The Red Cell, André Gallo [best classic books to read .txt] 📗

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.

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