“Special forces from Dmitrov,” I tried to repeat the legend that had already worked once.
“It doesn’t look like it,” the stranger grimaced, looking at the girls inside the SUV.
“With our families,” I clarified, “there are fifty of us.”
The shooter paused. On the one hand, he clearly didn't believe me, but on the other, he was afraid of making a mistake and actually running into fifty armed professionals. Finally, the man approached and voiced his doubts:
"It's just that things have gotten uneasy here, so we have to be careful. North of Taldom, in a settlement under construction, there was a large team of construction workers from Central Asia. Almost a hundred people. Either Tajiks or Uzbeks, I'm not sure. They were good craftsmen. But when the newcomers showed up, lawlessness broke ou
