Part 29: Chapter 1 Recap

BACKGROUND

Here is Rukov's dossier, from the game's manual:

NAME: Maksim Mikhailovich Rukov.
BORN: January 12, 1966.
P.O.B.: Sverdlovsk, Russian SFSR.
FATHER: Mikhai Stepanovich Rukov (Deceased)
MOTHER: Svetlana Shatilova (Deceased)

NOTE: Rukov's parents were killed on May 23, 1983, by an Afghan terrorist explosive device in Dushanbe, Tadzhik SSR, where Colonel Mikhail Rukov was on active duty.

EXPERIENCE:

JUN 1988: Graduated from Special Faculty of Ryazan Lenin Komsomol Higher Airborne Command School.
Selected for Spetsnaz, the Elite special military unit under GRU Command (Soviet Military Intelligence). Named Commander, 3rd Parachute platoon. 1St Okhotniki batallion, Siberian Military District.

AUG 1991: Transferred to Department P, KGB, Moscow.
Awarded rank of Captain.

EVALUATION:
Political Reliability:
Rukov has received mixed appraisals from political officers. While his patriotism remains unquestioned, he has on more than one occasion expressed opinions not in accord with current Party thought.

Expertise: Rukov has shown considerable aptitude for airborne operations, close combat, and infiltration.

Languages: Rukov is fluent in English, Arabic and Spanish.

General: His military commanders describe him as an excellent officer, but he has a tendency to personal initiative which can border on insubordination.

Conclusion:

Maksim Mikhailovich Rukov's profile incorporates a determined character with elements of individualism. He is not recommended for posts of administrative responsibility in the command structure.


Basically, Rukov's dad was a prominent officer who was killed in a car bombing, along with his mother. The bomb also crippled Rukov's Uncle Vanya. Fortunately, Colonel Galushkin hunted down the insurgents responsible for the attack. After this, Rukov decided to join the military. He ended up being placed in the Spetsnaz (the USSR's spec ops), just like his father before him. He served for three years, until he was transferred to the KGB for unknown reasons.

CHAPTER 1 RECAP

Rukov is now working for Department P (fictional), which is basically the KGB's internal affairs. It's his first day, and he's been waiting to receive his first assignment for quite a while. He tries to talk to his coworker Belov, but all Belov can do is spout Party slogans and be a massive prick.



Finally, Rukov gets to meet with his new boss, Major Vovlov. The major seems to be a stern man, with no tolerance for bullshit. He gives Rukov his first assignment: to investigate the suspicious death of Golitsin, a private detective. Golitsin used to belong to the KGB, but left some time ago. Vovlov wants to make sure there is no reason for the KGB to get involved.



After getting his new assignment, Rukov decides to visit his Uncle Vanya, a cantankerous old man stuck in a wheelchair. He talks to his uncle for a bit, gets his stash of US dollars, and heads over to Golitsin's office.



Rukov gets into the office by showing his ID to a local militiaman. He finds various items that might come in useful later. He also finds a newspaper clipping that reveals Golitsin to be a bit of a capitalist. The office seems to have been searched before, and the phone has been bugged. Rukov gets the feeling he's being watched. He looks out the window to see a strange man watching him. Rukov tries to go after him, but Golitsin's sister arrives. Rukov decides that interviewing a close relative of Golitsin's is more important than trying to chase after a suspicious person, so he invites her inside.



Golitsin's sister, Irina, doesn't appear to know anything about his murder. She didn't even know he was dead. However, she received a note from her brother asking her to meet up, and it seemed urgent. After talking to her for a while, Rukov lets her leave. She gives him a tape that Golitsin had given her. The tape reveals that Golitsin was into some shady business. His client, codenamed Jealous Husband, wanted him to discover the identity of someone with the codename Hollywood. Someone named Romeo had set up a meeting between Golitsin and Hollywood, which was going to happen tonight at 8 pm. Golitsin implied that Hollywood was a criminal involved with some sort of distribution, and also indicated that he wanted to discover the identity of Jealous Husband. He believed Jealous Husband was working for the KGB, and intended to tail him. This probably has something to do with his death.



Rukov returns to Vovlov with the information. Vovlov takes Golitsin's tape, listens to it, and then quizzes Rukov on it. Rukov gets it right, and Vovlov sends him to wait in his office. A couple hours later, he is summoned to meet the highest-ranking member of Department P. Colonel Galushkin seems friendly enough, even if he's probably sleeping with his secretary. He also helped avenge Rukov's parents. Galushkin sends Rukov to go undercover and investigate the Enthusiastic Progress Club, mentioned on the tape as the meeting place between Golitsin and Hollywood. Rukov's ultimate goal here is to discover the identity of Hollywood, and to search his apartment. Galushkin advises Rukov to avoid saying 'Hollywood' or 'Buyer 2', both of which were mentioned on the tape.



As a new undercover agent, Rukov hands in everything that could identify him as a KGB agent: his uniform, his ID, and his gun. He is given an ill-fitting grey suit and a fake identity: Kliment Kruglov, a representative for a bicycle brake repair facility. He heads over to Kursk Street, the supposed location of the Enthusiastic Progress Club.



Once he reaches Kursk Street, Rukov goes into a shady-looking bar. He overhears Romeo talking to the bartender. Rukov tries talking to both of them. Romeo is too guarded to reveal anything important, but the bartender is helpful enough. He reveals that the Enthusiastic Progress Club is around the back of the building. Rukov leaves the bar and goes to the apartment complex on the other side of the block that Galushkin mentioned. He finds the club inside the building, but decides to gather up as much information as possible before entering.



