The Bonner Incident: Joshua's War (29 page)

As she studied the CFR, Winters started getting scared. She still couldn’t buy alcohol legally, but to see a group that wasn’t elected but wielded extreme power terrified her young mind. None of the people at school seemed concerned and blew her off as a nut.

That was when Winters learned to keep her opinions to herself.

It was in her second year at college that she’d walked into the living room as her dad was reading a book, and talked to him about her fears. When she’d finished, he had just smiled at her and said, “You’ve grown up and awakened from the sleep they want you in.”

It was then, he’d asked her what she planned to do with this knowledge and she told him she’d become a lawyer and fight them. Her dad had just smiled. “Baby, they own the judges that you will be presenting the cases to. So how can you win?”

She’d ranted for several minutes, then her dad stood up and hugged her tight. “If you really want to help I can show you how, but it is a commitment for life,” he said, kissing her head. Winters told him she wasn’t joining the military. “No baby, we aren’t the military,” he’d said.

When she’d looked up at him, her dad’s smile had turned serious. “You have the heart, but you can’t ever tell anyone, not even your husband when you get married.” When she’d nodded, more than a little afraid, her dad had smiled again in joy. “Welcome to the Minutemen.”

The scope the group followed was only The Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

She was a captain now and had changed to law enforcement in college. The colonel of the Blue Ridge Minutemen at the time, had asked her if she could work in the FBI. They only had a few people there and needed more.

This ran through Winters mind as the colonel strutted over to them.

“Agent Moore, Agent Winters, I’m Colonel Chad Tanner. I’m region ten’s commander,” he said, nodding slightly. “I’m here to take over this operation.”

“Colonel,” Moore nodded.

Hearing more choppers, they looked to the south and Winters fought to remain calm as Moore shouted. “Apaches? What the hell are they for?”

“To bring order,” Tanner smiled. “Now, if you would show me to the command briefing room.”

They both heard the request given as an order with iron and turned, heading inside with Tanner following. Tanner took off his helmet, brushing back his brown, silver-streaked hair and walking with an arrogance only power could bring.

As they neared the doors, two agents stepped up, holding up their hands. “Sorry, but Agent Griffey is in video conference,” one said.

“You will step aside or you will be shot,” Tanner said like he was ordering a soft drink. The two agents looked behind Tanner to see several soldiers aiming weapons at them.

Both agents jumped to the side as Tanner walked between Winters and Moore. Tanner reached down and opened both doors, walking in. The troops behind them shoved Winters and Moore into the room as Griffey jumped to his feet.

“Don’t yell at me, Agent Griffey,” Tanner said calmly, walking around the table. Looking at the monitors, Tanner nodded his head, “Gentlemen.”

“You’re late Tanner,” the Speaker of the House snapped.

“Not by my watch, Mr. Speaker,” Tanner said, never looking at his wrist. “I’ll have a new watch sent to you, on me of course.”

“When will operations start?” the Homeland Director asked.

“I will keep the patrols that are out now in the field as my troops get here, then commence operations in two days,” Tanner said, putting his helmet on the table.

All the screens cut off at once and Tanner turned to Griffey wearing a big smile. “You need to relax Griffey,” he said pulling out Griffey’s chair. Before he sat down two soldiers came in, almost dragging Wagner between them. Moore and Winters saw the fear in Wagner’s eyes and the duct tape around his head, taping his mouth shut. They both moved around the table, putting their backs to the wall.

“Why is his mouth taped shut?” Tanner asked.

“He wouldn’t shut up,” one of the troops said, elbowing Wagner.

“We aren’t barbarians. Now take it off,” Tanner said and saw relief in Wagner’s eyes. “One word of caution, Agent Wagner. Open your mouth around me and I’ll let them take you outside and cut your tongue out.”

As one of the troops started pulling the tape off, Wagner’s eyes rolled back as he fainted, dropping to the floor. “His little mind can only handle so much,” Tanner said, sitting down in Griffey’s chair.

