Chapter 26

CIA HQ, Langley VA

“Why don’t we start at how you found out about, and what you know about Symanksy and go from there,” Stephanie suggested.

“Not a problem,” Hank said getting some more coffee. He held the K-cup up to Stephanie, but she shook her head no. “We found out about Symanksy, indirectly, through an operation we had going in London. We had information that the embassy was being surveilled in real time and we acted on it. The SVR operative we captured had lots of names and information about who, what, when, and why.”

“I heard about that from Walker actually,” Stephanie told him. “He got an abbreviated report from the FBI about that. Do you know what happened to the SVR man?”

“I honestly don’t know. Chiam Fogelman handled his disappearing act. If we need some information about something, they can make him available to talk to. Other than that...” Hank told her.

“Can you tell me how Mossad got involved in that operation?” she asked him.

Hank shook his head no. “Other than we had a Mossad agent working with us on that, no.”

“Gotcha. So Symansky...”

“One of the names that the SVR NOC gave us happened to be the CPA that handled the books for an employment company in the Bronx called Linear Solutions. We later found out that Linear was a stepping-off point and recruitment office for Russian intelligence. It started out as a job service that recruited domestics and security types for overseas positions and eventually morphed into a hub for intelligence gathering in the New York and DC area.”

“Were the Russian agents THAT good as to avoid detection?” Stephanie asked.

“Our best guess is September 11th happened, and it diverted our attention elsewhere.” Director Haspel told her. “Bush had said he wanted all intelligence efforts diverted into the Taliban and bin Laden and that’s how we missed it.”

Richards spoke up again after Haspel finished. “Back to the FBI report you received. What wasn’t in the report was that one of the names he gave up was a US citizen. The CPA that was working at Linear Solutions was also the mastermind behind the Russians getting money out of the US and into their banks for covert operations.” He told her. “You saw the president make the announce about the money we took from terrorists?”

“I did. He said something about two hundred and fifty million was recovered from terrorists.” Krauss replied.

“What wasn’t put in the speech was that it was Russian bank accounts that we took the money from and not terrorists. We had routing and account numbers along with the passwords that the accountant used. It literally was a case of just draining the money and making it look like one of their own took it and ran.” He told her. “On to Symansky. The accountant was also a graduate of state school six and was there at the same time as Symansky.”

“Wait ... Who is or was the accountant?” Stephanie asked.

Hank looked over at Gina. She nodded her head, yes, and he started talking again. “The accountant was Svetlana Michaels.”

Krauss’ mouth dropped open in shock. “The deceased wife of the former undersecretary for the interior was a Russian SVR agent?”

“Yup,” Hank told her. “Everything we got about Linear, Davynskov, and the Michaels couple was from her laptop. The FBI had people in place to arrest her after her adventure race in West Virginia, but she chose to take a dive off the 200 ft bridge on her racecourse rather than being taken alive. We got her laptop and after we broke the encryption and disabled the virtual self-destruct, all her secrets were laid bare.”

Haspel was watching Krauss as she listened. She’d been quiet up until that point when she saw Stephanie was about to ask a question. “I know what you’re going to ask, and the answer is no.”

“Apologies director, would you clarify that, please?” Krauss told her.

“You were going to ask us if the FBI gave her a new identity here in the US,” Haspel told her. “Chris Wray and I talked about it, and we’d have offered it to her if we could have taken her alive. But, no, she made her choice on the racecourse.”

“I figured I’d ask anyway...” Krauss told her. “If you don’t mind my asking, what did Michaels’ wife have about Symansky?”

Hank scoffed and smiled. “To start, I’m here to tell you that Russian agents DO take copious notes about everything. We found reports about virtually everyone she interacted with in her life. Mostly it was about Greg Michaels senior and his financials. The few reports about Symansky detailed her actions as far as the Russia investigations and what she’d collected to give to her superiors in Moscow. We, meaning the CIA and FBI, have no idea what she sent home.”

“Ok, you’re going to make me ask ... What SPECIFICALLY was in her notes about Symansky?” Stephanie asked.

“I’m glad you asked, and that you’re sitting down for this one.” Hank picked up a piece of paper and handed it to Krauss. “That’s a PARTIAL list of her client list for her escort service.”

Stephanie’s eyes widened as she read the list. “I wish I could say I’m surprised about Aden Schaff being on that list. I’ve met his wife and she is about as frigid as they come ... Wow, you’d have thought the last the last DC Police command structure would have learned about corruption...” She said shaking her head. She handed the list back to Hank. “And you say this is a partial list?”

“Our information says that the complete list is considerably bigger,” Richards told her.

“Just from the names on that list, she’s got the senate judiciary AND house intelligence committee bugged. Why hasn’t the FBI picked her up yet?”

Hank picked up and held the sheet of paper with the partial client list on it. “This is why.” He said putting it down.

