“Mostly electronics, computers, televisions, stereo sets, DVDs, those things.” Yang was beginning to stutter just a bit. The bouncer monitoring the conversation in the room behind the front desk was becoming interested. This could develop into a source of hijacked electronics. Being Russian, he never cared for the Chinese anyway. He picked up the phone and dialed Yang’s room. Lila answered the phone with a hello.

“Get as much information out of him as you can before you seduce him. Let’s find out how much he is worth and all about those warehouses,” and hung up.

“Who was that?” asked Yang.

“Oh, it was a wrong number,” she replied. She poured him another drink. “Your warehouse must be on the docks somewhere, Mr. Yang.”

“It is adjacent to the COSCO pier. We have a dozen warehouses there. I just work in one or two.”

“You must be a very responsible man to oversee such expensive goods in a large warehouse complex like that. I hope they pay you what you are worth.” She sat in a chair adjacent to the bed, letting her mini skirt ride even further up on her thighs, revealing her long, lean legs. She began to fumble with the top button of her blouse.

“They pay me enough.” His mouth became dry as she slowly unbuttoned her blouse in front of him. “I am paid well, too, Mr. Yang. I will spend the night with you for three hundred dollars. If you just want an hour of my time, it is only one hundred dollars.”

“You are very expensive. Are you worth it?”

She slipped off her mini skirt, then her blouse, revealing a modest bosom in an uplifting bra and all of her long, lean legs beneath slim hips clothed in red panties.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“I think you are worth one hundred dollars. He removed his wallet and laid the money alongside it on the dresser. He then began to undress, but she came over and did it for him. He didn’t last five minutes before reaching a climax. Thirty minutes later, he wanted more sex. He wanted something different. This redhead didn’t seem all that different from Chinese girls. He rolled her over on her abdomen and attempted to sodomize her. She struggled.

“I don’t do that,” she cried. The more she struggled, the madder he got. She began to protest in a loud voice. He slapped her on the back of the head with a heavy hand that stunned her. “No, no, I won’t do it!”

Yang yanked her up by the hair. He kidney punched her, then rolled her over and slapped her back and forth across the face. The bouncer in the back room jumped up, grabbed the spare room key from the pigeon hole and started up the elevator. When he entered the room, Yang was holding her up in a sitting position, slapping the unconscious girl back and forth across the face. He didn’t hear the bouncer enter. George hit Yang with a fist behind the ear. It staggered Yang, who dropped the girl and spun around off the bed. George hit him with a right cross that laid Yang back across the bed. Yang lashed out with a foot that caught George in the groin. George staggered back in agony. Yang came off the bed with a roundhouse kick that caught George on the shoulder and sent him across the room. George got up only to receive a spinning wheel kick in the solar plexus followed by a fist to the chest. George’s face went blank. Two more body blows broke ribs and stopped George’s heart in diastole. George sank to the floor, dead.

Yang looked around, stunned by what he had done. He quickly dressed, took his wallet and the one hundred dollars he left on the counter and bolted from the room. The desk clerk saw him hurriedly leaving and went to the back room where the monitors had recorded everything. He saw an unconscious Lila and a dead George. He called the police.

Lila and George were taken to the nearest hospital, where Lila was placed in intensive care with a severely damaged kidney and a battered face. Yang’s calloused knuckles had cut her face in numerous places as he open-handedly slapped her, but he didn’t break any bones. George went to the hospital morgue for post mortem examination.

The police took the videotape and fingerprinted the room after photographing everything. An all-points bulletin went out for Yang. His fingerprints from his whiskey glass were quite clear. They went into the FBI’s file twenty-four hours later as a matter of routine for murder cases. Yang’s face was sufficiently revealed on the videotape for the police to print a picture from it. His address on the registration card resulted in the police getting a search warrant and surrounding his apartment building four hours later.

The FBI surveillance team observed Yang walking hurriedly and animatedly out of the hotel. As usual, they followed him at a discrete distance. He did not return to his apartment, rather he went straight to the Chinese embassy. The surveillance team called Supervisory Special Agent Ed Wrangell. Then they waited a block from the gate of the Chinese embassy.

