“Yeah, as I recall, that’s what Dr. Allison said a couple of months ago.”

Jason Thornton pushed the intercom button on his desk. “Peggy, call Dr. Allison and tell him to have his people put together a couple of pages of facts on the AIDS situation in the People’s Republic of China. We want to know how severe it is. I want it here by 15:00 today.”

“Now, there is nobody to stop them when they control the wealth of southern Africa, Caspian Sea Basin oil, the minerals and oil of Southeast Asia, and they are in a springboard position to seize the Middle East with its oil reserves from two directions at any time they choose. They hold us in abeyance in the meantime, from the Panama Canal which they control. Magnificent! What a game plan,” said General Anderson.

“Not only that, but Taiwan would now willingly join China out of intimidation. China would still have the world’s four greatest markets for their goods and services; the United States, Western Europe, South America, and their own internal market. It will be a unipolar power world, and it won’t be us,” added Margaret Talbott.

“Marge, inform every African ambassador that we believe the Chinese intend to conquer every African nation south of the Sahara. Also inform every European nation and Russia. The world is going to be bipolar or tripolar. We are one pole, I hope Russia joins with Western Europe as the second pole, and China is the third. Ask them to consider what possible outcomes are the results of such a conquest, and what actions, individually and collectively, they are willing to do about it. Don’t bother with the United Nations.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, they aren’t going to hold us in abeyance for long. As of this moment, we are going to take back the Canal Zone. Put your heads together. I am going to stay out of it. The management of our seizure of the Canal Zone is up to you people at this table. Go when you are ready. Jim, as SECDEF, and you, General Anderson, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, have responsibility and total control. Go get the bastards.”

“We will begin by pulling back our naval forces from the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Taiwan and the China Seas. That should put the Chinese at some degree of relief. We’ll let them think we are withdrawing our forces for refitting, rest and recreation back to the west coast. We can take the Canal Zone within seventy-two hours after the operation begins.” Jim Neville smiled as he spoke. Being a Ph.D. research physicist has its moments, but there is always the glimmer of playing the commanding Admiral in a major engagement in every naval officer.

Jason Thornton and United States Attorney General Hugh Collier struck a deal with the governors and Attorneys General of the southwestern states. They could have first trial rights on the suspects. “Why not,” said Thornton, “let the states, in order of the raids conducted, try him first. Then, if all else fails, we will try him in federal court for whatever we can hang on him, from illegal entry into the United States, to gun running, to murder of federal officers.” Hugh Collier ordered the FBI to assist the states in gathering and presenting evidence. He assigned a team of federal attorneys to assist in the prosecution with the strict admonition that the local prosecutors were in the lead. Photographs were taken of each of the prisoners and provided to witnesses. Dozens of witnesses and victims came forward with specific, individual identifications of the perpetrators. Cartridge cases collected from the raids were matched with individual AK-47s by the FBI ballistics laboratory. Fingerprints were taken, as were blood and DNA samples. DNA samples taken from semen collected from rape victims in Ruidoso alone matched more than two dozen of the raiders.

Jesus Gonzalez, whose real name was Jose Aguinaldo, went on public trial in Ruidoso, Texas. Reporters from around the world flooded into the little Texas town. Media networks broadcast the initial hearings live around the world. The Mexican government lodged protest after protest, but many Texas citizens, out of reach and earshot of the television cameras and microphones, whispered not-so-veiled threats into the ears of Latino journalists. Some were as simple as, “Get out of town or we will kill you.” Others were only slightly more subtle. “Get on the right side of this or you will be put in a hole.” Mexican journalists were specifically identified in most cases, but some threats were indiscriminately directed to all Latino journalists. Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, all had teams of reporters as did the Europeans. Everywhere, it seemed Anglo citizens of Texas openly carrying arms were televised.

