“If we find out that all of China is planning to attack us—in other words, if this situation is directly attributable to the Chinese Ruling Party—we have an old set of Bay of Pigs/Vietnam war-era active nuclear missile silos in the Dakotas. If I am right, they are still active, purposely forgotten through all the disarmament treaties with the old Soviet Union. Much like Japan and the Second World War in the Pacific, a couple of these dropped on Moscow, Nanjing, and Beijing could end this attack on us and the rest of the world.”

“If I do not return from our trip to China, we will initiate this last scenario. If Carlos can get us in touch with the Russian or Chinese governments first, then we can introduce them to the fact that we are still a country with a mean bite and if we are going to go down, we will make sure that we take as many of them as we can. We have a total of six atomic weapons on quality rockets that I believe can still reach any targets we provide for them, without any modern satellite guidance.”

There was silence as the truth dawned on them that there was little chance that the world would ever be the same again, and that Armageddon might still be possible. Unfortunately, nobody had much to lose here anymore, and being Mr. Nice Guy was not going to be part of the procedure.

“Thank you for your time,” the general wrapped up. “You are as up-to-date as the president, and by the way, I like Ms. Wallace’s idea. Preston, get with the Southwest captain when you can, and commandeer any private aircraft you wish to, to begin organizing the distribution of food under direct orders from the President of the United States.”

The president stood to add something.

“I completely support the ideas stated here in this room and I give all of you the authority of my position as Commander-in-Chief to commandeer anything you need from the military, National Guard, and civilian organizations to assist the American people in any way you deem fit. I will get a letter drawn up for you as soon as I get back to my office,” added the President, facing Preston and the group.

There were many words of thanks and best wishes as everybody rose and the departing president got ready to leave.

Twenty minutes later, Preston watched as the AC-130 left the airfield, with Sally flying, a full crew, and Buck aboard as a passenger to fly the president back to the White House, if need be, from the air base. The ambassador, Manuel, and the three bodyguards were also aboard, since the ambassador wanted to get back to his staff at the embassy to sort out their safe passage south for the remainder of the winter. Preston felt that the president actually wanted to stay and be part of the action here, and he was pretty sure that the Commander-in Chief would be back pretty quickly. The president was that kind of a leader.

Preston turned off the runway lights and switched his focus to preparing for the incoming attack.

Chapter 5

The First Attack

As detailed in all military textbooks, just before dawn is the best time of day to attack an enemy camp. In the book “The Art of War,” Sun Tzu describes how attacking at that hour has an immediate benefit for the attackers. The writing also states that surprise is a key element and, unfortunately, you cannot tell if surprise has been achieved until you actually attack the enemy camp.

Surprise was not to be on this cold morning in North Carolina. The convoy of Chinese men from New York, with no lights and travelling under blackout conditions, passed the outer point of the Air Force troops at 5:30 am. They had driven slowly and quietly, undetected by anybody, and with the airfield’s coordinates on their maps, they followed US 64 west.

The Air Force troops on guard were cold and frustrated with the weather, and were ready for anything to happen. Better to be in a hot fight than lying around under cold, damp plastic bivouacs and trying to get some sleep while others were on guard.

“Highway Vanguard to base, we have incoming,” whispered the dozens of radios around the airstrip, and everyone moved, stretched, and prepared themselves for their part in the drama.

“Ten vehicles, one man standing up through the sun roof with shoulder unit in each of first four vehicles, no gas masks, around 40 enemy, looks like four to a vehicle, traveling west at about 10 miles an hour. ETA to the turn-off, three minutes. We are about to move towards the feeder road. Have fun. Out.”

“Forest checkpoint, here. Ten vehicles about to turn into the farm road, but have stopped,” whispered the guard post on the other side of the road in the trees to the private road entrance off the feeder road, several minutes later. “They are discussing something. It sounds foreign from here. They are grouped together and I think planning their next move. One has a flashlight and they have a map out on a hood. I can see automatic weapons, and shoulder rocket launchers in each vehicle. It looks like one man in each vehicle has a rocket launcher, modern RPGs by their silhouettes, and all the other men seem to be armed with AK-47s. They have 30 round ‘banana’ magazines strapped back-to-back. They are ready to fight. Boy, these night goggles are good! Now they are pointing a flashlight down the dirt road and they have a second flashlight directly lighting up our fancy new private airport sign. The one who looks like the commander just got into the front vehicle and is standing through the sunroof. He has the shoulder rocket launcher ready. I confirm now that they all look Chinese, or Asian at least. A second car is moving into position next to the first one. It looks like they are planning to come down the farm road two-by-two. Now, eight vehicles have moved into position two abreast and the last two are positioning themselves to block off the road in front of us. They have turned around 180 degrees and are facing us. Over.”

There was silence as everyone waited. The winter night was pretty dark at 5:30 am in the Carolinas. “They are rolling slowly, eight vehicles in pairs coming your way, and about to turn the corner. You should have them visual in a second. First four vehicles have shoulder units at the ready and are standing out of the sun roofs. They have just put the lights on the two forward vehicles. They are now out of sight and, we are ready to terminate the last two vehicles once you guys get things started. Out.”

“Roger, Forest Checkpoint. We have the visual. You can go ahead once we have daylight from the flares. Out,” stated Sergeant Perry in charge of the ambush. Preston recognized his voice.

Preston had climbed up the stairs of his fire tower to join the two machine guns up there, and he was handed bits of cotton wool and showed via hand movements how to plug his ears. He was handed an M4 and directed to stand back in the corner where he could see everything. Preston also had a radio on his back. He had taken the one from the house since everybody had been moved into the hangar.

He saw faint lights approaching on the road and knew they would come into view in about 100 feet. “Snipers look for and bead on four men standing up through the roof of the first four cabs,” whispered Sergeant Perry. “You will have two seconds from my command to take out the four men holding the shoulder units before the flares ruin your night vision. I will give commands for snipers to fire and then for flares. Listen to my commands, men, we need prompt action here. All men behind forward barricade with me crawl to the edges to get out of a potential blast, slow and silent now. Do you have sights on the four men, snipers?”

“We have sights on three, the fourth is down very low and we can’t get a good shot. The vehicle in front of his is in the way. Over.”