Two days later, a computer match reported the fingerprints from the Los Angeles Police Department matched those taken from the water glass of the bodyguard of Chan. The surveillance team, now two different men, reported that they had not observed Chan emerging from the Chinese embassy. Surveillance cameras that recorded every movement of every egress of the embassy did not reveal Yang leaving the embassy. On the third day, a rather large crate was taken from the embassy to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport, where it was placed on a China Airlines Boeing 747D destined for Peking. It was part of the diplomatic pouch. The crate was handled by China Airlines personnel from the moment it reached the China Airlines gate. Members of the FBI Task Force II watched it through the gates as it was loaded on the aircraft.

An inquiry by a “relative” with a heavy accent of the prostitute beaten by Yang gave the police clerk two one hundred dollar bills to answer his questions. “What information do you have on George’s killer?”

The answer he received was, “The FBI is on the case. They think he got shipped out of country in a crate labeled diplomatic pouch. They think he’s back in China now. He was supposed to work for a shipping company called COSCO. Nobody knows for sure, though.”

In China, Yang Chi was sentenced to ten years hard labor, not for killing George or for beating Lila, but for a lack of discipline, for blowing his cover. The Chinese intelligence service immediately dispatched another bodyguard for Chan upon the arrival of Yang Chi. He would enter the United States by a submarine which would deliver him to a Chinese pleasure yacht thirty miles off the California coast.

Chapter 32

“We’ll start off this morning’s breakfast discussion with General Craig, if you don’t mind, General. After the Chinese letter about the threat from the Panama Canal towards the USA mainland, we should all know what’s down there. I’ve asked Ralph to bring the Surgeon General along because of the nature of the threat. I think you all know Admiral Weber. What is the military situation in Panama, General Craig?”

“Mr. President, after we turned the Panama Canal over to the Panamanians in the Jimmy Carter administration, the Chinese quickly began to bribe the Panamanian officials for the use of the bases we vacated. The Chinese made millionaires out of a number of high and middle level bureaucrats. They quickly assumed control of the Canal itself through their front organizations, the Hutchinson-Whampoa International Shipping Company, and COSCO, the Chinese Ocean Shipping Company. As such, they assumed control of all the warehouses, locks, dams and everything else. At last count, there were about 20,000 Chinese in the Panama area, mostly in the Canal Zone itself. Many of them are military, but many of them are not. They always provided good service and plenty of warehouse space for anyone and everyone who wanted it. By everyone I mean every international shipper, company or country.

“They even built some new, temperature-controlled warehouses that they maintained for perishable foodstuffs from the Chinese mainland. At least, that is what they claimed they were for. They do cycle many tonnes, that’s a thousand metric tons, of food through them, not only foodstuffs from the Orient, but Central and South America as well. We don’t believe nearly enough foods go through there to utilize the full capacity of all those warehouses. It is possible they built an over capacity in anticipation of gradually increased business. There are certainly warehouses large enough to house several dozen IRBMs, intermediate range ballistic missiles. Being temperature-controlled would make sense for live biological agents in warheads. They could maintain such agents in the frozen state and load them into warheads in hours, if not minutes. Their IRBMs are sufficiently accurate now to hit any city in North America. They have a Circle of Equal Probability of fifty meters. That is more than sufficient for even conventional warheads. IRBMs are small enough that they can fit into standard sized shipping containers. Even if they weren’t, they could be shipped in sections and assembled in the warehouses. If they put them on mobile launchers, they could pull them out of the warehouses with tractors and go over any road in Panama. They easily fit into a grain truck with false sides and roof. That would make them a bit harder to take out as individual rockets before launch. No doubt each missile is individually programmed with a GPS guidance system.”

“Ed, what’s your analysis and comment on this?”