The Latino journalists tried to hammer the point that with the withdrawal of the U.S. Army along the border, a wave of shooting of poor illegal immigrants trying to cross the border reached epidemic proportions. A wave of tens of thousands of immigrants waiting to cross had built up while the border was being patrolled. Camps holding hundreds of aliens formed in the desert along every possible water course and on every Mexican ranch that had a bank on the Rio Grande. When the Army withdrew, they advanced en masse for the next two weeks. Then, as word spread of mass shootings of illegal immigrants spread throughout Mexico and Central America, the number of those attempting to cross dropped off dramatically. County militias had been quietly organized by citizens all along the border but particularly in Texas. They consisted only of residents well known to each other. Local sheriffs’ departments and small town police departments totally ignored them and officially denied their existence. In fact, many of the county deputies and city police officers of the small towns were among the militiamen. Hundreds of bodies were found from Brownsville to Tijuana.

Some Mexican journalist estimated on live television that perhaps only ten percent of the bodies were found. When queried as to how he arrived at that figure by a Fox Television News Team, he evaded the question. Women as well as men were found shot to death. It seemed that many Latino American citizens were also included in the carnage. It left the impression that sometimes revenge was indiscriminate. One Texan was asked why he carried both a rifle and a pistol. He retorted in a live television interview, “The range is long out here, four, five hundred yards sometimes, on a running target. That’s why the rifle. I don’t leave it in the truck for some wetback to steal. Wetbacks aren’t welcome on my ranch. I sent all my Mexican vaqueros packing. A couple of them vowed revenge. Who are they to tell me I can’t fire ‘em? The handgun is for close-in work, in town, around the ranch buildings and in the truck where you can’t handle a rifle as easily.” Another armed Texan interviewed by a Mexican news team bluntly stated, “If I was you, I would stay real close to town here, except when you’re packing back to wherever you came from.” Another armed citizen smiled into the TV camera and said, “We have a rabies epidemic around here.” Somebody in the local cafe where Latino reporters ate many of their meals said in a loud voice to no one in particular, “Around here, its shoot, shovel, and shut up!”

The Texas State Police provided a bodyguard of a dozen officers wearing bullet proof vests to surround Jesus Gonzalez. They huddled around him to prevent any sniper from having a clear shot that would blow his head off. They transported him in an armored car to and from the jail to the court house.

Jesus Gonzalez realized that he was going to be found guilty and that his only hope of living was that the Mexican government could persuade the Americans to turn him over to Mexico for lifetime incarceration. He realized he would be found guilty as charged, no matter what. The sentence was the only thing in doubt. He knew he could bribe his way out of a Mexican penal institution after several years. He wasn’t naive enough to believe that Mr. Ito or his organization, unaware of Chan’s death, would ever come to his defense, either in the U.S. or in Mexico. He had no doubts they would much rather have him dead. He decided that the only chance he had for leniency was to tell everything he knew. And talk he did. From the witness stand, he revealed the large cash deposits he received from Mr. Ito, all of the guns and the direction provided by the enigmatic Mr. Ito. He attempted to portray himself as a fool, a tool of some sinister organization whose representative was the evil Mr. Ito. He knew nothing personally of Mr. Ito. In Gonzalez’s office however, the FBI found a file with pictures of Mr. Ito, his bodyguards and their vehicle. Blowing up the photograph revealed the license plate number of the sedan. The FBI immediately recognized Mr. Ito as Mr. Chan.

The FBI conducted a raid on the COSCO Shipping Company and seized all their records for the timeframes revealed by Gonzalez that they received the weapons. They found nothing of value. There were no records of any of the shipment of arms, ammunition or anything other than tractors and farm implements to Mexican implement dealers. According to COSCO, Mr. Ito never existed. No one in the COSCO offices recognized the photographs of Mr. Ito. Hugh Collier ordered a massive, close surveillance on COSCO shipping company executives.

The majority of the raiders were held in the temporary holding facility in the desert just north of El Paso, on a far desert corner of the Fort Bliss reservation. It didn’t take long for the observant citizen to figure out where they were. The major question was to try them as individuals or collectively, and what punishment to mete out. It would presume that they were all equally guilty to try them en masse at a single trial. More than two dozen well known trial lawyers volunteered to defend them pro bono. It was more like a gathering of vultures for publicity. Hugh Collier anticipated a media circus would develop that would be overwhelming, out of control and make a mockery of the judicial system, as well as costing tens of millions of dollars. Jason Thornton made the decision to try them en masse at a secret trial.

