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!”