“Mr. President, General Craig and I concur and have conferred on this on a number of occasions. We estimate that the Chinese could have as many as 50 IRBMs with MIRV warheads in those warehouses. They could probably launch within 15 to thirty minutes of receiving a launch order. Perhaps less if they had a warning order in sufficient time. We have also observed from satellite imagery that the Chinese built several small railroad spurs. They have boxcars sitting on those spurs. These boxcars haven’t moved in months, some even in a couple of years. They could house rockets larger than the standard Chinese IRBMs. Our agents have also identified a number of Chinese Army field grade officers in the Canal Zone. They stay pretty close to home, but every once in a while, they will slip out into the night spots where we have spotted them. There are a number of colonels and a few generals wandering about down there. We don’t like it. No doubt the Chinese do have IRBMs in place. It is not an idle threat, in my opinion.”

“Ralph, what is your input here on the Canal Zone?”

“Well, the input that Fred Gateway, Roger Gutierrez and I have been working on concerns Chinese opium entering the U.S. through the Canal Zone. We have been tracking opium into the Canal Zone aboard Chinese shipping where it is offloaded into specific warehouses. We have many photos of the entire Zone and have identified warehouses which are closely guarded, but little comes and goes. Those we know used for storing opium have a lot more traffic than these I just mentioned. We have been trying to find out what these guarded warehouses contain without success. The Panamanians don’t know, claiming they are bonded warehouses managed exclusively by the Chinese. Even the Panamanian stevedores and officials can’t get near them. Everything in and around them is done by the Chinese. These are probably the same ones Ed referred to.”

“Jim, what do you think of all of this?”

“I don’t think we have any feasible alternative, Mr. President. If we don’t rise to the occasion, we will be surrendering world hegemony to the Chinese. They will only grow stronger.”

“General Craig, do you have any idea how we could neutralize this threat if we have to?”

“Mr. President, we, the armed services, in true joint fashion, have a game plan all worked out. In fact, we have had it on the books for a couple of years, just as a ‘what if’ situation. It looks like we get to dust it off.”

“And of what does this plan consist?”

“It is a surprise attack, Mr. President, which requires full integration of the armed forces in all aspects. It is no small operation. I’ll let General Shelton briefly describe the Air Force’s role. General Shelton.”

“The Air Force will wage electronic warfare to interrupt their signal communications. If any missiles are launched, our fighters along the Mexican border will attempt interception. We will also attempt to scramble the guidance systems of the missiles before they reach our border. We will provide airlift for the 82nd Airborne Division. I’ll let Admiral Stark describe the Navy’s role. Admiral Stark.”

“The Navy will block the Canal at both ends and be in the Canal itself, Mr. President. Navy SEALs will ensure that the locks and dams are free of explosives and munitions that might destroy them. Navy SEALS will be spread too thinly protecting the locks and dams to participate in the on-land raids. Submarines will provide surreptitious entry to the SEALS and some of the Army Ranger teams, if indicated. We will have several ships in the canal full of Rangers and the 101st Airborne Division for invasion at various points along the Canal itself. The Marine Corps will be participating as an Amphibious Assault Group, complete with Joint Strike Fighter support, at each end of the Canal. I’ll pass the ball to General Anderson for the Army’s role. General.”

“Mr. President, the Army will attack with its entire Ranger Regiment leading the way to cut communications centers, take out high priority leadership, headquarters of selected units, secure a couple of airfields, drop in the 82nd Airborne Division by parachute while the 101st Air Assault Division attacks targets along the length of the canal from Navy ships disguised as freighters, for a complete attack and destruction of all Chinese elements.”

Oh my God, thought Thornton. What the hell do we have here, a bunch of cowboys? Instead, he said, “What are the chances of success; that is defined as taking the Chinese down without any missiles being launched? General Craig?”

“The element of surprise is most critical, Mr. President. With complete surprise, we believe it is much better than fifty-fifty. Without, the issue will be in doubt. No word of this plan can be mentioned outside this room. Otherwise, it will be a slaughter: ours, in this battle and strategically, for our country if they should launch such weapons.”

