The Bonner Incident: Joshua's War (15 page)

Letting his breath out slowly, Joshua gently pulled the trigger back. ‘Sapow’ the rifle coughed and bucked off the ground. Watching in the scope, it was almost two seconds later when he saw the flash on the engine compartment and the chopper lurched down, but stayed in place.

What Joshua didn’t know was, they were winching one of the agents up and the pilot thought he had an engine malfunction. But not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Joshua pulled the trigger two more times. The next two bullets killed the second engine and gravity took over control of the chopper as everyone on the ground ran for cover. Because a helicopter had the glide pattern of a rock, the Blackhawk fell almost straight down.

The second chopper flew over as the first chopper disappeared into the trees and hovered over the crash site. Dropping the magazine, Joshua put in a new one and rested the crosshairs on the chopper which was facing him. He could make out the shapes of the pilot and copilot through the glass and wondered if an API could make it through the glass.

“Only one way to find out,” he said and slowly exhaled. Starting on the right, Joshua squeezed the trigger till the gun jumped, reset the crosshairs and squeezed again. He sent all six shots in three seconds and saw with his own eyes, yes, API fifty caliber rounds will punch through the glass of a Blackhawk.

The copilot died instantly as did the crew chief behind him in the cargo area from the same bullet. Bullet number three hit the pilot in the shoulder blowing his arm off and the chopper did a nose dive straight down.

Jumping up, “Time to make tracks,” Joshua said and picked up the Barrett with a grunt. “I’m hiding your big ass. You’re nice to have, but hauling you around sucks.” When he’d strapped the massive rifle on Jack, Jack looked back at him. “Yeah, I know. With a suppressor that weights more than an M4, bipod and a scope that I can hit the moon with, the damn thing is heavy, but we will find it a home until we need it.”

When it was tied on, Joshua climbed on King. “Time to head to Middle Earth,” he said giving King a soft kick.

Chapter Thirty

Middle Earth was a cave almost two miles behind the house on the other side of Binarch Mountain. When the
Lord of The Rings
movies came out, William fell in love with them and one day, when they were out hiking and Joshua was teaching William what Mary had taught him about plants, they’d found the cave. It wasn’t a real cave, only going back ten yards, but to William, it was Middle Earth. For a whole summer, William and several kids that lived nearby would ride four-wheelers to the cave and battle the hordes of Saruman.

In the letter, Joshua wanted to make sure that even if it was intercepted, those that read it wouldn’t understand it, but he wanted Sonya and William to know, he was keeping an eye on them. Granted, it was from miles away with a spotting scope, but he was still watching out for them. 

The Section 19 reference was more for Gene, letting him know that Joshua wouldn’t come within half a mile, so they wouldn’t be afraid to shoot at a man crawling toward the house, thinking it was him. And only an old-time logger would know what Section 19 was.

Logger paradise in heaven; where massive old growth trees grew and you spent all day cutting them down and when you woke up the next morning, all the trees had regrown and you just kept cutting. The place only an old-time logger would see as heaven, one square mile of never-ending old growth forest, just for them.

Joshua had little fear that the feds would know that so he felt confident, if Gene or the others saw a single person sneaking within half a mile, they would shoot first.

The attack he had just done was almost nine miles southwest from his home, so he rode hard through the trees to put some distance between him and the site. Weaving through the trees, Joshua considered stopping to have a look at Gene’s place just to make sure his house was okay. It was only a few miles south of his place and he would be traveling close by. Joshua was surprised that no other choppers had shown up right away. It was two hours later and he was six miles away before he heard the first choppers heading south.

Glancing at his watch he smiled, seeing that he would make Middle Earth before nightfall and could drop off the spare radio, another letter, and other stuff he thought Sonya needed and could use as leverage.

Thinking of the radio, Joshua reached back and lifted the top of the saddlebag, turning it on. He pulled the headset up close to his ear to listen with the volume down. There was another search team between him and the house but they were further west near Pelke Divide Mountain, but he didn’t want to risk someone hearing the blaring radio.

“This is base, any contact, air six?” came over the radio.

“This is air six, negative base. I can see the team, request permission to extract first group.”

“This is base, air six, permission granted. Have air four take the wounded to Spokane and you and air five, ferry the team back here while air one covers.”

“Base, this is air six, that’s going to take three trips, leaving us over the hostile area longer. Request permission to have air one take a load, so it will only take us two trips.”

“Air six, this is base. Request denied.”

“Copy base, air six out.”

Joshua grinned when the radio beeped as it changed frequencies. “Base, this is team seventy-one,” he heard and pulled back on the reins stopping King. Team seventy-one was the team close to Pelke Divide Mountain.

“Seventy-one, this his base.”

“Base, it sounded like a war southeast of us here about two hours ago, is the search continuing?”

“Seventy-one, you are to hold position because suspect is near. You are advised to find observation point and call for any movement spotted. What is your current location?”

Joshua quickly dug out his map as seventy-one called out his location. He soon found the spot, a ridge north-west of Pelke Divide Mountain.

“We copy, seventy-one, can you move to following location, 48°28'23.57"N, 117° 1'42.78"W,” base called out. Moving his finger Joshua found the spot, a ridge to the east of the team that overlooked a valley floor that Squaw Valley Rd ran along. If the team took the logging road near them, it was over two miles away. But if they went cross country, they would cross several draws and ridges, it was only a mile but would take them much longer.

After several minutes, “Base, this is seventy-one. We copy coordinates, but please be advised it’s going to take us several hours to get there if you think suspect is close.”

