INVASION USA (Book 2) - The Battle For New York (43 page)

The two aircraft immediately banked right and glided out to sea as silently as possible and gently gained altitude to meet up with the tanker. Together they turned far out to sea to the east of Shanghai into a northwesterly direction and got on course for Omsk.

Several minutes later, the first group gathered their parachute gear and joined up reporting to Major Patterson. Everybody was okay, despite one slightly sprained ankle, and the second group headed by Captains Wong and Chong arrived several minutes later with no injuries to report.

Patterson’s men searched for, found, and unpacked the slightly banged up pallets of equipment. Their pallet was a hundred yards away and stuck inside a now roofless and broken chicken coop, and after a little trouble, two of the men handed out the arms and ammunition to the rest of their squad. They wrapped their 15 parachutes onto the now empty pallet with a timer and explosive device that would go off in three hours time, hopefully destroying all evidence, as well as a dozen or so unfortunate chickens, if they didn’t go out to peck around the field before the explosion went off. They then re-joined the other group and Major Patterson phoned General Allen, telling him that they were on the ground, and no injuries.

Already, and from this distance, they could see a dozen or more aircraft standing in a long line facing outwards away from the well-lit air terminal and facing the runway and outer fence that rested between them and the aircraft.

If all the aircraft had been parked head-in at the terminals with the walkways attached, it could have presented a problem. It would have been difficult to get them moved back from the gates and onto the runway for take-off. They couldn’t see all the aircraft, because a short snow squall blotted out the terminal halfway down, but that was fine—they had seen as much as they wanted.

The first terminal facing the west at Shanghai International was extremely long, and older satellite photos studied in the aircraft on the way over had shown that around 24 aircraft could be parked at the west-side gates.

A couple of men cut holes in the high fence surrounding the airport, noticing that several lights were on in and around the buildings, as well as the aircraft control tower. There were no guards to be seen. They certainly weren’t expecting any form of attack.

Once inside, they kept to the perimeter of the fence, carefully moving in the blackness around the south end of the runway. It took the group 20 minutes to get closer to the aircraft. By that time, the faint dawn light was beginning to show more and more of the airport stretching out in front of them.

Major Patterson and all the men were dressed in the same confiscated Chinese clothing from JFK. The team moved slowly and carefully toward the main apron of the airport. Once they arrived in the first lit up area, Major Patterson was ready for his mission and blatantly walked out to the middle of the lit apron with Captain Chong to make sure that they would be seen, and started looking at the first airplane.

Captain Wong ran to the tower and climbed the stairs as fast as he could with two shorter Marines as bodyguards, their faces totally hidden behind veils. He reached the airport’s command center or tower and found it unguarded with the door unlocked. He walked in and started shouting orders in Chinese, pointing down at the tiny figure of the Supreme Commander just barely visible checking aircraft.

“The Supreme Commander has arrived to do an inspection of the airfield,” ordered Captain Wong in Mandarin as the men sat straight up, suddenly at attention. While he shouted, he looked outside the tower and counted fifteen 747s facing outward toward the runway. Past the end of the line and in a half-closed aircraft repair hangar he could just make out the same transporter he had seen at JFK two days earlier. It must have refueled somewhere on its return journey because she certainly didn’t have the range to get from New York to Shanghai nonstop like the passenger version.

“The Supreme Commander has been given an army of elite troops from the government in Beijing as a gift, and needs 12 aircraft to collect them. Are those aircraft refueled and ready to fly? Where are the pilots?” he shouted at the man who looked to be most senior.

“The aircraft are fueled and ready to fly. I will wake the pilots immediately. They are in their quarters, Comrade,” the man replied, stammering nervously.

“General Wong to you! I am the Supreme Commander’s bodyguard commander. Is there an alarm to warn the soldiers about aircraft movements?” the captain demanded.

“The soldiers are controlled from the security detachment on the floor below. I can send a man to tell them that the Supreme Commander is giving orders to move aircraft,” the man replied, still standing at attention.

“Do that immediately!” ordered Captain Wong. “The aircraft will be flying into Beijing and will return in 12 hours. I need space and quarters for another 5,000 men. Tell the commander of the soldiers to find them space to sleep until we leave for America, understood?”

