The Bonner Incident: Joshua's War (35 page)

Moore tapped Winters arm, “S-2?” he whispered.

“Intelligence,” she whispered back, typing in her password.

Looking at his notes, Grattan nodded. “Yes sir, current estimates put the number close to a thousand, but no less than eight hundred.”

“Oh, bullshit!” Tanner shouted.

“Sir, I’ve walked around the perimeter and you wouldn’t believe the piles of brass around us. I saw everything from 5.56 to 8mm Mauser. I feel S-2s’ numbers are real close.”

Letting out a sigh, “Continue,” Tanner said.

“It was a three-pronged assault, sir,” Grattan said, pointing at the chalkboard. “They had snipers on this hill overlooking us at almost the same spot the target had used when taking out the helicopters. Now, along with snipers, they had one fifty caliber machine gun and it alone, fired an estimated three thousand rounds.”

“Get BATFE to find out who has a tax stamp for one of those within a hundred-mile radius, and have them send agents to pick up all of them up and bring them in for interviews,” Tanners said making notes.

“Colonel, I did that as soon as we had the satellite link up this morning and was told ‘Fuck you’,” Grattan said with a straight face. “I have the Agent’s name in my report.”

“Thank you, I’ll deal with him,” Tanner growled, writing very hard on his notepad.

Looking back at his notes, Grattan pointed to the chalkboard. “The group on the slope covered an attacking force that moved to the airstrip. They took out the guards quietly, some were even hit with arrows and then they placed explosives on all the air assets,” Grattan said, flipping the page on his notebook.

“Twenty-one Blackhawks, nine Apaches, three Kiowas, four Predator drones, three Forest Service Hueys, and one C130 were totally destroyed.” 

Grattan glanced at Tanner who was writing so hard on his small notepad that he was tearing the paper. “Sir, S-4 says we are out of all medical supplies and the attack destroyed our ammo stockpile. The only food stocks left are what the troops have in their rucks, but not many have their rucks.”

“S-4 is supply,” Winters whispered over at Moore as she typed on her laptop.

“The choppers coming in from Lewis are bringing MREs and medical supplies, but we will need to resupply by air every three days to replenish food stores,” Grattan said and Moore cleared his throat.

“Um, why can’t we just have food driven in?” he asked.

“The roads are blocked,” Tanner growled, tossing his pen down and it bounced across the table.

Grattan looked from Tanner to Moore. “Yes Agent Moore, trees have been cut down to the south and north of us and they are some very large trees,” he said. “We’ve tried to use some of the logging roads, but they too are blocked by downed trees.

“Any idea when we can start to clear them?” Tanner asked with a red face, looking up at Grattan.

“After the choppers land to carry out the most critically wounded, they will bring back ammo so we can start,” Grattan said. “We don’t have the ammunition on hand to cover teams who would have to clear the road.”

“And we know people are out there near the roadblocks?” Moore asked and Winters turned to him, staring hard wanting him to shut the hell up.

Tanner jumped out of his chair, kicking it back. “Yes, Moore!” he bellowed. “After the attack, I diverted the five hundred German troops that were heading to Coeur d’Alene here. They ran into a roadblock of trees at 0300 and someone dropped trees behind them, closing them in not even ten miles from here. All we know is they haven’t been heard from again!”

“Oh, shit,” Moore mumbled.

“I can think of other things to say,” Tanner growled, putting his hands on his hips and walking in a slow circle to get his temper under control. “Major, continue.”

“Yes sir,” Grattan said, looking at his notebook. “For ground vehicles, we have two HUMVEEs, one MRAP, three of the Suburbans, and two Forest Service trucks. The second prong of the attack went after the vehicles. It seems they made thermite and set it off over the engine compartment on most of the MRAPs. The commo vehicles, they blew up.”

“Commo is command, right?” Moore whispered to Winters as he dug his cellphone out of his pocket, feeling it vibrate.

“Yes, but those are the ones with multiple radios to monitor troops,” she whispered back, clicking open an email. As Grattan continued, her mouth dropped open. 

