red moscow

Chapter 2952 An unexpected discovery

After the two left the photo studio, Sokov took out a silver cigarette case from his pocket, opened it, and handed it to Khabarov: "Have one!"

Khabarov reached into the cigarette case and took two cigarettes, putting one in his mouth and tucking the other behind his ear.

Sokov struck a match and lit Khabarov's cigarette: "Anton, are you heading back to the Armaments Department?"

But Khabarov shook his head and said, "I'm not going back for now?"

Sokov was taken aback by this, then reminded him, "Anton, let me remind you, this is wartime. Even in cities, martial law is enforced after 11 p.m. If you wander the streets without a pass after martial law is enforced, you're very likely to be arrested by the patrols, and then you'll be in trouble."

“Misha, don’t worry,” Khabarov said casually. “I’m now a fairly important person in the Light Weapons Design Bureau of the Armaments Department, so my superiors prepared a special pass for me, just for use during nighttime curfews.” As he spoke, he unbuttoned his coat, pulled a pass from the pocket of his hoodie, and waved it in front of Sokov. “Here, with this pass, you don’t have to worry about being checked by patrols even when searching at night.”

"Where are you planning to go tonight?" Sokov asked tentatively. "Do you have plans with someone?"

“Of course,” Khabarov said smugly. “Yulia told me to go to her house at ten o’clock tonight.”

"Since she wanted to meet you, why didn't she ask you out when we left the coffee shop? Why did she ask you to meet after 10 PM?" The Yulia Khabarov mentioned was the girl he'd taken photos and had coffee with that afternoon. If she wanted a private date with Khabarov, she could have left the coffee shop with him. The fact that she specifically asked him to meet after 10 PM seemed suspicious. "Anton, could there be some kind of conspiracy?"

“Misha, have you been spending too much time with that female officer from the NKVD and become as paranoid as her?” Khabarov said impatiently. “She’s just an ordinary clerk. What harm could she possibly cause me? Don’t worry about it.”

“Anton, your current identity is rather special, so you still need to be more careful.” Sokov felt that as a friend, he should remind him: “What if the Germans find out your identity and deliberately send female agents to approach you in order to obtain the weapons information they want?”

"Alright, alright, Misha, stop talking." Khabarov pushed Sokov toward the subway, saying, "You should go back and rest early; you have to travel early tomorrow morning."

Seeing that Khabarov was unwilling to listen to his advice, Sokov sighed softly, gave him a final reminder to be careful, and then turned and walked toward the subway station.

Back in his hotel room, Sokov took out the photos and laid them out on the table one by one. In his previous life, he had lived in this era for several years without ever taking any photos. He wanted to take a good look at these photos he had taken today.

The first thing he examined was the group photo of the six people. He scrutinized Yulia carefully, trying to glean some clues from her appearance and figure out whether she would pose a threat to Khabarov.

But after looking for a while, Sokov couldn't find anything wrong. Aside from being beautiful, Yulia was perfectly fine.

Sokov then looked through the other group photos, and after finding no problems, he finally looked at his own solo photo.

Although it was supposed to be a solo photo, due to the large number of people in the square at the time, photographer Kononova inevitably included some passersby in the shot, turning the solo photo into a group photo.

Sokov looked at the two passersby in the same frame with interest, a faint smile on his face.

The passersby in the same frame were a middle-aged man in a black wool coat and a baseball cap, his face full of melancholy. The other passerby was a young and beautiful female soldier, wearing a khaki short leather coat, a red cross armband on her arm, and carrying a first-aid kit.

Beautiful women always attract attention, and Sokov was very interested in the female soldiers in his photograph. He brought the photo closer to get a better look.

But when he saw the female soldier's face clearly, he was struck dumb and stood there stunned.

After a long while, Sokov murmured, "Impossible, this is impossible, how could she be here?"

The female soldier standing next to him was none other than his wife, Asia, from his previous life.

After a long while, Sokov suddenly stood up, strode to the door, and prepared to take the military overcoat hanging on the coat rack. But when he took the overcoat down and was about to put it on, his hand stopped moving.

