red moscow

Chapter 2860

According to Sokov's idea, he would first investigate whether Nai had contact with suspicious persons after leaving the Kremlin every day, so as to confirm whether he was suspected of collaborating with the enemy, and then formulate the next action plan. However, he did not know that if he wanted to follow his plan, the matter should be handed over to Gerchikov, a senior criminal policeman, instead of Alina, a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

As soon as it got dark, Alina hurried to Sokov's office and said excitedly, "Comrade Major, we have figured it out. There is indeed something wrong with Nayi."

Sokov was delighted, and then asked, "Alina, have you investigated Nayi's home?"

"Yes." Alina nodded and replied, "I took people to Nayi's home and asked his sick mother and neighbors. They all said that Nayi went home every day."

Hearing this, Sokov felt very disappointed. He didn't expect that his judgment was wrong. Nai really went home every day to take care of his sick mother.

Just as he was about to say something, Gerchikov, who was sitting behind a desk next to him, came over and said to Sokov with a disappointed look on his face: "Major Sokov, although the person I sent to monitor Nai has not returned yet, I don't think it's necessary to wait for his report."

As soon as Gerchikov finished speaking, a voice called out at the door, and then a policeman walked in. Sokov recognized him at first sight. This policeman was the one that Gerchikov had arranged to wait outside the small door of the armory for Nayi to come out.

Seeing the police coming, Gerchikov spoke first: "What was the result? Did Nayi go home by himself?"

"Comrade Major." The policeman shook his head and said, "I have been waiting until now, but I still haven't seen Nayi come out. Since you asked me to perform a surveillance mission, I can't knock on the door and ask the soldiers guarding the door, so I can only come back to report to you."

"Strange, Nayi didn't show up today?" Gerchikov frowned and asked, "Where did he go?"

"Major Sokov," Arina's voice sounded at this time, "that's exactly what I want to report to you. Nay is in prison in Lubyanka."

"What, Nayi is in prison?" Sokov asked in shock, "When was he put in prison?"

"Just two hours ago," Alina said proudly, "I personally led people to arrest him."

"Have you arrested him?" Sokov asked unhappily, "Lieutenant, who allowed you to do this?"

"Comrade Major, please listen to my explanation." Seeing that Sokov was about to get angry, Alina quickly explained to him, "Although I know from my investigation at Nayi's house that he goes home every day to take care of his sick mother, the time he goes home is uncertain. It usually only takes more than 20 minutes, but sometimes he has to wait three or four hours to go home. I suspect that he must have met someone else on the way home, so I reported the matter to my superiors. After receiving my report, my superiors immediately arranged for someone to secretly arrest Nayi."

"Has Nayi been secretly arrested?" The police officer in charge of surveillance was surprised and said, "But from the time I received the order until I left, I waited for six or seven hours and never saw Nayi go in or out. Where did you arrest him?"

"This was arranged by the higher-ups," Alina saw the change in Sokov's expression and guessed what he was worried about, so she explained to everyone, "They sent someone to lead Nay to another place and arrested him secretly without alerting anyone in the armory."

Sokov was indeed worried that the Ministry of Internal Affairs' actions would alert the enemy and make the special task force's efforts go to waste. After listening to Alina's explanation, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and then asked, "Since he has been imprisoned in the Ministry of Internal Affairs' prison, when do you plan to interrogate him?"

Alina took out a few pieces of paper from the bag she was carrying, placed them in front of Sokov, and said proudly, "This is his confession!"

Sokov grabbed the confession in front of him and quickly read its contents.

Nai said in his confession that he was instructed by Babushkin, the head of the armory, to go to a coffee shop every day after leaving the Kremlin and choose the question at the end. He would tape the note Babushkin gave him under the table. If the other party answered, a waiter would come up to him and, under the pretext of asking him to order food, give him a bill.

After reading the confession, Sokov breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he was not wrong. There was indeed something wrong with this Major Babushkin. And that cafe was a point of contact between him and the outside world.

After handing the confession to Gerchikov, Sokov asked Alina curiously: "Alina, it is now basically confirmed that the cafe is a secret contact point. Have you taken any measures?"

Alina smiled brightly upon hearing this, and then said, "All the people in the coffee shop have been arrested. Now they are replaced by our people. If any German agents go there to get intelligence, they will be arrested on the spot."

"I didn't expect the Ministry of Internal Affairs to act so quickly." After reading the confession, Gerchikov said with emotion: "According to our previous plan, it would take at least three to five days to crack down on the hidden enemy spy organization. I didn't expect the Ministry of Internal Affairs to take action and directly eliminate their contact point."

"I wonder what information Nayi sent today?" asked Sokov.

Alina did not answer immediately, but said to the police officer who was on surveillance duty: "Comrade police officer, you are not a member of our task force. You are not allowed to listen to what I am going to say next. Please get out first."

After hearing this, the police turned around and walked out without saying a word.

After Alina closed the door, she returned to Sokov and Gerchikov and said solemnly, "Today's intelligence said that Comrade Stalin will lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier behind the Kremlin at noon the day after tomorrow. Major Babushkin asked the German agents to drive to the side door in a tarpaulin truck at 11:30 and honk the horn three times. After he hears it, he will find a way to open the side door and let them enter the Kremlin."

After Sokov heard this, he exchanged glances with Gerchikov and came to a bold conclusion in his mind: "Comrade Major, it seems that the German agents are planning to assassinate Comrade Stalin at noon the day after tomorrow."

"Yes, that's right." Gerchikov asked seriously, "What should we do then? Ask Comrade Stalin to change the original plan?"

