One minute after the multiple Pakistani launch, Indian electronic warfare officers whose equipment still functioned picked up a communication sent in the clear to all Pakistani units that nuclear war had been initiated. The message read, “Nuclear war has been initiated. All forces, conventional and special units alike, are to fight independently for as long as possible. Your objective is the destruction of any and all things Indian.”
When the message was read by the Indian Prime Minister, he sat down at his desk and put his hands on his head. He knew the outcome. He picked up the phone and called Minister of Defense Sivaji. When Sivaji answered, he simply said, “Do what you must to save India,” and hung up.
By previous secret mutual aid treaty, China agreed to come to the aid of Pakistan if war with India should break out. China willingly filled the void left by the retreating Americans. The previous administration of the United States called it disengagement due to corruption, military dominance over the entire society and culture, concern over human rights, and continued surreptitious support for Islamic extremists in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. In terms of the treaty, China agreed to respond with tactical nuclear weapons aimed at agreed upon designated targets in India if India initially deployed nuclear weapons against Pakistan, thus opening a two-front war for India. The devastation of the new nuclear war was expected to be horrific. It exceeded all expectations.
Ten minutes after the Pakistani message declaring all-out war was broadcast, a one megaton hydrogen bomb was detonated in Islamabad. For all practical purposes, this blast destroyed the government of Pakistan. There was no escape for most of the citizens of Islamabad. The blast affected both Pakistani and Indian troops and civilians alike in Jammu and Kashmir. The searing heat melted parts of many of the glaciers in the region. Troops of both countries saw the tremendous mushroom cloud, felt the heat and the tremendous machstem winds, exceeding two thousand miles per hour. All knowledgeable people knew what it meant, most of all, the Prime Minister of India. Now, there was no one left with whom to negotiate a truce. Pakistani missiles from various sites, including some mobile launchers, launched as soon as they were ready. All had pre-determined targets. Most had independent inertial guidance systems. They carried intermediate sized warheads, mostly in the ten to-fifteen kiloton range. Most were aimed at Indian cities. New Dehli, Bombay, Kakinda, Mysore, Haora, Calcutta and a score of others were all attacked. Over the next two hours, over thirty nuclear tipped missiles were exchanged. A few weapons of similar size were delivered by aircraft. Pakistan had far more nuclear weapons than anyone had surmised. Much of the Indian communications network was destroyed within the first four hours. Consequently, nuclear equipped forces on both sides continued to fire at pre-designated targets until they had no nuclear fires left to deliver.
By nightfall, it was as if Pakistan had been plunged back into the twelfth century. India suffered tremendous destruction in many of its major cities and ports. The mountainous areas were spared from the immediate effects of blast and heat more than the plains. The skies were darkened for the next six days as millions of tons of earth were sucked upwards and slowly returned to earth as radioactive dust particles. Alpha radiation was overwhelming, as none of the weapons were particularly “clean.” Dose-dependent deaths from radiation poisoning began in twenty-four hours and continued into the ensuing months. Floods washed away many small villages along riverbanks throughout the area as a result of the melting of glacial ice feeding some of the largest rivers in the world. The Monsoon winds and rains carried lesser amounts of fallout into Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Surface waters, livestock and crops were contaminated by the falling radioactive dust particles. Livestock and people suffered subsequent radiation poisoning from handling and consuming contaminated crops and forage. With depressed immune systems damaged by radiation, many began to weaken and die from infections which otherwise would have been inconsequential. Bacterial meningitis alone killed tens of thousands. Skin infections became life threatening and resulted in septicemia, or blood poisoning. Common colds resulted in fatal pneumonias. Bodies generally lay where they fell. Those still alive were too sick to gather and bury the dead.
Two weeks later, elements of the Chinese Second Army Front moved across the fifty-mile border with Jammu and Kashmir. The Chinese built north-south road across Aksai Chin proved its strategic value. Farther south, Chinese HIV battalions moved all along the border.