He tried hard to recall the first time he met Asiya in his previous life. It was after a small German reconnaissance unit broke into the town of Khimki and was wiped out by his garrison and the instrument factory militia. Asiya, who was visiting her family, came to bandage his wounds.

According to the usual practice during the war, family visits are only a few days long. Asya is definitely not in Khimki at this moment. She is probably in a military hospital in Moscow. Because it is October Day today, the hospital is closed, so she has the opportunity to go out and play. And coincidentally, she ended up in her own photo.

Sokov hung his overcoat back on the coat rack. Although he knew where Asya lived, he didn't know her yet, and even if he went to her parents' house, he didn't know what role he should play. More importantly, he was returning to the front lines the next day and wouldn't have a chance to go to Khimki.

He picked up the photo and carefully placed it in a rarely used notebook, lest he accidentally lose it someday. In this life, he didn't know if he would have the chance to meet Asiya again, so this photo might be the only one he and Asiya had together, and he had to keep it safe.

Sokov had planned to get some rest early, considering he would be returning to his unit the next day. However, after unexpectedly discovering Asya in a photograph, he couldn't sleep.

Sokov was still awake when someone knocked on the door.

Hearing the knock, Sokov got out of bed and quickly went to the door to open it.

A corporal was standing outside the door. When he saw Sokov appear at the door, he quickly raised his hand in salute and then politely asked, "Excuse me, are you Lieutenant Colonel Sokov?"

“Yes, I am Sokov.” Sokov, seeing that the corporal standing at the door was an unfamiliar face, asked warily, “What do you want with me?”

“Lieutenant Colonel, I am here on orders to return you to the front lines.” The corporal replied respectfully, “The vehicle is waiting for you down here.”

"Corporal, wait for me a moment. I'll go down with you after I've finished washing up."

"Lieutenant Colonel, I think I'll wait for you in the lobby on the first floor," the corporal said politely. "Take your time washing up, there's no rush."

Although the corporal said there was no rush, Sokov knew very well that the other party, having accepted the escort mission, must want to complete it as quickly as possible. So he quickly washed up, packed all his belongings, and left the room. Reaching the front desk on the first floor, Sokov returned the room key to the female soldier and then turned to look for the corporal who was supposed to escort him to the front lines.

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel!" A man stood up from the corner near the door and waved to Sokov: "I'm here!"

"Corporal, let's go."

"Please come with me!"

Upon arriving outside the hotel, Shu Kaifa immediately looked around, hoping to see what kind of vehicle would take him back to the front lines. But after searching for a while, he saw nothing but a truck with a tarpaulin covering it.

"Comrade Corporal," Sokov stopped the corporal and asked curiously, "Where is the vehicle that will take me to the front?"

"Look, this is it." The corporal pointed to a truck not far away and said, "This truck is going to the front to deliver supplies, and we'll take you there while we're at it."

Sokov knew that transportation was scarce these days, and that it was already quite good that his superiors had assigned him a truck, so he didn't complain and got into the truck's cab with the corporal.

After the vehicle started, the corporal sitting between Sokov and the driver smiled and said to Sokov, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, it may take more than three hours to get to the front line from here. If you feel sleepy, you can close your eyes and take a nap."

Sokov, who hadn't slept all night and was indeed very tired, nodded upon hearing the corporal's words: "Alright, wake me up when we get there!"

Sokov quickly fell asleep in the swaying vehicle.

Sokov didn't know how long he had slept when he was shaken awake by the corporal sitting next to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, wake up, wake up quickly!"

Sokov opened his eyes with difficulty and asked weakly, "Corporal, what happened?"

"Lieutenant Colonel, we have encountered soldiers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs who are conducting a roadside inspection."

Sokov sat up straight, rubbed his eyes, and looked ahead. Sure enough, he saw four NKVD soldiers wearing blue hats and gray military overcoats standing in the middle of the road. Three of the men were soldiers, each with a submachine gun slung across their chest; the other was a lieutenant officer, holding a pistol in his hand.

