The Bonner Incident: Joshua's War

by Thomas A. Watson

  “This is getting old,” Joshua sighed, lowering his rifle. He reached into his pocket, pulling out his cards and walking back toward the other bodies. “Four of a kind,” he said, thumbing through the cards.

  “Ufff,” he grunted, feeling a truck hit him from behind and his left side screamed in pain as he jerked from the pain, falling face first in the dirt and throwing the deck of cards.

  ***

  BATFE agent Scotty Fleming took his eye off the scope, seeing Joshua fall down and the cards falling like confetti. “Got ‘em,” he whispered, working the bolt and ejecting the spent round then loading another.

  “He may have on a vest,” the man behind the spotting scope whispered. “He fell behind the bodies. I can’t see him.”

  “I’m shooting armor-piercing 7.62, I don’t care what he has on, Butler. I hit him between the shoulder blades,” Fleming huffed.

  “I still don’t see movement,” Butler said, looking through the spotting scope. “You think he heard the shot and can crawl back to us?”

  “Hey, dumbass, what do they teach you in the FBI? That’s why I have a suppressor and we are a hundred yards away. Call in contact and nothing else. We will wait a few minutes and move up to see if it’s Joshua,” Fleming said, putting his eye back on the scope.

  As Butler called it in, Fleming gave a silent thank you for being one of the last teams put out where Colonel Tanner told two men to always stay back and follow the team. None of the others wanted to be far from the others. Finally, Butler had agreed to hang back with Fleming.

  After Butler called out, he turned the radio off. “You’re sure you couldn’t hit him before he killed the others?” he asked.

  “I didn’t see him until he stepped out of the trees and I knew Vince was dead, so I waited till I had a broad target,” Fleming said when in fact, he had spotted Joshua beside the tree after the third agent had gone down. But Fleming had wanted to make sure his shot hit because he didn’t want the mountain man chasing them down, if he’d missed.

  Butler grabbed his M4, “You ready?”

  “Yeah, no movement,” Fleming said, standing up and leaving his sniper rifle. He picked up his M4 and moved slowly toward the group as Butler moved behind him. “Hey, get to my left side, so you don’t shoot me,” he whispered.

  “Okay,” Butler said, moving a few inches to the left, but stayed behind Fleming.

  “Pussy,” Fleming mumbled, creeping into the clearing. Seeing the body was still face down, he grinned. “Told ya. Don’t doubt me on the sniper rifle, boy.”

  “Let’s make sure and call it in,” Butler said behind him.

  Lowering the barrel of his M4, Fleming walked over casually and stopped, giving Butler a heart attack. “What?!” Butler barked in a whisper.

  “It’s not Joshua, the hair is too short,” Fleming said, kicking the dirt while looking at the head under the helmet.

  “So? He killed federal agents,” Butler said with relief.

  “Yeah, we might get commendations anyway,” Fleming said, slinging his M4 and moving beside the body.

  Getting on his knee, Fleming rolled the body over and a 1911 was in his face. “It is Joshua,” Joshua said, pulling the trigger.

  Fleming’s head snapped back as Joshua moved his aim mere inches to Butler who’d been standing behind Fleming. Butler could only let out a gasp as another thunderous roar filled the quiet mountain air.

  Butler fell down a split second after Fleming and Joshua looked past them into the woods, aiming his pistol. “I never would’ve believed, you fuckers would use each other for bait,” he groaned, dropping his pistol and pulling off his glove before reaching under the body armor.

  He felt the blood-soaked clothes as he moved his hand to his abdomen. “Getting shot sucks, those idiots in the movies are full of shit,” he groaned. He felt a small hole, three inches from his left side just below his ribs. “Expected the exit to be bigger,” he mumbled and felt back, finding the entrance wound in his back.

  Pulling his hand out, he saw it was soaked in blood. “Guess I only have so much of that in me,” he huffed and pulled a dressing off of his vest and shoved it over the wound. Looking down, he saw the round had passed through him and the front plate in the tactical vest.

