden planks showed a small room that was about three feet deep but ran the length of the back end of the barn. Seeing that it was empty Luke made his way inside closely followed by Cooter and Jon. Being as quiet as possible, Luke felt along the inside wall for the latch he knew would be there and grinned again when he accidentally tripped it. Slowly opening the door, the three of them could hear voices coming through the opening, with Bo's being one of them. Making their way as quietly as possible, they snuck themselves in and hid behind a large pile of boxes.
"I keep tellin' ya, mister, I've never seen ya before in my life."
"You sayin' that still won't make me believe it," Charlie answered as he finished tying Bo's ankles together, having already tied Bo's hands behind his back and then wrapping more rope around his chest and arms effectively securing him to one of the wooden supports. "And I done told Hogg that I would take care of things if he didn't, which I can plainly see he didn't." Charlie stood up and smiled grimly at the blonde haired boy. "There that should hold ya until I make some room in that there truck and don't think that I ain't gonna charge Hogg for all this extra work neither."
Bo swallowed hard as he watched the man slowly start removing electronic equipment from the back end of the old box truck placing it next to other boxes of equipment that was already being stored in the barn. He knew that Luke was outside the barn and he hoped that his cousin didn't do anything foolish like cut off that lock and open the door just so Charlie would have to do something drastic. He'd seen the size of Charlie's gun and he knew he had to do something, but what? He tried to free himself by wiggling in hopes of loosening the ropes wrapped around his chest and arms while struggling to get his hands free, only to find that Charlie knew how to tie a good knot.
Luke, meanwhile, was peering around a stack of boxes that he and the others were hiding behind. He could see that his cousin appeared to fine but that he was in no position to help, and that Bo was actually in deep trouble with Boss' henchman planning on taking care of him…permanently. Luke quietly signaled that he and Cooter would go after Bo's captor while Jonathan would distract the man. Jonathan's eyes widened in alarm at the thought of having to confront the man especially since he was most likely armed, but the Kansan swallowed down his fear and nodded in understanding. He watched as Luke and Cooter got into position while awaiting Luke's signal.
When Luke gave the sign that he and Cooter were ready, Jonathan quietly moved from behind the boxes and loudly cleared his throat. "Uh excuse me sir, but Bo's right. You really do have the wrong guy."
Charlie spun around at the sound of someone else being in the barn and stared at Jonathan before turning to look at the man's double who was still tied up on the floor. Bo couldn't help but give the man a smug smile. "Told ya!"
Charlie dropped the box that he was still holding before pulling out his gun from his waistband. Seeing the weapon, Jonathan dove off to the side behind some boxes, missing the fact that Luke and Cooter were tackling the bad guy before he could even fire. Charlie struggled with the two men and was forced to drop his gun when Cooter continually smashed the man's hand onto the ground, loosening his grip on the weapon. Luke, not wanting to take any chances, drove his fist into Charlie's face, knocking the criminal out cold. Sitting back, the two men celebrated by giving each other a high five. They just started to get up on to their feet when they heard a familiar shout.
"Freeze!" Rosco yelled as the main door was slid open. The sheriff stood there with his own gun drawn and Boss Hogg standing right behind him with a wicked smile on his face. "Well, well, well, look at what we got here, Rosco? Not only do we have Bo Duke on probation violations, but we also have Luke Duke and Cooter Davenport with tryin' to move stolen electronic equipment. Now that should be good for about ten years in prison…a piece."
"Now wait just a minute, Boss," Cooter shouted as he menacingly made his way over to the Hazzard law.
"Ijit, now ya just calm down Cooter and don't do anythin' that could get ya inta more trouble," Rosco warned.
"Rosco, they're not the ones stealin' electronic equipment, he is," Bo shouted from where he was still tied up. "Besides, that guy there was plannin' on killin' me."
Fear swept over the chubby man's face at the implications Bo just announced but his quick, little mind was whirling with a new idea. "Oh don't give us that cock and bull story, Bo Duke, it's obvious that you're little scheme was doomed to failure so you set this whole scene up just so that you could place the blame on this nice, innocent man."
"Innocent?" Luke shouted. "That gun there proves he wasn't innocent."
"Poppycock," Rosco cried out. "Ya lie, all ya Dukes just lie. Now why would I take your word for everythin' here?"
"Yeah, why would he?" Boss piped up.
"Because, Bo here wasn't the one that saw your money exchange at the Boars Nest, Jonathan was," Luke hotly explained.
