Chapter 10

0900 in London, Jonny and Gerald were sitting outside the MI6 director’s office. Director Younger had called them in and told them to bring in all the information they had on what was going on at their surveillance target.

Jonny had called his supervisor the night before to let him know that they had positive confirmation that Rostamifir was in the country and at their house. When their supervisor had finally picked up his phone, he was annoyed that someone would call him at 1am just to let him know that someone was in London. He had cut Jonny off and told him to contact him in the morning after his shift ended. Jonny being the consummate intelligence man, made the decision to run around his supervisor to Director Younger’s secretary. He had done her a favor when she first started at MI6 and Jonny had decided to call him the favor by having her call the director and notify him what was going on.

“Gerald, stop worrying about it. You’ll be able to keep your job. I’ve gotten my statement written up. Legal certified it and I’ll make sure...” Jonny was telling him.

Gerald leaned over to Jonny and pointed his finger at his face. “You’re a fuckin nutter, I’m not worried about my job. I’m pissed that you would think that I’d go along with your shit and let you take the blame for this. We’re a team and fuck all if you think I’m going to let you shoulder this by yourself. We did this and we’re going to either hang together, or we’re gonna win together you knob.” He told Jonny in a quiet but firm tone.

Jonny looked at his with a smirk on his face.

“Yes, I know I’m gorgeous when I’m angry. No, I will not marry you, you wanker.” Gerald said sitting back down. Both of them quietly laughed.

Director Younger’s door opened, and his PA summoned them in to meet with the director. They stood in front of his desk and waited for him to get off the phone.

“Yes, move him back to the analysts pool. Tell him that the next time he ignores something of this magnitude to get his beauty rest, I’ll make sure that he has all the time in the world to sleep while he waits in the bread line.” He said slamming his phone down. My apologies gentlemen, I do so detest starting the day on a bad note. My secretary called me at 0430 and tells me that Republican guard colonel Rostamifir has been identified at your target house. Tell me what you have.”

Jonny and Gerald laid out the last three months of surveillance for the director. They handed him the pictures they took of him but saved the recordings for the last. They played the recordings and told the director what they believed.

“Sir, remember the report that came from the Americans that said Rostamifir was part of the active surveillance on their embassy? He was also quoted as saying he wanted to show a western woman her place.” Director Younger nodded his head. “We have hours of these recordings. Some we believe might have been consensual, but 80% of them are not.” Gerald told him.

“So why your house and not one of the others?” He asked them.

“Sir, that flat was built before World War II and survived the blitz. If I had to guess, it’s got walls that are thick enough to muffle the sounds or at the very least, make it sound like a movie.” Jonny told him.

Director Younger looked at the picture for a moment and looked at his watch. He picked up his phone and dialed his PA. “Lindsey, please dial CIA director Haspel’s PA and ask her to have her call me when convenient please ... Thank you.” He said to her hanging his phone up. “Gentlemen, you will return to your duties when your shift comes up again. You will also have a different supervisor by tonight who will know his responsibilities. Please note for future reference that I do not tolerate it when my agents circumvent their supervisors. In this case, I am prepared to make an exception. Do not let this happen again.” He told them. They both stood up, thanked him for his time and turned around to walk out. “Oh, and gentlemen ... Very good job on this one...” He said. They thanked him again and walked out.

Gerald looked at Jonny when they closed the door to his office. “Dinner’s on you tonight.” He said as they walked out.

Directors Haspel and Richards from the CIA, Director Wray from the FBI, and William Barr from the AG offices sat in the outer office waiting for the President to finish his meeting. They were looking over their notes for the briefing and talking amongst themselves when the door opened, and an intern asked them to come in.

The four of them watched as he asked that coffee be brought in for them. “If we have any more of the muffins the chefs made this morning, please bring them with you ... Yes, thank you.” He hung the phone up and looked at the four of them. He shook their hands and made small talk until the coffee and pastries arrived. The door to the oval office opened and one of the household staff brought in the things that the President asked for. After everyone had their coffee, they all sat down and the briefing for the President started.

