Текст книги "The Battle for New York"

Автор книги: T. I. Wade

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Текущая страница: 8 (всего у книги 28 страниц)

“Mr. President, you are seated next to the ambassador and Mr. Rodriquez. We need to get started,” instructed General Allen. “Preston, your seat is next to Martie, naturally.” Preston noticed that he was also sitting next to the president.

Everybody was in attendance. Next to Martie was Pam Wallace, the extremely pretty flight attendant, and next to her was Grandpa Roebels with Michael next to him. The second row was the ‘complete’ Smart family, Carlos, the three Colombian bodyguards, Sally, Buck, and Barbara. In the third row were Jennifer, David, Joe, and all his sons. The fourth row was the Air Force doctor, his chief nurse, First Sergeant Perry, and the technical sergeants, and the fifth and sixth rows were assorted Air Force personnel who were not currently on duty at the entrance or in the fire tower.

“Good evening, y’all,” the general smiled, using his best southern drawl. “We have two hours before Ghost Rider—the AC-130 gunship—is landing and the president leaves. Hopefully, we will not be attacked during our meeting, but I want Martie and her new friend to come up and tell us what they saw today and what we can expect. Martie, Pam, you have five minutes.” The two women got up and walked to the front of the room.

“This is Pam Wallace,” started Martie. “Pam is a senior flight attendant with Southwest Airlines, and was on a flight that took off from La Guardia four minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve. Her pilot, Captain Mike Mallory, managed to put his dysfunctional aircraft down in the water around New York with no loss of life. The captain, his crew, and many of his passengers drove south with a very interesting group of vehicles that I got a chance to see today, just north of the North Carolina state line.” Martie continued and gave her report on the Southwest crew and passengers she had met, as well as the convoy of ten vehicles she had seen from the air—mostly old Chevy Suburbans and Ford trucks a couple of miles behind the Southwest convoy on the southbound side of the highway.

“Hi everyone! It’s so nice to see civilization again,” Pam started as Martie gave her the floor. “The rest of our group will be arriving at RDU tomorrow, thanks to Martie. I know that our two pilots will be itching to help you guys, if you can loan them some wings. They are out of a job at the moment. I also am a private pilot and can help you as a spotter pilot, if you need me.”

Pam grinned at the murmur of laughter she heard. “On a more serious note, the other convoy coming south has roughly ten vehicles with what looks like three to six people per vehicle. We never really got close enough to see for sure, but they killed two innocent people for no reason. They passed us during our first night. We had driven down the northbound lane, only because it was the only lane we could get onto in New York and we never bothered to change. The other convoy was driving in the southbound lane so we do not think they ever knew we were in the vicinity. We tried to catch up with them at one point, until we came across the two freshly dead bodies. They had been shot several times and every vehicle in the convoy had run over the bodies, flattening them into the snow. This led us to believe that they were people to be avoided, and we transferred back to the other side of the highway and stayed away from them until we turned off for our second night’s stay at a small airport just north of the North Carolina state line.”

At this point, Pam paused as if she was trying to figure out how to word what she wanted to say. “There is something I think we need to deal with pretty quickly, and that is how to feed and provide good drinking water to the U.S. civilians. Mr. President, General Allen, Captain Mallory spoke about this at our last overnight stop, and I think our Southwest team would like to take it further. We had a long talk with some farmers up in Maryland, and the captain told them to start farming and breeding animals as soon as the weather allows, and asked them to spread the word across the country, telling people to hold on and start finding ways to become self-sufficient. The farmers must produce food for the hungry as quickly as possible, protect themselves from attackers, and help people coming south from colder areas.” She got resounding applause from the group, and the president gave her a nod of approval. “To conclude, our trip south on the highway was horrible. We must have seen thousands of people dead in their vehicles or around them. It’s very cold out there and there must be millions of people, dead or dying from being exposed to these horrible weather conditions. The snow on the highway south of New York was up to six inches deep and icy conditions just before New Year’s Eve must have been the cause of many of the accidents. Many of the big fatal accidents happened near tractor trailers going out of control, and the carnage—just on the piece of highway south of Newark—was terrible. Thank you.”

