Red Moscow

After Felix Gerchikov spent five minutes listening to Beria's story, he could not help but fall silent. He felt that the Germans dared to carry out such an attack in Moscow, and there must be an insider who provided them with information, otherwise the attack would never have been so clean and neat. As a former major of the police, it was not a problem for him to investigate ordinary people, but if the leaker was a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he would have no way to start.

"Comrade Gerchikov, are you still there?" Seeing that Felix Gerchikov was slow to speak, Beria couldn't help but ask.

"Comrade People's Commissar," Felix Gerchikov replied cautiously, "If it were an ordinary criminal case, I would not have much trouble solving it. But this case involves the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so I am afraid it will be difficult for me to carry out my work."

After learning of Felix Gerchikov's concerns, Beria pondered for a moment and then said, "Comrade Gerchikov, I will send an officer from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to assist you in your work. In this way, you will not encounter any obstacles in your investigation."

Just as Felix was about to hang up, Romanchenko snatched the phone away: "Comrade People's Commissar, I have one more thing I need your opinion on."

"What's the matter?" In order to solve the attack as soon as possible, Beria felt that as long as the other party's conditions were not excessive, he could agree to them: "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Comrade People's Commissar!" Romanchenko looked at Felix standing next to him and said cautiously, "Gerchikov used to be a major. Now that he has returned to work, can I restore his rank?"

When Beria heard this, he realized it was such a trivial matter, so he said carelessly: "Comrade Romanchenko, whether to restore Comrade Gerchikov's police rank is an internal matter of your police department. You don't need to ask me for instructions. You can decide for yourself."

Hearing what Beria said, Romanchenko naturally understood that the other party agreed to restore Felix's police rank. He couldn't help but feel secretly happy. Finally, he asked, "By the way, when will the officer you are going to send to assist us in the war criminal investigation arrive?"

"Don't worry, we'll be there within an hour."

"Major Felix!" Romanchenko said to Felix after hanging up the phone, "From now on, you will officially resume your original position and rank. How about it, are you confident in solving this case?"

"I definitely can't do it alone," Felix asked cautiously, "Comrade Director, can you give me a few assistants?"

"No problem." Romanchenko answered readily, "You can pick the people you want. But I remind you that I just drew personnel from various bureaus yesterday to form a civilian police detachment to go to the 16th Army's defense zone to assist in the operations. Some of the people you have in mind may be in this detachment."

"The 16th Army?" Felix was imprisoned in August last year because of someone else's involvement. The 16th Army had already been formed a month before he was imprisoned, and Lukin, who was now captured by the German army, had already taken office. So when he heard Romanchenko mention the 16th Army, he casually asked, "Is it the 16th Army commanded by Comrade Lukin?"

Hearing Felix's question, Romanchenko hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and denied it: "Comrade Lukin has disappeared in the Battle of Vyazma. The commander of the 16th Army is Lieutenant General Rokossovsky, who was the commander of the 9th Mechanized Army before the war and the garrison commander of Zhitomir."

Felix had no impression of Rokossovsky, and Romanchenko's introduction was like playing the lute to a cow. After all, in his mind, one was the commander of the army group before the war, and the other was the commander of the mechanized army before the war. There was not much comparison between the two.

An hour later, a female lieutenant from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, led by a police officer, came to Romanchenko's office.

A female lieutenant with a brand new medal on her chest came up to Romanchenko and saluted: "Hello, Comrade Director General, I am Lieutenant Alina from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I have been ordered to come here to assist you in the investigation."

When Romanchenko saw that the MVD officer who came to report to him was actually a woman, he was stunned and asked, "Did Comrade Beria send you?"

"Yes, Comrade General Director," Alina replied in a positive tone, "Comrade Beria gave me the order personally."

Romanchenko was full of doubts, thinking that Beria had a special status, so how could he personally give orders to a small lieutenant?

Alina saw Romanchenko's confusion and immediately showed an unhappy expression on her face: "Comrade Director General, although my military rank is not high, my ability is not bad. Comrade People's Commissar may have taken a fancy to this point of mine, so he personally assigned me the task."

Romanchenko was anxious to solve the attack, so he stopped worrying about Alina's identity. He pointed to Felix next to him and said, "Let me introduce you to Major Felix Gerchikov, who will be in charge of solving the case this time."

Alina turned to face Felix and saluted him. "Hello, Comrade Major. I am Lieutenant Alina. From now on, I will obey your command."

Felix stared at the brand new medal on Alina's chest and asked coldly, "Comrade Lieutenant, is the chance of the Ministry of Internal Affairs winning a medal higher than other departments?"

Alina heard the contempt in the other party's tone, so she said seriously: "Comrade Major, this medal was awarded because I led a special team to the Mogilev area a few days ago and carried out a dangerous special mission."

Hearing Alina say this, Felix was stunned and realized that he had misunderstood her. After all, he had been in Lubyanka Prison for such a long time and had a leg broken. It was impossible for him to say that he had no resentment towards the people of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, he was also an open-minded person. After knowing that he had wronged Alina, he quickly took the initiative to admit his mistake: "I'm sorry, Comrade Lieutenant, I apologize to you for what I said just now."

Alina didn't want to waste time talking to Felix, so she waved her hand and asked straight to the point, "Comrade Major, my superiors ordered me to assist you in the investigation. What should we do now?"

