Nightwatch w-1
Page 19
«Boris Ignatievich, the way I see it, the magical intervention here is second degree. Or even first?»
«It could be second degree,» the boss confirmed.
«That means it could have been you…« Yulia paused for a moment, embarrassed. «Or perhaps Semyon… Ilya… or Garik. Right?»
«Garik couldn’t have done it,» said the boss. «But Ilya or Semyon could have.»
Semyon mumbled something, as if he’d rather have been spared the compliment.
«It’s also just possible that the killing was carried out by someone on the Light Side who was just passing through Moscow,» Yulia mused out loud. «But magicians that powerful can’t arrive in town without being noticed; they’re all monitored by Day Watch. That means there are three people we need to investigate. And if they all have alibis, we have no charges to answer, right?»
«Yulia,» the boss said, shaking his head, «no one’s bringing any charges against us. What we have here is the work of a Light Magician not registered in Moscow who is not aware of the Treaty.»
Now that was really serious…
«Then… oh!» said Yulia. «I’m sorry, Boris Ignatievich.»
«That’s perfectly okay,» the boss said, nodding again. «You’ve taken us right to the heart of the matter. There’s someone we’ve managed to overlook, boys and girls. We’ve let someone slip through our fingers. We have a Light One of great power wandering loose in Moscow. He or she doesn’t understand a thing—and he’s killing Dark Ones.»
«More than one?» a voice in the hall asked.
«Yes. I checked the archives. There were similar incidents three years ago, in the spring and fall, and two years ago, in the fall again. On every occasion there was no physical trauma, just the signature tear in the clothing. The Day Watch investigated, but it came up with nothing. Apparently they attributed the death of their own people to chance… so now one of the Dark Ones will be punished.»
«And one of the Light Ones too?»
«One of us too.»
Semyon cleared his throat and said in a thoughtful voice, «The periods between the incidents are strange, Boris…«
«I don’t think we know about all the incidents. Whoever this magician may be, he has always killed Others with low-level powers; obviously there must have been some kind of chink in their protective covers. It’s very likely that a number of his victims were uninitiated or unknown Dark Others. Here’s what I propose…«
The boss paused and glanced around the room before he continued:
«Analytical section—collate available information from criminal records and try to identify similar incidents. Bear in mind that they may not have been classified as murders, more likely as deaths from unknown causes. Check the results of autopsies, question people working in the morgues… think for yourselves where you can obtain the information. Research group—send two or three agents to the Day Watch and examine the body. Operations group—intensive street patrols. Try to find him, guys.»
«We’re always on the lookout for someone,» Igor muttered. «Boris Ignatievich, there’s no way we could have overlooked a powerful magician. We just couldn’t have!»
«He may not be initiated,» the boss snapped back. «His powers manifest themselves sporadically…«
«In the spring and the fall, just like any ordinary psycho…«
«Yes, Igor, that’s perfectly right. In the spring and in the fall. And now, right after this latest killing, he must still be carrying some trace of magic. That gives us a chance, if only a small one. Get on it.»
«Boris, what exactly is our goal?» Semyon asked curiously.
Some people in the room had already started getting to their feet, but now they stopped.
«Our goal is to find this Maverick before the Dark Ones do. To protect him, educate him, and bring him over to our side. As usual.»
«Clear enough,» said Semyon and stood up.
«Anton and Olga, would you please stay,» the boss said brusquely and walked over to the window.
On their way out, people glanced at us curiously, even enviously. A special assignment is always intriguing. I looked across the room, caught Olga’s eyes, and smiled. She smiled back.
She looked nothing like the dirty-faced, barefoot young woman who’d drunk cognac in my kitchen last winter. Now she had a stylish haircut, a healthy complexion, and eyes full of… no, the confidence had been there all the time, but now there was a certain flirtatious pride too.
Her punishment had been repealed. Partially, that is.
«Anton, I don’t like what’s going on here,» the boss said without turning around.
Olga shrugged her shoulders and nodded for me to reply.
«I beg your pardon, Boris Ignatievich?»
«I don’t like this protest lodged by the Day Watch.»
«Neither do I.»
«You don’t understand, and I’m afraid none of the others do either… Olga, have you at least got some inkling of what’s going on?»
«It’s very strange Day Watch hasn’t been able to find the killer after several years.»
«Yes. Do you remember Krakow?»
«I do, unfortunately. You think we’re being set up?»
«It’s possible…« The boss moved away from the window a bit. «Anton, do you think that could be the way things are heading?»
«I don’t completely understand,» I mumbled.
«Anton, let’s assume that we really do have a Maverick wandering around the city, a solitary killer. He’s uninitiated. From time to time his powers suddenly surface… he locates one of the Dark Ones and eliminates him, or in this case, her. Would Day Watch be able to locate this Maverick? Unfortunately, believe me, they would. Then the question is: Why haven’t they caught and exposed him, when Dark Ones are dying?»
«Only unimportant ones,» I pointed out.
«Correct. Sacrificing pawns is in the tradition…« the boss caught my eye and paused. «In the tradition of the Watch.»
