Moore’s eyes got wide, realizing they had left two men out, never checking on them and Joshua chuckled. “Just more cannon fodder, eh, Moore?”
“At that big ambush, I had Wagner leave two snipers because I knew Joshua had traps out and would pull them up so innocents wouldn’t get hurt,” Moore said, leaning his head toward Winters. “I take it they are dead then?” Moore asked, staring hard at Joshua.
“Well yeah, I wasn’t going to lead them back to your compound,” Joshua laughed.
“Moore, you left two men out and abandoned them to die?” Winters shouted and Moore glanced at her. “Wagner left them on your orders, you just said so, and you just forgot about them?”
“Okay, so I made a mistake,” Moore said and Winters looked away with a groan.
“Joshua,” Winters said. “Can I ask why you didn’t shoot Moore?”
“Yes, I saw his eyes and he didn’t want to be there. Not because of the danger, but he didn’t believe I was in the wrong,” Joshua said. “The last time I saw you, Moore, you didn’t have that look anymore, but you were out of range. I think someone convinced you that my death would be for the greater good.”
“Apprehension, not death,” Moore said quickly. “And yes, it is for the greater good of this nation. One man isn’t worth the turmoil of this country.”
Looking at Moore with an expression of pity, Joshua shook his head. “Except it isn’t one man, it never has been,” Joshua said. “They don’t like people who fight back, especially physically. And now you are one of them, willing to destroy anyone who challenges the system.”
“Don’t give me that high and mighty crap,” Moore spat. “You killed federal agents who were trying to take you into custody.”
“No, they were going to kill me. I’ve seen you at my ambushes and know you’re smart. You know what happened, but like I said, I fought back and that can’t be tolerated.”
Seeing Joshua’s body jerk, Moore raised his gun, still in a two handed grip. “Don’t,” he snapped as Joshua grimaced.
“Sorry, but I had to put a stitch in your kidney, the bullet nicked it,” Vellum said, working in the incision.
“Damn it old man, that hurt,” Joshua said, staring over Moore’s pistol into his face. “Moore, before you raised your gun, mine was on you. I almost shot you, so you need to relax. I’m not going to risk my friend who is a mean ass, crusty, old codger. But this is my last warning to you, Albert,” Joshua smirked his name.
Reaching out and putting her hand on Moore’s left arm, Winters pushed down. “Moore, his gun was on you before you moved, now quit,” she said. Moore glanced and saw Joshua’s gun was indeed aimed at him, still resting on the counter beside the gurney. Since he could see down the barrel very well, it left little to the imagination as to where the bullet would’ve hit.
Slowly, he lowered his pistol again and Winters removed her hand. “Moore, he has a man operating in his abdomen while he’s awake. If you shoot at Joshua before Dr. Vellum is done, I won’t shoot to cover you,” she said and Moore turned around in shock, looking at her. “I told you, I won’t murder him.”
Looking into Winters’ face, Moore knew she wasn’t boasting and he just stared at her with his mouth hanging open. “If he attacks you unprovoked, I will shoot back but other than that, you’re going to die,” she said.
Glancing down at her pistol, “Then why do you even have your pistol out?” he asked.
“In case he shoots unprovoked,” she smiled.
Feeling better, Moore nodded, but had very serious doubts about Winters. She had always backed him no matter what and now this. “Fair enough,” Moore said, and turned back to Joshua and saw he had rotated his wrist a few inches, so his gun wasn’t pointed at them.
“You seem pretty sure of your aim,” Moore said and took his left hand off the grip, letting his right arm hang down at his side with the pistol.
Grimacing, Joshua cut his eyes at Vellum. “Yes, when you have down time on a job site, it’s a great time to pull out a gun and just plink,” he said, then looked up at Moore. “If I ask a question, will you give me a truthful answer?”
“If I can.”
Smiling, Joshua asked. “Do you really believe all of this will stop with my death?”
“Apprehension,” Moore corrected then nodded. “Yes, I do.”
For several minutes, Joshua just stared into Moore’s eyes and then finally spoke. “You know they will kill me, but you’ll justify it to yourself that you did your job,” Joshua said as fact. “What shocks me is that you really believe this will stop with my… apprehension,” Joshua smiled.