Martie stepped back in to continue. “I had my binoculars fixed on the other convoy while I was in the air, and it looked like the vehicles were full of people, as Pam said. If they are coming our way, they most likely turned off I-95 about an hour ago and should be on the outskirts of Raleigh by now. The dead vehicles on the incoming roadways will slow them down for the last 20 miles or so, but if they are coming here, they should be in our area within the next couple of hours.”

The general thanked the two ladies for their reports and asked First Sergeant Perry to give his situation report on the defense structure for this potential attack scenario.

“Mr. President, Mr. Ambassador, General Allen,” Sergeant Perry began. “We have set up a perimeter around this field that is ready to hold off an ambitious attack. We have completed our ambush scenario along the 300-foot dirt road leading to the asphalt feeder road, and have changed it slightly since our initial ideas this morning. The men have made and painted a simple wooden airport sign with an arrow pointing to the entrance of the airport—the way we want them to come in. This is to make sure they drive into our ambush. We have a wall of sandbags across the dirt road 50 feet before the gate entrance to this property. This is to make sure that any incoming vehicles will have to stop. There are no vehicles allowed in or out except Mr. Joe and Mr. David. They turn left any way and one of David’s two armored cars has been placed further down the road, 250 feet behind the barrier. Our latest scenario takes the entrance gate out of the ambush. The armored ferret is behind a double wall of sandbags to protect it from any shoulder-operated missiles. It is positioned where the lights of any incoming vehicles will light up the barricade, but leave the armored car in the darkness behind the barricade, if they decide to attack before dawn. After dawn, we will review the ambush zone and make the barricade across the road the main focus point. If they open fire at the barricade, we will know that they aren’t friendly and fire back. The barricade is 3-foot high and made of a triple line of sandbags behind the turned-over dining tables we brought from Seymour Johnson.”

Sergeant Perry paused to fish some notes out of his pocket to make sure he had the information listed correctly. “The barrier will be manned by 20 soldiers with M4s and a machine gun on either side in the shallow drainage ditches, again protected by sandbags and camouflaged with heavy brush. There is no way around the barricade, and the 200 feet of road where any enemy vehicles would need to stop is fully visible from the fire tower. A third and fourth machine gun has been placed on the fire tower, which will be invisible before dawn, but unfortunately very visible in the daylight. Two small 2-inch mortars have been placed 200 yards inside the wired perimeter and are ready to fire into the ambush point. My plan is that there will be three to four men in civilian clothes with hunting rifles ‘guarding’ the barricade. I want the barricade to look like a bunch of farmers protecting their road from visitors, so we have hidden any forms of military presence as best we can. As soon as the men see the lights of vehicles, they will get behind the sandbags and shout to anyone to stop. That is when we expect action. The men will be surrounded by Air Force troops along the barricade with automatic carbines.”

“Last, we cannot allow the ambushers to retreat. Carlos has explained that the first items we must find are the communications devices they are using. He thinks that they are small satellite cell phones. So, we have set up a first retreat kill zone in the trees the other side of the entrance on the feeder road. Thanks to Mr. Joe and Mr. David, we have enough mobile radios for all groups and the commanders of each section to be in radio contact throughout the fight. The attack armament for the retreating ambushes is the second rat patrol jeep facing down the short piece of road from the trees on the other side of the feeder road. Again, we have placed sandbags around it for protection. The two machine guns will wreack havoc on any retreating enemy.

“A mile north and south on the feeder road, I have placed a platoon of 30 men who are to stay hidden in the forest until any convoy passes, and then they will close down the road and shoot anybody who runs into them with two mortars and machine guns. In the forest to the east of the feeder road, and dug in to protect themselves from friendly fire, are another dozen troops, spaced out every 100 feet with night goggles. Their job is to bring down anybody escaping through the forest. My last ambush position is one flanking ambush squad of 12 men who are behind sandbags, and are facing towards the ambush road area, and inside the perimeter fence. The perimeter fence is 20 yards from the road—a little closer than I would like if the mortars land short, but their job is to kill the ambushers from the side and to make sure our perimeter is not breached. That ends my report.”

