THE RED CELL
André Le Gallo
Also by André Le Gallo:
The Caliphate
Satan’s Spy
The Red Cell
By André Le Gallo
© 2021 André Le Gallo
Original copyright © 2016
All Rights Reserved
Published in the United States of America
By D Street Books
A division of Mountain Lake Press
Cover design by Jutta Medina
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a data base or other retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
All statements of fact, opinion, or analysis expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official positions or views of the CIA or any other U.S. Government agency. Nothing in the contents should be construed as asserting or implying U.S. Government authentication of information or Agency endorsement of the author’s views. This material has been reviewed by the CIA to prevent the disclosure of classified information.
To Cathy
Everyone’s cheerleader, the co-author of my life,
the center of my existence…
To my parents…
And to the American soldiers who liberated France.
Contents
FOREWORD
PROLOGUE
1. Old Executive Office Building, Washington
2. Fairfax County, Virginia
3. CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia
4. Damascus
5. Alexandria, Virginia
6. The White House, West Wing
7. Washington
8. Larnaca, Cyprus
9. Bucharest
10. Langley
11. Brussels
12. Silicon Valley, California
13. New York
14. Mechelen, Belgium
15. Charleroi, Belgium
16. Free University of Brussels
17. Brasserie Gaillard, Brussels
18. Charleroi
19. Kristen’s Apartment
20. Waterloo, Belgium
21. Svetlana’s House
22. Iranian Safe House, Charleroi
23. Avenue Wellington
24. Aisha’s Apartment
25. The White House
26. Back at Kristen’s Apartment
27. Iranian Embassy, Brussels
28. Zaventem Airport
29. Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany
30. Grande Place, Brussels
31. The ‘Croatians’
32. The ‘Bulgarians’
33. Paris
34. United Nations, New York
35. Langley Redux
36. Sausalito, California
37. McLean, Virginia
38. Golden Gate Bridge
39. Tiburon, California
40. New York Redux
41. Marin Headlands
42. The White House and a Federal Building in San Francisco
43. Tiburon Compound
44. Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, California
45. Beirut
46. The Knolls, San Rafael, California
47. Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands
Friday, 0210 hours
0445
0500
0505
0515
0530
0530
0530
0538
0540
0540
0545
0550
0555
0600
0600
0605
0605
0610
0610
48. Rodeo Beach
49. The Oval Office
AFTERWORD
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FOREWORD
The definition of an unsung hero is one you don’t know about. So you have not heard, in all probability, of this author. I have, because we shared a training course in 1963. It was no ordinary classroom yawn. It was the CIA training for future operations officers—rigorous, physically and mentally challenging, sometimes sleep deprived, and sometimes demanding the spontaneous invention of a scenario for an unfolding operation.
The canvas of a would-be operations officer starts with a foreign problem or even quagmire that demands insights—covertly acquired intelligence—in order to understand the true situation, or the true intentions of an antagonist.
The training scenarios attempted to prepare us to deal with people from very different cultures, on foreign lands that might be unwelcoming. We also understood we would often be alone in using our assessment skills with a foreigner whom we hoped could be convinced to be receptive to our needs.
A winning, compassionate personality would help. Not to mention “think on your feet” adjustments to surprising information, or hints that a person you wanted to trust was not quite what he wanted you to believe.
The thing I remember most from the first week of that training was the quality of the men and a few women who were my new colleagues. It wasn’t just that they had good educations, law or other advanced degrees, or living experience abroad. More than that, they were bright, quick-witted, admirable young Americans, all eager to serve their country. And the author of this book, André Le Gallo, was a standout.
André didn’t try to be a standout. Indeed, we understood from our training it was much better NOT to be noticed. Not to call attention to our covert activities. Not to be labeled by a foreign intelligence service as “probably a CIA officer”. Better to be, or seem to be “unsung.”
But André’s background was different than most of ours. And in time, I learned that his boyhood in Brittany, France included staying out of the way of and playing tricks on Nazi soldiers during World War II. He already knew a thing or two about real life deception and guile. But in training André was solid and sensible and dependable. You wanted him on your side.
Then we all went off into the Cold War to, in fact, serve our country. André journeyed to Laos to lead mountain tribes as his first challenge. I went in a different direction to serve. But we were in touch—not often—over the next thirty-five years of adventure and innumerable scenarios. André became very, very good as an intelligence officer. You will have to take my word for that. But near the end of those many years, I was in a position to see some of the outstanding bits of one of his fine operations. It comes as no surprise to see another scenario, this time his third novel, from my old comrade.
I’m not going to tell you anything about his story:
EXCEPT that it, like a James Bond adventure, will keep you on the edge of your chair.
EXCEPT that when he tells you a detail of a place in Brussels or Bucharest or Tehran, it is because he still remembers it vividly from his travels there.
And EXCEPT when he describes the nasty symptoms one of his characters has suffered from the disease known as ALS, it reflects his courage in personally facing that condition.
Enjoy your