“Marge, your opinion?”

“Mr. President, this game plan is idiocy. We can’t risk our entire nation to nuclear and biological war!”

“Surgeon General Carolyn Weber, what’s your opinion as if they launch those rockets?”

Carolyn Weber began her career as a Public Health Nurse in Texas. She worked with minorities in the eastern part of the state in a county health department. In frustration with having to deal with physicians who were political appointees as the county health officer, she decided that she would become a physician herself. Her nursing school courses were not sufficient to meet the pre-medical programs of most universities. Consequently, she returned to school to take the necessary courses part time. She supported herself by working as a floor nurse in the University Medical Center. After two years, she applied to the medical school and the college of osteopathic medicine in the northern part of the state, and the Uniformed University of Health Sciences Edward F. Hebert School of Medicine on the Bethesda Naval Medical Center campus. She wasn’t accepted at the University Medical Center, which was quite a disappointment, but she was accepted at the federal institution. Four years later, she graduated third from the bottom of her class.

Since the Public Health Service is considered one of the six uniformed services, she elected to join it rather than one of the military services. After an internship at the Public Health Hospital on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana, she applied for and was accepted into a residency in community medicine and epidemiology at her alma mater. Biometry was a considerable challenge for her, but she was successful in becoming board certified in epidemiology and industrial medicine. Her work on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation, her experiences with minorities as a public health nurse in Texas, and her residency in community medicine in and around the Washington D.C. area, especially with the homeless, left her with a decided socialistic bent. She believed that medical care should be free to all. Vice President Atkinson and Surgeon General Weber on occasion had some rather heated discussions over how such a program should be funded. Since she never married, the rare remark was heard that her intemperance was due to a lack of male companionship. Jason Thornton often wondered whatever possessed him to offer her the position of Vice Admiral, Surgeon General of the United States. Now that he had her, he felt he was stuck with her.

“Mr. President, I would have to have much more detail in order to give you any kind of rational estimate of casualties if this operation should fail. I don’t know the size of these nuclear warheads, to what radiological effects they are tailored, meteorological conditions at the time of detonation, height of burst, and so on. Biological agents are another matter entirely. They are quite likely a greater threat than nuclear bombs. What biological agents they might contain, and they are probably genetically engineered, transmissible agents against which we have no defense, their persistence in the natural environment, and where they are aimed, are major variables. There are so many variables that it is impossible to give you any kind of a realistic answer. Suffice it to say, in a worst-case scenario, it could be a nation-destroying event.”

Thornton reflected on his conversation with Colonel Burgess from the Medical Intelligence Unit at Fort Detrick, Maryland some months earlier. A knot formed in his stomach. He was very aware of the friction between the military medical services and the U.S. Public Health Service. The military medicos considered the Public Health Service and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention people as a bunch of socialist-liberal weenies riding on the back of the military medical community. The military physicians thought they should have representation at this level rather than Doctor Weber, but Thornton wanted a better balance between the military representation provided by the SECDEF and the Joint Chiefs and the more or less civilian medical community. He wasn’t sure he achieved it.

“Marge, once again get with the Europeans, the British, Germans, French, Italians, Poles, Swedes, Norwegians, and whoever the hell has a stake in Middle East oil. Feel them out again given the continued Chinese advance. Ask if they are ready to risk war and at what point. What is their threshold threat level? Where will they draw the line? It is your highest priority. Tell them where we stand. We will go to war if they approach Iran, Iraq, the Trucial Gulf States, or any place else on the Persian Gulf. Report to us at Friday’s meeting. Make sure they understand that. Will they go to war as coalition allies, or will they expect us to do it all alone? We went down this road before without any results when the Chinese first broke out of their borders. I’ll talk to Vassily Chernikov myself.

“Jim, Generals and Admiral, how much lead time do you need for a warning order? I know the more time you have the better, but what is your estimate right now if I give the order to go? How long will it take you to get everything ready to move? What geographical positions can we take without tipping our hand? Get your heads together and let me know ASAP.”