“Copy, base.”
“Move to new location. Local law enforcement is being notified that any individual moving on federal land will be viewed as hostile unless escorted by a police vehicle on a designated road. Any individual seen off a road in the forest will be engaged as hostile. Do you copy, seventy-one?”
“Any individual seen in forest or not escorted by a police vehicle on roadway is to be engaged as hostile. Is that correct, base?”
“Correct, seventy-one.”
“Base, when team gets to new location, I would like that order in writing and delivered to team in the field.”
“Negative, seventy-one, a copy will be provided to you upon return to base.”
There was a pause, “Base, until we have a written copy of that order in our hands, team seventy-one will not engage unless threatened. Team seventy-one will not be left hanging in the wind, following orders dictated out over the radio. Base, you’re ordering us to shoot any individual spotted in the forest and we will comply, but only with written orders in hand. Team doesn’t want base to forget these orders, if we carry them out. Do you copy, base?”
After a pause of ten minutes, a new voice came over the radio. “Team seventy-one, this is base operational chief Homeland AIC Griffey, do you copy?”
“Copy, sir.”
“You will have your written orders, but we can’t deliver them to you without giving away your location.”
“Sir, I say again, unless team has written orders, we won’t engage until assaulted. We will follow the orders, sir and have no problem doing so, but only after the orders are in hand.”
“Seventy-one, the orders are being photocopied now and anyone here can verify.”
“Sir, even if you had one of our mothers come on the radio, telling us they had them in hand, we would want possession before carrying them out.”
“Understood seventy-one,” Griffey sighed over the radio. “Send half your team to the following coordinates and they will be dropped off by chopper when you arrive, then they can radio the rest of the team that’s in position that you have them. After that, the other half can rejoin your team, do you copy,” Griffey said then read off the coordinates.
“Copy base, team splitting now, seventy-one alpha will be primary team overlooking valley and seventy-one bravo will be team moving to landing site.”
“Copy, seventy-one.”
Joshua marked the landing site and toyed with the idea of getting closer, but soon realized he would never get within range before the chopper showed up. Folding the map up as base talked to drivers moving along roads to pick up teams and put others out, the radio beeped several times and Joshua groaned. He knew that beep. It meant the battery was low and looked at the screen to see the message.
“Shit,” he huffed and turned off the radio. He had a portable solar charger, but there hadn’t been sunlight with all the rain that was still falling. The only reason he could still use the radio was the batteries he’d taken from the other agents he’d shot, but the other three were already dead and this was his last one.
As the rain dripped off the branches overhead, Joshua started thinking about how he could charge some batteries, then realized he was guiding King to Gene’s house. “Well, I can check on his house, but I’m not stupid enough to get close.”
It was just after 1500 when Joshua crept over the ridge, moving from tree to tree till he was overlooking Gene’s place. He saw several campers and tents in the yard with about two dozen people, men, and women, walking around with weapons. Lifting his binoculars up, he saw they were wearing hunting clothes and then he saw a few people he knew.
“Well, now I know who they were talking about at the houses around here,” he mumbled and saw a group of people walking toward the road and stopping. They were looking at a tall white box on the other side of the road. The box was about six feet tall, and three feet wide and deep with a small satellite dish on the top. On the two sides he could see, there were small black windows at the top edge.
Then, he noticed a small box half as tall but just as wide sitting beside the tall box, but the small box had solar panels. The group stopped on the road, waving at the box and making obscene gestures. One pulled his pants down mooning the box and Joshua figured out that the tall box must contain a camera. Since it was on the other side of the road, it was on federal land.
“Whatever you do, boys and girls, don’t leave his property. I’ve really pissed them off,” Joshua mumbled as he moved back to King and Jack. “I don’t want other people involved in this,” he said looking at King who just wiggled his ears.
Climbing on, Joshua gave King a gentle kick heading north. It wasn’t even an hour later that King came to a sudden stop. Joshua looked down at the back of King’s head. “There aren’t any teams around here.”
