The Bonner Incident: Joshua's War (5 page)

Taking a deep breath, “You’re smarter than you look or act,” Gene mumbled. “Keep your trap shut and that means, even to Barbara. Chris told me Ernest and the group were preparing to hit the feds in hard attacks. Chris knew if they did, the feds would come after Sonya and William because they would be like figureheads. I agreed and sent a message to Buck to see me ASAP, but acted very casual about it because it could get us killed.”

“Ernest and them would attack us even if they knew that?” Ben scoffed.

“The feds, dummy,” Gene grunted. “If they found out we knew the names of Minutemen, we would be in a dark hole till they got them out of us. As far as the feds are concerned, Ernest and his group are just a bunch of crazy militia.”

Glancing down and seeing they were above the speed limit, Gene thought about calling Ernest and asking him to slow down. Seeing the cars ahead pulling to the side, Gene grinned. “I like this.”

Reaching Priest River, they turned east heading for Sandpoint and noticed a sheriff’s car was leading them now. Glancing in his mirror, Gene saw two at the back of the group. “Guess Ernest called ahead,” Ben said looking in the mirror.

“Needs to tell me these things,” Gene said noticing the speed was picking up. “Those boys better realize this is a ’78 Bronco, not a Mustang.”

Reaching Sandpoint, they headed to an electronic store, the only one in town located in a shopping center and pulled up, stopping at the curb by the front door. They got out and the Minutemen jumped out, forming a half circle facing out. Several people in the shopping center turned and waved seeing Sonya.

When they came out carrying boxes of stuff, there was an actual crowd standing outside and cheering. They loaded up and sped off to Wally World. Speeding through the parking lot they stopped in front of one of the doors and again, loaded out with the Minutemen facing out but this time, some went inside with them.

At first, people mistook the Minutemen as feds, but then saw that they were the sheriff’s deputies. When they spotted Sonya, people would run over to her and the Minutemen would move, blocking them. Only when Sonya moved past them, did the Minutemen let the person closer.

After buying all of the Copenhagen that Walmart had, Gene stepped back outside and opened a can up. Seeing a Sheriff’s SUV pull in, he shoved a chunk of tobacco in his lip and put away the can. As the SUV pulled up, the passenger window rolled down and Buck was smiling at him.

“Had to get some snuff?” Buck grinned.

“Chris and Ben go through my snuff faster than I do,” Gene chuckled, seeing people gathering at the circle of Minutemen. “Word’s getting out that Sonya and William are in town.”

“It’s on the radio Gene. The DJ announced it and told anyone in town to wear a gun, in case the feds show up to take them,” Buck said glancing around. “They are happy to see them not boxed up.”

“If that’s the case Buck, you need to tell that sedan in the back of the parking lot,” Gene said nodding toward it. “Cars are piling in here and if this crowd finds out that’s feds, you’ll have to deal with a lynching.” Buck gave a long sigh glancing over his shoulder. “I’m just saying Buck. I know you walk the line and wouldn’t want to feel guilty about locking some of our residents up for it because you’re talking mob mentality.”

Buck looked as cars continued to pile into the parking lot. “Cory, get some patrol cars here for traffic control,” Buck said opening his door. “You want to go with me?”

“Can’t, I’m waiting till they call me that they’re ready to check out, so I can pay,” Gene said with a straight face and Buck took a step back. “Long story and I’m not in the mood,” Gene said, seeing the Minutemen stationed in the SUVs get out to join the semi-circle protecting the SUVs.

Buck nodded and walked around Cory’s SUV and the crowd parted, letting him through. Two men in the sedan saw him walking toward them and tried to act natural. Buck stopped at the driver’s window and tapped it. The driver held up his Homeland badge, but didn’t roll down the window.