  Grabbing another dressing, Joshua shoved it over the wound in his back, then reached back and felt where the bullet had punched through the rear plate. “That was some bullet, buddy,” Joshua grunted, falling back and looking up at the sky.

  Bringing his bloody hand to his mouth, Joshua put his thumb and forefinger in his mouth and let out a loud whistle. Dropping his hand, he heard the whistle echo down the ridge. Hearing hoof beats, he lifted his head to see King charge into the clearing with Jack following close behind.

  “I love my horse,” Joshua sighed and rolled over, pushing up as King stopped beside him.

  Reaching up, Joshua grabbed King and pulled his body off of the ground as his M4 banged around on the one-point sling. “Whoa,” he said as his head started spinning. When it quit, he moved back to the saddle. “I’ve been hurt worse,” he said, struggling to pull his body up into the saddle.

  Sitting up in the saddle, Joshua looked down at his left leg, seeing that it was soaked so dark with his blood that he could barely see the A-tac pattern. “I have a friend who owes me a favor,” Joshua said, sluggishly and held the reins loosely. He steered King back down the slope and cringed with each step.

  “Don’t go fast boy,” he said, but didn’t pull back on the reins to slow King down as the sun slipped below the mountains.

  ***

  As the stars started coming out, Moore was sitting with the rest of the team under a tree as they all worked in notebooks, trying to replace once again, what had been lost in an attack. “Moore!” Tanner snapped, walking toward them quickly.

  “Welcome to the office,” Moore said, looking up from his notebook.

  “At least you’re alive,” Tanner said, stopping and looked down at him. “We had a team call in contact.”

  “Tanner, I was just over at the radios and heard a team getting attacked. Those that attacked us are going after them,” Moore said, turning back to his notebook.

  “No Moore, a ‘contact down’ was called out,” Tanner said, and Moore looked up to see Tanner almost looking happy.

  “You think they got him?” Moore asked quickly, and everyone in the group looked up in shock.

  “It was one of the teams put out with an over watch trailing,” Tanner said, then the happiness left his face. “But we haven’t heard back from them.”

  Dropping his notebook as he jumped up, “Where are they?” Moore asked.

  “That we don’t know either. The broadcast wasn’t long enough to get a fix, but team thirty-three was above Priest Lake and to the east of upper Priest Lake. Right where you said Joshua would be heading,” Tanner said with a grin. “I’m hoping they got him before locals showed up and took out the overwatch team.”

  “We have to get up there!” Moore shouted.

  “Not tonight,” Tanner said. “All air is devoted to taking out wounded and that won’t be done until tomorrow at the earliest.”

  “Tanner, if they take his body, we will never be able to prove that we got him and this will continue,” Moore said in a quivering voice.

  Reaching out, Tanner put a hand on Moore’s shoulder. “I know Moore, but it can’t be helped. We have wounded here that need a hospital or we won’t have any troops to support us,” he said in a low voice.

  “I want on the first chopper we can get,” Moore said.

  “I’m working on it,” Tanner said, dropping his hand. “I want to go as badly as you do. All we can do is hope.”

  ***

  The governor of Idaho, Brad Jorgen, looked around his office at all the gathered elected officials, the head of the Idaho Guard and the commander of the State Police. Over the last few days, all had been worried and the first worry of any elected official had taken a backseat. The worry of reelection
had been replaced by survival.

  Today, riots were starting. Not the mindless riots of looting, but the riot of the middle-class. Every federal building in Boise had been burnt and it was reported that three IRS agents had been lynched. Everyone in the room knew if they didn’t act fast, those middle-class people out there would soon associate them with the federal government.

  Clearing his throat, Brad looked around. “So, are we all in agreement here?” he asked. “Once this is done, we can’t undo it.”

  “Governor,” the Attorney General said. “The speech I gave you, I wrote yesterday and I was going to give it today. We have over one and a half million people here and most are armed and pissed off. If they don’t see us stand up against the feds, they will eventually turn on us. I would rather have a handful of feds after me than the entire population.”