The Mexican prisoners were herded into a tent city surrounded by a twelve-foot cyclone fence topped with razor wire. A ten-meter fire zone of bare, plowed ground separated the cyclone fence and coils of intertwined razor and barbed wire. Sensors were at each corner that detected motion and sound. Laser beams oscillated between various heights every few seconds that would ensure no one could cross them without breaking the light beam. Low guard towers with a spotlight on a swivel were manned by two soldiers, each armed with a machine gun and a rifle.
Many of the prisoners’ hands were blue from lack of circulation. Their restraints had been removed once, when they were allowed one stop to relieve themselves, drink water, and then were re-cuffed with plastic ties and placed back on the trucks for an otherwise nonstop drive to their new home in a desert corner of Fort Bliss, far away from prying eyes.
President Thornton didn’t get the phone call from President of Mexico Enrico Bustamante until almost twenty-four hours after the raid.
“Good morning, Enrico. I know you are upset with me, but go ahead anyway,” Jason Thornton could hardly keep from laughing out loud.
“Mr. President, how dare you invade my country! What have you done? You have killed many poor people, merely farm hands trying to make a living growing vegetables and beef to sell to your country. How could you do this? Don’t you realize the implications of this outrageous behavior? The United Nations will hear of this on the floor of the General Assembly tomorrow.”
“Of course they will, Enrico. We expect no less. On the other hand, we have collected quite an assemblage of weapons, of explosives, of personal effects of American victims of their raids, more than a million dollars in cash, and some very interesting documents. We are quite prepared to explain our side of the equation on the floor of the General Assembly. I regret that we couldn’t involve your government, but we gave security our highest priority. For that, you have my most sincere apology.”
“You have kidnapped over a hundred Mexican citizens. What have you done with them? Where are they being held? I demand that you return them immediately!”
“Nonsense, Enrico. They will stand trial for murder, rape, and robbery under the charge of brigandage. I understand that some of them are already talking. It is really amazing the things they are saying. They will have a speedy trial here. We are going to put them on trial, and we will hang them if they are found guilty. I assure you that they will have the legal guarantees that apply to them. I think it will be the same ones that apply to piracy on the high seas. I really don’t give a damn what the international lawyers say about the legality of this raid. After all, Poncho Villa set the stage, followed by our Blackjack Pershing. We will not return them to Mexico where they will serve only a few years of incarceration, if any at all, only to be turned loose to extract vengeance on anyone. As we speak, they are being photographed, fingerprinted, and blood samples drawn. We will do DNA matching on the rape cases and circulate their photographs to all of the citizens of the towns that were raided for individual identification. Should any of them not be convicted, they will be returned to Mexico. You had the opportunity to put an end to this, and you did not. You had months to do it. We gave you specific information, and you refused to act. You have no one to blame but yourself and your government, Enrico. You forced us to conduct this raid. We will make public the dates, locations, testimonials, recordings of phone calls and so on for the benefit of the circus that is the United Nations. You can rest assured, you will have egg on your face on the international scene if you go public, Enrico.”
“No country in the world is safe from United States imperialism! What gives the United States the right to play judge and jury and to invade other nations? Who do you think you are?”
“The right to defend our citizens against Mexicans raiding on American soil gives us that right. Tell you what, Enrico. Why don’t you ask the Chinese ambassador to Mexico those very same questions? Ask them why they are invading India as we speak. Why are they pouring down the Malayan peninsula? Please inform me as to what his response is? I don’t hear you, Enrico? Are you there?” The line went dead.
Jesus Gonzalez was taken to a hidden remote location that was kept secret. His operations files and paperwork were thoroughly scrutinized. Spanish speaking attorneys were recruited and sworn to secrecy until relief would be granted by the U.S. Attorney General, the Honorable Hugh Collier.
True to his word, two days later, the Mexican ambassador to the United Nations delivered a scathing attack on the United States for raiding into the sovereign state of Mexico. It lasted for over an hour. The United States representative blithely listened to the Mexican representative while he called for censure of the United States.
