The Night Watch Read Online Free PDF Page A
Author: Sergei Lukyanenko
scattered it in the alley, and trampled it a Page 18
bit, working the final dusty, rotten remains into the slush. No human burial for you, you're not human…
That was all.
I went back to the car, got into the driver's seat, and unbuttoned my jacket. I felt good, very good, in fact. The senior vampire was dead, the guys would pick up his girlfriend, and the boy was alive. I could just imagine how delighted the boss would be!
Chapter 2
"Sloppy work!"
I tried to say something, but the next remark stung like a slap to the cheek and shut me up.
"You screwed up!"
"But…"
"Do you at least understand your own mistakes?"
The boss had cooled off a bit, and I took the risk of raising my eyes from the floor and saying cautiously:
"It seems to me…"
I like being in that office. It stirs the kid in me to see all those amusing little trinkets standing on the shelves in the bulletproof glass cupboards, hanging all over the walls, tossed carelessly on the desk, jumbled up with the computer floppies and business papers. Every item there—from the old Japanese fan to the jagged piece of metal with a deer welded onto it, the symbol of some auto plant—had its own history. If you were lucky and the boss was in the mood you could hear some very, very interesting stories.
Only I don't seem to find him in that kind of mood too often.
"Okay." The boss stopped striding round the office, sat down in a leather armchair, and lit up. "Let's hear it."
His voice had turned businesslike, matching his appearance. To the human eye he looked about forty years old, and he belonged to that narrow circle of businessmen that the government likes to rely on so much.
"What do you want to hear?" I asked, at the risk of provoking yet another impartial assessment.
"The mistakes. Your mistakes."
Right then… Okay.
"My first mistake, Boris Ignatievich," I said with a perfectly innocent air, "was that I failed to understand the nature of the mission correctly."
"Oh, really?" the boss replied.
Page 19
"Well, I assumed my goal was to track down a vampire who had begun actively hunting inMoscow . To track him down and… er… neutralize him."
"Go on, go on…" the boss encouraged me.
"In actual fact the basic purpose of the mission was to determine my suitability for operational activity, for field work. Starting with my incorrect understanding of the mission, that is, following the principle
'separate and protect'…"
The boss sighed and nodded. Anyone who didn't know him too well might even have thought he was ashamed.
"And did you contravene this principle in any way?"
"No, and that's why I botched the mission."
"How did you botch it?"
"Right at the beginning…" I squinted sideways at a stuffed white polar owl standing on a shelf behind the glass. Had it really moved its head? "Right at the beginning I drained the amulet in a futile attempt to neutralize a black vortex…"
Boris Ignatievich frowned. He brushed his hair back with his hand.
"Okay, let's start with that. I've studied the image, and if you haven't touched it up…" I shook my head indignantly.
"I believe you. Well, a vortex like that can't be removed with an amulet. Do you remember the classification?"
Damn! Why hadn't I flicked through my old notes?
"I'm sure you don't. But it doesn't matter. There is no class for this vortex. There's no way you could possibly have dealt with it…" The boss leaned over across the desk and continued in a mysterious whisper: "… and you know what…"
I was all ears.
"There's no way I could have either, Anton."
This confession was unexpected, and I couldn't think of anything to say. Maybe no one had ever actually said out loud that the boss could do anything, but that was what everyone who worked in the office believed.
"Anton, a vortex as strong as that can be removed only by the person who created it."
"We have to find him…" I said uncertainly. "I feel sorry for the girl…"
"This isn't about her. Not just about her."
Page
bit, working the final dusty, rotten remains into the slush. No human burial for you, you're not human…
That was all.
I went back to the car, got into the driver's seat, and unbuttoned my jacket. I felt good, very good, in fact. The senior vampire was dead, the guys would pick up his girlfriend, and the boy was alive. I could just imagine how delighted the boss would be!
Chapter 2
"Sloppy work!"
I tried to say something, but the next remark stung like a slap to the cheek and shut me up.
"You screwed up!"
"But…"
"Do you at least understand your own mistakes?"
The boss had cooled off a bit, and I took the risk of raising my eyes from the floor and saying cautiously:
"It seems to me…"
I like being in that office. It stirs the kid in me to see all those amusing little trinkets standing on the shelves in the bulletproof glass cupboards, hanging all over the walls, tossed carelessly on the desk, jumbled up with the computer floppies and business papers. Every item there—from the old Japanese fan to the jagged piece of metal with a deer welded onto it, the symbol of some auto plant—had its own history. If you were lucky and the boss was in the mood you could hear some very, very interesting stories.
Only I don't seem to find him in that kind of mood too often.
"Okay." The boss stopped striding round the office, sat down in a leather armchair, and lit up. "Let's hear it."
His voice had turned businesslike, matching his appearance. To the human eye he looked about forty years old, and he belonged to that narrow circle of businessmen that the government likes to rely on so much.
"What do you want to hear?" I asked, at the risk of provoking yet another impartial assessment.
"The mistakes. Your mistakes."
Right then… Okay.
"My first mistake, Boris Ignatievich," I said with a perfectly innocent air, "was that I failed to understand the nature of the mission correctly."
"Oh, really?" the boss replied.
Page 19
"Well, I assumed my goal was to track down a vampire who had begun actively hunting inMoscow . To track him down and… er… neutralize him."
"Go on, go on…" the boss encouraged me.
"In actual fact the basic purpose of the mission was to determine my suitability for operational activity, for field work. Starting with my incorrect understanding of the mission, that is, following the principle
'separate and protect'…"
The boss sighed and nodded. Anyone who didn't know him too well might even have thought he was ashamed.
"And did you contravene this principle in any way?"
"No, and that's why I botched the mission."
"How did you botch it?"
"Right at the beginning…" I squinted sideways at a stuffed white polar owl standing on a shelf behind the glass. Had it really moved its head? "Right at the beginning I drained the amulet in a futile attempt to neutralize a black vortex…"
Boris Ignatievich frowned. He brushed his hair back with his hand.
"Okay, let's start with that. I've studied the image, and if you haven't touched it up…" I shook my head indignantly.
"I believe you. Well, a vortex like that can't be removed with an amulet. Do you remember the classification?"
Damn! Why hadn't I flicked through my old notes?
"I'm sure you don't. But it doesn't matter. There is no class for this vortex. There's no way you could possibly have dealt with it…" The boss leaned over across the desk and continued in a mysterious whisper: "… and you know what…"
I was all ears.
"There's no way I could have either, Anton."
This confession was unexpected, and I couldn't think of anything to say. Maybe no one had ever actually said out loud that the boss could do anything, but that was what everyone who worked in the office believed.
"Anton, a vortex as strong as that can be removed only by the person who created it."
"We have to find him…" I said uncertainly. "I feel sorry for the girl…"
"This isn't about her. Not just about her."
Page
Similar Books
Dream Horse
Bonnie Bryant
Jon Stewart: The Playboy Interview (50 Years of the Playboy Interview)
Playboy, Jon Stewart
The Ashes Diary
Michael Clarke
Scam
Lesley Choyce
Midnight Lamp
Gwyneth Jones
Daredevils
Shawn Vestal
The Winter Widow
Charlene Weir
One Shot Bargain
Mia Grandy
I Should Die
Amy Plum