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"But you're an Other? Not from state security?" Timur Borisovich asked anxiously.
"Very unfortunately for you, I'm not from state security. Tell me absolutely honestly who promised you would be
initiated and when."
"You'll sense it if I lie," Timur Borisovich said simply.
"Of course."
"Oh Lord, all I wanted was just to spend a couple of hours in peace," Timur Borisovich exclaimed in a pained
voice. "Problems here, conflicts there... and when I climb into the bath, in comes a serious young man looking for
answers."
I waited. I didn't bother to point out that I wasn't simply a man.
"A week ago, I had a meeting with ..." Timur Borisovich hesitated, "... a meeting, in rather strange circumstances
... with a certain gentleman ..."
Page 39
"What did he look like?" I asked. "No need to describe him, just picture him to yourself."
A gleam of curiosity appeared in Timur Borisovich's eyes. He looked hard at me.
"What?" I exclaimed, bewildered.
I had good reason to be . . .
If I could trust the mental image that had appeared in the businessman's mind (and I had no reason not to trust
it), then the person who had come to talk to him was the now little known but once famous movie actor Oleg
Strizhenov.
"Oleg Strizhenov," Timur Borisovich snorted. "Still young and handsome. I thought there was something badly
wrong with my head. But he said it was just a disguise . . . a dis.. ."
So that was it. Gesar had had enough wits to disguise himself .. . Well then . . . that improved our chances.
Feeling a bit more cheerful, I said, "Go on. Then what happened?"
"That were-creature," said Timur Borisovich, inadvertently confusing our terminology, "gave me a lot of help with a
certain matter. I'd gotten involved in a bad business . . . entirely by chance. If I hadn't been told a few things, I
wouldn't be lying here now."
"So you were helped."
"Helped big time," Timur Borisovich said with a nod. "So naturally, I got curious. Then another time we had a real
heart-to-heart. Remembered old Tashkent and talked about the old films . . . And then this phoney Strizhenov told
me about the Others, and said he was a relative of mine. So he'd be happy to do anything at all for me. Free and
for gratis, no return favors required."
"So?" I asked, urging him on.
"Well, I'm not an idiot," Timur Borisovich said with a shrug. "You don't ask a golden fish for three wishes, you ask
for unlimited power. Or at the very least for a pool full of golden fish. I asked him to make me an Other, like him.
Then this 'Strizhenov' started getting edgy and hopping about like he was on a red-hot skillet. Said it couldn't be
done. But I could tell he was lying. It can be done. So I asked him to make a real effort and turn me into an Other
after all..."
He was telling the truth. Every single word. But he wasn't quite telling me the whole story.
"It's impossible to make you into an Other," I explained. "You're an ordinary human being. I'm sorry, there's no
way you'll ever be an Other."
Timur Borisovich snorted again.
"It's . . . well, if you like, it's in the genes," I explained. "Timur Borisovich, did you realize that your contact was
caught in a trap? That he had formulated his proposal wrong, and as a result he was obliged to do something for
you that's impossible?"
The self-confident businessman didn't have anything to say to that.
"You did," I said. "I can see that you did. And you still went on demanding?"
"I told you-it can be done!" said Timur Borisovich, raising his voice. "I can feel it. I can tell when someone's lying
just as well as you can. And I didn't make any threats, I only asked."
"It was probably your father who came to see you," I said. "Do you realize that?"
Timur Borisovich froze in his seething Jacuzzi.
"He wanted to help you all right," I said. "But he can't do this. And your demand is literally killing him. Do you
understand that?"
Timur Borisovich shook his head.
"The promise he gave was too vague," I said. "You took him at his word, and if he fails to carry out his promise,
then he'll die. Do you understand?"
"Is that one of your rules?"
"It's a corollary of Power," I said curtly. "Well, for the Light Ones."
"Where was he all that time, my dad ..." Timur Borisovich said with genuine sorrow in his voice. "I suppose he
must still be young? Why did he come to me when my grandchildren are already married?"
"Believe me, he couldn't have come sooner," I replied. "Most likely he didn't even know about you. It just
happened that way. But now you're killing him. Your own father."
Timur Borisovich didn't say anything.
But I was exultant. Because this businessman lounging in his Jacuzzi wasn't a hardened scoundrel. He'd grown
up in the East, and the word "father" meant a lot to him.
No matter what.