“Boy, roll down this window or I’ll shoot your stupid ass,” Buck snapped. When the window rolled down, Buck held up a finger silencing the man. “I’m here as a courtesy gentlemen. As you can see, a crowd is gathering to wish Sonya and William luck. If that crowd spots you, they will kill you. You can see with your own eyes that most are armed and the local radio stations are telling people where Sonya and William are at and to come armed, in case you or your fellow agents attempt to abduct them. Now, I will prosecute the ones that do kill you, but you’ll still be dead. My advice is to leave because as you can see, you’re attracting attention.”

The man in the driver’s seat nodded, seeing many in the crowd look toward them with guns in their hands. He slammed the car in drive and squealed tires, leaving. “Thought you would see my point of view,” Buck said walking back.

Getting close, he was guessing it was over five hundred people in the throng around the SUVs. As he reached the crowd, everyone cheered him, patting his back as they let him through. When he reached the front, he found Sonya and William going around the crowd, shaking hands and telling people thank you.

“It’s funny,” he heard Ernest’s voice beside him. “They are cheering just because Sonya and William came to town, knowing the feds want to keep them bottled up.”

“I don’t want a war,” Buck said in a low voice.

“Oh, our deal still stands, but understand this, you may not want the war but it’s coming. They are getting stronger every day, getting ready to move out.”

“If it happens, then I know I’ve done everything I could to prevent it,” Buck said seeing Barbara and Sammy join Sonya and William.

“Oh, you have, and if it wasn’t for you, this war would already be going,” Ernest said seeing Ben and Gene roll several shopping carts and a flat cart to the vehicles. “Buck, you need to keep men close to you, but your wife especially. I had a man coming by your place tonight to tell you,” Ernest said in a low whisper. “Word is coming down; you need other things on your mind. Things that will take your mind off your job and out of their concern.”

Buck felt his heart race as he broke out in a cold sweat. “How reliable?”

“Very and it will happen soon,” Ernest said moving away to stand near Sonya. Buck jumped as several people started to shake his hand. He forced a smile and said thank you.

Seeing Sonya was going to go to every person around them with the crowd still growing, Ernest finally whispered to her that they needed to leave. As they piled into the SUVs, the crowd parted, allowing them to drive out. Having helped with crowd control, Cory saw the sheriff beside the SUV in a trance, like he got gut kicked.

“Sheriff, you okay?” he asked moving next to him.

With shock on his face, Buck looked up at Cory. “No, I’m not okay. I completely understand why Joshua did it. Just hearing it, I…,” he mumbled realizing his first thought had been to run to the feds and start killing. Then, he realized anyone can be pushed too far. “And if it happens to me, I won’t follow the letter of the law. I’ll cross the line.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

As the sky started to brighten, Joshua peered through his spotting scope at the team he had tracked down. He saw their fire from three miles away in the clearing where they camped beside the lake. “If you weren’t feds, the forestry boys would’ve fined you for that,” Joshua mumbled seeing the men pack up around the remains of the bonfire they’d had last night.

He couldn’t believe they were starting out this early, watching the men pull on backpacks and checking rifles. One man was off to the side, talking into a radio as the others got ready to move out. “You must be the eager bunch,” he said taking his eye off the spotting scope.

Putting the lens covers on, he put the scope back in its case and zipped it up. Sitting on a hill just a mile away, he could barely make them out with his eyes. Pulling out his binoculars, he brought them up to see the radio man packing up the radio. 

When he saw the point man veer towards the lake, Joshua groaned. The point man walked a few yards and picked something up off the ground looking at it then headed right, walking up the spur to the ridge. Watching the man lead the team into the shallow draw that ran down the middle of the ridge, Joshua grinned. “Thank you.”

Holding his binoculars on the team till all were walking in the shallow draw, Joshua finally lowered them and grabbed his gear. Even though he was on a tree covered hilltop, he crouch-walked back into the trees to King and Jack who were just looking at him. “They are going where we wanted them,” he said climbing on King and giving him a gentle kick.