He squeezed King with his legs and jiggled the reins, but King stayed put. He looked around the forest. “King, unless they are within a hundred yards, they can’t see us. Middle Earth is just ahead, now come on,” he said, but King just snorted.
Sighing, Joshua climbed off. “King, there better be someone up here. I haven’t slept in a long time and I’m not in the mood.”
Adjusting his M4, Joshua moved in front of King and led him along the ridge. When Joshua started down the other side, King stopped, almost jerking the reins from his hands. Looking over his shoulder, he saw King looking off to the right.
Looking behind King, Joshua saw Jack looking the same direction. “If those fuckers are set up this close to the house, they die. Then I’m going to kick Chris’ ass for letting them get this close,” he mumbled, dropping the reins.
Easing down the ridge, Joshua would pause every few yards and look ahead with the binoculars. He could only see fifty or so yards, but the damn ferns here were almost chest high so anyone could be hiding. Moving down another ten yards, he stopped and glassed the forest again slowly and stopped, seeing a fern move.
Taking his right hand off of the binoculars, he gripped his M4, keeping the binoculars where he’d seen the fern move. He watched for several minutes, almost convincing himself that it must have been a bird when another fern moved fifteen feet away. He slowly lowered his body till his head was even with the tops of the ferns but he could still see over them.
Zooming in as far as he could without blurring out, Joshua saw another fern barely move, then another next to it like someone was crawling under them. Watching the area, he aimed his rifle in that direction but not at the ferns. Then he saw something lift up between the ferns for a second, barely moving back and forth, then lower back down.
“What the hell?” he more thought than mumbled, seeing the ferns moving again and whatever it was, it was heading toward him. Taking his eyes off of the binoculars, Joshua moved beside a tree and continued watching.
When the movement was only fifteen yards away, Joshua lowered the binoculars and moved his left hand to his rifle, getting ready to engage. Then he saw the thing slowly poke back up eight yards away and realized he was looking at the head cover to a ghillie suit, and not just any ghillie suit.
“God damn it Chris, I almost shot your ass,” Joshua said and Chris fell back on his back.
Jumping up, Chris looked toward the voice, removing his head cover. “You scared the tee total shit out of me boss,” he said walking over and cradling his Lapua. Chris studied Joshua as he walked over. Joshua was wearing the A-Tac camo with a plate carrier vest and six magazines on the front with several other pouches connected to the MOLLE webbing.
Then, he looked at Joshua’s face, “Man, you look weird as hell without your beard and wearing a tactical helmet,” Chris grinned.
“What the hell are you doing here? The seventh day is tomorrow,” Joshua said letting his rifle hang and reaching out.
Chris grabbed his hand shaking it. “I know, and from all the reports we’ve been getting from down south of here, I knew you would take this ridge to Middle Earth. How in the hell did you spot me?”
“Kin
g smelled you from the other side of the ridge and wouldn’t let me cross until I dismounted,” Joshua said, then gave a soft whistle.
“Damn, that’s a good horse,” Chris said looking up the slope. He soon saw King walking down with Jack behind him. “Come on, there are some people I want you to meet,” Chris said as King walked up.
“Who?”
“You’ll see,” Chris said bringing his hands to his mouth and giving a bird call. It was soon answered and Chris did it again, then dropped his hands. “That’s one of the guys you spotted with me. He’s moving out up the ridge. We are putting six guys out in a circle a half mile out from Middle Earth, just in case the fed boys try moving around here again.”
“They got this close?” Joshua asked as Chris started walking.
“No, they came within half a mile behind the house trying to sneak along the ridge, but we stopped them and told them if they tried it again, we would shoot. The FBI team seemed really thankful for the warning and haven’t tried again.”
“Well, they might now. It seems they are really furious that I shot down two of their choppers.”
“Wait,” Chris said holding up his hand as he continued walking. “Wait until we get to Middle Earth, so you can tell the others and don’t have to repeat it.”
