“Brother, she’s told me everything and I agree she’s a bad ass, but not on my scale,” Ben chuckled.
“I’m not going there,” Joshua said, pushing the stack to Sonya. “You can use that for leverage, but wait till you read what they have on mom. When she was sixteen, she beat up a cop with his own nightstick.”
“Oh man, I can’t wait to get home and ask Nana about that,” William laughed and Joshua looked at Sonya.
“Mom is at our house?”
“Joshua, do you really think Nana would be anywhere else?” Sonya said crossing her arms.
“Babe, she can’t run when the feds hit the house,” Joshua said and everyone caught the when, not if.
“Luv, I told her that and she said she had no intention of running. She would wait in the living room with her double barrel and if we didn’t run, she would load it with rock salt and shoot at us.”
“You let her bring her ten-gauge shotgun? My God, if she shoots that thing, it will break her in half,” Joshua said then looked over at Gene. “You’ve known my mom longer than I have, you talk to her.”
“Nope, like you said, I’ve known her longer and I’m not getting her mad at me,” Gene said.
Sonya patted his arm. “I’ll try to talk to her again babe, but don’t expect her to leave.”
Pulling out the two radios, Joshua sighed. “Okay,” he said and pointed at one of the radios. “This is the one that can do it all and the other only picks up some stuff. Think you can do something with them William?”
“Sure, but it’s going to take a while,” he said sliding them over.
“The battery is almost dead and the sun hasn’t been out in like forever,” Joshua almost growled. “My e-reader is dead, the other batteries for the radios are dead, my cellphone… I mean, come on, I just need a few hours of sunlight.”
“We can charge them here,” Ernest said looking at the radio with William. “May I William? I’ve worked with these many times.”
“You have any batteries? These jackoffs carry electronic everything, but only a few batteries. The codes and frequencies are in the small blue notebook.”
“We can hook you up,” Ernest said grabbing the notebook as Joshua started throwing electronics on the table from his saddlebags, backpack and his pockets.
He held up one of the satellite phones. “You know they make prepaid satellite phones?” he asked looking at Ben, Chris and Gene who all looked amazed. “And they cost over three grand each.”
When Joshua threw the PDA down on the table, William snatched it up. “Wow, Dad, where did you get this? It’s a Trimble Recon 400x handheld computer.”
“I just thought it was a PDA,” Joshua said as William held the device in his hands and used his thumbs to tap on the keyboard.
Laughing, “No, Dad, it’s much more powerful than a PDA,” William said as Sammy moved over to look over his shoulder and watch William tap the screen.
“He types faster with his thumbs than my secretary does with her hands,” Sonya mumbled shaking her head.
“Got it off the guy who had the Barrett and lucky for me, it has a ballistic program similar to mine,” Joshua said watching William’s thumbs. “It’s also got solitaire and a chess game, but I don’t know how to change the level on the chess game. It has to be set on a little kid’s level because I can beat it in ten moves.”
“Whoa, it’s got the wifi password and encryption code for the federal network terminals,” William sang out in awe.
Joshua leaned over to Sonya’s ear. “Is that the thing I’m always asking for the password?”
“I don’t know, I just hand William my laptop and tell him I can’t get on the internet,” Sonya said shrugging.
Ernest looked up from the radios and notebook. “William, can you hack into the network that they set up at their new command area?”
“There is no hacking,” he chuckled. “I have the codes now. Without them, it would’ve taken me weeks to break them.”
“Is it good to break them or bad?” Sonya whispered to Joshua.
“I think, since it’s the feds and you can break something, it’s good.”
William pulled out his cellphone and tapped the screen. “I’m downloading this,” he said with a huge grin and set the handheld computer beside his phone.
Joshua looked over and saw a status bar on the cellphone running up slowly in percentage. “How are you doing that? They aren’t connected. The kid I bought the phone from said I had to hook a cable to a phone to upload programing stuff.”
“Yeah, it’s much faster, but I’m just bluetoothing it.”
