“Negative,” replied the Captain. “We thought they might be okay at first, but we found two recently killed people on the highway north of Washington and we think they did it. They had driven straight over the bodies with every one of those ten vehicles they are driving in. I think they are a bad bunch, whoever they are.”
“They must be the people we are expecting,” Martie replied. “They should probably reach us by tomorrow morning.”
“Where is that?” asked the Captain.
“We are situated off US 64 in North Carolina, on the shores of Jordan Lake about 15 to 20 miles west of RDU.”
“I know the lake well,” replied Captain Mallory. “I fly into RDU a couple of times a month.”
“I have about 20 minutes of light left, so I need to keep going,” Martie calculated. “If you want to come and use our facility as a home base, I recommend that you get to RDU. It is safe and still locked. We have a dozen Air Force guards on duty there since earlier today. Mention that General Pete Allen sent you. I apologize that we have already cleaned out the Southwest terminal of food, but if you head there in the morning, I will come and find you once we have dealt with this other group.”
“How do they know where you are?” John asked.
“Simple. Our transponders were coming out of our airfield for a day or so, and the Chinese, or whoever they are, still have their spy satellites up. We are now on high alert and the president should be at our airfield by now.”
“The U.S. President?” the captain asked. “Do you have enough firepower?”
Martie laughed. “We have what is left of the entire U.S. Air Force, and we definitely need more pilots!” Martie chuckled. “Our Air Force is hiring right now, actually. Your passengers will be safe with us and then we can get them to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, if they prefer more of an official military presence.”
“Count us in,” the captain and John said at the same time. “We have a badly injured lady with three small kids and the young girl with Pam, who we believe was raped in New York. Do you have enough room in the 210 to take them with you? The rest of us can sleep here tonight, and get to RDU by midday tomorrow, and then wait for you.”
“Get your wounded aboard, Captain. I have four spare seats and a couple of the children can share a seat. Little Beth here would be glad for the company,” Martie replied, saying her goodbyes and walking back to the aircraft.
They hurried and Pam helped the young girl, the injured mother, and her three kids squeeze into the six-seater aircraft. Martie took off just minutes later, waggled her wings, and disappeared to the north, climbing hard to hide in the sky and sneak a peek at the other convoy further south.
*****
The White House hadn’t changed. The streets were quiet, and people stayed away from the sacred building. Everyone knew that if they got too close, they were likely to get trouble from the guards in return. Nobody in the White House rose early since there was nothing to do except wait. The president had never been so bored in his life.
A hot breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toast was finally delivered to the two men in the Oval Office. The Colombian ambassador and the president sat on the couch and enjoyed their first decent breakfast since New Year’s Eve. The president’s family stayed out of the area while their father worked, and went about as usual except without any modern electrical gadgets. The two kids drew, wrote stories, and did some homework that had not been completed before Christmas. The family had spent Christmas in Hawaii and returned on the last day of the year.
General Allen had promised the president that he would be back as soon as he could and an anxious president had forced him to say that he would return before lunch. He wasn’t able to keep his promise, due to circumstances beyond his control, but it made the president even more edgy. The general was currently taking off from Andrews AFB and heading to the White House with Buck piloting the Baby Huey, the overnight hours had not gone as he had planned.
At 1:00 am in Salt Lake City, the truck and trailer were sent up the mountain to get Carlos and Lee Wang as Buck was getting ready to take to the air in Lady Dandy.
Buck also inspected the cargo going into one of the C-130s as he inspected Lady Dandy for take-off. There were three television trucks advertising a local television station. One was being loaded into the C-130 and the other two were by the hangar doors waiting for Carlos to return. Several computers were also being loaded into both the C-130 and Lady Dandy with several old television sets. Buck then realized that Carlos must have satellite communication capability and that these were to give them more options than just the ham radios. It was so simple, yet it could work if they could bounce communications between these trucks via satellite.
Buck left the apron for the end of the runway as two more dark aircraft came in to land. The first C-130 looked like Jerry, but the second one took his breath away and he immediately wanted to fly it. It was a real AC-130 Gunship and, yes, it did have the 105mm howitzer sticking out of the side. He shouted “Yippee” with excitement and got on the radio.
“Pete, this is Buck. Is that YOU flying the second bird?”
“Now how did you guess that, Buck?” Pete replied. “I’m too tired to fly, so I’m acting as engineer and half asleep in the back. You get your lady friend home. There are strong tail winds up there. There’s a big storm on its way and we were blown south of our flight plan by 20 miles. It’s crappy flying without a GPS. It looks like you will get one hell of a tail wind because this stuff is cold and coming directly in from the north. How long is your estimated flying time?”
“Ten hours,” replied Buck, turning onto the runway and letting the engines warm up.
“You’ll do it in nine. Fly at high cruise. We have a busy day ahead. Yours is the only whirly-bird still operational at the moment and I need it to get up north. Radio Preston when you get close enough and tell him to fuel up Baby Huey and clear out her insides, I need three or four comfortable chairs in her before we take-off, and a nice rug and center table. She will be picking up the boss from you-know-where. Also, keep it a secret. Everything we have is going into the East Coast this morning and I already have a special passenger on board. We are going to need every bit of room around his airstrip. I hope to get there before you do, but I have to wait for our buddy, Carlos, and fill these babies up. I’ll get the base to try and give Preston a call as well. Travel safe. It’s getting nasty out there.”
“Roger that,” replied Buck.
“What does he mean by ‘the boss’?” asked Barbara.
“Our little Baby Huey is going to be ‘Air Force One’ for the 11 miles from The White House to Andrews,” replied Buck with a chuckle.
Carlos was still awake, as was Lee, when the men arrived a little before 2:00 am. Both men heard the snowplow arrive, and they were ready. They had worked most of the night and had three large pieces of equipment that had to be handled with care ready to be packed aboard the plow.
“There are two men staying behind to guard,” the sergeant told Carlos. “They have just unloaded 20 gallons of gas and the rest of the guard detail will return on the plow once you guys head down the mountain in the transporter. The ‘boss’ has ordered you, sir, to be at Hill by 3:00 am at the latest. There is a bad storm coming in and he’s flying in from Edwards ahead of it.”
The sergeant was quickly shown what to do to keep everything on and as warm as possible. The telescope was set, and Carlos explained that although it was inside the building, it was in its own case and walled-in from the working area by thick Perspex. The snow wouldn’t do anything to it, and they could stay warm in the observatory. Carlos showed them the heaters and electricity switches, and told the men that the telescope with its antennae must be kept powered up at all costs. They nodded enjoying the toasty 50 degree inside temperature.