“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.”