Griffey moved toward the table to sit down and Tanner held up his hand. “No, Agent Griffey, you are relieved now. A plane will be here shortly to take you to DC.”

“Ww-Wwwwww---,” Griffey stuttered and Tanner held up his hand.

“Relax, if you had really pissed them off, I would be taking you up in my helicopter and just throwing you out,” Tanner said and Griffey stared at him, truly terrified. “Now, your friend on the floor, I’m not so sure about. I do believe the only reason he is alive now is because he put out that false statement on the target Joshua Anderson being wounded.”

Griffey’s lip quivered as he mumbled and Tanner nodded at the gibberish. “I know you allowed it and sent a report that you let him talk you into it,” Tanner said, leaning back in the chair. “I think you will be demoted and shoved in an office someplace. I don’t know what you have hidden, but it must be good.”

Griffey looked over at Moore, “For God’s sake, help me!” he begged with watery eyes.

Tanner threw back his head laughing and they looked at him. “Agent Moore can’t help you, Griffey. One thing I will say, if you had followed Moore’s advice from the beginning, the target would be dead and I wouldn’t be here.”

“I did what he said,” Griffey said as a major walked in.

“Planes here sir,” the major said.

“Thank you, Major Grattan. Will you escort these gentlemen to the runway?” Tanner said and Griffey and a still unconscious Wagner were taken out. “One of you, gather the team heads and have them wait in the hall till I’m ready,” Tanner said to the other soldiers.

When they left closing the doors, he turned to Moore and Winters and motioned to the chairs in front of them. “Please sit,” Tanner said, but it sounded like an order.

They both sat down as he continued, leaning back in the chair. “I must say, Agent Moore. I’ve read a lot about you and the reports you’ve sent in on this operation, and you really amaze me,” Tanner said, sounding genuine. “The way you get inside another person’s mind is extraordinary.”

“Thank you,” Moore said as Tanner turned to Winters.

“Agent Winters, I know why Moore has had you on his team for so long, and my amazement extends to you as well,” Tanner smiled.

Taking a deep breath, Winters smiled, “Thank you.”

“Ah, Colonel, why did they find that false statement by Wagner so thrilling?” Moore asked slowly.

Tanner laughed, “After that statement this morning, attacks quit escalating against government agents.”

“Escalating?” Winters said, furrowing her brow. “They can’t know that with only four more attacks.”

“Au contraire,” Tanner said. “That’s only what we have let out. We wouldn’t have let those out, but local law enforcement made statements before we took over the cases.”

“Question.” Winters said. “When you say ‘we’ are you saying all FEMA regions have become active?”

“The regions have been active since it was put in effect,” Tanner said and the smile slowly faded. “But the ‘we’ I refer to is the federal government.”

“So I take it there have been more attacks?” she asked hesitantly.

“Since the shooting in Atlanta, forty-two agents have been killed.” 

Pushing back from the table, Moore jumped up. “It has barely been thirty hours!” he shouted and started pacing, looking at the floor.

Tanner looked at Winters, “Excitable, isn’t he?”

Winters raised her hand up, “Hold on, but, yes,” she said. “Are we certain on that number? Because we’ve had several dozens here turn in their resignation.”

“Yes, and they will be dealt with harshly. You will not run away from your duty to serve just because it gets a little tough,” Tanner said. “On the numbers? Yes.”

Shaking her head, “Sorry, but I think someone in the government is cleaning house. The population couldn’t respond that fast. We are talking about murder and even a person with a grudge would need time to prepare. I can say even a person with a deep hatred and extreme intelligence would need more than thirty hours. And the odds that all were carried out by perps like that is astronomical.”

“Wow,” Tanner said, staring at her. “You really impress the hell out of me.”

She just stared back and Tanner nodded. “Though I can’t speak for all of the killings, I’ve seen the evidence on a few and those weren’t done by anyone in the government. I should say the NSA found a website that listed the address of every employee of the federal government posted months ago, so the information has been out there.”

