The Bonner Incident: Joshua's War (10 page)

“No, if they figure it out, it will be on their own,” Moore said reaching out putting a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure with so many agents at the command area now; one of them will be a Minuteman or at least, a sympathizer. They have more sympathizers than members. One thing my informant made very clear, Minutemen will kill to keep their secret. Minutemen know if they lose their anonymity, they can be destroyed.”

“Oh, that’s hypocritical,” Winters snapped. “So, if a housewife finds out about them, they kill her?”

“Samantha,” Moore said, calling her by her first name which he rarely did and it startled her. “First, a housewife wouldn’t find out about them. They keep their secret very well. I would be surprised if even those at Joshua’s house knew who was protecting them. I’m sure they think it’s just volunteer deputies that don’t want us to know who they are. Second, they won’t kill an innocent.”

“Well, from the way you talk, they will kill a government agent and they are innocent.”

“No, they see them as defying the oath they took to defend the Constitution and are viewed as the enemy,” Moore explained.

“Okay, let’s just say we have a Minuteman in our command area, they have to know that Joshua might kill them. So, they are just willing to take that chance?”

Shrugging with a slight nod, “Yes, but I don’t see a Minuteman as one of those in the field, actively enforcing the ideals they so vehemently oppose. I believe a Minuteman would be one in the command area. But let’s say one has already died because Joshua did kill almost five hundred in that explosion. The other Minutemen wouldn’t view that as hostile. They would see it as an unfortunate casualty because Joshua is fighting for what they believe in.”

“Lunatics,” Winters huffed. “So did your informant tell you how you could join the club? There has to be a way they recognize each other.”

“You’re asked after they watch you for a long time,” Moore said. “And I’ve already told you, they only know the ones in their group and only the upper leaders know of other groups.” Looking off, Winters thought about what Moore had told her.

“Did you ever write this up in a report, in case something happens to you?” she finally asked. “It may be in your best interest, if you think they are that well organized.”

“Hell, no,” Moore snapped. “I’m not giving them a reason to single me out. I’m sure some have checked up on me since that time, even though I’ve put up safeguards and never found out for sure.”

“I think you should.”

“No, and you won’t either,” Moore told her with a little anxiety in his voice. “I’ve never gone after them. Until now, you and I have always gone after criminals that the Minutemen viewed as dangers to society. Rapists, terrorists, serial killers and the like.”

Holding up her hands, “Okay, I’ll keep my mouth shut,” Winters said looking around. “Since I’m in the woods and I need to pee, go back to the truck and wait. I don’t think I can hold it till we get to the command area.”

Laughing, Moore walked off, heading for the truck as Winters undid her pants and ducked behind the tree when Moore climbed in the SUV. “That son of a bitch told you more than we thought he did,” she mumbled squatting down. Feeling drops of water hit her, Winters looked up as it started to drizzle.

Buckling her pants as she stood up, “For your own sake, Moore. I hope you continue to avoid us,” she said and trotted to the SUV.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Park Ranger Leary took his hat off and looked up at the overcast morning sky. It had rained for the last seven days and looked like it had no intentions of stopping. Putting his hat back on, he looked ahead at the two men leading his search group to wade through the tall ferns. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the rest of the group looking at him.

Grabbing the M4 across his chest, Leary took a deep breath and continued down the narrow valley that they were following. Remembering the call for help they’d listened to in the command area four days ago about the agent who’d stepped in the bear trap, Leary once again entertained the idea of just quitting.

He was a Park Ranger from Oklahoma and had been told to report to Idaho ten days ago. Looking at the landscape around him, Leary was trying to figure out how he was supposed to be the expert. Every time the group stopped to look at something, they would turn to him for an explanation. More than once he had told the entire group, “Idaho isn’t Oklahoma, I don’t know.”

Adjusting his backpack, Leary looked down at his feet and at the small game trail they were following. The forest floor was spongy and unless someone was in a tank, you weren’t following tracks. He looked up and you couldn’t see the trail they were on with all the ferns in the area. The only way you knew where the trail was were that the ferns were a little more spaced out, but their branches still covered the trail.

A metal ‘Snap!’ sounded in front of Leary followed by a spine-tingling scream and he dropped to his knee, bringing up his rifle. He knew that was the sound of a metal game trap. Looking ahead, he only saw one of the two people who had been in front of him, but saw a bunch of ferns moving. Standing up, he saw the man in front of him kneel down where the ferns were moving.

Watching the ground, he moved up and saw the point man holding his leg as the other man pried open the jaws of a metal Conibear trap. The man trying to pry the trap open stood up, shaking his head. “It has screws for teeth,” he said. “I need to find something to pry it open with. One of the screws is embedded in his bone.”

Slinging his M4, Leary moved over to the man who’d stepped in the trap. The square jaws of the trap weren’t closed because the man’s boots had stopped them, but Leary saw the long screws that were stuck in the man’s leg.

‘Snap’ sounded to his right and Leary looked up as the man who’d gone to look for something to pry the trap open dropped into the ferns screaming. As Leary stood up, ‘Snap’ sounded behind him and he spun around to see one of the group behind him had moved off the game trail into the thick ferns.

“Everyone freeze!” Leary shouted and even the two screaming, stopped. Looking around between some ferns, Leary saw a chain that he knew was used to secure a trap to a stake in the ground. Bobbing his head and looking through gaps in the ferns around him, Leary spotted four more chains.

“Okay, there are traps all around us, don’t move,” Leary said pulling his M4 off his shoulder.

“There aren’t any on the trail behind us!” one of the ones in the back shouted.

“Oh, I’m sure there are. We just stepped over them,” Leary said using the barrel of his rifle to prod the ground moving over to the first man who’d stepped in a trap. “There’s another trap beside your head, don’t move.”