When called upon the U.S. Representative, Ms. Susan Turner admitted without hesitation that the United States did, indeed, conduct a raid three days previously into Mexico to end a threat of future raids and to bring to justice those guilty of previous raids. She produced pictures of the arms and explosives, the rocket propelled grenades, the rifle range and training grounds, personal valuables taken from American citizens during previous raids, facsimiles of telexes with the President of Mexico, copies of phone calls between the Presidents of the respective countries discussing it, vehicles involved in the raids, and lastly, some early testimonials in the form of affidavits of the participants. Her closing words were “The United States makes no apology for conducting this raid into Mexico in order to prevent future raids and bring these criminals to justice.”
The General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn the United States.
Susan Turner rose and said, “Mr. Speakers, delegates, I ask you why you censor the United States for conducting what is merely a tactical raid into the soil of a neighboring country, while China invades numerous neighboring countries at the cost of millions of lives, and nuclear detonations have occurred over the Asian subcontinent. This body is the greatest collection of hypocrites in the history of civilization.” With that, she turned and walked out of the United Nations.
The next morning, Jason Thornton called the General Secretary of the United Nations. “Mr. Secretary, we are withdrawing from the United Nations, based upon the General Assembly’s actions yesterday. As a result, the United Nations as an organization is no longer welcome in the United States. Since we have historically paid a minimum of twenty-five percent of the UN budget, provided you with office space on premium real estate, you will very shortly be handed a formal letter telling you that you and your organization are no longer welcome on United States soil. Thirty days hence, we will close the United Nations building. We built it, we maintain it, it is on our soil, and we own it. You have until then to find somewhere else to conduct your meetings. Perhaps your home state of Libya will provide your organization with appropriate support.”
“I must protest, Mr. President. There is no way we can move such an organization in so short a time. Literally tens of thousands of personnel are involved, records, computer networks, communications equipment, furniture, everything will have to be moved. It will take years to move.”
“Mr. Secretary, in thirty days we will revoke the privileges and status of every member of the United Nations. Their passports and exemption from our laws will be revoked. It will be our choice as to who goes and who stays and when. Frankly, I don’t care where your organization goes as long as it is not on United States soil. I have already ordered, as of 09:00 this morning, to freeze all payments to all branches and sub-organizations of the United Nations. So far as the United States is concerned, the United Nations is no longer a legal entity in this country. Unless some of your delegates want to spend a little time being interrogated by the FBI about their activities, they will leave very quickly.”
“Mr. President, I must protest, this is impossible.”
“You can protest all you wish, but it is to no avail. There is no further need of discussion. Get up and get out. Take your organization and all of its people with you. Good day, Mr. Secretary General.”
FBI Special Agent James Carter introduced himself and the three other members of the first team, Richard Walker, Martin Rand, and Mel Givens. “We will establish a perimeter around your place. Ma’am, we will be in an adjacent apartment all of the time. I am sorry that it is necessary to invade your privacy to some degree, but your safety is our charge and paramount to national interests. I truly hope you will bear with us and work with us. We will try to be as unobtrusive as possible. One of us will keep you in sight at all times. I strongly suggest that you go about your daily routine as best you can and totally ignore us. I can appreciate how difficult this might be. We will try to be as innocuous as possible. In the meantime, it would be most helpful to us if you make us a list of your acquaintances, along with their telephone numbers and addresses. If you have any recently-made friends, male or female, please highlight those for us. It could save us a lot of time.”
“Agent Carter, do you truly think I am in any danger?”
“Ma’am, I cannot say one way or the other. Most certainly we will do everything possible to ensure your safety under all circumstances. I hope you haven’t planned any vacations lately; that would certainly complicate things for all concerned.”
“No, Agent Carter, I am not planning on doing anything except sleeping, resting, reading, and getting some exercise. Then I am going back to work.”
“In that case, we will get out of your way for the moment.” Agent Carter nodded his head and walked to the apartment next door. He didn’t tell her that they also occupied the apartment directly above hers as well as the adjacent one. A microscopic fiberoptic camera had been inserted into a wall or ceiling of each room so that they could be simultaneously monitored. Only the bathroom was spared.
