Chapter 85

Since Roman entered the Red Army Intelligence Bureau, Shelepov had not seen him, and it had already been two years! Unlike Director Panyushkin, who looked like a construction worker, Roman, as the First Deputy Director, was the specific person in charge of the First Main Directorate.

At fifty-five, Roman still retained the rank of major general. Although he had not worked in the KGB for a long time, he did not feel any sense of unfamiliarity and still carried the familiar kindness that Shelepov knew. Beside Shelepov, he seemed more like an elder, nodding from time to time and offering his suggestions, "This new Main Directorate seems to lack a clear division of responsibilities. It is not as good as the old Main Directorates in helping you share the workload. Everything ultimately ends up on your desk! If it were me and Panyushkin, we would have given up long ago!"

"How is Director Panyushkin doing now?" Before Shelepov took over the KGB, a batch of senior KGB officials were assigned to the Red Army Intelligence Bureau, including the former KGB chairman.

"What can he do? He's just waiting to retire!" Roman hesitated, then said as if to remind and comfort, "The chairman is waiting to retire, and Panyushkin is waiting to retire! I'm not old enough yet, but I don't handle things anymore! Yuri, you must remember, the KGB is a completely different place when you're in it and when you're out of it!"

These words fully revealed the sad fate of a group of people. Perhaps Roman was happy to return to work, and seeing the former head of the Foreign Intelligence Directorate grow into the head of the Main Directorate, he felt nostalgic and said a few more words! These few words deeply touched Shelepov. A group of former superiors were stuck in the Red Army Intelligence Bureau under KGB leadership, and Shelepov could empathize with their sense of loss.

Today, the Military Administration Main Directorate had one more chair. One of the two vacant positions of First Deputy Director was now filled. Shelepov read the transfer order signed by Shelepov himself and then said to his department heads, "Comrade Roman Romanov is a comrade with rich experience and was my former superior! I hope the comrades will show respect to the new First Deputy Director and welcome him with applause..."

"Comrades, don't be too formal. I'm just here to contribute my remaining energy. The Military Administration Main Directorate will still need you to handle the specific tasks!" Roman completed his inauguration very humbly, as he had done in the First Main Directorate, handling things with ease.

"Director Roman, I will be going abroad in September! The work of the Third Main Directorate will be handed over to you!" Shelepov led Roman to the new deputy director's office, which was rather quiet. The adjacent room was being cleaned, and there were a few empty rooms. Those rooms were theoretically for other deputy directors, but they were not actually used.

"Going abroad again? You haven't changed a bit from before!" Roman was indifferent to the environment here and to the news of Shelepov's trip abroad. Shelepov had always been active abroad for a long time.

With the former First Deputy Director of the First Main Directorate, Shelepov could now be completely at ease. Having an experienced elder was like having a treasure, allowing him to travel without worry, without fear of being buried under a pile of reports upon his return. He did not want to relive the experience of returning from Berlin. He did not know that Shelepov's evaluation of the transfer order signed the night before was, "Finding an old comrade to come back, I can now openly slack off everywhere. The Military Administration Main Directorate can't hold this guy down..."

No wonder Shelepov considered Shelepov his superior. In the following days, Shelepov did not enter the Military Administration Main Directorate at all, like a bird out of its cage, boasting everywhere. He would go to the Technical Administration Main Directorate and the Seventh Main Directorate to see how the other departments he still supervised were doing, but he never returned to the department he was concurrently in charge of.

Actually, such a small matter in the KGB was nothing. Shelepov had more important things to do, taking a week off to prepare for his trip to the United States. "Be more restrained, don't be too relaxed! Where are you going on leave?" Shelepov asked over the phone.

"Going on a trip to the outskirts, Valya has returned to give birth!" Shelepov played with the phone cord, lazily answering, showing complete honesty, "My daughter was already born when I returned from my last trip abroad. This time, if I calculate the days, it seems to be the same! What kind of era is this, the socialist period, not the time of the Great Patriotic War! I always seem to be in a movie, I want to be with my wife, so I need to take leave, that's it!"

"Alright, you can arrange your time as you see fit during this period!" Shelepov thought for a moment and realized it was indeed not good for a husband to be absent twice during his wife's childbirth, especially since the Shelepov family had a banner hanging that read "Model Couple," which would not sound good if it were known!

As soon as Shelepov hung up the phone, he said, "From today, the work of the Military Administration Main Directorate will be handled by the First Deputy Director Roman. Prepare the car, the train will arrive at two o'clock!"

Shelepov stood on the platform according to the numbers on the ground, directly at the nineteenth carriage. His military uniform made him stand out even more, drawing some curious glances from the people around him, who thought some important figure was coming. Indeed, an important figure was coming, at least in Shelepov's eyes. The only problem was that Shelepov in his military uniform was a bit hot outdoors...

A familiar golden figure appeared in his line of sight. Shelepov put on a genuine smile and gave Valya a hug, saying with some confusion, "Madam, wasn't your belly smaller last time?" This did not seem to match Shelepov's impression of a pregnant woman.

"Who told you that a pregnant belly must look like a ball? No wonder, you didn't see it last time!" Valya gently touched her belly, "Mainly because Valya's 'production line' is good, it doesn't need to be big to be nutritious..."

"Some women don't show much when they are pregnant, it depends on the position. Valya has a great figure!" Yelena said softly.

Outside the train station, Shelepov had prepared a GAZ-69 jeep. The GAZ-69 jeep looked similar to the Beijing 212 jeep, with many advantages. At least in the Soviet Union, the materials for this type of jeep were very carefully chosen, with many cars made from shell casings, making them more suitable for pregnant women than sedans.

"Are you saying you won't see your child being born again? This is the kind of thing that happens in this era. I had two children, and the Great Patriotic War was over by the time the second one was born!" Valya pouted, her joy largely extinguished.

"I'm not dead, am I? I'm just going abroad with the First Secretary. I don't want to go either. Next time, I promise I will definitely be in the country!" Shelepov lowered his head, understanding the woman's dissatisfaction and defended himself softly.

"Are you planning to do this again?" Valya grabbed Shelepov's ear and threatened him in a low voice, "I gave birth to two children for you, and you weren't even in the country!"

"Yuri, why is your ear so red?" General Sakhatovsky in the First Main Directorate looked at Shelepov suspiciously, his gaze always falling on one of Shelepov's ears. It was no wonder, as one ear was red and swollen, impossible not to draw attention.

"I was bitten by a mosquito last night, and it got like this after I scratched it!" Shelepov demonstrated the discipline of an excellent head of intelligence, not mentioning the domestic violence he had suffered from his wife the night before. If it weren't for the children, he would have shown that woman the strength of Soviet men.

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