by T I WADE
“General Allen knew a great deal about their plan already,” added Colonel Patterson. “Before he died, he gave me implicit instructions on how to defend New York. He didn’t know about the food ships, and I’m sure we can tweak the plan he gave me to make sure that the valuable food gets to those who need it most.” He then went about telling the group what the general had planned for the arrival of the invasion force.
*****
Colonel Grady was slowly making his way up I-95 as the group at McGuire discussed battle plans. The second convoy had caught up with him within a day of leaving Preston’s farm. The first convoy had reached the southern Virginia border when the second convoy reported that they could see the tail end of the convoy up ahead. They were getting low on fuel and the colonel got on the phone to Preston. “Good evening, Preston. Grady here. I’m going to need one of your tankers to fly in and refuel our tanks down here in Virginia. We will need about 6,000 gallons per day and the second convoy now just behind us will need about the same. Plain old regular gas will do—none of your fancy flying fuels now, just 50% unleaded and 50% diesel.”
“Hi, Colonel Grady,” replied Preston. “How are the roads? Can a 130 get down on the cleared highway?”
“Oh, sure. The navy has done a good job. We have increased our speed from 20 miles an hour to 30. We could go faster, but the old tanks have a maximum speed of 30 miles an hour. We have enough fuel for about three hours at this speed and I thought that I could send our tanker trucks forward several miles and then the Air Force can come in and fill them up. We now have eight tankers, all old M-49s from the 1960s. They hold 1,200 gallons each and I’m sure your 130 could fill up a couple of them at a time. I could send four of them forward 100 miles and they could be refueled and ready for us when we get there. Leapfrog the tankers, you know what I mean. I can refuel eight vehicles at a time so we could have both convoys refueled in four hours. I think that we can stagger the vehicles every couple hundred yards to head up to the next refueling spot as they are filled, which will give us a 100-mile convoy, but at least we won’t have hundreds of vehicles hanging around waiting for fuel.”
“Send your tankers up front,” replied Preston, “and I’ll get the Air Force to stage a refueling point every 100 miles until you get into New York—the quicker the better. Call me when you get your tankers forward and we will have our two 130 tankers refueled and ready to transfer your unleaded and diesel, Colonel.”
The HC-130 tanker aircrews were called, and Preston quickly explained to the base commander what Colonel Grady wanted. The Air Force set about flying in the two tankers to land on the cleared northbound I-95 highway, 100 miles into Virginia from the border. It would take the aircraft two hours to get there, and they could easily fill two of the trucks each. Another four road tankers would be positioned another 100 miles nearer, and the time the 130s took to unload their fuel, fly back for more and then return, the tanker trucks would be moved to a new forward location by the time the 130s arrived. They reckoned that the Army convoys would be in New York within 72 hours.
*****
Back in North Carolina, the supplies were going out as fast as possible. The crew of the Southwest flight worked hard on the empty farm with most of its aircraft gone. The Air Force guards were down to a dozen, and the hangar was quiet and empty now that the battle had moved north. With the smaller aircraft Mike, John, and Pam were using, they would never run out of food supplies from Seymour Johnson. The 747 transporter was now also flying into Seymour Johnson every day, often parking next to the smaller aircraft and also packing in food. The three little aircraft looked like flies compared to the massive 747, which loaded more in one flight than they could load in a year, but people were being fed and America needed to hang on for another week to ten days before all the aircraft could get involved with feeding the population.
*****
On January 13th, the Chinese engineers were gathered into a JFK terminal meeting room. Most of the engineers still had bumps on their heads from when they were captured.
Preston, Colonel Patterson, Carlos, Lee and Majors Wang and Chong flew in to meet with them. They had worked hard with their American counterparts and needed a little time off. The president was flying in to JFK in Baby Huey an hour later once the terminal was secure and the engineers seated.
