Captain Wong bowed to him, and then the Supreme Commander arrogantly walked straight up the aft stairs of the aircraft and the two Chinese air crews, six men bowed as he entered. The major bowed slightly back and with a lot of waving his hand, he motioned them to return to the front of the aircraft in front of him. Four of the American pilots, fully armed, followed him to the beginning of the first class compartment where they were told to wait. The Supreme Commander walked with Captain Wong to the flight deck to inspect it. Captain Wong ordered the co-pilot and flight engineer to get out the Commander’s way—he wanted to sit in the right co-pilot’s seat. He asked them to follow him and together they walked back to the rear curtain of the first class compartment where both were hit over the head and bound with the rope brought for the occasion.
In the meantime, Captain Wong doubled back to the cockpit for the two pilots of the second crew—the crew captain and the backup pilot—and they too were asked to follow him and ended up in the same toilet, all bound and out for at least a couple of hours.
The aircraft’s new crew, in the recently exchanged uniforms of the Chinese crew, took their seats once the remaining Chinese pilots were dealt with.
“Remember, a good disappearing act, guys,” Patterson warned. “They don’t have enough fuel to come and look for you for too long, and don’t let them see you go down. Maybe go out for an hour or even more, get fuel trouble, disappear towards the sea and get back into McGuire or even Andrews. We need this aircraft, boys. Good luck, and remember to check on the bad guys in the back every few minutes.”
The Supreme Commander walked out of the massive aircraft as the fuel lines were being disconnected from the wings, and now it was up to him to secure the area. He walked back and straight up to the steps of the terminal they had been using. Captain Wong told the engineers to start making their way to the stairs when their jobs were done, as there were gifts and a big surprise for them.
Many were already waiting around and one by one they slowly picked up a suitcase unloaded shortly after they had landed, and made their way to the Supreme Commander who was waiting for them with a couple of guards as well as Captain Wong at the bottom of the entrance to the walkway.
“Ask for their names and degrees one at a time,” the major suggested to Wong, as he heard the first engines of both jets begin to whine. One by one, the engineers came up the short flight of stairs, bowed and introduced themselves, and received a grunt from the Supreme Commander, and then walked up the walkway and inside the terminal through the black curtain.
By the time the first aircraft was moving away and everybody turned around to protect themselves from the blowing debris behind it, 40 engineers had been dealt with. The Supreme Commander went in through the curtain and with his radio called up the incoming American troops, still several miles out, while the others were being blown around by the engines outside.
“Patterson, Juliet Foxtrot Kilo. Aircraft are about five minutes from take-off. Wind is from the west at ten miles an hour and they are heading out in a westerly direction. You guys can get in here as soon as the second one is off the ground. All their troops are at the entrance to the Van Wyck Expressway, on the west side and we will have all the engineers separated and safe here in the terminal. Our guys are dressed in white snow gear and on the snow mounds around the staging area and will open fire once you guys come in. We are in first front terminal from the east. The enemy is wearing green camouflage. I repeat our men are in white gear, and Charlies are in green camouflage. Did you copy? Over.”
“Roger that,” repeated a lone voice. “Friendlies in white, Charlies in green. We are about nine minutes out and will have the airport visual in three. We will land choppers in close and you guys can give us covering fire while the big Mama’s come in from the east and unload on the runway in front of you. Our troops will join your guys on the snow mounds. Out.”
The “Supreme Commander” handed the radio over to his lieutenant who would call in any changes, and he returned outside to greet the rest of the engineers.
It took until both aircraft reached the end of the runway and the first one was beginning its take-off run before he thought he could see black, minute shapes low over the sea and a couple of miles out—right behind the two 747s. He wasn’t certain, but he continued with the last of the engineers. The commandeered aircraft thundered past 100 yards away and thirty seconds later slowly climbed into the air a mile to the west. He looked towards the east, and this time the black shapes were very visible to a sharp eye, several feet above the horizon.
He had only seven or eight men to go when he heard the second aircraft’s engines go into a scream and he continued to bow to each man without looking towards the noise. It was working out perfectly, and he only had three men to go when the aircraft passed them and there was gunshot from the soldiers in the two formation groups by the Expressway, and everyone looked up. The second 747 left the ground, as Captain Wong pushed the last three Chinese engineers and the major into the terminal, screaming in Chinese to take cover as all hell broke loose outside. The last of the engineers were all pushed through the curtain and out of sight of the altercation outside. “Okay, guys, are we secure in here?” Patterson shouted as he got out of his clothes and allowed the last Chinese engineers who had not been knocked unconscious yet see who he really was. Those three engineers had 60 weapons trained on them, and nobody moved.
Then Major Patterson heard the rotors of the first chopper as it came in just behind the edge of the terminal and out of the line of a potential firefight with the enemy. They unloaded fast as Major Patterson, with his lieutenant and radio, headed for the roof via a ladder on the opposite side of the terminal.
He climbed up onto the snowy roof, with the ensuing firefight in view below him, just in time to see the second C-130 touch down and pull up behind the first one to empty its troops. The Chinese soldiers, professional and battle-hardened, were spanning out trying to get around the gunfire from the snow mounds. The major noticed a third C-130 at about 700 feet and half a mile away circling over the ocean—either directing the attack, or ready with medics, or both.
The second helicopter came in behind the terminal to block off any possible enemy retreat, and any further advancement into the airport area, and 180 soldiers raced out of the back of two C-130s, charging forward and firing heavily into the opposition’s area to protect the 130s as they continued down the runway.
Both aircraft nearly went vertical as they took off seconds later, exactly where the second 747 had left the ground, and out of range of any deadly fire.
The other two helicopters circled around and dropped a platoon of thirty men along the Van Wyck Expressway to cut off any retreat. A rocket flew close by one of the helicopters as it rose into the air but the rocket missed and went on its way, exploding in a building several hundred yards away. The second chopper hugged the ground as they left the scene empty.