How could someone find the identity of an FBI agent?

Writing a story about two guys hunting down a Jinn. Well, in the midst of their investigation, they see the man they're after get arrested. He wished to be rich, and the Jinn granted that wish, but it came with a catch: the money he received was taken in a series of bank robberies, and they're marked. So, when he deposits the money, the FBI is alerted.

When the arresting FBI agent takes the man's personal belongings, the Jinn attached to the man's talisman possesses the FBI agent, which our heroes witness as the FBI agents drive off.

But since this has happened, I've been stuck as to where to go from here. How could my heroes figure out the identity of this FBI agent? Their identities aren't exactly public.

I've also thought of just getting around this issue by changing the order of things. Currently, I have it as all of my victims being in the same unit in Afghanistan. A group of them found the talisman, and brought it back home, keeping it just between them. The "first" victim is a Sgt. His ex-wife saw him meeting with a priest, which was odd because he's an atheist, so that leads our team to discovering that this priest died under similar circumstances as the Sgt., so he was technically the first victim. At the crime scene, a man scurries past our main characters, and that turns out to be the guy who wished to be rich.

Instead, what if I have it be a bit more linear, where it goes from the Sgt. to the bank robber, then the priest visits him in prison (a way around the whole FBI thing)?

 

Put a tracking device on his car, follow him home. Then look up the info on his address. Or maybe once they find his house they break in while he's gone and find information on him. His name on letters lying on the coffee table etc.

 

Well, I guess I'm wondering how they'd even find out who he is to get access to that stuff. I mean, all they see is his face as he arrests the guy and drives off. Though, I'm also considering just changing the order up of the victims so I don't have this issue.

 

Face recognition software?

 

Does it take place in modern times? Do they have cell phones?

Take a photo of the person you want to identify. Upload it. Then right click on it and select Search images with Google Lens

 

Modern times, but not sure that's the route I want to go. It's something that takes them by surprise, and they only incidentally happen to witness it as the agent is driving off.

 

Yeah, I'm sure Mulder used to do it all the time.

"I'm Agent Big Wang and this is Agent Hotlips, and you've been exposing yourself. To dangerous supernatural influences."

 

That actually sounds like a simple, straightforward way that I somehow never even thought of. Though, now I'm struggling with whether or not any of this is even necessary, or if I should just go with changing the order of the victims. The two guys are actually disgraced angels that are tasked with capturing a bunch of demons that they accidentally let escape, with damnation being their reward should they fail. I want that to be clear in my pilot, and I worry that if I go full throttle with them running from the FBI, and presumably other authorities, right from the start, it'll obfuscate what the story is actually about.

So, really considering the alternative victim order.

 

If some or all of your victims are military who served in Afghanistan, they probably have experience working with intelligence types; maybe one of them is/was intelligence. So, they will have experience ferreting out information or have contacts that can do it for them. Those unfortunate souls who suffer from PTSD sometimes maintain their hyperawareness, perceiving danger around every corner; they just can't turn it off. Could that factor in?

Of course, most FBI agents are still just 'street cops' and will do what police detectives do - stop at the local cop bar to have a drink and complain about their latest difficult case. Lots of ex-military get into law enforcement (or at least they used to) so it should not be too difficult to find the local cop/agents bar. "Remember Lieutenant Goodguy? He joined the Feds after he mustered out."

Your ex-military can just go into the local FBI office and tell them "I'm doing research for a book and would like to talk to some agents; where can I go buy them a drink and talk to them?" I did just that, except my story is about the military; I went to a local VFW and bought a few rounds. I heard quite a few interesting stories; a few were even "turn off your recorder." And they very helpfully referred me to some people who had a lot of experience with my topics of interest.

 

Well, the victims all were ex-military guys (priest was a chaplain), but the main characters are actually fallen angels trying to get their wings back and avoid damnation. One of them has tech skills, but definitely nothing like intelligence professionals.