General Lee's Revenge

Chapter Seven: Ace of Spades

Most of the drama started that morning. Bo, Boss Hogg, and Lulu were sitting down for breakfast when they heard a scream from the bathroom. Bo and Lulu stood up as Luke burst into the kitchen. Bo barely recognized him, he looked twenty years older. He had a thick streak of silver in his hair and age lines in his skin were unbelievably visible. Bo felt sorry for him, but his reaction was priceless. Bo couldn't help but laugh.

"It ain't funny Bo!" Luke growled.

"Okay, grandpa!" Bo exclaimed.

"Bo!"

Lulu walked over to Luke and put an arm around him. "It's alright if you look a little older, that don't change nothin'."

"I know, it's just... I look like a forty-year-old man. Worst part is, I don't even know how this happened."

"Well, I always say you worry too much. Take this as a sign that you may need to kick back for a while, live a bit more carefree," Bo suggested.

"Livin' with you, carefree ain't an option. And what d'you mean I worry too much? I worry just an acceptable amount."

"You mind lookin' in the mirror again?"

"Oh, who am I kiddin'? I'll be a circus attraction next time I decide to show my face in town."

Boss Hogg removed his hat and pointed to his head. "I'm pretty much bald but that don't stop me none. If you want my advice, wear a hat."

"I'll take it into consideration."

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Rosco stood in Enos's hospital room, watching him sleep in the bed. He remembered how scared he had been, watching him lose consciousness in Daisy's arms. The doctors said that he'd have trouble walking for the rest of his life. The bullet caused some damage to his hip, as well as his intestines, which had left him on the operating table for a few hours.

"If I ever see Clayton Jennings again, my face will be the last thing that man sees," Rosco muttered.

"You say somethin' sheriff?" came a weak reply.

Rosco looked up to see Enos awake, staring at him through kind, brown eyes. Enos gave a weak smile, he looked tired and frail.

"Oh, hey Enos. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake ya," Rosco said.

"That's alright sheriff, I don't mind. Say, how long you been standin' there?" Enos asked.

"Oh, not long Enos."

"I really appreciate you comin' to visit me. The doctor said I should be able to go home one of these days."

"I'm glad to hear that. Listen, Enos, remember when you were a cop on the Los Angeles police force?"

"Course I do, sheriff! Why d'you ask?"

Rosco pulled the playing card from his pocket. "Boss and I found a note yesterday. It had this in it." He held it out to Enos.

Enos reached for it, but the IV in his hand wouldn't allow his arm to go far. "Can't reach it, sheriff, you're gonna have to come closer."

Rosco walked around to the side of the bed and handed the card to him. He turned the card around in his hands, making note of the blood on its face. He studied the smear carefully.

"Well?" Rosco asked.

"The blood's mighty peculiar. I think by the way it was put on there, someone wiped it off some object with their finger and slowly smeared it across the card."

"So it was intentional."

"Mhm. You mentioned somethin' 'bout a note?"

"Oh, ah, yeah I did." Rosco dug in his pocket for the note. He pulled it out, and unfolded it, handing it to Enos.

Enos read it, slowly, as usual. "Sure sounds like a threat to me."

"I dunno. What do you think the Four of Spades means?"

"Four of Spades? Maybe four people."

"That makes sense. What about the other stuff? What do they mean by checking my rearview mirrors?"

"Well, they said they'd share more information with you in the future. Maybe it means exactly how it sounds, the next clue'll be somewheres near a rearview mirror."

"Ha! Enos, you're a genius! Of course, why didn't I think of that?"

Enos shrugged and handed the items back to Rosco. "Now that you got what you came for, can I go back to sleep now?"

Rosco smiled. "Sure Enos."

Enos lay his head back and closed his eyes.

Rosco looked at the items in his hands, feeling giddy. He put them back into his pocket and walked out the door.

As he neared his car in the parking lot, he saw that the passenger side mirror was covered with something. He found an envelope taped to the mirror and pulled it off. Rosco felt a chill go up his spine as he broke the seal and opened it. Sure enough, there was a letter inside, but also something else. Rosco pulled the something else out.

It was a photograph of the wrecked General Lee from over a week ago. Rosco quickly unfolded the letter and began reading.

Sheriff,

Beautiful, am I right? I've always wanted a car like that, but Russell said that we had to wreck it. I didn't want to but after I started it was fun. Yeah, it was us that wrecked the car, sorry about that (not really sorry though). I like your new German shepherd, he's cool. Brutus is a fitting name for him. I know I mentioned Russell, I'm not Clayton. Clayton's dead. My name's Texas, all my friends call me Tex. My friends call me crazy too. Maybe I am a little crazy.

I'm looking forward to taking over Hazzard. We're gonna turn this place into the biggest crime ring this country's ever seen. Don't worry, you'll still get to be sheriff. You're gonna get to know us real well in time. For now, I'm here to answer any questions you may be asking.

You may be wondering about the Four of Spades thing. Well, there's four of us and spades just sounds better than the other three. Other than me and Russell, there's Red and Benjamin. Red's cool, he's from Mexico, and he sounds really cool when he talks 'cause he mixes English with Spanish. Benjamin's a Yankee, he's really quiet. I don't think he's cut out for this kind of stuff. If you ever catch him, go easy on him okay?

As for the blood on the card, Russell got the blood from a place called Hollow Hill. He says it's Duke blood. At first, I thought he was talking about royalty or something, but then he explained to me that Duke was a last name. I got Hogg confused with hog as well. Didn't know it had two g's.

Anyways, stay gold. We'll visit you shortly, but don't count on going home when we do.

-The Ace of Spades, Texas.

Rosco folded the letter back up and put it in the envelope with the photo. He scowled at the riddle. Ace of Spades, Texas was obviously the leader. Aces overpowered Kings depending on the hand. In this case, paper beats rock.

As for the riddle, Rosco was stumped. If they weren't planning on killing him, why had they said that? Don't count on going home? Why not? It was frustrating when the world was throwing everything but a straight answer in his direction.

Clayton was dead, but Russell was still alive. It was a shame Clayton had to be killed so early on in the game, Rosco wanted to be the one to do it. Looks like he'd have to settle for Russell instead.