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IT’S A COMMON SIGHT AT A RAILROAD STATION¡ªA SMALL GROUP OF people dashing along the platfor from¡ªif it hasn’t already left For soers is almost always played by women shuttle-traders loaded doith Chinese striped-canvas bags or, by contrast, cultured individuals whose only burden is a Saed to an exotic subspecies of the second category¡ª we had absolutely no baggage at all, and our overall appearance was pretty strange, but it inspired respect

On the platforain¡ªere already close to the book

"He’s trying to get away," Zabulon declared grandly "All right now let’s see which trains are leaving"

The Dark One’s gaze clouded over¡ªhe was forecasting the future, looking to see which train would leave the platform first

I looked up at the infor in the air behind us "The Moscow-Almaty train is about to leave In five minutes, from platform two"

Zabulon returned from his prophetic travels and announced, "The train to Kazakhstan from platform two In five minutes"

He looked very pleased with himself

Kostya snickered very quietly

Gesar looked up ostentatiously at the inforht, Zabulon And the next one’s not for half an hour"

"We’ll stop the train and coht?"

"Will your underlings be able to find the Other?" Gesar asked "If he’s disguised? If he’s a ar wilted before our eyes He shook his head

"That’s the point," Gesar said with a nod "The Fuaran was in the station It was in the station, and we couldn’t find the book or the criminal What makes you think it will be any easier on the train?"

"If he’s on the train," said Zabulon, "the easiest thing to do is destroy the train No more problem"

There was silence

Gesar shook his head

"I know, I know, it’s a disagreeable solution," Zabulon acknowledged "Even I don’t like the idea of a thousand lives simply wasted But what other choice do we have?"

"What do you suggest, Great One?" asked Edgar

"If," said Zabulon, e the word, "the Fuaran really is on the train, we have to wait for a moment when the train reaches an unpopulated area The Kazakh steppes would suit perfectly And after that follow the plans that the Inquisition has for such situations"

Edgar gave a nervous jerk of his head and, as always happened when he was agitated, he started speaking with a slight Baltic accent "That is not a good solution, Great One And I cannot approve it on my own¡ªthe sanction of the Tribunal is required"

Zabulon shrugged, his entire estions

"In any case, we have to be certain that the book is on the train," said Gesar "I suggest" he looked at est that Anton froht Watch, Konstantin froet on the train To check it out We don’t need a big group for that We’ll arrive in the o, Kostya," Zabulon said affectionately, slapping the young vaood sense Good co job¡ª you’ll enjoy it"

The lance in my direction was almost too fast to catch

"That buys us tio ues with a said quietly "If you’ve "

Edgar waved to his tea to the conductor of the front car¡ªa young Kazakh with a moustache¡ªand the conductor’s face suddenly went slack, assu an expression that was sleepy and happy at the same time He moved aside to let us in We crowded into the little lobby at the end of the car I looked out¡ªZabulon, Gesar, and Olga were standing on the platfor in a quiet voice

"In the situation that has arisen, I’ll assuar declared "Any objections?"

I glanced at the six Inquisitors standing behind his back and said nothing But Kostya couldn’t restrain hiive I only acknowledge the authority of the Day Watch"

"I repeat¡ªI aar said coolly "If you don’t agree, then you can get out"

Kostya hesitated for a second¡ªand then lowered his head "My apologies, Inquisitor It was a poor joke Of course you are in charge But if necessary I will contact my superior"

"First you’ll juar was determined to cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s

"Very well," Kostya said and nodded "My apologies, Inquisitor"

And that put an end to the incipient rebellion Edgar nodded, stuck his head out of the lobby and called the conductor over

"When are we starting?"

"Right away!" the conductor replied, gazing at the Inquisitor with all the adoration of a devoted dog "Right away I have to get in"

"Well get in, then," said Edgar,out of the way

The conductor cli that expression of joyful sub away The conductor stood beside the open door, swaying slightly

"What’s your naaliev"

"Close the door Do your job according to your instructions" Edgar frowned "We are your best friends We are your guests You have to find places on the train for us Do you understand?"

