Part 3

Day 10-Thursday
The rest of the night before and all of Thursday morning turned out to be extremely quit. The Federal agent who had been hit by Frank, was alive, only just barely. When Richard called around 1:30 that afternoon to tell Luke the news, Luke was very much relieved. Richard then asked Luke to meet him at the police station so they could talk and Luke immediatly told him he would be there. After telling Uncle Jesse where he was going, Luke got into the General and sped away from the farm. Uncle Jesse had offered to go with him, but Luke had told him no. The truth was, Luke had not told him what the meeting was really about. He hadn't the heart to tell his Uncle about what had happened the night before.
2:00p.m. Old Mill Road
David had been out with Frank and Bo scouting a few places out when, as they were going back to the swamp, they got spotted by Luke, who was driving into town. Normally it wouldn't have mattered if someone passed them, the person would have thought nothing of it, but Luke had seen Bo.
Luke saw a brown four door sedan go past him and what looked to be Bo driving. He immediatly did a 360 and followed to see if it was him. When the car sped up, he had his answer. He picked up his CB.
"Breaker, Breaker, this is Luke Duke calling the Hazzard PD or the FBI. I am in pursuit of a brown four door sedan. I believe there are several gang members in the car. I need some assistance."
"Luke this is Rosco, i copy that. Where are you?" Rosco responded.
"Old mill road. I just went over the bridge." Luke answered
"I'll be there in 10 minutes. I'm gone." Rosco said
"10-4, " Luke responded and then added. "Oh, Bo is driving, so your going to have to be careful." he said
" Hot Pursuit!!!" was all Rosco said
Luke rolled his eyes and continued the pursuit.
Bo had been trying to avoid being seen by anyone while he was driving, but as the General passed him he knew that was no longer possible.
"Just drive. Hopefully he didn't notice us," David said. But as he saw the General make a u-turn and he heard what luke said over their CB, he knew that was not the case. He took out his gun and pushed it into the back of the driver seat. "Out run him, or your finished."
So Bo sped up, but the General was on them in a matter of seconds.
"Pick up the CB and tell him to back off." David instructed.
Bo did as he was told. "Luke, this is Bo. Back off. I repeat back off." he pleaded
"No." Luke responded.
"Luke, would you please do as i say for once. Back off." Bo said desperatly.
Luke did not respond, he brought the General around the right side of the Sedan and tried to pass it. Frank angrily took the CB from Bo.
"Look, Duke. If you don't back off, we will kill him." he said, however it did not help. Luke continued the pursuit.
"Run him off the road," David said.
"No!" Bo said defiantly.
David cocked the safety back on the gun. "Do it now!!" he snarled
Sweating, Bo did as he was told. He applied a little bit of pressure on the brakes and allowed the General to come up alongside him. Luke started to accelerate and as he did so, Bo swerved and hit the General. Out of control, the General hit something and became airborne. When the car came down, it rolled end over end twice and then finally came to a rest on its roof. Bo stopped the sedan completely.
" Keep going. He's finished." David said
Bo, desperatly fighting tears, did as he was told. "Forgive me cousin." he thought as he continued on to the swamp.
Two minutes later, Rosco with Enos and Richard in cars behind him came onto the scene. Quickly getting out of there cars, they ran to the General. Enos was the first to the car and he bent down. He found Luke and reaching in he checked for a pulse. He found one, weak, but he found one. Sighing in relief, he turned to the other two men.
"He's alive, but i don't know for how long." he told them.
"I'll get an ambulance out here, " Rosco said and ran back to his patrol car to call for an ambulance.
2:45--the swamp.
"What the heck is going on?" James asked them when they go back. "The CB is skwaking like crazy. What did ya'll do?"
David looked at Bo, who had his eyes on the ground and was refusing to look at anyone. "We got careless and his cousin found us. So we ran him off the road."
Bo looked at him angrily "We, you mean me don't you," he snapped.
