Chapter 1302 Arrested
Saturday morning.
Ozaki straightened his coat in front of the mirror and walked out of the house with his briefcase. The Yokomachi outside the door was extremely lively, with pedestrians passing by and hawkers filling the not-so-wide road. A new day in Tokyo began.
After walking a few steps, Ozaki used his peripheral vision to look at one of the vegetable vendors to make sure there was nothing unusual about him, and then walked towards the street.
This vendor is both his security post and his bodyguard. The two are old partners of the underground party Shanghai Teco. They have fought side by side in Shanghai under the white terror for many years, and are more trustworthy than the Red Russians.
It’s not surprising that Ozaki has this idea. The Underground Party International is an independent organization in name, but in fact it accepts Mosk’s guidance.
Therefore, sometimes their actions are beneficial to Red Russia, but not necessarily beneficial to underground party organizations in various countries.
Some comrades privately discussed that the Underground Party International has changed from a living political body to a dead institution. On the one hand, it only obeys instructions from Red Russia, and on the other hand, it regurgitates these instructions in various languages.
Thinking again about Sorge's colorful spare time, Ozaki frowned slightly and decided that this time the meeting must persuade Sorge to stop contact with the Japanese woman. After all, the situation had changed.
If Fumiya Konoe's position as prime minister was secure, Japan's intelligence agencies would not immediately investigate them even if they were suspicious of them, but now that Konoe's resignation is a foregone conclusion, they are about to lose their protection.
Shelikov's defection is even more of a danger signal. If the other party knows about the existence of Sorge's group, Japanese spies will appear at any time. The more Ozaki thinks about it, the more worried he becomes, and his pace slowly speeds up.
On the second floor of a private house, Kiyofuku Okamoto stood in front of the window and watched Ozaki go away, his face uncertain and his heart very tangled.
He wanted Ozaki to be a spy, but he also didn't want Ozaki to be a spy. Although the former could make great contributions to the intelligence department, the latter meant that the Red Russians had fully mastered Japan's strategic intelligence.
No matter what you are afraid of, just when Okamoto Kiyofuku was fighting, a special agent from the General Staff Headquarters walked into the house and reported a piece of bad news to him.
"Your Excellency, the No. 1 suspect, Sorge, left the residence two minutes ago. This is inconsistent with the other party's daily movement trajectory. It is likely that he wanted to contact the offline. Our people are monitoring it."
Okamoto Kiyofuku paused, and after a long time he turned his head and said, "Continue to monitor." His face turned very ugly. Was the thing he was most worried about finally happening?
Ozaki was Konoe Fumiya's secretary and entrusted him. 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 information he came into contact with was astronomical.
The military's combat plans, the cabinet's financial policies, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' diplomatic countermeasures are all top-secret information that is at risk of being leaked.
"Immediately install monitoring equipment in Ozaki's office and residence to conduct comprehensive monitoring of the target." Okamoto Kiyofuku urgently issued the order.
Implementing technical means against the Prime Minister's secretary is a very risky behavior. This can be regarded as a provocation to Konoe and his entire faction, but Okamoto has nothing to do with this.
On the other side, Ozaki boarded the tram and headed to the meeting point with Sorge. He sat on his seat and opened a newspaper, reading the newspaper while observing the passengers in the car.
The morning light shines into the car through the window, illuminating the students playing around, the drowsy office workers, and the well-dressed small businessmen. Everything looks normal.
Ozaki looked around and lowered his head, but his attention was always on the passengers. Each passenger's stay time, clothing, expressions, and other details were all imprinted in his mind.
After a few minutes of driving, the tram slowly came to a stop. A group of passengers got off the back of the car, and a few people came up from the front. A young man with his head lowered walked to the corner and sat down.
Then the tram stopped for a few more stops, and more and more passengers were on board. Just before the tram arrived at the next stop, Ozaki stood up, grabbed the roof handrail, and walked through the crowd towards the back of the car.
Seeing this, the young man stood up and followed Ozaki to the rear of the car. The two of them walked toward the car door one after the other, and the distance gradually became closer.
The moment Ozaki made the move, the two passengers winked at each other. One remained in his seat and the other prepared to follow Ozaki out of the car.
Getting out of the car and then suddenly getting in the car is a common anti-tracking method used by the international intelligence community. The General Staff Headquarters has made multiple response plans to prevent Ozaki from escaping.
The tram came to a sudden stop, and the carriage shook. Passengers clutched the handrails. The agent following Ozaki was blocked from sight by the arms of the passengers in front, and he tiptoed forward anxiously.
Taking advantage of the gap in surveillance, the young man quickly approached Ozaki. Ozaki only felt his coat pocket move. When he reacted, there was no sign of the young man around.
Faced with this unexpected situation, Ozaki neither checked his pockets nor looked around for suspicious persons. He calmly walked off the tram and gave up the meeting with Sorge.
