Chapter 17.4.

 The radio turned on by Dragovich was blabbering about some general political affairs of Greater Russia. Dragovich wanted to switch to something less boring - Zavirdyaev might have been offended that they had turned on such boring stuff for him, but when he reached out to change the channel, Zavirdyaev stopped him.

 Then Dragovich decided to listen and understand what had so interested this interventionist and Russian at the same time.

 - The discussion of the bill on the formation of the so-called separate units of the internal troops was expectedly met with fierce and consolidated resistance from representatives of the Workers' Party "European Unity" and the Social Democrats. Despite this, Speaker Lebedev re-introduced the next version of the bill, which now provides for…

 Dragovich glanced at Zavirdyaev. He was listening to all this nonsense quite attentively.

 - You've probably heard that Lebedev, or rather his NDPP coalition, intends to create a parallel army? - Zavirdyaev began, most likely noticing Dragovich's slight bewilderment.

 - An army? - he asked again.

 - Not exactly an army, of course. We call them internal troops. They are subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This is a simplified army for solving police-related problems. Now Lebedev and company want to create another one parallel to these internal troops... Well, essentially another one of the same. An army without heavy weapons, of course. And they want to subordinate it not to the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but to the FSK, that is, counterintelligence. The project was proposed by the Coalition of People's Democratic Parties and Representatives, or rather, Lebedev. The rest of the parliament is confused. The most important thing is not even these units, but the fact that it is not entirely clear why he, Lebedev, needed this - his position is already quite stable, and with such initiatives he only shakes the chair he sits on. This mystery made everyone wary. Nothing is done for no reason. So.

 It had to be admitted that Zavirdyaev explained quite clearly what the radio was jabbering about. Before that, Dragovich had heard something like this out of the corner of his ear, and more than once, but he did not attach any significance to it.

 The car moved further and further, to the east.

 When in the area of the television center, notable for its two tall masts, the avenue turned slightly to the left, the first signs of the proximity of the "Manhattan District" became visible - those same gnawed skeletons. All this was arranged in 2115 by self-propelled assault rapid-fire guns - like the "Izverg" gun, which were an original Soviet model. The creators assumed that using guided projectiles and precise laser guidance with lead, such self-propelled guns, in addition to fire missions against ground targets, would be able to effectively shoot down helicopters, cruise missiles and other non-maneuverable subsonic targets with one or two projectiles.

 In reality, they were almost never used like that. But during urban battles, they were quite effective in stripping panels and walls from multi-story buildings, exposing and immediately destroying the positions of the enemy entrenched on the upper floors. Of course, they fired simple blanks, not precision guided projectiles.

 Dragovich turned left and the car shook along a narrow road with a rut rolled in the snow that had accumulated since autumn. Previously, there was most likely a sidewalk here - this road was too close to the battered multi-story buildings.

 On the right side, there were monotonous fences made of chain-link mesh. In some places, the bottom of the fence was covered with metal sheets or plywood. The houses had identical signs with numbers of both the houses themselves and the streets that were once built inside one large street, or more precisely, in this case, a boulevard.

 In some places at intersections, there were larger signs with street numbers - they stuck out on metal poles two or three meters high. These were street numbers, not names. Manhattan, what can I say.

 Dragovich was now driving at a speed of no more than ten kilometers per hour. The Mexican bus was dragging behind. Having passed the intersection with the parallel Oktyabrya Avenue, and then dragged on for another half a kilometer, Dragovich stopped at the edge of the area in front of which stood a house built from well-processed timber with a porch-veranda and a roof covered with galvanized metal. Further on, in the direction closer to the river, the block ended, and a hundred meters from the site a fortification was visible, or rather a trench for an armored vehicle, in which this armored personnel carrier with a twin gun was standing. The gun, as expected, was directed towards the steep slope on the opposite bank. This was the entire power of the base that was either under construction or not under construction.