Bonner Incident (17 page)

When his mom and Sonya had finally calmed down, Joshua raised his hands and did just that. Though he did do a little groveling, secretly hoping that would pacify them. That’s when the woman who gave birth and raised him, went to her purse and pulled out a stack of video games and called William from his room.

Not wanting the yelling directed at him, wisely William came running. His grandmother handed him the games and glared at Joshua, daring him to say a word. William told her thanks while looking at the games and Joshua just nodded with a smile. What he really wanted to do was remind his mom about the time she got mad at his dad for buying Joshua a new hunting bow when he was thirteen. But like William, he was wise and kept his mouth shut.

Sonya and his mom had left them in the living room and William had come over and whispered. “Dad, I can’t play these games, they’re for a PlayStation.”

William pulled him close, “Son, don’t say a word. Just smile and say thank you.”

In his heart, Joshua was glad William was such a good sensible kid or he would be a spoiled brat now. Sonya outright spoiled him. William started watching what he said he wanted because she would get it, usually by the next day. Joshua told William how proud he was about William not wanting a lot.

But even that had come back to bite him in the ass that very same year, William never really mentioned what he wanted for Christmas. So being Sonya, she bought what other mothers said they were buying their sons. By Christmas morning, the two-hundred-square-foot living room was half full of presents. Not all were William’s. Like William, Joshua had kept his mouth shut about wanting something because Sonya would buy it. She had money and made good money and didn’t mind spending it.

Joshua and William felt bad because together, they only got Sonya a dozen presents each. Truth be told, if presents wouldn’t have kept stacking up in the living room, Sonya would’ve only gotten a few from each of them.

That Christmas Eve, Joshua had to put not one, but two bikes together. One was a mountain bike and the other was a ten speed. As he put them together, Sonya tried to help, excited about making William happy. Having learned his lesson, Joshua just smiled with her and put the bikes together. Sonya loved them and liked to see them happy and smiling.

After that Christmas, William and Joshua would sit down in November and write down a narrow list of presents. The first year, they only wrote down ten items and it seemed that Sonya didn’t think that was enough and the living room was packed again. It took two more Christmas’, but they finally had the list to twenty-seven nice items each and this seemed to appease Sonya because the living room wasn’t packed anymore. Joshua tried one year to list socks and stuff, but Sonya would have none of that.

If you were around Sonya, you would think she’d given birth to William. Last year, William started liking a little girl and calling her ‘his girlfriend’. When Sonya found out who the girl was, she wasn’t happy. The girl’s family were known troublemakers and in trouble with the law. Joshua didn’t care, he judged people by who they were, not by where they came from.

Sonya wasn’t happy with that, as she very clearly screamed at Joshua many times. “That little trampy slut isn’t going to get near my baby boy!” Luckily, it didn’t last long and now, William was talking to a girl that lived close to them and Sonya really liked her and her family. Joshua thought the girl was a little high maintenance, but kept his mouth shut and would let William decide who he wanted to date.

He and Mary had been married for almost two decades before she had passed and they’d fought about normal stuff that couples argue about. In the seven years he had been married to Sonya, the only thing they had really argued about was her ‘spoiling’ William.

Case in point, Sonya wanted to buy William a car for his thirteenth birthday, so he could start practicing to drive. Not able to hold his tongue but using a different tactic, Joshua finally convinced Sonya that the car would be a waste of money right then, since she was talking about a new car and not a used one. They could let William practice with theirs. Satisfied with that, Sonya only bought William another four-wheeler and Joshua kept his mouth shut, feeling that was a good compromise.

That was why Joshua felt safe about leaving William with Sonya. There was no doubt in his mind, she would protect William if someone even entertained the thought of harming William. He would just kill them, but she would do it slowly and with much pain. A part of Joshua really thought Sonya wouldn’t be happy with just the person who had threatened William, but would want close relatives of that person as well.

As far as Sonya helping others, Joshua didn’t care and would help her to do it. She didn’t give handouts; Sonya gave a hand up. If your house burnt up, she would help you get replacements and clothes. More than one family had been put up for a few days in their house over the seven years they had been married.

If a family member died, Sonya would help however she could. Joshua wasn’t big into computers and if William didn’t love the damn things, he would have had very little to do with them. But one day, Ben was talking and told Joshua about the friends that Sonya had on one of her social network pages. William explained that to him.

Joshua had just shrugged at Ben and Ben had grabbed Joshua and yelled. “Josh, she has over ten thousand friends!”

“They’re not real friends,” Joshua had mumbled. But that night, he’d talked to William about it and William told him that was a record.

Thinking about how lucky he was, Joshua settled back in the chair and his body relaxed as the tension of what was happening to him left and thoughts of his family continued playing in his mind. “I’m blessed and I’m not giving it up without a fight,” he said with a smile and drifted off for some much needed sleep.

Chapter Nine

Sitting behind his desk and feeling older than dirt, Buck looked up as Stanley walked in. “You look like I feel,” Stanley said, walking over to a coffee pot on the conference table.

“I feel like I’m talking to kids when I talk to the feds,” Buck said as Stanley poured a cup of coffee.

Ripping open some sugar packets, Stanley laughed. “With kids, I could call their parents.”

Looking outside as dawn broke, Buck nodded thinking coffee sounded good and got up, walking over to the conference table. “I wanted to ask, I heard the radio station when I drove in and spun the dial and found all three were back on. You said they were all shut down and the earliest they could get a hearing was next week.”

