Dangerous Fellow Traveler

On a cold November night in 1933, Alexander Bolshakov, an operative department employee of the OGPU, was called to the crime scene. In his own home, the target of an informant operation—nicknamed “Mehovshchik”—was killed with a professional blow of a stiletto. The operatives found out that Mehovshchik was waiting for the arrival of an important person: a representative of the White emigration, an emissary from Paris. Most likely, the emissary was the killer: at the crime scene, he carelessly stepped into a puddle of blood and left a trace. The OGPU group managed to track down the suspect at the station. “The Frenchman” bought a ticket for a soft compartment on the express train to Moscow. And then an urgent decision was made: to place an operative in the same compartment, bring the spy to Moscow, and there hand him over under the control of local colleagues. But the bold plan suddenly failed… Based on real events. Archived OGPU documents were used.