Bonner Incident (8 page)

Before the sun rose, all the marked trees were down and both track steers were running around with the crawler, piling the limbs and treetops and cleaning up the site. When the sun was over the mountains, Joshua laughed to see Donnie walking around with a yardstick and chainsaw, cutting stumps.

It was just before noon when Joshua turned to see three SUVs pull into the valley. All of them had several antennas, but the first one had a light bar on the roof and when it turned toward the landing, Joshua saw it was a state trooper. “No wonder criminals are ruling the nation. All the law enforcement is harassing the law abiders,” Joshua snapped grabbing his radio. “Ben, company. Come run the loader while I see what the fuck they want.”

“On my way,” Ben called back and Joshua climbed out of the loader. When he stood on the track of the loader, the state trooper SUV stopped and the trooper got out, making Joshua groan. It was Wayne Morgan. Joshua’s father had fired Wayne’s dad for continuing to show up on site drunk, and almost killing one of the other workers. Since then, Wayne had hated Joshua’s family because Wayne felt it was Joshua’s dad’s responsibility to help his dad.

“I really wonder what I did to piss God off,” Joshua mumbled jumping down. When he looked back over, Wayne was staring at him with an evil sneer as the driver’s door on the other SUV opened and a man stepped out, with another getting out of the passenger side. “You must have a hardhat to be on this site,” Joshua said walking past Wayne to the two men who screamed ‘fed’. Both were wearing suits and nice dress shoes.

“We’re here to pull you off the site,” Wayne shouted dropping his hand to his gun.

Not looking at Wayne, Joshua kept his eyes on the two men as they walked up to him. “So you’re shutting me down?”

“No, but you must leave the site until we evaluate the charges against you,” one of the men said pulling out a badge. “Agent Dale Gray with the FBI.”

“If you pull me off site, the contract is void and all fines I have to pay for not completing the contract can’t be enforced,” Joshua said as Dale was putting his badge back in his coat.

“Huh?” Dale said as the other man pulled his badge out.

“Homeland Agent Rodney Ward,” he said as Joshua turned to look at the ID and badge.

“What the fuck is Homeland doing here? We aren’t terrorists.”

“These forests are considered national assets and you’ve been charged with stealing them,” Rodney said putting his badge away.

Turning back to Dale, “If you force me from the site, the contract is void and I’m not liable for penalties,” Joshua said and glanced over at Wayne who still had his hand on his pistol. “Wayne, why are you threatening me? I have made no threatening moves against you.”

“I’m a cop, asshole, and I decide what’s hostile, so shut your mouth,” Wayne sneered.

“Officer Morgan, you’re here to observe, so observe,” Dale said looking at him, then turned back to Joshua. “What do you mean, you’re not liable per contract?”

“Just what I said,” Joshua said glancing back at Wayne, who still had his hand on his pistol. “And again I must tell you, any person on a logging site in a federal forest must have a hardhat and logging boots on.”

Agent Ward snickered. “That doesn’t apply to us. We’re the ones who enforce the rules, not you.”

“We aren’t shutting you down, Mr. Anderson. We are simply removing you from the site until this matter is handled in court,” Agent Gray said cutting his eyes from Wayne to Homeland Agent Ward. Idaho law states that federal law enforcement had to notify state authorities and the FBI had notified the sheriff, but he had refused to provide a deputy. So the FBI had notified the state police, and unknown to them, Officer Morgan had demanded to be on this operation.

“Fine, but I’m not liable,” Joshua said with a relieved sigh.

Agent Morgan saw the look of relief and was confused. “You seem relieved that we are barring you from the site.”

“Oh, I am,” Joshua smiled. “You just saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties.”

Not liking the sound of that, Wayne looked at Gray. “You know what he’s talking about?”

“No,” Morgan said shaking his head.

“My contract says if the site is closed to me for any reason, I’m not liable,” Joshua said feeling relief flood his body.

Agent Ward laughed. “Boy, we are the government. We can do anything we want, so your contract means nothing.”

FBI Agent Gray groaned and turned to Ward in a low voice. “Will you calm down and act professional.”

