red moscow

Chapter 2926: Booby Trap
Sokov realized something was wrong when he heard the sound of the wooden box falling. How could a wooden box make a metallic sound when it fell to the ground? This meant there must be a hidden metal door behind the pile of boxes.

Thinking of this, Sokov pointed to the location where the sound just came from and said to the soldiers around him: "Move the wooden box here first. I want to see what's behind it."

After hearing Sokov's order, Zhukov immediately called on the soldiers to start moving the boxes from that location.

Soon, the boxes were moved away, revealing a large, tightly closed iron door with a lock on the back wall.

Zhu Kewen stepped forward and pulled the lock on the door, but it didn't budge. He pulled out the pistol from his waist, turned around and said to the other soldiers: "Stand aside, I'm going to shoot."

"Wait a minute, comrade lieutenant." Seeing this, Sokov quickly spoke up to stop him: "If you shoot at such a close distance, firstly, it is easy for the bullet to ricochet and injure people, and secondly, the ricocheting bullet may hit the box containing explosives, and will it cause an explosion?"

After hearing what Sokov said, Zhukov immediately put away his pistol, reached out to take a crowbar from the soldier, and prepared to pry open the lock.

Soon, the door lock was pried open, and when the tightly closed iron door was opened, Sokov saw a staircase leading downwards.

"Comrade Brigade Commander," Zhukov took a look and then said to Sokov, "This staircase should lead to the basement."

"Let's go and take a look first." Sokov looked at the dark staircase and added, "Remember to bring a flashlight."

In this way, Churxin walked at the front of the team with a flashlight, walking down the stairs carefully.

Although judging from the layout outside the door, there should be no one in the basement, Zhu Kewen and others still remained highly vigilant and followed Churxin with guns in hand.

Fortunately, the stairs were not long, only about thirty steps, and we soon reached the basement.

"What's that smell?" Khabarov, who was walking in the middle of the team, suddenly asked, "Why is it so smelly?"

Everyone's flashlights were waving around the room, and soon someone spotted a few beds in the corner and shouted, "Look, there seem to be a few beds over there."

In order to find out what was going on there, Sokov ordered, "Let's go over and take a look."

Everyone came to the other side of the basement and with the help of flashlights, they could see clearly that there were people lying on the beds.

For a moment, the sounds of pulling the bolts of guns and shouting at the other side to put up their hands were heard one after another.

But Sokov found that the person lying on the bed did not move at all, and did not seem to be alive. He quickly stopped the soldiers around him: "Quiet, everyone keep quiet!"

After the basement regained its peace, Sokov took the flashlight from Churxin and walked carefully towards the beds.

After approaching, Sokov saw clearly that the people lying on the beds were wrapped in bandages. Judging from their clothes, they should be the wounded who were recuperating here. However, they should have been dead for several days, and even the blood on the bandages had turned brown. The stench in the room came from them.

Sokov walked forward a few steps and found a female nurse in a white coat lying in the middle of several beds. She was lying face down on the ground with one hand stretched forward, as if trying to grab something.

"Comrade Brigade Commander," Zhukov came to Sokov's side and made his own guess based on his observation of the indoor environment: "This should be the place where our wounded were recuperating, but the Germans found them and brutally killed them all."

In response to Zhukov's guess, Sokov nodded slowly and agreed, "Yes, Comrade Lieutenant, I think so too."

"Damn Germans," Khabarov said gritting his teeth after listening to Zhukov's analysis, "Not only did they kill our wounded, they even spared the nurses who were taking care of the wounded." After that, he quickly walked to the nurse's body, squatted down, and reached out to turn her over.

But at this moment, a loud voice rang out in the room: "Stop, don't touch her!"

Sokov recognized that the person who called out was Churhin, and looked at him in surprise, wondering why he wanted to stop Khabarov. Similarly, the other officers and soldiers in the room also looked at Churhin with puzzled eyes, not understanding why he would stop the other party.