"How many people do you have?"

"It's just me." Alina explained to Felix, "But I have been authorized by Comrade Beria to let other departments provide us with assistance during the investigation."

"In that case, please take me to see the bodies of the victims."

Alina did not agree to Felix's request, but asked curiously: "Comrade Major, are we the only two to solve this case?"

"Of course not." Felix shook his head and said, "While waiting for you to arrive, I have formed a special task force. They are waiting outside. As soon as you arrive, we can set off."

After saying goodbye to Romanchenko, Felix took Alina out of the headquarters building.

There were two black cars parked on the roadside outside the building, and five or six policemen in uniform or plain clothes stood beside the cars. When they saw Felix and Alina coming out, everyone stopped talking and stood at attention to salute them.

Felix looked at the other policemen and continued, "Comrade Sergeant, the cases you have been involved in before are nothing compared to this case. I would like to remind you that this case is of great importance and we may encounter danger during the investigation. If you are afraid, you can choose to withdraw."

This was an insult to Victoria, who had solved countless cases. However, Victoria tried to control her emotions and said in a calm tone, "Comrade Major, rest assured, I will never let you down."

Felix stared at Alina for a long time, then waved his hand and announced, "Time is running out, we have to act immediately, everyone get in the car!"

After that, Felix called Alina and Victoria to get on the first car.

After the door closed, the driver asked Felix: "Comrade Major, where are we going next?"

Felix turned and asked Alina: "Lieutenant Alina, do you know where the dead are?"

"I know!" Alina asked back, "Do you want to do the autopsy first?"

"That's right. Let's do the autopsy first, and then go to the crime scene to see if we can find any useful clues."

After figuring out Felix's intentions, Alina told the driver an address and the vehicle started.

Ten minutes later, everyone arrived at the place where the body was placed.

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Before entering the morgue, Felix specifically asked Victoria: "Comrade Sergeant, if you are scared, you can stay outside."

Victoria was able to obtain the rank of major in the future because she solved countless cases. As a senior criminal police officer, there was no reason for her to be afraid of corpses. Seeing Felix looking down on her again, she snorted coldly and said, "Comrade Major, it's not like I haven't seen corpses before. What's there to be afraid of?"

"Since you are not afraid, then follow me in. And you, Comrade Lieutenant, follow me in as well." Felix turned around and said to the other policemen, "Just wait outside."

The morgue was converted from a small auditorium.

After entering the house, the three saw dozens of stretchers neatly placed on the ground, with bodies covered with white cloth on the stretchers.

Felix squatted beside a corpse, lifted the white cloth covering it, and carefully checked the body's bullet wounds. The dead man was a soldier from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. There were multiple bullet holes on his head, chest and abdomen. It was obvious that he was shot and killed while exchanging fire with the attacker.

After examining the body, Felix looked up and planned to tell Alina and Victoria to check the other bodies to see if they could find any clues. But when he looked up, he found that the two had already started the autopsy without his order.

Felix stood up, came behind Victoria, lowered his head and asked, "Comrade Sergeant, what did you see from this body?"

"Comrade Major," Victoria looked up at Felix and said, "This body was shot in the forehead. He must have been killed by a sniper."

Felix came forward and took a closer look. He felt that Victoria's analysis was correct, so he nodded. Then he walked behind Alina and asked curiously, "What about you, Comrade Lieutenant? Have you found anything else?"

"The deceased was a military expert. He was shot in the shoulder and head. Judging from the shape of the bullet holes, he was probably shot by a submachine gun and died unfortunately."

Felix saw that both of them had done nothing wrong, so he pointed and said, "You are responsible for checking the bodies in these two rows, and I will check the rest."

Half an hour later, the autopsy was completed.

After Felix recorded the deaths of all the deceased based on his own observations and the two people's reports, he said to the two people: "Okay, we have to check the scene next."

The group drove to the crime scene, which was blocked by the garrison headquarters and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and no one was allowed to approach.

Seeing two cars approaching, an officer in charge of the scene immediately stepped forward, raised his hand to stop the car, and then trotted to the side of the first car. The officer bent down and looked into the car, and saw the driver and a female police officer with the rank of sergeant in the front seat. He then cast his eyes to the back seat and saw a man in plain clothes and a female officer from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so he asked tentatively: "Are you here to investigate the scene?"

"Yes, Comrade Lieutenant." Alina answered after seeing the other person's rank clearly, "Next to me is Major Felix from the General Police Department. I have been ordered to investigate tonight's attack. I am Lieutenant Alina, and I am here to assist the major in his work under the orders of my superiors."

"Hello, Comrade Major." The officer quickly raised his hand to salute Felix and asked politely, "How can I help you?"

Felix opened the door and got out of the car. He walked around the rear of the car to where the officer was, and then asked, "Are you responsible for protecting the scene?"

"Yes, Major." The officer nodded and said, "We, together with the comrades from the garrison headquarters, are responsible for protecting the crime scene."

"Who ordered the bodies of the victims to be taken away?"

"I'm not sure about that," the officer shook his head and said, "Anyway, when I led the team to block this place, all the bodies on the ground were taken away."

"Nonsense, absolutely nonsense." Felix said angrily after hearing this: "If the body was still at the crime scene, I could determine the general course of events based on where the body was shot and where it fell. Now that the body has been taken to the morgue, how can I reconstruct the scene of the incident?"