“So ... Talk to me, how did it go?” He asked.

Director Haspel handed out transcripts of the interview to date and then spoke up. “Mr. President, 72 hours ago, we kicked off the operation to make Svetlana Michaels disappear. We had roughly 40 agents involved from both the DOJ and the CIA. The Eldest Son team were the primary operators in conjunction with 2 special agents from the FBI. We have drone and satellite footage if you’d care to see it.” She started off.

“I read the overview that you sent up and would love to watch the race later when I have time to breathe. Please continue.” The President told her.

“Yes, sir. The operation was a complete success. Director Wray confirmed for us that the race officials, the state/local authorities, and the family are all convinced that she was killed after falling in the Meadow river. When she was captured, she told us that she will cooperate as best as she can. Currently she is being held at Raven Rock near Gettysburg PA. Annette Giancarlo drew the number to be assigned as her defense attorney.” Haspel told him.

“Why was there a defense attorney assigned to the case? This is espionage clear and simple.” The President asked.

AG Barr answered his question. “It’s a matter of appearances, Mr. President. She might be guilty of espionage, but she still has rights to due process under the constitution as an American citizen. If it gets out at some point that she’s still alive, we’ll have our ducks in a row.”

Clearly not happy with the answer he received, he asked, “Who’s the prosecutor assigned to her case?”

“Bruce Schacht from the 4th district, Mr. President.” AG Barr told him.

“What’s his background?” The President asked.

“Graduated high school at 16, Cornell, Naval ROTC, 8 years as a JAG lawyer, and the last 12 years he’s been a prosecutor for the 6th and the 4th districts. He’s a machine when he prosecutes and has a higher than average win record.” AG Barr told him.

“Continue Director Haspel.” The President told her.

“Thank you, Mr. President. The subject was evaluated by the Eldest Son team leader as to whether or not she was lying to us about cooperating.” Director Haspel paused for a moment and handed him a written report detailing Denise’s opinion about Svetlana.

The president read the report and put it on his desk. “How good of an interrogator is she?” He asked.

“Assistant Director Richards can answer that better than I can.” Haspel told the President.

“She scares anyone that sits across from her. I watched archived footage of her interrogating a Taliban courier from 6 years ago. After a few hours, the man was in tears and talking to save his life.” Director Richards told the President.

“Excellent. Director Wray, what was your agency’s involvement?” The President asked.

“Mr. President, our agency was tasked with making sure that the local personnel like EMTs and the divers on the river, were replaced with FBI agents. We had numerous supporting elements there as well, but they were un-needed.” He told him.

“Tell me about the arrest.” He asked Director Wray.

“The subject was originally supposed to ‘get injured’ closer to the tent, we had set up a booby trap that we would have used to trip her up closer to the medical aid tent. However, she injured herself before she got to the tent, so the line was un-needed. The 2 Eldest Son operatives that were running the race helped her limp to the first aid tent and she was evacuated under pretense of going to the ER to get her ankle looked at. She was taken to the boundary road where she was arrested without incident. She was given medical care for her injury and taken to Raven Rock bunker to be interviewed.” He told the President.

“Interviewed? Why was she interviewed and not interrogated?” He looked at Directors Haspel and Wray. “You just told me that you have one of the best interrogators in the services as the Eldest Son team leader. Why did she not start in getting the information we want?” He asked them.

“Mr. President, as I stated earlier, she is exceedingly willing to cooperate with us.” Director Wray handed him another report detailing what she told them so far. “She’s given us what we believe to be a hub for bringing foreign agents into the country. We’re proceeding on that fact and developing information as we receive it. The FISA application is being walked into federal court this morning and we SHOULD have approval by early afternoon. After we have the warrant, we’ll have everything in place to act within 24 hours.” He told him.

“What’s your plan in the meantime?” He asked AG Barr.

