The Battle for Houston...The Aftermath (34 page)

Mo dug into his pocket. “I have retrieved two fuses, and this little arming device I found sticking out from under the left pilot’s seat. I have seen it before and designed a bomb arming device much like this one twenty years ago.”

“A bomb!?” asked several together.

“A bomb in the Gulfstream?” asked the general.

“Yes, a small but powerful device fitted under one of the pilot chairs. About three ounces of C4 would turn the cockpit and that jet into confetti at any altitude. This device was designed to work on a walkie-talkie, or satellite phone frequency.”

“So, if we stole their aircraft, they could destroy any evidence inside the electronics?” Carlos asked.

“Correct, I think,” replied Mo.

“Glad they didn’t arm the 747s the same way,” added Preston.

“So they certainly don’t want us to get inside their aircraft. Carlos, did you see if they wanted to inspect the aircraft once Mo and Lee left?” asked the general.

“It didn’t seem so,” Carlos replied. “I don’t think anybody saw them close enough to think about it. The pilots disappeared into the second office where we had set up refreshments and still haven’t come out. The engineers went about refueling and only the three men in suits stood around discussing what had happened. Nobody has entered the aircraft since Mo and Lee left and most are in the refreshments room. That jet is certainly thirsty; they are still pumping fuel in.”

“What else do you have Mo? Lee?” General Patterson asked.

“Three small light fuses and the main fuse for the light in the toilet. They will have to use the toilet in the dark on their way home,” Mo replied.

“Important parts of the aircraft,” stated Carlos smiling.

“They are,” added Lee. “These minute fuses are among hundreds which would have died aboard every aircraft in the world. These small parts would not have made the aircraft crash, but thousands of these were installed in all modern moving machines and, guess who produced them?”

“Zedong Electronics!” stated Carlos and Preston together. Mo and Lee nodded.

Twenty minutes later, and the second aircraft on final approach, the developed film was handed to the men in the ops room. Lee shot over 20 photos of every inch of the flight control systems, and every corner of the flight cockpit. He even took three pictures inside the passenger compartment, and Mo Wang immediately described what Lee was trying to get on film.

“See there! Tied to the seat, a recently installed radar jamming system, the same installed on the Z-10 helicopters,” stated Mo. “I watched in Harbin while several of the helicopters had their final assembly completed. The staff at the factory was very helpful and explained every detail to me. I had never seen such small electronic boxes and so much equipment going into such small spaces.”

“So we now have proof that they have Chinese parts and even bombs aboard these aircraft,” stated General Patterson. “Also, they can jam all our air force and civilian radar following them; but we will know when their jamming devices do this, so I must get our web up before they leave and we can follow their direction when our radars are jammed. I will get the two Hurricane Hunters on the outbound route Carlos suggested and if they are jammed as well, which I think their equipment can do, at least we will have weather equipment to follow them as well as a destination area to find them.”

The other parts Mo had removed were also Chinese, although he didn’t know what they were for; General Patterson hoped that Mo hadn’t actually disabled the whole aircraft. Only time would tell.

The second Gulfstream headed into the same hangar, and three more refueling tankers followed it. A flight of three helicopters was ready to transfer all invited personnel to Capitol Hill and the general, who hadn’t planned, or expected to be at the meeting, told everyone to get airborne before the others came out of the hangar. Nobody seemed to care that the president had been made to wait three extra hours for the meeting.

Unseen by the men in the hangar, Preston, Carlos Mo and Lee were flown out, minutes after the second jet had disappeared behind closed doors. General Patterson had much to do before they returned.

Again, they all dressed in suits and planned to act as concerned American citizens; the four headed into the meeting room and chatted to the others already there. Preston remembered a dozen of the congressmen and senators from before New Year’s Eve, long-standing men of authority. Several other familiar faces were also there—Mike Mallory, Michael Roebels, and, of course Barbara, Martie, and Sally, and, then he saw Jennifer and Pam Wallace who must have had flown in separately from North Carolina; they were standing next to Joe and David, also suitably attired for the meeting. There were several other faces he didn’t know.

Everyone was asked to head into the chamber. This time Preston was surprised that Mo Wang was included. Mo wasn’t even a U.S. citizen.

Once everybody was seated, the president entered and walked directly to the podium where he usually delivered his speeches.

“Thank you all for coming. Before our guests arrive, I wanted to inform you there are sixteen current members of the House, seven members of the Senate and forty-two prospective people who I would like see as members of Congress in the near future. One friend is here purely as an advisor to me, on matters pertaining to our second meeting here today. I need to hear from our current members, how we can go about re-forming the Congress into two working bodies within a month of today. Our population and occupied land have decreased in size; we need to adjust the sizes of the House and Senate to accurately represent our reduced population, and they will implement necessary laws to govern the country. I plan to step down as president as soon as law and order are restored, but would still like my old senate seat back, and continue as an active member of the United States Senate. It will be up to us, here in this room, to elect a new president when the time comes. First, we have to finish what our enemy started on New Year’s Eve and make sure that our country is safe, and can grow and prosper in peace and harmony for the next decades to come. This, I feel is close at hand.”

For twenty minutes there was a question and answer session from the still active members of Congress, suggesting what should take place in the near future and the meeting was recorded. Nobody else had the authority to speak.

The president received a note and put his hand up for silence. “Our friends have arrived, and we will start our second meeting after a short break for refreshments. Many of you do not know why this second meeting is scheduled, but I want you to make up your own minds up about what our next guests are going to demand. Everybody in this room will vote on whether we should give these men priority over and above the current programs for survival and growth that we have in place in our country. The voting will be held anonymously. Thank you.”

