The Red Cell André Gallo (essential reading .txt) 📖

blew out his eardrums, as they sliced through the fence and blew the posts out into the roadway.

Gardiner regained his senses a couple of minutes later, in time to see two more men getting off another motorcycle on the sidewalk and leaning it against the pedestrian railing. “Dammit!” he said to himself. “Don’t these people know the law?”

Ignoring him, they looked toward a truck approaching from the north in the slow lane. When it stopped, the men moved to the cargo doors, opened them, and pulled out a metal ramp, which they quickly laid down into the roadway, next to the sidewalk over the remnants of the destroyed fence.

The men quickly inspected the placement, and one of them waved the truck to the right over the ramp and onto the sidewalk while another dialed a number on his cell phone. In apparent frustration, he tried to redial several times and, shaking his head, said several angry words to his partner, who also tried to call but gave up after a few more tries. Agitated, they spoke to each other loudly in a language Gardiner did not understand but sounded Middle Eastern before refocusing their attention on the truck.

Gardiner could now see the truck was a UPS vehicle. While the bikers were busy with their phones, the truck had backed up about five feet, swung out into the next lane, and turned its wheels sharply to get on the ramp. But as the truck maneuvered slowly onto the sidewalk, almost running over Gardiner’s legs, two cars collided into each other in an attempt to avoid the truck. They skidded to a stop and a car crashed into them. Hearing the noise, Gardiner could see headlights suddenly pointing in different directions. All traffic stopped behind the accident and the only sound he heard was of idling engines.

The UPS truck made its way to the exact middle of the span and edged next to the main bridge railing and the main suspension cable.

 0555

Yosemani could see the stopped traffic on the bridge and concluded the truck was in the right position. He tried to call his team, but quickly understood the situation when his cell phone refused to give him a signal. The Americans must now be protecting the bridge with the same counter IED technology they used in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he had trained his commandos in the Tiburon hideout. He assumed they would exercise the alternative plan.

He also assumed the worst: the signal to explode the truck remotely from his location would also be jammed. But now that the truck was in place, he would wait until he could see his men rappel down to Kazemi’s boat and try to trigger the explosion before driving to the exfiltration point.

 0600

“Steve,” McCabe said on the transceiver, “we found bikes and we’re starting to cross the bridge, but traffic’s stopped on the roadway. What’s going on in front of us? How about putting your bird to work?”

“Willco,” Steve replied.

“Al,” Steve said, “Turn the bird back to the bridge.”

“Okay, but we’re close enough to the overlook to see a vehicle’s parked there. But not long. The engine’s still warm.”

“That’s all I need to know,” Kella said, picking up her weapon and opening the door.

“Wait, wait,” Steve said, putting his hand on her arm. “We know where he is. He won’t get far. Our priority’s still the bridge. Let’s see what’s going on there. Then we’ll deal with the general.”

 0600

Although Gardiner was still losing blood, he fought to stay attentive, determined to report everything he saw. He could see and hear people who had left their cars and were speaking in increasingly loud voices. Those were probably the drivers and passengers involved in the pileup. He could also see other people getting out of their cars from farther down the lanes, curious to know why they were being held up and why the traffic wasn’t moving.

Those directly involved in the accident, he noticed, started moving in his direction. Two men, now walking quickly, called out to the five men around the truck. “Hey,” one of them shouted. “Which one of you is the driver? Did you see what you did? Where did you learn how to drive?”

At that, Gardiner saw the man in the Raiders cap pull out his pistol and fire it several times in the air. Suddenly the commuters who had come out of their cars retreated, except for two men who tried to rally them while crouched behind the cars in the slow lane closest to the truck. Gardiner noticed others coming out of their vehicles then paying heed to shouts of “get down,” joined their fellow commuters behind the stopped cars.

 0605

“McCabe,” Steve said on the transceiver, “There’s a truck on the ocean side, and it’s up on the sidewalk. We saw a lot of people get out of their vehicles and close in around the truck. Some scattered, probably because the Quds guys pulled out weapons, but it looks like more people are advancing. How close are you? Should we come down? If you don’t need us, we have another target up here.”

“Roger that,” McCabe responded, breathing hard as they pedaled up the span. “We’re almost there. You take care of your business up there. We’ll handle the Quds guys.”

 0605

“I’ve been trying to call 911 for five minutes now,” a man dressed in a three piece suit said loudly to those around him, “but my cell won’t work. Anybody having better luck?”

“I hope UPS has deep pockets,” another man grumbled. “And why the hell are they armed and shooting at us?”

 0610

As the commuters got closer, angrier and louder, the Raider ordered the driver and two of his men to rappel down to Kazemi’s boat, which he had spotted below them. He then gave an order to Oakland As, who quickly deployed a detonating cord, crimping