Not a bad-looking woman, Carter thought as he entered the FBI’s apartment. Brains and beauty in one woman; not bad if she has her mind right and not out on some loony fringe of religion or philosophy. This might turn out to be the most pleasant assignment I have had to date. When she undressed in the bedroom and headed for the shower, Agent Carter was impressed. Three days later, Agent Carter invited her to supper at his favorite Italian restaurant. She accepted.
Chapter 25
General Chang briefly pondered with some inward trepidation what he had just launched. His coded message to each of the Army Front Commanders would put Asia in a war that at least equaled, if not exceeded, World War II. His concern was not for China. China is forever as Han Chinese. No, he knew he was doing the right thing. Han Chinese must be allowed to expand, he thought. Allowed by whom? he asked himself. Han Chinese have the oldest history, culture and civilization in the world. For four hundred years, we have been on the bottom of the world’s hierarchy. Now, particularly through my efforts, that hierarchy is about to be reversed. China will again become the Middle Kingdom. China will rule from the Pacific to Eastern Europe and the southern half of Africa. Who could oppose us? Not Europe, not the United States, most certainly not South America. Without our ruling hand, Africa would flare and burn for a hundred years.
Most interesting that the American President was smarter than we thought. We had hoped the American President would commit U.S. forces to save the Republic of Korea. Perhaps it was their Congress that was the smart one and wouldn’t support him in committing to their defense. Still, while a setback, it is only a minor one. We put the Americans in a difficult position with two choices, each to our advantage no matter which position they took. If they went to help South Korea, it would have been with their best troops, and they would have been bloodied. If they remained outside, they destroyed their own future along the Pacific Rim. Now, the world knows the Americans will not stand by their treaties if it is against their best interest to do so. The United States can do nothing to stop us. They are not willing to employ nuclear weapons and risk total devastation. Our ambassador will make certain the American President understands the options. A nuclear winter and a destroyed United States will serve no one. No, even a united world would have difficulty in controlling our China. It is too vast. With close to two billion people, almost one-third of the world’s population, we have overtaken Western Europe in production, we rival the United States and India in research, turn out more scientists, mathematicians, engineers, chemists and physicists than any other nation in the world. No, the Twenty-First Century is the century of China. This is our century.
The only weak spot in this operation is that we are committing our militias piecemeal, at least to some degree, due to a lack of transportation. Our rail lines will run in circles in our drive to the west, also to the south. Our ships will sail in a huge circle to transport our troops to Africa. At least we are committing division-sized forces at each time. Once we cross the border, they will disburse anyway. No doubt about our younger brothers, the Vietnamese. They will be our toughest opponent man per man in Army Front I. Still, we will overwhelm them with mass. Our HIV battalions will lead the assault. The Vietnamese will be flattened by our steam roller. They have no idea what is in store for them. The loss of our HIV battalions will be no great thing; it will actually be a plus, a purge of our society of the carriers of a fatal, noncurable disease. We are spared the tremendous expense of anti-retroviral drugs for them. It will be rare, indeed, for any commander below the regimental level to visit or become acquainted with all of his troops. It will be the company and battalion commanders who carry the real burden of command. The duty of our higher echelons is to support those to the best of their ability with the distribution of resources. Ultimately, that rests with the Front Commanders and the Chiefs of Staff. That means me.
The Army Front Commanders began broadcast faxing down to the battalion level in their commands. All personnel were to report to their units seventy-two hours from receipt of this order at battalion headquarters. All personnel were to wear one uniform, bring their spare, and draw weapons and ammunition upon reporting. The trucks would move in a continuous circle, carrying troops to their line of departure on all fronts.