Hugh Collier selected three volunteer attorneys to lead the defense team. He informed them that once they accepted the positions and formed a defense team, there was no turning back. There was no way they would enhance their legal reputations or make any money on this trial whatsoever. They had to accept the agreement up front without knowing the details or back out now. All of them objected. Collier then informed them that they would not be allowed to represent the raiders. Two acquiesced. Collier had the two sign the appropriate secrecy documents. He impressed upon them that the trial records would be sealed for fifty years. If any of them revealed anything about the trial, wrote any books, talked to their wives or girlfriends, or broke the secrecy agreement they just signed in any way, they would spend the rest of their life in prison, their possessions would be confiscated, legally or otherwise for tax evasion, and if necessary, bad things could happen to family members. It’s not the way I like to conduct business, thought Collier. I have just negated all that the law is supposed to stand for. On the other hand, I have a higher duty to protect the country and its citizens. This is the real world.

Each of the raiders was undergoing a thorough interrogation. All of them denied ever having raped anyone or shot anyone. Those who were confronted with their fingerprints on cartridge cases claimed they were just shooting in the air to scare people. Those whose DNA samples matched those taken from rape victims claimed the tests were false and they were being framed. When confronted with testimony by the victims who picked out their pictures, they denied everything. Some were identified by their tattoos. Almost all claimed that they thought they were joining a guerilla army to resist the Mexican government, but once in, they went along with the raids out of fear for their lives.

“If they are found guilty, which they undoubtedly are, then how do you punish them? Do we incarcerate all one hundred and fifty of them at $50,000 a year expense for each of them? That’s $7,500,000 a year burden on the taxpayers. If we execute them, it will be the largest mass execution in American history and most certainly will raise the cry against American barbarism. Sure as hell don’t hear anything like that about the Chinese slaughtering millions, though. Perhaps we can execute those who are positively identified as rapists and or killers, and turn the rest over to Mexico and let them be their problem. They and the Mexican government will have to understand we will kill them on sight if they ever enter the United States again. Of those we execute, do we do it by firing squad or by hanging? The easiest way is to line them up and machine gun them into a mass grave. That would be a bloody business. If we hang them one at a time, that might be more dramatic, but time consuming. A firing squad is an option, if we can find the men who will man it. Lethal injection one at a time might be the way to go. It would deny any claims of barbarity. I suppose the question is how many will there be who receive the death sentence. I’ll have to see what the President wants to do.”

“No question about it, Hugh. We will invoke the death penalty. So far as I am concerned, those who raped and those who killed will get it. If Texas law doesn’t string up the rapists, find a way to do it. Consider rape the same as murder. I have no problems with firing squad, hanging, or lethal injection. Lethal injection seems to be a slightly drawn out affair, firing squads would be a bit messy, and perhaps hanging them one at a time in front of all the others would be the best way to go. One gallows and hang them two or three at a time would be less bloody and faster than hanging them individually. We wouldn’t have to be concerned about any firing squad members suffering psychological problems that way. Any idea how many will receive the death penalty, and what does the State of Texas say about it?”

“Well, Mr. President, I should think it will run about fifty of the one hundred fifty that we can definitely prove rape and murder. We can have the Army set up a temporary morgue and embalm the bodies and put them in wooden coffins and ship them back to relatives in Mexico, at least those that claim relatives. Many of them will likely deny any family whatsoever because of the shame of their crimes. We will probably wind up burying them here in the U.S. Alternatively, we can donate their bodies to medical science. Medical schools throughout the country could certainly use them in their anatomy classes. The Texas Attorney General wants their blood. He doesn’t care how it is done. He will go along with any suggestions we are to make. By the way, he sends his thanks to you for all the federal involvement and letting his folks be the leaders in the investigation and trial. He very much appreciates the efforts of the FBI, BATFE, and INS Border Patrol participation.”

