red moscow

Chapter 2795 Top Secret Mission

"I'm sorry, Major Sokov." Sokov had already sent the guards away, but Alina still said stubbornly: "I can't tell you the content of this mission until you agree to join us."

Sokov had made up his mind that he would never join the other side's action team before he understood the specific situation. According to his experience, the missions carried out by this special action team were all life-threatening. And sometimes, even if the mission was completed, the fate of the team members was very tragic due to the reasons of confidentiality. He had been in the army for less than two months and had already become a major. There was still a lot of room for advancement in the future. If he put his future in jeopardy for a special mission that he didn't know the details of, it would simply be a loss.

"Lieutenant Alina, since you are unwilling to tell me what mission you are about to carry out, I am sorry." Sokov said coldly: "I am sorry that I cannot obey your order. You should find someone else to participate in your operation."

Alina probably didn't expect that Sokov would refuse so straightforwardly. For a moment, the expression on her face became extremely complicated.

One of the subordinates standing behind her suddenly took two steps forward, came to her side, leaned close to her ear and whispered something.

Hearing what her subordinate said, Alina raised her eyebrows, as if she was surprised by what the other party said.

Seeing this, Sokov guessed that the subordinate might be giving Alina advice, so he decided to test it again. If the other party still refused to speak, he would turn around and leave immediately. He could find whoever he wanted to cooperate with. I would not serve him anymore. I am the military chief, not an agent. There is no need for me to wade into this muddy water.

"Lieutenant Alina, I think this subordinate next to you may have given you some ideas to convince me." Sokov did not beat around the bush and said directly: "I still say that I will not agree to your request before I understand the purpose of your operation. According to my guess, your deep penetration behind enemy lines this time is definitely not to spy on intelligence, because for such a thing, even ordinary scouts are more suitable than you, let alone professional agents."

When Alina heard what Sokov said, she showed a slightly surprised expression on her face, and then asked: "So what mission do you think we will carry out?"

"If it's about assassinating German officials, blowing up warehouses and transfer stations, destroying railways and roads, the guerrillas are enough. Asking you to carry out such tasks is simply a waste of talent." Sokov shook his head and said, "Besides that, I really can't think of what other tasks you can perform?"

"Can't we go deep behind enemy lines, contact our comrades who have infiltrated the enemy, and obtain the enemy's latest combat deployment from them?"

Sokov smiled. He glanced at the rank on the other's collar badge and continued, "Comrade Sergeant, the Germans' goal is to attack Moscow. Everyone can see that. Therefore, stealing their combat deployment is meaningless. The mission you are performing is definitely unrelated to this."

"Major Sokov, you are right." After hearing what Sokov said, Alina said, "The mission we are going to perform is indeed not what you just said."

"Then can you tell me what the mission is?" Sokov said carefully, "You don't have to tell me the specific mission, just tell me the general scope. By doing so, you won't leak secrets, and I can decide whether to join you based on the information you provide. How about it, are you willing to tell me the general scope of the mission?"

Faced with Sokov's proposal, Alina's face showed a complicated expression again, as if she was having a fierce ideological struggle in her heart.

After a while, her expression became calm, as if she had finally made a decision: "Okay, Major Sokov, since you want to know the approximate scope of our mission, I can make an exception and tell you. But after you know it, you can't tell anyone."

"Lieutenant Alina, you can rest assured about this." Sokov assured her, "I have learned the confidentiality regulations, and I have also sent the soldiers of the guard squad away, so what you said is only known to me and you three."

"Major Sokov, I can only tell you limited information." Alina said cautiously: "Our mission this time is to go deep behind enemy lines to rescue someone."

"Send a special team from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to go deep behind enemy lines to meet someone?" Sokov repeated Alina's words and asked jokingly, "This person looks very important. Could it be Comrade Stalin's son Yakov?"

Sokov had just said that casually, but after hearing this, Alina hesitated for a few seconds. Usually when people encounter something beyond their cognition, they tend to fall into a short brain freeze state, and this was obviously the case with her.

"Who, who told you?" The next moment, Alina woke up with shock on her face: "Major Sokov, who told you that our mission is to rescue Yakov?"

"Did I guess right?" Sokov saw the change in Alina's expression. He understood that he was lucky to have guessed right. However, out of caution, he still asked tentatively: "Lieutenant Alina, is the special mission you are carrying out really to go deep behind enemy lines to rescue Yakov?"

"Comrade Major." Before Alina could speak, the sergeant from the Ministry of Internal Affairs stepped forward and asked in a stern tone, "How did you know about our top-secret operation?"

Sokov glanced at him coldly and said in a disdainful tone: "I also heard by chance that Comrade Stalin's son, Lieutenant Artillery Yakov, was captured in the Battle of Smolensk and is now being held somewhere by the Germans. And you acted mysteriously, saying that you were going to carry out some rescue operation. I just mentioned it casually, and I didn't expect that I really guessed it right."

"Major Sokov." Alina stared at Sokov and said with a cold face: "Since you have guessed the truth, will you participate in our operation?" While speaking, her hand reached for her waist, as if as long as Sokov did not agree, she would draw her gun and shoot Sokov without hesitation to prevent him from leaking the secret.

"I promise you." Unexpectedly, Sokov said, "I am willing to participate in your operation."

Alina was stunned. She had thought that she would need to spend a lot of effort to convince Sokov to participate in the rescue operation. But she only confirmed his guess and he readily agreed to participate.

After a moment, Alina asked cautiously: "Major Sokov, can I ask why you agreed to this?"

Hearing Alina's question, Sokov was speechless. You just chased me to participate in your action, and now that I agreed, you have doubts.

