red moscow

Chapter 2859

Alina was very efficient. By noon the next day, the information Sokov wanted was on his desk.

Seeing Alina bringing the information over, Gerchikov, who was sitting next to her, also sat down. He was eager to know whether Sokov's judgment was correct and whether Major Babushkin, the head of the Kremlin Armory, was suspected of collaborating with the enemy.

Sokov opened Major Babushkin's file and examined it carefully.

The information was very detailed, including not only Major Babushkin's resume, but also his activities over the past week.

Gerchikov, who was standing in Sokov, immediately expressed his opinion after reading the information: "Major Sokov, Comrade Babushkin has not left the Kremlin this week. It seems that your speculation may be wrong."

Sokov put down the information in his hand, looked up at Alina standing in front of him, and asked seriously: "Lieutenant Alina, are you sure that Major Babushkin has not left the Kremlin in this week?"

"Yes, I am sure he never left the Kremlin."

Unwilling to give up, Sokov continued to ask, "What if, I mean what if, there is an exit near the armory, what if he leaves through this exit and no one sees him, thus giving people the illusion that he has never left the Kremlin?"

"That's impossible, Comrade Major." Alina denied Sokov's statement without hesitation: "Even people inside the Kremlin must register when entering and leaving, and all entrances and exits strictly abide by this regulation. In other words, it is completely true that Major Babushkin did not leave the Kremlin within a week."

Sokov frowned, doubting his guess last night: "Could it be that I really made a mistake, and Babushkin is not suspected of collaborating with the enemy?"

Seeing Sokov remained silent, Gerchikov exchanged glances with Alina and said cautiously, "Major Sokov, it seems that our direction of investigation has deviated again. What should we do next?"

Gerchikov's words woke Sokov from his deep thoughts. He turned his head and looked at Gerchikov standing beside him. He shook his head and said, "Comrade Major, don't worry for now. I always feel that something is wrong. Let me sort out my thoughts carefully."

"Okay." Seeing that Sokov was unwilling to admit his mistake, Gerchikov did not force him. Instead, he walked to his seat and said sensibly, "Then think about it slowly. Tell me when you have a new idea."

Seeing Gerchikov walk back to his seat and sit down, Alina lowered her voice and said, "Major Sokov, maybe your judgment is really wrong!"

Sokov looked at Alina in front of him. Although he didn't say anything, his mind was thinking quickly, wondering whether he had made an error in his judgment or overlooked some detail, which made the direction of the investigation seem confusing.

When he was about to pick up Babushkin's information again and examine it carefully, he found that the folder Alina gave him also contained information on other members of the armory.

"These are the data of other members of the armory." Alina whispered, "When you asked me to check Major Babushkin, I checked them by the way."

"Thank you, Alina!" After expressing his gratitude to Alina, Sokov gave up the idea of ​​continuing to check Babushkin's information and instead picked up the information of other members and browsed through it carefully.

There was nothing suspicious about the three deputies' records. Although they had records of entering and leaving the Kremlin during the week, they were all recorded after the attack, which meant that they had no chance to come into contact with German agents and could basically be ruled out as suspects.

After reading the information of the three deputies, Sokov continued to look at the information of the remaining four fighters.

This time, he found a suspicious person, a soldier named Nayi, who went in and out of the Kremlin almost every day.

This discovery made Sokov excited. He pushed Nayi's information in front of Alina and said, "Alina, have you noticed that the whereabouts of this soldier are very suspicious. He goes in and out of the Kremlin every day?"

After hearing what Sokov said, Alina quickly picked up Nai's information and looked at it carefully.

After reading it, she nodded slowly and said, "Yes, Comrade Major, you are right. This Nayi does go in and out of the Kremlin every day. We should be suspicious of him."

Gerchikov, who was sitting behind a nearby desk, heard the conversation between Sokov and Alina, and quickly stood up and asked, "Did you find any clues?"

"Yes, Comrade Major." Sokov handed Nai's information to Gerchikov and said to him: "Look, this soldier from the armory goes in and out of the Kremlin every day. I think he should be included in the list of suspects."

Gerchikov turned to Alina and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant, do people in the Kremlin need to register the reason for entering and leaving when they enter and leave?"

"Of course." Alina nodded vigorously and said in a positive tone: "This is the basic procedure."

"According to the information," Gerchikov said, staring at the information in his hand, "this armory manager named Nayi enters the Kremlin at 7:30 every morning and leaves at 5:30 in the afternoon."

"Can you find out where he came in and out, Lieutenant Alina?" asked Sokov.

"Of course." Alina nodded and continued, "There is a small door not far from the armory. After you go out, you will reach the Alexander Garden. If we want to find out what Nayi did after leaving the Kremlin, we can check the registration records there."

Sokov stood up and said, "Why are you still standing there? Let's go over and find out what's going on."

A few minutes later, the jeep carrying the three people stopped at the northwest entrance of the Kremlin.

After getting off the bus, Sokov looked around. This is the Alexander Garden located northwest of the Kremlin. Decades later, the famous Tomb of the Unknown Soldier will be built in the southwest of the garden, with two striking letters engraved on the ground: "No one knows your name, but your achievements will live forever." In the southwest, a large underground shopping mall will be built, making it a popular check-in spot for tourists.

The iron gate to the Kremlin was closed. Alina stepped forward and knocked on the door with her fist. A small window on the iron gate opened, revealing a young face. He looked at the three strangers outside the door and asked sternly, "What do you want?"

Alina showed her ID: "I am Alina, a second lieutenant in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I have been ordered to come here to investigate something."