"Jonathan? Who's Jonathan?" Rosco asked as he looked around the barn for someone else.
Luke and Cooter spun around in search of their new friend, only to find that he was missing. "Well, where did he go?" Cooter asked when he couldn't find the man.
"Hey, he's over there," Bo shouted as he pointed with his chin to Jonathan's direction.
Seeing a pair of legs sticking out from behind some boxes, the two accused ran over to find an unconscious Jonathan Kent. "Aw man, he must've hit his head when he dove out of the way," Cooter said when he spotted the bruise on the blonde's temple.
"Come on, let's get him out of here," Luke suggested as they picked the man up. Boss and Rosco stared at the limp form that was hanging between Luke and Cooter, shocked to see Bo's twin between them.
"What? Who…who's that?" Boss stammered out, looking between Bo and Jonathan.
"This here is Jonathan Kent from Smallville, Kansas," Luke answered as they sat the blonde back down on the floor leaning him against Cooter's chest.
"He looks just like Bo," Rosco said in a stunned voice.
"And he's the one that ya falsely arrested this afternoon," Luke smiled back. "I think Jonathan has a pretty good counter suite against ya, especially since that is his valid driver's license and truck that ya confiscated."
"And since ya now know that he's him and I'm me, ya don't have any probation violations on me after all," Bo smiled back from his still seated position.
Boss' mind went into action once again as he tried to think of a way out of this mess…then he smiled. "Well all that proves is that he was also in on your little caper so all Rosco's got to do is change the charges that we filed against Bo, I mean him, I mean…?" Boss had to stop, now getting himself confused over which blonde haired man was really arrested this morning.
"What charges would those be?" The small group spun once again to see a man in a three-piece suit standing at the door with Uncle Jesse right behind him.
"Who, pray tell, are you?" Boss asked as he stuck a cigar into his mouth.
"Name's Samuel Mitchell, FBI," the man grinned as he held out his badge, knowing of Hogg's reputation for bending the law in his favor.
"FB and I?" Rosco asked and looked at the badge that Sam held up for him to inspect. "Yep, that's what it says alright, FB and I."
"Just what brings such a fine man like yourself to our little community, Mr. uh…uh…"
"Mitchell," Jesse answered for Boss.
"Yes, just what brings you here, Mr. Mitchell?" Boss asked again.
"I was visiting my friend Jesse here when we passed by and saw your patrol car outside with its lights still flashing. I thought maybe you could use my help."
Boss held up his hands in front of him, palms out, waving them madly. "Oh no, we're doin' just fine, ain't we, sheriff?"
"Oooh yeah, just fine, just fine indeed. In fact I was just about ta arrest these here Duke boys for..."
"No he's not!" Boss yell while placing a hand over Rosco's mouth causing the man to mumble into the chubby hand.
"He's not?" Luke asked suspiciously.
"Uh uh," Boss answered while letting Rosco go. "You see, these here fine boys just help me capture this here criminal in an electronics heist. All this equipment here was stolen so my sheriff and I are gonna confiscate it and use it as evidence against that man." Everyone looked down on the floor at the still unconscious Charlie.
"Mind if I take a look?" Sam asked as he moved over to the truck and started taking a quick inventory of the stolen items. "My, my Mr. Hogg. It's a good thing that I came along when I did."
"It is?"
"Oh yes. You see all this equipment here is from a robbery that happened just across the Tennessee border by a man named Charlie Bryant, which I can see by the man lying on the floor there, matches the description to a tee. Mr. Bryant here is wanted in several different states on numerous charges of electronics robbery with the intent to sell said stolen goods, and by the looks of what is being stored here, this must be the rest of the equipment he stole so," Sam smiled as he turned back to face the man in white, "this makes this a federal investigation after all. I'll have to contact my superiors but we should have all of this equipment taken off of your hands in no time, along with your prisoner there."
"But, but…"
"Everything should be wrapped up later this evening once we have an itemized inventory," Sam smiled. "And you boys will probably get a big reward for the capture of this man," Sam smiled while looking at the young men.
"A reward?" Boss groaned loudly, seeing all of his money slipping through his fingers.
"By the way, what's wrong with this young man?" Sam questioned as he looked at the still form of Jonathan.
"He kinda knocked himself out tryin' ta get away from the bad guy when he pulled out his gun," Cooter explained.
"We were just on our way ta the doc's ta make sure he's okay," Luke added.
