Invasion USA 3 - The Battle for Survival (57 page)

“Busy moving soldiers and our engineers around the country. This country is nearly as big as China, a vast land with very few people left. I also have good news about leave for our men, but I will give you your orders when we land.”

The weather was clear and warm on May 5th, as the first two aircraft went into the parallel runways. Mo had communications with the second aircraft by satellite phone to make it look like the aircraft knew where to go and taxi. There was no welcoming committee for Politburo Comrade Mo Wang, this was reserved for the Supreme Commander alone, but he did see Colonel Rhu and a few dozen soldiers waiting for him on the apron where he directed both aircraft to taxi to. The other 747s came in behind and soon all four aircraft were the only aircraft on the large apron as their engines whined to a stop.

General Patterson thought it very weird that an air base of this size had absolutely no aircraft stationed here, but dismissed his concerns for the time being to concentrate on the airfield’s takeover.

Mo knew what to do and, as the mobile stairs were brought up to the transporter, he had 30 soldiers dressed in the captured uniforms run down the stairs waving at the welcoming committee who were totally alone on the apron. They looked happy and victorious and lined up as practiced in formation as Mo Wang descended the stairs. They saluted Mo as he reached the ground. The Chinese-American lieutenant in charge of the American soldiers was ready to fight at a moment’s notice and he was also carefully watching Mo’s ex-Chinese engineers’ behavior. Colonel Rhu walked up to Mo and saluted. Mo was actually smiling and a little happy to be back on home turf.

“Comrade Rhu, it’s good to see you again. I see you have put on a few pounds since we last met a year or two ago,” stated Mo, shaking the man’s hand.

“And the Supreme Commander has been working you harder than normal, Comrade Wang. You are much thinner than I last remember you,” Colonel Rhu smiled, feeling more at ease. “Why have you returned with men needed over there?”

“Your uncle sends his regards,” replied Mo, not telling the man his uncle was somewhere at the bottom of the sea, around the entrance to New York harbor. “Chairman Chunqiao and your uncle did not know what we would find here, and as the one chosen to travel, I’m glad to see you are all still alive.” The colonel laughed at what Mo said.

“You are always doing the chairman’s dirty work, Comrade Wang.”

Let’s go into your office. I have several of our engineers aboard and they can start telling your engineer personnel what the chairman wants in the first flight. The other three aircraft have had their seats removed and they will have to be loaded through the smaller passenger doors manually. Maybe I do the Politburo’s dirty work, but my assistant, my nephew Lee Wang, and my personnel pilot, Major Wong, are not going to load these aircraft ourselves!” he replied, smiling at the colonel.

The colonel laughed and turned to lead Mo to his offices. “Have I met this Major Wong?”

“Maybe. He is one of the chairman’s preferred pilots and I would assume is checking everything I do.”

The colonel laughed again at that joke as Mo beckoned to the aircraft’s front cockpit for Lee and Major Wong to join him. Their plan had begun and Lee and Wong knew their roles: assistant and quiet suspicious pilot.

Over his satellite phone, General Patterson gave orders for the C-130s and Gunships to land at the second airfield and wait.

Major Wong and Lee Wang caught up with the group of several Chinese soldiers and Mo Wang, and the major saluted the colonel, the only person with a more senior rank than he. Even dressed in a Chinese flight suit he still had “major” epaulets on his shoulders. The lower ranked captains in the group saluted him.

The colonel saluted Wong back and they continued into the building underneath the control tower, as engineers came out from the same building to join their comrades who had been captured in New York, and several Chinese-American military engineers, also wearing the standard white coats and civilian clothes underneath, under the command of Major Chong. These captured men were already happy to be part of their new country and also knew the others around them were armed and ready if any alarm was sounded.

For an hour, Mo Wang told the colonel and his fellow soldiers about a fake success on both coasts of the U.S., how in several areas there had been resistance, but their glorious Red Army soldiers had fought well and were triumphant, and there was nothing left but starving civilians. The colonel asked if he could return with them to see the new country for himself and Mo suggested that it was a good idea, much to Major Wong’s raised eyebrows on the matter.