  “Sir, if we stand for the people, the feds will have to go through them to get to us and that ain’t happening,” the National Guard General said. “I’m willing to bet money that after you give that speech, we will have calm.”

  The governor nodded, standing up. “So tomorrow morning then,” he said and the others nodded. “General, are you sure your troops and the state police can pull this off?”

  “Without a doubt,” the general grinned.

  “Until tomorrow morning,” the governor nodded and left.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  “Moore, get your ass up!” Winters shouted, shaking Moore.

  Slowly, Moore heard her voice and realized his body was shaking. He sat up from under the tree he and his team had slept under. “What?” he yawned.

  “The governor is making an announcement,” Winters said, pulling his arm wanting him to get up.

  “So?” Moore said, blinking his eyes but still not getting off the ground. “We still don’t have a chopper to take us out?” he asked.

  “No, now get your ass up,” Winters said and kicked his leg. “The state National Guard seized all radio and television stations an hour ago.”

  That got Moore’s attention, causing him to jump up. “What’s going on?” he asked as Winters took off running.

  “Shit,” he grumbled and took off after her. He saw her run under the awning and noticed it was packed with people. He stopped outside and could hear Winters moving through the crowd.

  “I am an FBI agent and will shoot your ass if you don’t move,” she yelled.

  Letting out a sigh, Moore followed the wake she’d left. “And she wonders how her mouth gets her in trouble.”

  He stopped beside Winters at the front of the group and saw Tanner sitting in a chair, looking at a line of TVs sitting on tables. “Where did the TVs come from?” Moore asked.

  “The troops broke into some houses close to us and got them,” Winters said, staring at a large crowd on the screens.

  “Tanner,” Moore said, leaning down.

  Raising his hand up, Tanner shook his head. “Not now, Moore.”

  Looking at his watch, Moore sighed, seeing it was almost ten a.m. “What is going on?” he asked Winters.

  “We will see,” she said with a small smile.

  “Quiet!” Tanner bellowed and the chatter died away.

  “Citizens, the governor of Idaho, Brad Jorgen,” a man announced and very few in the massive crowd cheered or did anything.

  A man strolled from the side of the stage to the podium with a large group walking behind him. “Thank you,” the governor said, pulling out his notes. “I see many of you armed here and I’m happy to see you exercising your right and if I may, the federal government told me on the phone an hour ago that I was a dead man,” he said and an audible gasp ran through the large crowd.

  “So, if you see someone aiming a gun at me, please feel free to shoot them,” the governor smiled and the crowd cheered as many holding weapons started looking around the crowd.

  “Now first, I want to say, yes, I’m outraged at the actions the ‘federal’,” he stressed hard. “Government has taken against my fellow citizens. But the other elected officials you see with me, along with myself, the National Guard and state police were able to secure our safety, so we could intervene in this atrocity.”

  The crowd roared, throwing up their hands and cheering.

  The governor smiled and held up a hand and the crowd quieted down. “Yes, now we must get on with business because until the feds are out of our state, I won’t feel safe for you or myself,” he said and the crowd erupted again.

  “There’s the next president,” Tanner sighed.

  When the crowd became quiet, the governor looked around. “The first thing I have is a pardon,” he said, holding up a sheet of paper. “This is a governor’s pardon to any citizen of Idaho that fought the feds, releasing them of all prosecutions. It goes into effect in fifteen minutes. Anything after that, you will answer to ‘local’ law enforcement, not federal but please, we can use those buildings after we throw the feds out and I don’t want any of our firefighters hurt,” he said, holding up the paper and yelling over the cheering crowd.

  “Now,” he said and waited for the noise to die down, putting the sheet of paper down. “I see many armed citizens and I must ask you for help. During this struggle, lawless people have started looting. I’m asking for volunteers to assist our police to restore order after this address. And to those stealing from lawful businesses, my pardon doesn’t apply to you, and our state police and citizens will track you down.”

  The crowd roared again as Moore shook his head. “This is not good,” he mumbled.

