Night Watch 05 - The New Watch Read Online Free Page B

day and performed the Salat too,’ I remarked, unable to resist the jibe.
    ‘Don’t blaspheme,’ Las said strictly. ‘I’m serious . . . I found this church especially for it, in the Moscow region. They say all the priests in Moscow are corrupt. But in the provinces they’re closer to God. I phoned them yesterday and had a talk – well, some acquaintances recommended me – they promised to baptise me today, but then Gesar gave me this assignment . . .’
    ‘You’re moving kind of fast,’ I said doubtfully. ‘Are you really ready for the sacrament of baptism?’
    ‘Of course,’ Las laughed. ‘I’ve bought a cross, and a Bible just in case, and a couple of icons . . .’
    ‘Hang on, hang on,’ I said, starting to get interested. We’d just come out onto Leningrad Chaussee and started burning up the road to the airport. Las usually put the ‘escort’ spell on his car, and people had started hastily making way for us. I don’t know which drivers saw what – for some it was an ambulance, for some a police car with its siren wailing, for some a government escort vehicle with blinking lights hung all over it, like some chicken-brain techie with his mobile phones – but they all cleared the road for us pretty smartly.
    ‘And have you learned off the creed?’
    ‘What creed?’ Las asked in surprise.
    ‘The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed!’
    ‘Do I have to?’ Las asked anxiously.
    ‘Never mind, the priest will explain,’ I said, beginning to feel really amused. ‘Have you bought a baptismal robe?’
    ‘What for?’
    ‘Well, when you climb out of the font . . .’
    ‘They only immerse infants in the font – I’m not going to climb into it! They splash the water on grown-ups!’
    ‘You numbskull,’ I said emphatically. ‘They have special fonts, for adults. They’re called baptisteries.’
    ‘Is that what the Baptists have?’
    ‘It’s what they all have.’
    Las started pondering – thankfully, driving an automobile with the ‘escort’ spell on it didn’t require truly intense concentration.
    ‘But what if there are dames there?’
    ‘They’re not dames any more, they’re Sisters in Christ!’
    ‘You’re putting me on!’ Las exclaimed indignantly. ‘That’s enough, Anton!’
    I took out my mobile, thought for a second and asked: ‘Which of our guys do you trust?’
    ‘In spiritual matters?’ Las asked. ‘Well . . . I’d trust Semyon . . .’
    ‘He’ll do,’ I said, with a nod. Then I dialled the number and turned on the speaker.
    ‘Yes, Anton?’ Semyon responded.
    ‘Listen, are you baptised?’
    ‘At my age, how could a Russian not be baptised?’ Semyon answered. ‘I was born in the tsar’s time . . .’
    ‘And are you still close to the Orthodox Faith?’
    ‘Well . . .’ Semyon was clearly embarrassed. ‘I go to church. Sometimes.’
    ‘Tell me, how do they baptise adults?’
    ‘The normal way is the same as for children. Off with the clothes and duck them underwater three times, head and all.’
    ‘Thanks,’ I said and cut off the call. ‘Did you get that? Doubting Thomas . . . prepare for the sacrament.’
    ‘What else will there be?’ asked Las.
    ‘You stand facing the west, spit three times and say: “I renounce Satan!”’
    Las burst into laughter. ‘Come on, Anton . . . Stop telling me fibs. Okay, I accept the baptism, I was a bit too hasty there! A genuine, uncorrupted priest won’t be mean with the water. But standing facing the west . . . and spitting . . .’
    I dialled Semyon again.
    ‘Yes?’ he asked curiously.
    ‘Another question. How does the rite of renouncing Satan go in the baptism?’
    ‘You stand facing the west. The priest asks if you renounce Satan and his works. You renounce him three times and spit towards the west—’
    ‘Thanks.’ I cut him off again.
    Las said nothing, clutching the wheel and looking straight ahead. We had already passed the Moscow Orbital Highway.
    ‘And what other difficult moments will there