“You’re talking about a coordinated effort and I’ve been on teams that addressed this, and there is no group that could do it. Not on the scale you’re talking about, and just a few ordinary people can’t pull this off.”

“Moore, you chose a good one,” Tanner said, not looking away from Winters. “Again, you’re right, just a –
ton
- of pissed off people. And if the politicians had done their job, getting the guns away from the populace, my job wouldn’t be so hard. Nor would they be having these problems.”

Fighting down the nausea she felt, hearing an officer of the United States Army disrespect all that America stood for, Winters shook her head. “I’m finding this very hard to believe.”

“Believe it, because that’s why I’m here,” Tanner said, as Moore moved back to the table.

“Okay, we need to limit all communication from the area, so he can’t get a message out that the report was a lie,” Moore said sitting down. “I still believe Joshua is trailing the patrols before he ambushes them. We’ll start to have two or three men shadow each patrol. And-,”

“Agent Moore,” Tanner said, stopping him and Moore looked over. “I’ve read your reports and I agree with them, so you can stop. I know you’ve implemented a few of those teams already and we can make some changes.” Winters grabbed a pen and notebook to keep from grabbing her pistol and shooting Tanner and Moore.

“What is the status of Joshua’s family?” Tanner asked and they both jerked their heads, looking at him in shock.

“The last time didn’t go so well,” Winters said wide-eyed.

Nodding, Tanner pushed back and stood up. “I know, and I want to think on that, but what is their status?”

“I don’t know, I would have to ask Schmidt,” Moore said, flopping back in his chair.

“Major!” Tanner barked making both jump.

The door opened and the red-headed Major Grattan stuck his head in. “Sir?”

“Bring me-,” he stopped and looked at Moore.

“Agent Schmidt, he’s over the HRT,” Moore helped.

Looking back at the major, “Bring me Agent Schmidt,” Tanner said.

“I’m right here,” a voice sounded out in the hall and the major pulled his head out of the door, looking behind him.

The major stepped in, holding the door open and Schmidt walked in wearing his tactical vest, but didn’t have his M4. “Agent Schmidt,” he said, strolling in with indifference.

Tanner waved the major out and pointed at a chair. “So, Agent Schmidt, what is the status of the target’s family?”

Pulling a chair out and sitting down, Schmidt looked up at Tanner. “They’ve gone,” he said pointedly.

The courteous smile left his face as Tanner just blinked for a few seconds. “Um, gone?” he finally said.

“Yep, I went to check on my over watch this morning that had eyes on the family and found my team gone,” Schmidt said. “Using my binoculars, I saw Mr. Anderson’s house is empty. No one is guarding it and all the vehicles are gone.”

“Joshua took out your team?” Winters gasped.

Shaking his head, “Nope, Griffey pulled them to that hill that Joshua shot the aircraft from,” Schmidt said.

“Idiot,” Tanner said. “So, we have no idea where they are at?”

“None, but that’s not all,” Schmidt said, and they all looked at him. “Everyone in that little hamlet of Lamb Creek is gone. I went to several houses and they were all empty. You might find someone but for the most part, they all just left.”

“And we have no idea when this happened?” Tanner snapped.

“Well, I talked to a few guys and they said that little store was open yesterday around 1500, but some others went to the store around 1800 and it was closed. They still saw people around and it’s not unusual for the owner of the store to just close, but another group went in when the store was supposed to open at 0600 and it was closed,” Schmidt said.

“So you don’t think my air armada scared them off?” Tanner asked, looking off. 

“Couldn’t have because I had already been to town, finding it empty,” Schmidt shrugged.

“Major!” Tanner shouted and the major stuck his head in. “Any civilians attempting to drive past this compound are to be detained and questioned. Any civilian approaching this compound is to be shot.”

“Yes sir,” the major said, pulling his head out and shutting the door.