Frank stepped in. "Hey, don't talk to him like that," he said raising a hand.
Bo gazed at him steadily and didn't move to get out of the way. "Come on do it. I don't care." his eyes seemed to say.
James stepped in before Frank could hit him "Stop, Frank."
Frank grunted and after telling Bo that this was not over, walked off.
James smiled. "You did good kid," he said.
Bo bit his lip to keep from saying something he would regret. Finally he managed to say something that wasn't going to get him into trouble. "Can i be excused?"
"Yeah," James said with a slight bit off saddness in his voice.
3:30--Tri-County Hospital.
Luke walked out of the treatment room with the doctor close on his heels. Uncle Jesse and the others, who had been sitting down, got up when they saw him.
"He's a very lucky young man," Doctor Hill told them and went on. "He has a minor concussion, a broken arm and two cracked ribs. I want him to stay overnight, but he seems to have other ideas."
"I'm fine," Luke told him gruffly.
The doctor snorted and then turned his attetion directly on Jesse "I am going to let him go, but i want you to watch him. If he starts to have problems give me a call, but i don't anticapate any."
Jesse nodded and the doctor excused himself and walked off.
"How's the General?" Luke asked
Rosco answered "You scuffed it up pretty good Luke. That was one horrendous wreck."
Everyone groaned and Luke barely kept himself from hitting Rosco over the head with something. Knowing that Luke was going to be ok, they all decided to leave. Rosco went back to the police station and the Dukes, Cooter and Richard went bakc to the farm. Luke remained silent on the way back, thinking, and trying not to listen to Jesse giving him the riot act.
6:00p.m.--the swamp
"Bo?" Jennifer asked opening the door to their room.
"Go, away." Bo responded.
"No. Sorry." she said coming into the room. Jason was close behind her. They could both see that Bo had been crying
"Jennifer, please. Just go away." Bo said
Jennifer didn't respond. She came and sat down next to him. Reaching out, she gently brushed a bang out of his face. "Bo, I'm sorry." she stoped for a second and then added. "You don't know he's dead." she told him.
Bo looked at her, but could not think of something to say. Finally, "I know, but it's still my fault either way. I hurt the best friend i have in this world and i could do nothing to stop it. I can't live with that."
Jason spoke up. "You have to. I lost my brother a couple of years ago to a failed rescue attempt. I was extremly close to him, but i eventually learned to live with it. I had to, to survive."
"Jason, i don't think he want's to hear that right now." jennifer said
Jason looked at her. "He's going to have to if he want's to make it in this group. I learned to."
Jennifer looked at Jason angrily. "You, know. I think my dad has finally messed you up. You use to be a nice guy."
Jason snorted and went to the door. "That's fine Jenn, whatever you say." he told her and left.
Jennifer looked angrily at the door for a moment before turning back to Bo. "Honey, i'm sorry." she said, which to her ears sounded as every bit stupid as it must have sounded to Bo.
Bo nodded, a single tear sliding down his cheek. Jennifer reached out and slipped an arm around his shoulder's and drew him into a hug. She refrained from saying anything else, knowing it would not do any good.
Day 11-Friday
12p.m.--Sheriffs Office
Richard had called a meeting to discuss some things and had told the Duke family to come. They now sat in various chairs around the room, along with Rosco, Enos, Cooter and a few agents.
"Luke, what road where you on yesterday, when you met up with those guys," Richard asked
Luke sighed and shifted, trying to get into a better position where he felt the most comfortable. "Old Mill Road. Why?" he asked.
Richard tried to think of a good way to phrase his next question. "Does that road lead to anywhere they could be hiding? he asked.
Luke thought for a moment. "No, but there are a few turnoffs that lead to other places." he said, fiddling with the cast on his right arm.
"Like.." Richard asked, but was cut off before he could say anything else.
"The swamp!!" Both Luke and Cooter exclaimed a the same time.
"What?" Richard asked.
"One of the turnoffs leads to the swamp. That's probably where they are," Cooter explained before Luke could.
