INVASION USA (Book 2) - The Battle For New York (21 page)

“Comrade Chairman and fellow Comrades, I have excellent news from America,” Comrade Mo Wang smiled to the room, even though his gut was signaling to him that something wasn’t quite right. “We had a two-hour battle with Americans at the small airport in North Carolina. It was an unimportant and small air base and it seems that there was a platoon of 30 American soldiers guarding the propeller-driven aircraft. This caused our Comrades a bit of a problem and we unfortunately lost half of our brave men to the Americans. On the positive side, our men killed everybody there including all the American soldiers, as well as 20 pilots, several civilian and their families—a remarkable feat. Our squad commanders were brave and fought well, but many lost their lives in the attack.”

“If our commanders are dead, Comrade Wang, who are we communicating with?” asked the chairman.

“A young man I know well,” replied the stressed Wang. “A man I personally recruited, and even though I haven’t spoken to him for 30 years, I recognized his voice. I have given him command of the remaining troops and told him to stay at the base until I get authorization from you to send more troops to take over command from him. He stated that they are still seeing several small civilian aircraft around Raleigh and believe that the city’s international airport could be another place that has a group of aircraft. I have ordered him to go and take a look and told him that we would send in more squads to deal with any enemy problems before they are needed in New York and Washington.

“And this man is dependable?” asked the chairman. “I want him to remain close by that Raleigh airport until we get more squads in. It sounds like this area is full of civilian aircraft. I believe it may be due to the massive storm over the northern states. I will assume that these aircraft flew south and are congregating at this airport south of the storm. It is in our favor, as we could potentially destroy all of the remaining aircraft in one battle and then move our squads north to meet us in New York. Comrade Wang, send the 50 termination squads from the southern American border area to this Raleigh airport, and check with our technical staff downstairs to see if there has been any transponder movement around this city. They must destroy everything they see in this area! Once this problem is dealt with, then order our squads to move north.”

“We only have two and a half weeks before our arrival and we need all three major airports ready for our airborne troops, and with American aviation fuel flowing, to get our 30 747-400ERs and five Airbus 380s back to China. Thank you and well done Comrade Wang. I knew America wouldn’t be easy to invade and I’m sure we are going to deal with more problems before we can call North America our own. Wang, I want the rest of our East Coast termination squads in New York to get to the JFK airport on time. They will inspect and start up the six bulldozers we have hidden in the rented warehouse. The squads must be there 24 hours ahead of our aircraft, as planned. They must first clear the main runway at JFK and meet our incoming men and troops at the airport. And remind them, comrade, they have a ton of salt and the six bulldozers to do the job.”

Comrade Mo Wang sat down, his mind spinning. He had recognized that voice on the satellite radio, but something was telling him that it sounded different. Maybe his memory was vague but he had a notion that the voice didn’t belong to the man who had identified himself as Bo Lee Tang.

“We will now hear the latest report on troop readiness, food ships, and aircraft. Comrade Rhu, please,” ordered the chairman as the door closed behind Mo Wang.

“Thank you Comrade Chairman,” started Rhu. “All plans are ready for our invasion, Comrades. You are all to be ready to depart here in three days. We sail out of Shanghai harbor with five of our container cargo ships. Each of the five of our most modern container ships owned by our shipping company, China Shipping Lines, holds 9,600 containers of food. Each container has been packed with 1,800 meal packs and each meal pack holds enough basic food to feed one person for a week. Our first shipment will be 60 million food packs, and is expected to supply the northern area of the East Coast of America for three months. We have new, red Chinese passports printed for 15 million women and children. They are to be handed to male children under ten years old only. Any male children over that age will be terminated. Each new Communist citizen will be given four weeks of food, which should get them through the middle of the winter, or at least to when our container ships return. Our Boeing 747-400 aircraft is due to leave Shanghai for America tomorrow. The 747 will be taking 100 electrical engineers into New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport. They will be protected by our Special Forces flying with them—over 200 of them— as well as our squads already there. The engineer’s first job is to get the airport’s fuel tanks back online and get road transport from our termination squads into La Guardia and Newark Airports. There, they will get the two airports ready for our arrival.”

“After the airports are operational, they will move into New York harbor and work on getting the large harbor cranes around the New York Global Terminal operational so we can unload the five container ships when they arrive. A second Boeing 747 aircraft is full of the needed electrical parts to get the American machinery working again. This aircraft, a 747 transporter, does not have the extended range of the first aircraft and is currently in a secret location much closer to New York than the others and will join the first aircraft once it gets into U.S. airspace. The 747 transporter will operate in and out from that secret location. The transporter will also have four large generators on board to help with fuel delivery, and the aircraft has been modified to unload itself without ground assistance. Our termination squads have been given orders to get enough vehicles for the transportation of these 300 men around the three airports and harbor areas, which hopefully have little or no damage. Both 747s will be emptied and refueled as quickly as possible, and then return to their bases. Any questions so far?”

There were none.

“Twenty-four hours before our arrival, our entire fleet of 35 commercial aircraft will fly 20,000 Red Army troops into New York. These troops are to take control of the airports, the entire area between the three airports and then the harbor area to protect our entrance from any American forces still hiding in the New York area. Our flotilla of five naval and five container ships will reach and grandly enter New York Harbor. Gentlemen, great news, we will be sailing through the Panama Canal, which has been captured and is currently fully operational and guarded by our forces. Again, any questions?”

Again, there were none.

