The Bonner Incident: Joshua's War (38 page)

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

“So the next item is for the feds. No citizen in the state of Idaho will pay one cent in federal taxes. I’ve called for a joint session to pass an Amendment to our state Constitution that will only allow ten percent of what a person makes in one year to be taxable. This includes sales tax, property tax, gas tax and social security. Any amount over that is a criminal act and the head of the department will be charged. If they are in D.C., we will just have to make a road trip. No business in the state will pay taxes to the feds. To the IRS, send the state the bill and we will pay you, according to what you’re worth and what you’ve done for this state. If you think to arrest my fellow citizens for not paying the IRS if they leave this state, it will be viewed as kidnapping and I will send officers to extract them from you with lethal force. To any arresting officer enforcing the IRS’s draconian laws, you will be brought back here for trial and any action by you, except full compliance will be viewed as hostile intent and you will be shot.  If you’re shot, no need for a trial.”

The crowd started chanting “U.S.A.” as they clapped and then the governor held up his hands. “Now, I have favors to ask of you good people. I need some of you that are armed to assist the local law in restoring order and I need others who have transportation, to talk with the state police who are going to Bonner to assist the sheriff there in throwing the trash out,” the governor grinned and the crowd went nuts.

Major Grattan moved over beside Tanner, holding out a satellite phone. Tanner took the phone and started talking as Moore watched. 

“Now I would like to turn this over to the Attorney General,” the governor said and the crowd applauded.

“Thank you, Mr. Governor and I am glad to be the one to tell you, I was with the governor and we talked to many governors across this nation, and many today will be giving this same speech. I won’t call them by name, in case one changes his/her mind but like the citizens of Idaho, they are tired of D.C. using the Bill of Rights and the Constitution as dirty rags,” he said and the crowd exploded.

Tanner stood up and walked off, still talking as Grattan waved at Moore to come over. As the Attorney General started again, “To all federal agencies, you no longer have any power in this state. If you have a grievance and yes, I said grievance, you will present it to the state police. If they feel an investigation is warranted, they will do it and proceed according to our laws, not the crap made up in D.C. And just a warning, any IRS or BATFE agent that enters this state, you will be arrested unless you are visiting and you’d better be unarmed. You want people unarmed? Well, it's time you see what it’s like. No federal firearms law will be recognized in this state and any attempt to prosecute a citizen will be disregarded. To all federal judges in this state, start packing. You have ten days to leave or you will be arrested for attempting to implement false laws in the state of Idaho.” 

The crowd reverberated in cheers as Moore stepped up to Grattan. “Yeah?” Moore said as the Attorney General continued, but he wasn’t listening.

“The Colonel asked me to contact the state park rangers on the other side of the lake to get them to check on team thirty-three,” Grattan said then sighed. “They found them. All dead.”

“Nothing else?” Moore asked as Grattan handed him a handwritten report he’d taken from the rangers on site.

“No other bodies, but they found a lot of blood that they couldn’t account for and said the group must have been about to play cards because there were playing cards everywhere,” Grattan said and Moore stumbled back, hitting someone. He turned to see Winters behind him, watching the TV. “Sorry,” he said and looked back at Grattan.

“Are you sure he said this?” Moore asked, grinning.

“Yes, there are two park rangers there and I talked to them on a sat phone,” Grattan said, motioning to the paper.

Pushing past Grattan, Moore bolted after Tanner as Winters wiped tears from her eyes. Running out from under the tent, Moore spotted Tanner as he hung up the phone. “Tanner!” he shouted in a dead run.

As Moore ran over, Tanner held up his hand. “Don’t. That was Washington, they said to pull out and pull out fast. The governor isn’t playing and they know of twelve more governors that are going to announce the same, and it may go as high as twenty-nine states.”

“Tanner!” Moore shouted, then realized he didn’t want attention. Stepping up till they were nose to nose, Moore whispered. “He was wounded and alone. Grattan just gave me the report from the park rangers you’d asked him to bully into checking it out.”

Hope sprang up on Tanner’s face, but then slowly died. “We have to leave and even if you found him, the state wouldn’t let us have him,” Tanner said solemnly.

“Possession is nine-tenths of the law. I’ll haul his ass out in the trunk of a car,” Moore said quietly. “Unless we bring him in, think of what will happen to your career. Me, they will force to retire. I’m already past retirement and they can’t touch me, but you have to worry about you. We can’t let Joshua ruin this country. If he stands trial, this nonsense will stop.”

Tanner stared into Moore’s eyes for several minutes before he spoke. “I have a Cayuse coming in at lunch to help pull teams out of the field. If it drops you off, it may not get back to you before the deadline.”

“I’ll get out of the state, don’t worry. Give me your cellphone number, so I can contact you if I find him and get him out of state,” Moore said.

“I can’t send anyone with you,” Tanner said, handing over a business card.