"Cooter's right, but the swamp is to big. We would have no idea where to start looking." Luke said
Richard thought for a second "Aren't there people living in the swamp? Maybe the've seen something."
Jesse spoke up for the first time "There are people living in the swamp, but i would think by now that if they had seen something then they would have reported it."
"Jesse's right. There are however, some houses that are deep in the swamp that noone has used in years and are also miles away from anyone else." Rosco said and then added "Perfect hiding places."
"Rosco's right, for a change." Luke said, prompting Rosco to give him a dirty look.
"So what can we do?" Daisy asked and then added "We can't just go waltzing in there,"
Luke sighed. "Daisy's right, the swamps dangerous as it is and going in there and possibly having a full scale battle on our hands doesn't help matters any."
"Well, i'm open for suggestions then." Richard said.
"And i thought the FBI was supposed to have all the answers," Cooter commented.
Richard snorted. "That is what we like you to think," he said.
There was silence for a few minutes while everyone tried to think of something. Luke was the first to break the silence.
"Why don't Cooter and I take a car and stake out old mill road. Their bound to come out."
Richard nodded. "Good idea, but what do we do after that."
Luke shrugged "I ain't totally sure." he said.
Richard thought about it for a second. "Whoever comes out is bound to come into town, so why don't we have an ambush waiting for them. When we get them, let one go and follow them back. Then we surround the house and we get the rest."
"Could work." Cooter said
"But what about Bo?" Jesse asked concerned.
Richard took a breath and let it out slowly. Before he could speek, Luke cut in
"Cooter and i can go in and see if we can get him out," he said
Jesse didn't seem to happy about that, but refrained from saying anything.
After a minute. "Alright, i think we will go with this plan since we can't seem to come up with any other good ones. Cooter and Luke go out to see if they can't spot them and the rest stay here in town where it's safe to wait for them. I hope and pray that things work out. If this goes right, in a day or two we may see the end of this." he stopped and then went on. "I'll go call Atlanta and ask for some assistance from the State Police or surrounding county police and also ask for a Police Helicopter. Ok, lets get to this."
Everyone looked at everyone else as they got up. They hoped that this plan would work and that they would be able to see Bo again alive and unharmed and also the end of this siege. After wishing each other luck and to please be carefull, the plan was put into effect.
Around the same time--the swamp
"Jim, are we going out tonight?" David asked.
James shook his head at his second in command. "No, not tonight. I thought we might give them a rest and do something tomorrow."
David nodded and turned to leave. "Oh, i forgot to add," he said turning back around. "Luke Duke survived. Should i tell Bo that?"
James narrowed his eyes. "No. I want him in this gang. So if he becomes one of us, he has to know alot of pain and starting with him thinking his precious cousin is dead is a good start."
"Are you sure we need him?" David asked
James nodded "He's a great asset. Young and strong. We can break him in, no problem."
David nodded, not sure he agreed with his leader.
Another part of the house-- while this conversation is taking place.
"Bo, come on. You have to eat something." Jennifer said holding a bowl of soup out to Bo.
"I'm not hungry Jennifer, please stop trying to get me to eat." Bo told her
"Honey you haven't eaten at all since yesterday, you need something." she protested
Bo shook his head and Jennifer sighed. After a minute more she finally gave up and left the room and Bo to his grieving.
7:00p.m. The trees along Old Mill Road.
Cooter sighed as he checked his watch. He and Luke had been out here for about 7 hours now and had not seen a darned thing. Next to him Luke shifted and grunted
"You ok?" Cooter asked
Luke didn't answer for a second. "No, not really," he finally said.
"Why don't you take something if your hurting." Cooter told him looking at him.
Luke shook his head. "Not right now, maybe later."
"Luke," Cooter started to protest, but Luke cut him off.
"Cooter, drop it ok," he snapped.
"This is Richard calling Cooter and Luke, you got your ears on?" Richard called on the secure CB channel they had decided on before leaving. It had been a last minute touch.
