The Battle for Houston...The Aftermath (15 page)

The major acknowledged and suggested that the general call the 1st Armored Division in Fort Bliss, El Paso. Their troops, about 18,000, were also returning from Ramstein when the 747s were diverted and he knew that at least several thousand men had been flown over. He was friends with a Major Mike Johnson at “Old Ironsides” who had also been given a satellite phone upon his return to McGuire a week earlier. General Patterson thanked the major, asked him if he understood his orders, and hung up on him.

Major Johnson was happy that somebody wanted the use of his men. He had 5,000 currently on base and 3,000 who were on leave and looking after their families and farms around El Paso. Over 2,000 of them were from farming families and under a Captain Mike Mallory’s instructions, a Southwest Airlines captain, they had left the military until further notice to help with the area’s farming needs. Many others were helping. No, he hadn’t seen any border crossings in the El Paso area, but he had constant surveillance and needed 600 to 800 men to keep up the 200 mile border patrols he was running 24/7.

General Patterson told the major that he knew Mallory and would be contacting him next to begin possible cleanup operations on Interstate-10 outside Houston.

“Major, what mobile vehicles can you spare for troop deployment to Houston ASAP?”

“Hell, General, I have many of my jeeps and smaller vehicles on border patrol and, as you know, we have very few vehicles that are operational, but I have one old Abrams tank operational. She does our main gate guard duty and is there to offer her mean presence.”

“Get her oiled, armed and on a transporter, Major. How many M35 transporters do you have operational?”

“Only six, sir, but we have several old tractors with tank-trailers. That is the only other vehicle here that works, apart from two 150-MM howitzers standing outside headquarters.”

“Get the howitzers behind transporters and a truck of projectiles. How many men can you get aboard your mobile trailers at a push, Major?”

“Gee, General, with food, ammo and provisions, about 2,000 on twenty vehicles with two old fuel tankers and a couple of fuel trailers. That will clean my vehicles out.”

“You get everything you can on the road, without causing problems with your border duty. And I want them in Houston in twenty-four hours. It’s seven hundred miles from El Paso to Houston, the highways are clear and they will liaise with ingoing troops from your friend at Hood, Major Deale, who will be 500 miles ahead of you. He also has a satellite phone and you have his number. He can guide you and your guys in, understand?” The major did.

* * *

Manuel Calderón concluded his meeting and hit the sack for a few hours of sleep. This storm was getting really bad; many areas of the terminal were leaking rain water and the place was cold and damp.

Alberto had argued with Manuel for two hours not to keep all the men in one place. The Air Force could return at any minute and bomb the place if they knew they were there.

His older brother had laughed at him and told him to go outside and see for himself if aircraft could fly in this weather, let alone pinpoint bomb drops without visibility. Manuel respected the U.S. military, but even they couldn’t work in such terrible conditions. He also knew a hurricane when he smelled one, and this one was either going to drown them or keep them safe for as long as it was in the vicinity. They would stay put at this airfield for as long as the storm grew, and would then disperse northwards towards Dallas as soon as the winds began to dissipate.

* * *

Charlie Meyers was having a hard time driving. It was hard enough to see out of the windshield with the wipers working as fast as they could, but now he was trying to get around bodies all over the road and felt every one the truck tires went over; they were scattered everywhere.

He gave up trying to dodge them as their numbers mounted and were too much for the truck to negotiate, and he turned back and headed for the highway exit they had passed a mile earlier. At least they could by-pass the carnage.

“The aircraft had certainly done a number on this lot!” he shouted to Lieutenant Paul sitting on the other seat and Corporal Rodriquez who was now front gunner; he had seen, stopped the truck, and picked up the beautiful undamaged tri-pod machine gun and several hundred rounds from a broken jeep as they had approached the carnage.

“I’m sure the guys will see us on the side road just as easily,” added Lieutenant Paul and, several minutes after turning onto the side road, they saw men in front waving them down.

“You guys look like a bunch of drowned rats,” stated Charlie winding his window down and smiling at the Marines.

