The Battle for Houston...The Aftermath (33 page)

“Nothing much so far,” replied Martie’s father. “It’s a sort of impossible task. These guys, their pilots, and their connections would have had time to think out these problems months, or even years ahead as a possible scenario. Somehow we need to get one person in here to play with their transponders and hopefully get them working. Are you going to adhere to their demands of privacy while their aircraft sit here? Why don’t you just take them into custody and make them tell you where they are based? Guantanamo is still open, as of December last year.”

A soldier ran into the empty hangar. “Radar connection with one aircraft, over Newfoundland and approximately twelve hundred miles out, sir! The Hurricane Hunter noticed her several seconds ago.”

“So they are not coming in together,” stated the general “Excuse me, I want to check all our radar aircraft out there,” and he left the hangar at a rapid walk.

Carlos and Preston followed him at a slower pace. They knew where his command center would be, in the Andrews’ main communications room.

“I think we have something,” General Patterson said to them as they entered a few minutes later. “The Canadian Hurricane Hunter over the U.S./Canadian border thought they saw an extremely faint blip of an aircraft over an hour ago on the extreme edge of their screen in the western area of the Labrador Sea; it was so faint that they didn’t think to report it. It couldn’t have been an aircraft, unless it was flying less than 2,000 feet above the terrain.

“At that low a cruise altitude, any jet will be literally burning through its fuel, even at slower cruise speeds,” stated Carlos. “A Gulfstream could lose a third of its range.”

“Correctly stated,” replied General Patterson. “Even if they stayed over water, which they would have to do at that altitude, it would cause havoc to the jets flying conditions, not to mention the dense sea air going through the engines.”

“Maybe they didn’t fly the whole trip at that altitude, but just the last part,” suggested Carlos looking at the extra-large map General Patterson was studying on a massive map table. “The other Hurricane Hunter hasn’t reported anything?”

“One virtually unnoticeable blip, three hours ago, about 300 miles north of Alaska, well over the Beaufort Sea. One millisecond blip and it was gone,” General Patterson replied.

“Sir, we have a new contact from the gunship over Seattle,” stated a female air force soldier listening on a satellite phone. “Unidentified aircraft incoming from the direction of Hawaii, 200 miles from San Francisco, at 49,000 feet and at a fast cruise.”

“It’s weird that Hawaii didn’t pick her up, or tell us of any aircraft movements in their area,” stated Preston

“Radar coverage is only 500 miles out from the air force base,” stated General Patterson. “The aircraft must have known this and headed at an angle further north than that. This one must have flown over the Bering Sea and then across the Pacific far to the north of Hawaii and then turned directly eastwards, always out of range of our Hawaiian, Alaskan and West Coast radars. These guys certainly know our limits, without our satellite coverage. Sergeant, tell the Hurricane Hunter over Alaska to head into Hawaii to refuel and then take up a position west of Hawaii and directly on the International Dateline. That inbound aircraft will be at least three hours late for our meeting, if it is coming in our direction at all. Sergeant, tell our nearest West Coast base to get into contact and find out who it is.”

“I wonder why they are so late?” asked Carlos.

They found out several minutes later from the air force base that it was indeed Westbrook, and he apologized to the meeting attendees saying that he had had aircraft problems and would be three hours late.

By this time they were also in contact with the aircraft incoming over the Labrador Sea; it carried the three drug CEOs, and they stated they were on time and were flying out of Scotland.

“Rubbish,” commented General Patterson. “I know that route well, I’ve flown from Scotland to Andrews dozens of times and the usual civilian flight lane is at least 200 miles south of their current position, and nobody would be flying so low over the North Atlantic. I see they have already climbed up to a normal cruse altitude of 40,000 feet. Those Gulfstream Vs can sure climb fast. Ten minutes ago he was reported at close to sea level. They must be coming in from somewhere else,” and he began plotting times and ideas onto the map with a red marker and a long ruler. Carlos and Preston joined him.

“The flight over from the first blip northwest of Alaska would take two and a half hours at their current speed,” continued the general talking loudly to himself, “and that blip was registered over three hours ago, which gives them an extra 30 minutes to maybe fly further north and stay well out of our radar range.