“Yes sir!” The man stuttered and shouted orders to one of the five men in the tower. The man bowed and ran off.

“Does the front line of aircraft have mobile stairs so that the Supreme Commander can inspect the aircraft?” was Captain’s Wong’s next question.

“We only have three flights of mobile stairs, and I can get them out there from below the tower, General,“ the nervous man answered. Captain Wong nodded, noticing that the American squad of men was in now formation behind the first aircraft. The man in charge of the tower immediately picked up a microphone and spoke to who Captain Wong assumed was the ground crew.

“The Supreme Commander doesn’t want any troops out there. He has his own elite troops under my command. The pilots have three minutes to get dressed. He wants 11 aircraft to transport the troops. Is the transporter loaded and ready to go?”

“Yes, sir,” the man replied. “It is ready for its flight to America and fully loaded. It is being kept warm inside so that the parts do not freeze.”

“Good, because that is what the Supreme Commander is giving our Chinese government minions in Beijing for the men. We will need to get it reloaded once it returns in three days time,” added the Captain.

“But there are no more parts here at the airport,” replied the tower controller.

“We have a new load coming in from Nanjing,” replied Captain Wang in a sarcastic tone. He watched as three sets of stairs were being pushed hard and by hand out to the first three 747s, and he then noticed five Air Bus 380s connected to the terminal at specially built gates. “Are the European aircraft ready to go?” he asked.

“No sir, they are still having their seats removed and are not yet refueled.”

“The Supreme Commander wants that work completed by the time he gets back from Beijing, in case he must go back. Wake up your workforce and get all those aircraft ready. The aircraft we are taking tonight will be arriving back here and I’ll need a welcoming committee ready when the Commander returns from Beijing. I’m flying with him and so are my elite troops. I will go down and wait for the pilots. Understood?” the man nodded, and Captain Wong and his two heavily armed guards ran back down the stairs, making as much noise as possible. On the floor below was an Army colonel by the looks of him, and he saluted Captain Wong as the three men nodded at him and continued down the stairs. He looked rather confused.

Three of the first in line beautiful Air China Boeing 747-400ER’s forward doors were already open, and pilots could be seen through the cockpit windows going through pre-flight checks as the aircraft doors were already being closed.

The stairs were already on their way to the second group as the pilots—30 of them—ran out from the terminal, still dressing and trying to put their clothing together. Captain Wong issued orders as they arrived, getting a crew aboard each of the next three aircraft as the doors opened. He shouted at the pilots that the first three aircraft had pilots from the Supreme Commander’s own private group and they were to get into the fourth aircraft as spare teams.

The stairs were placed next to the next three aircraft, the forward doors opened, and three Chinese pilots entered each of the front doors with two of the Supreme Commander’s pilots and a Marine. The stairs were being pulled away as the first engines started up and the panting ground crew moved the stairs towards the next three in the row. Everybody was working as fast as they could, with Major Patterson, still in the middle of the apron, moving his arms around in gestures nobody could understand, but it sure looked good to Captain Wong, and hopefully the tower!

By the time the third set of large Boeing 747-400ER aircraft had their forward doors opened, the Chinese crews and American pilots with a Marine per aircraft were climbing the stairs.

Now there were six left—five normal 747s and the 747 transporter at the end of the line facing the other aircraft, the hangar doors were already open and a tractor was about to move the giant aircraft outside. The ground crew, now breathing hard, pushed the stairs to the next three aircraft. At this moment Major Patterson realized that he had run out of men to fly the machines.

The ‘Supreme Commander’ followed the ground crew that marched over to the transporter, looked up to the tower and waved at them, and entered the last aircraft which was outside and ready for boarding.

By this time, Chinese soldiers were appearing from areas behind the terminal and were forming up into squads. Captain Wong decided that it would take at least ten minutes to get the pre-flight checks done and the last aircraft’s engines started. The first three 747s were already on the move, the noise deafening and he shouted as hard as he could into the ‘Supreme Commander’s ear as they stood on top of the mobile stairs. He suggested the major waste some time by walking over to inspect the men before they had a war on their hands.

