The investigator left me in peace and went to talk to «the dead man’s wife.» Boris Ignatievich immediately made straight for our table. Nobody paid any attention to him; he was obviously protected by some mild distraction spell.
«Now you’ve done it,» he said simply.
«Us?» I asked, just to get things clear.
«Yes. Both of you. But especially you, Anton.»
«I followed all the instructions I was given,» I whispered, feeling furious. «And I never laid a finger on that magician!»
The boss sighed.
«I don’t doubt that. But knowing the situation, how could you, a member of the Night Watch staff, be so stupid as to go off after a Dark One on your own?»
«Who could have foreseen this?» I asked indignantly. «Tell me who!»
«You could. After the unprecedented measures we’ve taken to disguise your identity. What were your instructions? Never be left alone for a moment! Eat and sleep with Svetlana! Take your showers together! Go to the bathroom together! Every single moment you had to be…« The boss stopped and sighed.
«Boris Ignatievich,» Svetlana unexpectedly put in. «None of that matters anymore. Let’s try to think what we can do now.»
The boss looked at her in surprise and nodded.
«You are right. Let’s try to think. First of all, the situation is really catastrophic now. Before, any suspicion of Anton was purely circumstantial, but now he’s literally been caught red-handed. Don’t shake your head like that, Anton! You were seen standing over a body seconds after its death. The body of a Dark Magician, killed in the same way as all the previous victims. The Day Watch will appeal to the Tribunal for your memory to be read.»
«That’s very dangerous, isn’t it?» asked Svetlana. «But at least it will prove Anton isn’t guilty.»
«Yes, it will, Svetlana. And in the process the Dark Ones will acquire all the information Anton has had access to. Do you realize just how much the Watch’s senior programmer knows? Some things he may not even be aware he knows, when he just glanced at the data, processed it, and forgot it. But the Dark Ones have their own specialists, and when Anton comes out of that courtroom—assuming he survives having his mind turned inside out—the Day Watch will know about all our operations. Can’t you see what will happen? Our teaching methods, the way we look for new Others, the way we analyze combat operations, our networks of human informers, our casualty lists, our employees’ personal files, our financial plans…«
They were talking about me, while I just sat there as if I had nothing to do with what was going on. It wasn’t a question of frankness, it was simpler than that: The boss was consulting with Svetlana, a novice magician, and not with me, a potential magician of the third grade.
If I compared the situation with a game of chess, it was insultingly simple. I was a rook, an ordinary officer of the Watch, and Svetlana was a pawn—but a pawn about to become a queen.
And for the boss all the bad things that could happen to me meant nothing compared with the chance to give Svetlana a little practical lesson.
«Boris Ignatievich, you know I won’t allow them to read my memory,» I said.
«Then you’ll be found guilty.»
«I know. I swear I had nothing to do with the death of these Dark Ones. But I don’t have any proof.»
«Boris Ignatievich, what if we suggest they only check Anton’s memory for today!» Svetlana exclaimed joyfully. «That would solve everything, they’d be convinced…«
«The memory can’t be sliced up like that, Sveta. It spills out all in one piece. Starting from the first moment of life. With the smell of mother’s milk, with the taste of the amniotic fluid in the womb.» The boss was speaking very emphatically now. «That’s the problem. Even if Anton didn’t know any secrets. Imagine what it’s like to remember absolutely everything and go through it all again! Swaying in that dark, viscous liquid, the walls closing in on you, the glimmer of light ahead, the pain, the choking sensation, the struggle to survive your own birth. And so on, moment by moment—you know how when you’re dying your whole life passes before your eyes? That’s exactly what happens when they turn out your memory. And at the same time, somewhere deep inside, you still remember that all this has already happened. Can you understand that? It’s hard to hold on to your sanity.»
«You say that,» Svetlana said uncertainly, «as if…«
«I’ve been through it. But not in an interrogation. More than a century ago. The Watch was still studying the effects of exposing and reading the memory, and a volunteer was required. Afterward it took them about a year to restore me to normal.»