“The last prong of the attack was to the southeast with a small group coming from the ravine behind us. That group hit the command area while the other hit the troop area. This last group was the largest and cut a hole in the fence. Between fifty and a hundred penetrated in, throwing Molotov cocktails,” Grattan said, reaching down and lifting up a mason jar. “It has jelled fuel inside like napalm. But it’s not napalm. We can’t send it out for analysis, but ordnance disposal said there was thermite in the gel. If the attackers would’ve used just gasoline, the fires wouldn’t have been so bad and we could’ve saved a lot, but this crap is hard to put out.”

“Moore,” Tanner snapped, making the group jump. “Where in the hell could they get thermite and this napalm like stuff from Hell?”

“Colonel, it’s not that hard to make,” Moore said and Tanner turned to look at him. “Hell, anyone with a basic understanding of chemistry could do it in a garage.”

“Great, they watched Beakman’s World,” Tanner grumbled.

“Huh?” Winters whispered to Moore.

“An old TV science show for kids,” Moore whispered back.

“I’m getting pissed,” Tanner mumbled and turned to Grattan. “Major, how did they jam my coms?”

“Just like we do sir,” Grattan said. “S-6 said they had to be close, but all of their equipment was destroyed, so they couldn’t triangulate.”

“S-6 is communications,” Winters whispered, distracted as she read her computer screen.

“How about the teams that are out?” Tanner asked.

“Well, sir, we started the check-in this morning at 0500 and soon after the first team gave a brief call, they were being attacked. We have been unable to establish contact with them. Then an hour later, another team called out but was cut off. S-6 said the attackers had triangulated the teams with the radio checks. We put out a call for all teams to move and not contact us until we contacted them. Each of the seventy-two teams was instructed to find a place to lay low,” Grattan said, looking at his notes.

“Major, what are you wanting to add?” Tanner said, picking his chair up like he was going to throw it, then took a deep breath and just dropped it.

“Six teams didn’t report they’d got the message, but they could’ve misinterpreted our instructions,” Grattan said quickly.

“Not likely,” Tanner said, falling back into his chair.

“We did find a bulldozer and excavator at a farm down the road and are using them to clear the runway for cargo planes,” Grattan said cheerfully. “They will be done before nightfall.”

“Major, any word on the two platoons that were supposed to be on overwatch?” Tanner asked.

“We found one, sir. All dead,” Grattan said in a low voice. “We still haven’t found the other.”

“So, they just disappeared?”

“No, sir. The reason we only found one was the group of men who chased the attackers never returned. I sent a small patrol out before dawn and they found both groups. The group that had gone after the attackers and one of the lost platoons,” Grattan said. “We haven’t located the other one yet.”

Tanner looked around the table. “If I find out that one of you ordered those men to pursue the attackers, I’m killing your kids,” Tanner said and everyone knew it wasn’t a joke. “You don’t follow an attacker unless you have overwhelming firepower, and we didn’t have it.”

“Anything else on this fine day?” Tanner asked looking at Grattan.

“Um, yes sir. I’ve gotten several reports that the group who entered the troop area targeted the German troops hard. Several reported that the attackers shot wounded German troops, but passed by wounded American troops. I have two reports of the attackers dressing wounds on our troops before withdrawing.”

“Fuck,” Tanner mumbled, bringing his hands over his face. “Did we at least kill some of the attackers?”

“No bodies were found, but bloody dressings were found near the lake where many of the attackers used boats to get away,” Grattan said.

Dropping his hands to the table, “Anyone else have something to add?” Tanner asked.

“Colonel,” Winters said, staring at her laptop. “Are you aware that we weren’t the only ones hit last night?”

“Yes, when I gave my report this morning, D.C. told me a few federal buildings were vandalized.”

“How about Spokane, Boston, Boise, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Houston, Memphis, Miami and Atlanta? And Colonel, they weren’t vandalized, they were burnt. Many are still on fire,” Winters said, staring at her laptop.