“Does the Mexican government know how many we actually have and who they are, Hugh?”

“I don’t think so, Mr. President.”

“Good, then that is what we will do. The bodies will be donated to medical schools as John Does. Give the affected states first claims on the bodies. They might serve some useful function here in the good ol’ USA after all. Make it mass hanging so as not to distort any anatomical features except their necks. Get on with it.”

The Texas Attorney General ordered a gallows holding five prisoners at one time to be built in the desert adjacent to the holding compound, just meters away from the boundary of the Fort Bliss Reservation. He wanted the prisoners to see it, to think about it, and realize they were going to die on it. An agreement was struck between the Army, the State of Texas and the Bureau of Prisons. The Bureau of Prisons and the State of Texas would build a permanent facility in the desert to hold up to two hundred inmates for future contingencies. The Army would use its funds to maintain it once it was built and use it as an overflow facility for military installations in the southwest. It could be considered as an adjunct facility to that in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“Admiral Stark, order our naval forces to withdraw to their home port of San Diego or wherever on the west coast. Send it in the clear so there is no confusion for the Chinese. When the carriers get within range of a UC-21M Greyhound, put sealed orders on them informing them of the battle plan and their part in Operation Recovery. They will provide backup for the Marine Expeditionary Forces. Give the order to sink any Chinese submarines in the area. The new satellites will provide their precise location. I don’t want to have a single American ship torpedoed. If we have to strike the first blow at sea, so be it. We’re going to take back the Canal Zone. They can then pass the word to the other ships in their groups. We don’t want to tip our hand too soon to the Chinese, just in case they have cracked into our so-called secure internet transmissions. A quick review of our plans is in order for me. Run through it real quickly for me, General Craig.”

“Mr. Secretary, General Anderson has assumed overall command for this operation. We have made some changes since our initial plan; fine-tuned it, so to speak. General Shelton’s Air Force folks will be monitoring the radio traffic very closely from AWACS from the minute the carrier battle groups turn south, vectoring away from San Diego. General Leonard will attach two EA-6B Prowlers to General Shelton’s AWACS, one to each AWACS. The second there appears any indication that the Chinese are figuring out what we are up to, they will attempt to contact the mainland. The AWACS can directly communicate with the Prowlers and jam their broadcasts. General Anderson, your Rangers are ready?”

“Yes, sir, General Craig, they were born ready. They are itching to go. Many of them have figured it out and are having a hard time sitting still. I have never seen so many men sharpening their fighting knives at one time.”

General Craig continued, “Coordination and surprises will be the keys. It has to run like clockwork. We will set our timetables to the arrival of the forces from the Far East. We are going to seize everything at once, both ends and everything in the middle.

“The suspect warehouses in Balboa and Cristobal are the critical targets. That’s where the missiles will be located. We have to take them before the Chinese can launch. We will assume they can launch within fifteen minutes of receiving a launch order. Two Brigades of the 82nd Airborne Division will make a night drop into the Pacific terminal of Balboa and seize the warehouses there. The adjacent old Rodman Naval Base on the Pacific side will be the objective of the 23rd Marine Expeditionary Unit in an amphibious assault. They will provide reinforcements and take out any resistance from the Panamanian Defense Force and Chinese units in the town of Balboa.

“On the Atlantic side, the 26th MEU will assault Cristobal in support of a third Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division. We are using paratroopers to maximize the element of surprise. It will be a low-level flight group, five hundred feet off the deck, all the way from Fort Bragg in C-130s for these two airborne assaults. The 101st Airborne Division will be delivered to Howard Air Force Base on the Pacific side by massive airlift of Air Force C17s. I have ordered the 101st off border duty and ordered the reserves in place to hold down the fort in the desert. The 101st is martialing at Fort Bliss in El Paso as we speak. Things have really quieted down along the border, and I see no reason to maintain an active line division there.