“Okay, but all I’ve had to talk to are King and Jack.”
Chuckling, Chris glanced over, “I can’t believe you finally named your mule.”
“Seemed fitting with all that’s going on and Jack is a good name for him, since I’ve always called him a jackass when he pisses me off.”
“See you got some new gear,” Chris said raising his eyebrows. “Top of the line, new gear.”
“Hell, they keep sending the idiots out after me, so I take it. It has already helped. Two days ago, I was moving across a small glade and a chopper flew over and banked back. I knew if I ran it would look suspicious, so I just waved. A man in the back stuck his arm out and waved, then the chopper flew off. They have teams or had teams on horseback and I figure they just thought I was one.”
“Whatever works boss, but I would stay under the trees,” Chris grinned.
“I do, but I was looking for stuff to use,” Joshua said as Chris brought his hands to his mouth and did another bird call. “You are pretty good at that.”
“Have to be, don’t want any radio transmissions out here unless they start getting close,” Chris said, walking up the small draw that led to Middle Earth.
Getting closer, Joshua saw a weird-looking tent over the cave entrance. Before he could ask, “Dad,” William cried out, running out from under the weird tent.
“You brought my son out here?” Joshua said wanting to be mad but couldn’t be as he dropped down to his knees and held out his arms. William hit him at a full run and they wrapped their arms around each other.
“I missed you, Dad,” William said hugging him tight.
“I missed you too, big man,” Joshua said and heard running feet and looked up to see Sonya charging him. “And my wife, Chris-,” Joshua stopped as Sonya hit him, knocking him and William over.
Sonya kissed him as she squeezed him tight. Breaking the kiss, she lifted her head looking at his face. “Don’t be mad at Chris. It was our decision.”
“Baby, I love you and miss you two, but you’re in danger around me,” Joshua said hugging them tight, not ever wanting to let go.
“Come, we have to talk,” Sonya said getting up and holding out her hand. With William still hugging him, Joshua pulled, getting to his feet and William let go.
“Man, do you look like one of those soldier guys from TV,” Ben said walking up with a grin. “Josh, you don’t look right without your beard.”
“Chris, I very specifically said not to bring Ben,” Joshua said grinning as Ben wrapped him in a man hug.
“I took his guns away before we left,” Gene chuckled, walking over.
Looking up at Gene, “Who the hell is guarding the house?” Joshua asked.
“That’s some of what we have to tell you,” Sonya said as Ernest stepped out of the weird tent.
“Um, what’s Ernest doing here? My trucks are paid for but I can tell you, I damn sure miss them.”
After Gene gave Joshua a man hug, Chris stepped over in front of him. “You’ve heard rumors of Minutemen, right?”
“Yeah, but that’s all,” Josh said as Ernest walked toward them.
“Ernest is the colonel of the Panhandle Minutemen, I’m the first sergeant,” Chris said.
“You believe this little shit didn’t ask us to join?” Ben said waving his hand at Chris.
Ernest stepped up, holding out his hand and Joshua shook it. “Well, in all fairness, Joshua was strongly considered, but he has associates, namely one that is a hothead.”
Everyone turned to look at Ben who threw his hands up. “All the big charges were dropped; I’m only guilty of misdemeanors.”
“I rest my case,” Ernest said turning back to Joshua. “The canopy is thick here, but let’s get under cover.”
Joshua yanked the reins, pulling King up the draw as Ernest walked beside Joshua who had his left arm over Sonya’s shoulders and his right over William’s. “Joshua, we brought some grain up for the horses and one of my team is a veterinarian, so let her check them out.”
“You need to tell her, Jack can be an ass,” Joshua said and William snorted. “Thank you Ernest for helping protect my family.”
“I’m not going to lie,” Ernest said holding a flap open and Joshua saw a tube netting running over the fabric of the tent. “We were going in the field to help you, but Buck asked us to do this.”
“Well, the feds just sent out a memo that all individuals on federal land can be shot on sight. They are flying the orders out to teams right now,” Joshua said touching the tent.
