"You've been here all this time?"
"Why, yes colonel."
"With my car in plain sight?"
That didn't seem to call for an answer. The plainclothesman looked
apprehensive but blank.
Simonov turned on his heel and approached the two guards at the gate. They
were not more than thirty feet from where he was parked. They came to the
salute but he growled, "At ease. Look here, did anyone approach my vehicle
while I was inside?"
One of the soldiers said, "Sir, twenty or thirty people have passed since
the Comrade colonel entered the Ministry."