“Seventy-one, base copies and you are to engage any ATV on sight.”

“Um, base, this is seventy-one, did I hear correctly, any ATV because there are two off grid home sites in this valley. We were given instructions to not engage the deputized civilians at any cost and we’ve seen them riding on-,” seventy-one paused. “On Squaw Valley Road and some were on ATVs. Base, I have to warn you, at the home site to our east we counted over twenty with some serious weapons. If we shoot at them, they will shoot back, so are we cleared to engage them?”

“Hold seventy-one.” Joshua pulled out his notepad and made notes on what was said. “Seventy-one, this is base, do you copy?” came over the radio after ten minutes.

“Copy, base.”

“Move to new location. Local law enforcement is being notified that any individual moving on federal land will be viewed as hostile unless escorted by a police vehicle on a designated road. Any individual seen off a road in the forest will be engaged as hostile. Do you copy, seventy-one?”

“Any individual seen in forest or not escorted by a police vehicle on roadway is to be engaged as hostile. Is that correct, base?”

“Correct, seventy-one.”

“Base, when team gets to new location, I would like that order in writing and delivered to team in the field.”

“Negative, seventy-one, a copy will be provided to you upon return to base.”

There was a pause, “Base, until we have a written copy of that order in our hands, team seventy-one will not engage unless threatened. Team seventy-one will not be left hanging in the wind, following orders dictated out over the radio. Base, you’re ordering us to shoot any individual spotted in the forest and we will comply, but only with written orders in hand. Team doesn’t want base to forget these orders, if we carry them out. Do you copy, base?”

After a pause of ten minutes, a new voice came over the radio. “Team seventy-one, this is base operational chief Homeland AIC Griffey, do you copy?”

“Copy, sir.”

“You will have your written orders, but we can’t deliver them to you without giving away your location.”

“Sir, I say again, unless team has written orders, we won’t engage until assaulted. We will follow the orders, sir and have no problem doing so, but only after the orders are in hand.”

“Seventy-one, the orders are being photocopied now and anyone here can verify.”

“Sir, even if you had one of our mothers come on the radio, telling us they had them in hand, we would want possession before carrying them out.”

“Understood seventy-one,” Griffey sighed over the radio. “Send half your team to the following coordinates and they will be dropped off by chopper when you arrive, then they can radio the rest of the team that’s in position that you have them. After that, the other half can rejoin your team, do you copy,” Griffey said then read off the coordinates.

“Copy base, team splitting now, seventy-one alpha will be primary team overlooking valley and seventy-one bravo will be team moving to landing site.”

“Copy, seventy-one.”

Joshua marked the landing site and toyed with the idea of getting closer, but soon realized he would never get within range before the chopper showed up. Folding the map up as base talked to drivers moving along roads to pick up teams and put others out, the radio beeped several times and Joshua groaned. He knew that beep. It meant the battery was low and looked at the screen to see the message.

“Shit,” he huffed and turned off the radio. He had a portable solar charger, but there hadn’t been sunlight with all the rain that was still falling. The only reason he could still use the radio was the batteries he’d taken from the other agents he’d shot, but the other three were already dead and this was his last one.

As the rain dripped off the branches overhead, Joshua started thinking about how he could charge some batteries, then realized he was guiding King to Gene’s house. “Well, I can check on his house, but I’m not stupid enough to get close.”

It was just after 1500 when Joshua crept over the ridge, moving from tree to tree till he was overlooking Gene’s place. He saw several campers and tents in the yard with about two dozen people, men, and women, walking around with weapons. Lifting his binoculars up, he saw they were wearing hunting clothes and then he saw a few people he knew.

“Well, now I know who they were talking about at the houses around here,” he mumbled and saw a group of people walking toward the road and stopping. They were looking at a tall white box on the other side of the road. The box was about six feet tall, and three feet wide and deep with a small satellite dish on the top. On the two sides he could see, there were small black windows at the top edge.

Then, he noticed a small box half as tall but just as wide sitting beside the tall box, but the small box had solar panels. The group stopped on the road, waving at the box and making obscene gestures. One pulled his pants down mooning the box and Joshua figured out that the tall box must contain a camera. Since it was on the other side of the road, it was on federal land.

“Whatever you do, boys and girls, don’t leave his property. I’ve really pissed them off,” Joshua mumbled as he moved back to King and Jack. “I don’t want other people involved in this,” he said looking at King who just wiggled his ears.

Climbing on, Joshua gave King a gentle kick heading north. It wasn’t even an hour later that King came to a sudden stop. Joshua looked down at the back of King’s head. “There aren’t any teams around here.”

He squeezed King with his legs and jiggled the reins, but King stayed put. He looked around the forest. “King, unless they are within a hundred yards, they can’t see us. Middle Earth is just ahead, now come on,” he said, but King just snorted.

Sighing, Joshua climbed off. “King, there better be someone up here. I haven’t slept in a long time and I’m not in the mood.”

Adjusting his M4, Joshua moved in front of King and led him along the ridge. When Joshua started down the other side, King stopped, almost jerking the reins from his hands. Looking over his shoulder, he saw King looking off to the right.

Looking behind King, Joshua saw Jack looking the same direction. “If those fuckers are set up this close to the house, they die. Then I’m going to kick Chris’ ass for letting them get this close,” he mumbled, dropping the reins.

Easing down the ridge, Joshua would pause every few yards and look ahead with the binoculars. He could only see fifty or so yards, but the damn ferns here were almost chest high so anyone could be hiding. Moving down another ten yards, he stopped and glassed the forest again slowly and stopped, seeing a fern move.