The Battle for Houston...The Aftermath (47 page)

“It’s hard to understand what they have without seeing the equipment, General, but I think the major has assumed correctly. I believe the system or systems are backups for loss of GPS guidance, which means that those rockets might still be able fly where they want them to, within their 1,500 mile range. First, somebody must destroy, or at least deactivate any similar parts in or on the main control center in case there are more controllers out there. Second, those Gulfstreams should get into American hands, and I think Andrews is your best bet. Just a thought, but if the president were to offer Westbrook and his side-kicks a deal, I’m sure they would be more than happy to fly back to Washington to discuss the deal. They know that they can control the missile’s flight from Washington, and sort of hold that as a ransom against the president if the deal isn’t exactly what they want. Plus, I was wondering, how did these guys get our satellite phones?”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” replied General Paterson. You gave out the lists of who got phones, and I think you said there were still a hundred locked up in the armory at Andrews, correct?”

“Correct, General.” I would check to see who has authorized phones out of there. There is no place Westbrook could have got these phones, unless they maybe had them before all this crap happened, from Zedong Electronics, or from the Chairman himself.”

“Yes, I think that is the answer. Thank you Carlos, fly safe.”

The call ended and General Patterson left the meeting to make a couple of private calls. Twenty minutes later he returned to the men and women waiting patiently for him to work on a long list of items Charlie Meyers had asked for.

* * *

“The general thinks that the Gulfstreams might fly out of here tonight or tomorrow night,” Charlie Meyers stated, having his own meeting a few hours later. “We have the second group coming in tonight and I have asked some of the men to bring in small slices of C-4 connected to a timer, so that we can distribute them around the airport’s armored vehicles once we get in there. My only concern is those civilians. We need to get them out, and I just can’t figure out how to simply walk 100 civilians out of one of the gates.”

“Fly them out!” suggested Major Wong, still in his Chinese uniform and looking pretty out of place among the Seals. He didn’t even sit like a Seal would.

“Major, I think that skunk smell did go to your head,” replied Joe Paul. “But we are still in a free country so elaborate.”

“I’m known by several, including the general in there. The aircraft I saw in there is a little bigger than a C-130 and must have flown in those small armored vehicles, those old Chinese amphibious tanks; you think they are Type 62s, correct?” Joe Paul nodded. “OK, you want to go in and paste the place with C-4. Then before they all go boom, I fly that aircraft out of there. Answer a question, Seal Team: How many men would fire on General Patterson’s aircraft if he officially/unofficially flew out of Elmendorf?”

“Nobody without explicit orders,” Joe and Charlie replied.

“Correct. Lieutenants, you give me some small guys, we dress them in Chinese uniforms. We grab the general in the hangar, get him aboard, then open the hangar doors and taxi out. I think it would be best to do this at night, the same time you guys go in. Then, I taxi the aircraft close to the civilian building, open the rear ramp, your guys take out the two guards, hurry the civilians aboard and then we all just fly away!” Charlie Meyers smiled. “I tell the tower over the radio, if your guys haven’t already taken it out, that the general has a sudden and urgent appointment in China or something and, from the civilian building, I will have enough direct black top to fly straight out, as long as there’s not a strong a tailwind. I stay low, 100 feet over the water, and hopefully nobody of rank at the airport will have the guts to fire on the general. If we do this after the Gulfstreams have left, which we have been told should happen, then there will be fewer people to make a decision about putting a missile up my rear end.”

“OK,” responded Charlie Myers. “We could use your aircraft noise as cover to take out the missile jeeps outside and the gun emplacements inside the perimeter, so that nobody can send you a gift, then fight our way into Hangar Three.”

