Christina, my new handler, took the lead on the questioning saying “let’s go from the beginning. Decklin, tell us how you came to become an FBI agent.”
You have it there in the file, I say.
I answered your questions so you can do me the favor of answer mine, Mahen says.
Point taken. Okay, I graduated college with a degree in History, one class shy of a minor in Biology. The FBI was in a hiring freeze at the time but honestly I had not given that route a thought since high school. I focused on getting a teaching credential and became a high school teacher straight out of college. Being 22 and teaching 18-year-olds was interesting to say the least. I taught the sciences and history as well as psychology and publications, school newspaper and yearbook. I also coached a couple sports.
While teaching kids how to do page layouts for yearbooks, this was before we did it with computers, I brought in my Highschool year books and showed them the designs. It was the late 1990’s. Anyways, of course the kids started reading the comments from my friends and focused in on one comment saying “Goodluck in the FBI!” My students asked about it and I shared that when I was their age I wanted to be in either the FBI or DEA.
To my surprise the kids turned it on me. They called me a hypocrite for pushing them to chase their dreams and I wasn't doing the same thing. I had not thought about it but they were right. I was still in decent shape because I coached cross country and baseball and I had already decided that I needed to leave the school and find a better paying job. So I applied and a year later after background checks and physicals, I got a call telling me I was # 7 on the list but only 6 were being taken. I was working for a firm that had a US Airforce contract to build some software.
The recruiter told me it would be another year and that they would stay in touch if I was still interested. I said of course but in the back of my head I was thinking about what to do for the next year.
A couple weeks later, the recruiter called me back and told me one of the other candidates from another office had dropped out and if I wanted the interview slot. The catch was I only had 2 weeks to prep rather than the traditional 6.
I took the slot and was one of 2 selected to go to Quantico for training.
A few months later I was at Quantico and 20 weeks after that I graduated as a Special Agent assigned to white collar crime in Los Angeles.
“And your personal life?” Morph added
“I’m not sure why it matters but I met my wife just before I left for Quantico, and we were married when I returned. That was over 20 years ago.
And before you ask, Im still married, and we have 3 kids.”
“White collar crime? How did you get into Cyber and for that matter counter-intel and counter-terror from White Collar?” Christina asked.
“I guess you folks don’t know how the FBI works do you? I said.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Mahen, do you want to chime in here? But he just gave me a stare.
I’ll try to explain this.
The FBI has field offices like LA or Miami or New York. Each of these have satellite offices called Resident Agencies or RA’s. These offices have between 2 and 100 Agents assigned. If you are assigned to an RA you can pretty much work on any federal offense. With that said, when I joined the Bureau, cyber crime was worked under White Collar because it was primarily about fraud. The FBI didn’t have a Cyber division until 2002 and I was one of the first few agents assign but I was working cyber cases before that.
I know I said I was working in LA, but I was out of an RA. My first cyber case came from sitting complaint duty. That’s where new agents have to take in complaints from the public about potential crimes. I think they have stopped making agents sit complaint duty nowadays but 20 years ago that’s how it was done.
So, I was sitting complaint duty and got a call about a hack and extortion. A company reported having their credit card database stolen and the hacker claiming he would go public about the hack and all the stolen cards if the victim didn’t pay $1000.
As the compliant agent I wrote it up and submitted it to my boss, a Supervisory Special Agent, for assignment. And just to be clear, anyone with a title above Special Agent does not work cases. They manage squads, or programs or offices but not cases. So, SAC’s or Special Agents in Charge or ADIC’s, the Assistant Director in Charge, don't work the cases.
But I digress. I gave the write up to my SSA and he said we don’t handle these and was going to send it to a White-Collar squad in LA. I asked if I could take a shot at it since the victim was in our jurisdiction and after a few moments he said yes. Agents on average have 6-10 cases they are working at any one time and my guess is my boss thought it was a nothing case so why not let me try.
That case resulted in the first undercover cyber lure of some hackers from Russia which was code name Flyhook. It then expanded into a lure of a criminal from Ukraine which became Operation Cardkeeper within the Bureau but was called AntCity by those of us working it.”
“So, this is where Ivan Kozlov enters the picture,” Mahen chimed in.
“Yes, the Ukrainian was Ivan Maksym Kozlov.”
Do you have enough background information to verify who I am and that I’m actually Idolin yet?” I asked. “That’s what you were doing right? Checking to see if I knew the little details.”
Christina, Morph and Mahen looked at each other and nodded.
Christina took the lead. “Your explanation matches what we have on file, but we are going to need more detail. As I said this is not a simple debrief and you have been in the field for over 14 years. There are several unanswered questions.”
I was taken aback by this last statement. “Unanswered questions?” I said. “I filed reports on a near weekly basis if situations allowed. You clearly have some of the paper files here with you and I know the Bureau went digital, what 10 years back. The rest of the paperwork is all online.”
Then it struck me. Looking at Christina, I said, “you said you read my whole file. Im sure its in the thousands of documents what exactly are you looking for? What’s this really about?”
There are questions about operations you have been a part of that need answering. Unclear details. Mahen stated.
So, Im guessing this little chat is not going to be a one and done with you folks, right? I asked.
Christina, back in the lead responded, No. This will likely take several days. Now that we know you are in fact Idolin we are going to need you to clear your schedule for the foreseeable future. And before you ask, the government will pay your hourly rate so that you do not lose any income. Please think of us as one more client.
With that said, Christina continued, I think we have enough for today. We’d like you to be back tomorrow at 9 am. That should be after school drop off. If we work through lunch you’ll make it back in time to pick your daughter up from school at 3.
My opinion of Christina once again changed. God I hate working with intel spooks.
Mahen chirped in with, “Oh, you should know you and your family are under protective surveillance. Mostly your family. We have been in place for a couple of weeks. That will continue until we are done here and we get our questions answered. “
Was that supposed to be a threat? Was this some power trip Mahen was playing? As I was about to let loose an invictus of threats of my own, Morph placed his hand on my shoulder. I didn’t even realize he had moved behind me. I was getting sloppy. Before I could react to his hand, he gave me a slight squeeze saying, “we appreciate you coming in today and in your willingness to work this through with us.”
I was never a badass. I'd been properly trained and could hold my own, but my mouth and mind saved me from most fights. That and the dislike of the pain from the fights I did take part in. Morph was bigger and younger and probably would have inflicted some serious pain, but I was pissed.
I rose from my seat as quickly as I could and squared off with Morph. In turn, he looked me straight in the eye, his back to the others, extended his hand to shake mine, and raised his right eyebrow in what looked like a warning gesture and finished, "We will see you tomorrow Mr. Decklin.”
Unlike in the movies where the tough guy decides to start throwing punches, sometimes it is better to close your mouth and walk away.
As I walked out the door Mahen called after me "See you tomorrow, 9 am. Don't be late."