He did so, and Buck brought Air Force One down gently where the first 747 had been captured. Guards had been posted all the way down the Van Wyck Highway and around the entire terminal area. Fresh snow covered the ground, and the wind was blowing a negative wind-chill factor as the Huey lowered herself onto the recently cleared terminal apron. The president and his Secret Service agents walked into the warm terminal building and each was handed a cup of steaming coffee as they arrived.
Colonel Patterson brought the meeting to order as Lee strode up to the platform. In Chinese, he began: “Does every person here speak decent English? If you cannot understand English, please stand up.” Nobody did. “So, we will now continue this meeting in English. The United States of America considers all of you prisoners of war. Does anybody not understand that?” Nobody moved. “The President of the United States has come here today to offer you amnesty if you would like to be a new citizen of the United States. You are not soldiers, you are engineers, and this country now needs your knowledge to repair what has been destroyed. We know that your job here was to get the airports and harbor operational for the invasion of the United States by the CEO and President of Zedong Electronics, Chairman Wang Chunqiao and the company you and I used to work for. We were all employed because we were the best in our fields. You are all expert engineers and what you do after the invasion is entirely up to you. I believe, as one of you but also as an American citizen, that you can either stay here or go home. Before you make that decision, I need to update you on China.”
Lee paused to formulate his words carefully. “Chairman Wang Chunqiao dropped three atomic bombs on China yesterday. One destroyed Beijing, the second destroyed Taiwan, and the third destroyed both Hong Kong and Guangzhou.” There was a loud murmur among all the engineers as they questioned the truth of that statement and spoke amongst each other. Lee allowed them a few moments to do so.
“Why would he do such a thing, and how do we know you are telling the truth?” asked one engineer.
“I have family in Beijing,” stated another, and Lee put his hand up for silence.
“We control the three satellites owned by Zedong Electronics,” continued Lee. “I’m sure some of you worked on them, or knew somebody who worked on them. Our commander, who was running our defense against Chairman Chunqiao’s attacks, was killed in Beijing. He had flown in to deliver satellite phones to the Chinese government so that they could communicate with America as well as Russia. He had just left Beijing International Airport when the first missile exploded. We could see the explosions on the satellite feed, but we had not mastered the satellite control codes at the time. There is a fourth nuclear missile in Harbin and Comrade Mo Wang told me yesterday that it is aimed at Shanghai and is meant to destroy Shanghai once the chairman has flown all his troops out of the Shanghai Pudong Airport. As you have seen, the American Air Force went into Pudong a couple of days ago and stole some of the chairman’s Air China aircraft so that America can begin to fly its troops back from all the wars they were involved with before this crisis. Many of you saw these aircraft fly into the three New York airports yesterday, and they are due in here again today with another 6,000 American troops out of Iraq. We know all about the attack here in New York next week, and we are preparing to destroy the leaders of Zedong Electronics before they destroy the rest of the world. How many of you come from the Shanghai area?” Most of the engineers raised their hands.
“You may thank the United States Air Force, my friend Carlos Rodriquez,” he added pointing to Carlos, “and me, because that fourth atomic bomb destined for Shanghai next week will not reach Shanghai. It will be redirected out to sea and destroy itself. For the rest of y
ou who had family in the destroyed areas, I’m sorry for your loss and you may thank the chairman yourself when he arrives in America. You have two choices, and if you decide to become Americans, the president will forgive you. I will now let him explain.” Lee returned to his seat and the room was silent as the U.S. President came forward.
“Good Day. I know that you are the best in your fields,” the President started. “What Mr. Wang has told you is the truth. We have our own atomic weapons ready to fire on my command and we have the satellite, or shall I say satellites to guide them anywhere in the world we want. America has not unleashed a weapon of mass destruction to kill civilians since the Second World War, but the chairman of your country unleashed three of them minutes apart to kill his own people. This man needs to be stopped. Look what he has done to the world! He has taken humanity back 100 years and you could say that the world has gone back into a new form of the Dark Ages. Now you must each make a choice. You can either stay under guard and continue to be a prisoner of war, or you can help us fight this monster and begin to get the world working again. So far, we believe that it’s possible that two billion people have died worldwide and certainly another billion or two are going to die before we can get our planet back on track.”