“How strong is your barrier at the front of the road?” David asked.

“We have considered what would be the worst armaments that potential ambushers can carry in small vehicles,” replied the first sergeant. “The worst they could have are shoulder rocket launchers like an RPG, then rifle grenades, and machine guns. If they have anything more, then we could consider them a suicide squad. Our men have been issued with gas masks if the attackers are wearing them upon entry, Mr. David. We are hoping that our forward troops on the feeder road using night binoculars and infrared scopes can tell us their exact numbers and whether they are wearing any protective equipment. That should tell us their intentions.”

“And this is complete and all the men are in position?” asked the general.

“Yes, sir. The men have camouflage gear, there is no snow at the moment, they have rations to last 24 hours, and apart from Mr. Joe, Mr. David, and me, we are ready for action.”

“Could they have mortars and decide to shell us from outside the one mile radius?” asked Preston.

“They could, sir, but anything that big couldn’t fit in a Suburban or Explorer,” Sergeant Perry answered. “The attackers might have small mortars, but I believe that our troops, from three angles, will be fast enough to keep them from setting up any mortars or tri-pod machine guns. I think that shoulder rocket launchers are the best bet, and we have several troops at the front barricade and on the sides of the ambush zone ready with flares. The flares are quick-action, low-level flares that will light up the scene within seconds. The men in the forest have sniper rifles with night scopes, as well as the men on both sides of the feeder road. I believe nobody can escape, sir.”

The General nodded, thanked the man, and Sergeant Perry asked to leave to complete final checks.

Preston noticed that one of David’s mobile radios had been placed to one side of the podium and it suddenly squawked a message calling Pete.

“Ghost Rider to Pete!”

“What’s up Ghost Rider?” Pete Allen replied, walking over to the radio and picking up the microphone.

“We have a visual of the ten vehicles moving through the middle of downtown Raleigh. We have seen several civilians go out to meet them and it looks like the men in the vehicles shoot to kill. There are several dead bodies on the streets they have been traveling. There is heavy civilian population in this area. Do you want us to take them out?”

“Negative,” the general replied. “We are prepared for their arrival.”

“They seem to have disappeared into what I think is an underground parking area. No, they have come out the other side. They are still all together in a convoy. Another person has been shot and several civilians are running for cover. They have gone into another building and we have lost sight of them. I don’t believe they can hear us– the wind is gusting down the streets about 20 to 25 miles an hour from the north and we are south of them. We are in a holding pattern and will keep watching. Over.”

“Let us know if you get visual again. Out,” replied the general. “We still have time. I would like Carlos’ friend Lee Wang to come up and tell us his complete story. Mr. Wang, you have 20 minutes and this, Mr. President and all of you, is going to blow you away!”

For the full 20 minutes, Lee told them his whole story, from his degrees obtained in China, to the first day he met the cleaner, to Zedong Electronics in Nanjing and its new building. He described the special private island belonging to Zedong Electronics across the river from Shanghai where they lived and were taught how to be Americans, and then how he dissected the small electronic part for a Toyota engine’s computer system. He explained his job in America, and how he got into private companies to steal, copy or describe new inventions about to go to market. It was necessary for Zedong Electronics to get this information so they could produce cheaper parts for the world to buy. He then explained how Zedong Electronics had so many different departments and virtually took over the world’s manufacturing of every electronic part and/or unit. He explained his duty to Zedong Electronics for his daughter’s education. He had worked at Microsoft, Qualcomm, Intel, Acer, IBM and Apple—twenty-five years of work. He thought that he was doing good work, so that the electronics giant would be successful for China and its people, and would bring China into the forefront of the world, and that his work would mean a better life for all Chinese. He never realized, until the termination squads started killing all the operatives like him, that something was wrong.

Lee Wang finally explained about meeting Carlos, hearing from friends about the danger they were all in, and the attack on him and his family. He said that he and his family were lucky to be alive, and then he sat down.