“Two thirds of a 6,000 mile range is still 4,000 miles,” suggested Carlos. General, I think you should get a gunship somewhere around the Resolute Bay Airport, Northern Canada, here,” he stated showing the location on the map to the general. There is a complete open sea corridor, which passes right by the airfield, and I bet the jet was flown low through this corridor, which leads directly into the Labrador Sea and where the aircraft is currently. That is about 1,000 miles of low flying, and I bet the pilots have to cut the corner to get into Andrews on their fuel reserves. I bet he has flown only a part of the way at below 5,000 feet.”

Good thinking,” replied General Patterson. I actually did an emergency landing at Resolute, about three years ago and was told by the locals that the runway was due to be extended to 3,000 meters. That could even be their base of operations.”

“Not if that blip on the radar over the Beaufort Sea has anything to do with the same aircraft,” Carlos replied.

“Well, let’s say they thought they were out of range, they were, apart from the Hurricane Tracker, and it’s totally different electronics to monitor wind speed and not your usual every day gas-guzzler fancy jet. They could have kept low for another couple of hundred miles to cut the corner which would get them over the Beaufort Sea in the shortest possible route, then climb while flying through the McClure Strait, descend and fly low through the Viscount Melville and Lancaster Sounds in case the Canadians were tracking them, about 400 miles in distance. Once they got through to the Davis Strait, they might have headed over to Greenland and then think it safe to climb back up to a normal cruise altitude once they are in the middle of nowhere. I have calculated 5,100 miles of which at least 700 to 800 miles was flown at low altitude and I believe, if they are coming from my scenario area, the pilots are going to land on fumes.”

“Not impossible,” commented Carlos.

“I agree,” stated the general and got on two different satellite phones to order other aircraft to refuel and then to deploy further and over Canadian airspace. “Their fancy upgrades won’t distinguish between Canadian aircraft and U.S. aircraft, and we fly the same planes. Maybe we should get pilots with Canadian accents.”

An idea had been formed by the time the first Gulfstream came in and landed at Andrews two hours later. Mo and Lee Wang were to be hidden inside the hangar in a locked broom cupboard, wear captured Red Army uniforms, and have several other sets of captured Chinese civilian clothing available to try to blend in with the guards with whatever they were wearing.

The Gulfstream, which could carry a maximum of twenty people, including pilots and necessary crew changes, was directed into the hangar, the doors closed and three small cameras connected to old television screens in the ops center showed the goings on. Mo had his satellite phone on pulse and was quickly told that three men wore business suits, four men wore white coats and looked Chinese and ten men, who also looked Chinese, wore civilian clothes, and were armed with AK 47s. The three men in suits looked around the large hangar carefully while ordering the armed men to guard the doors. They were certainly looking for cameras and immediately saw two cameras, modern, normal, non-working cameras which had been placed there years earlier. Orders were given, there was no sound from the hangar, and ladders were moved and the cameras smashed.

“I’m going out there to knock on their door and ruin their party,” stated General Patterson angrily. “These SOBs come into a U.S. Air Force base and start destroying defunct equipment. It’s time to find out who they think is running the country.” And he headed out signaling two guards to follow him.

“This ought to be fun to watch,” stated Preston as Carlos got on the phone to Lee.

“Lee, our friend is heading to the door to give you your chance to move into the hangar. Wear your white coats; confirm white coats, Lee?” Carlos asked.

“We are changing into our white coats, Carlos,” Lee replied.

“I’ll tell you when the general is outside the main hangar door, Lee,” Carlos continued. Two thirty-year-old black and white cameras had been placed outside the hangar to view goings on there and both Preston and Carlos watched as General Patterson, with only the two guards a few steps behind walked up to the closed large doors and hit one hard with his fist.

The smaller door next to the hangar was opened by one of the men wearing a suit, and he walked out to talk to the general. The general by-passed the man and tried to walk inside the hangar. Here he was stopped by two of the men holding AK 47s. Immediately the two guards behind the General aimed and pointed their M-4s at the two men inside the door, and men on both sides of the door could be seen shouting for backup. Preston and Carlos could see both inside and outside the hangar and saw all the visitors looking at the confrontation by the side door.