“AUSA Schacht has advised suspending prosecution for the moment on the grounds that she’s cooperating and freely giving us answers to all the questions we ask. I saw the video of the interview, Mr. President. She’s not hesitating one bit to answer and she’s forthcoming with what she knows.” The Attorney General told him. “Bruce also advised that we make sure of her level of culpability and involvement before we proceed.”

“Mr. President, I get daily briefings, both written and recorded, from the interviewers in the bunker and will forward them to the Attorney General and he can go over them with you.” Director Wray told him.

“I’d appreciate it. What’s this in the transcripts regarding state school 6?” the President asked.

Director Haspel took a deep breath and spoke. “State school 6 is where the Russians create their ravens and swallows. The intelligence community calls it whore school. This program goes back to KGB days with Khrushchev. Svetlana told us a great deal about her time there. Even though she’s a foreign agent, it was a bit heart breaking to read about it.”

“I don’t care if she was the biggest whore on the Volga river. I want every piece of information she has about their operations and how they do them. If she has information about the money the Russians are taking, I want it, and then I want the money. If she has information about what kind of toilet paper Putin uses, I want it. I won’t let them make fools out of us again. I approved this operation and I want results; do you understand?” The President asked the group. They all responded with “Yes sir, thank you, Mr. President.” and got up to leave the oval office. “Gina, would you please stay a moment? We have some things to talk about.” The President asked.

Hank looked at her and told her to give him a call when she gets back to her office and they’ll talk. She nodded and went back into the oval office.

When Gina Haspel got back to Langley, she called Hank Richards and asked to speak with him in her office. After he arrived, she activated the SCIF function in her office and spoke to Hank.

“Well, that was mildly unpleasant.” She told him.

“I love this country. He’s proof that anyone can be President.” Hank said shaking his head. He looked at Haspel as she sat in her chair looking at the wall. “What are you thinking about Gina?”

She turned back to face him. “I’m thinking it would be a good idea to get Svetlana out of the country sooner than later.” She told him. “I had the Navy send a drone over the compound at low level and it sent back some good pictures.” Gina passed a folder holding the pictures of the compound to him.

“It’s almost a fortress overlooking the Mediterranean, so putting security there won’t cause a problem.” Hank told her.

“I think I might want to make an offer to buy it.” She said with a smirk. “Who’s turn is it on the rotation for tier one units now?” She asked him.

He pulled a notebook out of his bag and looked at it. “It’s CAG’s turn. You want the full tasking?” he asked her.

“No. Send two squads to Spain and have them get everything set up. Then contact Warsaw and let the caretakers know that the other 2 squads are coming and to assist in whatever they need.” She told him.

“I’ll handle it. I’m also headed back to Raven Rock this afternoon to brief the team on the meeting. I’ll let you know when things are in place and the pieces are moving. By the way, did you get Agent Miller added to Svetlana’s security?” He asked her.

“Yes. The FBI are going to send a group of people over to talk and babysit her when our team stands down.” She replied.

“I’ll let them know.” Hank told her. How do you want to handle getting Svetlana to Spain?”

“Your call, my head hurts too bad to do any serious thinking right now. I feel like I lose 10 IQ points every time I talk to him.” She told him. “Before you go, read this and let me know what you think.” She told him. She handed him a sealed folder. He opened it and looked over it.

“Is he serious?” He asked her.

“Yes, he is.” Director Haspel replied. “Tell them I didn’t have any choice in this and that the decision was made above my pay grade. Execution is up to them I won’t second guess any operations order they submit.”

Hank read more of the documents and then spoke. “I’m not sure how they’re going to take this.”

“Do your best, like you always do Hank.” She told him deactivating the SCIF function in her office. He walked out and down the hall.

Back at Raven Rock, Svetlana was sitting in her cell talking to Annette about aspects of her life in Russia that she was thankful for.

“To be honest, I am grateful for them making me a stronger person than what I was. When mother died, I was a scared little girl with no idea what the future was going to be like for me.” She told her.

“What could you possibly be thankful for them doing to you?” Annette asked her.