"This is Crazy C, go ahead." Cooter responded and then added before Richard could get the words out. "We have had nothing come by us that looked like them. What do you want us to do?"
"Yeah, no luck here either. Just stay out for a few more hours and then give it up. We'll try again tommorrow. I'll post a watch here in town overnight, just to make sure." Richard told them and then signed off.
"Cooter, i'm sorry i snapped at you." Luke told his friend when Richard had signed off.
"I know you are. You didn't have to apoligize." Cooter told him and patted him on his good arm.
Around 11p.m. they gave up for the night.
Day 12--Saturday
12p.m. -the swamp
"David i want you to stay here and keep an eye on things. I'm going into town." James told his second in command.
"Are you sure?" David asked
"Yes, and i'll take a few people with me just to make sure nothing happens." he said in a tone that told David not to argue with him.
David sighed "Are you taking Frank and Bo with you?"
James shook his head "No, i'll leave them both here. So keep an eye on them." James answered and with that the discussion was closed. About an hour later, after he had gotten some stuff and had gathered the men he wanted, James was out the door.
1p.m. --Old Mill Road
Luke was watching the road as Cooter slept. As he watched the road, a black trans am and a sedan passed him. (James had used his daughters car) Knowing that was them, mostly because you don't see Trans Ams in Hazzard county, he shook Cooter awake and used the CB. Richard told them they would handle it and for he and Cooter to stay where they were for right now.
"Well what do we do?" Cooter asked
"Since we know where the road leading to the swamp is, why don't we go ahead and get on it and then wait for someone to come back." Luke told him. Cooter agreed, so they went and got into position.
1:15p.m.--the swamp.
"Waddya mean he took my car!" Jennifer protested.
"He just did. Now shut up." David said
"Did Jason go with him?" she asked
"Yes." David said wishing she would shut up. He had never really like her. He gave a shooing motion and Jennifer took the hint and walked off.
Frank came up to him "Well what do you think we should do?" he asked
"We wait, like he said." David told him.
"Oh, come on." Frank protested.
David sighed and then smiled at Frank. "You want to get rid of Bo don't you?" he asked
"Of course i do. Why?" Frank answered him
"Because i don't like him to much either and for some reason your dad does. If you want to you can get rid of him. I don't care. We'll just say you to got into a fight and he got killed."
"Alright!!" Frank said
David held up his hand. "Your father won't be back for a while, so take your time, but don't take to long." he said and then added "You should know that his cousin survived the crash."
Frank smiled darkly.
1:45- around 3:30--town
When James drove into Hazzard and drove into an alleyway, he was notice by several agents on the roofs. One agent called down to Richard and told him what he saw. Richard told him to get ready and signed off.
"Alright folks, lets do this with as little bloodshed as possible," he told several other agents, Rosco and Enos. We couldn't get that choper, so we won't have any air reinforcements. Uncle Jesse and Daisy watched from the sheriffs office. Boss Hog was with them.
--alleyway
"Sir, what are we planning on doing?" Bill asked his leader.
"I'm going to ask for there surrender, so ya'll stay here and cover me." James said
"Sir, this isn't wise." Jason told him.
"Shut up, kid. You don't know a thing." James told him and stepped out of the protection of the alley.
--in front of police station.
"What in the hell?" Richard said when he saw James step out into the street. He also noticed James had a while flag. Turning to Rosco "Keep me covered." Then he walked out into the street to meet James.
The two adversaries meet in the middle of the street. James smiled and put away his flag.
"What is this about?" Richard asked.
James sighed heavily. "My group thinks i'm asking for your surrender." he said
Richard narrowed his eyes. "Are you?"
James shook his head "No. I'm surrendering myself and the people I have with me to you."
Richard was suspicious. "Why?"
"I don't want to fight anymore. I'm to old for this and i've realized its time that i give this up." he said and then went on. "I'm not armed."