"Tell him that I withdraw my... request," Timur Borisovich muttered. "If he doesn't want to . . . then to hell with him
. . . He could simply have come and told me everything honestly. He didn't need to send his staff."
Page 40
"Are you sure I'm one of his staff?"
"Yes. I don't know who my dad is. But he's some big wheel in those Watches of yours."
I'd done it. I'd removed the Sword of Damocles that had been hanging over Gesar's head.
Maybe that was why he'd sent me to the Assol? Because he knew I could do it?
"Timur Borisovich, one more request," I went on, striking while the iron was hot. "You have to disappear for a
while, get out of town. Certain facts have become known . . . there are Others on your trail, apart from me.
Including Dark Ones. They'll make trouble for you, and for . . . for your father."
Timur Borisovich jerked upright in his bath. "What else will you order me to do?"
"I could order you," I explained, "just as easily as your bodyguards. And you'd go dashing to the airport without
your trousers. But I'm asking you, Timur Borisovich. You've already done one good deed by agreeing to withdraw
your demand. Take the next step. Please."
"Do you realize what kind of ideas people get about businessmen who take off without warning to God knows
where?"
"I can imagine."
Timur Borisovich grunted and suddenly looked older somehow. I felt ashamed. But I carried on waiting.
"I'd like to talk ... to him."
"I think that'll be okay," I agreed. "But first you have to disappear."
"Turn around," Timur Borisovich growled.
I obediently turned around, because I believed I wouldn't get a heavy nickel-plated soap dish across the back of
my head.
And that entirely groundless trust saved me.
Because I glanced at the wall through the Twilight to make sure the bodyguards were still sleeping peacefully by
the door. And I saw a fleeting shadow-moving far too quickly for a human being.
What's more, the shadow was moving through the wall. Not walking normally, like a magician, but gliding along
like a vampire.
By the time Kostya walked into the bathroom, I'd already set my face into the calm, mocking expression
appropriate for a Light Watchman who's gotten the better of a Dark One.
"You!" said Kostya. In the Twilight his body gave off a light vapor. Vampires generally look different in the Twilight
world, but Kostya still looked a lot like a human being. Amazing for a Higher Vampire.
"Of course," I said. My words seemed to sink into wet cotton wool. "What are you doing here?"
Kostya hesitated, but he answered honestly: [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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"But you're an Other? Not from state security?" Timur Borisovich asked anxiously.
"Very unfortunately for you, I'm not from state security. Tell me absolutely honestly who promised you would be
initiated and when."
"You'll sense it if I lie," Timur Borisovich said simply.
"Of course."
"Oh Lord, all I wanted was just to spend a couple of hours in peace," Timur Borisovich exclaimed in a pained
voice. "Problems here, conflicts there... and when I climb into the bath, in comes a serious young man looking for
answers."
I waited. I didn't bother to point out that I wasn't simply a man.
"A week ago, I had a meeting with ..." Timur Borisovich hesitated, "... a meeting, in rather strange circumstances
... with a certain gentleman ..."
Page 39
"What did he look like?" I asked. "No need to describe him, just picture him to yourself."
A gleam of curiosity appeared in Timur Borisovich's eyes. He looked hard at me.
"What?" I exclaimed, bewildered.
I had good reason to be . . .
If I could trust the mental image that had appeared in the businessman's mind (and I had no reason not to trust
it), then the person who had come to talk to him was the now little known but once famous movie actor Oleg
Strizhenov.
"Oleg Strizhenov," Timur Borisovich snorted. "Still young and handsome. I thought there was something badly
wrong with my head. But he said it was just a disguise . . . a dis.. ."
So that was it. Gesar had had enough wits to disguise himself .. . Well then . . . that improved our chances.
Feeling a bit more cheerful, I said, "Go on. Then what happened?"
"That were-creature," said Timur Borisovich, inadvertently confusing our terminology, "gave me a lot of help with a
certain matter. I'd gotten involved in a bad business . . . entirely by chance. If I hadn't been told a few things, I
wouldn't be lying here now."
"So you were helped."
"Helped big time," Timur Borisovich said with a nod. "So naturally, I got curious. Then another time we had a real
heart-to-heart. Remembered old Tashkent and talked about the old films . . . And then this phoney Strizhenov told
me about the Others, and said he was a relative of mine. So he'd be happy to do anything at all for me. Free and
for gratis, no return favors required."
"So?" I asked, urging him on.
