cicada

Chapter 1297 Exposed
Asakusa-cho, Higashidai-ku, Tokyo.

Several cars suddenly stopped on the side of the road, and then a group of Japanese spies filed out of the cars and surrounded a long house. Passers-by saw this and hurried away.

The so-called longhouse is a cheap row house, usually one or two stories high, with more than a dozen families living inside. Most of the residents are low-income groups such as salaried workers, manual laborers, and vendors.

Ishii Takako works as a hotel waitress and her monthly salary is limited, so it is normal for her to live in a place like this.

Based on this, analysts at the General Staff believed that the possibility of the other party being involved in espionage was small, or at least he was not a mole who did things for money.

In addition, intelligence work requires a quiet, independent residence, but the sound insulation of the long house is very poor. Whatever Ishii Takako did and said could be heard by the neighbors, making it not suitable for secret activities at all.

Based on the above two points, the General Staff decided to contact Ishii Takako directly and get to know Sorge through this woman to obtain more clues.

After blocking all entrances and exits, the agents rushed to the door of Ishii Takako's residence on the second floor of the long house and knocked hard.

The continuous knocking on the door made people feel annoyed. When the neighbor heard the sound and opened the door to check what was going on, he was immediately scolded by the arrogant agent.

Half a minute later, Ishii Takako half-opened the door and looked out cautiously. Before she could say anything, Sudo Tetsuji and his group squeezed into the room.

"Who are you? Please get out quickly, or I will notify the police station." Ishii Takako shouted angrily, walking out of the house and preparing to call for help.

Sudo Tetsuji stood in front of her and took out his ID to identify himself: "General Staff Intelligence Department, Ms. Ishii, please cooperate with our investigation."

As they were talking, other agents had already entered the house and began to search. They opened cabinets and drawers and threw the items inside everywhere.

When Ishii Takako heard Sudo Tetsuji's self-introduction, her face suddenly changed, but she still suppressed her fear and explained: "I don't know what the General Staff Headquarters is. Please leave immediately, help."

As soon as she cried for help, Tetsuji Sudo drew his gun, threatened her fiercely and warned her not to scream.

The spy leader ignored this side and walked into the bedroom. This long house only had two rooms, a bedroom and a living room.

There was nothing much to say about the living room. The small room was furnished with a dining table, a rattan sofa, and a low cabinet, all common furniture. The agents quickly completed the search and found no suspicious items.

So the bedroom became the focus of the search. One agent tore open the bedding to see if there was anything hidden in the cotton, and several others spread all of Ishii Takako's clothes on the floor for inspection, even underwear was not spared.

Ishii Takako saw this scene through the crack in the door, her face turned red with anger, and she immediately wanted to go over to stop the spies' rude behavior, but was stopped by Sudo Tetsuji again.

Half an hour later, Ishii's residence was in a mess. The agents even pried up the floor, but still found no evidence related to spies, which made the leader of the team very angry.

"Baga, keep searching!"

The exasperated spy chief still refused to give up and prepared to search the room again. By this time, Ishii Takako had recovered from her initial panic and was sitting on the sofa with her arms folded, watching coldly.

Perhaps to mock the spies' futile actions, Ishii Takako took out a cigarette, lit it, and blew a puff of smoke at Sudo Tetsuji, choking him and making him cough repeatedly.

Seeing his target so arrogant, Tetsuji Sudo's face flashed with ferocity. He snatched the cigarette from Ishii Takako's hand and threw it to the ground. Just as he was about to step on her hard, his eyes inadvertently glanced at the lighter on the table.

Tetsuji Sudo was shocked. The defected Red Russian agent Shelikov once revealed to the General Staff that the Red Russian military bought a batch of Minox miniature cameras from Germany before the war and disguised them as pens, lighters, watches, rings and belt buckles.

Red Russian overseas intelligence personnel obtained a lot of important intelligence with the help of these camouflaged cameras, but due to the difficulty in manufacturing and the quantity, only a small number of elite agents were qualified to be equipped, including the Tokyo Intelligence Group.

Tetsuji Sudo glanced at his colleagues in the room, calmly put a cigarette in his mouth, bent down to pick up the lighter, and pressed the ignition switch.

With a click, the flame rose and Sudo slowly lit the cigarette butt, his eyes quickly scanning the lighter, especially the place where the lens might be installed.

The lighter, made of brass, was extremely exquisite, with intricate patterns on its surface. A sunburst chrysanthemum on it was particularly eye-catching. He gently pushed the edge of the pattern with his thumb, and immediately felt a loose feeling.

Realizing that he had found evidence of Sorge's involvement in espionage, Tetsuji Sudo calmly returned the lighter, did not report it, did not take any rash actions, and pretended that he had seen nothing.

Soon the second round of search ended. The spy chief asked Ishii Takako a few questions casually and then returned to the General Staff Headquarters with his men.

