AMERICA ONE (48 page)

As they neared, one of the shuttles separated itself from
Ivan
, and with Penny on the intercom guiding him, Jonesy first rotated and docked
Astermine One
into position over the middle docking port. Ryan wanted both types of rock which meant that they needed to unload
Astermine Two
first.

Within an hour VIN, with a happy Suzi to help him, unloaded eight of the platinum canisters and ten of the rhodium canisters into the shuttle’s empty cargo hold.

VIN also loaded all the other samples he had brought in an empty food canister from the supply compartment. It weighed about 300 to 400 pounds and was also placed in the cargo hold. Only four people could head down to earth in the shuttle’s cockpit and the Astermine pilots had this privilege.

While Maggie, Kathy, Jonesy and VIN said their goodbyes and headed away from
Ivan
in the loaded shuttle, Michael went out to place the final eight panels unloaded from the second shuttle, and Penny maneuvered
Astermine Two
onto the last docking port. It was getting like a traffic jam up there.

****

As the shuttle flew into earth’s re-entry, and all signals blacked out, Ryan’s phone rang.

“Mr. Richmond, Tom Ward here, with General Mortimer aboard. We’re an hour out, and heading over to your field from Washington. You seem to have a problem. I heard from the Federal Reserve that you might be bringing illegal contraband into the country. Congress wants us to inspect your entire operation, and I have three platoons of US army on board a C-17 several minutes behind us. I want you to clear your field immediately and open all your hangars for inspection. I have Joe Bishop flying in from Los Angeles, and we are all due over your field in fifty-five minutes. Understood?”

“No, I don’t understand, Mr. Ward. Do you have a search warrant? And you are not entering my airspace with threats. This happens to be my airspace, Mr. Ward. I own it as a United States citizen.”

“You don’t own crap, Richmond! All land belongs to the United States government and you, as a citizen, do not own U.S. occupied land. And no, I don’t need a search warrant. Members of Congress never do and I have one Congressman with me, who will give the orders to search your entire airfield.”

“What for?” asked Ryan puzzled. “What laws have I broken?”

“We will read you your rights when we arrive.” And the phone connection clicked off.

Ryan’s first call was to Nellis Air Force Base. He told General Saunders what was happening and that he had an incoming shuttle from the west. The General said that troops and Air Force jets would be on the way from Nellis within ten minutes.

Then Ryan called his friend Bill at NASA. Bill was currently at Edwards Air Force base, twenty minutes flying time away, and about to takeoff for Florida, and would swing by. Then Ryan called his friend at the Federal Reserve, who knew nothing about what was going on. He was about to land in Los Angeles and would also immediately divert to Nevada.

After that call, Ryan called his good friend, the ex-U.S. president who suggested that he get a couple of news crews on the ground fast. He could do that for him and said that he knew the ABC, NBC and CBS reporters in Las Vegas, and they all owed him a favor.

Lastly he called the new President of the United States of America. He was politely told that the president was unavailable and please, don’t call back.

Then he sat down in shock. He hadn’t broken any law, state or federal, apart from transferring the plutonium from Turkey through Nevada and then into space. They could never prove anything, and there were absolutely no laws on this continent saying that he could bring non-dangerous cargo in from space, unless Congress had just passed one in the last few days. That was impossible since no law passed by Congress was law until passed by the Senate and the President of the United States signed it, and he was sure the president hadn’t recently signed anything. He had friends there, and he would have been told.

At least the shuttle would be down with Jonesy, his best pilot at the controls, before the airfield’s air space was invaded by a swarm of bees.

It was going to be close, and he believed he could get the shuttle parked and in Hangar Six before the bad guys arrived. He still had forty minutes before Ward and Bishop arrived, and Jonesy was only twenty five minutes out, with a very heavy shuttle and coming in fast!

The Book of Tolan Series (Adult Reading)

Banking, Beer & Robert the Bruce – Hardcover and eNovel

Easy Come Easy Go – Hardcover and eNovel

It Could Happen – eNovel

AMERICA ONE
Series (General Reading)

AMERICA ONE
– eNovel and Paperback.

AMERICA ONE
II – The Launch – due out Christmas 2012.

AMERICA ONE
III – The Journey – due out Spring 2013.

INVASION USA Series (General Reading)

INVASION USA I: The End of Modern Civilization – eNovel

INVASION USA II: The Battle for New York – eNovel

INVASION USA III: The Battle for Survival – eNovel

INVASION USA IV: The Battle for Houston … The Aftermath – eNovel

INVASION EUROPE: The European Side of the Story – 2013

INVASION ASIA: The New Chinese Wang Dynasty – 2014

INVASION USA V: The New America – 2014

T I WADE was born in Bromley, Kent, England in 1954.

His father, a banker was promoted with his International Bank to Africa and the young family moved to Africa in 1956.

The author grew up in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and his life there is humorously described in his novel EASY COME EASY GO, Volume II of the Book of Tolan Series. Once he had completed his mandatory military commitments, at 21 he left Africa to mature in Europe.

He enjoyed Europe and lived in three countries; England, Germany and Portugal for 15 years before returning to Africa; Cape Town in 1989.

Here the author owned and ran a restaurant, a coffee manufacturing and retail business, flew a Cessna 210 around desolate southern Africa and finally got married in 1992.

Due to the upheavals of the political turmoil in South Africa, the Wade family of three moved to the United States in 1996. Park City, Utah was where his writing career began.

To date T I Wade has written nine novels.

The Author, his wife and two teenage children currently live 20 miles south of Raleigh, North Carolina.