“Boy, don’t make me take you outside,” Gene huffed. “I haven’t dealt with Ben night and day for weeks on end just to hightail it when the going gets rough. Josh, you realize I’ve been with Ben twenty-four-seven for almost a month?”
Looking over at Ben and Chris, Joshua grinned at seeing Ben shoot him the finger. “Hell will freeze over and Satan will become Catholic before I leave a buddy,” Ben said and Chris nodded.
“Joshua,” Chris said clearing his throat. “Just how did you knock out two Blackhawks?”
“With a Barrett fifty that I took from them,” Joshua grinned. “I found some of those black-tipped API bullets you’d talked about and you weren’t lying, they will punch right through some stuff.”
A young woman came in and walked over to Ernest, “Your horse and mule are in very good shape Joshua,” she said then leaned toward Ernest, whispering.
When she was done, Ernest looked at Joshua. “I’m afraid it’s time for us to part ways. A convoy just passed the house heading toward the area where you shot down those choppers. I don’t like having most of my force away when they are moving in strength.”
“Completely understood,” Joshua said then hugged Sonya and William. “You two, stay strong and be ready to move. Please try to get mom to leave.”
Pushing up on her tiptoes, Sonya kissed him. “Babe, I tried and I’m sorry, but that was it. Nana got mad at me for trying.”
Letting out a huge sigh, “Okay,” Joshua said as William handed him the PDA. “You’re the man around the house, so you protect them.”
“I will, Dad,” William said hugging Joshua.
Ernest held out a small notepad. “Joshua, this is the key to the code we use. Get up high at 2000 hours tomorrow and the message will tell you when the next contact will be. If you send out, you have to vacate the area very fast. Tracking a ten-second transmission is hard, but not impossible. We will always be monitoring, so you can transmit anytime.”
“You really don’t have to do this. I’m holding my own pretty well.”
Several in the tent laughed as did Ernest. “Oh, we know that but in time, they will change codes and I doubt you will get lucky again, getting a radio that has been fully unlocked,” Ernest said. “All of your batteries are charged,” he said holding out his hand.
Reaching over the table, Joshua shook it. “Thank you,” Joshua said and let it go. “Can you tell me something?”
“What?” Ernest asked.
“What do the people think about this? Not just around here, but everywhere?”
“Around here, the only reason they aren’t shooting feds on sight is because of Buck. The polls on the internet show thirty to forty percent of the country understands. Ten percent of those want to help.”
Digging in his saddlebag, Joshua pulled out his camera. Taking the memory card out, he handed it to Sonya. “I want you to watch these and decide which ones get online,” he said and turned to William. “I set up a new email like you told me.”
“I’m going to teach you computers yet,” William beamed.
“Son, I’m trying,” Joshua said looking up at Ernest. “If it’s okay with Sonya and William, can you get those videos out? I’m sure the news site I sent the first one to will have responded to my email by now.”
“You’re videoing your actions?” Ernest asked in shock.
“Well, yeah, why wouldn’t I?”
Sonya looked at the memory card in her hand as her body went cold. “Joshua, if we do that, they will most certainly kill you,” she mumbled.
“Hey, that’s just video. At every attack site, I leave a scrench with my thumbprint. I want them to know, it’s me and not someone else.”
Ben’s mouth fell open, “You always told me to not advertise when I was being bad.”
Shrugging, “Well, I think this goes beyond being bad, and I don’t want them to try and blame others,” Joshua said.
“If Sonya approves the videos, then we will get them on the internet,” Ernest said. “You mind if we watch and offer our opinions?”
“No, but Sonya and William get the final word.”
“You stay safe,” Ernest said walking around the table and leaving with his group.
Gene walked over and grabbed Joshua’s shoulder. “You heard him, stay safe,” he said in a low voice. “I’m a little pissed that you just didn’t hide out. You’ve left them with no choice but to find you now.”
