Chapter 79 New Mission
The task of inquiring about Gerlyosha's family news was naturally given to Grotta. Although that woman was just a middleman, the information channels she controlled were beyond Yuri's reach.
Grotta did not say anything about Yuri's misuse of public resources. Although she was the link between Yuri and the higher authorities, she was still Yuri's subordinate in terms of affiliation. In the final analysis, her role was similar to that of a communicator in the headquarters, and Yuri was the commander. She received Yuri's orders and then issued them to the secret agents and police hidden in various lines. At the same time, she was also responsible for helping Yuri pass information to the higher authorities.
After receiving the first job arranged by Yuri, Grota also handed a notice to Yuri. The bureau obviously knew that Yuri had come to Moscow, so he was asked to go to the headquarters the next day at 9 am, and a car would come to pick him up at that time.
He rested in his house for a night and slept until after eight o'clock the next day. He got up, washed up, and arrived at the door at exactly nine o'clock. A black Volga sedan happened to drive over and stopped steadily in front of Yuri.
The driver was a young man. He took Yuri around Moscow for more than half an hour, and finally stopped in front of the Cathedral of St. Vasily the Blessed, then signaled Yuri to get out of the car.
Yuri got out of the car and went straight into the church, where someone was already waiting for him. Yuri was taken directly to a confessional, and then to a secret passage inside the confessional. He walked through the passage for nearly ten minutes, and when he came up to the ground again, he was already in an empty house.
The exit of the house was in an alley. A Volga sedan was parked at the door. Yuri got in the car and the driver took him straight to the headquarters of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs on Lubyanka Street.
We can't blame the people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs for making a fuss out of nothing. It's mainly because the nature of the Secret Political Work Bureau is too secretive. It can be said to be the core agency of the Domestic Counterintelligence , while the newly established Special Operations Department is the core agency of the Secret Service Bureau. After all, the only mission of this department is to carry out counterintelligence work in the army.
As the main executor of the Special Operations Department responsible for the work of the Western Front, Yuri's identity must be kept secret. It can be said that apart from Beria and Abakumov, he is not responsible to anyone, and no fourth person knows his identity.
The reason why Yuri was called to the headquarters today was because Comrade Abakumov wanted to meet him and assign him some specific work.
Vodka did not drive into Lubyanka Square, but went through Volsovsky Alley, went around to Malaya Lubyanka, and finally entered the underground parking lot through the side door.
This was Yuri's first visit to the headquarters of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs and his first meeting with Abakumov.
If we count by age, Abakumov is a few years older than Yuri, but only a few years. Now Abakumov is only in his early thirties, very young. If we count by position, it is a bit complicated. In terms of military rank, Abakumov is lower than Yuri. He is only a major, and there is still a distance from being promoted to lieutenant colonel. But in terms of position in the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, he is half a head higher than Yuri. From this, we can see that the military rank in the Soviet army is not so easy to get, at least it is not easy to get promoted hiding in the rear.
It was somewhat different from what I had imagined. Abakumov, was very kind to others, at least on the surface. He always spoke softly, and even when assigning tasks, he used a tone similar to negotiation, such as: "Can I give this to you?" "This task is quite urgent, please complete it in the shortest possible time." It was always in this tone, which made people feel very comfortable.
Of course, Yuri also knew that his kindness was mostly an illusion. After all, in such a special department, he couldn't survive by just being kind.
Yuri got a list from Abakumov. The people on this list were all middle and low-level commanders in the Western Front. According to the requirements, the first thing Yuri had to do after taking office in the Western Front was to monitor these people in real time.
In addition, Yuri also received a piece of news from Abakumov, that is, in the next two days, the Internal Security Forces under the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs will take action in Moscow to arrest a group of people who were previously involved in spreading rumors and causing trouble.
Yuri would not give any sympathy to these people who spread rumors. In his opinion, these people are simply seeking their own death. They don't even consider what time it is. They just believe everything they hear. They dare to say anything just to satisfy their own desire. If such people don't suffer, who else can suffer?
What really made Yuri feel sympathetic was the "key surveillance" target ranked second on his list.