“Yes, I do,” Moore nodded. “When it was reported that you were wounded, the attacks dropped off sharply.”
“I was told it wasn’t by much, and I’m sure my sources are better than yours,” Joshua said, then his body jerked and Joshua closed his eyes, breathing through pursed lips for several minutes.
Moore watched the sweat bead up on Joshua’s body and realized this was the first time Joshua had actually taken his eyes off of him. “What the hell are you messing with on my insides?” Joshua panted.
“Last bleeder,” Vellum said, never stopping his work.
“Joshua, let Dr. Vellum give you something for the pain,” Winters said pleadingly.
Shaking his head, Joshua slowly opened his eyes, “No, then I might make another mistake.”
Moore grinned, “Everyone falls in the end, Joshua. I don’t think you could’ve taken that last group without getting hit.”
“No, I moved in too fast,” Joshua said, finally letting out a long breath of relief as Vellum pulled an instrument out of his abdomen. “They didn’t have anyone on guard and I knew better, but was in a hurry to get your attention back on me and not the others around here.”
“Noble,” Moore said sincerely.
Then Moore saw Joshua’s eyes flicker over to Winters. “May I ask, was that your idea to have teams following?” he asked.
Winters gave a long sigh, “Yes.”
Looking back at Moore, Joshua grinned. “Sorry, but she is much better than you are at playing this game. I believe if her heart had been in this game, I would’ve been taken out long ago.”
“She was in this game for keeps,” Moore said, but you could hear the doubt. “Speaking of games, what was the deal with your cards?”
“Just a way to occupy my mind,” Joshua said and Moore shook his head. “Oh, there was a message, it was to show you how close you got to me,” Joshua finally said.
“You always won,” Moore said.
“No, I didn’t, but you didn’t keep up your part of the game. Those two you left behind had a hand and it was a winning hand. Those sons of bitches almost got me,” Joshua said coldly. “As luck would have it, one stifled a sneeze as I was moving in to get rid of the traps that you and your men hadn’t tripped.”
“We weren’t playing with the same deck anymore,” Winters chuckled.
Raising his eyebrows, Joshua tilted his head toward Winters. “Ma’am, like I said, you are amazing,” Joshua said and both Moore and Winters could tell he wanted to say more. “You were right to offer that advice of having men follow, this was my fault for moving too fast. I-,” Joshua started, but sucked in a sharp breath as Dr. Vellum worked inside him.
“Joshua, if you flirt anymore with that young gal, I’ll tell Sonya,” Vellum said, turning to look at Joshua.
The thick glasses made Vellum’s eyes look enormous and Joshua fought not to laugh. “Old fart, you know better than that,” Joshua smiled.
Turning back to his work, Vellum shrugged. “I’m just saying, women folk don’t take kindly to their man flirting when they aren’t around.”
“Dr. Vellum, can you please hurry? We really need to get going,” Moore said.
“Then carry your fed ass out of my shop,” Vellum snapped, working a needle and thread deep in the incision.
“You’re working on my prisoner,” Moore said.
Still leaning over and mere inches from
the incision, Vellum turned his head to look at Moore. “Boy,” he said sarcastically. “I’m done when I’m done, but you interrupt me one more time, and I will find a 2x4 and break it over your head.”
“Moore,” Joshua said and Moore looked up at him. “I’m not going and you’re not physically strong enough to make me. Even wounded, I can beat you to a pulp with my bare hands. I do jog because my wife started and ‘convinced’ me and William to jog. But I work in big timber with my hands, hauling chokers that weigh more than you do up mountain sides and lugging chainsaws. I could keep going, but I’ve done it my whole life. You will get hurt.”
“You tell ‘em, Joshua,” Vellum cackled, tying a knot in the thread. “Come up here harassing honest country people and we will beat you down.”
“Dr. Vellum, where did you get the blood that you gave to Joshua?” Winters asked quickly.
“From me little lady,” Vellum snapped and Moore looked away from Joshua and saw several smaller empty IV bags along with one full one and an empty IV blood bag. “She can’t be too smart asking a question like that,” Vellum huffed at Joshua.
