Free at last

After 28 months of working for the FBI, Popov earned the freedom he badly wanted. He was set free and had an apartment arranged for him. The FBI offered him a monthly stipend of $1,000 to continue Ant City. However, he found himself in a physical fight with a drunken man and decided to return home to Ukraine. He got permission to do so from a judge, provided that he return to California, which, of course, never happened.

Their last goodbye

Hilbert knew that this was the last time he’d see Popov when he brought the man to the airport. Surprisingly, they stayed in touch and Popov kept a steady stream of underground information his way. However, after months of communication and thousands of cases solved, the agent finally discovered that the mastermind of one of the biggest cases they had was Popov, and this marred Hilbert’s name. He had been played a fool and he was devastated. In fact, Hilbert had no choice but to quit the bureau when even his colleagues suspected that he was in cahoots with Popov.