Chapter 9

Bruce Schacht walked into the conference room with Denise, Talitha, and David Miller. He sat down next to Denise and waited for Agent Miller to start recording the interview again.

“Joining the interview at this point is Assistant Unites States Attorney for the 4th District, Bruce Schacht. He was asked to join the interview by the defense attorney of record to witness an accurate accounting of Svetlana Michaels cooperation with federal authorities. The primary interviewers have not changed.” He said.

“Mrs. Michaels, my name is Bruce Schacht and I’m the prosecutor assigned to your case. I’ll be sitting in this interview as you have requested.” He looked at Agent Miller. “I’m not going to be an active participant in it, but I might ask questions from time to time, is that acceptable?” He asked him.

“Yes sir, all I ask is that you wait until the subject is finished with her thought.” Agent Miller asked him.

“Not a problem.” He told the FBI agent.

“Svetlana, would you please tell me about the scope of your operation?” Talitha asked her.

“Specifically, what do you want to know?” She replied.

“Please start with how your mission started initially.” Tali told her.

“How far back would you like me to start?” She asked.

“Please start after Sacha gave you the job with Linear Solutions.” She asked Svetlana.

“I was actually working and going to school at the same time. I was controlling the money flow at Linear, but I was also syphoning off small amounts of money that were sent overseas to secret accounts that the state controlled. It was disguised as charitable donations to foreign aide firms. But in reality, they are actually Russian shell companies. The state was using Linear to test my critical thinking skills and how I would apply them during my mission.” She explained.

“What were you going to school for?” Agent Miller asked.

“Sacha always told us that we would continue our education as we worked here. I had accrued enough college credits for my bachelor’s degree in accounting, and I was studying for my CPA certification at night. The state wanted me to have that to make me look more legitimate.” She replied to him.

“New York University?” Agent Miller asked making a note.

“Yes.” She replied.

“How big was your operation when you started this?” Denise asked her.

“What do you mean? How many people or how much money?”

“Both, start with the people aspect of it and then tell us about the levels of money you brought in.” She answered.

“The people in the operation were limited due to the level of money that we were hoping to eventually bring in. We started with 5 people initially. They would solicit donations for the charities I mentioned earlier or for funding for sending out of work people to school to learn trades.” Svetlana paused and took a drink of her tea. “The money that we started with was limited due to President Bush instituting the Patriot act. The 9-11 terrorists, I believe the phrase is, screwed the pooch, in our operation when they attacked our country. We had to suspend operations for almost a year while we waited for the final legislation to come out. The state had at least 20 lawyers examining the Patriot act trying to find loopholes in the laws. Eventually, we had to restructure the operation to follow the guidelines of the new law. Initially, the amounts we brought in were around twenty-five to fifty thousand a month. I sent all of it overseas.”

“Excuse me a moment Mrs. Michaels...” AUSA Schacht said to her looking up from the notes he was taking.

“Svetlana please, Mr. Schacht.” She told him.

“Svetlana...” he said smiling at her. “You told us Russia had twenty lawyers going over the Patriot act. Could you tell me how many loopholes your country found in the law?” He asked.

“I cannot tell you for sure how many. All I can tell you is how we avoided the IRS finding out about the money being transferred.” She told him. “What I can tell you is that we utilized 3 of the best tax lawyers in New York City to verify the information we came up with.”

“Can you give me those names?” He asked.

“I cannot remember their names, but I have their firm’s contact information on my phone in case I needed to use them professionally.” She explained to him. “I sure you have my phone. If you bring it to me, I will unlock it and give it to you.

“Why should we trust you?” Agent Miller asked her.

“Because if you try to hack my phone, all the information will be erased by a virtual self-destruct that was placed on my cell. All our phones are set up that way in case we lose them, or they get stolen. The way you deactivate it is by retinal identification.” She replied.

“Does your laptop have the same thing in it?” Denise asked her.

“Yes, all my electronics do.” She told Denise.

Denise looked at her for a moment. When she was satisfied Svetlana wasn’t lying, she opened the door to the conference room and asked one of the FBI agents to bring her laptop and phone to the conference room.

Three minutes later, the agent walked in with the laptop and cellphone. He handed them to Denise and then walked back out again.

Denise handed Svetlana her cell phone. Less than 5 seconds later she handed the phone back to Denise. She examined it and then handed it back to Svetlana.