Wayne sneered at Joshua as the two agents whispered back and forth. “I’m so happy to be here and see you shut down.”

“Officer, that’s enough,” Agent Gray snapped, feeling like he was lecturing kids. Taking a deep breath, Agent Gray turned to Joshua. “Mr. Anderson, how long would it take you to produce this contract?”

“Long enough to walk over to my truck,” Joshua said, staring at the Homeland Agent beside Gray. Agent Ward was red-faced, glaring at the side of Agent Gray’s face.

Startled, Gray shook his head. “You keep it with you?”

“Yep,” Joshua said still looking at Agent Ward glaring at Gray. “Dad always said to keep it with you on a sale site.”

“I’m in fucking charge here Agent Gray!” Ward screamed. “Homeland is over every agency!”

Forcing a smile, “May I see it please?” Gray asked and Joshua nodded. “Thank you.”

As Joshua turned around, Gray spun on Ward and the two started quietly arguing. Before Joshua had even taken a step Wayne fell in behind him, still keeping his hand on the butt of his pistol. “You’re fucked, Joshua. The IRS is seizing your assets,” he chuckled.

“Fuck off Wayne,” Joshua said as the two Agents started raising their voices as they argued behind them.

“Think I’m kidding?” he laughed. “I sat in on the briefing this morning on how they are taking you down. IRS was there, FBI, Forestry Service, Homeland, Department of Labor, EPA, OSHA, CPS and the Department of Justice. All of them laid the plan out, how they are going to take everything from you. When they are done, you’ll have nothing. The only way you’re not going to spend the rest of your life in prison, is if you plead guilty.”

Knowing Wayne was just pushing, Joshua tried to keep calm. “Wayne, I’ve done nothing wrong, so I don’t have anything to fear.”

“They are going to shut you down and sell off your equipment this month,” Wayne laughed. “They don’t even have to prove you’re guilty, it’s called ‘civil asset forfeiture’. You’ll have to prove you’re innocent just to get it back, but you’re going to have to plead guilty just so you don’t spend the rest of your life in prison.”

Reaching his truck, Joshua took a deep breath and turned around. “Wayne, will you just shut up?”

“Just to let you know, I’m the one that called Child Protective Services in,” he grinned. “Seems to me, you’re endangering your son, bringing him here on this site with all this dangerous equipment. The feds loved it.”

“Don’t fuck with my family,” Joshua growled and Wayne tightened his grip on his pistol.

“Tomorrow morning the IRS is seizing your assets, so how can you even pay your lawyer?” Wayne smirked. “You’re going to sit in jail while we take everything. I’ll make sure your son goes somewhere nice.”

Glad his beard covered his face as he felt his cheeks getting red, Joshua looked up as Agent Ward stormed over with FBI agent Gray behind him. “I didn’t tell you to walk away!” Agent Ward screamed.

“Agent Gray told me to get the contract,” Joshua said, fighting to keep his voice calm.

“I’m in charge here and you’ll do what I say! Get it?!” Ward bellowed.

Crossing his arms, Joshua glanced at Wayne, then at Ward. “So, do you want to see the contract or not?”

“Yes,” Gray said stepping up.

Ward spun toward Gray. “This is my investigation asshole. Speak again and I’ll have you brought up on charges for interfering.”

“Seems my contract isn’t worth much,” Joshua said glancing at Gray. “I’ve heard you’re already going to seize everything.”

Gray just closed his eyes and shook his head as Ward turned to Joshua. “You’re goddamn right we are,” he growled. “Nine o’clock tomorrow, you have nothing. The IRS says we will get over two million in forfeiture of assets from you so fuck your contract, but by all means, you can show it to the college grad if you want,” Ward said motioning to Agent Gray with a nod.

As Joshua opened his truck, Gray leaned over to Ward whispering. “You don’t tell the suspect when you’re going to serve the warrant, dumbass. They can destroy evidence.”

Grabbing the contract, Joshua looked down at the door storage compartment seeing his 1911. Leaving the door open, he turned and opened the contract up. “It says in appendix C, if I’m barred from the sale site for any reason the contract is void, and I have ninety days after the site is reopened to fix any violations,” he said flipping the contract open.