“No Gene, that was always their plan,” Joshua said. “I do feel sorry for killing them, but they started it and I’m not going to stop until they leave us alone.”
A grin split Gene’s face. “We’ll stand with you till the end,” he said and pulled out a scrench. A logger always had one. “Can you put your thumbprint on here, in case we need to do something to get the feds to back off?”
“Like what?” Joshua asked grabbing the scrench and placing his thumb on the top.
“I don’t know and it makes me sick to say this but if we do something close to the house, we need the blame to be on you and not on Sonya and William,” Gene said, carefully taking the scrench back.
“Gene, you don’t feel bad about that,” Joshua said as Ben handed him another scrench and he pressed his thumb on it. “But please don’t do something unless you have no choice.”
“I’m not Ben,” Gene said stepping back.
Putting his scrench away, Ben looked at Gene with a hard face. “I get the first cool tent when we kill some of them, you hear me?” he almost growled. Without saying anything, Gene just walked out, shaking his head.
Sonya and William helped Joshua carry his stuff to King and Jack who were saddled and standing outside. “Joshua, do you think this will end without you dying?” Sonya whispered.
“Only when they get tired of sending in new people for me to shoot,” Joshua said tying the saddlebags on. “It may take a while, but yes. I’m hoping they will just pull out and hope to catch me when I come into town.”
Sonya looked into Joshua’s eyes and could tell he didn’t believe it. “We’ll be here,” she said wiping her eyes.
“I wish you weren’t, but I can’t think of any place to send you to and have protection,” Joshua said turning to her.
She looked up at him with determination. “I said ‘through better or worse’ and I meant it. I will always stand with you and if William had someplace to go, I would be in the mountains with you.”
“No,” Joshua said. “I would turn myself in first. I couldn’t do this if you were with me. I’ve had enough close calls to know I’ve been lucky for one person. If there were two of us, they would’ve already killed us.”
“Can I help, Dad?” William asked, trying not to cry.
Joshua leaned over, hugging him tight. “You are, Son. You’re here with Sonya and being the man of the house.”
“I’ll do my best, Dad,” he said in a breaking voice.
“I know,” Joshua said and kissed them both, then climbed on King. “I’ll try to keep in touch, but they are getting very persistent.”
“You just worry about staying safe, we will be fine,” Sonya said putting her arm around William. Giving a wave, Joshua kicked King, heading back into the forest.
“We will get to see him again, won’t we?” William asked as the tears rolled down his face.
“Baby boy, all we can do is pray and hope,” Sonya said not wanting to give any false promises. “I feel we will because Joshua never loses.”
Wiping his face, William looked up. “He’s never fought like this before.”
“That’s my point,” she sighed. “He’s fighting a war against impossible odds and is winning for the moment.”
“I hope he kills them all,” William sniffled.
Sonya squeezed him and led William back to the tent. “I just want them to leave Joshua alone, but they won’t. It’s all about saving face now,” she said softly and walked into the tent.
Chapter Thirty-One
Sitting in the briefing room the next morning, Moore looked over at
Winters as they waited on Griffey. “You okay?” Moore asked.
“Yeah, I didn’t get shot,” Winters huffed as a tech walked in carrying an evidence bag.
“We photographed the cards sir,” he said handing the bag over. “There are eighty-five cards in this deck, when you count the cards the two bodies were holding.”
“Thank you,” Moore said taking the bag. Leaning back, he pulled out some latex gloves and snapped them on.
Watching as Moore opened the bag, “What has you so bothered about those cards?”
“The way they are arranged,” Moore said spreading the cards out in a line, all face-up. “The tech at the site said the next hand was a dead man’s hand and when they’d tried to move the bodies, a grenade went off.”
Leaning over and looking at the line of cards, Winters nodded. “Look, the next five cards are a royal flush.”
“Shit,” Moore said and starting from the top, he arranged the cards in groups of five. When he was done he stared at each one. “He arranged them, each hand to be dealt could be a winning hand.”
