Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is presented through a narrow but consequential strand of Amaia Salazar’s investigation: its criminal-behavior research division seeks her participation in exchange courses at Quantico, while agents question her about special agent Dupree, an undercover agent whose communications have become difficult to trace. The invitation arrives almost immediately after a private call with Dupree, turning an apparently routine professional opportunity into a sign that the Bureau may be monitoring their contact.

Institutional Presence and Professional Outreach

The Bureau’s most direct approach to Amaia comes by telephone from agent Johnson in Virginia. He tells her that applications for exchange courses at Quantico have just been published and that the criminal-behavior research division hopes she will attend. The Bureau intends to make a formal request to her police station. The offer connects her work to an American agency’s behavioral-crime expertise, but the timing troubles her: Johnson calls only about two minutes after she has spoken with Dupree.

For Amaia, the close timing changes the meaning of the call. What resembles the kind of administrative conversation she has had with officials before also provides a pretext to ask about Dupree. Johnson’s question about whether she has had contact with the special agent makes her suspect that the calls are being listened to. The narrative does not establish precisely how the Bureau obtained this knowledge; it presents Amaia’s inference alongside the suspicious sequence of calls.

Oversight and the Dupree Inquiry

Johnson asks Amaia to tell the Bureau if Dupree contacts her again. She replies that she did not even know he was working on a new case, then asks whether something has happened. Johnson describes the problem as routine: the Bureau has recently had difficulty locating Dupree, and an undercover agent may find it hard to choose a safe moment to report in. He says that the time elapsed since Dupree last reported, together with the agent’s irreverent attitude, has raised concern about the security of his identity.

After ending the first call, Amaia waits ten minutes in her car. When the phone rings again, Johnson is calling on the private number he had previously given her. This second conversation sharpens the distinction between the Bureau’s official account and its private concern. Johnson says the official version is that Dupree may have been discovered, but that the Bureau suspects he has been compromised. The exchange does not resolve what has happened to him; it leaves Amaia with an uncertain warning and an instruction to report any renewed contact.

The agency’s questions strike Amaia as resembling an Internal Affairs questionnaire. Her guarded answers and growing concern show how an ostensibly procedural inquiry strains the trust between her and the institution. Johnson reassures her that there is nothing serious to worry about, even as he asks for immediate notice if Dupree calls. The calm language and urgent request sit uneasily together.

A Covert Channel and Its Limits

Dupree later contacts Amaia through a number he describes as secure, while telling her not to call him and to wait for him to make contact when she needs him. Their arrangement depends on an established, largely unexplained understanding; Amaia does not ask how he will know when she needs him. The channel is private, but its reliability is uncertain. Earlier, Dupree’s voice had reached her from a distance, his calls had been interrupted, and information identifying their origin had disappeared from her screen.

Amaia had also learned that the calls were traced to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after Jonan Etxaide tracked them. The Bureau’s central office had warned her about the calls, while Johnson had previously advised her to avoid the official line for anything concerning Dupree and use a private number he supplied. These details leave the communication system divided between official scrutiny and a guarded personal route; neither offers Amaia complete certainty about who can observe the contact.

When Dupree does speak with her, Amaia walks away from the house and recounts what she knows about the case. She tells him of her suspicion that her mother may still be alive, the dead girl who was to be handed over, Elena Ochoa’s reaction, and the message from Berasategui, including the strange circumstances of his suicide and the reptile-like saliva associated with the distant island of Komodo. Dupree listens in silence, then recognizes that she has not called merely to brief him on a complicated puzzle. The exchange establishes a working relationship in which the Bureau’s agent is also a confidential sounding board, though the evidence does not show that the institution itself directs or adopts Amaia’s investigation.

Narrative Role

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s role is therefore deliberately bounded: it offers Amaia a route to professional exchange, seeks information about one of its agents, and appears to keep close watch on communications surrounding him. Its presence complicates rather than settles the question of access and trust. A formal invitation becomes entangled with surveillance suspicions; an official explanation of Dupree’s absence coexists with a more alarming private assessment. The agency functions not as a fully depicted investigative partner but as an institution whose authority reaches Amaia through calls, warnings, and a request that she report what she learns.