The door clattered shut The conductor locked it with his key and stood at attention in front of Edgar again

"I understand We need to go to the captain of the train I don’t have enough free places Only four"

"Let’s go see the captain," Edgar agreed "Anton, what’s the co?"

I lifted up the note and looked at the Twilight co idly

"Looks like the book’s on the train"

"We’ll wait a bit to ar decided

We traveled half a mile or so fro Whoever the thief was, he was traveling with us

"He’s on the train, the son of a bitch," said Edgar "Wait for et ourselves places somewhere"

He went out into the corridor with the conductor, as still s contentedly A second conductor spotted his partner and said sonantly¡ªbut then he caught Edgar’s glance and fell silent

"Might as well hang signs around our necks¡ª’We’re Others!’" said Kostya "What’s he doing? If there really is a Higher Other on the train¡ªhe’ll sense the ht It would have been far better to ic that works just as ith people But Edgar was probably feeling too nervous

"Can you sense any ic?" one of the junior Inquisitors asked unexpectedly

Kostya turned toward him, perplexed He shook his head

"And neither will anybody else Edgar has an ae"

"Inquisitor’s tricks" Kostya muttered, clearly nettled "Even so, it would be better to keep our heads down Right, Anton?"

I nodded reluctantly

Edgar came back after about twenty minutes I didn’t bother to ask how he’d dealt with the captain of the train, by giving hi his ain He had a calm, contented expression on his face

"We’ll divide into two groups," he said, ht into command mode "You,"¡ªhe nodded in the direction of the Inquisitors¡ª"are staying in this car Take the conductors’ compartment and compartment one¡ªthat’s six places Askhat will settle you in ask hi you need, don’t be shy And don’t take any positive action on your own, don’t play the amateur detective Behave like like people Report on the situation to me every three hours or as necessary We’ll be in car number seven"

The Inquisitors filed silently out of the lobby after the sar turned to Kostya and me "We’ll take coard it as our teo"

"Have you come up with a plan yet, chief?" Kostya inquired I couldn’t tell if he was being ironic or sincere

Edgar looked at hienuine question or just a jibe But he answered anyway "If I have a plan, you’ll hear about it In good tiet a cup of coffee and two or three hours’ sleep In that order"

Kostya and I set off after Edgar The va back at him After all, ere united now by our position as subordinates despite everything I thought about Kostya

The car that the captain rides in is the top spot in the whole train The air conditioners alork there The boiler is always full of hot water, and the conductor always has a fresh brew of tea ready Finally, it’s clean, even in the Central Asian trains, and they give out the sheets in sealed packs¡ªthey really have been laundered after the previous run The toilets work in both washrooo in there without rubber boots

And to coers’ simple happiness, the restaurant car is hitched on at one side of the captain’s car And the sleeper car¡ªif there is one in the train¡ªis on the other side

The Moscow-Allancing curiously at the passengers They were mostly solemn, well-fed Kazakhs, almost all with briefcases that they kept with the tea fro out slicedboiled chickens into pieces Butthe Moscow suburbs slide past

I wondered what they were feeling, these citizens of a newly independent country, as they gazed at their former capital Were they really content with their independence? Or could they possibly be feeling nostalgic?

I didn’t know You couldn’t ask them, and if you did, you couldn’t be sure they’d answer honestly And breaking into their minds to make them answer honestly wasn’t our style

It would be better anyway if they were happy and proud¡ªof their own independence, their own statehood, their own corruption Especially since not so long before at the three hundredth anniversary of St Petersburg, happy people had been saying, "Let the it, not the ones from Moscow"¡ªso why shouldn’t the Kazakhs and Uzbekis, Ukrainians and Tadjiks feel the sa republican and hbors from the old communal apartment? The little rooms with the view of the Baltic had seceded, as had the proud Georgians, and the Kirghizians, with the world’s only high-mountain navy¡ª everyone had been happy to secede The only roo kitchen¡ªRussia, where the different nations all used to stew in the ias How about yours?