"Well, I'm not an idiot," Timur Borisovich said with a shrug. "You don't ask a golden fish for three wishes, you ask
for unlimited power. Or at the very least for a pool full of golden fish. I asked him to make me an Other, like him.
Then this 'Strizhenov' started getting edgy and hopping about like he was on a red-hot skillet. Said it couldn't be
done. But I could tell he was lying. It can be done. So I asked him to make a real effort and turn me into an Other
after all..."
He was telling the truth. Every single word. But he wasn't quite telling me the whole story.
"It's impossible to make you into an Other," I explained. "You're an ordinary human being. I'm sorry, there's no
way you'll ever be an Other."
Timur Borisovich snorted again.
"It's . . . well, if you like, it's in the genes," I explained. "Timur Borisovich, did you realize that your contact was
caught in a trap? That he had formulated his proposal wrong, and as a result he was obliged to do something for
you that's impossible?"
The self-confident businessman didn't have anything to say to that.
"You did," I said. "I can see that you did. And you still went on demanding?"
"I told you-it can be done!" said Timur Borisovich, raising his voice. "I can feel it. I can tell when someone's lying
just as well as you can. And I didn't make any threats, I only asked."
"It was probably your father who came to see you," I said. "Do you realize that?"
Timur Borisovich froze in his seething Jacuzzi.
"He wanted to help you all right," I said. "But he can't do this. And your demand is literally killing him. Do you
understand that?"
Timur Borisovich shook his head.
"The promise he gave was too vague," I said. "You took him at his word, and if he fails to carry out his promise,
then he'll die. Do you understand?"
"Is that one of your rules?"
"It's a corollary of Power," I said curtly. "Well, for the Light Ones."
"Where was he all that time, my dad ..." Timur Borisovich said with genuine sorrow in his voice. "I suppose he
must still be young? Why did he come to me when my grandchildren are already married?"
"Believe me, he couldn't have come sooner," I replied. "Most likely he didn't even know about you. It just
happened that way. But now you're killing him. Your own father."
Timur Borisovich didn't say anything.
But I was exultant. Because this businessman lounging in his Jacuzzi wasn't a hardened scoundrel. He'd grown
up in the East, and the word "father" meant a lot to him.
No matter what.
"Tell him that I withdraw my... request," Timur Borisovich muttered. "If he doesn't want to . . . then to hell with him
. . . He could simply have come and told me everything honestly. He didn't need to send his staff."
Page 40
"Are you sure I'm one of his staff?"
"Yes. I don't know who my dad is. But he's some big wheel in those Watches of yours."
I'd done it. I'd removed the Sword of Damocles that had been hanging over Gesar's head.
Maybe that was why he'd sent me to the Assol? Because he knew I could do it?
"Timur Borisovich, one more request," I went on, striking while the iron was hot. "You have to disappear for a
while, get out of town. Certain facts have become known . . . there are Others on your trail, apart from me.
Including Dark Ones. They'll make trouble for you, and for . . . for your father."
Timur Borisovich jerked upright in his bath. "What else will you order me to do?"
"I could order you," I explained, "just as easily as your bodyguards. And you'd go dashing to the airport without
your trousers. But I'm asking you, Timur Borisovich. You've already done one good deed by agreeing to withdraw
your demand. Take the next step. Please."
"Do you realize what kind of ideas people get about businessmen who take off without warning to God knows
where?"
"I can imagine."
Timur Borisovich grunted and suddenly looked older somehow. I felt ashamed. But I carried on waiting.
"I'd like to talk ... to him."
"I think that'll be okay," I agreed. "But first you have to disappear."
"Turn around," Timur Borisovich growled.
I obediently turned around, because I believed I wouldn't get a heavy nickel-plated soap dish across the back of
my head.
And that entirely groundless trust saved me.
Because I glanced at the wall through the Twilight to make sure the bodyguards were still sleeping peacefully by
the door. And I saw a fleeting shadow-moving far too quickly for a human being.
What's more, the shadow was moving through the wall. Not walking normally, like a magician, but gliding along
like a vampire.
By the time Kostya walked into the bathroom, I'd already set my face into the calm, mocking expression
appropriate for a Light Watchman who's gotten the better of a Dark One.
"You!" said Kostya. In the Twilight his body gave off a light vapor. Vampires generally look different in the Twilight
world, but Kostya still looked a lot like a human being. Amazing for a Higher Vampire.
"Of course," I said. My words seemed to sink into wet cotton wool. "What are you doing here?"
Kostya hesitated, but he answered honestly: [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]