Upon seeing the Ministry of Internal Affairs officers and soldiers conducting a roadside inspection, the driver naturally slowed down and gently brought the car to a stop in front of them.

As soon as the car came to a stop, the NKVD lieutenant strode over and said to Sokov in a stern tone, "Comrade Commander, please show me your identification!"

When confronted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs officers who were checking the evidence, Sokov readily cooperated, pulling out his military ID and handing it to them.

The NKVD lieutenant tucked his pistol into his belt, then took the identification and opened it. He glanced at the contents, looked up at Sokov, and then looked down at the identification again.

Looking at the Internal Affairs Lieutenant checking documents outside the car, Sokov didn't know what was going on, but he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, a chill that seeped into his bones, causing his body to tremble slightly.

The corporal sitting in the middle noticed Sokov's unusual behavior and asked with concern, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, did you just wake up and feel a little cold? I have a military overcoat in the back compartment. Would you like me to take it down and cover you with it?"

"No, no." Sokov waved his hand, refusing the corporal's offer. When he turned his gaze back to the NKVD lieutenant outside the car, he saw the man quickly glance at him before looking down at his identification. At the same time, the man slowly raised his right hand, which was not holding his identification, as if preparing to give some signal.

Upon seeing this, Sokov's pupils contracted sharply, for he realized that the positions of the other three NKVD soldiers had blocked the truck's escape route from the cab. If the enemy opened fire, even if he wasn't killed inside, jumping out would still leave him vulnerable to concentrated fire. He now knew these four NKVD soldiers were Germans in disguise. He reached for his waist, stealthily drawing his pistol, ready to fire without hesitation should the enemy make any move.

Just as tensions were about to rise, the roar of a car engine suddenly came from behind, as if a vehicle was approaching.

Hearing the commotion, the NKVD lieutenant looked in the direction of the sound, a look of disappointment on his face. He lowered his right hand, which he had raised halfway. He then handed Sokov's identification back to Sokov, saluted, and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, it's alright. You can continue on your way."

Just as Sokov retrieved his identification, three trucks full of soldiers drove past his vehicle. It suddenly dawned on him that the fake NKVD lieutenant had returned his identification and abandoned his plan to kill the three men entirely because of the three trucks. If the enemy made any rash move and opened fire on them, the soldiers on those trucks would certainly disembark and wipe them all out. The German commander was probably worried about exposing his identity, which was why he had chosen to let them go.

Having figured this out, Sokov instructed the driver, "Drive!"

As the truck continued on its way, Sokov looked in the rearview mirror and saw the four fake NKVD soldiers huddled together, seemingly discussing something.

"Driver, speed up and catch up with those three trucks!" Sokov thought to himself that although these four Germans had spared him, they would surely attack any lone person or vehicle they encountered. To eliminate any future trouble, he had no choice but to kill them all. So he ordered the driver, "Make them stop the truck."

Neither the driver nor even the corporal understood why Sokov would issue such an order.

Seeing the two men's blank expressions, Sokov explained, "Didn't you realize that the four NKVD soldiers just now were all Germans in disguise?"

"What? Those NKVD soldiers were Germans in disguise?" the corporal exclaimed in surprise. "Lieutenant Colonel, are you sure you're not mistaken?"

“There’s no mistake.” Sokov explained to the corporal, who still hadn’t figured out the German’s identity, “Corporal, haven’t you noticed that the position of the three NKVD soldiers is equivalent to blocking all our escape routes? Once they open fire on us, even if we react quickly and jump out of the vehicle in time to avoid being shot to death in the driver’s cab, we will still be shot to death on the road.”

After listening to Sokov's words, the corporal carefully recalled the scene he had just witnessed and broke out in a cold sweat. His voice trembled slightly as he asked, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, since they are Germans in disguise, what should we do?"

"What else can we do but eliminate them, of course? Otherwise, they will continue to target lone vehicles and individuals for ambushes," Sokov said righteously. "To eliminate the threat on this road, we must take them all out."

(End of this chapter)