Chapter 13

When Paul came in, boss man stood up and offered his hand. “Sheriff Thompson, let me introduce myself. I’m SAC Charles Dupree. I need to apologize for Agent Jackson’s abusive behavior earlier. There is an unfortunate institutional prejudice inside the FBI towards local law enforcement. We are trying to eliminate it. Unfortunately, some of our junior Agents have taken esprit de corps a little too far.”

Turning to me, he again offered his hand. “I also need to apologize to you, Mr. Reynolds. Agent Jackson’s attitude towards you was unfortunate. But please consider this. He, as well as you, do not have the full story.”

“And what is the full story Agent Dupree?” I asked.

“Let me begin by explaining today’s events. My office isn’t in Butte. I work in DC. Your case is involved in something I’ve been working on for several years. The report of Mr. Wilcox’s allegations was routed to my desk, and I immediately flew out here. While I was reviewing the situation with the Butte SAC. He informed me of Agent Jackson’s theories on the case. He asked if I would bring Jackson with me and evaluate his performance. As a kind of training and evaluation situation.”

“Agent Jackson is a recent academy graduate. Based on his past performance, he shows the potential to be a good Agent. His SAC wanted a fresh perspective on him. This seemed to be a perfect opportunity.”

“When your case came into their office, Agent Jackson was assigned to it. While reviewing the records, he developed a theory which, based on what was available to him, makes a certain amount of sense. The majority of that theory was based on your record Mr. Reynolds. Both military and civilian.”

“Agent Jackson felt that circumstances of your divorce, with the domestic violence allegations, plus your rather colorful military record. Indicated a loose cannon. He theorized that you might also have post-traumatic stress disorder. Which you acted on when you found Mr. Wilcox on your property.”

“Agent Jackson planned to attempt to gain a confession from you. My job was to evaluate his behavior with an innocent subject.”

“Innocent?” I interrupted, “So you came in here knowing that I was right. That there’s something to my story?”

“Not quite, Mr. Reynolds. You see, your theory about the situation is just as incorrect as Jackson’s. Percy Wilcox’s real name is Anatoly Markov. He is, or I should say he was, a Soviet espionage Agent.”

“A spy, are you trying to tell me that the Russians want Jake’s cabin?”

“Nothing quite so melodramatic, Mr. Reynolds. As I said, he was an espionage Agent. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, we began receiving information from the new government concerning past KGB activities. In the beginning, this information was suspect and was treated as such. Included was a report of a fairly highly placed Agent inside of the justice department. This Agent had access to records that not only concerned counter-espionage activities but also included criminal reports about the drug cartels and organized crime.”

“This was puzzling to our investigators. Each of those areas is separate, independent of the other. And the results of their investigations are compartmentalized.”

“Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint. Word got out to the news media of our access to KGB files. This gave us a break. Wilcox almost immediately requested a transfer from his position. He had been working as a mid-level supervisor in the justice department’s transcription pool. He had access to every federal law enforcement report filed. He was also responsible for the security clearances, including his own, inside of his department. This guaranteed his cover. Anyone that he considered a threat received a flag to their clearance, and a resulting lowering of their access.”

“All of this escaped the internal auditors. Until after Wilcox’s departure. When it was realized the level of access that Wilcox had, a discreet investigation was begun.”

“How could someone like that get into a sensitive position? I thought you guys did background checks.” Paul asked.

“We do, but Wilcox was a special case. You see, there really was a Percy Wilcox. He was an officer in the Vietnam war. He was captured by the north. After the war, the government gave preferential treatment to returning POWs, including placement in government jobs. At the time, the background checks on those individuals were perfunctory at best. This is how Markov gained access. We theorized that the real Wilcox died in captivity. And Markov took his place at the end of the war.”

“Jake served in Vietnam. Is that why he was killed? Do think he recognized that Markov wasn’t Wilcox?”

“We thought that might be the case, but no. The two were never in-country at the same time. It’s highly unlikely that their paths ever crossed. I’m afraid that Mr. Stanislaw’s murder had a more pedestrian reason.”

“You see, after the Soviet Union collapsed, Markov no longer had any support. He was literally the spy left out in the cold. At first, that was not a problem. But then two things happened that forced his hand. The first was the news reports I’d mentioned earlier. There was a real possibility that his cover would be blown. The second factor was the mandatory retirement. We believe that while going through the retirement process, Markov feared he would be discovered.”