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 to use the lift.
‘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 firmly. ‘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 specialised ones.’
Tiger Cub appeared below me on the bend of the staircase.
‘Hi there, guys!’ she exclaimed cheerfully, bounding up an entire flight in a single leap.
It was a superhuman leap. Egor flinched and took a step back, staring watchfully at Tiger Cub. I shook my head: she 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 Egor. Everyone, from young children to old people, 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 boy a friendly hug round the shoulders. ‘Show me round the battlefield! Let’s start preparing our defences!’
I started down the stairs, shaking my head as I went. In five minutes Tiger Cub would be showing Egor how she got her name.
‘Hello,’ Bear rumbled as he walked up towards me.
‘Hi.’ We shook hands quickly. Of all the Watch agents, Bear was the one I had the most mixed feelings about.
Bear was a little bit taller than average, strongly built with a face that gave 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 rumours that he wasn’t even a magician, but a shape-shifter. They said that first he used to work for the 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 pro. 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 belted out of the entrance. The car was there all right – I slowed down for a moment to admire it. A classy maroon 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 beneath 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 mobile:
‘Who is he anyway? I’ll get there when I can! What? What damned girls? Have you gone crazy? Can’t you do a single thing on your own?’
Seeing me, the deputy narrowed his eyes, cut short his conversation without saying goodbye and got into the car. The driver took a deep drag, tossed his cigarette away and took hold of the wheel. The engine howled softly and I barely had time to get into the front seat before the car moved away. Icy branches scraped across the outside of the door.
‘You gone blind, or something?’ the deputy barked at his driver, though I was the one to blame for what had happened. But as soon as the owner of the car turned to face me his tone changed: ‘You need to get to Perovo?’
It was the first time I’d ever taken a ride with a representative of authority. And this guy was either a top man in the militia or a gangland boss. I realised in theory that there was no difference as far as a Night Watch agent’s powers were concerned, but I’d never tried to experiment before.
‘Yes, back to where the guys came from. And make it quick …’
‘Hear that, Volodya?’ the deputy said to the driver. ‘Step on it!’
Volodya stepped on it so hard I started feeling a bit queasy and I even glanced into the Twilight to see if we were going to get there in one piece.
It seemed like we were. Only not just because of our driver’s skill or because, like any Night Watch agent, I have an artificially elevated success coefficient. It looked like someone had gone through the probability field, weeding out all the accidents, tailbacks and overzealous traffic cops.
The only person in our department who could have done that was the boss himself. But what for?
‘I’m feeling a bit frightened too,’ whispered the invisible bird on my shoulder. ‘When I was with Count—’
She stopped short, as if she’d realised she was speaking a bit too freely.
The car drove through a red light at an intersection, following an incredible twisting route, dodging between the saloons and station wagons. Someone at a bus stop waved a hand in our direction.
‘Like a sip?’ the Duma deputy enquired amiably, holding out a small bottle of Remy Martin and a plastic cup. It seemed so bizarre, I poured myself thirty grams without even thinking about it. Even at that speed the car was a smooth ride, and the cognac didn’t spill.
I handed back the bottle, nodded, took the walkman earphones out of my pocket, put them on and clicked play. Out came this ancient song, ‘Sundays’ – my favourite.
We emerged on to the main highway. The car just kept on picking up speed, I’d never travelled that fast in Moscow before. Or anywhere else, come to that … If the probability field hadn’t been cleared, I’d have made them slow down, but it was pretty terrifying anyway.