Chulsin quickly came to Khabarov's side and pulled him away from the nurse's body, saying, "Comrade Khabarov, don't you find that there are many things wrong here?"

Khabarov stood up, looked at Chulsin standing in front of him, and asked in confusion: "What's wrong?"

Churxin pointed to the bodies of the wounded on the beds and said, "Everyone should note that these people were shot to death."

The officers and soldiers present all agreed with Churxin's statement. Everyone could see that the wounded were shot to death, so they nodded in unison and responded in unison: "Yes, they were shot to death by the enemy."

"If these wounded were shot to death by the enemy, then the nurses who took care of them should also have been shot to death by the Germans." Chulxin looked at everyone and asked, "Do you think my analysis is correct?"

Everyone agreed: "Yes, that's how it should be."

Seeing that everyone agreed with his opinion, Churxin continued: "But, don't you think that this female nurse's back is too clean?"

"The back is too clean?" Zhu Kewen asked in confusion, "Qiu Erxin, what on earth do you want to say? I am confused."

"If the wounded on the bed were all shot to death by the Germans, then the nurse should have died under the German gun." Facing Zhu Kewen's confusion, Chulxin patiently explained: "But her back is very clean, with no bullet holes or bloodstains, which proves that she was not shot to death by the enemy from behind. If she was shot from the front, she would not lie face down on the ground. Therefore, I think the enemy may have buried a booby trap under her body." Chulxin's words made everyone nervous. If the enemy really laid a booby trap under the body of the female nurse, Khabarov's turning over just now would cause the booby trap to explode. In this closed space, the power of the explosion will be amplified, and the people in the room will definitely suffer heavy casualties.

A soldier who had been an engineer walked over carefully with a flashlight, lay down beside the nurse's body, and carefully felt around. Soon, he looked up and said to Sokov, "Comrade Brigade Commander, there is indeed a booby trap under the body."

"Back off, everyone back off." Upon hearing what the soldier said, Zhu Kewen immediately gave orders to the officers and soldiers around him, and at the same time pulled Sokov back.

But Sokov, who wanted to find out what was going on, was not willing to leave the basement just like that. Instead, he broke free from Zhukov's arm, walked forward a few steps, and came to the body of the nurse. However, he did not check the booby trap under the body, but shone the flashlight around.

With the help of the flashlight, Sokov quickly saw that there were a lot of wooden boxes piled on each bed.

"Lieutenant Zhukov," Sokov pointed to the wooden boxes under the bed and said, "Pull out a box and see what's inside."

Zhu Kewen agreed and was about to step forward when Qiu Erxin said first, "Let me check it out."

After saying that, he bent down and carefully pulled out a box from under the bed. After using a crowbar to pry it open, the contents inside were naturally clear at a glance: just like the wooden box outside, it was filled with explosives.

After seeing the contents of the box, everyone was shocked. Khabarov was even more frightened and broke out in a cold sweat. If Chulhin hadn't stopped him, he would have rashly turned the nurse's body over. The booby trap would have definitely set off the explosives hidden under the bed. Not only would the people in the basement not survive, but if the ammunition stored in the hall outside was detonated, the entire church would probably be razed to the ground.

"Comrade Chulhin." Khabarov, still frightened, wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand and said to Chulhin with gratitude: "If you hadn't stopped me just now, I'm afraid it would have caused a tragedy and everyone in the basement would have died."

Churxin glanced at Khabarov and said coldly: "Comrade Khabarov, I am not saving your life, but my own life." There is something wrong with what he said. If the booby trap detonated the explosives under the bed, no one in the basement would be able to escape.

"Lieutenant Zhukov," Sokov called Zhukov over and told him, "First, arrange for people to move all the explosives under the bed, and then find a way to remove the booby trap under the nurse's body. After you've done all this, carry the fallen comrades out and find a place to bury them."

After Sokov finished explaining, he still felt a little uneasy, so he asked the soldier who had been an engineer: "Comrade soldier, are you sure you can dismantle booby traps in the future?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Brigade Commander." After hearing Sokov's location, the soldier patted his chest and assured, "I can definitely dismantle the booby trap."