Tanner got up, walking around the table as Winters continued. “On every building they broke in, placing a jelled accelerant with thermite and broke the water main, disabling the building’s fire suppression. Fire departments in all cities have pulled back, letting the buildings burn and trying to save any adjacent structures,” she finished as Tanner stopped behind her.

In shocked horror, Tanner looked at the images of the burning buildings. “Major,” he said, not looking away from the screen. “Mobilize every swinging dick we have and notify every governor in our region; We now have control.”

“Colonel, none of my business, but maybe you should wait till we have some bullets here before you go announcing that,” Moore said, then let out a soft whistle.

“They don’t know that we don’t have ammunition,” Tanner said, reaching down and moving Winters hand to scroll through the pictures.

“On that you are wrong, our attackers do. They left last night, and they knew full well they could’ve wiped us out,” Moore said.

Leaning down further with his chin almost on Winters shoulder, “Moore, how can you know that? And why would they leave and not wipe us out?” he asked distracted.

“Hell, the major’s report told me that. They breached us and didn’t leave behind bodies. I’m not a tactician but even I could figure out that I could wipe us out. For the why didn’t they, that’s political on their part. The public wouldn’t look at them as saviors if they killed all of us,” Moore said and turned to Grattan. “Major, just curious, how many German troops are able to take the field?”

Grattan looked down at his notebook. “Um, they have one hundred and sixty-four combat ready.”

“See? The attackers gave no quarter to the invading military,” Moore said.

When he’d finished looking at the pictures, Tanner turned away, “Oh, shit,” he mumbled. “Major,” he said, looking out over the burnt compound. “Hold the announcement until we have ammunition.”

“Yes sir,” Grattan said with relief.

“Uh oh,” Winters said and Tanner spun around as he and everyone shouted.

“What!”

Winters looked around the table and then at Moore, “Joshua sent another video this morning,” she said and Tanner leaned down, putting his chin on her shoulder. “Colonel, not to sound like an ass, but I don’t know you well enough to let you put your head on my shoulder,” she said, cutting her eyes at him.

“Sorry,” Tanner said, moving his head and looked at the lieutenant sitting beside Winters. “Move it,” he snapped and sat down as the young lieutenant practically dove out of the chair.

Everyone sitting around the table got up and moved behind Winters, since there was no monitor to play the message on.

Clicking play, they saw a hand moving away from the lens and saw Joshua standing in a small rocky ravine. “Hello again,” Joshua smiled, taking his helmet off and sitting on the ground.

“I guess everyone heard about what happened last night?” he grinned, reaching up stroking his beard. “No, I didn’t help, but I talked to a group I know. They have a chat room on the dark web and last night, talked about what they were going to do. They did ask me to put out one message for them-,” he paused, looking at the camera.

“Dark web?” Tanner asked, leaning back.

“Ssshhh,” many said as Joshua continued.

“All Minutemen are to rise and carry out assigned assaults,” he said with a firm expression.

“Oh fuck,” Moore gasped as Joshua continued.

“Now that that’s done, I wanted to send this message today for the troops of the United States. You’re going to be asked to fight Americans and if you do, you will be seen as a traitor. Any person can look and see what the government has done to this once great country. Hell, the way they send troops off to fight for big corporations, even you troops should be tired of that, but hey; I’m not here to judge.

“To all foreign troops here in the states. You are being viewed as an occupying army, so if you fight Americans, you will be killed,” Joshua said sternly.

“Now, Mr. President and those little dorks in Congress, you see what happened when you activated the regional commander here just in two counties. Believe me, you don’t want to know what happens when more are activated,” Joshua grinned, still stroking his beard.

“To all federal agents, if you don’t want to be viewed as the enemy, I suggest you quit. Put an ad in the paper and a sign in your front yard, saying you don’t work for the government anymore. Then find a reporter and tell them something you’ve been ordered to do to fellow Americans. If you carry a badge for the federal government, you fall in this category. You need to hurry with your decision because from what I saw in the chat room last night, many more attacks against you are coming.