The man on the ground grimaced in pain, but nodded as Leary moved over to him. ‘Snap’ sounded behind him and he looked back to see the others, pointing to another man who had stepped in a trap. “Tell him to stop moving until I get there. There are traps everywhere. The only place we know for sure there aren’t traps is where we are standing right now.”

The other six men were noticeably pale as they looked down at the ground, visibly trembling. Leary saw a stick beside the point man and picked it up. “This is me, so don’t freak out,” he shouted as he jabbed the stick around the man’s head. He only saw a small section of the chain and finally moved his stick over to the chain and traced it down, finding the trap.

Probing the area of the trap, it took Leary a few pokes before he found the pan to set the trap off. ‘Snap’ sounded as the trap slammed shut on the stick breaking it and everyone, including Leary jumped. “I can see two more beside you, so don’t think you can move,” Leary said loud enough so the others could hear and even the other two men in traps kept quiet. Afraid their crying would make the traps around them jump up and get them.

Leary knelt down by the man’s leg and looked at the box-shaped jaws. Each jaw had long wood screws wired to them and since the violent action of the trap closing knocked off the paste Joshua had packed on the screws; the threads were exposed. The two screws in the man’s leg had shoved their poison into his body.

Looking at the deep threads, Leary shook his head. “Hey um…” he looked at the man trying to remember his name.

“Tony,” the man grunted.

“Yeah, Tony, sorry,” Leary said looking at the screw shoved in the front of Tony’s leg into the bone and one shoved into the back of his leg into the calf muscle. “This is going to hurt because those are screws. I’m going to unwrap the wire holding the screws to the jaws of the trap and just leave them in because I don’t have anything that can pull out the ground stake the trap is chained to.”

“Just get it off, it’s burning,” Tony panted.

Pulling out his multi-tool, Leary went to work. “That’s probably from the dirt on the screws when he covered it up.”

Tony watched and tried to keep his leg still. “So, you think it was the suspect we’re after who set them?”

Leary looked up nodding. “Yes, trappers don’t set traps like this, especially with screws wired to them.”

“They said he was watching the other group,” Tony grunted as Leary pulled the wire off of the first screw.

Waving his hand around, “If he’s watching us, he’s feet away,” Leary said. “Trees and these damn ferns are all around us and he would’ve done something by now. He watched the other group I think, to see how they moved so he could set these animal traps for us.”

Looking up the narrow valley, Tony motioned with his chin. “He could be watching from there,” he said.

Looking over his shoulder, Leary saw a slope at the head of the valley. “Tony, that’s almost a mile away, even if he is watching, not much he could do from there,” he said grabbing one of the jaws in each hand. “I’m not going to be able to hold them open long so when I say, carefully take your foot out and don’t knock the trap out of my hands or it will just snap closed again. Probably sinking another screw in your leg.”

“I understand completely,” Tony said nodding. Giving a grunt with his exertion, Leary pulled the jaws apart and Tony slowly moved his foot, guiding it out between the two jaws. When Tony’s foot was clear, Leary let go of the trap. The jaws snapped shut and Leary checked to make sure all of his fingers were still there.

“Oh shit, thank you,” Tony sighed with a grimace.

“No problem, but stay here until I get the other two out. Then I’ll find us a way back, so we can get you and them to a hospital,” Leary said looking back at the others, who all seemed relieved that someone knew what they were doing and they were leaving.

The entire group stayed within arm’s reach of each other and from Leary to the last man was only ten yards. He turned to the two closest to him and Leary fought not to sneer. They were two Homeland agents from some kind of SWAT team and were decked out in full tactical gear. As far as Leary could tell, none of the others liked the two either. They’d both barked orders at the others from the time the team entered the field, three days ago.

As he was looking at the two, Leary heard a dull ‘Slap’ and saw both men grimace and grab their chests as they started to fall down. Then he heard a sharp ‘Slap’ followed by a dull thud and saw the man standing just off the side of the trail drop his M4 as he reached for his chest. “What-,” Leary started as he heard another ‘Slap’ and saw the next man grab his chest.

‘Boom’ echoed down the valley from the far away gunshot. “Kneel down where you’re standing!” Leary shouted ducking in the ferns. “Don’t move or you’ll step on a trap! I’m going to get the others out and we are leaving!”

“Fuck you!” the last man shouted and took off running back down the valley.

Leary could hear the man running through the ferns. “Ugh,” the man cried out as Leary heard the ‘slap’ of the bullet hitting the man.

“Stay down!” Leary bellowed. “He’s a long way off! Does everyone understand?”

“Yeah,” the other man not hit or in a trap shouted back. “I think Glen was shot!”

“Was that the idiot who ran?” Leary asked pulling out a stick buried in the loam that covered the ground. A loud plea for help sounded out from Glen.

“I’m shot Reggie! Help me!”

“Hey, he was a friend!” the man shouted at him. “Hold on Glen, we’re coming!”

“He’s still an idiot!” Leary said using the stick to probe the ground as he crawled over to the second man. “You see? We didn’t get shot because we got out of his line of fire.”

A long pause filled the quiet as the man thought about it. “You need me to do anything?” the man finally asked and heard the metal snap of a trap snapping closed. “Hey ah…Leary, you okay?” he shouted.

“Yeah, I’m good, just found another trap,” Leary called back. “Just stay there until I get the others freed because we’re going to have to help them out of here.”

Freeing the man who’d gone to look for a stick to pry the first trap open on the point man, Leary crawled back to the one behind him who’d stepped into a trap and sprang another on. Getting closer, Leary saw a trap snapped shut on the man’s forearm. “Now you understand why I said to stay still,” Leary said moving over and undoing the wire holding the screws on.