After the person in the door looked at Alina's ID, he replied coldly: "Second Lieutenant, if you want to know anything, please communicate with our superiors first. You can only enter here after you get authorization."

Sokov stepped forward and said to the person in the door: "I am Major Sokov. We don't need to enter the Kremlin. We just want to check your entry and exit registration records."

The person inside the door frowned and said dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Major, the Kremlin's entry and exit register is not a confidential file, but not everyone can view it if they want to. I still say the same thing, if you want to do anything, please contact my superiors, and after obtaining authorization, I will naturally cooperate with you." After saying that, he prepared to close the small window.

But Alina moved quickly, stretched out her hand to block the small window, and said bluntly: "I have been authorized by Comrade Beria to conduct investigations anywhere. If our investigation goes wrong because of your difficulties, can you bear the consequences?"

Faced with Alina's sternness, the soldier inside the door hesitated for a moment, but still opened the door and said humbly: "Comrade Lieutenant, I can cooperate with you in the investigation, but you must promise me that you will never enter the Kremlin."

"Got it." Sokov said, "We will just ask some questions at the door and will never enter the Kremlin."

After the three of them walked through the small door, Sokov saw a small duty room on the left side of the door. The soldier who opened the door should usually sit inside on duty.

Alina said to the soldier, "Can you please show us the records of your entry and exit in the past week?"

The soldier did not dare to delay and quickly took out the registration book and handed it to Alina.

Alina took the register and quickly defended herself.

Since not many people usually go in and out of this small door, it didn't take Alina long to find out the time when Nayi went in and out each time, as well as the reason for his leaving.

After checking the register, Alina said to Sokov: "Comrade Major, according to the records in the register, Nay has to leave the Kremlin every day because his mother is seriously ill at home and he has to go home to take care of her."

Sokov did not believe such a record, but he did not want to disclose the secret easily in front of the gatekeeper. He said to the soldier: "Comrade Soldier, how many people are on duty at this gate?"

"It's just me, Comrade Major." The gatekeeper explained to Sokov, "We work in 12-hour shifts. At p.m., someone will take over my job. The next shift will be at a.m. tomorrow."

After listening to this, Sokov nodded slowly, thanked the gatekeeper, and took Gerchikov and Alina back to the jeep parked not far away.

As soon as the three of them got back into the car, Gerchikov couldn't wait to ask, "Comrade Major, did we come all the way here just to check the entry and exit register?"

Sokov looked at Gerchikov and said, "Comrade Major, don't worry. I think there are many suspicious points about this Nayi. When Nayi leaves tonight, send someone to follow him and see who he has contact with."

"Major Sokov, there's no need to go to such trouble." Alina said before Gerchikov could speak: "Let's just arrest Nai and bring him back for questioning. We can get the answers we want in no time."

"No, we can't do that." Sokov knew very well how the Ministry of Internal Affairs interrogated prisoners. If Nayi really colluded with the Germans, there was nothing wrong with interrogating him, but he was afraid that the Ministry of Internal Affairs would use torture to extract a bunch of worthless false confessions.

"What should we do?" Alina glanced at Gerchikov next to her and said anxiously, "Do we really have to wait until Nay gets off work before tracking and monitoring him? If so, I'm worried that it will waste time."

"Yes, Major Sokov." As soon as Alina finished speaking, Gerchikov expressed his support for her opinion: "What we need now is time. If we can't eliminate the unsafe factors as soon as possible, the consequences will be very serious."

Seeing that the two had reached a consensus, Sokov frowned again and then said, "How about we do both. Comrade Major, you should arrange for someone to guard outside, and when Nayi comes out, follow him to see who he has had contact with. And you, Alina, your task is to go to Nayi's home address and see if he has a sick mother who needs care."

After Sokov finished speaking, Gerchikov raised a question: "Major Sokov, even if this Nai has problems, he is just an ordinary armory manager. Does he really have the guts to provide weapons to German agents and even let them into the Kremlin?"

"I still say the same thing: make bold assumptions and verify them carefully." Sokov said to the two men, "As you said, Nai is just a small figure. Whether it is providing weapons and equipment to German agents or letting them enter the Kremlin, it is far from enough for him alone. Therefore, I think that if it is confirmed that he is the insider lurking in the armory, then there must be others behind him."

"Is there someone else behind him?" Alina asked in surprise, "Who is it? Do you suspect it's Major Babushkin, the head of the armory?"

"I'm sorry, Alina, I can't give you a definite answer for now." Sokov said to Alina: "Now, you should start to deploy according to the plan I just mentioned, and try to solve this case as soon as possible."

Alina wanted to investigate Nayi's family, so she opened the car door and got out, ready to call her colleagues from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to go to Nayi's house to investigate.

After Alina left, Gerchikov asked the driver to drive back to the task force's office.

On the way, Gerchikov asked Sokov curiously: "Major Sokov, do you really think that Major Babushkin, the head of the armory, is suspected of colluding with the Germans?" After asking this question, without waiting for Sokov to answer, he continued, "We have all seen the information collected by Lieutenant Alina. Major Babushkin has not left the Kremlin for a week. How could he collude with the Germans?"

"It's really unlikely that he would meet the Germans in person, since he hasn't left the Kremlin for a week." Sokov explained to Gerchikov slowly, "But if he has a capable subordinate who meets the Germans on his behalf every time, then even if we investigate him, we will rule him out as a suspect when we see that he has stayed in the Kremlin for a week and has no contact with German agents."

"Oh, so that's what happened." After listening to Sokov's explanation, Gerchikov immediately understood what was going on. He nodded and said, "If we find evidence that Nayi is colluding with the Germans, then he and the mysterious person behind him will fall into our hands."

(End of this chapter)