We posted the video at 7:44 PM on Tuesday, May 16. My assistant in Australia had instructions to send links to the major news outlets, though I hoped that step would be unnecessary. The clamor that resulted was predictably focused mainly in the United States, where people were starved for good news.
Many old friends emailed to wish me luck; a few went so far as to ask if there was anywhere they could sign up. My assistant had quickly pointed out to me that I could, in fact, accept financial donations. I had him set up the Lafayette Fund and, within a day, I had received a few million dollars. While some of those donations were wealthy acquaintances of mine, a heart-warming number came in the $1 to $50 range. Accompanying those donations were more personal messages of support ranging from the absurd:
“Why aren't you taking on the U.S. government? They're the ones putting fluoride in our water. If you go to www.anarchistsagainstfluoride.com, it'll tell you the whole story…”
To the touching:
“My son was a mess technician second class on the Lincoln in Task Force 61. God bless you.”
My fame took on many unexpected dimensions. Merlin Printing even enjoyed a patriotic surge in business as consumers clamored to support the company I had started. While sales in China predictably nose-dived, that market had been stagnating in recent years anyway. I also received several proposals for marriage from women around the world who had managed to find my personal email address.
Not all the reactions were positive. Many countries in South America and Africa officially declared the Lafayette Initiative a terrorist organization. The old Chavista socialists in Venezuela even offered a bounty on my head and claimed that they were sending counter-terrorism specialists to aid their allies in China in hunting me down.
When McCormick heard about that, he had a good laugh. “I was in Venezuela just before the war broke out. Their security forces couldn't catch a cold.”
The United Kingdom and Canada expressed their support for us, which was also predictable. Those two countries had been the only major powers to join the United States in formally declaring war on the People's Republic. While their armed forces were not in a position to offer much in the way of substantive help, I was flattered to receive a message of support from King Charles III.
Neutral observers mostly compared us to privateers, state-sanctioned pirates who had preyed on enemy merchant shipping in the age of sail. My only complaint there was technical. None of the money that went into the Lafayette Initiative came from theft or unlawful confiscation.
The most important reaction to our announcement, though I did not regard it as such at the time, came from the People's Republic itself. In order to combat the Lafayette Initiative, the People's Liberation Army publicly announced the creation of a special counter-terrorism unit to be called Unit One. That in itself was meant as an homage to Unit Zero, which had been almost entirely wiped out in Taiwan by the Knights.
The Chinese managed to find a survivor of Unit Zero, Captain Wu Fong, to head the new Unit One. Fong had made the front page of Chinese newspapers during the initial invasion of Taiwan when he was wounded leading a Unit Zero raid on a Taiwanese air defense station on Quemoy Island.
I had Fei retrieve the Taiwanese intelligence file on Captain Fong. Thirty-five. Married. Three sons. From Quanzhou, his family still lived there. Several commendations on file, probably more that Taiwanese intelligence didn't know about. Squeaky clean. No known vices. When he wasn't off being a commando for China, he served as the leader of his son's Young Pioneers group, the Chinese equivalent to the Boy Scouts.
Volodya's summary of Captain Fong was succinct: “He's a goddamn hero.”
The captain's interviews on television following his appointment confirmed that assessment. Fei provided the translation, though the look of earnestness really told the whole story:
“The people of the Middle Kingdom did nothing to the United States, nothing to this capitalist robber baron fighting to keep his dirty money safe with his cronies in Taiwan. I will hunt him and his mercenaries down so that the streets of Quanzhou will once again be safe for my boys to walk on.”
Chapter 12
The Pentagon reacted to our video with a request. It seemed the weeks since the sinking of Task Force 61 had not been entirely wasted. The military's first priority was to establish air superiority over the island of Taiwan. That would both help the Taiwanese when they eventually had to fight a conventional battle against the People's Liberation Army and enable the U.S. to start airlifting American Army and Marine ground units to Taiwan to turn the tide of fighting.
With the Navy's carriers effectively out of the fight after the massacre of Task Force 61, the best Navy pilots were already stationed at Guam, flying combat air patrols as close to Taiwan as they could. The Navy's F-35's were, however, not quite as advanced as China's J-10 fighters, and only about as effective as the older Chinese Su-30's. The Air Force hoped to sway the balance of power by deploying several dozen F-22 Raptor fighters to Guam. The Raptors, whose development had begun nearly forty years earlier, were still formidable weapons, doubtless due to the fact that they were designed solely to shoot down other aircraft.
Though the recession and pared down defense budgets of the past fifteen years had whittled down the F-22 fleet, there were still enough to put up a serious fight. The Chinese J-10, more than a match against the F-35 Lightning that was the mainstay of both the U.S. and Taiwanese air forces, was at a decided disadvantage against the stealthy, fast, maneuverable Raptor. But there were hundreds of J-10's and other Chinese fighters prowling the skies over Taiwan, and the Chinese airbases were much closer to Taiwan than Guam was, making the numerical disparity even greater. The F-22's could peck away at the People's Liberation Army-Air Force, sniping a few fighters at a time, but in order to seriously contest the skies, someone had to slow the J-10's.
The Pentagon asked us to do whatever we could to hurt the Chinese air force. Destroy planes on the ground. Take out fuel and ammo dumps. Whatever we could manage.
I turned the question over to Douglas and Dietrich, my most trusted strategic thinkers.
Dietrich didn't hesitate. “I looked this problem over once for the Bundeswehr. The best way to ground an enemy air force isn't to go after the planes or the fuel. A country like China has massive reserves of both and can always get more.”
A glint in Dietrich's eyes. “But what's one thing they can't get more of quickly?”
Douglas and I looked at each other, stumped. I answered, “Tell us.”
A wicked grin flashed across Dietrich's face. “Pilots. It takes years to make a fighter pilot. And the best ones are worth a dozen planes.”
Douglas asked, “Alright, so how do we kill the pilots? Sabotage their ejection seats?”
Dietrich almost laughed as he explained. “You never attack an enemy where he is strongest. When those pilots are at the controls of their J-10's, they're almost invincible. So, tell me, where are the pilots vulnerable?”
“On the ground,” Douglas offered.
Dietrich rolled his eyes. “Yes, but maybe we can be a bit more specific. Any thoughts?”
I said, “Not when they're at a base. At that point, they're surrounded by guards and soldiers.”
Nodding emphatically, Dietrich said, “You're on the right track, Mr. Cortez.”
The idea hit me. “At their homes?”
Dietrich threw his hands up theatrically. “At last! Yes, Mr. Cortez, the pilots are most vulnerable when they're off-base. Most pilots are officers, and officers tend to have families and lives. They don't usually live on base. And when they're at home, well, they're less capable than us. They aren't even trained in ground combat.”