"Take him down and lock him up first." Sokov turned to Kester and said, "Ask him again in two days."

When the police were escorting Avdiev to go out, Sokov suddenly thought of a key figure: "Where is Danniang's younger brother? Was he beaten to death or captured?"

"I don't know." Avdev, who was standing at the door, shook his head and replied, "After the battle started, I never saw him again, I never saw anyone alive or died."

"Okay, I understand." Sokov waved to the police officer who was escorting Avdev: "Take him down."

"Comrade Commander, what's going on?" Anisimov, who participated in the entire interrogation process, was confused at the moment. He asked in confusion: "Isn't it him who sent the telegram to the Germans?"

"In my judgment, what he said should be the truth. The person who sent the Germans last night should not be him." Sokov said thoughtfully: "The one who informed the enemy should be someone else."

"But, Comrade Commander." Although Kester was skeptical of Sokov's statement, he did not dare to refute it in public due to his identity, and could only raise his own question in a tactful way: "If he was not the sender, who sent the news to the enemy?"

"Avdiev was arrested by our police for theft. But he refused to admit it when he was interrogated." Sokov looked at Kester and asked, "He knew that theft of a rationing certificate was a felony, and someone would definitely go to his residence to search. Comrade Captain, can you tell me why he risked his identity to steal an optional rationing certificate?"

Sokov's words stopped Kester. He carefully recalled what Sokov said, thinking that the other party's words made sense. No matter how stupid Avdev was, he would not risk exposing his identity and steal a rationing certificate. This thing is indeed a very precious thing for ordinary citizens, but Avdev, as a worker in the soap factory, can usually get a lot of extra subsidies. Even if he does not have a rationing certificate, he can still eat his stomach.

With such a question, he asked Sokov tentatively: "Comrade Commander, how did you judge."

"I think he might have been framed." After Sokov said this, he saw Anisimov and Kester with surprise on his face, and quickly added: "Maybe it was the spy lurking in the city who was unwilling to serve them after seeing Avdiev return to the city, so he intended to transfer our crackdown clues through him."

Speaking of this, Sokov paused for a moment, reorganized the words in his mind, and asked, "Where is the old man who said he was stolen from his rationing certificate?"

After Sokov reminded him, Kester realized that from beginning to end, he had never seen the old man who reported the case. He quickly ordered someone to find the police who arrested Avdev. When his subordinates arrived, he asked directly: "Where is the old man who said that the rationing certificate was stolen now?"

"I don't know, Comrade Director." The police officer quickly replied, "I thought that since the prisoner had caught it, I returned the ratio certificate to the other party. After getting his ratio certificate, the old man thanked me, and turned around and left."

"What does he look like?" Kester continued.

The policeman thought for a while and replied: "The old man is short, with a hunched back when walking, with a goatee beard, and wearing a black over-knee tweed coat. However, it seems that he has not been washed for a long time, and there are mud spots on it."

"Thank you, comrade police officer, you can go down." Sokov said to Kester, "Comrade Captain, please pay attention to an old man who is not tall, hunchbacked, goatee-bearded, and black tweed coat. Maybe we can find him, and we can figure out a lot of doubts."

"Yes!" Kester quickly agreed, "I will definitely make my subordinates pay attention to this person."

"Don't touch him after discovering this person." Sokov said: "It's not too late to arrest him after sending someone to find out his residence. Also, I have greeted Colonel Gorishne, the commander of the 75th Guards Division, who is responsible for the city's defense. If you need help, please contact him."

After leaving the police branch, Sokov hurried back to his command center and met Zhukov, who was a little impatient to wait.

Seeing Sokov appear, Zhukov said with some dissatisfaction: "Misha, why have you been there for so long?"

"Comrade General, this is the situation." Sokov quickly reported to Zhukov in detail what he saw in the police branch, and finally said: "I think the old man with a goatee is the most suspicious. Only by grasping him can you figure out what the whole thing is."

Zhukov agreed with Sokov's analysis. He nodded and said, "Misha, you are right. According to my subordinates' report, the spy who sent the newspaper last night was obviously a veteran. And that Avdev only took less than two months from being captured by the German army to infiltrating into Lugansk. Unless he is a genius, it is absolutely impossible to send the newspaper like a veteran. The spy who sent the newspaper to the Germans last night must have someone else."

"Comrade General, the police branch has limited staff, and it is probably very difficult to find this old man by relying on them." Sokov said proactively: "I plan to send the guard battalion and the patrol of the 75th Guards Division to find this old man in the city. Even if I dig three feet into the ground, I will find him."

"The Germans will point the attack again at Lugansk at some point." Zhukov reminded Sokov: "If the German spies in the city are not eradicated as soon as possible, the intelligence in the city will be leaked continuously."

In order to repair the fortifications, each division recruited a lot of citizens to participate in the construction, and there were inevitably German spies. After they mastered the troops' defensive positions, they could send out the information through the radio. If the existing defense situation fell into the hands of the German army, they could formulate targeted combat plans.

He nodded Gorishne first and asked him to send people to assist the police in searching for the mysterious old man.

After assigning the task, Sokov still felt uneasy and worried that Gorishne's subordinates had no experience, so he went straight to the guard camp, called Tenev, Selyosha and Samoilov to them, and said to them: "Comrades, I have a difficult task now, and I will hand it over to you."

"Comrade Commander, please give orders."

"Last night, the telecommunications monitoring team found that there was a radio signal that did not belong to us in the west direction of the city. They suspected that there might be a German spy sending a newspaper in that direction." Sokov said to the three of them: "Today I went to the police branch. It was a coincidence that I encountered a thief who was caught on the spot. A radio station was found from his residence..."

"Comrade Commander," Samoilov couldn't help but interrupt when he heard this, and asked, "Is this thief the spy sent the news last night?"

"He serves the Germans, but he is definitely not a sender." Sokov shook his head and said, "According to the general, the sender is an expert, and even if the person arrested by the police can send a report, he cannot reach that level of sending a report."

"Then why did a radio station be found from his residence?" Samoilov continued to ask.

"I suspect that the enemy deliberately emitted smoke to divert our sight." Sokov explained to the three of them: "Although Avdev agreed to serve the Germans after being captured, he really broke away from the control of the Germans and wanted to live the life of ordinary people. When the German spy hidden in the city discovered his intention, he deliberately framed him, one was to divert our sight, and the other was to warn those who were both at the ends of the rat not to be stubborn.

Your task is to search for an old man with a low figure, a little hunchbacked and goatee in the city. He is wearing a black tweed coat and has a lot of mud spots on his clothes. The conditions in the city are now difficult, and washing clothes is not easy. I think he may not be able to change his clothes within a few days. This will be very helpful for you to find him."
Chapter completed!