“You think the royal flush was saying he had us?” Winters asked.
“Maybe,” Moore mumbled as Griffey busted in the room, frothing at the mouth.
“What the fuck happened out there?” he screamed.
Not looking up from the cards, Moore shrugged. “Ambushed.”
“No shit!” Griffey bellowed kicking his chair back. “Where did he get those weapons from?”
“I told you, he’s ransacked the bodies he’s killed. We gave him the weapons,” Moore said and started moving the cards around in hands.
Looking at the cards, “You’re playing cards?” Griffey snapped.
“No, these are the cards Joshua left. He’s sending a message.”
“Find this fucking cabin!”
Moore looked up as Wagner came in. “I’m waiting on more information,” Moore said. “When we got here the state was very helpful, but that information got destroyed. They aren’t being helpful now and it’s taking time to get what I need.”
Griffey turned as Wagner sat down, “You told me your men were the best, but the report I read from Schmidt says otherwise. Your team is responsible for killing more of each other than the suspect is.”
“Sir, I’ve reprimanded the ones who threw out the grenades and killed the advance team that was going out with Giles. This is war, sir. Friendly fire is to be expected,” Wagner said opening a notebook.
“Griffey, what is this I hear about shoot to kill orders on any subject in the search area?” Moore asked leaning back in his chair.
“Homeland director ordered it after the ambush to every team near the area. We have a circle around the site and anyone spotted will be shot on sight, if not escorted by local law enforcement.”
“Granted, but what about the written orders I’ve heard about that were flown out?” Moore asked raising his eyebrows.
Grabbing his chair and dropping in it, Griffey looked over at Moore. “The teams wouldn’t carry the orders out until they had hard copies in their hands.”
Nodding, Moore looked at Winters. “Very smart on their part,” he said.
“How long are those orders going to stay in place?” Winters asked looking over at Griffey.
“Until Joshua is dead.”
Throwing his head back Moore groaned. “Oh shit.”
“Sir,” Winters said glancing at Moore. “If we shoot a civilian, there will be repercussions from the locals. I’m sure you’ve heard of Little Big Horn and that will be us. I don’t care what kind of firepower you have here.”
Scooting his chair to the table, Griffey nodded. “I brought up those concerns again, and I was instructed to treat any hostility with force.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Moore sighed and spun his chair around. He got up and headed over to the wall behind him that had a map pinned up with photos of Joshua. “One man is making the government declare a free fire zone?”
Winters jerked her head around and stared at Moore with an open mouth, not believing what she’d just heard. Joshua was forcing the government to kill civilians. Remembering her duty, she closed her mouth and looked at Griffey. “Sir-,” she started as a knock sounded at the door and Griffey held up his hand.
“Enter,” Griffey called out and a tech walked in.
“Agent Moore, we need you for a minute,” he said, not looking at Griffey.
Moore turned around, “Winters, go see what they have,” he sighed and dropped back in his chair.
Getting up, Winters followed the tech out and Griffey waited till the door was closed before looking at Moore. “Moore, please give me something to go on,” he pleaded.
“Well, you can tell those fucks in Washington that the ambush is on them,” Moore said. “You and I both asked for limited personnel on site, but they wanted an army. If it would’ve been a ten-man team like we’d wanted, only one or two agents would’ve died. Schmidt would’ve found that machine gun trap. Hell, I could see the trail Joshua left leading to it, and I know don’t shit about wood lore.”
“In all fairness,” Wagner said clearing his throat. “A ten-man team would’ve been wiped out.”
Turning from Griffey, Moore looked at Wagner and then back at Griffey. “I can’t put up with his stupidity today.”
“Wagner, shut up until asked to talk,” Griffey said, not even looking at Wagner. “The reports back up what Moore and I had said would happen if a large group went out. People would move into unsecured positions.”
Hearing Wagner draw a breath, “I didn’t give you permission to speak and I’m not in the mood to hear your voice,” Griffey sighed as the door busted open and Winters ran in with a folder.
