cicada

Chapter 1302 Caught
Saturday morning.

Ozaki adjusted his coat in front of the mirror, then walked out of the house carrying his briefcase. The Yokocho outside the door was unusually busy, with passers-by and hawkers filling the not-so-wide street. A new day had begun in Tokyo.

After walking a few steps, Ozaki glanced at one of the vegetable vendors and made sure that there was nothing wrong with the other party before walking towards the street corner.

This vendor was both his safety post and his guard. The two were old partners in the underground party's Shanghai Special Operations Group. They had fought side by side for many years in Shanghai under the white terror. They were more trustworthy than the Red Russians.

It is not surprising that Ozaki has such an idea. The Underground Party International is nominally an independent organization, but in fact it accepts the guidance of Moscow.

Therefore, sometimes their actions are beneficial to Red Russia, but not necessarily beneficial to the underground party organizations in various countries.

Some comrades privately discussed that the underground party international had changed from a living political entity to a dead organization. On the one hand, it only obeyed instructions from Red Russia, and on the other hand, it regurgitated these instructions in various languages.

Thinking about Sorge's colorful spare time life, Ozaki frowned slightly and decided that this time he must persuade Sorge to stop contacting the Japanese woman. After all, the situation had changed.

If Konoe Fumiya's position as prime minister was secure, Japanese intelligence agencies would not immediately investigate even if they suspected them. But now that Konoe's resignation is a foregone conclusion, they are about to lose their protection.

Shelikov's defection was an even more dangerous signal. If the other party knew the existence of the Sorge Group, Japanese spies might appear at any time. The more Ozaki thought about it, the more worried he became, and his pace gradually quickened.

On the second floor of a private house, Kiyohsu Okamoto stood at the window and watched Ozaki go away, his face changing from gloomy to happy and his heart was very conflicted.

He wanted Ozaki to be a spy, but he also didn't want Ozaki to be. The former would certainly allow the Intelligence Department to make great contributions, but the latter would mean that the Red Russians had completely mastered Japan's strategic intelligence.

What you fear will come to you. Just as Okamoto Kiyofuku was struggling with his conscience, a secret agent from the General Staff walked into the room and reported bad news to him.

"Mr. Minister, suspect number one, Sorge, left his residence two minutes ago. This is inconsistent with his daily movements. He is likely to be contacting his subordinates. Our people are monitoring him."

Kiyofuko Okamoto paused for a long time, turned around and said, "Continue to monitor." His face turned very ugly. Was the thing he was most worried about finally going to happen?

Ozaki was Konoe Fumiya's secretary and confidant. All cabinet documents would pass through his hands before being sent to Konoe. Ozaki served as secretary-general for several years, and the amount of intelligence he came into contact with was astronomical.

The military's operational plans, the cabinet's financial policies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' diplomatic countermeasures, these top-secret intelligence are all at risk of being leaked.

"Immediately install monitoring equipment in Ozaki's office and residence, and conduct comprehensive monitoring of the target." Kiyohsu Okamoto gave the order in a hurry.

Using technical means against the Prime Minister's secretary was a very risky act, which could be seen as a provocation to Konoe and his entire faction, but Okamoto couldn't care less.

On the other side, Ozaki boarded the tram to the meeting place with Sorge. He sat in his seat and opened a newspaper, reading while observing the passengers in the car.

The morning light shone into the carriage through the windows, illuminating the playing students, the drowsy office workers, and the well-dressed small business owners. Everything seemed normal.

Ozaki looked around and lowered his head, but his attention was always on the passengers. Every passenger's stay time, clothing, expression, and all the details were imprinted in his mind.

The tram drove for a few minutes and slowly stopped. A group of passengers got off from the rear of the car, and a few people got on from the front. A young man with his head lowered walked to the corner and sat down.

The train then stopped at a few more stations, with more and more passengers getting on board. Just before the train arrived at the next station, Ozaki stood up, grabbed the roof railing, and walked towards the rear of the train through the crowded crowd.

Seeing this, the young man also stood up and followed Ozaki to the rear of the car. The two walked towards the door one after the other, and the distance between them gradually narrowed.

The moment Ozaki moved, the two passengers glanced at each other, one of them stayed in his seat without moving, and the other prepared to follow Ozaki off the bus.

Getting off a car and then suddenly getting back on is an anti-tracking tactic commonly used by the international intelligence community. The General Staff Headquarters has made several response plans to prevent Ozaki from escaping.

The train stopped suddenly and the carriage shook. The passengers grabbed the handrails one after another. The spy who was following Ozaki was blocked by the arm of the passenger in front of him and he stood on tiptoe to look forward anxiously.

Taking advantage of a gap in surveillance, the young man quickly approached Ozaki. Ozaki only felt his shirt pocket move, and when he reacted, there was no trace of the young man around him.

Faced with this sudden situation, Ozaki neither checked his pockets nor looked around for suspicious persons. He calmly got off the tram and gave up the meeting with Sorge.

What happened just now, whether it was the enemy's temptation or the reminder from my companions, all showed one thing: today is not a good time to make contact.

After thinking this through, Ozaki decided to return to the Prime Minister's residence first. As for what was in his pocket, that was not something he should consider now.

Always prepare for the worst. If this is a trap, as long as he does not leave fingerprints on the items in his pocket, the enemy will not be able to publicly arrest a prime minister's secretary, even if the prime minister the secretary serves is about to step down.