“You guys are sure roughing it in a limo, I see,” replied a very wet lieutenant. “Mommy not allowing her babies to get wet, poor little dears,” he joked smiling at the face in the truck with raindrops streaming down his face.

“Good news for you; clean dry accommodation a few miles north at Bush Intercontinental; but bad news is that a whole rebel army already has the lease; you are more than welcome to go and throw them out anytime you want. I see you let their trucks go through; we passed them a few miles before the airport. Where’s your boss man?” Charlie asked.

“About 300 yards behind; he told us you were coming and has some blow-up toys for you youngsters.”

He signaled goodbye and the truck inched slowly through hundreds of men on guard who were protecting hundreds more on the highway below them to their left.

“We found two ground-to-air missiles and one launcher so far,” stated a wet Colonel Clarke as they pulled up underneath the overhang of a gas station half a mile further on. He and a hundred men were trying to heat up some food; the Seal Team left the truck in the rain and went to join them. “I have already had their guidance systems disarmed, so if they are fired towards our aircraft, they will go straight past, unless they hit them head on.”

“At least we have something to bribe them to be our friends,” replied Lieutenant Paul being offered a tin plate with a hot biscuit drenched with “SOS” sauce.

“What are your plans and how can we help? I’ve heard that the rest of our men with the 2nd Marine Division from Lejeune are coming in later with my commander and more are to be trucked in within twenty-four hours.”

“How many men expected in total?” asked Paul taking a good bite out of the biscuit after drowning it in the hot sauce.

“It looks like we will have 12,000 more Marines north of here in twenty-four hours, and we even heard of Chinese attack choppers and gunships as backup. The Air Force lost three jet aircraft to those damn missiles yesterday, and we are hoping that the bastards don’t have many left.”

“We counted two when we talked to the Calderón brothers, and we didn’t see any more during our walk-about of their base,” added Lieutenant Meyers.

“Cookie, get these guys some more food, I’m sure they haven’t eaten for a while!” Colonel Clarke shouted over to the group of men boiling a large container on a massive gas ring. “We got in a pallet of cooking supplies with the last drop a couple of hours ago and have five stations cooking the men up some food. I believe there is no rush to get anywhere just yet and any place dry is good right now. There is a large broken, but still dry, Walmart on the other side of the highway, and the other four cooking stations are feeding our men in there right now. The bodies down there take your appetite away, especially the napalmed dead. That old Vietnam stuff burns like a crematorium.”

“We are going to bed in with the guys and might need backup once we are ready to go. I know the admiral will place a Jolly Green Giant or an extraction chopper pretty close, and we will have to work by ear. Just tell the boss to try and warn us when he sends in the jets or choppers. I don’t want to be taken by our own bullets. It might ruin my appetite,” Lieutenant Paul replied. “Thanks for the missiles. We will give it to the enemy and maybe suggest coming out and looking for more once the weather dries out a little.”

“At least twenty-four hours, maybe forty-eight, we haven’t even seen the worst of this storm yet,” added the colonel.

“We can meet again in the town of Spring, whenever. Just call. Colonel, if you locate any more missiles, sort out their innards and we’ll come and find you.”

The Marines were thanked for the hot food, and Lieutenant Paul and his team got back into the truck and headed back to the airport picking up another two good-looking machine guns and dozens of cases of ammo from the same Marine lieutenant they had met on the way in.

“No harm in having a little backup for the boys,” laughed Charlie Meyers as he drove towards the airport.

* * *

It was close to midnight the next evening, May 21st, when Admiral Rogers received word from the first Orion, which had gone out for the third time. The weather had been bad now for 72 hours and the hurricane’s eye had only moved thirty miles north-eastwards, less than half a mile an hour. It was virtually dead still. “The cold front is destroying the hurricane bit by bit," he told General Patterson.

General Mark Watson, the current commandant of the Marine Corps, had just flown in from Europe with the latest 747 delivery, straight into McConnell Air Force Base with General Mike Austin, commandant of the Army, who was on the same aircraft. The president also flew in at the same time to meet with the two new generals who, in December, had been directed to get the troops home from Europe, and had stayed there as long as necessary.