“No, Dr. Vellum, she knew,” Joshua said. “Winters is trying to save Moore’s life. Unless Moore changes his perspective, she knows how this will end.”
Trying to stay calm, Moore’s breathing got a little deeper as he tried to think. “Joshua, it really sounds like you’re sweet on that lady and Sonya will use one of your chainsaws on you,” Vellum said in a somber voice. “I ain’t patching you up if she does.”
Joshua laughed, seeing Moore in a state of shock. “Old fart, these last six and a half weeks have been hell on me and you know why? I haven’t had Sonya there to remind me what I needed to do next. I had to keep a notebook.”
“That’s why women rule the word son,” Vellum chuckled, reaching back and grabbing another threaded needle. “They run the house we live in.”
“So what did the governor have to say?” Joshua asked, seeing Moore still in shock and glancing at Winters. As he worked, Vellum gave the highlights of what was said. “Did any others states stand with Idaho?” Joshua asked.
“Right before I started operating on you, they said twenty-six had united with Idaho,” Vellum said, and Moore and Winters both jerked their heads around, looking at Vellum.
“Damn it Joshua. This has to stop,” Moore snapped.
“Partner, I’m not sewing, Mr. Vellum is and I prefer he finish,” Joshua said. “A man should never be able to say he saw inside his guts.”
“You should’ve let me knock you out. Boy, I can take both of them easy,” Vellum said grabbing more thread.
“Joshua, even you can see what has happened and it isn’t good. Just come in,” Moore said.
“What, so you and your little buddies can do this to my son in a few years?” Joshua snapped and Moore shifted his weight, seeing anger flush Joshua’s body. He glanced over and saw Joshua’s pistol aimed at him again. “Hey, you moved your gun,” Joshua said, taking a deep breath and rotated his wrist.
“No Moore. I’ve had a lot of time to think because of you and your friends. If it wasn’t for you, I would be cutting big timber, but no, you and your friends wanted to be bullies because you thought you owned the playground. Well, you found out that you don’t own the entire playground and every bully will always find someone who will fight them,” Joshua said, relaxing his body.
“I’ve had a lot of experience in killing now and I can say, I really don’t like doing it, seems wasteful,” Joshua said quietly. “But it doesn’t bother me and I’ve made a decision, I’m going to fight with those who are standing up to tyrants, the same ones who pull your strings, Pinocchio.”
Snarling his face, Moore took a breath as Winters elbowed him in the side. “Shut up, Moore,” she said softly, then looked at Joshua. “Now, I get to ask you a question. How did you track the search teams so efficiently? Even a seasoned tracker can’t find groups as fast as you did.”
“Hell, they told me where to find them,” Joshua laughed. “I had one of your radios.”
Both Winters and Moore gasped, stepping back. “That’s not possible, it takes a Cray computer six months to unlock one. You don’t know computers that well,” Winters said.
“See, you’re right. I don’t,” Joshua grinned. “No, one of the first teams I hit had one that listened to all the channels. I didn’t know why, but I had a friend who does know computers and radios look at it and he said that someone unlocked that radio and all the codes. I was still a little slow and he said that they’d turned my radio into a general’s radio. I understood that.”
“We check each radio,” Moore said goggle-eyed.
“Not the first teams out,” Winters said.
“Hey,” Joshua grinned. “You ever catch those two evil state troopers?”
“I knew it!” Winters cheered. “I have to say, that was a good diversion.”
“I don’t know what you did to the state police, but you sure pissed them off,” Joshua said, looking down as Vellum started closing the incision.
Shrugging her shoulders, “Others in our group arrested several officers and detained the families,” Winters said.
“You are the reason for that,” Moore snapped.
“Oh really,” Joshua smiled. “Ever heard of innocent until proven guilty? If you and your people practiced that, we wouldn’t be here right now. But not for you, federal boy. If someone isn’t guilty, you will find a way to make them guilty or just label them a terrorist and lock them up.”
Vellum stepped back and pulled off his surgical gloves. “I still have the touch,” he smiled, tossing the gloves down.