“The 101st Airborne will assault and hold the air field. Our major concern is that it is going to require every Air Force Transport aircraft in the inventory. We are not aware of any enemy fighter or interceptor aircraft in the Canal Zone, but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be any. Navy F-18F Hornets from the USS John C. Stennis will provide fighter coverage. One Marine airborne battalion will assault Ancon Hill where the old Quarry Heights Headquarters for SOUTHCOM used to be, while a second assaults the old Albrook Air Force Station. Galeta Island will be guarded by a battalion of Marines in a classic amphibious operation. Fort Sherman on the Atlantic side will be taken by Marines in a vertical assault from the USS Iwo Jima Assault Ship. The 101st Airborne will establish a holding facility for any Chinese and others that are taken prisoner at Howard Air Force Base. Army Rangers aboard ships will disembark at critical points along the entire length of the Canal. Navy SEALs will check all of the locks and dams. That’s it in a nutshell, Mr. Secretary.”

“Thank you, General. We received a report last night that the Chinese have DF-21A missiles in the warehouses at both ports. As we all know, these are cold launch missiles whose engines ignite in flight and can be launched very quickly. They can carry a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead for 1500 miles. They can reach any city in the United States. They are only thirty feet long and easily fit inside a standard ocean-going shipping container.”

“We will have helicopter gunships in support of the assault units, Mr. Secretary. If any missile comes rolling out of a warehouse, those ships can fill it with enough holes that they will never initiate launch.”

Chapter 38

The Chinese ambassador’s phone rang at 02:00 hours. It was Marge Talbott. She politely requested the presence of his Excellency Kuan Sheng to meet with the President and herself in precisely one hour at the White House. Groggy from sleep and a bit too much alcohol from the cocktail party earlier in the evening, he grumbled as he quickly showered and dressed. His sedan was waiting for him as he emerged from the Chinese Embassy. At 02:55, the sedan pulled up to the White House.

Johnny Whittaker escorted the Ambassador into the Oval Office where Marge Talbott, Jim Neville, Ralph Gardner and the President were drinking coffee and animatedly chatting. They all stood when Kuan Shang entered the room. Kuan Shang politely bowed to the President first and the others in turn without speaking.

Jason Thornton waved Kuan Shang into a chair with his hand and said, “I’m sorry to awaken you at this hour, Mr. Ambassador. I have some critical information for you that you will wish to communicate to your government as soon as possible, I am sure.”

Now fully awake, Kuan Sheng leaned forward in his chair, a furrow appeared in his brow, and he grasped both arms of his chair.

“As of this moment, Mr. Ambassador, we are launching an attack upon the Republic of Panama. Our objectives are the warehouses that house your missiles. We are aware of your submarines in the area. We have pinpointed them precisely, and I have given the order that if they open the outer doors of their torpedo tubes, they are to be immediately sunk. There is no recourse. Additionally, I have ordered all of our ICBMs to target each Chinese city on the coast as well as Peking, Darien, and a number of others. If you launch a single missile in our direction, attack a single American ship, you will launch a new phase of World War III. In effect, with our MIRVs, the design which you stole back in the 1990s, with six warheads per missile, we will obliterate your hopes of world domination and a modern China. You are probably not aware that instead of the original twenty-five kiloton weapons in each independent re-entry vehicle, due to miniaturization, we have upgraded them to one hundred-kiloton warheads. We do have a few with warheads in the megaton range for your larger cities.

“Look at me, Mr. Ambassador! I am not bluffing. I will order the destruction of your nation in the blink of an eye if China so much as twitches. Here is the position of all of your nuclear submarines capable of launching any kind of missile against United States territory as of one hour ago. You can confirm their positions when you communicate to your Government.” He handed Kuan Sheng a piece of paper with the names and locations of forty submarines listed.

Kuan Sheng took the paper very carefully and read down the list. He realized that he did not know the accuracy, but he recognized the names of many of the submarines. He looked up at Jason Thornton, then looked at the others in the room, but said nothing. They were as inscrutable as he was. Inwardly, he was absolutely seething. If the United States seized the missiles in Panama, it would reveal not only the state of their nuclear defenses and rocketry, but the massive biological weapons program.