“We got it,” she said with a stern expression.
“Wait for the doors,” Griffey said standing up. Winters turned to see the doors closing and waited. When they’d closed, Griffey looked at her. “You need to knock. Others can’t know what is said in here.”
“Sorry, but we found Joshua’s cabin. It’s not in his name. It’s in the name of a dead uncle,” Winters said handing the folder to Moore who’d charged over.
“You can’t do that,” he said taking the folder.
“You can if it’s a trust, and his mother is listed on the trust under her maiden name,” Winters said and Moore sat the folder down on the table, pulling out satellite photos of the cabin.
“This is just right down the fucking road from the town of Nordman!” Moore shouted and spun around, walking over to the map as Griffey almost jumped over the table. Grabbing a thumbtack, Moore shoved it in the map. “He can’t be operating out of there.”
“Why?” Griffey asked. “Look at the proximity to the first attacks.”
“He may be using it as a supply base,” Winters said. “Take into account the times between attacks, a man on an ATV could easily return there.”
“I need better images,” Moore said.
“They will be here in a few minutes. I called a friend at the NSA and he’s sending high-resolution photos,” Winters said and Griffey turned to her with his face getting red.
“You go through the chain of command,” he snapped.
“I tried, but the hierarchy at the NSA is still pissed about the breach and told me to file a request and I would get the photos in ten days,” Winters popped off. “So I called a friend who owed me a favor.”
Taking a deep breath, Griffey closed his eyes calming down. “Sorry, you did great, Agent Winters,” he said and then opened his eyes. “I need to get that shit stopped now. This operation is hard enough without a pissing contest.”
“Sir,” Winters said reaching out and grabbing Moore’s arm. “I will need approval to erase the file he’s sending me before it’s dumped in the national archives, so my friend can’t get in trouble.”
Before Moore answered, Griffey did. “Do it on my authority Winters.”
“Thank you sir,” she said and moved to the table opening her laptop. “Wagner, you even tr
y to find out who my friend is and I’ll kill you myself,” she said typing on the keyboard. “It seems you like blackmailing people who do favors, just to get some of your own favors by blackmailing them. I had to give my word that you would never know where the file came from.”
“Wagner,” Griffey said and pulled out his pistol. “I swear, if I ever hear of you trying to find out, I’ll have you dumped in a swamp and every person you know will end up in prison.”
Wagner pushed away from the table holding up his hands. “I swear, I won’t.”
Moore moved up behind Winters and saw a file downloading. “Your friend will have to erase on his end,” Moore said in a low voice.
“He is. I only have five minutes when the file hits my computer to download it. The server he is using was the one hit by the cyber-attack, so he shouldn’t have any trouble,” Winters said as the file finished. Grabbing a thumb drive, she downloaded the file to it and then started erasing the traces of the email.
Moore chuckled, “Winters, you are very good at this.”
“Have to be, sir,” she said typing. “You remember the information I got on the Sunset Killer? Same friend, but I had to have him overnight it because I didn’t think I could get you to give me permission to erase the email.”
“I would’ve given it,” Moore said.
“Up,” Winters said looking at the large plasma screen at the front of the room. “I asked him to give me photos of the area since the time all of this started, to see if we can develop a timeline.”
“What satellite is this?” Griffey asked looking at the crystal clear pictures. “I’ve only seen resolution like this from military birds.”
He turned around to see Winters' face was pale. “Um,” she said cutting her eyes toward Wagner who was looking at the image.
“Wagner!” Griffey shouted, making him jump a foot in the air. “You personally, will go get me a cup of coffee and a dozen glazed donuts. I expect you back in this room in five minutes.”
Wagner looked back at the coffee pots to see both were full. “But-,” he pointed to the back of the room.
“I want black hazelnut,” Griffey said holstering his pistol. “And the donuts better be hot.”
The Bonner Incident: Joshua's War Page 14