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

off? There are several switches, including a red button. Can I assume that’s the one I shouldn’t touch?”

“Don’t touch anything! Now that you’ve got it, can I turn off the jammer? Then we can have communications with the rest of the world and let the FBI pukes earn their salaries.”

“Okay, turn off the jammer. But I’m too busy to start calling JTTF. Where’s the boat?”

“Funny thing you should ask. The boat’s heading inland, toward Rodeo Beach.”

“Kella,” Steve called on the radio, “I’ve got the trigger, but he could be in any one of thirty or forty buildings. Our only chance is to intercept him when he tries to get to the beach, which is where Al says the boat’s heading. Go up the coast about a hundred yards away from the water’s edge, and I’ll come to you.”

***

A fiery red ball was now rising well above the horizon, burning through the fog and shining straight in the general’s eyes. He pulled down the brim of his Yankees cap and put on sunglasses. Hiding under the huge, semicircular concrete overhang that had protected the fort’s 16-inch guns, he thought the position would be excellent for defense, even for a man in his situation. But he had no intention of getting into a firefight with the Americans. He would get to the boat, make it back to Iran, and continue his country’s struggle with the Great Satan.

He looked at his watch again. Although he could not see the boat, he expected it to arrive at any moment and, looking carefully to each side, he sprinted silently across the road and started to negotiate a steep descent toward the water.

***

Kella had left her bike and the beach behind and, staying about halfway between the water and the road, she headed toward Battery Townsley. The narrow road from the Rodeo Beach parking lot was about fifty feet above the shore and, closed to visitor traffic, it stopped in front of the battery. Although this was not the ideal geography for a boat pick up, it would not be impossible for the general to get on board, she reasoned.

She chose a recess among the rocks and woody shrubs halfway up the hill and, turning her back to the bay, she scanned left and right up the hill then waited, her hand on her weapon.

***

Yosemani watched the woman choose and settle into her place of concealment. He was surprised the Americans allowed women in their SWAT units, if that was what he was dealing with. But where were the ten or eleven others that usually made up a SWAT team? Adjusting the binoculars, he could just make out her profile. He was surprised again. He now recognized her as Kella Hastings, who had pretended to be someone else in Brussels. If the Hastings woman was here, he thought, Steve Church must be the driver of the black SUV. He felt confident that despite his lack of field experience in recent years, he could still best two young Americans at this game. Church presumably had more men with him. He pointed his binoculars toward the water and finally saw the outline of Kazemi’s boat approaching the beach. He calculated the distance to the girl to be 50 yards or less. He needed to take her out before she could hear the boat. But he needed to do it quietly, to avoid bringing Church and others to her assistance. Trusting that the sound of the waves would cover his approach, he started to move toward her, unsheathing a serrated knife from his jacket.

***

Steve was now on the bay side of a small public restroom, a brick structure looking inland, when a muffled engine sound made him turn around. “Kella,” he said in his lapel mic, “I can see the boat. It cannot be farther than seventy-five yards or so. There’s no one on the beach, so I assume the general must be near the battery, closer to you. I’m starting to move in your direction.”

He picked up the briefcase containing the remote triggering device and, keeping the building and some small evergreens between him and the boat, he started running toward Kella’s position.

***

Seeing the boat approach, the general, now only twenty-five yards from Kella, was forced to turn his attention away from her and toward the boat. Crouching behind the bushes, he pointed his laser device toward Kazemi and began signaling to him.

***

Kella was now facing the bay. She had to stand in order to see the boat and, in that position, she could see the back of a man below her near the water. Almost as soon as she realized her quarry was so close, a hail of bullets struck to her right and she hit the ground instantly, trying to lie as low as possible. The firing must have come from the boat. She looked toward the beach and could now see Steve stopped, crouching and looking toward her.

She heard more firing. This time the bullets were aimed at Steve, whom she could no longer see.

Then she heard noise below her and crawled away from her first location. Peering around the bushes, she could see the general starting to wade toward the boat, which was now only ten yards away from him.

“Like hell,” she said out loud, reaching for her semi-automatic rifle. But just as she lined up to fire, the boat exploded, propelling the two shooters off its deck like rockets. A few seconds later, she caught sight of one of Al’s birds, and then the other, circling a hundred feet or so above the boat like hawks. The general, momentarily stunned, had dropped under the water.

She jumped up and ran toward the shore. When he resurfaced, she shouted, “Get your hands up!”

The general froze in place, but then she saw him pivot and draw a pistol from his jacket with