“It was three weeks ago.”
“Okay, it was three weeks ago.”
“So you had access to the Fend network?”
“Yes. I’m becoming an employee there. They’ve granted me access.”
“What type of employee?”
“Excuse me?”
“What will your job title be, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“My father owns the company. He’s training me for a managerial position.”
A few of the agents raised their eyebrows, smiling. “Must be nice,” one of them said. Max reddened.
Flynn said, “While you were there, did you email anyone who resides outside of the country?”
Max frowned. “I don’t know. I doubt it.”
“You doubt it, or you did not?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember?”
“It was almost a month ago. Do you remember everyone you emailed exactly one month ago?”
“Did you email anyone in Syria or Iraq?”
Max frowned. “No.”
“Have you ever had contact with a foreign government, its establishment, or its representatives — whether inside or outside the US?”
“I worked for a European consulting firm. We did a lot of business with a variety of clients. Some of them were foreign governments.”
“Any from any of those countries that I mentioned? Syria or Iraq?”
“I don’t think so, no.”
“Have you worked with any government or nongovernment organizations that were involved in criminal or terrorist activity?”
“No, of course not.”
“Were you involved with any nongovernment organizations from any of the countries I previously mentioned? Or maybe somewhere else in the Middle East?”
“Probably not.”
“Probably not?”
“What do those countries have to do with anything?”
“Could you please answer the question?”
“I thought we were having a friendly discussion.”
“We are.” Flynn gave a forced smile. “See?”
“Some of our clients were from Saudi Arabia, I believe. And I think at least one was Syrian. But I worked with businessmen from just about every other country in the world. So it’s not like I was just working with Syrians and Saudis the whole time. Although last time I checked, Saudi Arabia was a pretty staunch ally.”
Flynn frowned. “Did you communicate with any of those clients from the Fend network on the fifteenth?”
“What clients?”
“The Syrians.”
Max shook his head. “No. I do not have a continuing relationship with any of my former clients. I don’t send any of them emails. I’m changing fields.”
“Are you aware of a Fend network security breach last month?”
“No.”
“Did you know that a foreign entity attempted to steal information from Fend Aerospace?”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
“Do you know how much someone would pay to access the Fend Aerospace servers?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Don’t you find it interesting that this security breach happened on the fifteenth, right when you were there?”
Max stayed quiet. Was the FBI agent telling the truth? He certainly looked like it. So how was it that Max didn’t know about this, if it was true? Why would his father have kept it from him? Perhaps the agent was misinformed? Or maybe it was a minor incident, and they were blowing it out of proportion. If it was something routine, Max could see his father not telling him about it. Would the FBI be questioning him if it were a minor incident? Unlikely…
Flynn waited for a response but got none. Then he said, “Mr. Fend, you will understand when I tell you that this security breach has raised some very serious questions. Fend Aerospace has some pretty big government contracts in the works. Some of them are defense-related. Some of them aren’t, but still affect the safety and well-being of many Americans.”
The agents were watching him closely.
“How can I help you with this Agent Flynn?”
Flynn said, “We have reason to believe that on the day of the incident, someone provided an external source — likely originating from one of the countries that I mentioned — with access to the Fend computer network.”
Max moved in his seat. “That is concerning.”
“It is.”
No one spoke. A dog barked outside. An ambulance siren was going off in the distance.
“You understand why I’m asking you about your foreign connections now, don’t you?”
Max said, “I think I see where you’re going, yes.”
“My team of specialists think it’s possible that someone from the inside granted access to this hacker group. The hacker group then attempted to steal highly confidential corporate secrets from Fend Aerospace.”
“That’s incredibly disturbing,” Max said.
“Yes, it is. And do you know what else is disturbing?”
“What?”
“The hacker group had connections to one of your former business associates in Europe.”
“Well, I wasn’t—”
“And the account that granted them access was yours.”
They continued to question him for almost an hour. The longer it went on, the more uncomfortable Max got. There was definitely a trail of evidence that pointed to Max.
Multiple cyberintrusions on the Fend network over a two-day period. Each through Max’s account. Each from some group that was supposedly connected to someone Max knew in Europe. They wouldn’t say who.
“Are you sure there isn’t more that you’d like to tell us?” Flynn said. “Because to me, it looks like you could be connected to a cybercrime. You know people that were likely involved, and you were at the location of a crime at or about the time it occurred.”
“Special Agent Flynn, respectfully — I can assure you that I had no knowledge of any hacking that went on at my father’s company.”
“And?”
“And you must agree that I have no obvious motive. You have a few bits of information that are implicating me, but the obvious hole is this: why would I want to harm my father’s company? I have a good relationship with my father. And I would never want to harm him, his company, or our country. Look, I’m happy to continue to answer any questions you might have — I will cooperate fully. But please know that I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The room was silent. One of the agents glanced at Flynn, who looked uncertain.
The doorbell rang. Max could hear one of the agents as he marched down the stairs and spoke to someone at the door.
“Flynn?”
“What?”
“The father’s lawyer is here.”
Flynn whispered. “You gotta be shitting me. How’d he know where we were?”
The agent shrugged. “What do you want me to do?”
Max tried not to appear pleased.
Flynn said, “Let him in, of course.”
A tall, thin black man wearing a suit jacket walked up to the floor where Max was being questioned.
The lawyer scanned the room in silence. He seemed completely comfortable as he looked each one of the agents in the face. His gaze landed on Flynn.
The lawyer said, “What in the world are you doing?”
“He voluntarily came with us. He—”
“Do you have PC?” Probable cause.
Flynn clenched his jaw. “Not at this time.”
“Then he doesn’t need to answer questions. Let’s go, Max.”
Max stood. The lawyer began walking out.
Agent Flynn cleared his throat. “We aren’t finished. We really could use about twenty more minutes of your time, if you’ll give it to us, Mr. Fend.”