“Lee, Mo, head towards the rear of the aircraft,” ordered Carlos into his phone. “There is nobody looking in your direction. The rear aircraft door is wide open and the steps are down; two pilots left the aircraft and are walking towards the door where the argument is happening. I think the aircraft is empty.”

It didn’t take them long to see Lee and Mo walk over and climb into the aircraft. The argument was still going on, and they could see that it was getting pretty heated. Several more air force guards arrived in a couple of jeeps and were brandishing machine guns directly at the doorway. General Patterson looked angry and now there were hundreds of air force soldiers running around the hangar to cordon it off.

“Mo, look where I showed you. Unscrew the bulb above the word “Transponder,” now look for the Transponder control switch, it should be right above the bulb location,” Carlos stated into his phone.

“
Carlos, Carlos, there is a hole where the transponder switch used to be. The bulb socket is also empty. I think they have removed the transponder system,”
Mo answered at the same time giving Lee directions.

“Crap! They are not stupid,” Carlos replied. “Mo, look for any parts that you recognize. Something that has Chinese markings on it! Also get Lee to take the photos of the flight control systems with the camera. We need something that proves that there are working Chinese parts in that aircraft. You have less than a minute before the general will run out of ideas. There are soldiers ready at the side door and waiting for you.”

“
In the passenger compartment, there is a Chinese anti-radar jamming device,”
said Mo.
“I remember seeing the same on the Z-10 helicopters being built in Harbin. I don’t think there is any other equipment, except for the jamming device strapped to a seat.”

Carlos and Preston watched the standoff at the door. The whole flight of visitors still had their faces turned towards the door. Finally a radio was asked for inside the hangar. One of the armed men walked to the door with a modern handheld walkie-talkie, and the man with the suit began talking into it. Carlos assumed that the president, in the White House, was being called.

The conversation was quite long and Carlos smiled, noticing that the phone used was a very modern communications device. The general was given the phone, and he listened for several seconds to the planned conversation with the president. The suited man seemed to be smiling. The walkie-talkie was then given to the general who listened and then nodded. Afterwards harsh words were spoken to the suited man by General Patterson, whose smile quickly disappeared, and a scowl took its place.

“Mo and Lee are leaving the aircraft and walking towards the side offices,” Preston told Carlos.

“Mo, head straight towards the door, do not stop, do not look at the other men, they are beginning to turn towards you.” He then spoke into the second phone in his other hand. “Sergeant Perry, two Chinese men in white coming your way. Go in and get them when I say so. Remember, if asked they were coming in to help with refueling

Preston and Mo watched as Mo and Lee walked across a half empty hangar in full sight and finally reached the door which would shield them from all the eyes in the hangar. They had just walked through the doors when it seemed that one of the Chinese engineers, who flew in with the aircraft, shouted out something. Several of the armed men ran towards the door Mo and Lee had just gone through. Mo and Lee had twenty yards to walk to get to the side exit door on the outer wall.

“Perry, enter now, get our men out of there, but don’t, for heaven’s sake, use your weapons. Go!”

This time no camera was in place, and Carlos and Preston could only watch as three armed men ran through the same door Mo and Lee had first walked into. There was also a mad rush by everybody in the hangar for the same door.

With relief, the two in the ops room watched as Mo and Le were escorted by Sergeant Perry out of the outer hangar door, and several soldiers barred the door so that nobody else could exit. Sergeant Perry left last and the door was closed behind him.

Fifteen minutes later, and still having to wait an hour for the second aircraft, which was now over Missouri, General Patterson, Mo, Lee, Carlos, Preston and Sergeant Perry met in the Ops Room.

“OK, that man has the weirdest idea that he thinks he is in control of the United States of America. All threats and no action! That darn fat cat!” said General Patterson, now cooled off from his confrontation with the man in the suit. “The president told me that I was to be barred from the Capitol Hill meeting, on orders from this twit, Bill Bowers. Mo, Lee what did you see? The film, from the old camera is being developed as we speak and will be ready in 30 minutes.”