War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 675 The Second Gunshot

On December 1991, 12, Wei Ran, who had waited patiently for a whole day in the cab that was shaking gently like a crib in a violent snowstorm, waited until the clear snoring sound came from the small speaker above his head again. A rope was loosely tied between the door handle and the seat support frame.

An extra rope was tied to the belt, and the other end was looped twice around the steering wheel. Wei Ran carefully put on a full set of cold-proof clothing, and used the fire cover to suppress the flames in the hearth. Finally, Only then did he put on his gloves and goggles, and carefully pushed open the door of the cab.

Almost at the moment when the car door was pushed open a gap, a gust of wind mixed with a lot of snowflakes rushed in. Thanks to the rope tied to the door handle in advance, otherwise, even if the car door was blown away, he would not be able to Accident.

The cat jumped out of the cab with its waist down. Wei Ran first filled the water bottle with snow and sent it back to the cab, then loosened the end of the rope that was looped around the steering wheel little by little, and at the same time grasped the handrail on the outside of the car body, Little by little, it moved to the side of the tool compartment.

Thanks to the frightening blizzard, even though the searchlights around the transport vehicle had not been extinguished, the visibility was still less than five meters.It is precisely because of this that he doesn't have to worry about his petty theft being discovered by Apolly in the living cabin.

Pulling out the two wires prepared in advance from the cuff, Wei Ran easily pried open the tool compartment, and at a glance saw the extra wooden box inside.

He didn't take it out at all, Wei Ran just opened the lid of the box and took a quick glance, then immediately locked the tool compartment, and quickly returned to the cab by pulling the rope.

Closing the car door with great effort, Wei Ran patted the snow off his body, and carefully cleaned up the snowflakes that had just blown in with a rag, then took off the thick winter clothes and hung them on the back of the seat, and opened the fire seal again cover.

With a quick glance just now, he has already recognized that the box is definitely a spy radio with a communication distance of more than a thousand kilometers.

Although it is rare for this kind of equipment to appear here, it just proves from the side the importance of this mission in Apoli's mind.

In addition, he obviously has high-tech communication tools in this era, but he still spends his time repairing the radio system of the radio station. The only explanation is that he has lost contact with his contact person .

Thinking about this, Wei Ran put the enamel kettle filled with snow on the stove.Continue to kill the slightly boring time patiently.

Fortunately, this cab is much more spacious than ordinary cars or even trucks, so although it can't go anywhere, it is still much more comfortable than living in the living cabin full of smelly feet.

However, this blizzard seemed to be getting worse all the time. By the early morning of the 24th, no matter whether it was Wei Ran, who was sleeping soundly in the cab, or everyone in the living cabin, they all heard a loud sound of heavy objects collapsing. Then I felt the obvious vibration of the ground.

Although the visibility outside the car window is no longer even two meters, everyone is very sure that a certain building must have collapsed just now.

And what verified their guess was the smashed car body clanging, crushed stones and bricks as the gust of wind flew over.

Without commanding at all, Wei Ran immediately started the transport vehicle, and almost completely relying on the terrain in his memory, he slowly left the abandoned mine and drove to the tundra on the edge of the mine with difficulty against the strong wind.

When he adjusted the parking position in response to the blizzard, the transport vehicles from the base camp who came out to look for them also stopped the search work for various reasons. Even on the 24th, even the camp was completely evacuated and returned directly. their original residence.

And in the living cabin filled with the smell of body odor, stinky feet, alcohol, and some excrement, Dr. Murat also finished discussing the latest "Alma-Ata Declaration" and " After the Agreement Protocol of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the issue of whether to return after the blizzard was over was mentioned again-even if everyone in this transport vehicle did not know, they had already been abandoned by the people in the base camp.

"Tomorrow will be the 25th, and the day after tomorrow will be the 26th." Wei Ran could not help but feel inexplicable uneasiness in his heart as he listened to the increasingly intense discussions on the speakers above his head.

But in any case, what should come still has to come.It's just that he really didn't expect that when Gorbachev announced his resignation from the post of Soviet President who only had a title on the intermittent broadcast at 12:25 on December 19, the small speaker connected to the living cabin Murat's cheers came out.

"This bad bastard who is full of lies has finally resigned!"

In the warm living cabin, Dr. Murat, reeking of alcohol, patted the table vigorously like crazy, and said loudly, "I don't know who will take over the post of president next, but it's a pity that Andropov Comrade died too early, otherwise I believe he will definitely lead the Soviet Union to regain its strength! Those who split the Soviet Union will definitely be sent to Siberia by him and his KGB to dig coal!"

"Teacher, the Soviet Union has already."

Taras looked at the teacher whose face was flushed because of excitement, and finally changed his tone, hiding the pity in his eyes, and echoed loudly, "Indeed, Andropov will definitely make the Soviet Union reappear. Brilliant! Those bastards are sure to be sent to the coal mines."

"And Marshal Akhromeyev, who committed suicide a few months ago!"