«How?» Svetlana asked curiously.
«With new impressions. Experiences I hadn’t had before. Foreign countries, unfamiliar food, surprise meetings, unfamiliar problems. And even so…« The boss smiled wryly. «I still sometimes catch myself thinking: What is all this—reality or just memories? Am I living it or lying on a crystal slab in the Day Watch office while they unwind my memory like a ball of string?»
He stopped speaking.
There were people sitting at the tables around us, waiters dashing around. The crime scene team had taken away the body of the Dark Magician, and some man, evidently a relative, had come for the widow and the children. Nobody else seemed to be affected by what had happened. Quite the opposite, in fact. There were more customers, with bigger appetites and a greater zest for life. And nobody there was taking any notice of us: The boss’s casually cast spell made them all look away.
What if all of this had already happened?
What if I, Anton Gorodetsky, systems administrator at the Nix Trading Company, and also a Night Watch magician, was lying on a crystal slab covered with ancient runes? And my memory was being unwound, examined, dissected by someone—it didn’t matter who, Dark Magicians or a joint tribunal of both sides?
No!
That couldn’t be right. I didn’t have that feeling the boss had been talking about. I had no sense of déjà vu. I’d never been in a woman’s body before, and I’d never found any bodies in restaurant restrooms.
«I’ve laid out the problem,» said the boss, drawing a long, slim cigarillo out of his pocket. «Is the situation clear? What are we going to do?»
«I’m prepared to do my duty,» I said.
«Don’t be in such a rush, Anton. Drop the bravado.»
«It’s not bravado. It’s not just that I’m prepared to protect the secrets of the Watch. I simply wouldn’t survive that kind of interrogation. Better to die.»
«But we don’t die the same way people do.»
«Sure, it’s tougher for us. But I’m ready for that.»
The boss sighed.
«I’m sorry, ladies. Anton, let’s forget the consequences for a moment and try thinking about what led up to this incident. Sometimes it’s helpful to look back.»
«Okay,» I said, not feeling particularly hopeful.
«The Maverick has been poaching in the city for several years. The latest figures from the analytical section indicate that these strange killings began three and a half years ago. Some of the victims are known Dark Ones. Some are probably potentials. None of the victims was higher than grade four. None of them worked in the Day Watch. It’s ironic that almost all of them were very moderate Dark Ones, if you can put it like that. They may have killed and they influenced people negatively, but far less than they could have done.»
«They were set up, weren’t they?» said Svetlana.
«They must have been. The Day Watch didn’t touch this psychopath, it even laid out victims for him from the Dark Side—those it could easily spare. But what for? That’s the important question: What for?»
«So they could accuse us of incompetence,» I suggested.
«The end doesn’t justify the means.»
«In order to set up one of us.»
«Anton, the only member of Night Watch who doesn’t have alibis for the times of the killings is you. Why would Day Watch go hunting for you?»
/> I shrugged.
«Zabulon’s revenge?» said the boss, shaking his head. «No. You only clashed with him recently. But this blow was carefully planned three and a half years ago. We’re still left with the question: Why?»
«Maybe Anton is potentially a very powerful magician?» Svetlana suggested, speaking softly. «And the Dark Ones have realized that. It’s too late to bring him over to their side, so they decided to eliminate him.»
«Anton is more powerful than he realizes,» the boss replied sharply, «but he’ll never get higher than grade two.»
«What if our enemies can see further along the possible variants of reality than we can?» I asked, looking the boss in the eye.
«And?»
«Maybe I’m a weak magician; I may be average or powerful, but what if it’s enough just for me to do something in order to change the balance of power? Do something simple that has nothing to do with magic? Boris Ignatievich, the Dark Ones tried to get me away from Svetlana—that means they could see the branch of reality in which I could help her! What if they can see something else? Something in the future? What if they’ve been able to see it for a long time, and they’ve been getting ready to take me out of the game? What if the fight over Sveta is small change by comparison?»
