What Did Billy Reilly Do in Russia? Did the FBI Know? And Where Was He Now?

My new book, Lost Son, tells the story of Billy Reilly, a young man from Michigan who works for the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Confidential Human Source, a freelancer of sorts, a rank amateur drawn into professional intelligence. In 2015, five years into his relationship with the Bureau, and with war raging in eastern Ukraine, Billy, intent on making his mark, sets off to Russia.

This excerpt, the book’s 26th chapter, unspools my introduction to the case. I learn of Billy's plight via a banker, a man once considered for the post of U.S. ambassador to Russia who has deep contacts in Moscow. I then seek out Billy’s parents and sister. With their help, I learn how he differs from misguided dreamers who routinely fall prey abroad. Billy’s association with the FBI sets him apart. What had Billy Reilly done in Russia? What did the FBI know? Where was this lost son?

In 2017, each weekday around quitting time in Washington, a motorcade departed the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, west of the White House, and eased north on 17th Street NW. Vice President Mike Pence sat in the back seat of one of the convoy’s limousines on the way to his residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory. Policemen in sedans and on motorcycles cleared the road. Their lights flashed and their sirens arrested the senses as the cars slid past Farragut Square and joined Connecticut Avenue where it skimmed by the Mayflower Hotel.

Read more at The Daily Beast.