| Remote Control | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Andy McNab |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Thriller |
| Publisher | Corgi |
| Publication date | 1997 |
| Media type | Paperback |
| Pages | 506 |
| ISBN | 0-552-14591-2 |
| OCLC Number | 44829470 |
| Preceded by | none |
| Followed by | Crisis Four |
Remote Control is a 1997 novel by Andy McNab. It introduced the character Nick Stone. It was the Sunday Times number one bestseller.
Nick Stone left the Special Air Service, in 1988, soon after the shooting of three IRA volunteers in Gibraltar. Now working for British Intelligence on deniable operations, he discovers the seemingly senseless murders of a fellow SAS soldier and his family in Washington, DC. Only a seven year old daughter, Kelly, has survived - and the two of them are immediately on the run from unidentified pursuers. Stone doesn't even know which of them is the target.
Hiding out in several hotels, he is attacked by an assassin named Luther, who is after Nick and Kelly. He subdues Luther and leaves him, going back to the hotel. Eventually, at one of the hotels, whilst spying another hotel for a long time, Kelly points out a man who was in contact with her father, who Nick realizes is a PIRA terrorist named Morgan McGear. Nick infiltrates the hotel at night, sneaking in with Kelly, and whilst recovering incriminating evidence against McGear, they are caught by McGear himself. Nick fights him, eventually shooting him in the mouth, killing him.
They go on the run, going to a different part of town, where they seek help from Nick's old friend Pat, who has helped Nick already, but Nick realizes that because he hasn't answered his door and not answering his phone, Pat must be dead inside his home. He gets Kelly to call the police and the police carry Pats body away. After that, Nick is taken hostage by a terrorist who has presumably hired Luther, Mr. Armani. Kelly is taken by Luther.
Nick then has a shootout with Armani's men, killing them and them Armani himself and gives chase to Luther. In a car chase, Nick fires at Luther's car, crashing the car. Nick then kills Luther's men and leaves the already wounded Luther to bleed out. Nick retrieves Kelly, steals a car and escapes. Nick meets up with an old contact, Frank de Sabenito AKA 'Big Al', who together work on why this is all happening. We find out that McGear and the PIRA were working with the leader of a drug cartel and lots of business men and the DEA in a massive conspiracy that Kelly's dad, Kevin's boss is in the picture. Nick concludes that because Kevin found out about the conspiracy involving the DEA, PIRA and the Colombian Cartel, he and his family were killed, and that Armani was Kevins boss and that Armani and Luther were corrupted DEA agents involved in the conspiracy. Nick decides to inform former boss, Simmonds.
They go back to Kelly's house, which is under guard by two rookie cops. Nick easily gets through them and gets everything he needs, including Kelly getting her teddy bears. They catch a plane to England where Nick leaves Kelly under the care of his trusted friend and former SAS comrade, Euan, in Wales. Nick meets with Simmonds, who reveals he is one of the heads of the conspiracy and told Nick to kill the three IRA volunteers because of a PIRA blacklash. He is also the one who ordered the deaths of Kevin and Pat, hiring Luther and Armani to kill them. To make matters worse, he reveals to Nick that Euan is actually a part of the conspiracy and is going to kill Kelly whilst Simmonds kills Nick. Nick, in a fit of rage and because he cant risk Kelly, beats up Simmonds and finishes him off by strangling him to death with his phone. He then gets a train to Wales.
Nick phones Kelly and tells her several instructions, where she eventually has the ingredients to blow the house up, and she leaves them on the kitchen table. He then tells her to run as fast as she can down to the bottom of the field where she hangs up the phone. Nick drives as fast as he can towards the house, where he contemplates the conspiracy, him being 'a small glitch in a very large Machine'. He gets to the house, which has blown up, killing Euan, and looks for Kelly, but cannot find her, leaving him to believe she was killed in the explosion.
As he drives off in a grief, he hears Kelly calling out to him, where he gleefully lets her into the car, and drives off, ending the story.