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.

Then it was time to leave. It was bitterly cold on the plow, and Carlos was half frozen by the time they reached the truck—its lights still on, the engine running, their three large packs were quickly moved to the truck. They got into the warm cab and the driver pressed his foot on the clutch, slipping it into gear and jerking forward, leaving the others to take the snow plow back to the observatory.

It was pretty slow and slippery going back down the hill, but the driver was good and they made it back to base at exactly 3:00 am. Carlos was surprised to see four C-130s parked on the apron, their engines starting up as he arrived. “Lee, you are coming with me? How long will it take to get your wife and daughter packed up?” Carlos asked.

“It won’t take them long to get ready,” Lee replied and ran off to tell them they were leaving.

“Good morning, Carlos,” greeted Pete Allen, walking up to the tired astronomer. “We can sleep enroute. The men found and packed what you asked for. It’s packed in Tom. Sally is back at Andrews resting. We can fly together in Jerry, talk, and catch up on the way.”

“We need to wait for Lee Wang,” Carlos stalled. “It is imperative Lee comes with us, Pete. He and I think that we can find out who is behind this, and he might even be able to deactivate their satellites.”

“That’s worth waiting for,” Pete responded, and it was only five minutes later when Lee and his family returned from a room behind the Officers’ Mess and followed Pete’s instructions to follow him and get aboard Jerry. Carlos and Pete were far too exhausted to even think of flying themselves.

Carlos walked up the ramp into Jerry and got a tired hello from Jennifer who was resting on a foam mattress in the rear. A few familiar faces also looked at the new visitors. Maggie and the kids were there and she seemed to be half asleep next to a man that he assumed was her husband, and who was totally out cold. Carlos had never met him before, but he knew about Will’s phobia of flying and winked at Maggie.

“Hi, Carlos,” she smiled sweetly, sitting on the floor of the aircraft holding her husband’s head in her lap. “Will is under heavy sedation. I told the doctor at Edwards that if he was conscious he would not get on the plane, so the Doc gave him a double dose of whatever it was—a damn hurricane wouldn’t wake him up. I hear you have been busy!”

“Yep,” he replied. “I need some of that sleep medication Will was given, though. I’m very tired. Oh, this is my buddy, Lee Wang, his wife Lin, and their daughter Ling.” The newcomers were quickly acquainted and they all opened side seats next to Jennifer to sit down for take-off.

“You also look done in, Jennifer,” Carlos remarked as he seat belted himself in next to her.

“Lots of hours, Carlos,” she replied.

The pilots weren’t messing around. They taxied to the end of the runway at an alarming speed, completed their final checks on the way, and went straight into their take-off runs as each one reached the end of the runway. These guys were certainly in a hurry.