Read Online The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, Sergei Luk'ianenko - Free Book Online
Authors: Sergei Lukyanenko, Sergei Luk'ianenko
Tags: Fiction, General, Fantasy, Thrillers, Vampires, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), General & Literary Fiction, Occult, Fantasy fiction; Russian, Science fiction; Russian
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wrong."
So that was it…
"Was that why you started talking? You wanted to warn me off, but you were too late?" No answer.
As if Olga was already regretting being so frank.
"Let's get on with the job…" I said. And just then the phone squeaked in my pocket. It was Larissa. What was she doing working two straight shifts?
"Anton, listen carefully… They've picked up that girl's trail. Perovo station."
"Sugar," was all I said. Working out in the dormitory suburbs was absolute hell.
"Right," Larissa agreed. She was no field operative… that was probably why she was sitting by the phone. But she was bright. "Anton, get across to Perovo. All our guys are being concentrated over there, they're following the trail. And another thing… they've spotted the Day Watch there."
"I get the picture." I folded my phone away.
I didn't get a thing. Did the Dark Ones already know about everything? Were they just yearning for the Inferno to erupt? Then maybe it was no accident that they'd stopped me?
Nonsense. A major disaster inMoscow was not in the interests of Darkness. But of course, they wouldn't try to stop the twister either: That would go against their nature. So I didn't go into the metro after all. I stopped a car. It ought to save me a bit of time, even if not that much. I sat beside the driver, a swarthy, hook-nosed intellectual about forty years old. The car was new, and the driver himself gave the impression of doing very well for himself. It seemed a bit strange for him to be earning a bit on the side by offering a private taxi service.
… Perovo. A large city district. Crowds of people. Light and Darkness, all twisted up together into a knot. And a few institutions, casting beams of Darkness and Light in all directions. Working there was going to be like trying to find a grain of sand on the floor of a crowded discotheque with the strobe lights on…
I wouldn't be much use to anyone, or actually, I wouldn't be any use at all. But I'd been ordered to go, so I had to. Maybe they'd ask me to identify the girl.
"For some reason I was sure we'd get lucky," I whispered, gazing at the road ahead. We drove pastElkIslandPark , a pretty grim place; the Dark Ones gather there for their sabbaths. And when they do, the rights of ordinary people aren't always respected. Five nights a year we have to put up with anything. Well, almost anything.
Page 40
"I thought so too," whispered Olga.
"I can't compete with the field agents," I said, shaking my head. The driver squinted sideways at me; I'd accepted the price without haggling, and he'd seemed happy enough to go in our direction. But a man talking to himself always arouses suspicions.
"I just blew this job," I told the driver with a sigh. "That is, I completely screwed it up. I thought I could make up for it today, but they got along without me."
"So what's your hurry?" the driver asked. He didn't look like the talkative type, but he was interested enough.
"I was ordered to go," I said.
I wondered who he thought I was.
"So what do you do?"
"I'm a programmer," I answered. And I was telling the truth too.
"Fantastic," the driver commented, and laughed. What did he find so fantastic about it? "Do you make a living?"
He didn't really have to ask. After all, I wasn't riding the metro. But I answered anyway:
"I do ok."
"I wasn't just asking out of curiosity," my driver unexpectedly confided. "My system administrator's leaving me…"
My system administrator… I see!
"I personally see the finger of fate in this. I give a man a lift and he turns out to be a programmer. I think you're already doomed."
He laughed, like he was trying to make light of his excessive confidence.
"Have you done any work with local networks?"
"Yes."
"A network of fifty machines. It has to be maintained. We pay well." I felt myself starting to smile. It was a good offer. A local network. Decent money. And no one sending you out at night to catch vampires, making you drink blood and sniff out
So that was it…
"Was that why you started talking? You wanted to warn me off, but you were too late?" No answer.
As if Olga was already regretting being so frank.
"Let's get on with the job…" I said. And just then the phone squeaked in my pocket. It was Larissa. What was she doing working two straight shifts?
"Anton, listen carefully… They've picked up that girl's trail. Perovo station."
"Sugar," was all I said. Working out in the dormitory suburbs was absolute hell.
"Right," Larissa agreed. She was no field operative… that was probably why she was sitting by the phone. But she was bright. "Anton, get across to Perovo. All our guys are being concentrated over there, they're following the trail. And another thing… they've spotted the Day Watch there."
"I get the picture." I folded my phone away.
I didn't get a thing. Did the Dark Ones already know about everything? Were they just yearning for the Inferno to erupt? Then maybe it was no accident that they'd stopped me?
Nonsense. A major disaster inMoscow was not in the interests of Darkness. But of course, they wouldn't try to stop the twister either: That would go against their nature. So I didn't go into the metro after all. I stopped a car. It ought to save me a bit of time, even if not that much. I sat beside the driver, a swarthy, hook-nosed intellectual about forty years old. The car was new, and the driver himself gave the impression of doing very well for himself. It seemed a bit strange for him to be earning a bit on the side by offering a private taxi service.
… Perovo. A large city district. Crowds of people. Light and Darkness, all twisted up together into a knot. And a few institutions, casting beams of Darkness and Light in all directions. Working there was going to be like trying to find a grain of sand on the floor of a crowded discotheque with the strobe lights on…
I wouldn't be much use to anyone, or actually, I wouldn't be any use at all. But I'd been ordered to go, so I had to. Maybe they'd ask me to identify the girl.
"For some reason I was sure we'd get lucky," I whispered, gazing at the road ahead. We drove pastElkIslandPark , a pretty grim place; the Dark Ones gather there for their sabbaths. And when they do, the rights of ordinary people aren't always respected. Five nights a year we have to put up with anything. Well, almost anything.
Page 40
"I thought so too," whispered Olga.
"I can't compete with the field agents," I said, shaking my head. The driver squinted sideways at me; I'd accepted the price without haggling, and he'd seemed happy enough to go in our direction. But a man talking to himself always arouses suspicions.
"I just blew this job," I told the driver with a sigh. "That is, I completely screwed it up. I thought I could make up for it today, but they got along without me."
"So what's your hurry?" the driver asked. He didn't look like the talkative type, but he was interested enough.
"I was ordered to go," I said.
I wondered who he thought I was.
"So what do you do?"
"I'm a programmer," I answered. And I was telling the truth too.
"Fantastic," the driver commented, and laughed. What did he find so fantastic about it? "Do you make a living?"
He didn't really have to ask. After all, I wasn't riding the metro. But I answered anyway:
"I do ok."
"I wasn't just asking out of curiosity," my driver unexpectedly confided. "My system administrator's leaving me…"
My system administrator… I see!
"I personally see the finger of fate in this. I give a man a lift and he turns out to be a programmer. I think you're already doomed."
He laughed, like he was trying to make light of his excessive confidence.
"Have you done any work with local networks?"
"Yes."
"A network of fifty machines. It has to be maintained. We pay well." I felt myself starting to smile. It was a good offer. A local network. Decent money. And no one sending you out at night to catch vampires, making you drink blood and sniff out
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