“She is going to make a good mother one day when this mess is over,” he thought to himself.

“Please we have little time. I must call this meeting to order,” started Carlos, still a little agitated. “Mr. President, General Allen, we believe that we have about 24 hours before New York is the victim of an invasion of sorts.” THAT got everybody’s attention and they all immediately sat down.

There was silence for 20 minutes as Carlos explained what he and Lee had achieved over the satellite link to China. He also showed an old television screen on a table with a real live picture of the United States, showing the massive winter storm heading northwest and currently over New York and New England. It looked like a Lego-made view of the earth, but he explained that they could now see only very large ships coming in from 300 miles out and the map stretched down to northern South America.

“I believe that within another 24 hours, Lee and I can patch ourselves into the three Chinese satellites and get their digital pictures bounced through our Navistar P. I don’t believe they ever thought to scramble their pictures, because who else would be watching if they terminated the electronics of all the other satellites? This is an important factor, General Allen. If we can see what they are seeing, then we can view China and Russia and see if they have their cities lit up. If they do, then they are the enemy. Whoever the real enemy is out there will light up the night sky. So please do not touch our stolen television truck in Salt Lake City, Utah. We are getting live feed from across the United States and will continue to do so. The pictures are just good enough to see any extremely large ships approaching within 300 miles of either coast, but not Hawaii or Alaska, I’m afraid.

“Pilots! Important! This picture is your only source of weather information, and once other television trucks are set up they can also view the same picture for weather patterns. Hill is already up, so is Edwards, and I believe Andrews will be online by late this evening. General, tell your men at the bases to find the same electronics we found at Hill and they will be able to see the same picture. An unlimited amount of people can view a satellite feed—it’s like satellite television was last year.

“Okay, back to the situation in New York. I have taken the liberty to warn all your bases through our radio link so they can prepare troops for battle. Jennifer—Captain Watkins—is dropping off the civilians at Seymour Johnson and picking up a company of readied troops—92 soldiers plus gear—and transporting them to Andrews. Captain Powers is currently heading to Andrews with another 92 fresh troops from Hill. I believe the Edwards-based C-130 is in the air with her and is loaded with two small bulldozers that can be lifted in by helicopter. They were put aboard by the commander at Hill to help clear the snow off the New York runways. I took the liberty, General Allen, to get things started since you were not in radio contact. I will now hand the operation over to you.”

“Thank you, Carlos,” replied the general. “I appreciate your quick thinking. I would have mobilized what I could if I were in the same position. So, Mr. President, pilots, thanks to Carlos and Mr. Wang, we have a little knowledge about our future. At this point we are transitioning into express mode. Everything has to be done yesterday. I now have six C-130s available to ferry troops into New York starting at midnight tonight, but the runways are blocked with snow. As Carlos explained, they must have men in or near New York who are going in to clear a runway for something big straight out of Shanghai. If that is the case, they must have bulldozers stashed away somewhere. We might as well let them clear the runway for us, but I want troops into JFK in the next couple of hours, before any incoming enemy army soldiers or Chinese termination squads get there.”

He walked over to the radio.

“Andrew, this is Pete. Do you copy? Over.”

“One moment, Pete, I’ll get him for you,” came the response. The base commander arrived a few seconds later.

“Hi, Pete.”

“How are those two whirly birds, Bud?” the general asked.

“Ready for service, Pete. We had two more units come in five minutes ago from our buddy Mr. Dover. That makes four. Ghost Rider will be taking off in an hour and she has Cousin Seymour’s address down yonder.”

“When you get her in the air, tell her to go and see Grandpa Pope (Fort Bragg) instead. He’s waiting to fill her up with men and she must return to Mr. McGuire’s (McGuire AFB) house.”

“Roger that,” the base commander replied.

“I want your four whirly-birds full of bad boys, a radio, and lots of firepower ASAP and sent up to Mr. McGuire’s. Get gassed up at old McGuire’s and then drop them into Juliet Foxtrot Kilo (JFK) by midnight. We are expecting visitors. Tell them to hide and monitor for any incoming. Let any visitors clear the footpaths and then watch for a few more buddies who will fly in and join them. They need to be up in the hunting lodge by the main airstrip before dawn to see the big boys arrive. The friends of the visitors are expected to fly in. ‘Allen Key’ is the code exchange for friendly conversation. Over.”

“Copy that, Pete. Confirm Juliet Foxtrot Kilo, our civilian neighbor to the north?”

“You got it, Buddy. We are expecting visitors sometime tomorrow, but they could arrive early. I recommend a silent entrance into Juliet Foxtrot Kilo from the water; you know the game. Out.” The general put down the microphone and thought out his next problem.

“The only aircraft I know of with a range to get here from China are the numerous civilian Boeing 747-400s long distance models, or the new Airbuses China has purchased in the last five or six years,” he continued, facing the people in the room. “I could not fly into McGuire Air Force Base in Trenton, New Jersey today. They were still struggling to clear the runway with two old snowplows, but I managed to get the base commander, General Billy Johnson, on the radio. Luckily, they had an idea to try everything in the storage depots.”

“They have zero operational aircraft since they were equipped with only the latest C-17s and Stratotankers, but they have a gazillion tons of fuel and he told me that C-130s could get in there by about 8:00 tonight. I’m going to use McGuire Air Force Base as my headquarters for this New York operation. Are there any questions up to this point?” There were none.

“Okay, next I am searching for something we need. Captain Powers completed a tour of four bases today on my behalf—Yuma, Tucson, Phoenix, and Vandenberg in California—and found what I was searching for. I had forgotten where they were. Captain Powers is returning from Hill at this moment and two of our Vietnam-era, fully restored and operational Jolly Green Giants—Sikorsky S-61R helicopters—are an hour or two behind her and will be going in to Hill for refueling in about an hour. I will order them into McGuire once I’m up in the air, and they will have to refuel one more time before they get to the East Coast. Once they arrive, we can airlift the bulldozers into anywhere we want to clear the airstrips. They also have 30 soldiers on board—some of our specially trained Air Force antiterrorist troops from the West Coast. That now gives us seven helicopters in total.”

The General went over to the radio and called the commander at Andrews AFB. “How many companies of soldiers do you have ready for battle?” he asked.

“I can give you five companies; 500 men. They are ready to go at a moment’s notice, Pete. That will leave me two companies to defend the base,” was the reply.

“As soon as you have delivered my first order, start transferring your men up to old McGuire’s place with the choppers and then the bigger girls once they land. Your chopper pilots can report back to you as soon as it’s clear for runway use. I’m sending up everything we have down here to go to Mr. McGuire’s as well. I need 24/7 action. I will get back to you once we have worked out the next plan. Out.”