Now that there were very few soldiers left, only 70,000, they were able to return a month early, at the request of General Patterson, who needed their expertise in this next battle.

Up to now, General Patterson and the U.S. Air Force had been in charge of the defense of the United States, but he felt that since he needed to use Marines and Army soldiers in this upcoming battle, he should at least bring in their commanders to help with the battle plans

“General Patterson has worked 24/7 to keep our country safe since February 1st,” stated the president. “He was actually in combat himself in China only a week or two ago. Admiral Rogers, in charge of our naval forces, has worked just as hard and, I know you men have done the same for your country overseas. General Watson and General Austin, we are now the five men who control the entire United States of America. We need to work together to solve this next problem of border incursion before we start rebuilding this land of ours from scratch. Do all of you understand?” The four men nodded, and the president thought for a few moments before carrying on.

“I want you four to be the Joint Chiefs of Staff until further notice. I know that this is a promotion for all of you; the previous members have all been found and their bodies identified. General Patterson, who has been at the forefront of our country’s defense, will be the new Chief and you three generals part of the Staff. We need to work together to end this battle against our country once and for all and, if we destroy this massive army from the south, I believe word will get out that we are still a strong nation and not to be played with. Once this battle is over General Watson and General Austin, you will both become the men in charge to help form and set up our new police force across the country. The idea I have, and both General Patterson and Admiral Rogers agree, is that all of our country’s Military Policemen from all branches of service will become our new nation’s police force. How many men can each of your departments offer for this new military police force?”

“My men are ready; only yesterday I confirmed that the Navy can supply 12,000 MPs to the new police force,” stated Admiral Rogers.

“My second-in-command also checked yesterday, Mr. President,” added General Patterson. “We have 9,000 active MPs who can join the new force. I also checked the latest numbers with Captain Mike Mallory who, for you guys who have just arrived back, is in charge of food, population numbers, and nearly everything civilian. He has 6,500 still-active policemen from across the country who are already working the beat. Not many, but they are already doing a stellar job in certain areas. I believe that ex-LAPD Detective Will Smart will certainly be a good man to help with the formation and then running of the new force. Don’t forget him, Mr. President.”

“Since I have only been back a couple of hours, Mr. President,” stated General Austin, “I need to exact my numbers; but in Europe I had a force of 17,000 MPs dealing with getting the men ready to travel. I believe that I could increase my total to 20,000 given a few weeks.”

“The Marines still have 7,000 MPs over in Europe and I have another 2,000 here stateside. That is what the Marines can offer, Mr. President: 9,000 men and women in total.”

“Well, it’s a start. Something you don’t know, gentlemen, our latest numbers from Mallory’s computer system that is counting our population. As of last night, we have 54,575,512 U.S. civilians registered alive. Our total military forces number 1,185,909 personnel and we have, as of yesterday, combed 79 percent of the country looking for civilians who are still alive. We still have low-population areas like Wyoming, the Dakotas, Idaho and a few other northern areas to check, as well as several large city centers, but that is it gentleman. Mallory tells me that we could add another five to eight percent to our numbers by year-end. Our U.S. population has dropped from 323 million to a possible 60 million. So, with the numbers from you men, we could have a new police force of 55,000 men to look after 60 million civilians.”

“Is that all the people we have left in this country?” asked General Watson, shock written all over his face.

“Unfortunately, we have lost five-sixths of this country, General. A lot has happened here since you’ve been overseas. Our teams of hundreds of thousands of helpers have been cremating over 500,000 bodies a day, and we are still not halfway finished. Disease is now rampant in dozens of areas of this country and, General Patterson here, is shipping captured supplies back from China; we believe, and the Surgeon General of the Air force stated to me a few days ago, that there are enough electronic supplies in these loads to get hundreds of hospitals operational within months. Disease and then food are our two most important factors to deal with after this darn battle, which is taking up too much time and effort by all of you valuable people. I’m ready just to pull out our troops and nuke Houston and be done with it, but the winds will blow radiation all over the East Coast and kill the few people we have left!”