“So?” Ward chuckled as Gray took the contract and started reading.

“It means I’m not in violation until ninety days after I’m done,” Joshua said now fighting to keep calm.

“Theft or destruction of national assets is a direct violation of the federal law that falls under the terrorist acts,” Ward growled. “I might just make the recommendation that you be labeled a terrorist and sent to one of our black rooms for questioning. As a senior Homeland Agent, I can do that.”

“I’m a citizen. I have rights,” Joshua said, for the first time getting scared.

Seeing Joshua’s eyes widen in fear, Ward’s grin broadened. “No, you lose those.”

“Ward,” Agent Gray said holding up the contract. “Step back here, you need to read this.”

As the two stepped to the front of the truck, Wayne laughed. “Told you,” he said. “It’s taken almost thirty years, but I finally get to see the Andersons fall.”

Knowing he couldn’t reply without his voice trembling, Joshua kept his mouth shut and watched the two agents arguing. “This contract was drawn up by the Forest Service and throws a lot of our case out,” Gray said as Ward read where he was pointing. “We can’t charge him with most of the violations until he turns the site over to the Forest Service.”

Not understanding what he was reading, Ward looked up at Gray. “You can’t maybe, but I can.”

“We will lose,” Gray whispered.

“No, we won’t. He has no choice but to do what we say. We’re taking everything he has, so he can’t fight back. This won’t come up in court for years and during that time, I’ll make sure he’s held without bail. What’s his family going to do? Nobody can fight us,” Ward said proudly.

“Hey, I want this as much as you do, but we need to proceed with caution and get the Justice Department to go over this contract,” Gray said closing the contract.

“Well, give it to them,” Ward said waving at the contract.

“Our warrants aren’t good till tomorrow.”

“Pussy,” Ward spat as he spun around walking back over to Joshua who was still standing at his door. “We’re taking this contract.”

“I’ll need to see the warrant,” Joshua said fighting to keep his voice from trembling.

Seeing Joshua trying to stay calm, Ward chuckled. “Don’t worry, it won’t be destroyed, but it might accidentally get lost.”

“So? I have a copy at home and the original is with my lawyer,” Joshua said forcing a smile. “Just in case that one gets lost.”

Ward’s face flushed red with anger at the audacity of Joshua trying to stand up against the federal government. “I’ve a good mind now to just haul your ass in,” he snapped. “I’ll make up charges later.”

With his arms still crossed over his chest, Joshua said. “I must admit, I’ve never felt more threatened in my life.”

“You backwoods hick, I could shoot you now and wouldn’t even get a letter of reprimand,” Ward said opening his coat and tucking it behind his holster. “Hell, we’ve even shot women and kids and never been questioned.”

“Like I said, that is only a copy of the contract. The Forest Service has one original, and I have the other,” Joshua said with a slight tremble in his voice.

Reaching over to Gray, Ward grabbed the contract and threw it at Joshua. Instinctively, Joshua reached out to catch it. “Hold it!” Wayne yelled as Joshua caught the contract and hit the thumb snap on his holster.

“Jesus Christ, I’m holding a stack of papers!” Joshua yelled, glancing at Wayne and seeing that only the barrel of his pistol was still in the holster. Looking up at Ward, Joshua’s heart sped up seeing he had his hand on his pistol, too. “You’re going to shoot me with witnesses?”

“Hah,” Ward huffed. “Who’s going to believe loggers over federal agents?”

Wayne looked over at Agent Ward, not liking to be left out. “Gentlemen, we need to control ourselves,” Gray said brushing his coat back and for a second, Joshua felt he had an ally. “Mr. Anderson, step back,” he said grabbing his pistol. “Don’t make a decision you’ll regret.”

“It’s fucking paper,” Joshua shouted.

“You made a threatening move toward a federal agent,” Gray said watching him. “Agent Ward was just returning your contract.”

“About time you got on board,” Ward said grinning as he glanced over at Gray.

Looking over at Ward, Gray nodded. “You better make damn sure you put in the report that I did an excellent job,” he said taking his eyes off Joshua looking at Ward. “I’m tired of working in the Northwest.”