The two men returned down the stairs after watching a Marine knock four Chinese crew members out cold and allow the last American pilot to get into the co-pilot seat to begin start-up checks.

They moved directly towards the several hundred troops, now dangerous and ready for action at a moment’s notice. The Supreme Commander, his face still covered stopped several yards in front of the men and bowed to them.

“Our Supreme Commander is traveling to Beijing to pick up more great soldiers,” Captain Wong shouted at the top of his voice. “He will return in a few hours to give you a personnel speech on the success we are expecting in America. He has a surprise for all of you! For every man who does his job well in New York, he will receive a thousand acres of land and a large American house. He will explain the plan once we return from Beijing. He is proud of all of you and looks forward to giving you your own part of America when we have won the final battle.”

With that he bowed to the troops, then to his Supreme Commander, and then whispered to him to get back on the aircraft as the guard stood to attention and presented arms. They seemed excited at the news, many smiling and looking joyous.

As they got to the steps, the first three 747s were taxiing down to the southern end of the runway half a mile away, with the second group of three just leaving the apron in a line.

Wong and Patterson walked up the stairs. The ‘Supreme Commander’ reached the top step and as he had seen several presidents do, he waved to the whole airport in front of him. As the first engine of the transporter began its whine, the door was closed, and the ground crew quickly moved the stairs out of the way. They had now set the plan in motion and all they could do was hope that everybody believed them for a few minutes longer.

“You should get a bloody Oscar for your chit-chat out there, Wong,” praised Major Patterson, dialing the phone to call the general and give him an update. “What did you shout out to those guys?”

“I just gave away a thousand acres of farmland and a big house to each man when they get there,” Wong replied as he got into the left-hand cockpit seat and the co-pilot moved the four throttles forward slightly, the engines began to scream and the heavy transporter began to move.

Their aircraft was the last in the queue, as they trundled over the apron to follow the other 11 massive aircraft many yards apart.

“Comrade Chong, are you flying?” asked Wong in Chinese over the radio and taking control of the heavy transporter as it had been handled by the co-pilot in the right seat up to then.

“Affirmative, Comrade Wong. I’m in the aircraft two in front of you,” Captain Chong replied, making it sound like it was two Chinese pilots talking over the radio.

“Comrade Chong, cut out right and head over to the eastern side of the airport. Hopefully the guy in front of me will follow you. We can all get out of here quicker if we use the western runway as well. The Supreme Commander is in a hurry.”

“Roger, Comrade Wong. The feeder road is coming up, and I’m turning to the right.” As planned the two aircraft in front of Captain Wong both turned onto the feeder road 200 yards apart in front of him.

They were all taxiing at a rapid rate, but big jets like these had to wait at least two minutes before take-off between each aircraft to subdue the air turbulence from the one taking off in front. The last of the twelve aircraft moved rapidly towards the western side at a fast pace, turned left to taxi to the end of runway as they saw and heard the first 747’s engines pushing the aircraft down the eastern runway.

It took Captain Chong another four minutes to get to the runway end, turn, and begin his take-off. By that time, there were a lot of orders in Chinese being shouted over the radio.

“They have somehow found a hole in our plan major. Their troops are mobilizing,” shouted one of the pilots over the radio in English as the fourth aircraft on the eastern side began its long take-off. They were still taxiing in the opposite direction for take-off when Captain Wong turned the heavy transporter onto a second, smaller stretch of asphalt taxiway 50 feet before the main runway and told all the pilots in English to get out of there as fast as possible—the troops were coming.

Major Patterson immediately called Ghost Rider, who was still a few minutes out, and told him to come in hot and come in quickly—they needed covering fire. The second 747, the one in front of the transporter began its slow trundle down the runway a hundred yards behind and fifty feet to the left of Captain Wong’s waiting aircraft. Captain Chong’s aircraft was already climbing into the air a mile in front, but Captain Wong had to wait. He had to wait at least a minute or two, and it was the longest and slowest-moving time of his life. It was so long, that he only waited 50 seconds before he saw trucks moving out from the terminal and slowly pushed the four 747 throttles forward to maximum.