At first the boss listened carefully. Then he frowned and shook his head.
«Anton, you’re suffering from megalomania. I’m sorry, but I checked the lines of everybody working in the Watch, from the key personnel to our plumber, Uncle Shura. And there just aren’t any great achievements in your future. Not on any of the reality lines.»
«Boris Ignatievich, are you absolutely sure you haven’t missed something?»
He’d really made me angry now.
«Of course not. I’m not absolutely sure of anything. Not even of myself. But the chances of you being right are very, very slim. Believe me.»
I believed him.
Compared with the boss, my powers approximate to zero.
«So we still don’t know the most important thing—the reason?»
«Right. The hit is aimed at you; there’s no doubt about that now. The Maverick is being controlled, very subtly and precisely. He believes he’s waging war on Evil, but he’s always been a puppet, with someone else pulling the strings. Today they brought him to the same restaurant you came to. They handed him a victim. And you went right along.»
«Then what are we going to do?»
«Try to find the Maverick. It’s our only chance, Anton.»
«We’re actually going to kill him, though.»
«No, we’re not. All we’re going to do is find him.»
«All the same. No matter how bad he might be, no matter how wrong he’s got everything, he’s still one of us. He’s fighting against Evil the best way he knows how. We just have to explain everything to him.»
«Too late, Anton. Too late. We missed him when he appeared. Now, after all he’s done… Remember how that girl-vampire died?»
I nodded: «Laid to eternal rest.»
«And her crimes were far less serious—from the Dark Ones’ point of view. She didn’t understand what was going on either. But the Day Watch accepted that she was guilty.»
«Was that pure coincidence?» asked Svetlana. «Or were they creating a precedent?»
«Who knows? Anton, you have to find the Maverick.»
I looked up, amazed.
«Find him and hand him over to the Dark Ones,» the boss said sternly.
«Why me?»
«Because you’re the only one who has the moral right to do it. You’re the one under threat. You’re only protecting yourself. For anybody else, handing over a Light One, even if he is purely instinctive, self-taught, and misguided, would be too much of a shock. You’ll survive it.»
«I’m not so sure.»
«You will. And remember, Anton. You’ve only got tonight. The Day Watch won’t have any reason to drag things out. They’ll bring a formal charge against you in the morning.»
«Boris Ignatievich!»
«Now remember! Remember who was in the restaurant! Who followed the Dark Magician to the restroom?»
«Nobody,» Svetlana put in. «I’m sure of it. I kept looking to see when he would come out.»
«That means the Maverick was waiting for the Dark Magician in the restroom. But he had to come out. Do you remember? Sveta, Anton?»
Neither of us said anything. I didn’t remember. I’d been trying not to look at the Dark Magician.
«One man did come out,» said Svetlana. «He was kind of…«
She thought about it.
«Ordinary, absolutely ordinary. An average man, as if someone had mixed a million faces together and made an average one. I just caught a glimpse and forgot him right away.»
«Remember now,» the boss demanded.
«I can’t, Boris Ignatievich. He was just a man. Middle-aged. I didn’t even realize he was an Other.»
«He’s an elemental Other. He doesn’t even enter the Twilight, just balances right on the edge. Remember, Sveta! His face or some distinctive features.»
Svetlana rubbed her nose with her finger.
«When he came out and sat down at his table, there was a woman there. A beautiful woman with dark-blonde hair. It was dyed, and I noticed she used Lumene makeup too; I use it myself sometimes; it’s cheap, not all that good.»
In spite of everything, I couldn’t help smiling.
«And she was upset about something,» Sveta added. «She was smiling, but her smile looked wrong. As if she wanted to stay, but they had to leave.»
She started thinking again.