Let thehted with their anniversary celebrations¡ªeveryone knows you can dine off one good anniversary for a century And the Kazakhs and Kirghizians, who had founded their very first states although they, of course, could put forward heaps of evidence to prove their ancient statehood And our brother Slavs who had felt so oppressed by coexistence with their big brother And we Russians, who despised Moscow so passionately from the provinces, and despised the provinces from Moscow

Just for a usted Not with the Kazakh passengers, and not with my fellow Russians Just with people With all the people in the world What did we in the Night Watch think ere doing? Divide and protect? Nonsense! Not a single Dark One, not a single Day Watch, caused people as ry vae irls in elevators? What was one hardhearted witch who put a hex on someone for h-accuracy rockets for the sake of oil?

A plague on both your houses

I stopped in the lobby and let Kostya go ahead Then I froze, staring at the filthy floor, already littered with the first dozen stinking cigarette butts

What rong with hts?

I couldn’t pretend they weren’t They were mine, not anyone else’s No one had snuck into her Other could have done that without

It was

A Light Other as burned out, disillusioned with everything in the world

This was how you wound up in the Inquisition When you stopped being able to see any difference between Light Ones and Dark Ones When for you, people weren’t even a flock of sheep, but just a handful of spiders in a glass jar When you stopped believing in the future, and all you wanted to do was preserve the status quo For yourself For those few individuals ere still dear to you

"No, I refuse," I said, as if I were pronouncing an oath, as if I were holding up a shield against the invisible eneainst myself "I refuse! You have no power over me Anton Gorodetsky!"

On the other side of two doors and four thick panes of glass, Kostya turned and gavewhy I’d stopped?

I forced a s concertina of the short bridge connecting the two cars

The captain’s car really was a classy place Clean rugs on the floor; a carpet runner in the corridor; white curtains on the s; soft mattresses that didn’t remind you of the mattress stuffed with corncobs in a cabin

"Who’s sleeping up top, and who’s down below?" Edgar asked briskly

"It’s all the same to me," Kostya replied

"I’d rather be up top," I said

"Me too," said Edgar with a nod "That’s agreed, then"

There was a polite knock at the door

"Yes!" The Inquisitor didn’t even turn his head

It was the captain of the train, carrying a tray with a nickel-plated kettle full of hot water, a teapot with strong brew, cups, so, strapping, serious-looking man, with a bushy moustache and a uniform that was a perfect fit

But the expression on his face was as dull and stupid as a newborn puppy’s

"Enjoy your tea, dear guests"

Clear enough He was under the influence of the aar was a Dark One did have some effect on his methods, after all

"Thank you Infor the way,the tray "Especially those who get off before they reach their stop"

"It will be done, your honor," the captain of the train nodded

Kostya giggled

I waited until the poor one out, and asked, "Why ’your honor’?"

"How should I know?" Edgar said with a shrug "The amulet induces people to accept instructions But who they see irl they love, a well-known actor, or Generalis-siuyold ain

"There’s nothing funny about it," Edgar said angrily "And nothing terrible either It’s the least har the huave Yakubovich a lift in his car or let Gorbachev through to the front of the line are the result of suggestions just like this"

"That’s not what I was laughing at," Kostya explained "I iined you in a white army officer’s uniforh" said Edgar, pouring hi?"

I put the note on the table without speaking A Twilight i of a co pointer

I poured ood Brewed to perfection, just as it should be for "his honor"

"He’s on the train, the scu to conceal the alternatives from you Either we catch the perpetrator, or the train will be destroyed Together with all the passengers"

"How?" Kostya asked laconically

"There are various possibilities A gas hter plane accidentally launches an air-to-ground missile if absolutely necessary, the rocket will have a nuclear warhead"

"Edgar!" I really wanted to believe he was over-dra the situation "There are at least five hundred passengers on this train!"

"Rather more than that," the Inquisitor corrected me

"We can’t do that"

"We can’t let the book go We can’t allow an unprincipled Other to create his own private guard and start restyling the world to suit himself"

"But we don’t knohat he wants"

"We know he killed an Inquisitor without hesitation We know he is very powerful and is pursuing sooal unknown to us What’s he after in Central Asia, Gorodetsky?"

I shrugged

"There are several ancient centers of power there," Edgar muttered "A certain number of artifacts that disappeared without trace, a certain nuions eak political control And what else?"

"A billion Chinese," Kostya suddenly put in

The Dark Ones stared at each other

"You’re out of your ar said hesitantly