The Red Cell AndrĂ© Gallo (essential reading .txt) đ
- Author: André Gallo
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Steve took her in his arms and hugged her for a minute. Then he pulled the chair out for her, as Kristen began serving the omelet.
âBy the way, Kristen,â Steve said, âShouldnât you be at work?â
âDidnât I tell you? Lester took over my job as the message carrier for Dalton, or should I call her âNightingale?â I donât think he could stand having a junior officer get more face time with the presidentâs chief of staff than he did. He has that type of reputation in the station. Before I got here, he forced himself into an operation with high potential. The recruitment target was an Algerian code clerk. Someone else had established a personal contact with him and had developed and assessed him, but Lester horned in on the recruitment in order to take the credit. Anyway, Iâm going in late this morning.â
âYou all know I talked with headquarters during the night,â Steve said. âLet me bring you up to date. Bob Trent called. Heâs head of the Counter Terrorism Center. He said NSA had detected a change in the pattern of the communications between the Iranian missionâmuch, much more chatterâand Tehran.â He took a sip of coffee and continued. âAnd then they plugged in the word âNightingaleâ in their search. It turns out our girl has been very busy these last few days getting debriefed at the Iranian Embassy.â
He looked around at everyone at the table and said, âOf course, the fact NSA is able to read Iranian communications out of Brussels is very closely held. Câ Looking specifically at Colonel Vanness, he said, âYouâve been very helpful to us, Colonel, and I am treating you as a member of our team. I trust you will honor the secrecy of this information.â
âYou have my word,â he replied giving Steve a military salute.
***
Later that morning, after Vanness and Kristen had left, Steve received the results of the VP meeting from LaFont by secure email. âIt looks like a lot of people stayed up all night,â he said as Kella, McCabe, and Hunter sat patiently in the living room to hear their new marching orders.
âDaltonâs father worked for a tire company in Shiraz, where he met and married an Iranian girl. They gave birth to Victoria Aisha and stayed in Iran long enough for the child to attend an Iranian school, where she began a very serious Shiite education under her motherâs tutelage. The mother apparently brought her on a pilgrimage to Karbala, during which a large number of Shiites, including a brother, were killed during a Sunni attack. There is no record of her having ever been in India.â
âThat only proves she lied about her place of birth. But is she a spy?â McCabe asked.
âAccording to the reporting from the Iranian Embassy here quoting the Nightingale, she has blown every CIA and JSOC operation in the Middle East, from Benghazi and what the CIA was doing there, to our training camps on the Turkish Syrian border, to our special-ops teams with the rebels in Syria and, of most interest to the Iranians, the locations and timing of the insertion teams weâve been sending into Iran to locate their defensive missile sites. They also know weâve been placing sensors all around their nuclear installations; Natanz and others. Thanks to the Nightingale, Tehran is also informed of our ship movements in the Persian Gulf.â
By now, McCabeâs mouth was gaping. âThat definitely makes her a spy.â
âSpy? Hell, sheâs a traitor!â snarled Hunter.
âYouâre right about that!â Steve said. âItâs our job to bring her to justice.â
âIf NSA has been reading the Iranian traffic, then thereâs nothing new here. Except now they know the identity of the Nightingale,â Kella said.
âAccording to Trent,â Steve replied, âthe NSA breakthrough has taken place only in the last twenty-four hours.â
âSo what are we supposed to do?â Kella asked. âSeems to me that, instead of canceling our rendition operation, the White House would want us to grab the general.â
âTrent said that for the moment, all we should do is keep an eye on Nightingale, although the vice president agrees with you Kella. We need to snatch the bastard. Meanwhile, the president has sent a message for her to come home. What we can do is make sure she gets on the right plane. Iâll call Vanness and tell him to get some of his watching the Nightingale, twenty-four seven.â
A few minutes later, Steve returned from his bedroom after making the call. âOkay, weâre going back to work, guys. Vannessâs team is no longer available. I think theyâre still a little frazzled from their confrontation with the DuChemin group. Our target is now at the Iranian Embassy. McCabe, you and Hunter start tracking her there. Kella and I will watch for her at her apartment building.â
27. Iranian Embassy, Brussels
The Iranian ambassador, a tall man in a buttoned-up collarless shirt and suit, was followed by his secretary as he entered his conference room. She set her tray of tea and cookies on the large mahogany table and turned to leave the room.
âThank you Leila,â Aisha said, knowing this stern-looking, hefty woman had been called on to perform a wide array of duties in her thirty years of service. She respected and liked her.
âWe have been here long enough,â Yosemani said. âThe White House has ordered Aisha back to Washington. The president probably wants her to prepare for direct negotiations with us; choose a staff, define negotiation options, et cetera.â
Looking at his wife, he said, âThere is a KLM flight tonight that goes to Dulles Airport after transiting Amsterdam. You
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