“No need if you can take out the missile emplacements first; nobody seems to check them; they were all asleep when I inspected them last night. If you get your men to take them out, we take out the gate guards, several of us head to Corporal Bo’s current place of employment, take white coats and a few backpacks of gifts with us, and I‘ll get you in Hangar Three before I head over to Hangar One. Just have three or four guys in Chinese uniforms waiting for me at Hangar One. If I’m found out and captured, at least you are in a position to take out the central control, add a few gifts to the rockets and then the guys in Andrews can take care of the Gulfstreams.”

“So it all begins when the Gulfstreams leave here. What about possible phone, or radio messages to the Gulfstreams before they get to Washington?” Joe Paul asked.

“I think a second group of men silencing the colonels and brass in the VIP quarters, plus the American females and anybody else hanging around Hangar Two would be a good thing. If we can control those areas, and the airport’s control tower before we start engines on that Chinese four-propeller job, then I think that any problems would be preempted. Or maybe we wait until the Gulfstreams land at Andrews, hopefully when it is still dark here, and air force personnel take the aircraft into custody and then phone us. I just wish I had Major Chong here. He could control the tower, or help me fly that thing out of here.”

General Patterson was called and three more Chinese American soldiers, including Major Chong, who was a couple of minutes out flying a 747, were to be sent over with a third group with more explosives in thirty hours. The general reported that the president would contact Westbrook or Bowers in the morning, seven hours from the current time, and set up a meeting within twenty-four hours after that. “I will inform the president that he must ask for the meeting the same day, not knowing that these guys need ten to twelve hours to get in. Also, the meeting time will be early, so that it is still dark in Alaska. We are hoping that they will ask for the next day to give them time to fly their long route into Washington and he will then not accept any other time as he and his family will be leaving Washington for an undisclosed location for two weeks. He will also leak that to the government members in Washington to make sure the word gets back.”

The fairly simple plan was put into motion. Since Colonel Wong was expected back by the guards at the gate, he decided to head back and make sure search parties were not sent out.

He was expected, and the same guards were awaiting his return. He entered making sure that they knew, and he knew that “Mao” was the password for the following day. They were put at ease when he actually told them the password and asked if they knew the next day’s password. They said that they didn’t, but the main guard house would know; one ran off and returned a few minutes later saying that ‘Zedong’ was the next day’s secret word and Wong thought it a good word to have on the day they would begin destroying this enemy base.

He looked over Hangar One as it grew dark. He now was ignored, apart from the general seeing him walking around the brightly lit hangar and headed over to him. Wong saluted.

“You are still inspecting, Wong?” General Lee asked.

“Yes, Sir. I checked out Hangar Three’s smell. It’s a mix of animal urine and rocket fuel I believe. I’m trying to figure out how to get rid of the smell. Since the engineers are going in sometime tonight, I thought I would ask them for advice. It is better to be in there when I ask the question. What do you think, General?”

“I would assume so,” a semi-dressed General Lee, responded.

“The reason I am working late, Sir, is to sort out a new problem I was made aware of by Corporal Bo in the security office. There was a report that somebody, he didn’t tell me who, was extremely sick today and the person thought it might be a contagious disease from either using a radio or a satellite phone. Was that your complaint, Sir?”

“If it is somebody getting sick, an officer, or a soldier, it must be a radio bug. Wong you had better sanitize all the radio receivers here on base. There is one in each hangar and the main one in the airfield control tower. Only the American civilians have satellite phones, I believe. Even I wasn’t issued one from the Chairman on his last visit. Can you imagine that?” the general stated, adding to his self-importance.

“The Chairman actually visited this airfield?” replied Wong in awe.

“Yes, several times once Hangar Three was complete. His last visit was around early November last year, just before he was to invade the world.”

“Pity, I missed that,” exclaimed Colonel Wong. “I met him once last year in Harbin; he shook both Colonel Rhu’s and my hand when he left in November. Maybe he was coming here.”

“Maybe,” replied General Lee, walking off. “Check the radios, Wong. Make sure they are clean. Wong, make sure everything is clean!” he joked, walking off and thinking what a lousy job this silly little colonel had.

