The three of them waited at the door for a while and then saw the girl wearing a headscarf coming out. She stood at the door of the church and looked around, then turned and walked towards the east.

Upon seeing this, Michman wanted to follow immediately, but Sokov held him back: "Mitchman, don't worry, drink the kvass in your cup first."

Mitchman looked at the kvass that was still mostly in his cup, and said with some embarrassment: "By the time I finish drinking, she will have gone far away."

"If we follow her now, we will definitely be discovered by her." Sokov said: "It's not too late to finish drinking the kvass before following her. I just took a look and the street she was walking on has a wide view. , you can see her even if you are one or two hundred meters away."

“Comrade Commander, if we keep following her, will we be discovered?”

"I don't think so." Sokov said confidently: "Look, how many soldiers are walking back and forth on the street, let alone us being one or two hundred meters away from her, even if we are twenty or thirty meters behind her The location probably won’t arouse her suspicion.”

After the three of them drank the kvass in the cups, Sokov put the empty cup on the table next to the tanker and waved his hand: "Let's go!"

The girl in the headscarf seemed to be in a hurry to go home. She didn't look either way at all, but walked quickly forward without looking away. After following him for a while, Sokov and others discovered that something was wrong. The opponent was walking very fast, and the three of them had to walk quickly to barely keep up with the opponent's speed.

 “Damn it!” Kasan muttered: “Why is she walking so fast!”

Sokov originally thought this girl was suspicious, but when he saw her walking faster and faster, he became even more filled with doubts, thinking that there must be something wrong with her. Hearing what Kasang said, he could only say sternly: "Stop talking nonsense, walk faster, don't get lost."

After walking forward like this for another five or six minutes, Sokov saw the girl wearing a turban walking to the intersection. After looking left and right again, she suddenly walked to the right. After a while, her figure was seen by the building at the corner. Obstructed by something.

"No." Sokov muttered inwardly that once the other party was out of his sight, he might disappear. He quickly urged: "Hurry up and follow her, don't let her get rid of her."

When the three of them jogged to the intersection, they met a five-man patrol. The leader was only a sergeant. But when he saw Sokov and others, he immediately stopped them. And stretched out his hand to them: "Comrade commander, please show your ID!"

Sokov did not expect that he would be stopped by a patrol here. When he saw the red armband worn by the other party, he recognized that it was a picket from the headquarters and had the right to check documents. When he was about to take out his military ID card, Kasan got angry at him: "What do you do? What qualifications do you have to check our ID cards?"

Kasan's words reminded Sokov that the two soldiers beside him were internal affairs personnel from the Kremlin. Even if the other party was a picket team directly under the headquarters, they would not be afraid at all. So he put down his hand that was about to take the certificate, and looked at Kasan and the sergeant with a smile to see how the situation would develop next.

The sergeant did not expect that Kasan would refuse his inspection, and said angrily: "We are from the headquarters picket team. Which army are you from? Hurry up and get your ID..." But before he finished speaking, It stopped abruptly, because the ID card Kasan pulled out shocked him.

Sokov had seen the effect of Kasan and others after showing their IDs a few days ago, so it was not surprising to see this situation. After hesitating for a moment, the sergeant stood at attention, saluted Sokov, and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I don't know your identity. If I have offended you in any way, please forgive me."

"It's okay, Comrade Sergeant." Sokov waved his hand to the other party and said magnanimously: "You are also responsible for your responsibilities." He looked ahead and found that the girl in the headscarf had disappeared long ago. He must be Realizing that he was being followed, he found a place to hide.

“Comrade Sergeant.” Sokov reluctantly asked the Sergeant: “Have you seen a girl wearing a headscarf? She walked towards this position a few minutes ago.”

“I saw it.” The sergeant replied simply. “She asked me for help, saying that she was being followed by three unknown people and asked for my help.”

Hearing what the sergeant said, Sokov had a bitter expression on his face. He originally thought that he was following him without anyone noticing, but he was discovered by the other party a long time ago and even asked the patrol to deal with him. And she took advantage of the time when she and others were entangled by the patrol and escaped.