“Bluetooth? Like the thing I wear in my ear for my cellphone?” Joshua asked hesitantly.
“That’s right, Dad,” William said with a smile, and Joshua felt good he’d got that right.
“Joshua,” Ernest said and he turned to him. “The reason the first radio picks up everything is, it was programed with all the frequencies and codes. Whoever you took it from did it. I’m sure if the feds found out he’d done that, they would crucify him.”
“Well, that’s going to be worthless because I shot his ass.”
“No, I mean, he opened their entire network up with this one radio,” Ernest said and Joshua just stared at him, not understanding. “Um, he made this radio like generals would have, so they could talk to all their forces, but a general doesn’t have to worry about his radio getting captured.”
“Oh,” Joshua said understanding the significance now. “So, can you make the other one like that one?”
“Sure, but can I copy these frequencies and codes?”
“What codes?” Joshua asked leaning over the table and looking at the notebook.
Ernest pointed at the numbers beside every frequency. “These are the codes. The radio is loaded with over a million of them,” Ernest explained.
“Hey, I don’t care, but don’t talk to them on those frequencies because they will hunt you down fast. I heard several talking a few days ago, they did that to someone who was talking on one of the frequencies from the east side of the lake,” Joshua said as Sonya grabbed his hand to hold it. He looked at her smiling and extracted his hand and pulled off his gloves, then held her hand again.
Ernest gave a sly nod, “Yeah, that was one of us to see if we could jam them,” he grinned. “We were long gone before they got there.”
“So, you can hear them with regular radios?” Joshua asked.
“You hear a transmission, but it’s tones and pulses because they are transmitting on a coded frequency. That’s why I need the codes from this radio and the number of the code for each frequency.”
Looking over at William, who was still tapping away at the PDA. “William, did you understand that?” Joshua asked and Sonya snorted.
“Yes, sir,” he said as Sammy reached over, pointing at the screen. “That’s the encryption program for Wi-Fi,” William said and Sammy nodded.
“Chris, I want you to teach me something,” Joshua said lifting his other saddlebag to the table and pulled out a cloth pouch. “How do I use this? It has an instruction book, but the book looks like it was designed for third graders.”
Chris stepped over as Joshua pulled a claymore mine out of the cloth bag. “Where in the hell did you get that?” he shouted, picking it up as Joshua took the wire, clacker and blasting cap out of the bag.
“Two of the last ones I took out were carrying them and hand grenades,” Joshua said pulling out a hand grenade from his vest.
Chris looked over at Ernest. “You see what they are using on him?” he bellowed.
“Chris, it’s not the first time they’ve used military equipment to fight a civilian,” Ernest shrugged. “That’s why they don’t want the population armed with any type of firearm. But if we are to have weapons, they want us to have single shot, small caliber rifles, so they have fire superiority, always.”
Looking at the grenade Joshua was holding and then at the claymore, “This is wrong,” Chris mumbled.
&n
bsp; Joshua shrugged, “They are just bringing in weapons since they are outgunned. Does it piss me off? You’re damn right it does, but it lets them and others know, ‘If you don’t fight them on their own ground, you can actually fight back’.”
Nodding at that, Chris grinned, “I’ll show you, it’s not that hard.”
“I want to learn,” Ben said leaning over.
“Oh shit,” Gene mumbled. “How about we let Josh and the family have a little time alone?”
“Hold up for a second Gene, you’re going to love this,” Joshua said, letting Sonya’s hand go and taking the ‘self-erecting pop-up’ tent off his backpack. Popping the straps, Joshua grinned and tossed the circle of cloth, watching it pop out into a tent before it hit the floor. Never getting tired of that, Joshua chuckled, “Now, that is cool.”
“Where in the hell did you get that?” Ben asked walking over and picking it up.
“Every searcher has one,” Joshua said taking the tent from Ben. He twisted and folded it until it was a two-foot cloth covered ring. Looking at Ben, he tossed it again, letting the tent pop out. “I love tents but don’t like the weight and the time it takes setting them up but damn, I like that one.”