Richard looked at him for a second and for some reason he knew he could trust him, he didn't know why either. "Ok, come with me." he said and they both walked back over to Rosco.
"Rosco, tell my men to surround the alley way." he told a very confused Rosco and then escorted James into the police building.
"Ok, so what's the deal?" Richard asked once they were inside.
"Look, before i give you any statements, you should know where my hideout is. I left my second in command in charge and several others." James told him and then added before Richard could ask the next question. "I didn't want them to know that i was going to do this. It would have looked suspicious if i made everyone come into town with me."
Richard nodded, that choice had been logical, but with a prisoner still there, also deadly.
"Why did you leave Bo?" Jesse asked, speaking up for the first time since Richard and James had come in.
"That might have looked suspicious to. Don't worry, your boy is safe with my second in command being there. And if you hurry and surprise them, they will not fight. I was able to hide most of the guns and stuff without them knowing." James told him.
Rosco and an agent ran into the station breaking into there conversation.
"Oh, good. Rosco. Put James into the cell upstairs, I will want to talk to him later and also." He stopped, noticing there worried faces. "What is it."
"Sir, we got them without a problem, but one managed to get a message out on the CB before we could stop him." the agent told Richard.
"Damn. Then there might be a problem now. I suggest you get people out there as fast as you can." James said.
Richard didn't answer. "Alright, get those men in here and get as many police and agents as you can and get out there. Luke and Cooter will help you, since they are already out there." Richard told them and then went over to the CB. Everyone else scurried to do what they had been told.
--the road leading to the swamp.
Luke had just put the CB down when Cooter spook up.
"So what do we do?" he asked
"We leave something out here to tell them where to go and we go on ahead." Luke told him.
"But Richard did tell us to wait." Cooter said.
"I don't care. Lets' go." Luke said.
--the hideout.
"David, we got problems. What are we going to do?" Frank asked after they heard what had happened. They were the only two who knew.
"I don' know." David responded and then said. "Grab Bo and let's go. We have to get away from here."
"What about the rest of this crew?" Frank asked.
"Leave them. The cops will get them." David said.
David went to get a car get it started, Frank came about a minute later dragging Bo behind him. After pushing Bo in, he climbed in behind him and David floored it away from the house. Jennifer, step out onto the porch as they left, she had heard there plans. Luke and Cooter were nearly at the house when they saw a car coming towards them. Cooter quickly stopped and pulled over. The car passed and they saw that Bo was in it.
"Turn this thing around and go after them," Luke said and then added as he looked out his window. "If you had pulled over just a little bit more, we would have been in quicksand."
Cooter didn't answer, he was looking at Jennifer who was running towards them. She reached them in a matter of seconds and opened the backdoor and got in.
"Who are you?" Cooter asked.
"Look, turn this thing around and go after them!! There planning on killing Bo, dumping his body and then getting away" Jennifer said by way of greeting.
"You heard the lady, step on it!" Luke told Cooter.
As Cooter turned the car around, Luke got on the CB and explained the situation. Rosco told him that some people would be there shortly.
Meanwhile: "There coming after us. Step on it!" Frank said.
"I'm going as fast as I can," David shot back.
"Ya'll ain't going to get away now," Bo said looking back at the car behind them.
"Oh, shut up!!" Frank screamed. "I have had enough of you!" he said this last part as he lunged for Bo.
In the other car, Jennifer was introducing herself to Cooter and Luke.
"So, we can trust you?" Cooter said.
"The last time i looked, yes." Jennifer told him and would have said more, but Luke cut her off.
"What is going on back there." Luke asked pointing to the car in front of them.
Jennifer followed his hand. "Oh, god!! Frank's trying to kill him. Cooter do something!!!" she said
Cooter floored the car and came up alongside them. David moved over, causing Cooter to go back a little ways.
As David tried to shake Cooter, Frank was in the back trying to strangle Bo.