“Your uncle would like you to join him over there,” continued Mo. “The Supreme Commander also suggested a vacation for you for your loyal control of his special base, but we must first satisfy the waiting engineers over there and also give special orders to the commander of the nuclear base to your south. Have you seen the commander there at all? I can’t remember his name.”

“Colonel Zhing,” the colonel replied. “He is certainly not a friendly person and has forbidden me or any of my men to go over there. He has loyal men there, enough provisions for several more months and is waiting for the Supreme Commander to personally arrive and actually walk in to relieve him in his heavily protected base.

“How many men does he have there? I have direct orders from the chairman to allow all loyal soldiers, including his, one month’s leave to go home to visit their families,” continued Mo. “That is why you can return and visit America with me. There is no reason for such heavy guarding of our facilities anymore as we now control the whole world. But the chairman did say that a minimum of three platoons, or 100 men, are to stay at both bases while the others vacation.”

“I understand. Many of the men have been waiting to go home for months now. When am I allowed to send them off?”

“Immediately,” replied Mo. “How many men do you have stationed here?”

“One thousand, four hundred,” the colonel replied.

“Then I suggest you let them go immediately, but remember the chairman suggested you keep one hundred here with somebody in command.” The colonel looked at his men, who had enjoyed hearing the welcome news. One man, a captain, suggested that since his men were the airfield’s Special Forces, they would stay and take their leave once the others returned in a month.

Colonel Rhu immediately let his three majors go. They were instructed to tell their men to pack up and get two weeks’ travel rations from the airfield supply stores. He told one major to inform the main gate about the forthcoming exodus from base.

“I will let the majority of my men go,” stated the colonel carefully, “but I think it would be better to keep 200 men at the base and two of my best and trusted captains in control, just in case.”

“It is your base, Colonel Rhu, and I’m sure the chairman would appreciate your vigilance,” replied Mo. Major Wong was thinking that 200 was a better deal than 1,400. Maybe Mo could persuade the colonel to let more go later. It didn’t really matter, as their Marines were coming in far greater numbers and could take over control of the whole base if need be.

“So, back to my question. I have to give Colonel Zhing the same orders from our chairman. How many men does he have?” asked Mo.

“I don’t know but I believe from reports that he has 500 crack troops there and I don’t know if he will take orders from you without the Supreme Commander himself being here to give him new orders,” replied Colonel Rhu. “When are we leaving?” he then asked Mo.

Mo could see the excitement in the colonel’s eyes as he looked forward to his trip to the “new world.” “As soon as I have carried out my orders, Comrade,” Mo replied, putting his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “I must first allow the men on vacation, and then I must oversee the loading and refueling of our four aircraft back to America. Once we have completed that, I am to leave my men here to aid the engineers to take stock of everything we need to transport in the next loads, while our aircraft fly the first load to Washington. Colonel Rhu, we can have the aircraft leave by midnight if we can get the men moving. The chairman wants to see me back in Washington as soon as possible and your uncle told me to get you over there on one of the flights. The travel is not comfortable, Comrade. You will need to sleep on the floor of the aircraft and it’s a long flight of over fifteen hours,” lied Mo, not really knowing how long it would take to fly to Washington.”

Major Wong saw the excitement building in the poor man. He was a decent sort of chap and he was in for a shock once they had taken off. The plan had been to get as many of the troops out as possible and also get the four aircraft full and out of there by midnight, as the first airdrop of Marines were to arrive just before dawn the next morning.

Colonel Rhu had been waiting for this day since October, when the Supreme Commander himself had told him that he could come to America one day. He decided to go and pack, and hurry the men going on leave to get out of the gates. Midnight sounded like a good time to leave.

Mo and Major Wong dismissed the two captains, ordering them to get their men out on parade. If they weren’t going on leave they could get on parade and then take over the duties of the airfield.

They returned to the transporter to see pneumatic trucks and lifts already placing cargo into the aircraft. Lee was ordered to go and take command of what was to be loaded.

