Borowitz had expected that; it was typical of Dragosani leap before looking, to rush in where angels might well fear to tiptoe. The boss of E-Branch stepped well back as
Batu, still crouching, swivelled to face the necromancer.
The Mongol was smiling again, holding his head questioningly on one side. ‘A trick?’ he said. ‘I meant only -‘ Dragosani hastily began.
‘That is almost the same as calling me a liar,’ said Batu – and his face at once underwent its monstrous transformation. Now Dragosani got the full frontal view of what Borowitz had termed ‘the evil eye’. And without the slightest shadow of a doubt it was evil! It was as if Dragosani’s blood congealed in his veins. He felt his muscles stiffening, as if rigor mortis were already setting in. His heart gave a massive lurch in his chest, and its pain caused him to cry out and sent him staggering. But the necromancer’s reflexes were lightning itself.
Even as he reeled back against the wall his hand slid inside his jacket, came out grasping his pistol. He now knew – or at least thought – that this man could kill him. And survival was uppermost in Dragosani’s mind. Quite simply, he must kill the Mongol first.
Borowitz stepped between them. ‘That’s enough!’ he snapped. ‘Dragosani, put it away!’
‘That bastard almost finished me!’ the necromancer gasped, his body trembling with reaction. He tried to move Borowitz out of his line of fire but the older man was like stone.
‘I said that’s enough? he repeated. ‘What, would you shoot your partner?’
‘My what?’ Dragosani couldn’t believe his ears. ‘My partner? I don’t need a partner. What sort of partner? Is this some sort of joke?’
Borowitz reached out a hand and carefully took Dragosani’s gun. ‘There,’ he said. ‘That’s better. And now we can go back to my office.’ On their way out, as he herded a shaken Dragosani before him, he turned to the Mongol and said: ‘Thank you, Max.’
‘My pleasure,’ said the other, his face once more wreathed in a smile. He bowed from the waist as Borowitz closed the door on him.
Out in the corridor Dragosani was furious. He snatched back his gun and put it away. “You and your damned weird sense of humour!’ he snarled. ‘Man, I nearly died in there!’
‘No you didn’t,’ Borowitz seemed unperturbed, ‘not even nearly. If you had a weak heart it would have killed you, just as it killed his neighbour. Or if you were old and infirm. But you’re young and very strong. No, no, I knew he couldn’t kill you. He himself told me that he couldn’t kill a strong man. It takes a lot out of him to do what he does, so much indeed that he would be the one to die, not you, if he really tried it on. So you see, I had faith in your strength.’
‘You had faith in my strength? You crazy old sadist -and what if you’d been wrong?’
‘But I wasn’t wrong,’ said Borowitz, starting back the way they had come.
Dragosani wouldn’t be placated. He still felt shaken, weak at the knees. Staggering after Borowitz, he said: ‘What happened back there was a deliberate set-up and you bloody well know it!’
His boss whirled and pointed directly at Dragosani’s chest. His grin was savage as a snarl. ‘But now you believe, yes? Now you have seen and you have felt. Now you know what he can do! You no longer think it’s a trick. It’s a new talent, Dragosani, and one we haven’t seen before. And who’s to say what other talents there are throughout the world, eh?’
‘But why did you let me – no, make me – go up against something like that? It makes no sense.’
Borowitz turned and hurried on. ‘It makes lots of sense. It’s practice, Dragosani, and like I’m always telling you-‘
‘Practice makes perfect, I know. But practice for what?’
‘I only wish I knew,’ Borowitz tossed over his shoulder. ‘Who can say what you’ll come up against – in England!’
‘What?’ Dragosani’s jaw dropped. He chased after the older man. ‘England? What about England? And you still haven’t told me what you meant when you said Batu was my partner. Gregor, I don’t understand any of this.’