“In addition, Mr. Ambassador, if there is a single outbreak of some exotic disease in the United States, be it against humans, our crops or domestic animals, we will retaliate. You are not the only one who knows how to genetically engineer viruses and bacteria. While President Richard Nixon ordered the destruction of our entire biological and chemical stocks in 1969, I have directed the appropriate institutions to initiate research into possible biological weapons once again. Offensive weapons, Mr. Ambassador, to retaliate against any nation that uses biological weapons against us. We both know that these pose a far greater threat in the long run than nuclear weapons. We will ensure that our own population, every man, woman, and child, is vaccinated against any biological weapons that we select for deployment. I will candidly admit that right now we have no such capability, so our response for the immediate future will be nuclear. I would prefer to avoid any environmental destruction such as we have recently witnessed on the Asian continent. I don’t know how accurate a nuclear winter scenario is, but it is something I would prefer not to risk. Therefore, I will proceed with such research on biological weapons and their defense as I deem necessary to protect our country through a balance of, shall I say, biological power?”

“As regards to your invasion of the Central Asian Republics, Southeast Asia, and of Africa, I can only say this. It is too late to stop you in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. You already own them. The west was not at all prepared for such an explosion of your conquests. I have communicated with the nations of Western Europe. That includes Russia. We agree that it is necessary for you to withdraw from Africa. It presents you with too much of an advantage to launch an attack on the Persian Gulf and the Middle East. Therefore, you must withdraw your forces from Africa. Your daily convoys of troops and supplies must cease within twenty-four hours. If they do not, we will engage you in submarine and other forms of naval warfare. We will first sink all your submarines that you have on picket duty in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Then we will assault your convoys from the air, land and sea. Should you attempt retaliation against any nation participating in this coalition, of the naval and air forces conducting such interdiction, we will be forced to conclude that you desire to expand World War III into nuclear war. Therefore, I strongly urge your government to withdraw all your naval and land forces now on or in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.

“The government of Iran has suddenly seen the light. They are now actively seeking coalition partners with Europe and the United States. We are no longer the Great Satan. They now regard China as a re-incarnation of the feared Mongol Hordes of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. You have turned Islam, or what’s left of it, against you. Even the hordes of your Asian brethren in Indonesia and the Republic of the Philippines now regard you as a far greater threat to Islam than western democracy and their materialistic decadence.

“Russia is now seen as the front line of battle. What is left of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are scrambling to rebuild their ties with Russia and inviting western powers to build bases to ensure that there is no further encroachment on their territories. Indeed, they are asking the European Union, NATO and the United States to go to war with you on their lands. We will not engage you in a conventional war upon the Asian continent at this time. Rather, weapons of mass destruction are our only option. I cannot guarantee what the future holds; that depends a great deal upon you. You have eliminated hundreds of millions of the peoples of the Asian subcontinent, destroyed cultures foreign to your own, launched the destruction of nuclear wars, and earned the enmity of the world. As far as your being the manufacturing center of the world, that cannot be denied. If the rest of the world imposes tremendous tariffs on your goods and re-institutes manufacturing in their own countries, your economy could collapse in a relatively short time.

“Within twenty-four hours, the rest of the world will know of our invasion of Panama and what we have seized in your warehouses of the Hutchison-Whampoa and COSCO shipping companies. We will make the results public. We are taking journalists embedded in our forces into those warehouses for independent confirmation. The nations of Western Europe are having similar conversations with their ambassadors from China as I am having with you. The only difference is that they are not knowledgeable of our invasion of Panama at the moment. They will know it as soon as we are finished here.

“Your government has some hard choices to make, Mr. Ambassador, and precious little time in which to make them. If you do not withdraw as I have outlined, the United States Navy will initiate maritime war. All warships have already received their instructions to proceed into combat unless otherwise countermanded. That includes nuclear launch from our Ohio and Trident nuclear submarines. That is just in case you decide to try and take out the U.S. leadership, meaning myself and the rest of Washington, D.C. I pray that your government makes the right choices. Secretary Albright has a detailed list for you to ensure that you don’t overlook anything in your communications.”