“I managed to get over my fear of where my life was going, and not knowing what was ahead for me. I was forced to live life in the state’s service, but at the same time, it gave me an appreciation for life around me. Some aspects of my life there were better than the alternative.” Svetlana told her.

“What could possibly be better at that school?” She asked Svetlana.

“I had a roof over my head, and I got three meals a day.” She said to Annette. “I will not complain about that.”

“Ok, I’ll give you that.” She replied.

The door to the cell opened and Talitha walked in. “Good morning, did you sleep any?” Talitha asked.

“I slept some. For the first time in a long time, I was not plagued with nightmares.” She told her.

“Are you ready to continue?” She asked Svetlana.

“May I wash up before we start?” She asked.

Talitha handed her a set of crutches. “The shower is down the hall on the right. There are medical scrubs and undergarments for you to wear, toiletries, towels and washcloths waiting for you. I am positive that they are not what you are used to, but they will work. Breakfast will meet you in the conference room.” She told her. She handed Svetana a sample pack of Tylenol. “I am sure you know to take this with breakfast, but I was told to tell you anyway.”

“Thank you for your kindness.” Svetlana told her.

“There will be a female agent outside if you need help with anything. Mrs. Giancarlo, the pack you brought with you is in your room. If you would like to shower, I’ll have one of the agents show you the way.”

“Thank you. Lana, I’ll see you in a bit?” She asked her client.

“Unless I get a better deal along the way, I’ll be there.” She said with a grin as she started moving down the hallway.

Back in the control room, Denise was talking with Robert and Diane Allen regarding the accounting data that she had looked at. She and her co-worker arrived at 0600 and had been looking over all of her spread sheets since then.

“What I have a hard time believing is that she managed to pull this off by herself.” She told Denise and Robert. “I’ve got my assistant looking at the routing and account numbers, but there’s no way that she could keep track of THIS much money.”

“Svetlana had the bachelor’s degree at age 18. The state school she was sent to, it was the one that the Russians send their gifted children to. So, it very well might be that she can keep track of this much money.” Denise told her.

“Look at this...” Robert told them. He pulled up a spread sheet with a coded heading on it. “This is not the name of any bank I know; can you ask her about this?” He asked.

Diane looked at it and did some math in her head. “The numbers on the page add up to nine million and change. Are there any more pages with this heading on it?” She asked. The printer started up and soon five other pages had printed out. She took them off the printer and walked over to the desk where her notebook was. She looked at all five pages making notes and totals from each page down. “37.7 million in this account whatever it is.” She said giving it to Denise.

“Why are you giving this to me?” She asked Diane.

“Aren’t you going to talk to Svetlana about this?” Diane replied.

“No ... Friggin ... Way ... Math makes my brain hurt. I’m going to talk to her for a couple hours about some of the middle eastern and Asian banks, and ask her about some of the players involved and then I’ll turn her over to you and YOU ... Can talk to her about numbers.” Denise told her.

“Ummm, thank you?” Diane replied a bit puzzled.

“So, write down everything you want to know and ask her. Besides, you both speak accounting, so you should have a good talk.” Denise said with a grin as she walked back to the conference room.

Svetlana and Annette along with Bruce Schacht were already back in the conference room. Talitha and Denise walked in behind them and sat down.

“Did you sleep well last night Mrs. Michaels?” Denise asked her.

“For the first time in a long time, yes I did.” She replied.

“I’m glad to hear that.” Denise told her.

Agent Miller walked in and sat down. “Sorry I’m late, I was enjoying the warm shower water a bit too much. How are you this morning Mrs. Michaels?”

“I am fine, thank you.” She answered.

“Excellent. Shall we get started then?” He asked. He put the recorder down and started it recording again. “Date is 8 April 2019; this is a continuation of the 7 April Interview. Subject of this interview is Svetlana Michaels. People conducting the interview are CIA Case Officer Denise Heikkanen, Mossad Officer Talitha Aronoff, and FBI Special Agent David Miller. Defense counsel Annette Giancarlo and AUSA Bruce Schacht are both present.”

“Svetlana, could you explain what your primary mission was?” Denise asked.