Ben spun around staring at Gene. “I’m going to shoot one and take his tent.” Everyone busted out laughing. “What? That is awesome!”
Gene started coughing as he swallowed his dip and grabbed a bottle of water. After draining the bottle, he looked up at Ben, “Ben, we can’t just take off and shoot the feds to take their tents,” Gene said in a raspy voice. “We have more important things to do but I swear to you, if we take them down, you will get the first tent.”
Letting out a huff as the others continued to laugh, Ben picked up the tent, “Show me how to fold it up,” he said looking at Joshua.
Wiping his eyes, Ernest came over, “I can show you, I have one,” he said laughing.
“You can just buy these?” Ben shouted. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
Chris had to help carry out Gene still bent over and coughing as Ernest pulled the tent out with Ben close behind. When the others were gone, Sonya looked at Joshua still laughing. “I now know why you always got Ben out of trouble, he’s hilarious. I know he’s your friend but my God, he can make you laugh not even trying.”
“You should’ve hung around us when we were younger,” Joshua grinned.
“Can you take off all that?” Sonya said waving her hand at the vest.
“Sure, I wear it so much, I forget it’s on,” Joshua said undoing the sides and pulling it over his head and dropping it on the table.
“And we want you to wear it, but we have a hot portable shower set up for you,” she said pointing toward the cave. “After you wash up, we can just sit and talk.”
“Oh man,” Joshua said kissing her and wrapping his arms around her tightly. “It really sucks washing and shaving in a mountain stream.”
“That’s why we have it set up,” she grinned. As Joshua stripped, she grabbed his clothes and tossed them in a bucket of water. When Joshua climbed in the shower, she and William washed his clothes and boots by hand.
Drying off and feeling much better, Joshua grinned, seeing them hang up his clothes to dry. “Guys, thank you,” he said wrapping a towel around his waist and pulling more clothes out of the backpack. When he was dressed, they sat at the table together and ate. They talked for several hours, not about what was going on, just talking as a family.
“I hate to say this, but I really need to get moving,” Joshua said getting up and hugging both of them.
“I know,” Sonya groaned as she and William hugged Joshua back. “But spend a little longer with the others.”
Letting out a sigh, Joshua nodded. “Okay, but I fear I may have been here too long as it is. I don’t want you and William to become targets.”
“We already are,” Sonya said and gave him an abbreviated version of what Buck had given them to keep safe.
“Shit,” Joshua mumbled dropping in his chair. Looking up at her, “Who else knows that you have this?”
“Gene, of course, with Ben and Chris, and we let Ernest know,” she said and Joshua nodded.
“Make sure that not many more know because if they find out, they will come hard, especially with what I gave you.”
“Dad,” William said looking up at him. “The feds don’t care about right or wrong anymore. They only want power.”
With a sad face, Joshua nodded, “Can’t be put much simpler than that.”
“William, would you go tell everyone to come back in?” Sonya said with a frown then kissed his forehead. William darted out as Joshua put on his boots.
“Damn it Gene, I’m telling you, I can get down there to Squaw Rd, shoot one, and be back in a few hours,” Ben said walking in with Gene. “Hell, I’ll shoot two and bring you back one of those tents.”
“Ben, you’re getting on my nerves,” Gene said digging in his pocket and pulling out his can of snuff.
Before Gene knew it, Ben reached over, taking the can and thumped it with his finger. “Hell, Joshua’s killed a bunch and he won’t mind if they think he’s killed a few more,” Ben said popping the top off and filling his bottom lip with snuff while Gene stared at him open-mouthed. “You think I can’t pull it off?” Ben asked closing the can and handing it back.
“You little snot-face shit,” Gene snapped. “You just take my snuff now without even asking?”
Shrugging, “Well yeah, after you pulled it out,” Ben said spitting. “I’m not digging in your pocket for it.”
With his face turning red, Gene glared at Ben as Chris walked over and took the can of snuff from Gene’s hand. “Thanks Gene, I left mine,” Chris said, popping the can open.