“Comrade Major.” The sergeant saw the unnatural expression on Sokov’s face and asked tentatively, “Is there anything wrong?”

“Comrade Sergeant,” Sokov naturally would not tell the sergeant, saying that he was following her because he noticed that the other party was acting strangely in the church. I could only say vaguely: "I found this turbaned girl wandering near our headquarters. I thought there might be something wrong with her, so I brought two soldiers with me. But what I didn't expect was that she actually acted like this You are so cunning that you actually used you to stop us and get rid of our tracking."

"Comrade Major, I was wrong." The sergeant realized that he had made a big mistake and asked with a red face: "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Since the girl has disappeared, there is no use for the patrol to stay. Sokov waved his hand to the other party and said: "Comrade Sergeant, you can't help me with anything, so you should continue patrolling with your people."

After sending away the patrol, Kasan asked Sokov for instructions: "Comrade commander, what should we do? Go search for the whereabouts of the girl?"

Sokov glanced at the street in front of him. There were many shops on both sides of the road. The girl was hiding in one of the shops. It was impossible for the three of them to find her. So he smiled bitterly and shook his head and said, "Forget it, since she has escaped, let's go back."

When the three of them turned around and walked back, Kasan said in Sokov's ear: "Comrade Commander, I am absolutely sure now that there must be something wrong with that girl. Think about it, since she is an ordinary person, if she is found When we follow her, she will definitely stop and ask what we are doing following her, rather than looking for some picket to question us."

"Yes, Kasan, you are right." Sokov agreed with Kasan's statement, but since the other party had disappeared, he had nothing to do: "But she has hidden herself, don't say There are only three of us, and even if Major Bezikov brings all of us, I’m afraid we won’t be able to find any trace of her.”

Mitchman sighed and said: "Comrade Commander, I really didn't expect that there would be so many enemies lurking in Khabarovsk."

"This is normal, Comrade Michman." Sokov said to the two of them: "In my childhood, I must have noticed that our army was dispatching troops to the Far East, and Khabarovsk, as the city closest to their defense area, must have noticed It's the focus of their infiltration. So I'm not surprised at all that there are a lot of spies in the city."

After the three of them returned to the guest house, Bezikov came up to them and asked enthusiastically: "Comrade Commander, are you back after making the phone call?" "No, I didn't call." Sokov said to Bezikov : "There are too many people in the post office, and the soundproofing effect of the phone booth is also poor. People waiting outside can hear whatever is said inside."

"That's right." After hearing this, Bezikov said with a smile: "Comrade Commander, how about you say something thoughtful to your wife so that the people waiting to call outside can hear it. Fortunately, after two or three days, we will You'll be back at the headquarters, and you can make calls at any time."

“Kasan,” after exchanging greetings with Sokov, Bezikov turned to Kasan: “You followed Comrade Commander out today. Did anything happen?”

Kasan did not immediately answer Bezikov's question, but cast a questioning look at Sokov. After seeing Sokov nodding in agreement, he reported to Bezikov in detail about the strange girl he met in the church today.

The experienced Bezikov said without hesitation before Kasan finished speaking: "Kasan, you don't have to say anything, there must be something wrong with this woman wearing a headscarf. If I guessed correctly, she should be She is taking advantage of the opportunity of contact with the bishop to pass on information quietly. It's a pity that she is too cunning and escaped from under your noses, otherwise you would definitely be able to get some useful information out of her mouth."

Sokov felt that such an important matter needed to be reported immediately to the Far East Command so that they could be prepared to prevent espionage. He thought that before entering the door, he saw Ivanov's men still waiting at the door, so he asked Bezikov: "Is General Ivanov still upstairs?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Bezikov nodded and called back: "Comrade Chief of Staff is still upstairs. If you have anything, you can tell him directly."

Sokov went up to the second floor and came to Lukin's door. He raised his hand and knocked on the door twice. Before anyone could speak, he opened the door and walked in.

