Don't look at the numbers. They mean nothing when freedom is so close."
After this speech, the rebels believed in victory not only because of Khmelnitsky's charismatic personality. In his speech the name Ruminhr was mentioned. This is one of the best specialists of the Black Stone Empire in organizing security and defense. Such chums can be counted on the fingers of one hand. If he arrived in Donetsk, the sector would turn into a fortress.
On the evening of March 25, 2170, Victor received a message from one of the commanders of the soma working in the Donetsk-7 group through a new channel ("thread") that had just been created.
After being ordered to study the "thread," Victor took up the message:
"Personally and top secret to Viktor Khmelnitsky.
I, Commander Soma, have decided to bring to your attention a number of the following factors.
One. The active treasury theft of our group's karak Manhra has been uncovered, and he has been asked to return the stolen raw materials and pay a fine. According to our information, he is short of funds, so instead of a fine, he intends to destroy the Maquis group, apparently yours.
Next. In order to increase coal production, Manhir has reduced the rest time for all of us to four hours.
And finally, and most importantly. He foresees an uprising, so, according to our sources, he summons several additional drills to the Donetsk group.
I cannot give my name for obvious reasons of the possibility of this letter being intercepted."
"Sanya!" — called the leader to his assistant. He showed up fifteen seconds later.
"Sanya, I need all the information on Manhra by tomorrow morning. Including his disagreement with the Center.
Second. Get me Orlov."
Vasily Orlov, commander of the special elimination squad, arrived forty-six seconds later.
"Vasya, you have a special assignment. Actually, as always. Tomorrow you have all day to prepare. If I give you an order after tomorrow, Manhr must be dead."
Three people were sent up from the 381st Soma: Evgeny Severa, Sergey Bolshakov and Ivan Tikhomirov. Gora was particularly hopeful about the latter. He had been preparing this man for quite a long time (about seven years) and especially carefully. It was through him that the letter to Khmelnitsky passed.
On March 26, Tikhomirov was assigned to work as a janitor of the main corridor. On the one hand, it seems like nothing, but on the other hand, the main corridor is the main corridor, and if we take into account the contents of, for example, just garbage cans, the picture changes to the opposite.
The corridor itself was so long that by mid-afternoon only three-quarters of it could be scrubbed.
At 3:32 p.m., a man walking down the hall stopped two steps away from Ivan and whispered to the side, as if not to him, "I'm from Maki. Khmelnitsky. I need to get in touch with yours."
The time for such conversations looked as good as any — exactly half past four in the afternoon the plagues went to lunch until five.
In fact, this man could be as many as one of the four, and that's the minimum.
Option number 1.
The simplest and most failed. He serves the Imperial Black Stone Defense Service (BSDS).
Option number 2.
He is amateurish, that is, he wants to turn someone over to the plagues for possible help or reward (few people knew, but such plagues, after receiving information, were usually shot together with the accused; exceptions were in cases when they were used several times, but then killed anyway — well, who can sympathize with a traitor?).
Option number 3.
He was sent by someone like Gora from the mine to check on training or something.
Option number 4.
He really is who he says he is.
The first thing Gabriel taught his disciple when contact arose was to never "play his part" at once, that is, to check and make up his mind before performing the true task.
"It's better to miss some information than to bog down half the network on nothing," Gabriel used to say. That's what Tikhomirov did.
"In my opinion," Ivan replied. — you've come to the wrong place."
"How could it be wrong? Hey, everybody's making a lot of noise. They say it's going to be hard…"
Gabriel was not out of his head with his admonitions: "Constantly. Constantly try to determine who you are talking to. Sometimes it doesn't even matter what side he's on, it's who he is. Maybe he's a weakling… What would it take to make a weakling change sides? And if he's strong in spirit, look at how firm he is in his own convictions. How much confidence he has. Where are his traits of limit… All this, of course, will have to be felt, sometimes there is no time to analyze."
From the first appearance the stranger was a very uncontrollable person and unaware of his own desires. But after the second phrase I could feel his trained ability to exert pressure by putting the interlocutor in front of an immediate choice.
The only thing that Tikhomirov could unmistakably do now was to evade answering by understating his own importance: "I told you. I can't do anything. I don't know anyone at the mine… I know the chums and I certainly don't want to bother them. Ask someone else.
"Who else? I have an urgent matter."
"Well, you've got an emergency, and I've got a floor to mop. There's a lot of work to do. God willing." "In short, yes or no?"
BCC. He's from there and that's for sure. For one thing, he's completely unconcerned at this moment in time, as if it's a game and not a matter of life and death. He's under the nose of the plagues, who will tear him apart if anything happens, and he feels relaxed and at ease. The main thing is relaxed, as if he knows that no one will come out of the corner now, he will not be killed or something worse, as if he is doing what he is officially authorized to do. Ivan should be mopping the floor at his job, and he should be talking about rebellion.
Tikhomirov now even sensed the pallid dim odor that emanated from him, and decided at last to completely rid his enemy of suspicion: "No, I have already said. You want to be shot, you can be, but without me."
The stranger grinned and, spitting to the side, strode away.
In the middle of the day Gavriil Zheleznov received a letter from Khmelnitsky through the outside channel, namely through Bolshakov. He was not asked leading questions, as Tikhomirov had been, but the parcel was slipped to him at once. The Maquis had their own well-informed people in the mine itself, and who could be trusted was known to them in advance.
Gora printed the envelope without notes on the front side and saw the document, which was not clean (the Maquis used to dirty such things on purpose to confuse the chums; this time it was covered with brown earth and a little sawdust, just a little, and an expert examination would show that the document was written in the area of the town of Krasny Luch, in fact they carried earth from different places with them, it was just a little bit — even if it was small, but still a deception of the enemy).
"Secret. From the Maquis.
Your letter has reached me. I will not hide, its content interested me very much and even excited me. Therefore, I think you will understand my request to you to provide concrete evidence.
I hope to have your support."
Mountain's combination and was to provide no evidence for his version. "Let them be scared to death out there. — he thought. — Usually in such situations facts come to light that in their own right mean nothing, but in the aggregate take on a clear and tangible form."