Crimes
A naked bearlike man bursts into Rostnikov’s wife’s hospital room with a shocking story about a devil invading his shoe factory. Intrigued, Rostnikov investigates and plunges into a mysterious criminal scene of such depth that the chief inspector stoops to committing a crime of his own.
Coincidences
Meanwhile, a frantic woman tells headquarters of her own son’s imminent felony against the politburo....A Moscow bus and its driver mysteriously vanish....A man is found brutally killed....And an assassin arrives for work in Moscow.
Catastrophes
When coincidences turn into connections, Rostnikov, along with Karpo and Tkach, find themselves enmeshed in a catastrophic conspiracy, as they follow a series of serpentine clues, like a lit fuse that winds its way to a time bomb called the KGB