Lukin, who was talking to Ivanov, originally thought it was Bezikov's subordinates knocking on the door, but he didn't expect that after the door opened, it was Sokov who walked in from the outside. He asked somewhat unexpectedly: "Mi. Sha, what’s wrong with you?”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I have something to report to you." Sokov reported to Ivanov in detail about his encounter with the girl today, and finally said: "According to my observation, today's gangsters are There are many spies entering the city, I hope you can be more vigilant."

"General Sokov, you are right. There have indeed been more spies infiltrating in recently." Ivanov was actually worried about this matter. After all, in a short period of time, there were seven or eight more spies in the city. Ten thousand troops, including commanders and soldiers at all levels involved in combat, as well as personnel responsible for logistics support, can be described as a mixed bag. Trying to find out the spies who have infiltrated among them is like looking for a needle in a haystack: "But the people in the city The composition is too complicated, and it will be difficult for us to detect the infiltrated spies in a short period of time. But don’t worry, although there are many of them, as long as we strengthen the security of key departments, they still won’t pose much of a threat.”

"That's good, that's good." Seeing that Ivanov had already mastered what he was talking about, Sokov stopped talking. After a few simple greetings, he left Lu Jin's room again. Room. After coming out this time, he did not go downstairs again, but went directly back to his room.

Just lying on the bed and trying to close his eyes to relax, he heard someone knocking on the door. He said impatiently: "The door is not closed. Come in yourself."

The door opened and Yakov walked in from the outside. Seeing Sokov lying on the bed, he couldn't help but curiously asked: "Misha, you went to bed so early?"

"No, I'm just lying down casually." Sokov sat up straight, looked at Yakov and asked: "Have you finished visiting Marshal Chernyakhovsky so soon?"

"Yes." Yakov nodded and said, "He just wanted to catch up with me and didn't talk about any more topics. That's why I came back so quickly."

After pausing for a moment, Yakov pouted at the person next to him and asked: "Misha, I saw that there seemed to be a guest in the room of Comrade Deputy Commander. I wonder what the reason was?"

“It’s Admiral Ivanov, the Chief of Staff of the Far East Command.” Sokov said: “He and Comrade Deputy Commander are good friends and came here specifically to visit.”

“Admiral Ivanov? Chief of Staff of the Far East Command?!”

"Yes."

“Since he is the chief of staff of the Far East Command, why didn’t we see him when we attended the military meeting?”

"That's it, Yasha." Sokov explained to Yakov: "The Supreme Command originally arranged for General Zakharov to serve as the chief of staff of the Far Eastern Command, but Malinov, the commander of the Transbaikal Front, Marshal Sky said that he lacked a capable assistant, so his superiors transferred General Zakharov to assist him in his work, and the vacated position was taken over by General Ivanov.

As for not seeing him at today's meeting, the reason is very simple. Before the meeting, Marshal Chernyakhovsky suffered from an old injury and had to go to a military hospital for treatment. General Ivanov considered that he was not familiar enough with the overall situation when he arrived, so he entrusted General Zaharov to arrange combat tasks for each unit on his behalf. "

After figuring out what was going on, Yakov nodded and said: "Since the beginning of the war, General Zakharov has been serving as a staff officer and has rich experience. There is no doubt that he will serve as the chief of staff of our Transbaikal Front." It is the most suitable. As for the Far East Command, it can at most play a coordinating and coordinating role. How specific combat operations are carried out still depends on the level of the commanders and chiefs of staff of each front."

 “You came back alone?” Sokov asked.

“I am not coming back alone, how many people can come back?”

 “Sonia is not with you?”

"No." Yakov shook his head and said: "After she took me to the military hospital, she went to do her own work. When I left, I originally planned to see her, but I heard a nurse I knew said that Sonia After helping her in the operating room, I gave up my plan to meet her and went back here directly."

"Yasha, we are about to leave here. If we can't meet, it's better not to meet." Sokov reminded Yakov: "I always feel that there is something wrong with Sonia. It's better to keep a distance from her, otherwise you may be hurt." Causing unnecessary trouble."