Invasion USA 3 - The Battle for Survival (7 page)

They were a couple of hundred miles south of Jamaica and about the same distance to the Colombian coastline.

“I assume many of you are listening and since I assume we are the only ones on this channel, we can talk semi-freely,” stated the general. “I have good news since you departed yesterday. The three sister aircraft of yours, the Charlie-130 Gunships, will be ready in three weeks.
We also found several semi-operational Vietnam-era Hueys at a couple of our small air bases and that will put our Hueys force up to twenty. We have de-mothballed four more F-4 Phantom jets and, as you know, have the other four fully operational. The second group of four jets will take another month to get flying again and that will give us a wing of four defense jets on both sides of the country. We have now searched through every Air Force base in the world and have located three old 1970s-era 707s, semi-operational tankers in a hangar at Ramstein, Germany and another two in northern England with three of the older version C-130s we had loaned to the RAF a decade ago. I’ve heard that one more could be in Scotland.

 We have teams of engineers heading out on the Jumbo Jets. They will go through these old birds and check them out. Another several operational FedEx Cargomasters have been found in Alaska and they are currently flying home to be used in the expanding food operation. Our aircraft fleet is growing in numbers, and there are still several places, mostly civilian, to check. Over a hundred more civilian aircraft have searched us out on their radios and we are having a fly-in at the next big meeting here, beginning of March. You guys are expected to be back before then. Carlos, thank you for enabling this conference call facility over the satellite phones. Lee asked me to tell you that your observatory in Utah is up and running again. I owe you.”

“My pleasure. We are all listening to you,” replied Carlos.

“Mr. Ambassador, are you there?”
asked General Patterson.

“I’m here,” replied Uncle Philippe.

“Mr. Ambassador, what are you expecting to find at your destination?”
continued the general
. “Am I right you haven’t been back for quite a while?”

“Correct, young man. I haven’t been back for a couple of years now, but before the atrocities, I was in contact every day with my government and military leaders, separately. To answer your question: We had searched out fresh infiltrations of the drug cartels into new government positions, mostly back in 2010. I’m sure that we did not get everybody. I believe that even the higher echelons of certain military departments are also infiltrated, but the old sections I control are still safe as none of my senior staff has defected in four decades. They are mostly family and I grew up with them. Like me, they are far past retirement age, but there is no way we can relinquish our control, especially not now.

“I have been in contact with my second-in-command through the satellite phone you got for me last week. Much is the same as in the U.S., but conditions are not so cold. The attacks on the armed forces are increasing rapidly and there is quite a bit of hunger in the cities. Two days ago the main government offices were attacked in our capital and there was a small attack on the international airport. I have increased the ground patrols around both areas and replaced all the soldiers with my men.”

“Can you give me an idea of numbers of your armed forces and what percentage is loyal to you?”
asked the general.

“As you know, we have three departments, Army, Navy and Air Force; total 150,000 men plus another 110,000 in the country’s police force. To date a third of our Colombian army soldiers—around 20,000—have deserted or disappeared from their barracks, I assume to travel to their homes and look after family members. More are disappearing every day. Most of the army weapons equipment is older and still operational. Our Air Force has fared better than yours, also being older. We still have many of our transporters and attack craft in operation including our old Douglas AC-47 Gunships and A-37 Dragonflies, called Super Tweets in the U.S. Several need to have their modern electronics thrown out but we Colombians never threw away the old stuff. I’m going to see how long it will take to get our Air Force fully operational, our fuel supplies secured and our army strength as high as possible. Unfortunately we have nothing as powerful as what I’m sitting in now but our remaining Colombian Air Force is good for what we need. We also have 20 of our fighter/bomber IAI Kfirs operational, although many of them had modern electronics installed and need to be changed. Three of them, the ones currently operational, will be joining us to escort us in with my pilots once we arrive in our destination’s airspace. Our fuel stocks have been given massive protection and I believe our navy is sitting idle but still fully operational. To answer your second question, I have the entire Air Force, a third of the Army and a third of the Police Force under the direct control of my staff, a total of 100,000 men. I could vouch for more, but I need to find out what is happening.”

“Bon voyage and I wish you luck, guys,”
replied General Patterson.
“Carlos, look after my pilots and get them home. I will expect reports on a daily basis.”
And with that the conversation was over.

Sally set up
Blue Moon
to top-off her tanks first, which would take twenty minutes. Forty minutes later and fifty miles from the Colombian coast they said goodbye to
Mother Goose
who turned away and headed back to MacDill.

Immediately Uncle Philippe was in radio contact with his friends in Spanish. Within ten minutes of flying over the coast three Israeli-made IAI Kfirs climbed up to meet them and guide them into El Dorado International Airport.

“Just for your information,” stated Uncle Philippe to everyone listening in the aircraft as well as the crew in the second gunship, “Catam Air Force Base is in the actual buildings at El Dorado International Airport. My pilots told me that they were attacked again last night, from the outskirts of the large airfield by mortars and snipers. The grounds are extensive and the attack was beaten off. They are expecting another attack tonight. The civilian area of the airport has been cleared and there are armed guards in every building. The gangs out there are growing and their theft of military firepower has increased. They are now believed to have a couple of artillery weapons and even a few shoulder rocket-launchers. Only the most powerful weaponry can actually reach the buildings from the perimeter and we have several aircraft flying over the airfield 24/7. The altitude is over 8,300 feet. Be prepared. I need to spend 72 hours with my soldiers and we will leave on time, but from where, I don’t know. We have limited fuel reserves at this air base but I’m hopeful that we won’t need any.”

They went in steeply from high altitude, landed on Runway 2 and were guided by a military jeep into a large, empty hangar. Both aircraft were towed in by a tractor, and the doors were closed after them once the engines had died. The tractors turned the aircraft to face outwards. The large fluorescent lights made the inner hangar as bright as day, once it was sealed from outside eyes.