General Allen asked Carlos to come up and explain what he and Lee Wang had completed in Salt Lake City. Carlos introduced himself and his qualifications and got straight down to business.

“Lee Wang did not tell you that Zedong Electronics have the only three still-working satellites covering the globe for communications. These hit squads, or whatever you want to call them, are being ordered around through the use of these satellites. Lee and I sourced communications going both ways from the United States and Western Europe into the area around Nanjing, China. If we still had an Air Force, the headquarters of Zedong Electronics would be the first building to be taken out. If we could do so, it would destroy their whole communication set up. We cannot do it from space.”

For the next several minutes, Carlos told the audience about the Navistar P—a secret project spearheaded by the Air Force in the 1980s. Because it was sent into space such a long time ago, as well as being subject to simpler computer communications using DOS, he and Lee found older computers to communicate with it. Carlos explained how it had been lost and that he had found it by mistake. “Through the satellite, we can now see the United States as well as a sea boundary. I will be working to increase our range out to a 500-mile boundary, but remember the digital footage is antiquated and the screens we can use are also antiquated. The zoom on the camera lenses is only treble magnification, which means the further we send her out, the less detail we can see. Currently, we could see a large ship enter the viewing area 200 miles out to sea. One thing I did see, moments before we packed up to come down the mountain, was a large storm over Canada and northern areas. It’s a bad one and it is flowing south out of the Arctic. We rode in on it and these winds are the result of the arctic blast, as the weather men used to call it. I would hate to be north of here. It’s getting very cold up there.”

Carlos paused for a moment and looked over at the man, he now called friend. “To continue, Lee Wang should be complimented on his willingness and ability to help us in our time of need. Through the satellite communication relays from Navistar P, we have found three areas of space where communications are being transmitted, to and from. Unfortunately, Navistar P should have been armed with lasers and then we could, like in a James Bond movie, blast their communications satellites out of the sky. However, in the 1970s when this thing was being designed, lasers were only just being researched.

“So, with television trucks and their satellite-feed systems juiced into simple television screens, again from the 70s, we think we can set up a range of communication tools across the country. A large national system will take several weeks and that is not most important yet. The current pictures from space will be our first alert of any attacks on the United States—any long-range aircraft headed our way, etc. We need every television truck, every Hughes two-way communication dishes that are placed on homes or businesses, every working pre-1985 computer, every two-way radio that works, and every old television set we can find to carry out this project. Lastly, any old civilian camcorders or film cameras will give you visual as well as audio communications. Within a week, we hope to have communications with several military bases in the country and might have some troops ready for repelling insurgents.”

“Great work, guys,” applauded the president. “It seems that we are going forward after all, and it was well worth my visit.”

“Thank you, Mr. President. And thanks to all these guys who have worked nonstop since the beginning of this year—three days ago,” applauded General Allen, getting up to stand next to Carlos.

“I know that for most of us, it already feels like a month, but let me conclude this meeting with MY report. So far, thanks to these guys here, we have radio communication with Andrews AFB, Edwards AFB, Hill AFB, and our own Strong Air Force Base right here, pun intended. We will not install our temporary Air Force sign at the front entrance on the main road until our soon-to-arrive visitors have been dealt with. So far, we have four C-130s flying, we have three fully operational F-4s now at Andrews. We will have several more C-130s operational in a day or two, most stationed at Hill in Salt Lake City and Edwards in California. Another HC-130 tanker should be operational in Yuma, and I‘m heading down there tomorrow. As far as more flyable aircraft, two Hueys that have been in museums until now are being made operational at Andrews. A lot of you know that we have over 50 air force bases here in the United States. Several of the bases on what we would call the front line have only the most modern equipment, so I will visit them last. Tomorrow, I’m flying the president back to Washington, and then I will be spending three days continuously visiting bases to find anything I can that is flyable.”