“I promise you that once we have secured the destruction of Chairman Wang Chunqiao and his accomplices, we will fly you back to China to look for your families and bring them back to the United States. He cannot explode his fourth nuclear missile over Shanghai anymore. If you would like to stay there, you will have that choice, but the United States of America blames China and its people for this catastrophe and we will not look at China as a friend for many generations to come. We will probably never do business with China again. Now, make your choices and come and help us design and develop a new country and a new world. Hopefully we can learn to live in peace again and I hope that this destruction of our civilization is a turning point toward a better world.” The President left a totally silent room.
Now it was time for Colonel Patterson to complete General Allen’s plan for fending off the invasion force. Lee Wang was put in charge of discussing the engineers’ options with each of them, helped by his wife and daughter as well as Majors Wong and Chong. Baby Huey took off to fly north with the president on board, as well as one Secret Service agent, Colonel Patterson, Preston, Carlos, Vice Admiral Rogers, and the McGuire base commander. The weather was clear but cold, and several thermoses of coffee and snacks had been put on board for the flight over New York harbor.
Colonel Grady and his long convoy were doing well and would arrive within 36 hours. The biggest problem was the massive increase of starving people around the four airports. Over 100 troops were doling out a week’s supply of rations per person at each airport, and the 747 transporter was working nonstop to empty Seymour Johnson of supplies. The lone aircraft managed a flight into each airport once every 24 hours and 10,000 people per airport were receiving two week’s worth of rations every day and told not to come back because there was going to be a massive battle around the airports, on the highways, and in the harbor.
Each civilian was given a print-out telling them that this food supply was all they would receive until February, and not to come back or they could find themselves in a middle of a war zone. The note stated emphatically that they were not to go anywhere near the ground around New York Harbor, or they could be shot on sight by either side.
“I’m wondering if the enemy might only fly into Newark, now that they have fewer aircraft to fly in,” Preston mentioned to Colonel Patterson as they flew over Newark, which was the closest airport to the harbor area.
“I wouldn’t disregard JFK,” replied the colonel. “They flew into JFK before, and if you look at a map it’s only about a 20-mile hike to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, which is the only entrance and a strategic defensive location. The general wanted the area around the bridge to be packed full of howitzers and troops on either side, but not on top of the bridge.”
“Why?” asked the president. “We have several trucks of explosives about to head to the bridge. If all else fails, we can blow it up and topple it onto the aircraft carrier and hopefully a few more of the military vessels—either to destroy them or stop them from escaping out to sea.”
“Destroy the Verrazano Narrows Bridge?” reacted Preston.
“The weight of the bridge should just about cut through the aircraft carrier, or at least sink it,” Colonel Patterson replied. “General Allen thought that it was a small price to pay for the destruction of the ships that are really going to be a problem. Carlos and I talked a little earlier. We do not have a GPS system good enough to launch our sophisticated missiles at these ships. They have massive amounts of hard armor and their defense systems, even without using their GPS missile directional systems, are still a force to be reckoned with. Some of their fast-action big guns and 50mm cannons can wreak havoc on our troops. Most of our old battle guns will be wiped out in seconds by dozens of their rapid fire guns.
“Why don’t we take them out with a nuclear missile before they get here?” asked the president.
“You just say the word, sir, and it will be done—just as soon as Carlos can pinpoint them on his computer screen,” the colonel said enthusiastically. “However, that also destroys the food ships and could be the death sentence for a million or more Americans who will starve to death without it. We don’t have enough food right now, and maybe those five container ships will only feed New York and maybe Washington for a couple of weeks, but the general’s main dilemma was whether to destroy the food ships and lose food for a million people, or whether to risk losing a couple thousand troops and hopefully obtain control of the attack.