“It’s a thermal tent, Dad,” William grinned. “The tubes have this gel in them that is pumped through them that’s the same temperature as the ground, so even if someone sees it in thermal it looks like the ground.”
“Neat,” Joshua grinned, pulling William tight and saw Barbara and Sammy. They came over and shook his hand.
“Um, Josh, if I may call you that,” Ernest said with a worried face and Joshua nodded at him as he pulled Sonya close. “How do you know this?”
“Heard it on the radio.”
“You can hear their radio transmissions?”
“Well, yeah, how could I hear it on the radio if I can’t hear them talking,” Joshua chuckled.
“Their radios are encrypted and on roving frequencies.”
“Oh, I took one of their radios.”
“Even if you know the code for it, the radios are only programmed with certain frequencies. The ground teams can only talk to a few other ground teams, if they can get radio signal.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was coming to drop off. The first radio can pick up all the transmissions, but the second one I took only picks up a few. I was going to leave it and ask William to take a crack at, making it do what the other one can,” Joshua said pulling William tighter.
“Can I see it, the first radio?” Ernest almost begged.
“Sure,” Joshua said looking over at Ben. “Will you get my saddlebags and backpack off of King and make sure Jack isn’t trying to bite the vet.”
“The damn mule bit me last year,” Ben cried out heading for the door.
“Yeah, and you punched him in the head and knocked his ass out for almost an hour,” Joshua said. “He was carrying your deer that you shot and you knocked his ass out.”
“He bit my shoulder,” Ben huffed walking out.
“I’ve never heard of a mule getting knocked out,” Ernest mumbled.
“Shit, I thought he’d killed Jack.”
Sitting at a table, Gene laughed. “Ben may be short but as you can see, he’s solid muscle and as strong as an ox. I’ve watched him fight everyone in a bar at the same time, and win.”
“Where is the rest of the crew?” Joshua asked as
Sonya pulled him to the table. When he sat down, Sonya and William sat on either side of him.
“Called Eddie Shore and he got them a job on the reservation. Totally off grid,” Gene grinned, but then it fell off. “I tried making Ben go with Barbara and Sam here, but he threatened to shove a walker up my ass so I let it drop. I’m fairly certain that would hurt.”
“Thank you Gene. The crew needed to go,” Joshua said turning to look at Barbara and Sammy. “But you’re going to need Ben, I just wish you two would’ve gone with them. If I could hide Sonya and William, I would.”
“We stand beside Ben,” Barbara said. “He fights for you and so will we.”
“Josh,” Gene said grinning, looking at Barbara. “What the hell did you do down south? Ernest and them can triangulate radio signals, but not hear what is said but with all the transmissions, it must’ve been big.”
Letting out a huff, “Well, yesterday, I killed eight and set up a bunch of traps,” Joshua said looking over at Gene. “When they came in this morning, their day went to total shit,” he said with Sonya lightly popping his arm. “Seems I killed another dozen, one being some Giles person who was a tracker. Then I killed another eight when I shot down two choppers.”
Everyone in the tent had their mouths open and they stared at Joshua. “The vet is feeding Jack sugar cubes and he’s in love,” Ben said walking in, carrying the saddlebags. He stopped, seeing the look of shock on everyone’s faces as they stared at Joshua. “What did I miss?”
“Seems Josh is still killing on a grand scale,” Gene finally said and told Ben what Joshua had told them.
Putting the saddle bags on the table and dropping the backpack beside Joshua, Ben patted Joshua on the back. “Now you see, being a bad ass has a definite up side.”
“Hey, if they would leave me alone, I would do the same,” Joshua said and pulled out notebooks and notepads. “But they know everything each one of you has ever done.”
“What?” Barbara gasped.
“Yeah, I think I know now why Ben loves you so much,” Joshua said looking up at her. “You’re the female version of him and to be honest, that scares the shit out of me.”
The Bonner Incident: Joshua's War Page 12