“Joshua, don’t make this difficult,” Moore said.
Vellum walked to the end of the gurney, putting his body between Moore and Joshua. “Joshua is a free man,” Vellum said and pointed to his right. Moore turned to see a large clock and it was just past midnight. “The pardon is in effect now, and the governor said Joshua was forgiven of all crimes from birth until now. So, G-man, show me what kind of Nazi you really are.”
“I think that pardon was given under coercion from the threat harm from the public,” Moore said.
“Oh, you are the Gestapo,” Vellum grinned. “You go by your own law. The public is the country, boy, not the government or you. You want this little revolution to get really bloody, just hurt Joshua.”
“Moore, he’s right, that would make Joshua a martyr. The public would fight back even harder. Now the state governments have control, don’t mess that up,” Winters said.
“Mr. Vellum, move,” Joshua said. “If you got hurt in any way, that would hurt me more than anything they could do.”
“I can fight boy,” Vellum snapped over his shoulder.
“I know and I admire that, but don’t get hurt for me. Please, that would make me stop fighting,” Joshua said.
Vellum turned around, looking at Joshua. “I would have taken a bullet for you and let you kill ‘em,” he said.
Giving a curt laugh, Joshua nodded. “I know, but I might need you to patch me up in a few minutes.”
Moving away, Vellum nodded. “Moore,” he said, stopping a few feet away. “Even if you manage to kill Joshua, you will never make it out of this county. That, I guarantee.”
Bringing his pistol up, Moore aimed at Joshua, gripping the pistol with both hands. “Joshua, I’m taking you in,” he said, taking a step.
“No, you’re not. Moore, I’m trying to save your life here,” Joshua said and then let his pistol drop on the counter with a thump. “You don’t have long.”
As Moore moved to take another step, Winters reached over, grabbing his arm. “Don’t, this is wrong,” she pleaded with watery eyes.
Not taking his eyes or aim off of Joshua, “This will bring everything back to the way it was,” Moore said.
“No, it won’t,” Winters said in a breaking voice, letting Moore’s arm go. She quickly raised her right hand up, placing the barrel of her gun in Moore’s armpit and squee
zed the trigger. The bullet tore into his chest and blew out Moore’s other armpit.
The muffled gunshot startled everyone else as Winters swung her left arm down, chopping Moore behind the wrist and knocking the gun from his weakened hands. Moore slowly turned to look at Winters and saw tears running down her face.
As blood pooled in his chest, Moore felt weaker and started to fall forward. Winters caught him and slowed his fall, putting him gently on the floor, looking up at the ceiling. “Moore, you were my mentor and friend. Why did you fight so hard for what you knew was wrong?” she wailed, looking at Moore’s face as he gasped for air.
“You…” he gasped.
“I’m the one who left you that letter to quit investigating the Minutemen. I told them you would see the government had to be stopped, but you were willing to go against everything to keep that evil in power,” she cried as Joshua climbed off the gurney and wobbled over beside her.
“She tried to save you Moore,” Joshua said. “She went further than any person would have, but Winters couldn’t turn on her belief and morals in what is right. All you had to do was look in her eyes.”
“I-wanted… peace,” Moore gasped with frothy blood.
“Enough to kill innocents,” Winters cried. “And I had to kill my friend.”
“You didn’t kill Moore,” Joshua said and she looked up.
“I know he didn’t leave me with a choice-” she started as Joshua brought his right arm around, aiming his pistol at Moore’s face.
Boom! Filled the enclosed room, making everyone’s ears ring and Joshua lowered his pistol. “I killed Moore,” he said, turning to look at Winters.
Wiping her tears off her face and looking at Joshua, Winters stood up. “How did you know?”
“A friend asked me not to shoot you, and finding out this friend was a Minuteman, I just connected the dots,” Joshua said and then looked down to see that his incision was leaking. “Hey old fart, I’m leaking.”
“Well, you just jump up and blast a guy after I put you back together, what did you expect?” Vellum said grabbing some gauze. He taped a bandage over the wound, then put another one on Joshua’s back.
The Bonner Incident: Joshua's War Page 31
