After Captain Kester finished speaking, he immediately called the sentry who had just led the way and said to him: "I said, you go find a few people immediately and make sure to pile up the sandbag fortifications in the shortest possible time."
In response to Kester's resolute work style, Sokov smiled and nodded, and then he and Anisimov walked into the building.
While walking through the corridor towards Kester's office, Sokov suddenly heard someone yelling in an office next to him: "Be honest, apart from this time, how many times have you done this?"
Sokov stopped and looked into the room. Behind a long wooden table, two policemen in civilian uniforms were sitting. In front of them, a middle-aged man in his forties stood with his head lowered.
"What's going on?" Sokov turned and asked Kester, who was standing aside: "What did he commit?"
"It's a thief who stole the rationing system." Kester looked at the man standing in the room and said through gritted teeth: "He stole an old lady's ration card. Our police are interrogating him to see if he has done similar things before. Nothing happened."
If it is in peacetime, such petty theft is usually caught and imprisoned for a few days. But during the war, theft of ration cards was of a serious nature. Without a ration card, the family cannot receive the food they need every day and the family can starve to death. In a sense, such a thief is tantamount to a murderer.
Sokov stepped into the room. The two policemen sitting behind the table saw a colonel and his chief walking in together, and quickly stood up and saluted.
"What did he recruit?" Kester asked coldly.
"Report to Comrade Director," an older policeman replied: "This prisoner is very stubborn. He insists that he did not steal anything. He also does not know how someone else's lost ration card appeared in his pocket."
When Sokov heard what the policeman said, a thought suddenly came to his mind. Could it be that the other party was framed? Thinking of this, he walked up to the man and asked, "What is your name and where do you work?"
The middle-aged man saw clearly that the person who asked him was a young colonel. As if grabbing a life-saving straw, he hurriedly shouted to Sokov: "Comrade Colonel, I was wronged. I didn't steal from others at all." Ration card, I was queuing up, and suddenly an old man in front of me shouted that his ration card had been stolen. When the policeman who was maintaining order nearby came to ask, he insisted that I had touched him before, so it must be me. Stolen.…”
"Comrade Colonel," although the policeman did not know Sokov's identity, but seeing that his chiefs were all respectful to him, they knew he was a well-established commander, and quickly reported to him: "The policeman who was maintaining order at that time , did not believe what the old man said, but for the sake of fairness, he still searched several residents in front and behind the old man, and found the lost ration card on this person, and then sent him here."
"What's your name and where do you work?" Sokov repeated his question again.
"My name is Avdeev, and I am Ukrainian." The middleman replied: "I am a worker in a soap factory. After our army recaptured the city, I returned here with my comrades in the factory to resume production."
"Captain Kester, call the soap factory." Sokov said to Kester sideways: "Ask them if there is a worker named Avdeyev in the factory."
Kester agreed, turned around and walked out of the room.
"Don't worry, everything will be figured out." After Kester left, Sokov said to Avdeyev: "If it is proven that you did not steal the ration card, we will let you leave."
A few minutes later, Kester hurriedly walked in from the outside and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I have learned that there is indeed a worker named Avdeyev in the soap factory. He is Ukrainian. After the Germans occupied Ukraine, he was a member of the guerrillas and fought guerrillas behind enemy lines. Not long ago, our army liberated Luhansk, and he returned to the factory."
"What, have you ever been a guerrilla?" Sokov couldn't help but frowned after listening to Kester's report. As far as he knew, the composition of the Ukrainian guerrillas during the Great Patriotic War was the most complex, and some were fighters. Some of the Germans fought against the Soviets, and some fought against both sides. "Which guerrilla group are you in, and what's the captain's name?"
"The leader of the Tanniang guerrillas is a woman, named Tanniang. Before the war, she was a teacher in a nearby school." Avdeyev replied: "We have been operating near Lugansk, disrupting the enemy's transportation and communications. Lines, attacking enemy sentries, burning their warehouses..."
"Wait a minute," Sokov interrupted Avdeyev before he could finish his words: "Where is your captain Danyang now?"