"Well let's do just that," Sam said as he moved over to Charlie's side. "Sheriff, if you would be so kind as to give me a hand with this man?" Together, Sam and Rosco picked up Charlie and dragged him out to the Agent's car where he was cuffed and stuffed into the back seat.
"Come one, Luke," Jesse ordered as he helped to pick up the unconscious Kansan. "Put Jonathan in Cooter's truck and we'll get him ta Doc Petticord's place and have him take a look at Jonathan," Jesse ordered as he followed the younger men out the door.
Soon everyone had filed out of the barn when Bo realized that he wasn't about to go anywhere as he was still was tied up. "Uh, hey fellas? Need a little help here!" He waited a few moments but nobody came back so he started shouting a little louder. "Luke? Uncle Jesse? Cooter? Anyone?" But still he sat tied to the post.
EPILOGUE
The small group finally made it home that evening, all happy to be in fairly decent shape, with Jonathan ending up having a concussion from when he banged his head while trying to escape Charlie. Bo was still a little miffed that the others had left him tied up to the support post and it was another hour before Luke came back apologizing to his cousin about forgetting about him. He told Bo that it wasn't until they were trying to convince Doc Petticord that Jonathan really wasn't him that they realized that the youngest family member was still tied up in the barn. Bo soon got over the majority of his anger though, especially when Jesse pulled him into a large hug after making sure that he was alright.
The following morning, Jesse called Jonathan's parents and explained to them what had happened to their son and assured them that he was all right even though he did have a concussion. To make it up to them, he was going to send Bo and Luke to get the tractor part that Jonathan was sent to get and they would all drive the young man back to Kansas starting the next day. Both Hyrum and Jessica Kent were excited about the prospect of meeting their son's double and his family.
Boss Hogg and Sheriff Rosco were forced to give Jonathan back his license, his truck, and drop all the charges against both himself and Bo along with all the trumped up charges of electronics theft against Luke and Cooter as well. Boss also had to give up his inventory of electronic equipment he had planned to sell for thousands of dollars to FBI Agent, Sam Mitchell, who was only too happy to take it off his hands, as well as, Charlie Bryant. Charlie did everything in his power to try and convince the Feds that he had been set up to take the fall and that Boss Hogg was really the brains behind the whole affair, but Sam really had no evidence to hold against the wily County Commissioner since it was only Charlie's fingerprints that were found on the equipment and truck. So once again, Boss JD Hogg got off scot-free but a few thousand dollars poorer than what he expected for the deal.
That evening, a victory celebration over the Hazzard Law was planned at the Boars Nest so Luke, Jesse, Daisy, and Cooter made their way to the small bar, finding themselves a couple of good tables so that they could watch the crowd around them. Fifteen minutes later, heads turned, the dancing stopped, and people stared when both Jonathan and Bo walked into the bar side by side. The two couldn't help but laugh at everyone's reaction as the identical men made their way through the crowd to the tables where the others were. A few minutes later, Jesse took pity on the confused crowd and happily introduced Jonathan to the rest of the Boars Nest.
The two men proved to be popular that night with the single girls asking first one to dance then the other just to see which one was better…at dancing that is. Jesse called the evening short though knowing that they needed to get up early the following morning to first get the chores done before packing up and beginning their drive to Kansas. Cooter and Enos volunteered to keep an eye on the farm while they were away so Jesse knew that he had nothing to worry about for the next few days.
With everything packed up, the small family plus Jonathan climbed into their vehicles and were on their way. Jesse, who was riding with Jonathan just so he wouldn't have to climb in and out of the General's windows, chuckled when he heard Jonathan's sigh of relief when they passed the "You Are Now Leaving Hazzard County" sign. The Kansan gave Uncle Jesse a sheepish grin when he realized just how loud that sigh really was causing Jesse to chuckle harder. "I don't blame ya boy," the old Ridge Runner said as he patted the young man's shoulder. "Hazzard's not your typical community but I wouldn't trade it for the world."
Jonathan couldn't help but smile back. "I feel the same way about Smallville, sir, and fortunately it's a nice, quiet, sane kind of town. No one would ever accuse my hometown of being an exciting place like Hazzard. In fact, nothing exciting ever happens there and probably nothing ever will either."
And so the two vehicles continued to make their way towards Kansas all of them relieved that this story had a happy ending and with one Jonathan Kent anxious to get back to his normal, quiet life.
The End
A/N: Thanks to everyone who sent in their kind words and I hope you all enjoyed it. Take care now!