“I told you that I would cooperate with you, I might be a spy, but I am a woman of my word.” Svetlana told her quietly.

“Thank you for being a woman of your word.” Denise told her. “Do you also have Sacha’s contact information in there as well?” She asked.

“I am not sure that the number is still his, but yes I do.” She said scrolling down to his name. She then handed the phone over to Agent Miller.

“What area code is this?” Miller asked.

“New Jersey. I remember him taking many trips to Newark for business and Atlantic City to gamble.” She told replied.

“Where are the tax attorneys in your phone book?” Agent Miller asked handing the phone back to her.

She scrolled down and then handed the phone to Bruce Schacht. He copied the contact information down and then handed it back.

Moments later, one of the FBI agents outside on guard knocked, walked in, and whispered something in Agent Miller’s ear. “Can we break here for a few minutes? I have to call the office.”

“Absolutely, I for one need to find some coffee.” Denise told him.

He shut the recorder off and walked out the door.

“I know it’s early on, but how would you say this is going so far?” Annette asked him.

“I would say that we’re moving in the right direction. The fact that your client warned us about her electronics, in my eyes, gives her a bit more credibility than she had when she got here.” He looked at Svetlana. “Did your attorney explain what she and I talked about regarding your cooperation after the initial interview?” He asked her.

“Yes, she did.” Svetlana replied.

“Did she also tell you what would happen if it turns out you’re lying to us?” Bruce Schacht asked her.

“She made your position very clear to me, yes.” Svetlana told the prosecutor. “Despite your apprehensions, I am ... relieved, that my part in that operation is over.”

“Please tell us why, Svetlana.” Talitha asked.

“Lana wait till Agent Miller gets back in here to answer that please.” Annette advised her client.

“Why?” Bruce asked her.

“Because I want it on the transcript.” She answered.

“Can you tell me about your tax and accounting education?” Tali asked.

“I apologize Officer Aronoff, again, I’d like to wait and have my client speak it into the record.” Annette told her. “I’m not trying to cause a problem, but when you hear what she has to say, you’ll understand why I told her to wait.”

“Fair enough.” Bruce said. “Annette, you still take you coffee with three sugars and no cream?” he asked.

“Please and thank you Bruce.” She replied as he got up and walked out.

David Miller was walking back up the hall towards the kitchen from the control room after finishing the call to his SAC. “Well that was enlightening.” He said.

“Did your boss have some pithy piece of wisdom for you?” Hannah asked him.

“Kind of. He gave me some of the highlights we have on Davynskov and his operations. Apparently, we’ve been looking at him for other reasons related to human trafficking and RICO.” Agent Miller said.

“Well you can add spying for a hostile power now as well.” Denise told him.

“Apparently after my SAC talked to Director Wray, he was told to get as much confirmation about Davynskov and the process by which they operatives are brought into the US.” He told the group assembled.

Denise was quietly talking to Agent Miller about Sacha Davynskov. “What else did your SAC tell you about Sacha Davynskov?”

“Nothing other than the usual. He’s an asshole who does bad things and we want him in custody, but never had enough, blah, blah, blah.” He said shaking his head. “Now that we have confirmation of his involvement as a foreign operative, they want all the boxes checked, the t’s crossed, and the lower-case J’s dotted before they ‘ask’ him if he’ll talk to us.” He told Denise. “By the way, I wanted to ask you what your plans were for Svetlana.”

“What do you mean?” Denise asked him.

“Where does she go from here?” He replied.

“Oh, she’s going to a villa on the Spanish riviera to talk to us some more about her operation.” Denise told him.

“Lucky bitch. She’s been moving money for the Russians, she gets arrested, and gets a vacation to the south of Spain. I’m in the wrong business.” He said.

“Wash the sand out of your vagina buttercup, you’re going with us. Haspel is getting you detailed as Svetlana’s security.” Denise told him. “I’ll tell you more about it when I get confirmation. Right now, we need to get back to her.”

“Wow ... I did NOT see that coming. Meet you back in the conference room.” Agent Miller said as he walked back to the conference room.

Denise looked at Bruce Schacht and motioned for him to join us when he was ready. She started to walk down the hall when she was stopped by Director Richards.

“Diane Allen is on her way up with one of her section members and should be here around 0700. Can you get the laptop unlocked so Petra can get it sifted through before she gets here?”

“I’ll do that first thing.” She told him as she walked back into the conference room.

