“Don’t ever mention my name again! Or use my first name. Understand, Bo Lee Tang?” replied the man in Nanjing venomously.

“Sorry, but I need to know who is to be in control here. I will give you my report,” continued Lee, with Carlos showing numbers on his fingers. “We killed 30 American soldiers, 20 American pilots with guns, and all women and children are dead. We had 12 airplanes on fire, but the fires are now over. Two of the airplanes were American Air Force—not jets, but they had propellers, very old airplanes. We have 23 dead, three wounded. End of report.”

“Yes, I saw the small flickering of fires on our satellite screens. Good job, Bo Lee Tang. Wait five minutes and I will call back,” replied Comrade Wang in Nanjing and hung up. Lee put the phone down on the table in front of him and Carlos congratulated Lee for a job well done.

“I’m sure he has to go and get orders for you,” Carlos explained, looking at the back of Lee’s phone. There was its own black number printed in black ink on the back side as well as a second number printed in red ink. He checked the others; they all had it, one black number, different on every phone, and the same red number on each phone, and Carlos sighed with relief. Then he told Lee that he was going to dial a number while they were on the line to see if they got a response.

“I know Comrade Wang,” replied Lee. “He is the man who recruited me right at the very beginning. Remember the floor sweeper I told you about. That is him!”

“Don’t worry,” reassured Carlos. “Remember to act stupid, like you have a head wound or something. He must have recruited hundreds of people. Just don’t panic. We need all the information we can get. Remember, this guy hired you and then was prepared to kill you and your family. I’m going to see if they respond when I call one of these other phones. I will cover it up so that they can’t hear the ring if it goes off.”

Lee’s phone rang again.

“Bo Lee Tang, this is Control. Bo Lee Tang, Control,” stated the first voice over the telephone, and Lee tried to sound breathless.

“I can’t hear you well, we have a bad connection. This is Bo Lee Tang. We are burying our comrades.” Carlos phoned the third working phone from the second working phone, and he could hear the ring under the cloth. He switched the third phone on and spoke a few words of gibberish into it. He made funny sounds for several seconds and then turned both phones off. Lee Wang indicated that he had not received any notification about the phone being used.

Lee Wang ended his call and Carlos grabbed the second phone and dialed the red number. “Ask them if you should continue to bury the dead men and if it matters which phone you use,” instructed Carlos. The call was answered and Carlos listened to Lee speaking Chinese rapidly into the cell phone. Then Carlos ended his call.

“Control said not to phone them again, and that all the phones ring to him with the red number. I asked him if I could phone Deng, and he gave me his number. I asked if Control wanted to hear my conversation and he said that they couldn’t and did not have full control of who was using the telephones, so it wasn’t necessary.”

“Great!” replied Carlos.

“Carlos, I know Comrade Wang had reservations about my voice.” Carlos was looking for a clean piece of paper to write the information down.

“He asked me, or Bo Lee Tang, about the tattoo. He knew Bo was a boxer, and he was a good boxer before Mo Wang recruited him. I watched him fight often. I think we have won the war of hiding my identity, so far,” said Lee, now very relieved.

“Lee, call me on your phone. Talk stupid so that nobody can understand you. I want to see if they come back and complain about you using the phone. Say Zedong Electronics will lose in English or something stupid.” Lee did, and they spoke stupid talk for two minutes, sounding like a bunch of monkeys.

“Okay, let’s write down the Information we’ve collected,” stated Carlos, after they hung up. “First, we have 50 squads coming in from somewhere—where, your friend did not say—but after destroying RDU airport you are to head north, so I think that from the south or west is where this Comrade Deng is coming from. Does that sound correct?”

Lee Wang nodded. “I think a squad is four men in one vehicle. That is what I saw in the SUV when they passed me in Salt Lake City. That means that there are 200 men coming here in about two days and the next fight will be at the Raleigh airport,” replied Lee. “Then I, Bo Lee Tang, must go north in one week, under the command of Comrade Deng, who will take over from me if he survives the fight at the airport. Also, Wang said that engineers and troops were flying into somewhere tomorrow night and that I must report to the airport with Deng and my men. So I am expected somewhere in one week at an airport that is under their control. That is what I understand.”

“So they have airborne troops flying into the United States, but they can’t land without landing lights and the airports need to be cleared of snow. So they must be leaving China tomorrow, flying overnight, and I’m sure landing at dawn. The runways up north will have a lot of snow on them, so somebody has to clear them before any aircraft can go in. That means that other squads must be heading into this airport. I think it can only be one or two northern city airports, since you have been instructed to meet them somewhere big. We need to speak to General Allen immediately!”

Carlos switched on the radio. “We can easily have lookouts in Washington. If they are flying in directly from China, they will either have real big military jets, or real big civilian jets. That’s a 7,000-mile flight,” said Carlos, waiting for the radio to warm up. “Anything else we can put together?”

“Yes,” added Lee. “Comrade Wang said that he was coming several days after we supposedly arrive there, so if he is coming, then so are many others, I think. He said that he would see me and Deng there. And, he said the engineers were fixing three airports and a harbor area for their arrival by air and sea.”

“To bring in more troops,” added Carlos. “I think we know part of their plans now. They are getting three airports and a harbor ready. So that must be a big city with more than one airport. It could only be New York or Washington. All are on the coast with a harbor,” Carlos thought aloud. “Washington doesn’t have a harbor! Only New York has three airports. Boston doesn’t, but both have large harbors for shipping. Yes, they must be coming into New York—JFK Airport, Lee! Time frame—they are leaving China tomorrow, also two days before Deng gets here, then one week later you must be in New York, then Wang is coming in several days after that—two days plus about two week’s time!”

Carlos got responses from all three of the other bases within five seconds. The radio operator knew where the general was, but didn’t want to say. Carlos told him that he needed to speak to the general immediately—or as soon as he was within radio range—he explained to the operator. The radio operator understood.

*****

Preston drew the Cargomaster up by the airport gate and saw the most interesting group of vehicles—even more interesting than the ones they had at the airstrip. He closed the engine down and got out as Lady Dandy switched off, also on the apron. A dozen troops got out, and Pam Wallace brought the slower 172 to a halt next to Preston’s. She jumped out and waved at the onlookers as the gates opened to let them in.

Pam ran up and hugged Captain Mallory and brought him over to meet Preston. They were introduced as was Barbara as she walked over to meet the newcomers.

“Old Michael Mallory—I believe we went to flight school together—Dallas, 1992?”

“Barbara Mclean. Yes, I remember you. You were the hot blonde all the guys were after. Still hot, I see. Where were you flying before all this crap hit the fan?”