«The woman’s aura! You remember it! Let me have the image,» the boss exclaimed, speaking more loudly and changing his tone of voice. Of course, no one in the restaurant heard him, but for a brief moment the expressions on people’s faces were distorted and a waiter carrying a tray stumbled and dropped a bottle of wine and two crystal glasses.
Svetlana shook her head sharply. The boss had put her in a trance as easily as if she were an ordinary human being. Her pupils opened wide, and a pale, thin, glimmering rainbow connected their two faces.
«Thank you, Sveta,» said Boris Ignatievich.
«Did I manage it?» the girl asked, amazed.
«Yes. You can consider yourself a seventh-grade magician. I’ll confirm that I tested you in person. Anton!»
This time I looked into the boss’s eyes.
A brief jolt.
Streaming threads of an energy unknown to ordinary humans.
An image.
No, I didn’t see the face of the Maverick’s female companion. I saw her aura, and that’s worth far more. Blue and green layers intermingled like ice cream in a glass, a small brown spot, a white streak. A fairly complex aura, not easy to forget, and basically quite attractive. It upset me—she loved him.
She loved him and she was feeling hurt about something. She thought he didn’t love her anymore, but she was still holding on and she was prepared to keep going on like that.
By following this woman’s trail I would find the Maverick. And hand him over to a tribunal—to certain death.
«No!» I said.
The boss gave me a pitying look.
«She’s not guilty of anything! And she loves him, you can see that!»
That dismal music was still whining in my ears, and nobody there took any notice of my shout. I could have rolled around on the floor and dived under people’s tables—they’d have just lifted their feet up and kept on devouring their Indian delicacies.
Svetlana looked at us. She’d remembered the aura, but she hadn’t been able to interpret it. That’s a grade-six skill.
«Then you’ll die,» said the boss.
«At least I’ll know what for.»
«Have you thought about the people who love you, Anton?»
«I don’t have any right to do that.»
Boris Ignatievich grinned wryly:
«A hero! Oh, what great heroes we all are! Clean hands, he
arts of gold, feet that have never stepped in shit. Have you forgotten the woman who was taken out of here? And the crying children, have you forgotten them? They’re not Dark Ones. They’re ordinary people, the ones we promised to protect. How long do we spend on getting the balance right for every operation we plan? I may curse our analysts every moment of the day, but why are they all gray-haired by the age of fifty?»
It felt like the boss was lashing me across the cheeks. He was lecturing me the same way I’d lectured Svetlana just recently, with absolute confidence.
«The Watch needs you, Anton! It needs Sveta! But it doesn’t need some crazy psychopath, no matter how well-intentioned he might be. It’s easy enough to take a little dagger and start hunting Dark Ones in back alleys and restrooms. Without thinking about the consequences or weighing the guilt. Where’s our front line, Anton?»
«Among ordinary people.» I lowered my eyes.
«Who do we protect?»
«Ordinary people.»
«There is no abstract Evil; you have to understand that! Its roots are here, all around us, in this herd that goes on chewing and having a good time only an hour after a murder! That’s what you have to fight for. For people. Evil is a hydra with many heads, and the more of them you cut off, the more it grows! Hydras have to be starved to death, do you understand that? Kill a hundred Dark Ones, and a thousand more will take their place. That’s why the Maverick is guilty! And that’s why you, Anton, and no one else, will find him. And make sure he stands trial. Either voluntarily or under compulsion.»
The boss suddenly broke off and rose abruptly to his feet.
«Let’s go, ladies first.»
I’d never seen him behave like that. I leapt up and grabbed my purse—an automatic reflex response.
The boss wouldn’t get jittery without good reason.
«Quickly!»
I suddenly realized I needed to visit the place where the unfortunate Dark Magician had met his end. But I didn’t say a word. We moved toward the exit so fast the security guards would have been sure to stop us, if only they could have seen us.
«Too late,» the boss said quietly, right beside the door. «We were talking too long.»
Three people walked into the restaurant as if they were oozing through the door. Two well-built young guys and a girl.
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