Rukov talks to two young women, a petty criminal, and a former political prisoner. He learns that Sytenko, a butcher who lives in the apartment, doesn't have much meat in his meatshop and has been seen talking with some shady people. Rukov finds the meatshop locked, and decides to investigate the club for the time being.



Rukov bribes his way into the club. It's a place full of drug dealers and thugs. He talks to a bootleg video dealer to learn that the two twins in the other room belong to a notorious local gang. Rukov takes a bathroom break, and finds drugs in the trash bin. He flushes them down the toilet, just to be safe.



Tired and restless, Rukov decides to follow two skinheads to a party. Only there is no party, and they try to rob him. He kills one of them, and scares the other off. He takes a lockpick off of the corpse, and hides the corpse in a trashcan. He uses the lockpick to break into the meatshop. It seems abandoned. Rukov turns off the alarm and investigates the coldroom. There, he makes a rather shocking discovery.



Rukov turns the alarm back on and goes to confront Sytenko. After a long conversation, he discovers that Sytenko isn't a cannibalistic serial killer. Rather, he is being blackmailed by a gang to hide the corpses of murder victims in his coldroom until they can be disposed of. They had kidnapped his daughter and forced her into porn, and if he tells anybody they will release the dirty photos to the world. The gang is lead by Verto, a brutish man with an eyepatch. KGB members seemed to be involved. They operate out of Verto's mother's apartment, which is next door.



Verto's mother leaves her apartment to go feed cats, which gives Rukov the opportunity to sneak in. The apartment seems normal, until he checks out the studio room. There he finds a camera pointed at a hole in the wall, and a mysterious tape. The tape is footage of a woman being raped, tortured and killed by the two twins from the club. Rukov is chilled to the bone by the footage and realizes that the gang manufactures snuff films. Suddenly, the door opens and he is confronted by the gang. It consists of Verto, Romeo, and the twins. Verto reveals that he is Hollywood, and then imprisons Rukov in his killroom. He promises to have Rukov killed once morning arrives.



Seeing no escape, Rukov has nothing to do but wait. After a couple of minutes, Verto locks a punk girl in the cell with him. At first he thinks she's just another victim of the gang. They talk, and she seems a bit too inquisitive. Rukov realizes that she was planted by Verto, and is trying to find out what he was searching for. Rukov tries to reveal as little as possible. Once the conversation ends, Verto locks an American man in the room with them. The American reveals that the punk is Rita, Verto's crackhead girlfriend, and asks Rukov if he wants to kill her. Rukov refuses, and the twins let Rita out.



The two overhead Verto sending his mother, Romeo, and the twins away. This leaves him alone with Rita. She begs Verto for crack, but he says that the shipment was stolen. Rukov realizes that the crack he flushed down the toilet was intended for Rita. Perhaps he can use this to his advantage. He tries to talk to the American, who avoids revealing his name or anything about him. Evidently, he suspects Rukov of being another one of Verto's plants. Rukov gains his trust by finding a bug and destroying it in front of him. Now they can formulate a plan without Verto listening in.



The American wonders where the buzzer on the wall is connected to. Rukov suggests the meatshop, and the American suggests a plan to set off the meatshop's alarm. Rukov agrees to it, and the American messes with some wires in the buzzer. Sure enough, the alarm in the meatshop goes off. Verto leaves to go check on it, leaving Rita alone by herself. Rukov takes advantage of the opportunity and talks to her through the door. He tells her that Verto will probably kill her soon, and she can escape with him. Rita is uninterested, refusing to believe that Verto has anything but love for her. Rukov tells her he knows where her coke is, because he was the one who stole it. This gets Rita's attention, and she lets Rukov and the American out.



She has a gun pointed at them, and she wants Rukov to tell her where the coke is. Rukov knows he can't tell her he flushed it down the toilet, so he lies and tells her he hid it somewhere. Rita tells them to get back in the cell, and Rukov realizes it's now or never. He attacks her. She shoots, but misses. She falls onto a table, breaking her neck. The American chuckles at the scene, steals her gun, and offers to escape with him. Rukov declines, knowing he needs enough information about the gang to present to Galushkin. The American leaves, and Rukov searches the apartment as quickly as possible.



Rukov finds his confiscated stuff in a drawer, along with:

• a blank white piece of paper
  
• a photo suggesting Verto served in the Afghanistan War
  
• a passport revealing the American was a journalist named Greenberg
  

This isn't enough information to present to Galushkin, so Rukov searches the studio room. He finds a folder on top of the TV. Inside the folder is evidence that suggests Verto was involved in the assassination of his parents. Shocked, Rukov tries to leave, but sees Verto coming up the stairs. Rukov slips back into the apartment, and hides beside the door. When Verto comes through the door, he attacks him, knocking him out. He knows that if he killed Verto, he'd ruin the investigation.



Rukov finds a blank blue piece of paper on Verto's body. He takes pictures of the two pieces of paper, revealing a code. He solves the code. It says: Leningrad, August 16, 3 PM, Ladoga Park. This is enough evidence to present to Galushkin, so Rukov puts the pieces of paper back where they were, and escapes the apartment before Verto wakes up.



Rukov returns to Department P the next morning. Major Vovlov provides a long list of his transgressions, but evidently he did well enough on the mission not to be punished. Next, Rukov meets with Galushkin. He reveals the coded message he found, which Galushkin believes to be a meeting between a member of Verto's gang and someone else. He sends Rukov on a mission to spy on the meeting. Rukov goes to see the quartermaster, Sergeant Guzenko. He picks up some surveillance equipment, and then boards the train for Leningrad.