"Dammit, stop fighting me, you little asshole." Frank said increasing the pressure to Bo's neck. Bo was starting to loose consciousiness, but he kept on fighting. Suddenly Frank lossened one hand from his neck punched him in the ribs. Bo grunted and Frank did it again, and then put his hand back up to Bo's neck, squeezing a little bit more.
Bo struggled for his life as Cooter came up behind them and rammed the backend of the car. After the second time, David lost control of the car and slammed into a tree. David hit the windshield with his head and blacked out. Frank's hold on Bo was lossened and Bo fell back against the seat trying to catch his breath and fend off the engrouching darkness. Frank, ignoring Bo, quickly got out of the car. Cooter had stopped behind them and all three were out of the car. Frank ran around the front of the car and took off down the road. Cooter took off after him. Everyone could here approaching sirens and knew the police would be here shortly. While Cooter tackled Frank and got him on the ground. Luke and Jennifer ran to the car.
As Jennifer opened the door of the side Bo was on, Luke went through the other door.
"Bo!! Are you all right?" Luke asked concerned. He watched as Bo tried to get enough breath to tell him yes, but Bo finally had to give up and just shake his head.
"We need to get him to the hospital," Jennifer told Luke. Luke nodded and about the same time Bo finally gave into the darkness and dropped incouscious into Luke's lap.
Jennifer put a hand to his neck and felt for a pulse. "He's ok. He just passed out." she told Luke, who breathed a sigh of relief.
4:30p.m. Tri-County Hospital
James and his crew were locked up and would have a hearing in the next several days. Frank had joined his father as soon as he was arrested, but David had died in route to the hopital of major head trauma. Jennifer had been checked out by a doctor to make sure she was doing ok and after Richard questioned her thourouly, she was aloud to join those in the waiting room awaiting news about Bo. There were various federal agents standing around, all talking amongst themselves.
Finally, shortly after 4:30 the doctor came out into the waiting room. Everyone got up and crowded around him, taking the doctor a little bit off guard at the number of people who were waiting.
"He's going to be fine," Doctor Hill said.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and various chit chat broke out until the doctor held his hand up and it got quiet again.
"He has various cuts and bruises, one broken rib and he's dehydrated. He also has a bruised throat, but that will heal in a couple of days. He just want be able to talk for about a week, and swallowing will be a bit difficult." Hill said.
"Well that's a relief, he talks to much anyway." Luke said smileing.
Jennifer hit him in the arm and gave him a dirty look. Luke just gave her a dirty look back.
"But, he will be ok." Jesse asked
Doctor Hill nodded. "Yes. In a few weeks he will be his old self, no problem." he assured him
Everyone shook each others hands and told the doctor thank you. Since Bo was asleep and the doctor didn't want them to bother him, they decided they would go home and get some sleep and come back tomorrow.
So ended the Great Hazzard War. Two days later, James and his gang where given life sentences, Jame's got a couple years off of his, but that still would have him in there until he died. They were then sent to the Federal Prison in Atlanta. The judge did not make Jason go to jail, but did order him, once he was back home with his family, to undergo counceling. Jesse asked for and got temporary custody of Jennifer. Richard told her when he got back to Atlanta that he would look for her mother, but he didn't promise anything. She understood, but hoped she would one day get back together with her mother and Jennifer told the Duke's that if after about 4 years (She would be 20 then) and no word from her mother, then if they wanted to they could adopt her. They all agreed, because they liked her and she liked them. Bo was allowed to go home the day before Halloween, after 4 days in the hospital. He was still unable to talk above a whisper, but he was glad that he was home. Also, he was not blamed for the agent's death, since there were witness that Frank had done the crime.Cooter returned the General Lee shortly after Bo got out of the hospital. The car looked as good as new. The buildings that had been destroyed in the fighting were rebuilt and so was the Duke barn. For a while things went back to normal in Hazzard.

The End

Don't miss the second volume in this series, "Healing". Also, Richard will return in the third volume with several Duke secrets that some of them did not know about.