On the way, Sudo Tetsuji suppressed his excitement and had a gloomy face like other spies, as if he was annoyed by the fruitless operation. Although he was impulsive, he was not a fool. He knew that the spy chief's intention of letting him monitor Ishii Takako was simply to prevent him from making any contribution. Therefore, even if he reported the spy camera incident, he might just be making things worse for others.

In this case, why should he ask for trouble? He must seize the opportunity since he has no background, otherwise he can only perform simple tasks at the bottom level forever.

The car drove quickly between the tall buildings, and the flashing sunlight shone into the car. Sudo Tetsuji's face was exposed in the light for a while, and then hidden in the shadows, looking a little hideous.
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In front of the Intelligence Department building, Minister Kiyohsu Okamoto had a grim expression on his face. As teams of operatives came back, the good news he had expected did not come.

After the spies' search and interrogation, all targets were cleared of suspicion, and the Intelligence Department's attempt to directly arrest Sorge failed. Kiyohsu Okamoto, who was eager to establish his prestige in the Intelligence Department, was naturally unhappy.

When the team that Tetsuji Sudo belonged to returned to the Intelligence Department, Okamoto casually asked whether they had found anything. He had already given up hope on this operation, but unexpectedly someone suddenly shouted.

"Reporting to Your Excellency the Minister, I have discovered a spy camera of the Red Russians." Tetsuji Sudo walked out of the queue, raised his hand and shouted loudly.

The spy chief nearby suddenly turned his head with a murderous look in his eyes. It was really embarrassing to be blatantly deceived by his subordinates.

The spy chief gritted his teeth at the thought that this Hokkaido country bumpkin had dared to deceive him, and he wished he could kill him with a samurai sword.

Kiyohsu Okamoto on the stage saw all of this clearly, but did not take it to heart. After all, "overcoming the superiors with the inferiors" was the tradition of the army. He motioned for Tetsuji Sudo to continue speaking, with a very kind attitude.

Encouraged, Sudo truthfully reported his findings at Ishii Takako's residence and repeatedly assured Okamoto that the lighter was a spy camera of the Red Russians.

The case that had troubled the Intelligence Department for years finally had a breakthrough. Okamoto Kiyohuke was overjoyed and promoted Sudo's rank and position on the spot. He also ordered round-the-clock surveillance of Sorge and his contacts.

Tetsuji Sudo and Sorge's old friend Hirano accepted the most difficult and sensitive task, to monitor Lin Fuichiro.

The spies looked at the two men, with gloating written all over their faces. Compared with other targets, Lin Fuyilang's deep background became the biggest obstacle to the investigation. If anything happened, no one would protect them.

Even Kiyofusa Okamoto did not want to have a feud with an imperial earl and an imperial general, the latter of whom had close ties with the royal family and could be kicked into the reserve force with just one word.

But Tetsuji Sudo didn't care at all or had no choice. If he failed to make another contribution, he wouldn't even have the chance to be held accountable.

Reporting to a higher level is a taboo. Now he either has to climb over his former boss as soon as possible or die "accidentally" in an operation. There is no third way.

The next day, a large network was slowly unfolded around Sorge's network of relationships, and dozens of experienced General Staff agents began a comprehensive investigation of the places where these suspects appeared and the people they came into contact with.

On the other hand, Ishii Takako went to Sorge's residence as usual. While cleaning, she told him about what happened the day before, except for the incident of stealing the lighter.

Sorge immediately realized that he was exposed. He quickly went to the second floor to observe the outside, but did not see anything unusual, which made his face even uglier.

According to the style of Japan's counterintelligence agency, they will continue to monitor the target for a period of time regardless of whether or not evidence is found. The current situation only proves that the Japanese actions are secretive enough, but it does not mean that they are safe.

Perhaps without his knowledge, the Japanese had already searched the house. Sorge returned to the first floor and walked around the house to check for any eavesdropping devices.

He searched under the table, on the lampshade, on the telephone receiver, any place where a bug could be hidden. Then he paused and quickly opened a drawer.

When Sorge saw the spy camera lying intact in the drawer, he breathed a sigh of relief, put the lighter into his pocket, and prepared to find an opportunity to move it.

When Ishii Takako saw this scene, she wanted to say something but stopped herself. Finally, she lowered her head and said nothing. In fact, even if she had said something, Sorge would not have been able to escape.

The General Staff was eager for Sorge to take action. As long as he took action, he would reveal his flaws, and with the flaws, they could follow the clues to find the real culprit.

Ishii Takako's concealment not only destroyed the devil's fishing plan, but also made Sorge and others lose their last chance to escape.

The "Ramza" group was about to be exposed to the Japanese, and the Northwest Underground Party members behind the "Ramza" group were in imminent danger.

Let's go back to the time when Tetsuji Sudo and Hirano were monitoring Hayashi Fuichiro.

In the art shop near Lin Fu's residence, Zuo Zhong shifted his gaze away from the car on the street and tapped the table with his fingers, thinking about how to break the impasse.