The encounter just now, whether it was the enemy's temptation or the companion's reminder, all showed one thing, today was not a good time for a meeting.
After thinking about this clearly, Ozaki decided to go back to the Prime Minister's residence first. As for what was in his pocket, this was not a question that should be considered 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 cannot publicly arrest a prime minister's secretary, even if the prime minister served by this secretary is about to step down.
On the way, Ozaki, who was on high alert, noticed someone was following him. He walked calmly to the mansion 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 and walked into the office, put on gloves and gently took out a small paper ball from his pocket.
Looking in the direction of the corridor, he mustered up the courage to open the paper ball and take a look. He was stunned at first, and then a look of shock and anger flashed in his eyes.
—
Outside a cafe on the streets of Tokyo.
Sorge was sitting at a table on the sidewalk, with a faint smile on his face and a cup of coffee in his hand, enjoying the autumn sunshine leisurely.
As time passed, Sorge's smile gradually faded, and Ozaki was about to miss the meeting time. This has never happened before.
As a senior member of the "Ramza" team, there are only two possibilities for Ozaki not showing up at the stipulated time. One is that the other party discovered that he was being followed, and the other is that the other party encountered other troubles on the road. Sorge suddenly became uneasy. Sorge was not the only one who was anxious. In a car in the distance, Kiyofuku Okamoto asked the subordinate next to him: "Where is Ozaki now?"
"Ozaki got off the car and went to the Prime Minister's residence. It seems that he is not the suspect No. 1." His subordinate reported in a low voice.
Okamoto Kiyofuku didn't believe it, and asked Ozaki if he had any contact with suspicious persons. The agent once again gave a negative answer.
As if to prove the spy's statement, Sorge dropped a few bills the next second and stood up and walked away. Except for the waiter, he had no verbal communication or physical contact with anyone.
Kiyofuku Okamoto had no choice but to follow Sorge back to his residence in Imai Town, Azabu District, but still gained nothing along the way.
However, the special agent at the surveillance point reported a small incident. While Sorge was away from home, a postman stuffed a few letters into the crack of the door.
Okamoto Kiyofuku was shocked and asked hurriedly: "Have the identities of the mail and the postman been verified?"
"The post office confirmed that there was indeed a delivery mission to Sorge's residence today, and we also tracked the postman." The agent at the surveillance point paused and looked at the clock on the wall: "But the tracking officer has not returned yet."
"How long has the postman been gone?"
"Fifteen minutes."
"Baga!"
Kiyofuku Okamoto raised his hand and gave the agent a slap in the face, and loudly ordered the postman to be taken to the surveillance point for interrogation.
The reason why he was angry was simple. Intelligence operations counted against the clock. A lot could be done in fifteen minutes. If the postman was a Red Russian spy, that would be enough time for the other party 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.
Kiyofuku Okamoto asked the postman several questions about the type and quantity of letters delivered to Sorge's residence.
The postman did not dare to neglect, and immediately bowed and replied: "Mr. Sorge has a total of two letters and three postcards."
As he spoke, he hesitated again, as if he thought of something but wasn't sure, and his eyes were a little wandering.
Okamoto Kiyofuku became anxious, grabbed the postman's collar and asked sternly: "Say quickly! What did you think of?"
"Hai." The postman trembled and stammered: "I read 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."
Kiyofuku Okamoto pushed the other person away and shouted to everyone: "Arrest suspect No. 1 immediately and notify other groups 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 arrest people, the mission would be a complete failure.
Ten minutes ago.
Sorge returned home and closed the door behind his back, bent down and picked up the letters and postcards on the floor.
As a well-known journalist, Sorge receives mail from friends and readers every day. He flips through these letters at will and prepares to put them in the drawer.
But when he saw the second letter, Sorge froze on the spot, with cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
After being stunned for a few seconds, he quickly took out the letter paper. There were only a few lines on the letter paper. Sorge was filled with doubts and disbelief after reading it.
"Why is this happening..."
After muttering a few words to himself, Sorge read the letter again, then lit it and threw the envelope into an ashtray, burned it to ashes, and then poured the ashes into the toilet and flushed it away.
After doing this, he sat calmly on the sofa and began to recall his life.
In 1914, he was drafted into the German army and participated 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 of using German engineers to master the government's radio communication code.
Time flies so fast. More than ten years have passed by in a blink of an eye. He is already a middle-aged man and his life is about to end. Sorge can't help but sigh.
He knew that from the moment the letter was delivered, his fate was decided. The Japanese intelligence officers should be right 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 knocked open from the outside, and a group of Japanese spies rushed in.
"Don't move!"
Chaotic shouts rang in his ears. Sorge slowly stood up, raised his hands, and lay on the ground with his back to the Japanese agents without any resistance.