«The Watches,» I said vengefully.
«The Watches,» the boss echoed wearily. «You haven’t forgotten… let’s think where a maneuver like this could be leading. A blanket accusation of incompetence against the whole of Night Watch? Nonsense. We’re supposed to keep tabs on the behavior of the Dark Ones and the observance of the Treaty by known Light Ones, not go hunting for mysterious maniacs. In this case it’s Day Watch that is at fault…«
«That means it must be a provocation aimed at a specific person?»
«Well done, Anton. Remember what Yulia said? There’s only a handful of us who could do this. That can be proved conclusively. Let’s suppose Day Watch has decided to accuse someone of violating the Treaty, to claim that a member of our staff who knows the terms of the Treaty is meting out summary justice on his own account.»
«But that’s easy to disprove. Just find the Maverick…«
«And if the Dark Ones find him first? But don’t bother to announce the fact?»
«What about alibis?»
«And what if the killings took place at times when this person has no alibi?»
«A tribunal, with a full-scale interrogation,» I said gloomily—having your mind turned inside out isn’t a pleasant experience…
«A powerful magician—and these killings were committed by a powerful magician—can close off his mind even against a tribunal. Not deceive the tribunal, just close himself off from it. And in any case, Anton, with a tribunal including Dark Ones, he would have to do it. Otherwise our enemies would learn far too much about us. And if a magician conceals himself against investigation, it’s automatically regarded as a confession of guilt, with all the consequences that stem from that so-called confession—both for him and the Watch.»
«You paint a dark picture, Boris Ignatievich,» I said. «Very dark. Almost as dark as the one you painted for me last winter, in my sleep. A young boy with incredible Other powers, an Inferno eruption that would flatten the whole of Moscow…«
«I am telling you the truth here
, Anton.»
«What do you expect from me?» I asked bluntly. «This isn’t really my area. Am I going to give the analysts a hand? We’ll be handling everything they bring in anyway.»
«Anton, I want you to figure out which of us is the target. Who has an alibi for all the known incidents and who doesn’t.»
The boss slipped his hand into his jacket pocket and took out a DVD.
«Take this… it’s a complete dossier for the whole three-year period. For four people, including me.»
I gulped as I took it.
«The security codes have been removed. But you understand that no one else must see this. You have no right to copy the information. Encrypt all your calculations and procedures… and make the key as complex as you can.»
«I’d really need someone to help,» I suggested hesitantly, with a glance at Olga. But then, what kind of help could she give me? Everything she knew about computers she’d learned from playing games like Heretic and Hexen.
«You check my database yourself,» the boss said, after a pause. «You can use Anatoly for the others. All right?»
«Then what’s my assignment?» asked Olga.
«You’ll cover the same ground, only by asking direct questions. Interrogating people, in other words. And you’ll start with me. Then the other three.»
«All right, Boris.»
«Get on it, Anton,» the boss said with a nod. «Start immediately. You can pass everything else on to your girls; they’ll manage.»
«Perhaps I could riddle about a bit with the data?» I asked. «If someone doesn’t happen to have an alibi, I could arrange one.»
The boss shook his head.
«No. You don’t understand. I don’t want to set up any false alibis. I want to make sure that none of us are involved in these killings.»
«Are you serious?»
«Yes. Because nothing’s impossible in this world. Anton, the really nice thing about our work is that I can give you an assignment like this. And you’ll carry it out. Regardless of who’s involved.»
There was still something bothering me, but I nodded and walked toward the door, clutching the precious disc. It came to me in a flash. I turned back and asked:
«Boris Ignatievich…«
The boss and Olga instantly moved apart.
«Boris Ignatievich, you say there are four sets of data here?»
«Yes.»
«For you, Ilya, Semyon…«
«And you, Anton.»
«Why?» I asked dumbly.
«During the standoff on the roof you stayed down in the second level of the Twilight for three minutes, Anton… that’s a third-grade power.»
«Impossible,» I said.
«It happened.»
«Boris Ignatievich, you always told me I was just an average magician!»
«Well, let’s just say I need an excellent programmer more than one more field operative.»
Any other time I would have felt proud. Offended at the same time, of course, but still proud. I’d always thought that fourth-grade magic was my ceiling, and it would be a long time before I reached it. But just at that moment everything was clouded by a clammy, disgusting feeling—fear. Even though in five years of working in a quiet staff position in the Watch I thought I’d learned not to be afraid of anything: the authorities, hoodlums, diseases…
«This was a second-level intervention…«
«The boundary here’s ever-shifting, Anton. You might be capable of more.»
«But we have more than ten third-grade magicians. Why am I one of the suspects?»
«Because you offended Zabulon personally. Tweaked the tail of the head of Moscow’s Day Watch. And he’s quite capable of setting up a special trap just for Anton Gorodetsky. Or rather, adapting an old trap that was being kept in reserve.»
I swallowed and left without asking any more questions.
Our lab’s on the fourth floor too, but in the other wing. I set off hurriedly along the corridor, nodding to people I met, but staying focused, clutching that disc tighter than a passionate young man clutches the hand of the girl he loves.