Part of the mobilization order read, “There are no organizational changes at the battalion level and below. Organizational structure above the battalion level will be regimental, divisional, corps, army, army groups and army front. Commanding officers and staffs have been appointed to fill these positions above the battalion level. In contrast to the Regular People’s Army, the number of battalions in the regiments of the People’s Militia Army is hereby tripled that of the regular People’s Army. The number of regiments per division is hereby tripled. The number of divisions per corps is hereby tripled. The number of corps per army is hereby tripled. Armies are formed into army groups. Army groups are formed into army fronts. Army front commanders are assigned a various number of army groups, depending upon their mission. The next senior officer in your chain of command will visit you in the next seventy-two hours to issue you your orders verbally. All battalion commanders are to brief their subordinates on the ultimate objectives and concept of operation. General orders shall include the following:
1.No unit in the field is to move in any formation or order larger than a company. To do so will invite massed fires.
2.Companies can bypass each other in the field upon coordination with the battalion commander.
3.Companies and battalions are to be disbursed over large areas, governed by terrain, weather, opposition, and the judgment of the company commander.”
Enclosed is a message from the Chief of Staff, People’s Liberation Army Navy.
“Militia of the People’s Liberation Army, hear me! For five hundred years, foreigners have invaded our soil, dominated our government, used our labor for their own profit, infected us with their poison of opium and other drugs in order to gain control of our minds and our economy, dictated to us, told us what we cannot do to protect ourselves, claimed parts of our country as their own, despoiled our women, and forced us into economic and moral slavery. They have surrounded us with their so-called policy of containment. Now, since our Great Revolution, we have grown in strength, gained the will, earned our self respect, and surpassed our enemies in moral cause. Our enemies and their running dogs that are our neighbors have, for too long, denied us our rights as one of the great nations of the world and our place in current history. No more. Now, the People’s Republic of China is claiming its place in the world. That place is that of the greatest nation in the history of the world. It is your duty to see that our leadership of the world can no longer be denied. This is your legacy.
You have been well trained and equipped for your mission. You are motivated soldiers, the great backbone of your country. Each of you has a mission as a soldier of your country. Your leaders are well trained and dedicated and know each of you. You are formed into units that ultimately form great armies. Your battalions are formed into regiments. Your regiments are formed into divisions. Your divisions are formed into corps. Your corps are formed into armies. Each Peoples Army is part of an Army Group. Army Groups constitute an Army Front. Each Army Front has been assigned a specific mission. Your mission, as individual soldiers of your nation and of your Army Front, is to defend your country! In the course of events, our great nation has forged alliances with our friends. Our friends are now defending themselves against military attack on all fronts. India is attacking Pakistan. South Korea is attacking North Korea. Vietnam is raiding across our border. The United States and its allies are supporting India and South Korea in their attempts to conquer our allies. The Americans, Germans, Japanese and the British are attempting once again to establish colonialism in Africa in the name of free trade. They are committing the same atrocities against the African Peoples that they committed against us for over two hundred years. Our African friends have nowhere to turn! They cannot defend themselves from the slavery being forced upon them. They are crying out in terror for our help. We will not permit these western nations to inflict their harm and greed on other peoples of the world as they have done to us in the past. The Americans are attempting to keep us in our place by choking off our supplies of petroleum and other forms of energy from the Middle East. They are demanding that we trade them our finished products for raw materials at prices that are so excessive that we will be forced into economic subservience once more. They demand that we pay ever increasing prices for raw materials until they cost more than our finished products.
It is your duty to prevent our friends from being conquered. It is your duty to defend our borders. It is your duty to see that we do not become economic slaves again. It is your duty to obey your officers and your commanders. You have been trained only in the offense, because there is no option in defense. It is your duty to perpetually attack. You are to attack without ceasing. You are part of the greatest force in the history of the world. You are invincible! Now is the time to see that our enemies never rise again to threaten us. It is your duty to eliminate the aggressors – all of them. This is not the time to feel pity for the enemy. You are to attack without mercy. This is the time to wipe the enemies of China from the face of the earth. You will not stop in your march until you have accomplished your mission. Take what you need from the enemy. Whatever the enemy possesses that will assist your victory is now yours. Take his grain, take his livestock, take his food, take his vehicles, take all that he has that will help you accomplish your mission, and most of all, take his life. Spare no one. Let none of them have heads to again raise against China for eternity.
Chang, Mao Lin