“By the way, are you thinking there’s going to be some sort of bombshell coming from her?” Hank asked her.

“I’m not sure, but I’m not taking any chances. Why do you ask?” She asked her boss.

“You’re getting the same vibes off of her that I am. She’s got information to give and wants to give it, but she’s not sure how.” He told her.

“Great minds and all that.” Denise said as she walked back into the conference room.

Five minutes later, everyone was back in place and the interview resumed. Denise walked over and whispered in Annette’s ear, Annette nodded her head, and Denise sat down. Agent Miller started the voice recorder again.

“Mrs. Michaels, I would like you to unlock your laptop before we continue. We have forensic accountants coming from Langley and they’re going to want to see your ledgers and spread sheets.” She asked her.

She looked at glanced at Annette who didn’t say anything. Svetlana then turned her attention to Denise. “I ask a personal request to make of you.” She told Denise. “I have a file with pictures from when I was a girl on the hard drive. It’s in a folder labeled Mystique. Please let nothing happen to them. That is the last connection I have with my childhood.”

Denise looked in her eye and held out her hand to Svetlana. “I give you my word that nothing will happen to that folder.” She said. Svetlana stood and shook her hand and then sat back down. Denise pushed her laptop over to her and she unlocked it.

“You were testing me...” Svetlana asked her.

“It’s always a test for your side of the table Mrs. Michaels.” Denise replied. “You passed, thank you again for being a woman of your word.”

Svetlana shook her head and then spoke. “May I have a sheet of paper and something to write with?” She asked. Talitha slid a pen and paper over to her. Svetlana started writing series of numbers and letters. When she was finished, she handed it to Denise. “These are the passwords for the files you need to access. The first password will unlock the partitioned hard drive. Click on the file marked Storm. It will prompt you for the second password to decrypt the information you are looking for.” She told them.

“What’s the third password for?” Talitha asked her.

“The third password is for the file labeled Jean Grey. Those are all the emails and communications I have had over the last 6 years between myself and my current handler.” She told them.

“X-men fan, are you?” Bruce asked her.

“I used to read their comic books when I was in the school. They were required reading during the political classes.” She told him with a smile.

Denise got up and walked over to the door. “Would you take this to the control room for me please and thank you?” She asked the agent at the door. She closed the door and sat back down.

“Svetlana, I’d like to ask you some things about Davynskov if I could.” Schact asked her. “Can you tell me roughly how many operatives he’s brought when you were in New York?”

“I know of 15 that he brought in during my time with Linear Solutions. Since I had been in the country for over a year, I was told to get them situated and show them where they were living and working.” She told him.

“Do you have names?” Agent Miller asked.

“No, that is not how Sacha worked. He preferred no names in order to prevent exactly what I am doing now. I can tell you that he has files that can give you the names.” She replied.

“Can we hack them, or do they have virtual self-destruct on them as well?” Denise asked her.

“You misunderstand. When I say he has files, I mean hard copy paper files. Sacha is not very computer savvy.” She told her.

Agent Miller was taking notes as Denise spoke up. “If you had to guess, how long has Davynskov been working in New York?”

She thought for a moment. “I came to America in 1997. If I had to guess, I would say that he has been in this country for minimum 10 years prior. He loved to tell stories about how it was when Gorbachev was Secretary General.” She told him

“Do you know who his handler is or where he works out of?” Agent Miller asked.

“He bragged about how well insulated he was, but never really told me anything about him.” She replied.

“Insulated from what?” Denise asked her.

“He told me once that he had a ‘get out of jail free’ card and how he would just be sent back to Russia if he was caught. Like I told you earlier, I know he had police officers on his payroll. I am positive that he had politicians as well.” She replied.

Talitha spoke up at that point. “Svetlana, does he have a strong box or a safe in his office or home?”

“He has one in both. The one in his office is not really a safe, so much as it is a hidden drawer. It is in the back of his desk on the left side. You pull both drawers out and there is a false back.” She told her.

“What is in it?” She asked.

“All you need to know about his operations. The one at his flat is a real safe. He has money all his false passports in case he has to disappear.” She told him.

“How do you know all of this?” She asked her.

Annette cut Svetlana off, held her hand up, and looked at Bruce. “Before we dive into the very deep end, I want it noted for the record that my client has and is giving you information on how one of their state schools is run and is doing so of her own free will.”