But considering that both sides will need to cooperate in the next period of time, Sokov decided to make it clear: "Lieutenant Alina, since you came here to find me, it means that you have received instructions from your superiors and feel that my participation can increase the chances of completing the mission. Even if I reject you, when the next special team appears, you will still find ways to get me to join. What do you think, am I right?"

Alina retracted her hand from her waist, nodded slightly, and said, "Yes, when I accepted the mission, my superior told me that if you participate in this operation, the chance of success will be greatly improved." "Your superior?" Alina's words aroused Sokov's curiosity: "Can you tell me who your superior is?"

"This mission was personally arranged by Comrade Beria." Since Sokov agreed to participate in this operation, Alina no longer concealed anything from him, but answered truthfully: "When he met me, he told me in person that you and General Vlasov were trapped in Kiev. If it were someone else, they would either die or become prisoners of the Germans, but you just used a little trick and left Kiev under the escort of the enemy."

Sokov finally understood why Alina and others came to him. It turned out that the rescue of Vlasov in Kiev attracted the attention of the higher-ups. So when Beria arranged the operation to rescue Yakov, he also included himself in the list of operators.

"Oh, so that's how it is." Sokov nodded, and then said to Alina: "Lieutenant Alina, since I agree to participate in your operation, can you introduce the two comrades around you to me?"

"Of course." Alina pointed to the sergeant next to her and said, "This is Sergeant Basco, who is in charge of communications. That one is Sandor, the team's sniper."

Hearing that there was another sniper in the team, Sokov couldn't help but look at him carefully. Sure enough, he saw that he was carrying a rifle with a scope wrapped in cloth.

"When do you plan to go deep behind enemy lines?" asked Sokov.

"Of course the sooner the better." Basco said first: "Comrade Major, do you think it's okay now?"

Sokov sneered and replied bluntly: "No, not now."

"Why?" Basco asked in confusion.

"Don't you see that there is a battlefield ahead?" Sokov said with a straight face, "The war between the two sides is about to break out. If we pass through the combat zone now, wouldn't that be suicide? For safety reasons, we should wait until dark before taking action."

When Basco was about to say something else, Alina raised her hand to stop him: "Basco, Major Sokov is more familiar with the environment here than we are. Since he said that we should act after dark, then we should wait until after dark."

Sokov listened to the conversation between the two and remembered a key point. He asked, "Lieutenant Alina, I want to ask, who will command the action team? I can't be a major and listen to you, a lieutenant, command, right?"

"Of course not." Alina smiled and said, "Since you are willing to join the action team, you will be responsible for it. I will fully cooperate with your work."

Sokov ignored Alina's words. Although he was the highest-ranking officer in the operation team, it was still unknown whether others would obey his orders. But he saw through it but didn't say anything. He pretended to be happy and said, "That's good, that's good."

He was originally planning to take a few people back to the division headquarters, but was rejected by Alina: "Comrade Major, we are carrying out a top-secret mission. The fewer people who know about us, the better, so as to avoid leaks and affect our next action."

Seeing that Alina and others were unwilling to go to the division headquarters, Sokov did not force them. After sending the soldiers of the guard squad back, he took a few people to find a hidden place to rest. After dark, he would find a way to pass through the defense lines of the two armies.

Unexpectedly, not long after, there was an earth-shaking sound of artillery fire outside, which frightened Basco who was sitting in the shelter and trembled: "Comrade Major, what's going on outside? Why are there such fierce artillery fire?"

"It looks like the enemy is preparing to launch another attack on Borodino Heights." Sokov explained to the other side: "When the ground attack begins, they will launch a fierce artillery bombardment on our positions on the heights. Don't worry, the battlefield is still some distance away from us, and the enemy can't get over."

Although Sokov had made his words very clear, Basco was still worried. He sneaked out of the shelter while Sokov was not paying attention, found a suitable position, and observed the situation on the battlefield in the distance.

As a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Basco had no chance to go to the battlefield. Seeing the battlefield in the distance, shrouded in flames and smoke, he was so scared that his legs were shaking like sieves, so the battlefield in front of him was far different from what he had imagined.

Soon after the bombardment ended, the enemy launched another ground offensive.

The Soviet defense line was severely damaged during the first German attack, and although emergency repairs were carried out, it was still in tatters. In addition, the casualties of the defenders in some areas were heavy, and soon German tanks broke through the defense line and rushed into the depth of the Soviet defense.

Seeing a German tank breaking through the defense line, knocking down a relatively intact wooden house, crushing a machine gun fire point that was still firing, and rushing towards his position, Basco was immediately frightened and panicked. He turned and rushed into the shelter, shouting to Alina: "Comrade Lieutenant, it's bad, a German tank is rushing towards us, let's move quickly, otherwise it will be too late."

"Why are you panicking?" Sokov frowned and said dissatisfiedly, "It's just a tank. What's so scary about it? Besides, it's still far away from us. Anti-tank fighters along the way can destroy it before it reaches us."

But at this moment, Basco was too frightened to hear what Sokov said, and he was still shouting desperately: "Comrade Lieutenant, retreat quickly, or it will be too late."

"Pah!" A loud slap interrupted his shouting. Sokov said sternly, "You coward, you are scared like this by just a German tank. If we go deep behind enemy lines and are surrounded by the enemy, will you become a shameful traitor out of fear?"

Although Alina was also unhappy with Basco's panic, she felt a little embarrassed when she saw Sokov slap Basco in the face: "Comrade Major, even if Basco did something wrong, you can just say a few words to him, how can you hit him?"

(End of this chapter)