The Bonner Incident: Joshua's War (19 page)

“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 try 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.”

Wagner took off in a sprint, hitting the door hard and charging down the hall outside, knocking over two people. When the doors had closed, Griffey turned back to Winters.

“Sorry sir, but that satellite is one Homeland’s Civil Overwatch birds. My friend is only one of a dozen at NSA on the program,” she said in a low voice.

“Winters, I ran that program for a year,” Griffey said looking back at the screen. “We had to use weather and other assets to monitor the continental states.”

“Well, um,” Winters shuddered. “This is off the record, right?”

“Of course,” Griffey chuckled.

“Four dedicated satellites were put up two years ago,” she said in a low voice.

“Understood. You will destroy this thumb drive when I have images delivered here, but I’m sure I won’t get them until tomorrow,” Griffey said and Winters gave a huge sigh of relief. “Winters, you won’t get in trouble for this. I swear.”

“Thank you sir,” she said and tapped the keyboard as the images started flipping across the screen. “On cloudy days, he sent radar images.”

Moore and Griffey walked up to the screen. “You have good friends,” Moore said in wonder, looking at the screen.

“Yes sir,” Winters grinned.

“Hold,” Moore shouted and the images stopped rolling across the screen. “Go back, one at a time,” he said as the images clicked back. “Stop.”

Griffey looked at the cabin shaking his head. “What?” he asked looking harder.

“The chimney has smoke coming out,” Moore said. “Look at the date.”

Looking at the bottom of the screen, Griffey’s eyes grew wide. “That’s the day he blew up our command area.”

“Yes, but notice the time, it’s late afternoon and we know he left for Spokane soon after the explosion,” Moore said and then turned to Winters. “Move six days out and keep the images slow.”

Winters typed the keyboard and the images started rolling. “Hold,” Moore said and the image froze. “This is after Spokane.”

“Smoke from the chimney,” Griffey said softly. “I don’t see an ATV.”

“Griffey, he could have a tank in the woods and we wouldn’t see it until we drove up. The forest cover is too thick there,” Moore said. “Winters, go to the next day.”

The screen changed images and Moore nodded. “No smoke.”

“He’s resupplying?” Griffey asked more than stated.

“Or returning to plan,” Moore said. “It doesn’t fit his profile. Staying mobile is what he does.”

“Even guerrilla fighters have to have a base of operations,” Griffey said.

“Griffey, Joshua isn’t a guerrilla fighter,” Moore said.

“Beg to differ,” Griffey said then looked over his shoulder. “Continue, please.”

The screen changed keeping the same image of the cabin from different angles, but different times and days. “Hold,” Moore said looking at the date. “He doesn’t go back after every attack.”

“Sir,” Winters said behind him. “We don’t know that because there’s no smoke from the chimney. I’m sure Joshua wouldn’t start a fire if it was warm.”

Moore shook his head, “I’m starting to think like a dumbass.”

“No sir. You are under a lot of pressure,” Winters said.

The door behind them busted open and Wagner was carrying a coffee cup and a box of donuts. “Here sir,” he panted walking to the front of the room out of breath.

Griffey held out his hand, and Wagner put the coffee cup in it. “Thank you,” Griffey said just holding the cup. “So, how should we hit the cabin?”

“I think we should just watch it until he shows up,” Moore said. “You have UAVs, so put one overhead.”

“I have one,” Griffey corrected. “How about a sniper team?”

“No, Joshua knows that area and the risk is too high that he would spot them. We only have one chance to nab him,” Moore said.

Griffey turned to Moore. “There will be no ‘nab’. Joshua will be shot on sight.”

“I know, just habit,” Moore sighed.

“What about putting two men inside the cabin?” Griffey asked.

“Griffey, see that small building off to the side? That’s an outhouse. They would have to go outside to take a shit,” Moore said.

Stepping up to the screen, Griffey pointed. “That’s a satellite dish.”

“Yes sir,” Winters said. “It’s for satellite internet.”

“You think that’s how he keeps in touch?”

“No sir. We haven’t detected any transmissions from there,” she said.

“Moore, study this and give me your recommendation this afternoon; with a briefing on what you’ve found,” Griffey said. “I have to notify Washington.”

“Sir, they will demand a hard approach and we will lose him,” Moore said.

“I’ll argue against it, but I have to keep them updated,” Griffey said putting his full coffee cup down and Wagner gasped as Griffey walked out.