Coming out of the basement, Sokov naturally would not stay in the church any longer. Who knows where the Germans might have hidden explosives? If they detonated it remotely, he would be dead. He brought Khabarov to the jeep parked in the square, took out a cigarette box from his pocket, opened it and handed it to Khabarov: "Anton, have one!"

Khabarov took a cigarette out of the cigarette box and put it in his mouth, but he did not light it immediately. Instead, he asked curiously: "Misha, the enemy has placed so many explosives in the church and even set up booby traps in the basement, intending to kill everyone who enters the basement. What is going on?"

"I don't know either." Sokov used a lighter to light Khabarov's cigarette, and then said: "So far, I only know that these explosives were left by our army, and the trap must have been set by the Germans. I don't know why they did this."

"I was wondering, if the booby trap just now really exploded and detonated the explosives placed under the bed, would we be blown back to our own era?"

"Okay, Anton, give up your ridiculous idea." Sokov was disdainful of Khabarov's statement. He shook his head and said, "I can tell you responsibly that if there was an explosion in the basement just now, you and I would definitely be blown to pieces, and there would be no way to return to the future. I think you should stop thinking about it. When we have a chance to return to Moscow and meet Victoria, we will see what suggestions she can give us."

"Okay, then I'll wait until I have a chance to meet Victoria in the future and ask her if there is any good way to return to our time."

While the two were talking, Captain Olga ran over and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the enemy on the north bank has been cleared. What should we do next?"

"Of course we will advance towards Borechevo," said Sokov. "So far, the Germans have not noticed our actions. We can try our luck and see if we can seize the city from the enemy with these 1,000 people."

As the troops were preparing to continue their journey, Khabarov reminded Sokov: "Misha, Lieutenant Zhukov and his men are still carrying explosives. How do you plan to arrange for them?"

Sokov thought for a moment, and then said, "No matter how long our counterattack can last, this bridge cannot be left. Otherwise, the enemy can use this bridge to continuously transport their troops and supplies."

After receiving the notice, Zhu Kewen came to Sokov and waited for Sokov to give him orders.

"Comrade Lieutenant," Sokov said to Zhukov, "I will give you a task now. Take your men to install explosives on the bridge. When we launch an attack on Borechevo, we will blow up the bridge. Do you understand?"

Zhukov was shocked by Sokov's order. He asked in shock: "Comrade Brigade Commander, if the bridge is blown up, how can we cross the river?"

"Comrade Lieutenant, I want to remind you that no matter how effective our counterattack is, we can no longer cross this bridge." Sokov explained to Zhukov, "Blowing up this bridge can prevent the Germans from crossing the river and attacking us from behind when we attack Borechevo. Second, after blowing up the bridge, the enemy will have to travel a longer distance to transport troops and combat supplies to the front line."

After listening to Sokov's explanation, Zhukov suddenly understood: "So that's how it is. I understand, Comrade Brigade Commander. I will immediately take people to place explosives on the bridge. When you launch an attack on Borechevo, I will blow up the bridge and rush over to join you."

Sokov raised his hand and patted Zhukov on the shoulder, smiling and saying, "Comrade Lieutenant, after you complete the bridge bombing mission, rush over to join us. Remember, you must come back alive. Got it?"

Zhu Kewen nodded vigorously and said in an affirmative tone: "Comrade Brigade Commander, don't worry. I will not only complete the bridge bombing mission, but also bring all the officers and soldiers who are carrying out the mission to you."

Sokov stretched out his hand and shook the other party's hand: "I wish you good luck!"

Watching Sokov leading his troops out of the town, crossing the bridge across the Ruza River and heading towards Borechevo, Zhukov turned and shouted to the soldiers standing beside him: "Comrades, hurry up, we have to place all the explosives on the bridge before the Germans arrive, and we must not let the enemy pass through this bridge."

(End of this chapter)