Peter Brandon went on to say, “I was born as Ivan Kalin in the Soviet Union in what was then Leningrad. I was a young KGB Officer, selected early in what you would call the sixth grade and trained in a mostly English environment by American and Canadian born staff in a special school not far from Moscow. Languages were easy for me. I learned Polish and French. Many of the skills I learned were passed on to you as you were growing up, sometimes in the form of games and other times in the context of sports and physical fitness.

“It was in the period of Détente, the counter-intelligence vigilance of the cold war era was fading into memory and the KGB leaders decided to take advantage of the soft U.S. borders. My superiors began to infiltrate KGB Officers into the United States through Canada and Mexico.

“No one except my instructors knew of my KGB status, and they would never leave the Soviet Union. My handlers decided to send me into Canada and then into the United States. They never knew I despised the regimented life under the Party elite. The grayness of life, the constant worry that anything I said or thought might be seen to be anti-party, the arbitrary allocation of career opportunities, and the danger of trusting even your best friends made me yearn to escape. My grandmother was the only person I could talk to. She told me tales of how her friends and family members had been persecuted in the insane purges prior to World War II. Before she died she made me promise to take the first opportunity to escape. What better way than for the Party itself to make the arrangements?

“So for years I knew, if I ever got a chance to get out of the Soviet Union, I would never go back. I despised the cruelty and arrogance of the Communist Party. I was certain one day the Russian people would rise up against the regimes who had, one after the other, brought them hardship without hope. The threat of the camps and the omnipotence of the KGB sapped the courage of even the bravest. I could not be part of the historical repression that had wrung the light and gaiety out of people wherever the Hammer and Sickle flew on its field of red.

“A young man traveling alone presents a higher level of risk so I was provided with a wife. The KGB was a resourceful organization, and within three months they found a suitable wife. She was a beautiful young Polish woman from a good family who spoke excellent English. Her name was Anna. I’m not going to tell you her full name or give you any dates. Nor am I including the places and details of our break from the KGB. Backtracking my story would be dangerous for you. Her parents were ranking party members and highly trusted. I loved your mother from the first day I saw her.

“Armed with KGB-provided papers, we now had a Polish identity with all the necessary documentation including university student identity cards from Warsaw University, drivers’ licenses, a military status card, medical records and a collection of pocket litter to add authenticity to our cover stories, we made our way across Poland and Czechoslovakia into Austria, where we joined with other refugees in the endless processing. Eventually we got our Canadian immigrant visas and arrived in Canada. The journey was not hard. The trip from Austria to Canada was the easiest part of the trip.

“The Catholic Church in Canada helped us to get settled in a small town near Ottawa. Much to my surprise Anna was fascinated with the Christian church, and keeping with our cover, she attended church several times a week. Once in a while I went with her but was never able to match her interest and commitment to religion. I found work as a carpenter’s helper and with the help of the church and Canadian social services, we made ends meet. Two years later you were born. I was told my mission was to make my way into the United States and to settle within thirty miles of Washington, D.C. Once there I would take control of a spy network.

“My Control in Canada handed me a list of important American military and civilian office holders to assassinate prior to the start of a military attack on the United States. The intent was to confuse the American political and military chain of command. I had a secondary mission of creating chaos in the civilian sector by the spread of bacteriological agents, placing bombs in pre-selected key areas and sabotaging other targets.

“I was relieved when I learned Anna, though frightened, shared my feelings and was willing to take the risks we would face breaking away from KGB control in the United States.”

Talking rapidly now as if he were trying to get through a difficult time of his life, Peter plunged on, telling his son he knew they had to get out of Canada and make their break soon. “There were not enough places to hide or cities large enough in Canada to hide a family on the run from the KGB. Fortuitously, the KGB contact in Canada told me to get ready to move to the United States the next month. He said the counter-intelligence forces in the U.S. were improving rapidly and personal contacts between KGB controllers assigned to the Soviet Embassy and Consulates and undercover officers were becoming more and more dangerous. Officers with my training had to move in and take over key espionage networks. I was assured all the necessary funds and equipment to perform my mission would be in place, so I could improve the access of my network, recruit and pay agents, and acquire necessary real estate for the mission. Once in the United States, I systematically withdrew nearly all the funds from each safety deposit box and bank account under my control.”

“Wait a minute! Are you telling me our whole life is financed with funds stolen from the KGB?”

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you. Over the years I have grown this money into a sizeable fortune and used a lot of this money to help protect our country.”

“Why didn’t you just walk into the nearest FBI office and tell them your story?”

“Good question. But once you walk in as a defector to any counter-intelligence organization, you cannot walk out. For the rest of your life, you will be in their hands. They will never fully trust you nor allow you to develop your life by following your own path. Also, I didn’t trust the Americans to keep us safe from a vengeful KGB. One of the essential things I have learned from my life is that while some people will keep their word, all governments break their word as soon as it is expedient to do so. I swore once our family was safe, I would help the American government to protect this wonderful country.

“Now, please bear with me, and let me get through my story.”