Sonya couldn’t help but chuckle as Joshua leaned over and whispered. “That’s why Gene quit the last time. I don’t think he’ll be dipping much longer.”
When Chris handed the empty can back, forcing it into Gene’s palm, Gene looked at the empty can. “I haven’t even got a dip from this can you two freeloaders,” Gene growled.
“Well, you have more,” Ben said and Chris nodded as he spit.
Ernest walked around the group over to Joshua, carrying the radio Joshua had wanted worked on. “Gene may be in his sixties, but I’m putting my money on him when the beatings start,” he said putting the radio on the table. “It’s like the other one now,” Ernest said.
“Great, now I can hide it and have a spare,” Joshua said as Chris and Ben walked over to the table. Mumbling unintelligible words, Gene tossed the empty can away and pulled another from his back pocket, heading over to the table.
“That solar recharger on your saddle is what you’re using to recharge with?” Ernest asked.
“Yeah, if I could ever get sunlight,” Joshua said.
“We have a better one, if you want it,” Ernest offered. “It will recharge in half the time and it’s lighter.”
Letting out a chuckle, “Then I can’t turn it down,” Joshua said.
“All your batteries are recharged and we have spares for your night vision gear,” Ernest said and held up another radio. “I want you to take this but don’t transmit from it. Before long, they will change codes and you won’t be able to listen to all the frequencies, but we can triangulate where they are.”
Walking around beside Joshua, Ernest held out the radio. “The thing on the side is a digital recorder. We will burst transmit a message every day and you can record it. When you play it back you can hear it, but the transmission will only be a few seconds long. We send it really fast but when you play it back, it’s at normal speed.”
Nodding as Ernest showed him how to do it, “Quite smart,” Joshua said.
“Despite what people think, technology doesn’t win a war and it can be overcome,” Ernest said. “It all comes down to the willingness of people to fight for their beliefs and freedoms.”
Taking the radio and recorder, “Shit, I just wanted to be left alone,” Joshua said putting
the radio in his saddlebag.
Patting Joshua’s back, “That’s usually the way rebellions start Joshua,” Ernest said. “When one man decides that he’s not going to be pushed anymore.”
“Rebellion,” Joshua scoffed. “I’m not fighting a rebellion; I’m just trying to stay alive.”
“Then why are you fighting? You could’ve surrendered at the beginning to Buck and spent some time in prison,” Ernest said. “Eventually you would’ve gotten out.”
Looking up at Ernest, Joshua shook his head, “Yeah, eventually but doubtful. When I fought back, the government decided to make an example of me. I’m not stupid, but don’t try to put me on the same pedestal as the Founding Fathers.”
Dropping his hand off of Joshua’s back, Ernest walked around the table. “Not even they wanted to fight in the beginning Joshua, but they knew if they didn’t, their situation was only going to get worse with more control. Like you and many others, they could only take being pushed so far.”
“What others? There are others out there killing feds?”
“Not yet, but it’s coming,” Ernest said and Joshua’s eyes widened in shock. “Oh, we gave our word that your family would be protected, so don’t get worried.”
“Much obliged for that,” Joshua said with relief. “Contrary to what you might think, the feds are going to come after them. I just hope you can get them out before the feds roll over you.”
A grin split Ernest’s face. “Trust me, they won’t roll over us that easily. But when or if they do, I have to say, we will get them to a safe place. But after that, it’s on you. I hope you understand.”
“Ernest, I’m probably one of the few people who do understand,” Joshua said with a sigh. “Have you and your group got your families tucked away?”
Shaking his head, “No, they don’t know who we are, but if they attack, the feds will do their damnedest to find out,” Ernest said. “Some of us will have to go back to our lives, so the feds can’t figure that out.”
“Ben knows where to take them,” Joshua said, looking at Gene. “You sure you want to stay on? I would understand if you didn’t.”
The Bonner Incident: Joshua's War Page 13