Dr. Murat said loudly in the increasingly quiet living cabin with burning eyes, "If he is there, the Soviet Union will definitely be revived. Even if Khrushchev is still there, the situation will not be so bad!"

It seems that until this time, Dr. Murat regained a trace of sobriety in the drunkenness, but then, he slumped on the chair again, and muttered bitterly, "Why, why can the Soviet Union be saved? People are gone, did they abandon the Soviet Union too?"

The warm and even hot living cabin is extremely quiet except for the noisy radio. No matter Dr. Murat’s favorite student, Latas, or Apoli, who has a special background, there is no way to discuss Dr. Murat’s question. , giving a valid answer.

But obviously, including Dr. Murat, everyone already has the answer in their hearts.

"Teacher, you drank too much."

Murat gently took the wine bottle from Dr. Murat's hand, helped him lie on the bed, and comforted him as if coaxing a child, "Go to sleep, after you wake up, maybe it won't be so bad .”

"Victor, I'll find you a drink in the cab." Apoli yelled into the communicator on the table, not only informing Wei Ran, but also informing the rest of the people in the living cabin.

Without giving the rest of the team any time to react, Apoli put on cold-proof clothes and left the living cabin. Holding the snow-covered tracks in the strong wind, he moved to the co-pilot position with difficulty.

When he opened the car door and got in, Wei Ran had already taken out a bottle of vodka and two crystal cups from the wooden box behind the seat and was waiting.

"Thank you"

Apoli stepped over the hot stove and sat down on a seat separated from Wei Ran. He took off his winter clothes and threw them into the box behind the seat a little annoyed. He then took a glass of vodka from the former and looked up. Poured into mouth.

"Do you have an answer?" Apoli lowered his head and sniffed his cuffs vigorously, trying to find an answer from Wei Ran's mouth.

"It wasn't the Soviet heroes who gave up the Soviet Union, it was the Soviets who gave up the Soviet Union." Wei Ran gave his answer in a flat tone, and then picked up his cup and took a sip.

"I don't understand," Apolly said palely.

"Just don't want to understand?"

Wei Ran smiled, and simply put down his glass. At this time, the tricolor flag was raised on the top of the Kremlin thousands of kilometers away. He didn't want to get drunk and miss something.

"maybe"

Apoli simply reached out and took away the wine bottle placed on the seat between the two of them, and took a big gulp directly to his mouth, followed by a second and a third gulp until he was choked and coughed continuously Even shed tears.

"Need to stay by yourself for a while?"

Wei Ran, who was sitting in the driver's seat, asked softly, but Apoli just waved his hands, put his head on the lid of the glove box in front of him, and continued to cough one after another.

After a long time, he took a deep breath and said, "It can be seen that you don't like the atmosphere in the living cabin, so just stay here."

Hearing this, Wei Ran nodded unobtrusively, lowered the seat again, and quietly listened to the random chatter in the living cabin. Apoli, who was a seat away from him, seemed to have disappeared. The idea of ​​chatting is just to raise the wine bottle frequently, trying to numb my thinking.

When he poured a full bottle of vodka into his stomach, the only sound from the small speaker above his head was the buzzing of the radio and the sound of snoring one after another.

Even Wei Ran, who put his feet on the steering wheel, pretended to be asleep.However, Apolly just got up and added half a barrel of coke to the small stove beside him, and then took out a second bottle of vodka and unscrewed it.

Seeing this, Wei Ran stopped probing, relaxed his nerves and fell asleep steadily.

However, he felt that he had not long fallen asleep when the sound of wind and snow almost blasting wheat came from the speaker above his head.When he was awakened by the movement, the voice disappeared again.

Someone left the living cabin again?

Wei Ran and the drunken Apoli looked at each other, and then heard a clear gunshot that could not be ignored!

not good!

Wei Ran secretly thought something was wrong, sat up immediately, and began to put clothes on his body.

Immediately afterwards, Sharip's panicked cry came from the loudspeaker above his head, "Wake up! Dr. Murat is gone, I seem to have heard a gunshot just now!"

Before there was any other movement from the horn, Wei Ran and Apoli had already pushed open the car door in no particular order, and ran towards the back while holding on to the tracks that were almost buried in ice and snow.

When Wei Ran came to the connection point between the two carriages, Apoli on the opposite side immediately shook him with a flashlight, and then rapped on the carriage to signal him to hurry over.

After strenuously stepping on the connecting rod between the two carriages to the opposite side, before Wei Ran had time to stand still, he saw Dr. Murat, who was wearing a suit and leather shoes, leaning on the track at the door of the cargo compartment.It's just that, at this moment, the muzzle of the revolver in his hand was in his mouth, and it was frozen together with his lips, and blood was still dripping from the corner of his mouth.

Apolly slapped hard on the Soviet national emblem painted on the side of the cargo hatch door.He bent down and picked up Dr. Murat, who had lost his life, and stumbled towards the direction of the living cabin.

(End of this chapter)