I looked out the window into the darkness.
«Boris Ignatievich, it's not a good idea to leave the kid alone. He really is potentially very powerful…«
«I know that… Okay. The guys are on their way. There's no danger to the boy once they're there. Wait for them to arrive, then come straight here immediately.»
He hung up. I folded away my cell phone and squinted sideways at my shoulder.
«What do you make of that, Olga?»
«It's strange.»
«Why? You said yourself they wouldn't be able to handle it.»
«It's strange that he wanted you to go, not me…« Olga said thoughtfully. «Maybe… no, it can't be that. I don't know.»
I took a look through the Twilight and spotted two little specks right on the horizon. The field operatives were hurtling along so fast they would reach me in about fifteen minutes.
«He didn't even ask the address,» I commented gloomily.
«He didn't want to waste any time. Didn't you feel him take the coordinates?»
«No.»
«You need more training, Anton.»
«I don't work in the field.»
«You do now. Let's go downstairs. We'll hear the Call.»
I got up—that spot on the stairs had begun to feel really comfortable, just like home—and set off down the staircase. I was miserable; I had a really bad feeling about this. A door slammed behind my back. I turned around.
«I'm afraid,» Egor said, coming straight to the point.
«Everything's fine.» I started walking back up. «We're guarding you.»
He chewed on his lips, shifting his gaze from me to the gloom of the staircase and back again. He didn't want to let me back into the flat, but he couldn't bear to be alone any longer.
«I think someone's watching me,» he said eventually. «Are you doing that?»
«No. Most likely it's the vampire.»
The boy didn't even shiver. I hadn't told him anything new.
«How does she attack?»
«She can't come in through the door unless she's invited. That's one thing about vampires that the fairy tales have right. You'll feel like you want to go out yourself. In fact, you already want to go out.»
«I won't go out!»
«When she uses the Call, you'll go. You'll understand what's happening, but you'll still go anyway.»
«Can you… can you tell me what to do? Anything?»
Egor had given in. He wanted help, any help he could get.
«lean. Trust us.»
He hesitated only for a second.
«Come in.» Egor stepped back from the door. «Only… Mom will be back from work any moment.»
«What of it?»
«Are you going to hide? What should I tell her?»
«That's no problem,» I said dismissively. «But I…«
The door of the next apartment opened cautiously, just a crack, on the chain. A wrinkled, old woman's face peeped out.
I touched her mind, lightly, just for an instant, as carefully as possible so as not to do any more damage to a reason that was already shaky…
«Ah, it's you…« the old woman said with a beaming smile. «You, you…«
«Anton,» I prompted her politely.
«And there was I wondering who the stranger was, wandering up and down,» said the old granny, taking off the chain and coming out onto the landing. «The times we live in, the outrageous things people get up to, they just do whatever they like…«
«It's all right. Everything's going to be all right. Why don't you watch TV, there's a new series just starting.»
The old woman nodded, shot me a friendly glance, and disappeared into her apartment.
«What series?» asked Egor.
I shrugged.
«I don't know. There must be something. Isn't there always some soap opera or other?»
«And how do you know our neighbor?»
«Me? Her? I don't.»
The boy said nothing.
«Just one of those little things,"' I explained. «We are the Others. And I won't come in, thanks; I have to go away now.»
«What?»
«There'll be different guards here to look after you, Egor. And don't worry—they're far more professional than I am.»
I took a glance through the Twilight; two bright orange lights were just approaching the entrance of the building.
«I… I don't want them,» said the boy, panicking immediately. «I want you to stay!»
«I can't. I have another assignment.»
Down below the entrance door slammed and there was a clatter of footsteps on the stairs. The action heroes disdained the elevator.
«I don't want them!» Egor grabbed hold of the door as if he'd decided to shut himself in. «I don't trust them!»
«You either trust all of the Night Watch or you don't trust anybody,» I told him strictly. «We're not supermen in red and blue cloaks who work alone. We're just employees. The police of the Twilight world. What I say goes for the Night Watch.»
«But who are they?» The kid was beginning to accept it. «Magicians?»
«Yes, but highly specialized ones.»
Tiger Cub appeared below me on the bend of the staircase.
«Hi there, guys!» the girl exclaimed cheerfully, bounding up an entire flight in a single leap.
It was a superhuman leap. Egor winced and took a step backward, gazing watchfully at Tiger Cub. I shook my head: The girl was clearly poised on the very edge of transformation. She was enjoying it, and just at that moment she had good reason to be feeling frisky.
«How are things over there?» I asked.
Tiger Cub sighed loudly and then smiled:
«Oh… a laugh a minute. Everybody's in a panic. You get going, Antoshka, they're waiting for you… So it's you I'm looking after, right?»
The boy looked her over without saying anything. To be honest, the boss had made a great choice when he decided to get Tiger Cub to protect him. Everyone, from young children to old folks, liked her and trusted her. They do say even some of the Dark Ones have sometimes been charmed by her. But then, that was their mistake…
«No one's looking after me,» the boy answered at last. «My name's Egor.»
«And I'm Tiger Cub,» said the girl, already inside the apartment. She gave the kid a friendly hug around the shoulders. «Show me around the battlefield! Let's start preparing our defenses!»
I started down the stairs, shaking my head as I went. In five minutes Tiger Cub would be showing the kid how she got her name.
«Hi,» Bear rumbled as he walked up toward me.
«Hi.» We shook hands quickly. Of all the Watch agents, Bear was the one I was leery of.
Bear was a little bit taller than average, strongly built, with a face that gave absolutely nothing away. He didn't like to talk a lot. Nobody knew where he spent his time when he wasn't working, or where he lived, except maybe Tiger Cub. There were rumors that he wasn't even a magician, but a shape-shifter. They said that first he used to work for Day Watch and then, during some mission, he suddenly switched over to our side. But that was all a load of nonsense. Light Ones don't become Dark Ones, and Dark Ones don't turn into Light Ones. But there was something about Bear that made you stop and wonder.
«Your car's waiting,» the field agent told me without bothering to stop. «The driver's a real ace. You'll be there before you know it.»
Bear had a slight stammer, so he kept his sentences short. He was in no hurry; Tiger Cub was already on guard. But I had no time to hang around.
«Are things tough over there?» I asked, walking faster. The answer came from above me now:
«Worse than that.»
I bounded down several steps at a time and dashed out of the entrance. The car was standing there all right—I slowed down for a moment to admire it. A classy maroon-colored BMW, the latest model, with a flashing light carelessly stuck on the roof. Both doors on the side facing the building were open. The driver was leaning out of the car, hastily smoking a cigarette, and I could just make out the bulge of a holster under the flap of his jacket. Standing by the back door was an absolutely monumental middle-aged man. Under his open coat he was wearing a very expensive suit, with a Duma deputy's badge glinting on his lapel. The man was speaking on his cell phone: