War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 59 Murder under the Iron Curtain
On the train to Kazan, Wei Ran and Nicholas sat opposite each other, listening carefully to each other's recollection of the whole process.

In the other party's description, since he knew the truth of the matter, he has been tracking down the intelligence officer code-named "Ampule".But unfortunately, the other party seemed to have disappeared from the world, and no clues related to him were found at all.

How can I check this?Wei Ran tentatively asked, "Mr. Nicholas, can you tell me why he killed your family?"

Nicholas was silent for a long time, and finally shook his head, "He first worked in West Berlin Hospital, and he usually communicates with me by radio single-line, and I haven't even met him a few times. He has no reason to kill my wife and children. .”

"Then how did you know he was the murderer?"

Facing Wei Ran’s questioning, Nicholas explained, “It was after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and I accidentally met an old friend who had worked for the Stasi in Berlin.

I learned from him that the person who killed my family was probably my colleague code-named "Ampule", and not only my family was killed, but also the intelligence personnel arranged by the Stasi in West Germany. People die in pretty much the same way as my family. "

"Could this person be lying to you?" Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he saw the mocking expression on the other party's face.

"Okay, let's change the question." Wei Ran ignored the other person's expression, "When was your family member killed?"

"October 1979, 10," Nikolai replied without hesitation.

"Year 1979?"

Wei Ran repeated a sentence to himself, and then asked, "From 1979 until the disintegration of the Soviet Union, was that person still working for the Soviet Union?"

Nicholas shook his head, "In early 82, I was transferred to Minsk to take charge of teaching work. Shortly after I left East Berlin, Ampoule also went to Bonn, the political center of West Germany, to collect intelligence according to the order. It was not until 85 that he Lost all contact without warning.

For this reason, even the KGB approached me to ask about his situation. At that time, we all thought that he had been captured by the Americans.The Lenin Medal you saw earlier was originally intended to be awarded to him posthumously because of his disappearance, but the KGB did not find any clues about him until the Soviet Union collapsed. "

Wei Ran closed his eyes, building up the timeline of the whole incident bit by bit.According to Nikolai's description, the intelligence officer code-named Ampoule broke into West Berlin under the control of several countries headed by the United States in the early 70s, and found a job in a West Berlin hospital.

In 1979, Ampoule, who had been working in West Berlin, crossed the Berlin Wall and killed Nikolai's family.From this, the first doubt arises, that ampoule has never met Nicholas a few times, how did he find Nicholas' home?

After 1982, Nikolai was transferred back to the Soviet Union, and Ampoule was transferred to Bonn, but he disappeared three years later.Then the second question, did he disappear "actively" or "passively"?

If he disappeared voluntarily, why did he choose this point in time?If it is passive, who is "helping" him disappear?

The more important question is, if who must be killed, the value of killing Nicholas as an intelligence officer is definitely far more than his wife and children.That being the case, why did that Ampoule take the same risk, but only killed Nikolai's family?

Wei Ran couldn't figure out these messy questions until the train arrived in Kazan in the evening.

Accompanying Nikolai to leave the train station, the gangster with the mohawk haircut was already waiting for them by the side of the road in a car. As for Jima, he stayed in his studio in Volgograd to catch up on sleep. , and did not follow back this time.

Returning to the abandoned school by car, Nicholas directly led Wei Ran to the iron gate on the other side of the stairs on the second floor, and put a key in his hand, "Victor, go in Take a look. Ampoule’s residence in Bonn and his home in Ryazan, his hometown, were all moved by me, even the structure of the house is the same.

In addition, behind this door is my apartment in East Berlin at that time, and the things in it were also moved back at that time. "

He looked in surprise at the dusty corridor behind the iron fence, and then looked pitifully at Nicholas who took a big step back. Wei Ran sighed, picked up the key and opened the slightly rusty door. security door.

There was a soft "click", and as the switch was flipped, the dark corridor was illuminated by fluorescent tubes, and the wooden signs hanging on the doors on both sides were also seen more clearly.

The paint on these signs has peeled off a little, and their origins are marked in neat Russian in the middle.

Gently push open the wooden door marked "Ampoule-Ryazan-Home". The not-so-large room has a strong style of a tube building. Apart from simple furniture, the only thing that can be regarded as an entertainment item is a Apart from the old-fashioned radio, there is only an accordion, which is also dusty.

After simply turning around and returning to the corridor, Wei Ran took the door behind him, then turned around and pushed open the wooden door marked "Dong Berlin - Home".

Compared with the simple room I saw just now, this three-bedroom and two-living room is definitely considered warm, whether it is the ornaments and sticky notes on the old refrigerator that are attracted by magnets, or the various patterns drawn by children on the wallpaper, It makes this place full of life.

Gently push open the door of a bedroom, on the dusty table, in the dusty photo frame, is a young girl who looks about 20 years old, playing the violin, around the photo frame are some German textbooks and Russian classics such as "How the Steel Was Tempered".

Taking a step back and pushing open the door of the other bedroom, the room here is much messier than the room just now. All kinds of toys are scattered all over the floor, and the surrounding walls are even covered with all kinds of weird graffiti.

In addition to a solid wood bunk bed, there is also a photo on the not-so-big table against the wall. In the photo, the two little boys whose age is at most less than ten years old are full of happy smiles, even Between the two brothers, there is a German Shepherd sticking out its bright red tongue.

Without touching anything, Wei Ran stepped into the third room, and then frowned. On the floor of this room, you can still see the outline of the corpse drawn with white chalk, and on the table by the window , and there is a small brown glass bottle also circled with chalk. On the dusty desktop, the word "cyanide" written in chalk can still be seen clearly.

Sighing secretly, Wei Ran exited the room, walked a few steps towards the end of the corridor, and then pushed open a door marked with the words "Ampule-Bonn-Home".

Compared with the previous two rooms, this small room with one bedroom and one living room is like a warehouse full of large and small boxes.

Most of these boxes contained unintelligible German books and piles of medical records.The rest of the boxes contained a variety of outdoor clothing and some outdated camping and diving gear.

The notebook should not draw these things down, right?Wei Ran muttered to himself, and then pushed open the only bedroom door.

Compared with the living room full of clutter, this not-so-big bedroom is extraordinarily simple. There is only a dusty old-fashioned suitcase under the bed.Pulling the box out and opening it, what was inside was a radio station with bullet holes and what seemed to be a driver's license.

This thing might work.
Wei Ran stretched out his fingers to pick out the remaining bullet holes on the transmitter, and then moved his gaze to the tattoo on the tiger's mouth on his left hand.

　Thanks to Hanhai Xinchao people for rewarding 1500 points

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(End of this chapter)