On the way, Ozaki, who was in a highly alert state, noticed that someone was following him. He walked to the official residence calmly and greeted the guard at the door with a smile.

The guard's attitude was as respectful as usual, which was a good sign. Ozaki went upstairs to the office, put on gloves, and gently took out a small ball of paper from his pocket.

Looking in the direction of the corridor, he mustered up the courage to open the paper ball and took a look. He was stunned at first, and then shock and anger flashed in his eyes.
-
Outside a cafe on the street in Tokyo.

Sorge sat at a table on the sidewalk, with a faint smile on his face, coffee in his hand, leisurely enjoying the autumn sunshine.

As time passed, Sorge's smile gradually faded, and Ozaki was about to miss the meeting time, which had never happened before.

As a senior member of the Ramza team, there are only two possibilities for Ozaki's failure to show up at the appointed time. One is that he found out he was being followed, and the other is that he encountered other troubles on the way. Sorge suddenly became uneasy. Sorge was not the only one who was anxious. In a car in the distance, Kiyohuke Okamoto asked his men next to him, "Where is Ozaki now?"

"After getting off the car, Ozaki went to the Prime Minister's residence. It seems that he is not the subordinate of suspect No. 1." The subordinate reported in a low voice.

However, Kiyohsu Okamoto did not believe it and asked Ozaki whether he had any contact with any suspicious persons. The spy again gave a negative answer.

As if to prove the spy's statement, the next second Sorge threw down a few banknotes and walked away. Except for the waiter, he had no verbal communication or physical contact with anyone.

Okamoto Kiyohsu had no choice but to lead his men to follow Sorge back to his residence in Imai-cho, Azabu District, but still found nothing along the way.

However, the spy at the surveillance point did report a small matter. While Sorge was away from home, a postman stuffed several letters through the crack of the door.

Okamoto Kiyohuke was startled and asked hurriedly, "Have you verified the identity of the mail and the postman?"

"The post office confirmed that there was indeed a delivery mission to Sorge's residence today, and we have also tracked the postman." The spy at the surveillance point paused and looked at the clock on the wall: "But the tracking personnel have not returned yet."

"How long has the postman been gone?"

"fifteen minutes."

"idiot!"

Kiyohuke Okamoto raised his hand and slapped the spy, then loudly ordered the postman to be taken to the surveillance point for interrogation.

The reason why he was angry was simple. Intelligence operations were time-sensitive, and a lot could be done in fifteen minutes. What if the postman was a Red Russian spy? Such a long time would be enough for him to escape surveillance and evacuate from Tokyo.

But Okamoto's worries did not come true. Ten minutes later, the frightened postman stood in front of him.

Kiyohsu Okamoto asked the postman several questions, including the types and quantities of letters delivered to Sorge's residence.

The postman did not dare to neglect it and immediately bowed and reported: "Mr. Sorge has two letters and three postcards in total."

He hesitated again, as if he had thought of something but was not sure, and his eyes seemed a little vague.

Okamoto Kiyohuke got anxious and grabbed the postman by the collar and asked him sternly, "Tell me! What did you think of?"

"Hai." The postman trembled and stammered, "I looked at the records before leaving the post office. Mr. Sorge should have only one letter, but there were two when he delivered it. Maybe I remembered it wrong."

Okamoto Kiyohuke pushed the other man away and shouted to everyone, "Immediately arrest suspect number one and notify other teams to control their respective targets."

Although he didn't know what went wrong, Okamoto knew that their actions had been exposed. Someone was sending letters to warn Sorge that if they didn't catch the person, the mission would be a complete failure.

Ten minutes ago.

Sorge returned home, closed the door, bent down and picked up the letters and postcards on the ground.

As a well-known journalist, Sorge received mail from friends and readers every day. He flipped through the letters casually and prepared to put them in the drawer.

But when he saw the second letter, Sorge stood there in a daze, with cold sweat instantly breaking out on his forehead.

After being stunned for a few seconds, he quickly took out the letter paper. There were only a few short lines of words on the letter paper. After reading it, Sorge was full of confusion and disbelief.

"Why is this happening..."

Muttering to himself, Sorge read the letter again, then lit it together with the envelope, threw it into the ashtray and burned it to ashes, then flushed the ashes down the toilet.

After doing all this, he sat calmly on the sofa and began to recall his life.

In 1914, he enlisted in the German Army to fight in the European war. In 1919, he joined the German underground party. In 1924, he secretly went to Red Russia for training. In 1925, he became a member of the Red Russian intelligence agency.

Countless images flashed through Sorge's mind. He thought of the excitement when he first arrived in Shanghai in January 1930 to engage in intelligence work, and the excitement when he used German engineers to master the Kuomintang's radio communication codes.

Time flies so fast. More than ten years have passed in the blink of an eye. Sorge can't help but sigh. He is already a middle-aged man and his life is about to end.

He knew that his fate was sealed from the moment the letter was delivered, and the Japanese intelligence officer must be outside the door.

Recalling the past, he smiled and lit a cigarette and put it in his mouth. Just after taking two puffs, the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside and a group of Japanese spies rushed in.

"Not allowed to move!"

Chaotic shouting rang in his ears. Sorge slowly stood up, raised his hands, and lay on the ground with his back to the Japanese spy without offering any resistance.