The first person on the list was the current commander of the Western Front, Ivan Stepanovich Konev. The reason for monitoring him was simple: he was once a subordinate of Tukhachevsky, a subordinate of Uborevich, and a subordinate of Pavlov. The fact was that all three of his superiors had been shot, and according to the intelligence of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, Konev still had a lot of complaints about Uborevich's execution.
As for the second person on the list, it is naturally the handsome Comrade Rokossovsky. There is no need to bother looking for reasons to monitor him, everything is obvious.
Although Yuri's task was not to take action against these people, but to monitor them, record their words and deeds, and report to his superiors regularly, to be honest, he really didn't like doing this kind of work.
It's easier for Konev. Yuri doesn't like this guy. In his opinion, this guy is a slippery man. Maybe some of the negative information that put his three superiors to death was provided by him.
Yuri sympathized with Rokossovsky. This battle-hardened general was a pure soldier. His life seemed to be summed up in two words: optimistic and tragic. All his intelligence and talents seemed to be focused on military command, while he knew nothing about politics, and his tragedy obviously came from this.
In his previous life, Yuri had read the biography of this general. The words he said to Zhukov before his death made Yuri sigh - "I am not afraid of death, but this high wall scares me." The high wall here refers to the Kremlin. This general was invincible on the battlefield, full of vigor and vitality, commanding hundreds of thousands or even millions of troops with ease, but within the palace wall, he became a clown-like existence, being played around by others for half his life.
Compared with Rokossovsky, isn't it the same with the more famous Comrade Zhukov? It's just that his political sense is a little more sensitive.
Coming out of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, Yuri's car was still in the underground parking lot. Looking at the stairwell gradually moving away behind him, he felt somewhat regretful. It was not for anything else, but because he had finally come here but did not meet Julia, and he did not know what job she was doing here.
The car returned to the residential area near St. Vasily's Cathedral according to the original procedure. Yuri still took the underground passage back to the original confessional, then went out from the main gate, got on the Volga, and went directly back to the apartment.
The Volga car stopped on the side of the road which was flooded with rain. Yuri got out of the car and watched it return along the same route. Just as he was about to turn around and go upstairs, he saw Grota, who was wearing a black coat, walking towards him from not far away.
"Mr. Yuri Arkhipovich," Grota obviously also saw Yuri. She quickened her pace to catch up with him. When , she bent down and bowed and said.
"Well," Yuri nodded and said, "What are we having for lunch today?"
"I'll prepare a recipe for you," Grotta looked like a real cook. She took out a recipe from the handbag on her arm and handed it to Yuri.
"Go ahead and talk about it," Yuri took the recipe without even looking at it. He just waved his hand and said casually.
The two went upstairs one after another, returned to Yuri's residence, and closed the door. Only then did Grotta regain her true identity.
"What brings you here today?" Yuri took off his coat and hung it on the hanger at the door, and threw the recipe on the shoe rack.
"There's news from Leningrad," Grota said as he took out a folded piece of paper from his schoolbag and handed it to Yuri. "The family you asked me to look for is not doing well."
"Oh, so fast?" Yuri felt a little surprised. It was only one night and one morning, and the news from there had already been passed on.
Glotta ignored the question. In her opinion, it was normal to be so fast.
Yuri asked this question unconsciously, and naturally did not expect the other party to answer. He took the letter, unfolded it and took a look.
The content of the letterhead was obviously a copy of the telegram, and the amount of information was not very large. According to the information, the situation at Gerlyosha's home was indeed not good: her father had been ill in bed for a week, and her brother was injured in the left leg by a German bomb two days ago. Although he was rescued in time and temporarily recovered, due to the shortage of medicines, the wound was now infected, and whether he could survive depended entirely on luck. Most importantly, their family was basically full of old, weak, sick and disabled people. According to the food rationing system currently being implemented in Leningrad, the amount of food they could get was pitiful.
After reading the contents of the letter, Yuri sighed inwardly: Winter is coming, and it is not just Gerlyosha's family who are in a miserable situation. In the coming winter, who knows how many people will be buried in the snow.
