"Yes."

Yevloyev didn't think about it, and readily agreed to Yanayevich's conditions, because he knew that the hostages who were too young were inconvenient to carry, so they were simply abandoned, "But we must see the armored vehicles before we can release the hostages, otherwise everything else will be avoided." When you drive the armored car to the door of the gymnasium, we will release the younger hostages. ”

Yanajevich said bluntly, "Give me a phone call and let me communicate with the outside government command staff and ask them to arrange the evacuation vehicles as quickly as possible." ”

Sure enough, the robbers brought in a phone as quickly as possible, and Yanayevich said to Putin on the other end of the phone, "Prepare an armored car for me, we have to ensure that these armed men go smoothly to the city of Beslan, and also, don't care about the gasoline, you know?" Children are the most important thing. ”

The last sentence is Yanayevich's hint to Putin, instructing him not to send a tanker full of gasoline to the militants, and then all the work will be in vain.

Putin, of course, understood Yanayevich's intentions very well, so he first pretended to delay with Yanayevich, and then ordered the soldiers to empty two-thirds of the fuel of an armored car, and the remaining third was not enough for them to rush out of the city of Beslan.

Then the armored car, on the orders of the extremists, drove to the entrance to the gymnasium, and it was just as the tail of the BMP armored personnel carrier blocked the entrance to the gymnasium, which was enough to provide sufficient shelter for the militants in the event of absconding.

When everything was ready, Yevloyev was satisfied with Yanayevich's efficiency. He used a knife to cut the rope that bound Yanajevich. The soldiers were ordered to take him to the second floor of the gymnasium. A more discreet and well-guarded living room in which at least ten innocent young men were knocked to the ground by the terrorists. Covered in sticky blood, he was in pain on the ground.

Even Yanayevich did not want to see the bloodshed, and Yevloyev was well aware of the importance of the extremist forces' penchant for violent means in exchange for political gain.

"Originally, I was going to kill all ten of these people, but since you keep your promise so much, I will also make a favor with you, these people will not die, but if the government wants to redeem these people, it must be prepared to pay the ransom. 500,000 dollars per person, isn't it? Having tasted the sweetness, Yevloyev continued to blackmail the Soviet government, and this time he offered a ransom of 500,000 yuan per person.

"The amount of 500,000 is too large, and it is difficult for the Soviet government to raise such a huge sum of money in one fell swoop." "Well, let's figure out a way to either reduce the ransom a little bit or give us a little more time so that we can come up with such a ransom." But four hours is definitely not enough, and we need a little more time to prepare. ”

"One hundred and fifty thousand." Yevloyev, who had not intended for the Soviet government to come up with a huge amount of money, gave a more reliable figure. This link did not appear in the original plan.

"150,000, I'll find a way to make it up. But now you're at least fulfilling your previous promise to get those kids out of here. "As the appointed time drew closer, Yanajevich was also a little anxious. He wanted to get at least a third of the hostages out of the people so that the troops could minimize their losses when they attacked.

"I promised to let forty children go with you, and the rest will not be released until Dudayev himself leaves the territory of the Soviet Union." "If I find out that you dare to make small moves behind your back, I will let you watch these people die one by one." ”

"Forty-one." Yanajevich said, "Use me as a hostage, and change another child, okay?" ”

Yevloyev hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded in agreement and said, "Yes." ”

Forty-one children were chosen at random, and the terrorists opened a door to let the panicked children escape from the gymnasium. Under the protection of the soldiers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Alpha, they were successfully rescued.

Now only Yanayevich and Yevloyev were left alone in the living room on the second floor waiting for the final moment to come, and when there was still an hour before the agreed time, Yevloyev finally showed an impatient look, he grabbed Yanayevich by the collar, and roared, "Why haven't I received the message of being released yet, are you playing with me?" ”

He pistoled Yanayevich's head and made intimidating and threatening gestures, "There is still half an hour, and if we still do not receive news of Dudayev's release, I will start killing hostages one after another until you release Dudayev." ”

At this time, Putin's excited voice came from the communicator embedded in his ear, "The anesthetic gas has been transported from Tbilisi to Beslan, hold on for another ten minutes, Comrade Yanayevich, and we will be able to deploy the offensive." ”

Yanajevich looked at the muzzle of the black hole, smiled a little helplessly, and insisted for ten minutes? It's not easy to say, he has been entangled with the demon in front of him for almost two hours now, what moment is not the torment of seconds?

"If you kill me now, then you will never get that huge sum of money, or release Dudayev." Yanajevich straightened his heart and simply let it go, "I am the only bridge of communication between you and the government, what will be the consequences if this bridge collapses?" Yevloyev, I think you are also a smart person, after all, from a captive to Basayev's deputy, I believe that you are not stupid. ”

Before coming in to negotiate, he had carefully studied the file of Yevloyev, a former Soviet soldier who was kidnapped by Chechen extremists in 1991 with a colleague while protecting the wife of an Ingushetia official, who was later released and his colleague killed, while Yevloyev was brainwashed into joining the illegal Chechen armed forces. The file clearly states that he had a daughter.

"If I die, or if this incident causes heavy casualties, then there will always be some frenzied KGB agents who will hunt you down, and then it will not only be you alone, your family, your relatives, your friends will become the targets of their hunting, just imagine that thousands of people will suffer because of you alone, is it worth it? I know you have a daughter, and the Soviet government must know about it, so are you sure you want to be so decisive? You are killing for independence, and the KGB is killing for no reason. ”

As soon as Yanayevich finished saying this, Putin's calm and powerful voice came from the communicator.

"Comrade Yanayevich, protect yourself, the offensive has begun!" (To be continued.) )