Avdeyev lowered his head and said with red eyes: "Last November, our camp was attacked by the Germans, and she unfortunately died in the battle. And I was scattered, and I was scattered nearby. I hid in the village for several months, and it wasn’t until I heard that our army had recaptured Luhansk and the factory had moved back to the city that I came back.”
What Avdeyev said seemed quite logical, but to Sokov's ears, it was full of flaws. He frowned and thought for a while, then ordered Kester: "Comrade Captain, take someone to search his residence to see if you can find anything."
"Comrade Commander," Kester asked in surprise, "do you suspect that there will be more ration certificates in his home?"
"I don't know if there is a ration card." Sokov looked at Avdeyev and said with a sneer: "But according to my guess, if you go to search his residence, you will definitely find something unexpected. "
In this way, Kester took several policemen and escorted Avdeyev to his residence, while Sokov and Anisimov followed closely with their own guards.
When everyone arrived at the residential area near the soap factory, Sokov saw that half of the buildings here had been blown down, and almost all the workers and their families lived in the houses that had not completely collapsed. But there are many people and few houses. Many temporary and simple tents can be seen on the nearby ruins.
Seeing Avdeyev being escorted back by several policemen, a bearded man immediately ran over and asked Kester, who was leading the team: "Comrade Captain, I am the deputy director of the factory. Avdeyev is out of business." What happened?"
"He stole an old man's ration certificate at the place where he received ration supplies. We came here to search." Kester asked the deputy director: "Where is his residence?"
The deputy factory director, who was originally worried about Avdeyev, immediately showed disgust on his face when he learned that his workers had been arrested by the police for stealing ration certificates. He quickly said to Kester: "Comrade Captain, I know where he lives. I will take you there."
Avdeyev's residence is in a ruins. A few pieces of canvas were put on a broken wall that had not completely collapsed, forming a simple room that could be lived in.
Kester turned around and ordered his men: "Search carefully to see if there are any ration cards in there that don't belong to him."
Anisimov, who was standing not far away, looked at the policemen who were searching in the ruins and asked Sokov curiously: "Comrade division commander, since you think he cannot be a thief who stole the ration card, why did you let him What if the police come to search his residence? What can the police find in his residence?"
"I don't know what the specific thing is yet." Sokov replied: "But I always feel that something is wrong with this Avdeyev, so I asked Kester to bring people to search. Maybe it can be found in his residence. There might be some surprises.”
"Comrade Director," Sokov had just finished his words when he heard a policeman shouting from the ruins: "There is a suitcase buried here."
"Dig it out," Kester ordered curtly.
Not long after, Sokov saw Kester running from the ruins holding a suitcase. He came to Sokov, put the suitcase on the ground, and said excitedly: "Comrade Commander, look, what is this?" Then he opened the lid of the suitcase.
Looking at the radio and the matching antenna and transmitting key in the suitcase, Sokov didn't know anything. After all, these things had been expected by him. And Anisimov said in surprise: "Oh my god, it's actually a radio station. Comrade division commander, so he was the one who sent the message to the Germans last night?"
"Maybe, maybe not. But we will figure it out soon." Sokov told Kester: "Comrade Captain, bring him back to the bureau. I think we can get what we want from him. s answer."
Avdeyev, who was being escorted by two policemen with his hands behind his back, was arguing desperately and shouted: "I am wronged, this is not my thing, and I don't know where this suitcase came from. Come."
The deputy director, who was standing aside and watching dumbfounded, heard Avdeyev's shout and immediately rushed over, slapped him hard in the face, and blocked his words. The deputy director cursed fiercely: "I didn't expect you to be a German spy. I'm going to beat you to death." After saying that, he waved his fist and greeted Avdeyev.
Kester was afraid that the deputy director would break Avdeyev, so he quickly ordered the police to pull him away. The deputy director who was pulled aside yelled at Avdeyev: "You damn German agent, don't let me see you again, otherwise I will definitely beat you to death."
"Comrade Commander," Anisimov said excitedly as he watched Avdeyev being taken away by the police: "I didn't expect that we could find the German spy hiding in the city so easily. I think we still have Go back and report to Comrade General immediately."
"Comrade Political Commissar, don't worry yet." Sokov waved his hand and said, "Let's go to the branch and see what our police comrades can ask from this person."