Director Haspel spoke up at that point. “I’ve already talked to the FBI and Chris Wray has talked to the Attorney General. Both agreed to let us take Symansky to Rehoboth and question her there.”

Stephanie was nodding her head understanding what she was saying. “Plausible deniability in other words.”

“Would you want to deal with the fallout from that if it became public?” Richards asked her.

“Oh hell no. I’m in complete agreement on how you were going to handle it.” Krauss chuckled a bit. “And now here we are with a Russian that’s an American agent, and an American that’s a Russian agent...”

“Quick, someone get Tarantino on the phone; I’ve got the idea for his next movie.” Director Haspel said to lighten the mood.

The three of them laughed as Director Richards’ secure phone line rang. “Yes, Carla ... Please have Michelle bring them to the same conference room as last time. We’ll be along in a few ... Thank you...” He hung up the call and looked at Haspel. “Mike and Simone are here.”

“Simone ... Jordan?” Stephanie asked.

“She used to be. Her name is Atkinson now.” Hank told her. “You know her?”

“Just her work. She consulted with us on a few assessments and profiling of domestic terror suspects we had a few years back. She was spot on with most of them.” She told Hank.

“I hope you’re ready, you’re about to get a master class in intelligence reports,” Hank said as the three of them got up to go meet Mike and Simone.

CIA Safehouse, Paris France

“What exactly did Davynskov mean by a deep cover plant by the KGB?” Talitha asked.

“Sacha explained precious little to me regarding him. But what he did tell me was that he was that the KGB groomed him to join the US military and to send intelligence back about our military capabilities.” Lana said.

“Did he tell you anything about when he came to the US or how he got into the military?” David asked while writing.

“The only thing he told me was that he came to the US when he was 16. The little research I did into him was that he is an Air Force Academy graduate, he graduated in 1995, that his major was computer science, and that he flew B-52 and eventually commanded a wing of B1b bombers. Other than that, you would have more access to his records than I could find.”

“Computer goddess...” Tali said to Petra.

“Already got what you want...” Petra said with a smirk. “Richard Michael Jumper graduated 95th in his class of 875 in 1995. His major was computer science which in 1995 meant absolutely fuck all compared to now. AOL, CompuServe, and Prodigy were kings of the net at that point, and they went the way of the dodo a few years later. You’d have to have Langley do a deep dive on him to ascertain if he kept up with his skills.” Petra told her.

“Can you tell Langley that very thing then?” Tali asked. Petra turned around and started typing again.

“Do you know how many times Bespalov has met with Sacha?” David asked.

“I know once for certain. I was walking into my office for the start of my day. I walked past Sacha’s office, and he was sitting in one of his chairs.” Lana replied. “When Sacha noticed me, he immediately shut his office door.”

“Did he say anything to you after he left Linear?” David asked.

“Other than explaining who he was and his place in the network, no,” Lana said quietly.

“Did he tell you anything about when he came to the United States?” David asked.

“Other than what he was and what I found out about him, no,” Lana told him.

“When you said you saw him at state dinners, what exactly was he doing?” David asked Lana.

“He would interact with the chiefs of staff of the various branches quite a lot. Greg called it facetime with your peers to get your promotion to come faster.” Lana told him. “Other times he would talk with various other members of staff and guests from other embassies.”

“That would make sense since he works for the NSA,” David said. “Can you remember anyone that stands out to you?”

“There was one member of the British embassy that he talked to quite often. I cannot remember ever hearing her name, but she should have been a fashion model instead of whatever her job was.”

“Describe her to me please,” Tali said sitting down with a pad of paper and pen.

“Other than her being more muscular, she could be Angie Everhart’s twin sister.”

“Angie Everhart’s twin sister?” David asked her. He then sat back and smiled. Lana smirked and leaned over to whisper something in his ear. David’s eyes opened wide as he turned to look at Lana. “You’re not serious?”

“Oh yes ... I would make her scream for hours...” Lana said with an evil smile.

David exhaled deeply and adjusted his pants as he spoke. “So other than what she looked like, do you know anything else about her?”

“No...” she said chuckling. “I never had any interaction with her at all.”

“That is fine. I am sure that Denise knows someone that can find out who she is.” Tali told her. “Tell me your impressions of Bespalov please.”

Lana rubbed the side of her head and then spoke. “Driven would be the word I would use. I never saw him at political functions when he was not...” she made air quotes “working. He was always watching the foreign dignitaries and their staff. Even when I met him, he looked at me, smiled, and then went back to watching the room. When President Trump hosted the Russian ambassador, he spent most of the time talking to a Russian Admiral. In the end, their conversation looked almost adversarial.”

“Do you know who the admiral was that he was talking to, or could you pick him out of a photo lineup?” David asked making a note.