June, 1894. Aleksej Лыков the second year, as in retirement. Now he is a private person, and engages in the matters of the estate. A friend and managing Яан Титус help him. Together timber-merchants drove out to Turkestan. Scale building of railways is there conducted, railroad ties are needed, and there is the small forest. There is possibility to sign a very advantageous contract. But soldiery know in an edge all, and purchases are conducted by quartermasters Turkestan military neighbourhood. They require взяток.Лыков with Титусом arrive to Tashkent, the capital of edge, and try to agree with grafters in shoulder-straps. Those break off an unheard of price. Friends already gather home, not salt gulping down, as suddenly appear pulled in bloody events. A few Russians kill, in the conditions of enmity of native population to incorrect. The local police made from executive officers is powerless. Former detectives, remembering former skills, begin the investigation.