Guiding King down the hill to the ridge that the team was taking, Joshua headed up the draw and it started drizzling again. “Take it easy King,” he said, guiding him around trees. “I don’t need to be on foot because I refuse to ride Jack. A man must have some principles.”

Riding on the slope outside of the draw, Joshua could see the draw was fairly clear. Except for the ferns and fallen dead trees but for mountain terrain, it would be considered a sidewalk. Thirty minutes later, he pulled back on King seeing what he wanted; a fairly large log over the draw that had to be stepped over with thick brush on both sides. A three-foot-wide clearing over the log made a natural funnel. 

Climbing off, Joshua led King and Jack up the slope a little more and he went back to Jack. He untied the grizzly trap, grunting as it fell into his arms. “Mountain men were crazy to lug these things around,” he panted, carrying it down the slope. “I would’ve just sat in a hide to shoot a damn bear before lugging this thing around.”

Coming down behind the log, he set down the number sixteen grizzly bear trap. It was almost four feet long and weighed just over fifty pounds. Shaking his head at the massive trap, Joshua ran back to Jack to get the rest of the stuff he needed.

Walking back down, he folded out his folding shovel and leveled a spot beside the log. Satisfied, Joshua grabbed a three-foot-long steel rod and fed it through the steel ring at the end of the thick chain connected to the trap.

Pulling the trap over, he grabbed the half-inch cable that had eyes at both ends and wrapped it around the fallen log in the bushes. Grabbing a three-inch-long, one-inch bolt and the thick chain attached to the trap, Joshua put the ring at the end of the chain between the two eyes and ran the bolt through. Smiling as he twisted the nut down as tight as he could, Joshua pulled out his multi-tool and selected the file. Right under the nut, he filed down the threads to make taking the nut off more difficult.

Finding that he couldn’t back the nut off, Joshua laid down the chain and folded up his multi-tool. “This is the part I don’t like,” he mumbled and grabbed the set poles. The six-foot-long poles were connected at the end like scissors and he put one spring between them.

Using his weight and muscle, he slowly squeezed the spring down. Holding the poles, he reached out with the spring clamp, just a U-shaped piece of metal, sliding it over the spring. When the clamp was on, he slowly released the pressure on the spring, seeing the clamp was holding. Repeating the process on the other spring, Joshua stepped back and gave a shiver.

The first rule of trapping was ‘always work a trap from the bottom’. Looking at the massive steel jaws closed together, Joshua knew there’d been a man down through history that had learned that lesson with this trap. After they’d lost a hand.

Standing beside the trap, he eased the jaws apart like the trap was going to jump up and bite him. When they were open, he grabbed one spring lifting it up and reaching under the trap to set the pan down to lock the springs and set the trap.

Even with the spring clamps on, he shivered looking at the big teeth around the jaws. Liking where the trap was, he grabbed the poles and took the spring clamps off. Looking at a set bear trap in the mountains, Joshua was sure this hadn’t happened in half a century. 

Moving away from the area, he grabbed some ferns and standing to the side, used them to cover the trap. When he couldn’t see it, he looked at his watch and saw it’d taken him thirty minutes. Walking up the slope around the log to the other side, he found some small dead logs and positioned them near the funnel to force the team where he wanted them.

Knowing if he’d been on the team, they would be getting here soon, Joshua gathered his gear and moved back up to King and Jack. In case the team didn’t show, he stored the set poles and climbed on King, heading further up the slope.

Glancing back as he rode up and along the slope, Joshua finally found a small cliff three hundred yards away and two hundred feet over the draw that he could watch from. There was no way on Earth he was going to set any trap and leave it, in case an innocent person showed up walking in the woods.

Tying King and Jack up, he eased back down to the spot overlooking the trap, laying his Lapua down and covering up with the ghillie blanket. More to keep warm and dry from the drizzle than to hide from the team. Getting comfortable, Joshua waited. He was only three miles from where the team had camped and knew he would’ve made that in an hour, an hour and a half tops.