“My primary mission was to assist Davynskov in getting money overseas for operational expenses.” She told her.

“Can you be more specific?” Talitha asked her.

“Russia was moving towards trying to modernize their military forces, so the budget for covert operations and espionage was smaller than it had ever been. When I arrived in the United States, my primary mission was to ... Offset ... some of the cost of running covert operations in your country. At first, the money I sent overseas was for the help with the costs of running the various state schools.” She explained.

“How much did you manage to send back to Russia in 2000?” Agent Miller asked.

“We managed to get a bit more than $150 thousand the first year I took over.” She replied.

“Why so little?” Talitha asked.

“I was too busy making sure that Linear Solutions kept its tax-exempt status. When your company is behind in reporting contributions to the IRS and you haven’t filed the form 990 in 5 years, other things take precedent.” She told them

“How did you avoid being audited?” He asked her.

“I made an appointment with the IRS office in Brooklyn and put the back dated forms in his hand. I explained that there had been a change in conservatorship and that I was now in charge of the accounting and tax reporting for Linear. He thanked me for getting this all together for him. I gave him my direct contact information, he made a note in the file, and that was the end of that.” Svetlana told him.

“You are right, Davynskov sounds like he is not too bright.” Talitha said to her.

“You remember I told you that Sacha Davynskov was horrible with computers?” She asked

“Yes.” Talitha told her.

“Sacha had been keeping the books by hand the whole time he had been at Linear. There were actually handwritten notes explaining deductions and incoming money. They were BADLY in need of modernization. When I got there, I put everything on the computer and started handling all the money since he was technologically incompetent. This has nothing to do with what you asked me, but there were many instances of money going missing and not being accounted for when I was putting everything on the computer.” She explained.

Talitha and Denise looked at each other with a knowing look. “How much would you say was missing?” Talitha asked.

“Not a lot, maybe $25-30 thousand over the 2 years I was there.” She replied.

“Do you suspect that Sacha was stealing money from the company?” Agent Miller asked.

“I do not suspect anything; I KNOW he was. When I asked him about the missing money, he pulled a pistol out of a desk drawer, laid it on his desk, and told me to forget what I had seen.” She explained.

“Do you know where he sent the money?” Denise asked.

“It was all withdrawn in cash.” She told her.

“At least we know where some the money in his safe came from now.” Miller told the group. “Svetlana, can you tell us how far back his books are kept?”

“I do not know when the state took over the company, but I have seen tax returns going back as far as 1984.” She replied.

“If you had to guess, how long has he been taking money from the company.” Bruce asked her.

“I would guess since 1986 or 1987. It started as small amounts, nothing over one hundred dollars a month. As the years passed, it got larger. When the Patriot act was created, the larger ‘operational expenses’ deductions were not as big as they were.” She explained.

“How large were they?” Denise asked.

“Nothing that could not be justified if we were audited. Receipts were being brought in and given to me to keep track of. The petty cash fund was not used as much either.” She told her.

“After you left Linear Solutions, who were you working for?” Agent Miller asked.

“Before I get to that, please ask me about my target. It ties in directly with what you want to know.” Svetlana asked.

Denise caught on before agent Miller did. “You told us earlier that you trained at State School 6. Who was given to you as your target?”

“My ultimate target was to get to Gregory Michaels Sr. But I ended up with Greg junior because his father was completely and totally dedicated to his wife.” She told her. “Greg junior, while he is a good man, is very ... meek. He lets his father run his life and even aspects of his political life.”

“Wait, are you telling me that Greg senior is involved in the decision-making process with the undersecretary of the interior?” Bruce Schacht asked.

“Yes, I am saying exactly that.” She told him. She watched as the AUSA was making copious notes.

Agent Miller looked at Denise for a moment. Denise never taking her eyes off Svetlana, nodded her head that she was telling the truth. He looked back at Svetlana. “Do you have evidence of this?”

