Daisy crept away from the door to Boss Hogg's office and headed back to serve behind the bar, smiling at all the guys who continued to drunkenly hit on her. She quickly scanned the crowd for any signs of her cousin or uncle.
She finally spotted Uncle Jesse speaking with Enos on the far side of the room and she shook her head when she saw that Luke was still dancing with that young girl who had grabbed him nearly an hour before. Eventually, she was able to catch his eye with a concerned look his way, and he instantly pulled away from the girl and headed over to Daisy who quickly pulled him into the storage room.
"Well I'm glad I could finally tear you away from her! I been tryin' to get your attention for near 20 minutes now!"
"Well y'all know it ain't difficult for ya to attract attention. You should've just done what y'all usually do."
"Real funny Luke. Now listen, I'm worried. I just overheard Boss Hogg on the CB, and there is something goin' on that I think we should know about."
"Well what?"
"I don't know, I only heard small snippets with all the noise those guys are makin'. He was sayin' something about Insurance money and blowing things up."
Luke frowned, trying to draw any possible conclusions from the facts Daisy had told him. He knew one thing; that Boss Hogg was defiantly up to one of his money making schemes again. The only problem was finding out what he was doing.
"Well without further clues I don't know what he's talkin' about. You should try listenin' in again next time he goes into the back room, and I'll try and raise Bo and see if he's noticed anythin' strange, though he'll probably be asleep."
"Alright, y'all use the Dixie CB to raise Bo and I'll talk to Uncle Jesse while I wait for Boss to go back in his office."
Luke quickly left the back room, taking a route through the crowds of people that managed to allow him to avoid Boss and Enos, whose attention was being diverted by Daisy walking across the room. He slid through the crowd easily and reached the door when he felt a hand clap itself on his shoulder. He turned round to see Rosco looking at him inquisitively.
"W…why you goin' out there?"
In an instant, Luke was thinking up some lie about why he needed to use the CB, when he realized that all he needed to do was tell the truth. He hadn't and wasn't planning on doing anything wrong, so why shouldn't he tell the sheriff the truth?
"I need to raise Bo on the CB in Dixie. He stayed behind tonight 'cause he want feelin' too good, just want to check he's alright is all."
Luke frowned as Rosco's expression quickly turned into one of concern and horror. He watched as Rosco tried to calm himself, rocking slightly back and forth on his heels, his thumbs hooked through his belt loops.
"Ya mean...uh…Bo ain't here?"
"Nope, like I said he didn't feel too good…why?"
"Oh…urm…I...uh…you cant go out to the Dixie."
"Why not Rosco? What's goin' on?"
But he never got to hear the reply as he was called by Daisy, sounding quite panicked. He gave a last disapproving stare at Rosco before hurrying over to find Daisy nearly in tears with Enos looking ashamedly at his feet. Uncle Jesse looked infuriated and Luke saw his eyes lock on Boss Hogg.
"What's…?"
"Did y'all get through to Bo?" Jesse growled
"Well no, Rosco wouldn't let me out to Dixie, he knows something' about all this. He got real shifty when I asked him why."
"We need to contact Bo. Boss's party is just a distraction to git us away from the farm so he could demolish it and make it look like we gone and done it ourselves."
"But how is that possible! Everyone in town is up here 'cept Cooter cause he's workin' late."
Enos looked up from the floor when Uncle Jesse gave no answer and looked fearfully at Luke, before giving him an explanation.
"The guys he hired ain't from Hazzard Luke; they're the thugs from Atlanta, the ones that keep goin' missing. I found the plans on his desk this mornin'. I'm real sorry Luke, Rosco wouldn't let me outta his sight all day so I couldn't come warn ya."
Luke had heard the awful tales of the Atlanta thugs on the news and the mysterious accidents and disappearances that went with them. He quickly put his arm round Daisy as soft tears fell silently down her cheeks, the realization of what may be happening on the farm starting to sink into his mind.
For a while, no one spoke, the only noise they could hear was the clapping, hollering and jeering of the crowd over the jolly music. As soon as Luke could find his voice again he spoke hurriedly.
"Well what are we waiting for, Bo to show up here in a body bag?"
"Luke!"
"Well come on, the longer we spend here the more likely it is that he's goin' to be hurt. If he is in trouble ain't we better find out and quick!"
"You're right, we better. Right, here's what we're gonna do."
Jesse gathered the three people around him, Enos included, and got to work.
While their tryin' to figure out a plan to get to the farm, Bo's still tryin' to shake those two thugs off his tail.
Bo spun the General round to face the car head on as he spotted the route he was looking for. He grinned as the other car swerved out of his way, leaving him clear to take the road he needed.
"Well them boys ain't from round here. They'd know not to let me down here in a chase if they were."
Putting his foot down harder as he saw the men spin their car to follow him, Bo grinned as he saw the destination he was bound for. Old Mill Bridge, Bo's favourite jumping spot. The General had made the jump so many times before; it was like second nature to Bo to take him over it in a chase seeing as there weren't many other cars that could make it.
Bo whooped and thumped the General's horn as it left the ramp and flew through the air. However, that whoop soon turned into a panic filled yell as Bo recognized the figures of two large diggers and a dirt pile right where the General would be landing. Bo braced himself inside the car, and squeezed his eyes shut.
The General's front end clipped one of the diggers, sending it spinning as it landed. It hit the dirt mound side on, and rolled over and over until it finally came to a halt against a tree, its wheels firmly on the ground, the driver's door connecting solidly with the hefty trunk.
The two men on the other side of the bridge grinned in satisfaction when no one got out of the car.
"Well I can be pretty sure that boy ain't gonna be tellin' no one nothin'."
"Dang right, no one could have survived somthin' like that."
Laughing, the two men retreated back to their cars and headed towards the Boar's Nest, leaving the General in a smoking heap.
Didn't I say that if this carried on this might be the first time you see one of the Duke Boys die? I figure the only way he's getting' back to town is in a big wooden box. I don't know if I can bear to watch the next part.