red moscow

Chapter 2803 Extraneous problems

As soon as he entered the tent, the smell inside almost choked Sokov. He quickly covered his nose with his hands and squinted his eyes, trying to adapt to the dim light in the tent as quickly as possible.

Soon, he saw a man sitting in the corner of the tent. He had a scruffy beard and messy hair. He was wearing a pullover without a military rank and a military coat without a military rank covering his waist and abdomen. When he saw someone coming in from outside, he looked up with a numb expression on his face.

"Captain Otto," Lucas said to Sokov, "This is Major General Romanov, the commander of the Russian 172nd Infantry Division. He was captured by our army at the end of August, and it has been a month and a half now. When he was captured, he was seriously injured, but according to the information from our military doctors, his injuries have basically healed."

"Can you walk on your own?"

"of course can."

"Then order someone to take him out."

As Lucas gave the order, two German soldiers came over and dragged Romanov up from the ground. The military coat that was originally covering him immediately fell to the ground. When the two German soldiers handcuffed Romanov's hands and prepared to push him out of the tent, Sokov shouted, "Wait a minute." Although he bent down to pick up the military coat on the ground, he handed it to one of the soldiers and reminded him, "Take his military coat with you."

"Captain Otto!" Lucas asked after Romanov was taken out of the tent, "What will happen to these Russian prisoners of war after they are used for propaganda?"

"If they were ordinary soldiers, they would either be shot directly or sent to do hard labor after the propaganda was over, until they died of exhaustion or illness." Sokov had watched many documentaries about Soviet prisoners of war, so he was naturally very familiar with how the Germans dealt with these prisoners, so he spoke without hesitation: "As for senior officers like Major General Romanov, they might be locked up somewhere and receive better treatment than ordinary soldiers. As for whether they can survive until the end of the war, it depends on their luck."

As Lucas followed Sokov outside, he continued to ask, "How long do you think it will take for us to win the war against the Russians?"

When Sokov heard this question, he sneered in his heart, saying that the final winners of this war were the Soviet Army and the Allied Forces, and the Axis Powers composed of Germany, Italy and Japan became the losers. But at this moment he had to pretend to be passionate and said: "Captain Lucas, although this war will last longer than the Supreme Command originally thought, the final winner must be us. Bringing these prisoners of war to Berlin and using them for propaganda is to completely disintegrate the Russians' military spirit and morale, thereby accelerating the arrival of victory."

These high-sounding words frightened Lucas, who thought that the final outcome of the war would be just as Sokov said, that Germany would be the final winner.

Sokov walked out of the tent, glanced at Romanlov standing next to him, and then cast his eyes on Alina and others who were looking for someone among the prisoners. He couldn't help feeling a little worried. There were thousands of prisoners held in this prisoner-of-war camp. Could they find Yakov smoothly?

Lucas also looked at Alina and the others. He saw the three men walking through the crowd, but they didn't pick out any prisoners. They looked serious, as if they were looking for someone. He couldn't help but frowned and turned to ask Sokov, "Captain Otto, what's wrong with your men? Why haven't you picked out any prisoners yet?"

Sokov knew very well that Alina and the others' actions had aroused Lucas's vigilance. He quickly brought out the mustache to cover up the three people's behavior: "Captain Lucas, the selected prisoners of war must be sent to the Führer for his review. Of course, we can't be perfunctory, we must carefully select them."

After hearing Sokov mention the Führer, Lucas could only put aside his suspicions for the time being. After a pause, he asked tentatively, "Captain Otto, do you need me to send someone to help them choose?"

"No, no." Sokov waved his hand and said, "Lieutenant Simon is accompanying them, so there's no need to trouble you."

Although he said this, Sokov was extremely anxious. He was worried that if he delayed too long, something unexpected might happen.

Alina and her companions walked around the group of prisoners and brought back three prisoners. They were all wearing dirty military coats, without hats, and looked haggard.

Sokov recognized Yakov at a glance, and he couldn't help feeling ecstatic. It seemed that his trip was not in vain, as he really found Yakov.

"Captain Otto," Lucas suddenly said, "Why do these three Russian prisoners look a bit alike?"

After Lucas's reminder, Sokov hurriedly checked the other two people carefully, and they were indeed somewhat similar to Yakov. Sokov immediately understood that Alina had only seen Yakov's photo, but had never seen him in person, so she saw that the three people looked similar, and because she couldn't tell which one was which, she simply brought them all back.

He smiled at Lucas and said, "Captain Lucas, to be honest, I have prosopagnosia, and all the Russians look similar to me. Could this be why you think the three of them look alike?"

Lucas chuckled and then asked, "Just these four prisoners of war?"

Sokov nodded: "Four is enough." He couldn't just pick Yakov, as that would arouse the other party's suspicion, so he simply took all three of them with him: "Can you trouble your men to send these Russians to the plane?"

"No problem." Lucas readily agreed to Sokov's request: "I will immediately arrange vehicles and personnel to take you to the plane."

The truck drove over quickly, and Romanov, Yakov and others were taken into the truck.

Just as Lucas gave Simon the task of escorting the prisoners and following Sokov to the plane, something unexpected happened.

Several people came out of the kitchen, both men and women. Judging from their clothes, they should be villagers hired by the Germans from nearby villages to help in the kitchen.

Among them was a young girl wearing a headscarf and with freckles all over her face. She was following at the back with her head down. But when she heard Sokov's voice, she was startled all over, stopped, and looked in the direction of the voice.

When she saw Sokov clearly, she screamed immediately, and then she threw herself into his arms, hugged his waist tightly, and kept shouting: "Misha, Misha, I finally found you, why are you here?"