  “Next,” the governor said over the crowd. “It has come to my attention that we have a foreign military in our state, assaulting our fellow citizens,” he said and the crowd fell deathly silent. “This will not be tolerated. To all foreign troops, you are to lay down your arms and leave this state, you have one hour from this moment. Any armed foreign soldier is to be shot on sight. If they are unarmed, they must be out of the state in one hour. I know where you are and an hour is more than enough time.

  “To the citizens, if you see an unarmed foreign national in this next hour, you will let them pass. If you see an armed foreign national, start shooting,” he said and the roar from the crowd was deafening.

  Moore looked at the other screens, showing crowds around different areas of the state listening, also jumping up and down cheering.

  “Please, I need to finish my warning to them!” the governor yelled and the noise died down. “We are not barbarians, but if you are an armed foreign troop, you will be shot. The militia is very clearly stated in the Constitution, all able-bodied males in the population. That isn’t the National Guard, it’s the people,” the governor said then waved his hand, pointing at several armed females in the crowd. “But in our day and age, that means every able-bodied female as well.”

  “I don’t give a shit what they do to the polls, this bitch is going to win the next election,” Tanner said, slapping his leg as the crowd erupted again.

  “Like I said and asked you, if they are unarmed in the next hour, let them pass. If you see one after that hour and he is unarmed, you shall order him to put his hands up and escort him to the local law. If he doesn’t comply, then shoot him. I have more pardons,” the governor smiled as the crowd cheered.

  Moore heard movement in the crowd and saw the German troops running for the airstrip.

  “Now, for Mr. Joshua Anderson,” the governor said and the crowd fell silent again. “Mr. Anderson, I’m sorry for what you have been through. In my hand, I hold a pardon that goes into effect at midnight tonight, forgiving you of all crimes since birth. Now, many will ask why did I post the time out, well as the commandant of the state police pointed out, Mr. Anderson is out of touch and we needed to give him time to get the message. Just in case the feds find him after he hears about this, I didn’t want Mr. Anderson to hesitate to pull the trigger again.”

  The crowd went wild as Moore shook his head and Winters leaned over, “Well, we can get the hell out of here,” she sa
id cheerfully.

  When the crowd fell silent, the governor put Joshua’s pardon down. “Now, to the federal officials near Priest Lake, you have until midnight tonight to get out of our state. You will lay down your weapons and leave. If you are seen armed, you will be shot and I will pardon the shooter. If you are seen after midnight, you will be detained until trial unless you are armed, then any citizen can just shoot you. The reason I’m giving you until midnight is that I know you have wounded and no, I will not send aid to assist you. You have attacked and killed citizens of this state. I wanted to lead a group up there and shoot every one of you sons of a bitches!” he shouted and the crowd went crazy.

  “It wasn’t just me! Several behind me have already brought their guns!” he shouted over the roar of the crowd.

  “Pull the guards in!” Tanner bellowed.

  As the noise died down, the governor continued. “But luckily, I have good aides and advisors who talked us out of it and said the feds had been beaten down enough, and should be given the chance to run away with their tails between their legs.” Leaning back as the crowd roared, the governor reminded himself to calm down.

  “Now, I have talked to the sheriff of Bonner county and he has the eight men who shot those two boys, and the Attorney General has already instructed the DA there to seek the death penalty.”

  Moore snorted, “Like that would be a fair trial.”

  “Oh, like the one Joshua would’ve gotten?” Winters said, watching the crowd quieting down.

  “Now, to those feds north of Lamb Creek, the sheriff has sent me word that he has started clearing the road and will make sure each and every one of you are disarmed and if not, I have pardons for the people who shoot you. But if anyone can, please get word to Joshua Anderson that he may go home and his pardon kicks in at midnight. It grants him immunity at midnight and I implore him to stand down, but if he feels it is necessary to continue until midnight, I understand. But that is only for Mr. Anderson.

  “If for some instance, a citizen is threatened or forced to kill a federal agent, since my blanket pardon has already started, contact your local law enforcement so they can notify my office. If you acted according to my guidelines, I will pardon you.”