Square pallets were starting to be loaded into the baggage compartments of the three passenger aircraft and he was sure that the Air Force pilots were already working out maximum-load possibilities and landing weights for all cargo going into the passenger areas.

Major Wong briefed General Patterson, dressed in civilian clothes in the transporter, about their meeting with Colonel Rhu. The general congratulated Mo on a job well done and looked out of an aircraft window to already see a stream of soldiers in civilian clothes heading for the storage area. Several were already heading for the front gate at the perimeter, but something was still nagging at him.

For the rest of the day the loading went on and the line of soldiers heading out in civilian clothes didn’t stop. Mo and Major Wong completed a round of the massive storage area. They had nearly filled the transporter and the three bellies of the other planes and they couldn’t see a vacant area in the warehouse.

Three forklifts were lifting pallets off the highest shelf in the warehouse which had fourteen shelves beneath it. Mo recognized many of the parts through the pallet’s plastic wrap. Fuses for every type of device possible, whole modern computers, Acers out of Asia by the hundreds, computerized electric motors, several large electrical motors and six-foot high relay stations for electrical power stations. One pallet had engine-computer systems with modern battery banks attached, Japanese writing on them, and Lee and Mo were reminded of the idea Preston had about electric cars.

The warehouse made a man look like an ant, it was so large. Mo Wang knew it had taken twenty years to fill it with thousands upon thousands of everything Zedong Electronics had worked on. He noticed Colonel Rhu walking up to them, dressed in civilian clothes.

“Comrade Wang, do you think the chairman will mind me dressing in civilian dress for my vacation? I’m getting my best uniform pressed to be introduced to him when I get there.” Mo felt sorry for the man. He was a very good and kind man and a true soldier. His work was always impeccable and he hoped the truth wouldn’t destroy him when he heard the real story and found out what happened to his family, once he was aboard and out of Chinese airspace.

“Of course not! Civilian dress is for everybody in America, except for soldiers on active duty. You will be fine!” Mo smiled.

“Good, we have two-thirds of the men on their way,” stated the colonel. “We do know that there are several old buses still running at the bus line and there is a train station a few miles down the main road, three stops, I think, on the bus towards Harbin. There is one train a day out of Harbin Railway Station running south towards Shanghai, where 90 percent of the men are heading. Oh! By the way, Captain Zeng suggested that the other captain didn’t need to stay, there would be nothing for his men to do, so I let Captain Chin’s men get their leave passes. Your men will be here and I’m sure that is more than enough. I told Captain Zeng that he can always call the dreaded Colonel Zhing at the other base if there is an emergency.”

Major Wong immediately slid away and headed slowly back to the transporter to tell General Patterson the latest news.

By ten that night the line out of the base had decreased to one or two stragglers per hour. Mo told the general and the majors in the transporter that he was glad not to be at the bus station, there must be a long queue, but the Chinese mentality was used to inconveniencies. The 747 Transporter was loaded and ready to go and would be to flown by Major Chong to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.

The other three could make the U.S. mainland nonstop but valuable fuel weight was being lost to accommodate added cargo, and all four aircraft would need to fly into Hawaii to refuel. From there it was on to Travis where unloading would get underway. The refueled aircraft would head back to Hawaii and then, with General Patterson’s approval, return to Harbin for their second load.

By that time, in 36 hours, the base was to be under American control. Unfortunately the stopover in Hawaii lengthened the turnaround time considerably.

At midnight, General Patterson, now dressed with clothing covering his camouflage uniform, was escorted by Major Wong, Mo Wang and several of their men into the storage hangar to hide until morning. All the fighting men, as well as the engineers, were to stay and list what the next load would be. Mo and Lee were to stay and try to repeat their performance with Major Wong at the second base. They all knew that this base and this colonel would not be so easy. Major Wong made sure that the transporter flight-crew would be all Chinese-American personnel just in case.

Mo said his goodbyes to the colonel at the steps of the aircraft. As a military man, the colonel was smart, had a duffle bag of personal items and was ready for the journey.