Moving over to a box of doughnuts, Stanley grabbed one with a grin. “I have a sharp assistant Buck. He found a regulation, left over from the Cold War, that forbids the FCC from shutting down all public broadcast venues in an area without approval from the governor.  If the FCC gets the governor to do it, they must set up another means to broadcast information to the public. Since all three stations don’t serve the same area, they are back on the air.”

“It wasn’t the hundreds of phone calls from Bonner county citizens to the governor?” Buck asked, pouring a cup of coffee.

“Well, that might have played a part for others, but not here. My assistant showed the regulation to the judge and he ordered the stations back on the air until the hearing. But get this, one of the stations in Coeur d’Alene started broadcasting hourly reports yesterday about the ‘Atrocities being committed by the Federal Government in Bonner County’ and was shut down,” Stanley said with a grin.  “Sheriff Delgado sent patrol cars to the station and ordered it back on the air. He even arrested one of the FCC guys. Since then, every radio station in Idaho is running hourly reports. I’ve never seen so many reporters from radio stations before.”

Grabbing a donut, Buck gave a genuine smile of joy. “At least someone will know what’s going on here.”

“Buck, the independent news sites on the web are all over this,” Stanley said sitting down. “People know and it’s starting to make waves that the feds don’t want. Both our members in congress have called me back and retracted their statements about cooperating with the feds and have left it to our judgment.”

Sitting down, Buck took a bite of his donut. “I refused to take their call.”

Stanley sat down and nodded in understanding. “So, what do you know of our guest today?”

“He’s a man hunter, Special Agent Albert Moore.”

“Yeah, I know that, but why do you want me here?” Stanley asked sipping his coffee.

“To make sure I don’t get in trouble when I tell him to fuck off,” Buck said. “Just how much do I have to talk to him?”

“Buck,” Stanley said looking around nervously. “Have you had your office swept for bugs?”

“Every six hours,” Buck said finishing his donut. “They left right before you got here.”

“You know, it’s sad we are sweeping for listening devices from our own government.”

Buck pointed at the window to a box with wires leading to suction cups attached to each window. “You know what that is?” he asked and Stanley shook his head. “It’s a laser interrupter. The feds have a laser that they can shoot at a window from almost half a mile away and can pick up every word said. My electronics guy said it’s so sensitive, if you type something they can even tell what you typed from your fingertips striking the keys.”

“You think they are using one on you here?” Stanley asked getting worried.

“Don’t know, but Sheriff Figueroa up in Boundary County sent that to me for that reason. I looked it up and the things aren’t cheap, so don’t ask me why he had one.”

“Shit, where do I get one?” Stanley said and then looked back at Buck. “I’m asking this completely as your friend and citizen of Bonner County. Do you think Joshua will move around in populated areas or stay in the mountains?”

“That’s easy, he’ll stay in the mountains. He knows how to move, and unlike those idiots I see on TV, Joshua knows how to survive. Hell, he’s lived the life of a mountain man.”

“Buck, Agent Moore will never find him then, unless he gets lucky. They are used to tracking people in civilization, not the backcountry. If Joshua avoids people, they will never find him.”

“Stanley, just about everyone in this county will go out of their way to help Joshua. You know why Sheriff Figueroa gave me that device? He knows Joshua from his dealings with Sonya when she helps people. He didn’t say it in so many words, but he’s getting ready to butt heads with the feds.”

“Why would they bother him? Joshua doesn’t live there.”

Buck reached over, grabbing another donut. “He said when they start to search, they will move into his county. They already sent him letters of request for assistance.”

Stanley sat back in his chair, “Well, what did he reply?”

“Stanley, I know I’m not a wordy scholar and have a potty mouth, but if I would have ever used that language to anyone, my wife would wash my mouth out,” Buck grinned. “The gist of his remarks was that until the feds came and sucked his protruding appendage till he felt they had earned his respect, they could fuck off or he would use their women as breeding stock for real men.”

Changing the remark to ghetto words in his mind, Stanley smiled nervously. “Damn, that’s ballsy. He could get in trouble for remarks like that to a federal agency.”

“I don’t think he really cares,” Buck said as his secretary came in with more coffee. “Let us get another cup and then would you take the coffee and donuts out until my federal guest leaves? I refuse to feed the assholes on my dime.”

“Yes sheriff,” she said with a smile as they each pulled another donut out and topped off their coffee.

“From what I’ve heard about him, Agent Moore is an alright guy,” Stanley said getting another donut and stacking them on napkins in front of him.

Buck shook his head as the secretary walked out. “I really don’t care. If they would have left this to me, I would’ve brought Joshua in. Granted, like you and I have established, we wouldn’t get a prosecution, but he would’ve answered for his actions and have been found not guilty. They don’t care. Like you said, they want him dead.”

“Sheriff, you have a Special Agent Moore here to see you,” his secretary announced over the intercom.

“Mind your manners,” Stanley said sipping his coffee.

Looking at the intercom like he wanted to punch it, Buck slowly reached over and pushed the button. “Show him in, please.”

The secretary opened the door and a man in his mid-fifties wearing a nice suit and carrying a briefcase walked in. “Sheriff Harper,” he said holding out his hand with a smile that seemed genuine. Standing up as the man walked over, Buck shook his hand. “Agent Albert Moore with the FBI.”

“Pleasure,” Buck said with a flat expression.

Releasing his hand, Moore looked at the table and smiled. “So, I see my counterparts have really irritated you.”

“Come again?” Buck said sitting down.

“You took out the coffee and donuts,” he grinned and motioned to the table. “Where would you like me to sit?”

“Not close to me,” Buck said and Stanley glared at him.

Moore stepped back, dropping the smile. “They must have done a really good job of irritating you,” he said, moving to the end of the table. “May I ask who is beside you?”