There had been hundreds of military personnel down the length of the runway as they taxied towards the terminals, with the three Colombian Air Force jets high overhead and fully armed for action.

A group of about twenty senior army brass was there to meet the visitors. Mannie and his sister disembarked first, saluted to the generals in the welcoming committee, and walked around the hangar before signaling to the aircraft that all was well.

Uncle Philippe was helped out of the small hatch first, followed by Manuel and Carlos. There were hugs of greeting and friendship from the welcoming committee as the three walked up to them. The American forces stayed in the aircraft until Carlos returned to advise that all was well. He stated that the two jeeps would stay, and the Marines would be left in the hangar to guard the aircraft. The Air Force personnel would find accommodations in the next hangar and there were showers, food and beverages waiting. He asked Sally to stay with the group until he came to get her, and asked her to change into civilian clothes.

The accommodations were bright and comfortable, much like Preston’s rooms in his hangar. The large facilities were for pilots and crew. A full meal was served before the group decided to shower, clean up and rest. Two to a room, they were given over a dozen rooms to sleep in. The meal was served in the Air Force headquarters building directly behind the two hangars.

Carlos was on the fourth floor which overlooked the roofs of the hangars and the vast area the airport covered. He could also see through the one-way glass windows towards the civilian area, and over the roof of the fire station, which separated them from the civilian side of operations.

There were four aircraft of different sizes at the gates that belonged to the national airline, Avianca, an American Airlines Boeing 737, a Continental Airlines 737 and what looked like a Mexican Airline, an older model 737. The last jet aircraft at the end was nothing more than a large blackened patch on the runway. He counted twelve visible gates and eight aircraft at the gates with another three smaller propeller-driven aircraft in a line a couple of hundred feet in front of the terminal.

From where he stood it looked like he could see well over a thousand troops dug in and in trenches all over the airport area. There were medium-sized artillery pieces, machine-gun mounds and mortar positions everywhere.

A large boardroom table was in the middle of the meeting room with twelve chairs on each side. Several lower-ranking officers were seated on chairs around the walls of the room. Carlos sat down next to his father, two seats from the left head of the table where his uncle sat. On the opposite head was the most senior officer in attendance, who, he was about to discover, was the second oldest of the five Rodriquez brothers. It took some time, but he realized that another brother was also at the table, an admiral. This was certainly a family affair. Of the fourteen chairs, five were occupied by members of the same family, including his father and himself.

Naturally Spanish was the spoken word and Carlos was fluent in his birth language, but with an American accent.

For the first ten minutes greetings and jokes went around the table until Uncle Philippe asked for silence.

“Gentlemen, please,” he asked and the table became quiet. “You remember Manuel, our family bodyguards, and our most famous American, young Carlos Rodriquez?” Carlos and his father nodded to the table, as the bodyguards nodded from their positions standing at the three doors.

For ten minutes Uncle Philippe told them the part Carlos played in the attack on the United States and the men gave him nods of congratulations. Uncle Philippe then asked each of the men to deliver a five-minute report on what they believed was happening in Colombia since New Year’s Day, 35 days earlier.

They mostly repeated the same things, but from different perspectives. It seemed that the country’s cartels had been quick to react to the shutdown at the beginning of the year. There had been attacks in parts of the country as early as January 3rd. The first attack in the capital had been a week ago. Although the desertion rate from the normal troops was bad, Uncle Philippe’s controlled troops sustained very few. An army colonel who was under the command of one of the generals at the table—and who was preparing to desert—had been shot by firing squad the same day. He wasn’t part of the family.

All stated that there were reports of groups of several hundred men arriving in the capital during the last few days, and they anticipated that the cartels were preparing to attack the government offices in Bogotá which apart from a thousand loyal troops, was totally deserted by most of the politicians. There was no government control and the general at the other end of the table had enacted military rule with curfews in the whole of Bogotá and the surrounding large cities 48 hours earlier.

The Air Force was the country’s communication system and an aircraft went out each day to the several air bases established in the larger cities around the country to give and receive information. Its headquarters was here at the airfield so El Dorado International Airport was the seat of control for the country of Colombia. Nobody really cared what happened to the government offices, which would soon be destroyed in any event. The airfield and its large open areas were far easier to defend from insurgents.

Philippe asked the table how many drug cartel members or gang members of any types were around Bogotá and the answer shocked Carlos.

The table estimated well over 10,000, even as high as 25,000, many of which had deserted the armed forces and had been infiltrators or spies before the end of last year.

“So we have 100,000 totally loyal men in our brigades, Army, Police, Air Force and Navy?” he asked the table. The military men nodded. “Then we could have another 100,000 men who might not desert and help us keep our country safe?” Again the men nodded. “How long will it take us to find out how many troops are actually on our side?”

“A few months,” was the answer from one of the men at the table.

“They are widely dispersed,” added another.

“How many of those maybe-loyal men are within the city limits?” asked Philippe.

“About 30,000” was the answer.

“Well, we need to work on those first,” replied the Ambassador. “Get two of our men to chaperone one soldier to make sure he doesn’t spy or desert. They are to form small groups of 20 to 30 and look after each other. Then, how many more of these maybe-loyal men are still based at our own positions, like our air bases countrywide?”

“Another 20,000” was the answer.

“Do the same with those and now what is left?”

“I have another 22,000 men in the Navy you did not count,” added Admiral Luiz Rodriquez.

“How many of those are trustworthy, Luiz?” Philippe asked.

“About half,” replied the admiral.

“Am I right, Luiz,” Philippe asked the admiral, “that the four remaining largest naval ships in the Colombian Navy are our old Light Frigates?”