“One week after we have captured New York, our second armada of five container ships will leave Shanghai Harbor and take seven days to sail to Los Angeles. Before they arrive, the same engineers will be flown across America from New York to Los Angeles to set up the airports and harbor area there. Everything is working according to plan, and we have ten days to take control of the East Coast before our invasion of the West Coast begins. We will reside on our new aircraft carrier, and she will be protected by our two attack cruisers and two destroyers. We will not be backed up by submarines, as had been planned. Unfortunately, our own government purchased the submarine satellite-communications electronic parts we produced for the rest of the world without our knowledge, and the entire Chinese fleet of submarines is now useless. They, unfortunately, were too stupid to listen to our warnings. We have tested our six warships, our fleet of ten container ships, the 30 747s, and the five Airbuses, and they are all fully operational.” He sat down.

After the meeting ended, Comrade Wang was in the communications room trying to raise his new squad leader in North Carolina. He had already spoken to the commander of the 50 termination squads currently in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and they were getting ready to move east. He could not get hold of the new man, and his sixth sense was eating at him as the engineer was finally successful and got a very bad connection.

“Is that you, Bo Lee Tang?” the engineer called over the radio telephone in front of him.

“I can’t hear you well, we have a bad connection. This is Bo Lee Tang,” said the faint voice on the other side. “We are burying our comrades.”

“Tell him to hurry up and get to the Raleigh airport,” Comrade Wang told the engineer in front of him. “Tell him he has Comrade Deng’s 50 squads coming in. They should be there in two days.” The message was relayed.

“We need many squads?” asked the man at the other end.

“Fifty squads are coming, and Comrade Deng will take command when he gets there, Bo Lee Tang,” stated Comrade Wang, taking over the microphone from the engineer. “Once Comrade Deng has destroyed the Raleigh airport, you are all to go north. I have told Deng that he will take you with him. You need to be at the airport and harbor area within one week to prepare for our arrival.”

“At which harbor do you want my men? I can’t hear you well. What happens if I don’t see Comrade Deng?” the voice asked.

“Something is not right, Bo Lee Tang. You should know the operation,” Wang said, worried.

“My dead commander did not tell us anything,” was the reply. “We left the north, came south, he did not tell us anything, and now I am commander.”

Comrade Wang was worried. He could understand a need-to-know basis and he racked his brains to remember what the men in the termination squads were actually told. It was quite normal that the men knew very little and he now needed to check to see if he was talking to the man he knew—after all, he had recruited him all those years ago. In those days Bo Lee Tang was a good boxer and Mo Wang had won a good amount of money on his achievements in Shanghai.

“Bo Lee Tang, what do you have on your shoulder?” asked Wang.

“A tattoo” was the reply.

“What is the tattoo?’ Wang asked.

“You know, Comrade. A bottle of Jack Daniel’s. You often must have seen it when I was boxing in Shanghai.”

“Of course, Comrade Bo. I needed to check because your voice is not the voice I remember,” continued Mo Wang.

“I have a small injury to my face and a bandage on my face. I have a small piece of metal in my cheek, have lost a little blood, and I can’t talk too good.” The telephone crackled back at Wang. This seemed to satisfy most of his worries. Of course! Bo could have been injured.

“Your orders, Bo Lee, are to destroy the Raleigh airport with Deng. Then go north to your original position. We have engineers and troops flying in on two aircraft tomorrow night to reconstruct the three airports and harbor before our aircraft and ship arrivals. You are to report to our troops at the biggest airport. You need to be there in one week. It will be under our control. I will be there several days after you arrive, and I will communicate to you and Deng once you get to New York, not before. Good Luck!” said Wang, still feeling in his hollow and empty stomach that something was wrong.

*****

Carlos and Lee had been working hard since they had received the equipment from the dead Chinese. They had studied each piece and found all the equipment to be simple satellite communication electronics. Thousands of Americans had the same quality two-way systems with Hughes Internet. The only difference was that both sides could verbally chat to each other.

“Lee, I think we are ready for communication,” said Carlos to a worried-looking Lee Wang. “Remember to keep the cloth of the towel over the phone. It will hide most of your voice tone. Tell them that a platoon of 30 military troops killed your commander and many of the others. Ask for orders. Remember to state that you are in control. You can be nervous; you haven’t been a commander and you are only told stuff on a need-to-know basis. Remember, there were 30 troops, 20-odd pilots with guns, a lot of small airplanes. Other than that, buddy, just wing it. You need to get information from whoever is at the other end. Don’t be scared to ask and act stupid, Lee. It always works.”

They turned on one telephone and waited. It wasn’t 30 seconds before the phone rang—a sound they hadn’t heard in days! Lee Wang made sure that the cloth was covering the mouthpiece and he looked at Carlos. Carlos smiled, gave him the thumbs up, and Lee Wang answered the call.

“Control, this is Bo Lee Tang. Mi Lee is dead. This is Bo Lee Tang, Mi Lee’s Number Two in command,” answered Lee Wang. There was silence at the other end.

“Bo Lee Tang, you said your commander is dead?”

“Correct, Control. It was a bad fight but we won,” Lee Wang continued. Then he heard a voice he recognized from his days in China. It was the floor sweeper—the man who had recruited him. He looked up at Carlos, who was dialing another number on the second phone. Then Carlos remembered that he was holding a telephone and not a radio, and his brain suddenly clicked into gear. Anybody could use the system, and he wondered if the control center in China would notice a second phone being used at the same time. He scrambled through the pile of phone components and found one with a number written on the backside so that the owner wouldn’t forget it. He then found a second one and saw Lee looking at him. Carlos told him to keep going, but Carlos could see that Lee Wang was in shock for some reason. Then Carlos heard a voice on the other end fire off in rapid Chinese.

“Bo Lee Tang, this is Comrade Mo. Get one of the other commanders on the telephone to give me a full report.” Lee Wang looked at Carlos and his face told Carlos that he knew the man on the other end. Carlos whispered for him not to worry, that the cloth should hide his voice. “All commanders are dead. We have 23 dead men, Comrade Wang,” Lee Wang replied nervously.

“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.”