"I think it's definitely not possible." Alina said: "After the results of the interrogation came out, I reported to my superiors immediately. But my superiors passed on Comrade Beria's order, asking us to find a way to eliminate the German agents who sneaked into the Kremlin when Comrade Stalin was paying homage to the unknown martyrs." "If we do this, won't Comrade Stalin be at risk?" After hearing this, Gerchikov was immediately frightened and broke out in a cold sweat: "Although we can set up an ambush in advance and wait for the German agents to sneak in and catch them all. But if Comrade Stalin really goes to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to pay homage, won't his life be in danger?"

"Comrade Major." Alina looked at Gerchikov and said expressionlessly, "This is Comrade Beria's intention. You don't need to discuss it, just execute it."

Sokov's reaction was much calmer than Gerchikov's. He knew very well that since Beria dared to issue such an order, he would definitely make arrangements in advance. So he turned to Alina and asked, "Alina, how does Babushkin plan to let the German agents in?"

"According to Nayi's confession, they plan to kill the soldiers guarding the gate at noon the day after tomorrow, open the small door and let the German agents in." Alina said, "And arrange for them to lurk near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and launch an attack as soon as Comrade Stalin appears."

"And what about Major Babushkin? What are you going to do with him?"

"Comrade Beria said that in order to avoid alerting the enemy, we cannot move him for the time being."

"No, we can't keep this person." Sokov interrupted Alina before she finished speaking, "You secretly arrested Nai. If he finds out that Nai didn't come back to work tomorrow morning, he will definitely be suspicious. Although he passed the message to the outside world through Nai's visit to the cafe this time, who can guarantee that he didn't hide a radio in the armory? If he really had a radio, once he found out that Nai was missing, he would definitely contact the German agents outside and cancel the assassination attempt."

After listening to Sokov, Gerchikov nodded and agreed, "I think Major Sokov's concerns are completely correct. Even though Babushkin is now communicating with the outside world through Nai, if he really has a radio hidden in the armory and finds something wrong, he will immediately send a telegram to warn the outside world, then our deployment will fail. It will be very difficult to catch these German agents in the future."

"So we need to arrest Babushkin immediately?"

"Yes." Sokov nodded vigorously and said in a positive tone: "Lieutenant Alina, please go back and tell your superiors to secretly arrest Major Babushkin. At the same time, you must find someone to tell the other people in the armory that Babushkin and Nai will not return to the armory in the short term because their superiors have other arrangements. In this way, even if there are accomplices of Major Babushkin in the armory, they will not leak the news."

"Okay, Comrade Major." After listening to Sokov's story, Alina nodded and said, "I will go back and report to my superiors immediately to see what they think."

"Once you have any news, report back to us immediately," Sokov urged, "so that we can know what's going on."

After Alina left, Sokov said to Gerchikov: "Comrade Major, please give me the map of the Kremlin."

Gerchikov walked to the filing cabinet by the wall, opened the door, took out a file bag, came back to Sokov, opened the file bag, took out a floor plan from it, and placed it in front of Sokov.

Sokov stared at the floor plan for a while, and after finding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Kremlin, he pointed to the city wall next to it and said to Gerchikov, "I think we can deploy two sharpshooters on the city wall to snipe the agents who are the most dangerous to us in the battle."

"Major Sokov," Gerchikov added, "There are 18 towers in the Kremlin, two of which are located on the left and right of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. To be on the safe side, I suggest placing two sharpshooters in each tower. This way, we will have a better chance of eliminating German agents."

"No problem." Sokov answered very straightforwardly, "Then place two sharpshooters in each of the two towers to help us eliminate those German agents who are resisting stubbornly."

After ten o'clock in the evening, Alina appeared in the office again and reported to Sokov and Gerchikov: "Comrades Major, Major Babushkin of the armory has been secretly arrested and imprisoned in the Ministry of Internal Affairs prison in Lubyanka, just like Nayi."

Upon learning that the secret arrest was successful, Gerchikov could not wait to ask: "How is it going? Have you interrogated him?"

"Yes, he has been questioned."

Sokov saw the frustrated expression on Alina's face and guessed the result: "Did he confess nothing?"

"Well, you guessed right." Alina said with a sad face, "We used a lot of methods on him, but he just gritted his teeth and refused to say a word. The interrogation is still going on. I'm worried that you are anxious, so I came here to talk to you."

"We have roughly grasped the time and plan of the German agents' assassination." Although he knew that Babushkin was very tight-lipped and could not confess, Sokov was not worried at all. He said to the two men, "We just need to set up the trap in advance and wait for the Germans to take the bait."

"Who will open the door then?" Gerchikov asked worriedly. "I'm worried that if we just ask someone to open the door, the German agents might find out and our plan might be exposed."

"I think I should be responsible for opening the door."

"What? You're going to open the door for the German agents?" Alina shouted immediately after hearing what Sokov said, "No, absolutely not. It's too dangerous. If the German agents find out something is wrong and take risks, your life will be in danger."

Sokov was touched by Alina's concern, but he still said firmly: "Thank you for your concern, Lieutenant Alina. But I think it's best for me to open the door for the German agents. If any emergency occurs, I can deal with it according to the actual situation at the time."

Seeing that Alina was silent and Gerchikov seemed to want to persuade her, he quickly raised his hand and said in an unquestionable tone: "Okay, it's settled. The day after tomorrow at noon, I will be responsible for opening the small door next to the armory, letting the German agents outside in, and taking them to get weapons. The two of you will be responsible for setting up defenses, and as soon as the enemy enters our trap, immediately open fire to eliminate them."

"Oh, I remembered one more thing." Sokov thought that after letting the German agents in, he would definitely have to take them to the armory to collect weapons and ammunition. If there were still Babushkin's accomplices in the armory, then the plan might fail. So he said to Alina, "As for the remaining people in the armory, it would be best to transfer them all away and replace them with our own people on the day of the operation."

(End of this chapter)