“Also, the long-distance benefit of having these ships is that these ships may be the only large ships left in the world. If Los Angeles is to get another five of these container ships full of food in two week’s time, then these five ships heading for New York would not get back in time to reload. That means that there must be five more ships sitting in Shanghai Harbor. That’s why he hasn’t blown up his main airport and harbor. I have thought about Shanghai for much of the day. If he is now moving his troops into Harbin, we can assume that the troop numbers at the airport and harbor in Shanghai are being depleted, which gives us the chance to go in and capture anything he has there. I bet they are also full of unprotected fuel ready to supply Los Angeles with food.”
“I could have a dozen Naval officers ready to go in at a moment’s notice,” chimed in Vice Admiral Rogers. “With ten of those massive ships under our control, we could move mountains of men and equipment across the ocean. It could be the means for the survival of mankind in other areas if that amount of food could be transported, say, into England or France, or even Japan in the future.”
“Well said, sir. General Allen knew that you would be on the same wavelength. His idea was to fly two of the 747s back into Shanghai full of troops with protection from the two remaining gunships and the fuel tankers to get the gunships there. Unfortunately, we have no operational helicopters with rapid-flight deployment capability. It would take too long to disassemble and reassemble them on the other side, but several jeeps and some smaller armored vehicles could be transported to Shanghai with the transporter, refueling in Alaska. One point I must mention that really got to General Allen was, how did they fly the transporter here with the other 747s in the first place? It doesn’t have the range from anywhere in China and it must have been refueled and joined the incoming troop carriers from a different location.”
“Could it fly into Panama?” asked Preston. “They control Panama.”
“No way! It’s even further to Panama, Preston. General Allen believes that the chairman, or whatever he is called, has another secret base somewhere, but we might never find out where. But at least we can halt his missiles from anywhere.”
“We have some rat patrol jeeps and two armored cars in North Carolina,” added Preston.
“They would be pe
rfect, plus one or two other vehicles— maybe mortars and rapid-movement vehicles. We can see what Colonel Grady brings up with him. I’m sure he said he had an old multiple missile launcher that would be useless against hardened ship armor but great against a base of troops.”
“So what is your idea, Colonel?” asked the president.
“In a nutshell, Sir, I believe we should attack them in Shanghai at the same time they are attacking us here. Land our aircraft in Shanghai Pudong, unload the mobile equipment, and drive the ten or so miles into the harbor. Then we take over the ships, drive back to the airport, reload our valuable equipment, and fly back. Stupid and simple, just the way I like it. Hopefully our old trucks and jeeps will shock the Chinese troops into immediate surrender.” Everyone laughed.
“What about your plans for New York?” the president asked, now that they were flying over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge at 2,000 feet. Not a ship or boat could be seen anywhere. The sea was completely empty of shipping.
“First, we have somewhere between 12,000 and 20,000 of their troops getting off aircraft at our three airports. They may reduce that number now, but we can’t take that chance. By the time they land, we will have 25,000 troops in and around each airport. I’m hoping that they will unload and start marching towards the harbors using the freeways. It should take them between 2-6 hours to get to the harbor area. They will never get there.”
The colonel looked at the group for approval. “The plan is to sneak a couple of men aboard each aircraft as they are refueling, if we can. There are a couple of places underneath the aircraft where they can get in through the main undercarriage doors, or through the cargo hatches, of which there are several. I’m sure the men are coming in armed to the teeth, and they will have supplies underneath in the cargo areas. Our men will gladly give them a hand with the unpacking and hopefully put a little present into whatever they are carrying. We are putting together several very small exploding devices, mainly with a grenade surrounded by a fingernail-size piece of C4 with an electronic detonation device in it. The blast should be strong enough to ignite the grenade, and that with the C4 should kill or maim the men standing around the poor guy carrying it. We have about 300 of the detonation devices from the two transporter loads. We can make miniature bombs to be ignited by a satellite phone call. Hundreds of special computerized numbers can be dialed into the phones and we can make up the phone numbers.”
