*****
“What do you think, Lee?” asked the president after Mo Wang had hung up. “Do you think your cousin is setting a trap for us?”
“I don’t think so,” interrupted Mrs. Wang. “We know him well and we were all surprised to realize that this man was part of such a ruthless bunch of men. Remember, we also joined Zedong Electronics, much like he did, and at that time, in our part of China there was not much more to look forward to.”
“I agree,” added Lee. “I think he has been in a frustrating position. If he didn’t do as they expected, he would not be alive. But, I still do not trust anything anymore at face value. I think we must back up and prove that this attack will actually happen like he says it will. We can find the ships on the satellite before they reach New York, and I’m sure our aircraft can search for them. Without satellite communications, their ships cannot fire their very new and fancy missiles with any accuracy, and I believe that we can still win the battle for New York. And, I just might check out the Panama weather reports once the war is over.”
“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.