* * *

Meanwhile, General Patterson was busy. He watched the four helicopters take off, each flying one man to Capitol Hill. He could monitor the inside of the hangar, but not much else, so he had several air force technicians watching the old screens and trying to detect any changes to Gulfstream V by comparing them to blueprints they had found.

The search aircraft were beginning to land. He had changed the flight plan of the closest Hurricane Hunter to Alaska, to not refuel in Hawaii, but at Elmendorf. He also ordered the second Hurricane Hunter into Resolute Bay to refuel and be prepared to sound Canadian if anybody called them on their radios.

He spent a long while on the satellite phone to Admiral Rogers. He found out that the navy could have its only two old, but operational, Tang Class submarines in the Pacific off the coast of Alaska within a week. They would be aided by the only destroyer in San Diego harbor, where the two submarines were stationed. Admiral Rogers said that he had been in contact with Admiral Rodriquez in Bogotá. The general was to tell Carlos that his uncle was out of hospital, in a wheel chair, but Admiral Rodriquez had already ordered three of his light frigates to head through the Panama Canal and up to San Diego at full speed. They were fast, and once through the canal could catch up to the U.S. ships in 72 hours, by the time they reached Alaska.

It was a gamble to target Alaska as the enemy’s base of operations, but he didn’t have much choice; at any rate, he knew the enemy base would be somewhere in the cold north.

General Patterson had learned much from General Allen, and to be ahead of events was his number one priority. Nobody knew what this third threat on the U.S. homeland would entail, but he wasn’t going to wait around to find out.

* * *

The second meeting began after coffee and snacks. The visitors entered and were seen greeting and shaking hands with the members of government they knew. Carlos whispered to Preston that the whole area was being taped, to look for evidence of collusion between current government officials and the visiting CEOs.

“I’m sure many of the people here had already been on the payroll of Westbrook and Bowers,” Preston quietly shared with Carlos and Mike Mallory. Martie and Sally were chatting with the other girls, and the former members of government certainly had no time or interest in the newcomers. Several members of both Houses had already looked disapprovingly at Preston and Carlos; they were not politicians.

Bowers, of
Brűche,
gave a 20-minute speech, describing how he, and America, had lost so much since New Year’s Eve, and that with aid he, his company and the other drug companies could be up and producing within a year. He detailed what was needed in his several plants across the country, another dozen around the world, and what he wanted was a lot.

Westbrook took the floor after him and said much of the same thing; that he and
MonteDiablo
had proven to the world that their products were the best, and even reminded the listeners that the president himself was instrumental in getting
MonteDiabl
o products into all of Africa only a year or so earlier. Without his modern agricultural products, the world would starve, and it was the job of the United States of America to feed themselves first, and the rest of the world second.

There was to be a question and answer session afterwards, but before the president concluded the meeting he explained what he wanted. “We are still a free country, and we have the right to vote. You have heard these two men give you reasons why their programs should be given priority as we proceed with reconstruction and of the list of advancements. Some of you know these men, some of you don’t. Many did business together before the end of last year. Many of you don’t know how big a job it is to reconstruct our country, nor have taken any interest in the reconstruction. Many of you have been hands on. There is not one member of our armed forces in this room today. They will take orders from me and from you, the people in this room. Forty-eight million Americans have survived this international mega-disaster, and these are the people we must answer to, to help them survive and grow this country into the strong, powerful nation it used to be. If you feel these corporations here today proposed the best avenue for us, then vote for them to be at the top of the to-do list. If you feel these companies do not represent the best methods forward for the greater good, then vote against them. Before we vote, we will now have a short question and answer session of only ten questions, five from current members of congress and five from the new people in the room. You all have directions on how to use the still-working, I might add, voting buttons on your chairs. The “for” and “against” votes, as usual will come up on the screens afterwards. I will let the temporary Speaker of the House decide who asks the questions.”

It took a while before the first hands were raised.

“Congressman Elders, Montana. Mr. Westbrook, how will your products produce a better crop than what our farmers are currently using?”

“All our growing products, being genetically modified organisms, are more refined to resist disease and drought. We have designed all of our U.S. and international products to be hardy, with a greater chance to survive pest, droughts and most other conditions farmers have come up against for the last couple of centuries.”

“Congressman Brown, California. Question for Mr. Bowers: The survivors in this country have not had the availability of drugs for six months now. Why would they need to take your drugs?”

“The American population is used to taking drugs. They might have weaned themselves off many drugs temporarily, but when disease and bodily malfunctions become rampant again, they will be glad the drug industry has been put back on top. Think of chicken pox, malaria, typhoid and other insect-carried or air-carried diseases that could destroy the rest of our population. Yes, my company didn’t make any of these drugs or vaccinations, but it will be our first priority once we are given the necessary aid to manufacture life-saving drugs and vaccines.”

The questions went on, there was little argument about positives or negatives, and Martie managed to get in the ninth question. The speaker was being careful who to ask and had passed over Mike Mallory, Preston and Carlos for three questions.

“Martie Strong, North Carolina. A question for both of you men; if we vote to place your companies at the top of the list for reconstruction, are you going to repay the American people by giving all your new products to the population for free?” She sat down.

“Bowers was the first to answer. “I will answer for my company, the other two drug companies represented here today, and Mr. Westbrook and his company. Prior to today’s meeting, we met with the president to outline what we need to operate our four international corporations. First, the U.S. dollar must be brought back as the international currency of choice; second, all banks must be reinstated to help farmers pay for agricultural supplies; third, Medicare and Medicaid must be brought back to help our customers pay for needed drugs; finally, every American should be paid a minimum wage so that they can purchase what they need. In other words the world’s monetary system, its bartering system, and banking systems must be made live so that people can start paying for what they need.”