from Hong Kong Island to the Kowloon Peninsula jutting from<br >the mainland of Asia when the angry winds stormed out of the<br >South China Sea. The 200-foot breadth of the runway of Kaitak<br >Airport extended 8，350 feet into the eastern arm of the harbor，<br >but the West s wondrously complex aircraft were earthbound by<br >the rage of Tien Mu Hou， the Empress of Heaven and Goddess<br >of the Sea.<br > Air Force One squatted unlighted on the tarmac before the<br >Royal Air Force Terminal. Defying the weight of their four Pratt<br >and Whitney engines， the silver wings of the Boeing 707 tugged<br >against the wire cables that secured them to ring bolts set in<br >concrete. Before the Civil Aviation Terminal， eleven jetliners<br >flanked a 747 Jumbo. All were similarly tethered against the on-<br >coming cataclysm， and the bright symbols on their tail planes<br >were intermittently obscured by the rain-bursts that presaged<br >the typhoon. Three smaller privateS， jets huddled near the air-<br >liners like eagles beside friendly dragons.<br > The immobilized aircraft had a ~ready disembarked their<br >passengers. Twenty-three had been summoned to the British<br >enclave on the periphery of the Communist People s Republic of<br >China by the same command. Air Force One had borne Under<br >Secretary of State Spencer Taylor Smith to the Crown Colony<br >despite his misgivings. The spacious first-class compartments<br >of Japan Air Lines， Swissair， and TWA jetliners had disgorged<br >fifteen of his relations by marriage into the torrents of rain. Five<br >others had alighted from their private jets， and obsequious at-<br >tendants wielding umbrellas had escorted them to limousines.<br > Alongside Air Force One， a British Aircraft Corporation<br >Trident also stood aloof from the covey of civilian jets. Occa-<br >sionally revealed by the writhing fog， its tail plane displayed<br >five clustered golden stars on a crimson rectangle. Flying direct<br >from Peking， the Trident had carried a reluctant General Shih<br >Ai-kuo， member of the Central Committee of the Communist<br >Party of the People s Republic of China and Deputy Political<br >Commissar of the Chinese People s Liberation Army. Incongru-<br >ously paired， the transports of the United States Air Force and<br >the Chinese People s Air Force were heavily guarded. Ser-<br >geants and constables of the Royal Hong Kong Police wearing<br >3<br ><br >