red moscow

Chapter 2580 A shocking secret

Zhukov said a few more words and suddenly asked, "Misha, when I return to Moscow, will you go with me?"

"Of course, Comrade Marshal." To Zhukov's question, Sokov answered without hesitation: "Wherever you go, I will go. In my mind, you are not only my superior, but also a trustworthy elder who is worthy of my following."

Sokov's answer made Zhukov smile with relief. He nodded slightly and said to Sokov, "Misha, I also think you are a trustworthy person. Before we leave Berlin, I will take you to see someone."

After hearing what Zhukov said, Sokov instinctively asked, "Who?"

Zhukov smiled slightly, then said: "You will know when you meet him."

When Zhukov walked out of his office with Sokov, his adjutant immediately came up to them and asked respectfully, "Comrade Marshal, where are you going?"

"I'm going to take Misha to see that man," Zhukov said to his adjutant, "You come with us."

"Who?" the adjutant asked instinctively. Then, perhaps realizing who Zhukov was talking about, he stood at attention and said, "It's Comrade Marshal!"

The three men walked out of the office and met many officers and clerks along the way. All of them quickly stepped aside, leaned against the wall, and saluted Zhukov.

After reaching the first floor, the adjutant who led the way did not go outside the building, but walked to a corner. Sokov saw stairs leading down and realized that the place he was going to was the basement here, so he quickly quickened his pace and followed.

At the end of the stairs was a large, tightly closed iron door. The adjutant stopped at the door and knocked hard on it several times.

Soon, a small window on the door opened, and a face appeared from inside. He looked outside, and after seeing the adjutant and Zhukov standing outside clearly, he hurriedly closed the small window, and then the tightly closed iron door opened.

As soon as the door opened, the adjutant stepped aside and made a gesture of invitation. Zhukov walked in expressionlessly with his hands behind his back. After Sokov followed him in, he saw a long corridor inside the door. There were several soldiers with live ammunition standing upright with their backs against the wall, saluting Zhukov and others.

On both sides of the corridor were rooms next to each other. Because the doors were closed, Sokov had no idea what was in the rooms.

At the end of the corridor, there was another large, tightly closed iron door. This time, the adjutant went forward and knocked on the door. The person inside opened the small window on the door, and after seeing who was outside clearly, he immediately opened the iron door and let the three people in.

Behind the door was still a long corridor. Next to the door was a long table with several submachine guns on it. The owner of the guns was standing aside and saluting Zhukov. The adjutant stopped and asked one of the officers: "Second Lieutenant, how is that man today?"

"Comrade Adjutant," the officer said respectfully, "I checked every hour and found that he has been sleeping all day."

The adjutant ordered: "Lead the way!"

The officer agreed and led the way to the other end of the corridor.

  Sokov was wondering who was imprisoned in such a heavily guarded basement. Judging from Zhukov's attention, this person must be very important. Could it be that the little mustache was not dead, and the body burned by the officers was just a substitute, while the real little mustache was imprisoned in this basement that never sees the sun?

When everyone stopped in front of the iron door at the end of the corridor, Sokov's heart was full of anticipation. He was eager to know who was imprisoned in the room.

The officer opened the small window on the iron door, took a look inside, then immediately stepped aside and reported to the adjutant: "Comrade adjutant, he is sleeping."

Zhukov walked to the door, looked inside for a moment, then turned to Sokov and said, "Misha, come and take a look!"

Sokov did not dare to delay and quickly took two steps forward, leaning over to the small window and looking inside.

The lights were on in the room and everything was clear.

A man in a black suit was lying on a single iron bed against the wall. He seemed to have heard the noise at the door, so he slowly sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked towards the door, meeting Sokov's gaze.

After seeing clearly that this person was not the man with a mustache, Sokov felt somewhat disappointed, but he felt that this person looked somewhat familiar, but he could not remember where he had seen him.

"Comrade Marshal," Sokov turned around and asked Zhukov curiously, "Who is he? Why does he look familiar?"

Zhukov did not answer Sokov's question, but asked: "Guess who he is?" Then he pointed to the ceiling and said, "It's a big shot up there."

Sokov thought quickly, who could that important person be? After he came to this era, the important people he knew were either generals or marshals. The only non-military person was the People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs, Molotov, but the person in the room was obviously not him. In addition, Ustinov from the Armaments Department, although he also had a military rank, every time he saw him, he was wearing civilian clothes, so it was obviously not him either.

"I'm sorry, Comrade Marshal, I can't guess." Sokov smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying, "I just think he looks familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen him before."

"I think when I asked you to guess who this person is, the first people you thought of must be Molotov and Ustinov." Zhukov guessed what Sokov was thinking like a worm in his stomach: "I tell you, it's definitely not them."

"Then can you tell me who is imprisoned inside?" Sokov asked cautiously. Zhukov waved to the officer, signaling him to leave, and then he nodded to his adjutant, signaling him to tell Sokov the answer: "Adjutant, tell Misha who is imprisoned inside?"

The adjutant nodded and said to Sokov, "General Sokov, the person inside is Truman." Just when Sokov's jaw was about to hit the ground, he added, "To be precise, it is a substitute we trained. We plan to use him to replace the real Truman when the time is right."

Even if a ball of lightning exploded next to Sokov at this moment, it would not be more shocking than the news his adjutant told him. After a long time, Sokov woke up from the shock and said in a trembling voice: "Comrade Marshal, if I understand correctly, the person imprisoned here is the fake president we are going to use to replace Truman?"