Was the boss telling the truth?
Could the blow really be aimed at me?
In all likelihood, he was. I’d asked a straight question and been given a straight answer. Of course, as the years go by, even the most Light of magicians acquire a certain degree of canniness and learn to play tricks with words. But the consequences of a direct lie would be too grave even for Boris Ignatievich.
I approached an entry lobby fitted with electronic security systems. I knew that all magicians regarded technology with disdain, and Semyon had shown me once how easy it was to fool the voice analyzer and the iris scanner. But I’d gone ahead with buying these expensive toys anyway. Maybe they were no protection against an Other, but it seemed perfectly possible to me that one day the guys from the Federal Security Service or the mafia would decide to check us out.
«One, two, three, four, five…« I muttered into the microphone, gazing into the camera lens at the same time. The electronic circuits pondered for a few seconds, then a green light came on above the door.
There was no one in the first room, where the server’s cooling fans were humming gently. The air-conditioners built into the wall were huffing and puffing, but it was still hot in there. And spring had only just begun…
I didn’t go into the system analysts’ lab, just walked straight through into my own office. It wasn’t all my own. Anatoly, my deputy, worked here too. Sometimes he lived here, spending the nights on the old leather sofa.
When I came in he was sitting at his desk, thoughtfully inspecting an old motherboard.
«Hi,» I said, sitting down on the sofa. The disc was burning my hands.
«It’s a goner,» Tolik said gloomily.
«Trash it then.»
«Let me just take its brain out first.» Tolik was thrifty, a habit acquired from years of working in state-financed institutions. We had no problems with finances, but he carefully stockpiled all the old hardware anyway, even if it were of no use to anyone. «Would you believe it, I’ve been fiddling around with this for half an hour, and it’s still dead…«
«It’s an outdated antique; why waste time fiddling around with it? Even the machines in accounting are more modern.»
«I could give it to someone… Maybe I should take the cache out too…«
«Tolik, we’ve got an urgent job to do,» I said.
«Huh?»
«Uh-huh! Look…« I held up the disc. «This is a dossier… a complete dossier on four members of the Watch, including the boss.»
Tolik opened the drawer of his desk, stuck the motherboard in it, and fixed his eyes on the disc.
«Precisely. I’m going to check three of them. And you’re going to check the fourth… me.»
«So what are we checking for?»
«This,» I said, holding up my printout from the briefing. «It’s possible that one of the suspects may be carrying out sporadic killings of Dark Ones. Unauthorized killings. All the known incidents are listed here. We have to either eliminate this possibility, or…«
«Ah, so it really is you who’s killing them, then?» Tolik asked. «Pardon my sense of humor.»
«No. But don’t take my word for it. Let’s get on with the job.»
I didn’t even look at the information about me, just downloaded all eight hundred megabytes into Tolik’s computer and took the disc.
«Shall I tell you if I come across anything really interesting?» Tolik asked. I glanced across at him as he looked through the text files, tugging on his left ear and clicking regularly with his mouse.
«That’s up to you.»
«Okay.»
I started my reading of the dossier with the materials on the boss. First came the introductory blurb—then background information. Every line I read made me break out in a sweat.
Of course, even this dossier didn’t give the boss’s real name and origins. Facts like that weren’t kept on file a
nywhere for Others of his rank. But even I was still making new discoveries every second. Starting with the fact that the boss was older than I’d thought. At least a hundred and fifty years older. And that meant he’d been personally involved in drawing up the Treaty between Light and Darkness. It struck me as interesting that all the other magicians still surviving from that time held positions in the central office and weren’t stuck in the exhausting and tedious post of a regional director.
Aside from that, I recognized a few of the aliases the boss had used in the history of the Watch, and where he was born. We’d wondered about that sometimes, and even placed bets on it, always pointing to «indisputable» proof. But somehow no one had ever suspected that Boris Ignatievich was born in Tibet.
And even in my wildest dreams, I could never have imagined whose mentor he had been!
The boss had been working in Europe since the fifteenth century. From indirect references, I speculated that this change of residence was because of a woman. I could even guess who it was.
I closed the file and looked at Tolik. He was watching some kind of video. Of course, my biographical details had proved less fascinating than the boss’s. I glanced at the small moving picture and blushed.
«For the first incident you have a cast-iron alibi,» Tolik said without turning round.
«Listen…« I was lost for words.
«Okay, okay. I’ll fast-forward it, to check the entire night…«
I imagined what the recording would look like at high speed and turned away. I’d always suspected the boss kept tabs on his colleagues, especially the young ones. But not that literally!
«The alibi won’t be that solid,» I said. «I’ll get dressed and go out any moment now.»
«I see that,» Tolik confirmed.
«And I’ll be gone for almost an hour and a half. I was looking for champagne… and while I was looking, I sobered up a bit in the fresh air. Started wondering if it was worth going back.»
«Don’t worry about it,» said Tolik. «You watch the boss’s private life.»
Half an hour later, I realized Tolik was right. Maybe I had good reason to feel offended by the observers’ brazen intrusion. But Boris Ignatievich was as monitored as I was.