Taking the card, Moore nodded. “I prefer it that way. Can you ask Grattan if he will call the rangers back and tell them to stay until I get there? I can handle them after that.”

“You will only be able to take one of your team with you. The Cayuse is small,” Tanners said.

“I’ll take Winters, she has HRT training and is great in the field.”

Looking away as he stepped back, “At times, she seems unsure,” Tanners said.

“No, that’s just her. You have no idea how many times I’ve went before a disciplinary board for her to keep her out of trouble. She understands that we can’t let the government fall.”

“Whew,” Tanner said then grinned. “Now I’m more at ease. If you get Joshua out of state, I’ll have a chopper get you to an airport to have him delivered to Gitmo. After Joshua’s trial, we can exchange him for the team the sheriff arrested.”

Moore nodded and then looked away. “If I find his body, I’m still taking it out.”

“And I’ll still send a chopper, but also some photographers. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll report that you’re in the field, so they will look for you. Just make sure you surrender to these trigger-happy yoyos.”

“If you don’t hear from me by tomorrow, I’m dead, along with Winters. She knows how to move in mountain forest so in that, I’m in good hands,” Moore said. “And Tanner,” Moore said, pointing at the airstrip. “You need to tell the Germans not to get on a chopper while still carrying a weapon. I’m sure we have snipers on us now and they have been given the green light. If we shoot back, every person in this county will come running with a gun.” Tanner motioned a soldier over.

“Captain, tell the Germans to lay down their weapons before getting on any aircraft. I’m sure there are snipers around us with more coming to make sure all weapons are left behind,” Tanner said and the captain took off running.

“Sorry, but I don’t want to get shot when we are so close,” Moore said and Tanner nodded.

“Good luck, let me make some changes,” Tanner said and walked away. Moore went to Grattan and asked where supply was and went to collect supplies.

Winters walked out of the tent and saw Moore by a tree that the team was using as a meeting area. The soldiers and agents all walked out, hanging their heads low. Moving with the group, Winters saw Moore with two small backpacks and wiped her eyes again.

“I always believed you would see,” she mumbled, walking over to him.

Feeling someone coming, Moore looked up as Winters wiped her eyes. “Don’t worry, we can fix this,” he said as she stopped beside him. “Here,” Moore said, passing her the note Grattan had given him.

Winters read the note and looked up at Moore. “Moore, it’s over,” she said, pleading.

“No, it’s not,” he snapped in a low voice. “We can’t let the country fall in shame because of one man.”

“The country?” Winters gasped. “We are talking about a governing body, you yourself have bitched about.”

“It’s still the best,” Moore said checking the packs.

“No, Moore, it’s not. If it was, everyone wouldn’t have taken to the streets and the governor all but said that Idaho would secede. Hell, the AG just called for the President’s resignation or impeachment, along with all of the Supreme Court Justices.”

“Yes, don’t you see?” Moore said, getting in her face. “It all started because of one man. We can’t allow others to see that he won’t be punished. Then, this crap will stop and it will go back to the way it was. If people want change, they can vote for it.”

“Vote?” she coughed as a tear ran down her cheek. “You have seen how they manipulate the votes, Moore. Hell, how many in Washington have we investigated, knowing they were guilty and nothing happened? Let’s just leave.”

He looked up as another tear rolled down her cheek. “Don’t worry, we can save this nation,” he said with a forced grin. “I know it hurts to see what we’ve represented being trashed, but you’ll see. When we bring in Joshua, it will all be over.”

Winters looked in Moore’s face and saw he believed his words and would die to keep change from happening. “Okay,” she finally nodded.

“We will get a ride out around lunch. No long guns, sidearms only,” he said, handing her a backpack. “Only enough water for two days and food for one.”

“What about being out of the state by midnight?”

“I just need to see where it happened and make an estimate on how bad Joshua was wounded. He only has three places to go,” Moore said, grabbing his pack. “I’m going to make sure Grattan has told the park rangers to stay put.”

She watched him walk off and shook her head. “I’ll let Joshua kill us both before I let you bring him in,” she said and went to find some food.

It was just after twelve when the Cayuse landed on the road and Tanner ran over to them. “Good luck,” he said, holding out his hand.

“I gave Grattan a message from the sheriff. The sheriff said he should have the road cleared to here by nightfall and has trucks to carry you to the state line, so have vehicles ready to meet you there,” Moore shouted over the rotor noise and shook Tanner’s hand.

“Will do and I’ll have all weapons collected before he gets here,” Tanner said, letting Moore’s hand go.

Moore nodded and climbed in the Cayuse and saw Winters already buckled in on the other side, staring out the doorway. The doors had been removed to save weight as the little bird would be used to pull teams out after dropping them off.

The pilot lifted off and banked right over the compound and Moore looked down at the destroyed area. Seeing it from above, showed just how easily the attackers could have killed them all.  Flying just over the treetops, the pilot dropped down when he reached the lake and sped north, twenty feet off the water.