“Let me continue. My mission is to flatten their headquarters. Then I’m going into Beijing. If they respond with fighters and shoot us down, I will disappear from view. But I believe I will be able to use my transponder once the Zedong Electronics building or headquarters is history because that should cancel out their global communications worldwide.

“I want to see if I can talk to the leader of China—hopefully by radio before I go in. I must make sure that they are in the same position as we are. Then, and with help from their airports and fuel, I want to get to Moscow. If the Chinese are friendly, they will help me. I want to do the same in Moscow, and I will carry all their military radio frequencies with me on board. If I survive through Russia and they are friendly, I want to stop at our base in Turkey. From there I can see what condition our troops are in and where they are situated. From Turkey, I’m heading to Baghdad and then into Ramstein to see if our European troops are okay. From Ramstein, I’m heading over to our base in the Azores and with a bit of luck will get back into McGuire before I miss the Super Bowl.”

“I’ve worked it out that a week’s nonstop flying will get me around the world and I hope that you guys are not communists by the time I get back. Mother Goose can get fuel out of a rock and we will have transponders on and communications to keep me informed throughout the journey.

“Everyone, I want it known to all active personnel, that if the insurgents arrive in this country on civilian aircraft, I want every jet they fly in on commandeered without damage. Those jets can be turned around in hours and we have dozens of out-of-work Stratotanker and Galaxy pilots at McGuire that can fly these birds into Turkey, Korea, Iraq, and hopefully Kabul to get our troops out—800 per aircraft. I’m hoping we can get them safely back on U.S. soil, or at the least, into Europe and then shipped back to the United States. The attackers can only come in on big aircraft and big ships. We know that some aircraft are incoming from somewhere tomorrow. My plan is to have our attack forces closer to New York’s JFK, but where?” he thought.

“Teterboro Airport in New Jersey,” suggested both Buck and Mike Mallory, who both knew New York well.

“Of course,” nodded the general. “Thanks guys. What are the distances?” Buck nodded to the Southwest captain to continue.

“La Guardia is the closest, about 12 miles. I’d say Newark is about the same but to the south, and JFK is the furthest at about 20 miles.”

“Let’s set up our main base of attack there, then. I want at least 10,000 men in the area within two weeks, which, we understand is when their big attack will commence. Many soldiers can walk in from McGuire if necessary. It would only take them a day, but we must do it undercover. I don’t want them to get wind of our movements. I’ll try and get relayed from Andrews into McGuire when I leave here and give Billy Johnson his orders.”

The general looked back over at the communications team. “Carlos, work on scrambling their communications, and get Lee Wang’s help to figure out their plan of action. I’m going to assume any electronic parts will be coming in with their engineers to repair the airports and harbors, and our own Air Force engineers can wear their clothes if necessary, even go undercover and complete the Chinese mission. I believe that we must keep control of our three airports, have troops in the surrounding terminals, and be ready for the big one. If they want to repair the harbor cranes, then they are bringing in troops by sea.

“On my way out of here, I will send a plane into Norfolk and tell Vice Admiral Rogers to get whatever he has floating up to New York harbor, stay in the Long Island Sound, and prepare for an attack. Questions?” There were none.

“Ok, recap. Captain Mallory, John, Pam, Barbara, Maggie and Will Smart—commandeer whatever you need to start supplying the local population with food after the attack. I’ll get you a C-130 down here as soon as I can. Remember, Lady Dandy can carry some weight. Move outwards as fast as you can and send word to civilians in the surrounding states. Go as far north as those farmers you met in Maryland and then work across. I’ll leave the planning up to you.”

“Preston, Carlos, Martie, Buck, and Lee—you are all heading up to McGuire once the fight here is finished. We need your firepower. Lee, does your wife know the building in Nanjing?”

“Yes, very well,” Lee replied.

“Will she be able to show it to me from the air, maybe at night?” The general rephrased his question.

“If the lights of Nanjing are on, then she can point out the building by looking for the bridge across the river.”

“Good. Lee, I‘m sorry to tell you this, but I must take her with me. Carlos needs you here. At least as the military always promises, she will see the world and arrive back safely, I hope, in one week.”

“I will tell her to go and prepare for a long journey,” Lee replied and headed over to the house.

“Mr. President, I think McGuire Air Force Base, or down here at Preston’s airstrip will be your best places to work,” the general advised.

“I would like to stay here,” replied the president, “as long as I’m free to go out on flights and help with logistics. I would like my family brought down as well, if you don’t mind, general.”

“I can get them over to Andrews and then down here on one of the 130s coming south,” replied General Allen. “It might take a day or two.”

“Good luck everybody! Stay in radio contact with no transponder usage unless you want them to see it. I’ll sort out their headquarters and, Preston, I will tell General Billy Johnson that as far as I’m concerned each one of you is a general in the Air Force, same as him, and that he must listen to you and your plans until I get back. Carlos, keep me posted. I’m out of here.” Pete saluted the president, smiled at the team in front of them as they heard incoming aircraft engines, and walked out of the hangar to see where Mrs. Wang was.

Chapter 7

JFK – New York

The snow was done. It finally disappeared off the New England coast and the sun rose at dawn on the sixth day and stayed like that—icy cold but sunny. The sun could not warm the frozen air, which in some very northern places was as low as minus 40, but it did lift the temperature several degrees. Cities were quiet, their streets under several feet of snow. The central United States was the worst hit—some towns nearly buried up to their rain gutters. Most of Canada was a frozen blanket of snow, and the only places where any movement could be seen were along the warmer West Coast. The only movement in the northern United States was ravens, crows and small animals scurrying about without any human interference and digging for any meat that was not yet frozen solid.

New York was a barren land of white, with frozen skyscrapers heavily laden with snow. The streets had banks of snow-blown snow as high as second story windows, in some areas, and there was little or no movement. There was movement at JFK on the morning of the sixth day, however, and there had been for several hours.

Nine hours earlier, and just before midnight on January 5th, four US helicopters had come in low over the icy waters of the Atlantic and in nearly white-out conditions, they carefully touched down on the roof of the nearest terminal building to Runway 31 Left—the longest runway at JFK.

They had unloaded men and gear and taken off immediately, hugging the ground and disappearing out to sea the way they had come in, over Rockaway Community Park, frozen under three feet of snow. They returned three more times, every two hours until a very late dawn slowly breathed light into the dispersing storm clouds, and for the fourth and last time the helicopters dipped down close to the ground and with a strong tail wind dove out to sea to be lost from sight over the dark grey waters of the Atlantic.