Sokov was startled by the girl's action. He instinctively pushed her away, took two steps back, looked at the strange girl in front of him, and asked cautiously, "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" Hearing Sokov's question, the girl showed a painful expression on her face: "Who else could I be? I am your sister Govorova. We have only been apart for two months, can't you recognize me?"

When Sokov heard the girl say this, he was almost scared to death. He risked his life to come here to save people, and when the mission was about to be completed, someone showed up claiming to be his sister. Isn't this just causing trouble for him?

Alina and the others understood what the girl said and were surprised when they knew she was Sokov's sister. If what she said was true, then her actions would expose everyone's identities. Alina even wondered if she needed to take action immediately to kill the witness and minimize the loss.

"Captain Otto, explain this to me." Lucas understood what the girl said through the translation of others. He frowned and asked cautiously: "Why did she say you are her brother? What's going on?"

Sokov thought to himself that it was not good. If he could not come up with a reasonable explanation, no one would be able to leave this prisoner-of-war camp alive today. He rolled his eyes and said, "Captain Lucas, maybe her brother and I look a bit similar and we are wearing the same military uniform, so we made a mistake." But Sokov's words did not convince Lucas. He said to the translator, "Take this girl to the side for interrogation and see what she says." After that, he waved to the soldiers around him, signaling them to surround Sokov and others.

Seeing Govorova being taken aside by Simon and the translator, Sokov felt uneasy. He was worried that he and his companions might be exposed. However, he still tried to remain calm and asked, "Captain Lucas, what do you mean?"

"I'm sorry, Captain." Lucas said in a businesslike tone, "I can't let you go before verifying your identities."

Sokov looked at the black muzzles of the guns around him and said to Alina, "Leya, all of you come to my side. Don't act rashly."

Alina was panicking when she saw herself and others being surrounded by German guards. When she heard what Sokov said, she nodded quickly and walked over with Basco and Sandor.

After Simon and the translator finished questioning Govorova, they came over to report to Lucas, "Captain, we have found out everything."

Lucas glanced at Govorova not far away and asked, "What did she say?"

Simon glanced at Sokov, then said to Lucas, "She said that two months ago, she and her brother escaped from Zhitomir, but were bombed by our planes on the way. In the chaos, she and her brother lost contact, but unexpectedly met here."

Lucas looked at Sokov and asked, "What did her brother do at the time? Was he a soldier?"

But Simon shook his head and said, "No, Captain, the girl told us that she and her brother were members of the collective farm, not soldiers."

Lucas showed a surprised expression on his face: "So, her brother was still an ordinary citizen two months ago?"

"That's right, Captain."

"That's not right." Lucas could see that Sokov's words and deeds were definitely not like those of a new soldier. If the girl's brother was still an ordinary civilian two months ago, even if he joined the army, it would be impossible for him to become a mid-level officer in such a short time. It seems that Captain Otto and the girl's brother look similar, so she mistook him for someone else.

After thinking about it, Lucas felt that he must have misunderstood Sokov, and quickly said to him apologetically: "Captain Otto, I'm so sorry, it seems that the girl has recognized the wrong person. I apologize to you for my impolite behavior." After that, he gestured to the guards around him, indicating that they should put away their guns.

"Captain," Sokov looked at Lucas and asked, "Can we set off now?"

"Of course, of course." Lucas quickly called Simon: "Lieutenant Simon, escort Captain Otto and the others to the plane."

On the way to the plane parking spot, Sokov felt his back was soaked with cold sweat. He really didn't expect that a sister would appear out of nowhere and almost make everyone lose their lives.

Yegor, who was in the cockpit, saw Sokov and others getting out of the car, and immediately opened the cabin door and lowered the gangway to allow everyone to board the plane.

After everyone boarded the plane, Sokov breathed a sigh of relief. He extended his hand to Simon and said with a smile, "Lieutenant Simon, when you return, please thank Captain Lucas for me. I will report your performance to my superiors at the appropriate time."

When Simon heard what Sokov said, he smiled happily and said quickly: "Captain Otto, thank you so much! It's getting late, you should set off now. I wish you a safe journey!"

Sokov boarded the plane, closed the cabin door, and immediately said to Yegor in a stern tone: "Yegor, take off immediately."

"Okay, Comrade Major." Yegor agreed readily, "I'll take off immediately."

When the propeller of the plane began to rotate, Sokov added: "Fly west first, fly for a distance, then turn around and fly east. Don't let the Germans see the flaw."

"Don't worry, Comrade Major. I won't make any mistakes."

Romanov, Yakov and others sitting in the cabin were puzzled when they heard Sokov and others talking in Russian. For a moment, they couldn't figure out what these people who brought them out of the prisoner-of-war camp were doing.

Romanov and Yakov looked at each other and asked, "Who are you?"

Alina stood at attention, raised her hand and saluted Romanov, then reported respectfully: "Hello, General Romanov. I am Lieutenant Alina from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This is my subordinate Sergeant Basco and Soldier Sandor. We have been ordered to carry out a special mission behind the enemy lines."

"A special mission?" Romanov asked in surprise, "What special mission?"

"Rescue!"

"Save people?!" Romanov asked back, "Are you here to save me?"

"No, General Romanov," Sokov interrupted, "We were ordered to come and greet him." He pointed at Yakov and said, "We happened to see you in the prisoner-of-war camp, so we rescued you."

Romanov thought that Sokov seemed to be familiar with the prisoner-of-war camp guard, so he asked sternly, "Major, who are you?"

"I am Major Sokov, the adjutant of the Fifth Army Command." Sokov quickly stated his identity: "I was ordered to assist the special team of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and carry out a special mission behind enemy lines. Now we have rescued you from the prisoner-of-war camp, but this mission will not be completed until you return to our army's defense line."

(End of this chapter)