The Spy’s Son features some darkly comical moments – many of them captured on FBI wiretaps.

Now, for the first time, I’m making public two of those moments.

You can thank Gail Hulden for this development. Gail, who served as chief of the research team at The Oregonian newspaper, suggested I share the audios here.

Et voila, here they are.

Let me offer some background for the files:

PHONE CALL 1 was intercepted after FBI agents interviewed Nathan Nicholson at his apartment in Eugene, Oregon, in December 2008. After searching his place and taking hours of notes, the agents cleared out. This freed Nathan to return the calls that had stacked up on his phone during the long interrogation. His first call was to Star Nicholson, his sister, who also had been questioned.

PHONE CALL 2 was intercepted after Nathan jokingly texted his good friend Camilla Beavers to let her know he wanted to celebrate her birthday before he was sent to jail. Camilla opened the conversation with one word: “Ex-plain!”

I obtained these audios (by agreement of defense and prosecution lawyers) after they were played in U.S. District Court.