"Yes, your understanding is correct." Zhukov continued, "This is a double that we spent half a year training. He watches various films about Truman every day and imitates Truman in all aspects. We originally planned to find a suitable time to swap the two when Truman visited the US-controlled area in November, and have our people replace Truman. But Truman's visit plan was cancelled, and our replacement plan had to be terminated."

When Sokov heard Zhukov say this, cold sweat immediately broke out on his forehead. He knew in his heart that this was a huge secret. Now that he knew it, would it bring him unnecessary trouble? He asked tremblingly: "Comrade Marshal, I am afraid I don't have the authority to know about this top-secret matter. Now that I know about it, how do you plan to deal with me?"

Unexpectedly, Zhukov saw Sokov's embarrassed look and laughed: "Misha, don't worry, even though you know such a confidential matter, I believe you will keep it a secret."

"Of course, of course." Sokov wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand, smiled bitterly and replied, "I will definitely keep this secret."

"Misha, the reason I brought you to see him today is because with your help, our plan to steal the truth was not leaked."

Zhukov's words confused Sokov. He asked in confusion: "Comrade Marshal, I don't know anything about this plan. How can I help you?"

"Have you forgotten the murder in Nuremberg?" Zhukov said with a smile, "It was because you solved the case and caught the agent who stole the intelligence that we ensured that our plan did not fall into the hands of the Americans."

Sokov immediately thought of why Sokolovsky acquiesced to his proposal after arresting the agent and executed the American agent directly, and then sent all the people who had access to the top-secret documents back to Berlin the next day. It turned out that he was worried that the plan would be leaked.

After figuring this out, Sokov cautiously asked Zhukov: "Where are General Sokolovsky's adjutant and another female translator now?"

"They have been sent back to the country." Zhukov said expressionlessly, "Since they have been exposed to confidential information, they may be arranged to stay in isolated cities for a few years and will be released when the time is right."

Sokov was thankful that he did not read the document out of curiosity, otherwise he might be sent to an isolated military city like Sokolovsky's adjutant. Although Zhukov said that he might be released in a few years, Sokov knew that such a top-secret plan, once leaked, would cause turmoil in the world situation, and those who knew about it would be detained indefinitely even if they were not silenced.

"Let's go," Zhukov said to Sokov, "There are some things that cannot be said here. Let's go back to the office first."

When Sokov returned to the office and saw that he and Zhukov were the only ones in the room, he asked tentatively, "Comrade Marshal, I know this huge secret, will it really be okay?"

"If I say it's okay, then it's okay. Don't worry." Zhukov continued, "According to the original plan, Ajelina will assist this person to enter the US-controlled area, and during Truman's visit, he will replace Truman in the future."

Sokov pinched his chin with his right hand, thinking that he had read a novel written by a British person in his later life, which said that in order to control the United States, the Soviet Union secretly cultivated a president's substitute, intending to replace the real president at the right time. But before the mission was carried out, the substitute chose to betray for a special reason, causing the plan to fail. He clearly remembered that the book mentioned that the person in charge of this plan was Chuikov. Because he didn't know much about the senior Soviet generals at the time, he even thought that Chuikov was Zhukov, but the translator wrote the wrong name when translating the novel.

"Misha, now that this plan of stealing the day has been canceled," Zhukov looked at Sokov and asked, "Then Adelina no longer has to go to Bavaria to carry out special missions. What are you going to do with her next? Will you let her return to Moscow with you, or let her stay in Berlin?"

Sokov didn't expect Zhukov to ask this question. His mind went blank for a moment and he didn't know how to answer him.

Zhukov saw Sokov's embarrassment and took the initiative to say, "It is definitely unrealistic to let her go back to Moscow with you. If Asia knew what happened between you, she would probably be furious. So I think the best way is to let her stay in Berlin. After all, she has joined the translation team now, so it is obviously more appropriate for her to stay in Berlin."

"Comrade Marshal, you are right." Sokov felt that Zhukov's arrangement made a lot of sense, so he nodded and said, "Let's do as you say. When I return to Moscow, I will let Adelina continue to work in the translation team in Berlin."

"There is one more thing." Zhukov continued.

"What's the matter?" Sokov asked.

"General Sokolovsky and I had originally agreed to provide Patton with false information when he invited you to meet us." Zhukov looked at Sokov and asked, "But during the time you were in Nuremberg, Patton did not invite you. Do you know what happened?"

"Comrade Marshal," Sokov was also very confused about Patton's failure to invite him. On the way back to Berlin, he calmed down and thought about this question carefully, and then came up with an answer that was closest to the truth. Since Zhukov asked, he told him his guess: "I think the failure of our plan may be related to the fact that the United States disbanded their Strategic Intelligence Agency."

"Oh, it's about the disbanding of the OSS?" Zhukov said, "Tell me your reasons."

"The reason is simple. During the war, the intelligence obtained by the United States was summarized and organized by the Strategic Intelligence Agency. Once it is disbanded, there will be no suitable new department to replace them, and the US intelligence agencies will fall into chaos." Sokov explained to Zhukov: "Even if our spies provide seemingly true intelligence to the US intelligence personnel, after the intelligence personnel report this intelligence, I am afraid there will be no one to explain how to deal with it. This is probably the reason why our plan failed."

After listening to Sokov's analysis, Zhukov walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, thinking quickly in his mind, trying to figure out whether what Sokov said was reasonable.

After walking back and forth in the room for more than a dozen times, Zhukov finally stopped and turned to Sokov, saying with a smile: "Misha, I have to say that your analysis is very accurate. Yes, with the dissolution of the Strategic Intelligence Agency, the US intelligence work fell into chaos. Under such circumstances, the trap we set for them was not taken seriously at all. Because of this, no one contacted Patton to invite you to visit the 15th Army Headquarters, which caused our plan to fail."