“Look for a file on my laptop called Magneto and open it. You’ll have to search for it, I did not leave it visible. You’ll have another set of files that are labeled by date. There are notes that I took on the conversations that I overheard and then at the end, you’ll find links to the hard evidence that I put into a zipped file with a special password in the cloud.”

Denise handed her a piece of paper and a pen. Svetlana wrote the password down and handed it back to her. “Wow, a 25-character password?”

“If you are going to ask me if I am paranoid, I would answer you, yes I am regarding that.” She replied.

Petra found the file and opened it. There were over a hundred folders with notes on conversations between the son and his father. “Denise, this is going to take a bit to sift through, there’s over 100 files here.” Petra spoke into comms.

She heard Denise speak quietly. “Pick one and tell me what’s in it.” She asked her.

“That one, it’s dated 2 months before Carnival” Hannah asked her.

They opened it and looked at it. Robert joined in and read it. The three of them shook their heads as they read it.

“Denise, you’re going to want to see this.” Petra told her.

“I’m on my way.” They heard.

Having looked at the file Hannah had picked; Denise was back in the conference room. She had printed the whole file out and brought it with her. Diane Allen was now in the conference room going over the file with the group.

“So, what we’re looking at is Greg senior’s proxy company picked up the contract to build the roads for the pipeline that’s going to be built in North and South Dakota.” Bruce Schacht asked.

“Yes. You are also seeing the actual cost for logging the path the pipeline is going through the whole pipeline.” Svetlana told him. “The bid that he put in for the work is also in there. You’ll also notice that it is roughly 200% over what it would cost. The contract will be announced at the end of the week and he will be awarded it.”

“What makes you so sure?” Bruce asked her.

“He explained it over dinner on Greg junior’s and mine fourth anniversary dinner. He said that the person awarding contracts was working for him and that he was well paid.” She explained. “Greg senior also said that there would be bonuses awarded if the contract was completed ahead of schedule amounting to an extra 5 million in awards.”

“Greg senior personally, stands to make...” Diane looked at the paperwork Denise brought in. “$13 million plus another $5 million for getting the work done sooner?” She asked Svetlana.

“Yes ma’am, you read it correctly.” Svetlana paused for a moment. “Would you like to know what happens to the lumber that is cut and taken off the land?”

“Please?” Agent Miller asked.

“It’s sold off and the money is sent to a Russian shell company.” She told them.

“How much are we talking about?” Bruce asked Diane.

She was doing math on her notepad before looking up at Bruce. “From my calculations, I would guess between $20 and $30 million minimum.” Diane told him looking at the spread sheet.

“You are correct.” Svetlana told her.

“For lumber? How did you get that number?” Bruce asked.

“Keep in mind we are talking about a two thousand-mile pipeline with numerous stands of hard and softwood trees, so the amount of lumber adds up.” Diane told him.

“Gregory senior also has survey crews looking for other resources or sources of capital. If there are other resources that can be sold off as raw material, they will be.” Svetlana explained to the group. “He has his hands all over the government contracting network. He has a long list of favors that he is owed throughout his personal and professional life.”

“Big shock there...” Denise muttered to herself. “Where does the money go?”

“It is funneled offshore through various non-profits and charities that help around the world. There is a link to a file in the cloud. It is a zipped file of the names of the charities and non-profits that he uses.” She paused and wrote the password down. “You will need to use that password twice. Once to open the file and again in reverse to decrypt the information in it.”

“How much of this money is given to the Iranians?” Talitha asked.

“I have no idea of what happens to the money after I send it overseas.” She told her.

“Do you have a list of the banks in the middle east that the Russians use for covert operations?” Talitha asked.

“Only the one’s I use in Yemen, Qatar, and The United Arab Emirates.” Svetlana replied.

“How much is in these accounts on average?” Agent Miller asked.

“Between $150 to $200 million at any given time. There are times where there is up to three hundred and fifty million though.”

“When do your superiors take money out of those accounts?” Talitha asked.

“Usually when there’s an operation going or when they need liquid funds.” She answered

“Names, account numbers, and access codes please.” Denise told her handing her a piece of paper and pen.