The general looked over at Sally and Jennifer. “Captains Powers and Watkins will be coming north with me tomorrow. We will fly in formation back to Andrews. Once we repel this attack, that I believe will happen tomorrow morning, I can concentrate on getting a big defense force together. Since I know all my bases and museums well, I believe that we could end up with a dozen C-130s, of which three are fuel tankers. I know there are another dozen or so helicopters around. I must find them as well as several other types of aircraft. As Carlos reported, our current aircraft could give us a long arm into Asia to take out the enemy’s headquarters. Now, whether or not all of China is involved, I don’t know. If it is, and their Air Force is operational, the boys and I would not return from such a mission. If only Zedong Electronics is the enemy, and the Chinese Air Force is grounded, then we’ll have a chance to blow their headquarters apart, and the HC-130 tankers can refuel us and get us back to friendly soil. This mission should take about a week.

“Here on U.S. soil, we have the three F-4s as our first line of defense or attack. They can still be refueled in-flight with one of our Vietnam-era HC-130 fuel tankers. Our second line of attack or defense will be the three P-51 Mustangs and the P-38 Lightning. All four of these aircraft can be fitted with 500-pound bombs, and their .50-caliber machine guns are fully operational. The P-38 can carry two 1,000 pounders—she has pylons that we can modify and fit two sidewinder missiles on each wing, and all her cannon and machine guns are operational. Behind the second line, are the three Huey helicopters, which we can arm with four air-to-ground rockets and a 20mm Minigun each, if needed. It is not a lot, but it’s a start.

“I will be meeting with the Army and Navy this week, as well. I believe the best we can expect from the Navy is six operational submarines and four destroyers—all World War II era. The army has a lot more potential with artillery than the Navy. The only Army weapons, apart from the men and their carbines, will be manually controlled artillery pieces, which is still a powerful force to be reckoned with for sea and harbor defense. We believe they have dozens of older trucks, or troop carriers to drag these old howitzers by the dozens to defend against any sea attack. The range of some of these weapons is as good as five miles out to sea, and any Chinese ship’s intricate missile systems could be blocked by hundreds of ingoing artillery rounds from bridges, beaches, and even the tops of buildings. We can lift these howitzers anywhere with the larger lifting helicopters that I must still locate. I saw them in operation less than a year ago, in San Diego, I believe. The Coast Guard will have a couple of old C-130s and, in total, our potential to drop paratroopers at a moment’s notice in a dozen C-130s will be a maximum of 900 troops and I will be preparing for this.

“The last thing I want to get to is what Ms. Wallace mentioned—civilian aid. We have been primed for a year now to send maximum numbers of supplies overseas. Our, now defunct C-17s have been working around the clock to take food supplies and ammunition to the vast numbers of troops over there. Our bases, especially on the east and west coasts are full to overflowing with rations and could potentially keep a large number of our American population alive. We must set up distribution centers at Bragg and Seymour Johnson to deliver quantities of food on a regular basis in this area. We can use all of our aircraft, which aren’t needed for troop movement and firepower in this endeavor.

“Can we help the whole country? No, not for a few months, it’s not possible, but we must help as many people as we can. Survivors from the north will logically head south over the next couple of weeks, and we must help people in rural areas with military supplies which we will also fly in on a regular basis. I’m thinking that we should deliver to an area of the country that is below a specific line across the country, say from Washington D.C. to Salt Lake City and then down to Edwards in California. Under this line there will be a greater chance of survival than further north.

“We cannot go and get the people—they must first migrate south, where we can provide some food and use large buildings for shelter. If the remaining American population can hold out until spring, then I believe the United States of America has a chance of survival. Any questions?”

“What are the chances of our current Air Force going up against the best of the Chinese fighters, if they are flying?” Preston asked.

“Suicide if we attack China, since about 80% of their military is for defense and not offense,” answered the general. “The Chinese have a very small Blue-Water navy. ‘Blue-Water’ navy refers to the ability to travel over any ocean and attack a foreign country. I believe that they only have five to seven ships that can legitimately be called ‘Blue-Water’ capable. Our understanding is that the Chinese military was never expected to cover global action until 2009 when more ambitious programs went into build mode, and as far as we know everything is still in build mode except for their one aircraft carrier purchased from the Ukraine.

