From the first appearance the stranger was a very uncontrollable person and unaware of his own desires. But after the second phrase I could feel his trained ability to exert pressure by putting the interlocutor in front of an immediate choice.
The only thing that Tikhomirov could unmistakably do now was to evade answering by understating his own importance: "I told you. I can't do anything. I don't know anyone at the mine… I know the chums and I certainly don't want to bother them. Ask someone else.
"Who else? I have an urgent matter."
"Well, you've got an emergency, and I've got a floor to mop. There's a lot of work to do. God willing." "In short, yes or no?"
BCC. He's from there and that's for sure. For one thing, he's completely unconcerned at this moment in time, as if it's a game and not a matter of life and death. He's under the nose of the plagues, who will tear him apart if anything happens, and he feels relaxed and at ease. The main thing is relaxed, as if he knows that no one will come out of the corner now, he will not be killed or something worse, as if he is doing what he is officially authorized to do. Ivan should be mopping the floor at his job, and he should be talking about rebellion.
Tikhomirov now even sensed the pallid dim odor that emanated from him, and decided at last to completely rid his enemy of suspicion: "No, I have already said. You want to be shot, you can be, but without me."
The stranger grinned and, spitting to the side, strode away.
In the middle of the day Gavriil Zheleznov received a letter from Khmelnitsky through the outside channel, namely through Bolshakov. He was not asked leading questions, as Tikhomirov had been, but the parcel was slipped to him at once. The Maquis had their own well-informed people in the mine itself, and who could be trusted was known to them in advance.
Gora printed the envelope without notes on the front side and saw the document, which was not clean (the Maquis used to dirty such things on purpose to confuse the chums; this time it was covered with brown earth and a little sawdust, just a little, and an expert examination would show that the document was written in the area of the town of Krasny Luch, in fact they carried earth from different places with them, it was just a little bit – even if it was small, but still a deception of the enemy).
"Secret. From the Maquis.
Your letter has reached me. I will not hide, its content interested me very much and even excited me. Therefore, I think you will understand my request to you to provide concrete evidence.
I hope to have your support."
Mountain's combination and was to provide no evidence for his version. "Let them be scared to death out there. – he thought. – Usually in such situations facts come to light that in their own right mean nothing, but in the aggregate take on a clear and tangible form."
In his reply Gabriel referred to the difficulty of obtaining "additional" confirmations, and his refusal to provide the ones he already had was motivated by the possibility of exposing his own people. Of course, all this is nonsense: there are no facts, and there are only three "his people", and they are not deep in the system at all.
At 16:48 Tikhomirov, while continuing to scrub the floor, again noticed a stranger approaching him. This time he couldn't help but look him in the eyes.