The silly little colonel found what he was looking for, several empty Chinese military back packs in a stores section underneath the living quarters and he stuffed them in one bag and headed out of the hangar.

* * *

Twelve hours later the president was in contact with Peter Westbrook.

“It has been suggested by several civilians, and a couple of members of both Houses of Congress, Mr. Westbrook, that you and I should hash out an agreement of some sort. My generals are dead against it, but being a politician, I must play both sides, so I was thinking of discussing how to please both camps, and get this country up and running again. Many have been worried about the loss of money; several congressmen and I need to discuss with you and Mr. Bowers what should happen for the rest of this year. Are you willing to fly back into Washington and discuss your ideas with me and the members of both Houses?”

“Yes, Mr. President, but this will be the last time. Mr. Bowers and I have the whole world to pick and choose from right now, and China, I’ve been told, is needing leaders and outside help and actually needs more assistance than you and the United States needs right now. Maybe we should move our headquarters and interests into China. There are far more people there than the current population of the United States.”

“Mr. Westbrook, how are you obtaining this information?” asked the president slyly. “The entire world’s global communications are down, there are no phones or communications even from here to London, yet you can obtain information from China? How is that?”

“Classified information, Mr. President,” Westbrook replied confidently. “We have our ways and means; and the whole system isn’t down, just all the modern U.S. and European systems. Bowers and I aren’t anywhere near the USA, and you and I are speaking on a satellite phone aren’t we, Mr. President? I assume you were handed one after beating off the Chinese bandits trying to invade your country. I’m sure you have several dozen phones around the country. Mr. President, it also sounds like you don’t have very much in the way of communications, and you haven’t heard that communications are normal in China and most of Asia. I just spoke to the head of their government yesterday in Beijing, and he stated that we would have carte blanche over there in our dealings with them, and the yen is still working fine in Beijing, Mr. President. This time we will meet at Dulles. I’m not happy landing at a military airbase.”

When General Patterson was told that a meeting was to be had in Washington in 24 hours’ time, and the president relayed the information about Westbrook’s bragging about China, he laughed.

“I’m wondering who is in the dark, Mr. President? He is doing well to hoodwink you, and I’m sure he hasn’t even headed over to China since the New Year, because he would have headed into Harbin, Nanjing or radiation in Beijing. Our powerful radar systems based in Misawa or Harbin would have seen them come in. He’s playing you, and I think trying to find out how much you know. I’m glad you have finalized a meeting, and we will be ready both sides of the country once they touch down at Dulles. Mr. President, the nuclear threat is real and their aircraft will be boarded and taken over this time. I know they think landing at Dulles will be safer than an air force base, but their aircraft will be commandeered. All you have to do, Mr. President, is to have the enemy in position in the room. General Austin will have hundreds of men around and at all doors to the meeting room at Dulles. You must find out who is on our side and who isn’t.”

* * *

Thirty hours after General Patterson talked to the president, while he was having breakfast in the White House, there were silent, dark bodies swimming to shore just south of Cold Bay.

Due to the cold water Major Chong’s teeth were rattling in his mouth, and he knew that if he opened his mouth, they would wake up the whole world. The dry suit was doing its job, but was a little big for him and several pints of icy water had leaked in during his ascent, and didn’t seem to want to warm up.

His feet finally touched the bottom of the stony beach; two Seals were propelling him together with a large floating waterproof bag of several packs of C-4 and detonators, and the major was sure that this cargo added to his teeth losing control and making this weird noise.

It took both men to lift his cold body out of the water. He had the pressed Chinese uniform of a major in a waterproof air-tight bag in one arm. The outfitters had run out of colonel insignia after his colleague Wong headed out.

“Chong, are you there?” he heard his friend calling to him silently from out of the darkness.

“Yes, Comrade Wong. I need to get this freezing, crappy suit off me. There is water inside and it is freezing parts of my body. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to use them again.”

They helped the major out of his suit and wrapped him in his dry sleeping bag.