The Red Cell by André Gallo (the top 100 crime novels of all time TXT) 📕

Nevada to New Jersey who have never heard of the Bay Bridge, let alone an Iranian. The Golden Gate Bridge is well known throughout the world; it’s a West Coast icon.”

Baxter poured himself a glass of water and took a sip. “I agree both the airport and the bridge are logical targets. The president insists that you, Steve, and you, Kella, play a major role in catching or killing Yosemani. You know him best, and I understand that you, Kella, would not mind paying him back. But we all understand this isn’t about vengeance; it’s about our national security.”

“The FBI takes the lead investigative role in any terrorist threat in the US and our San Francisco field office will stand up a command post to manage all investigative activity and leads,” Fairbanks said, pulling the cuffs of his sleeves to reveal monogrammed cufflinks. “The Joint Terrorist Task Force includes all law enforcement agencies in the city, as well as the Coast Guard.”

“And the CIA,” LaFont added.

“We are well aware of the JTTF,” Maloney said, “and we have already sent Jonathan Spencer to chair the San Francisco group. He is FBI and knows the Iranians well.”

“Alright, so we’re agreed.” Baxter said. “The JTTF will stand up as a command post. Steve and Kella will reinforce the city’s capabilities, but they are not under JTTF or FBI control. They have White House authorization to obtain assistance from any JTTF agency as well as from the military if they so require it.”

“I do have requests that will need immediate action sir.” Steve said.

“Let Hank have them after this meeting.”

“There’s one more thing,” LaFont said. “Go ahead, Bob, about the timing.”

“Yes, we have reason to believe the retaliation will take place very soon after the attack on Syria,” Bob Trent said.

“Don’t give me ‘we have reason to believe,’” Baxter said. “Speak English.”

“Yes, sir, we know directly that Khazaee, the Iranian Intelligence Officer at the U.N., plans to explode a bomb inside the CIA. The agent believes this is supposed to occur right after our missiles rain down on Syria. Knowing how the Iranians operate, we conclude the CIA and the San Francisco attacks will occur simultaneously.”

“Steve,” LaFont said, “should I alert Hunter and McCabe?”

“Definitely, thanks.”

43. Tiburon Compound

General Yosemani, his bodyguard, and Kazemi were in the movie star’s garage as the four Quds Force commandos, all wearing newly purchased baseball caps with California logos, retrieved the Semtex from the lettuce truck and from the scores of falsely addressed packages in the UPS truck.

“Having your soldiers here,” Khazaee said, “is a big help. But unloading the Semtex and reloading it into the UPS truck is going to take more time. And setting up the explosives on the bridge and securing the perimeter seems more than four men can do. So a couple of days ago, I sent a message to our Electronic Warfare Department in Tehran to see if they could hack into the bridge’s CCTV system. Tehran did the basic work and our consulate techs in Vancouver did the rest. Now we can see exactly what the bridge security office can see on its six cameras in the administration building near the tollbooths on the south side of the bridge. There are three cameras on each tower, two facing the bridge itself and another facing the approach. More important, we can stop the feed to the security office at any time we want. And there is a seventh camera that covers the parking lot to the administrative building.”

“Good,” the general said. “That will make our job much easier. And you are right about the work on the truck. The two of you go help them.”

As his bodyguard and Kazemi helped the commandos, Yosemani stepped outside to examine the five sheets of metal and the bags of sand that had been delivered that morning. He had never seen the preparations necessary to explode one thousand pounds of Semtex, a third again more powerful than TNT, and ensure the force of the explosion did not dissipate in all directions. His Quds Force experts had told him tamping, packing the explosive material tightly on all sides—except on the side adjacent to the target—would multiply the effective force of the explosion. If twelve ounces of Semtex could bring down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, if fertilizer could destroy the Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, then a half-ton of Semtex should be able to cut a three-foot steel cable.

Molding the high-energy, plastic-like material into shaped charges, cone-like concave spaces pointing at the target, increase the effectiveness considerably. That he was not someone to trust to chance had often allowed him to succeed where others had failed. He was therefore going to use all the complementary force-multiplier techniques available. The mission had become a professional challenge to accomplish several goals: revenge for Aisha’s death; retaliation for the expected missile attack on Syria, which was virtually an extension of Iran; and a promotion to the command of the IRGC. Or would it be a suicide mission? But he had every intention to succeed and escape with his men.

The most important question, of course, was when would the Americans strike Syria? Lucky, he thought. The American media, as well as the White House, would be so cooperative by informing him of their most detailed thoughts. Now that the U.S. president was trying to persuade Congress to share responsibility for any unexpected consequences, the general had more time to perfect his preparations. He was confident the White House, the media, or leaks from the various government agencies would give him sufficient warning.

He was ruminating over American hypocrisy, its total lack of concern when Saddam Hussein had gassed thousands of Iranians during the Iraq-Iran war and its sudden moral indignation over the recent deaths of 1500 Syrians from the same cause, when he was interrupted by Kazemi, who