“We were told last year that this aircraft carrier was nearly operational. In other words, they have very few aircraft or naval ships that can travel over the Pacific and attack the United States and then fly all the way back again. Actually, no aircraft in the world can do that. All aircraft must either refuel in the air, or refuel on land for their return flights, or land on an aircraft carrier. Our only real defense is non-guided rockets or missiles, and I believe we still have a lot of those that are still operational. I’m hoping that the Army can come up with enough old rockets to fire from batteries on shore to keep the Chinese anti-missile machines busy long enough for us to either drop bombs on them, or sneak up and attack. I will let you know about that tomorrow.”

The general stopped for a moment. There was so much information to present and review that he was worried that the mixed crowd in the room might be on overload.

“Now I believe everybody in this room is as prepped for war as the president. Our main question is where they will attack first. Of course, the West Coast or Hawaii would be the closest, but Washington D.C. will be the real prize. I’m sure that they think we are already on our knees and on the verge of begging for mercy, but this country will not go down without a fight. Everyone knows that. This weather rules out any attack from the north or around our northern cities. The attacking force would need to bring in too much gear.

“Maybe they will attack in the spring, after more of us have starved or frozen to death. They don’t want us—they more likely just want our land. The Russians and the Chinese have enough people to transfer over and start a new life. Americans will just get in the way. Hence, I don’t expect a full-scale attack during the coldest time of the year. The weather will do more damage than they ever could.

“I would like to get tomorrow’s hostilities over with first, hopefully capture a few of their satellite telephones, and then we can get Carlos and Mr. Wang to tap into their communications and figure out their future plans. Then I want to destroy their building in Nanjing. It will show them that we still have guts. Ghost Rider, Easy Girl and the tankers are the only aircraft that could make the trip at this moment, but I believe a third gunship is operational. I just have got to find her. Ghost Rider, two other gunships and several normal C-130s were especially prepared to be refueled in flight during the later days in Vietnam. These aircraft have the same refueling nozzles as the Vietnam Hueys and F-4s have, and I’m lucky we planned to keep a few around.

“The United States needs to get every ship we can over to the Middle East and bring as many troops back here as possible, much like the retreat of Dunkirk during World War II. Then, I want to destroy the people, who have caused the deaths of millions, and maybe billions of the world’s population– even if we have to declare war on China, Mr. President. A declaration of war would be our last resort, and only upon your orders.”

The room was deathly silent as General Allen then walked over to the radio and called up Ghost Rider to return for a “sitrep.” Nothing had changed. The enemy convoy seemed to be holed up in the city for the time being and Ghost Rider would be landing at the Strong AFB in 15 minutes. Preston automatically went over and turned on the runway lights already repositioned for maximum runway length.

“I would like Mr. Wang and family, the newcomers, all non-American citizens, and all Air Force personnel to leave the room for a few minutes, if you don’t mind,” the general instructed. “I believe that what I’m about to say is not for your ears yet.” People, including the ambassador, got up and shook the hand of the president. Pam Wallace escorted them into the house and Martie suggested they make fresh coffee while they waited. The soldiers left to go back to their duties, a guard was placed outside the side and front doors, and the general continued. “The reason for talking with you separately, is that if we are able to break into communications in China, Carlos, Mr. Wang might need to interpret on our behalf and I don’t want him to know our all our details. Also, this would normally be just between the president and me, but in these circumstances, I need you to be aware of more than you would normally be authorized to know. What I’m about to say cannot go further than the walls of this hangar!” Everyone in the room nodded affirmatively.

“If we find out that all of China is planning to attack us—in other words, if this situation is directly attributable to the Chinese Ruling Party—we have an old set of Bay of Pigs/Vietnam war-era active nuclear missile silos in the Dakotas. If I am right, they are still active, purposely forgotten through all the disarmament treaties with the old Soviet Union. Much like Japan and the Second World War in the Pacific, a couple of these dropped on Moscow, Nanjing, and Beijing could end this attack on us and the rest of the world.”