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It was late afternoon when the claws of my most faithful friend scratched the roof almost inaudibly. Over the years, Mashk had become accustomed to and even approved of my habit of climbing to heights, sitting down next to me each time and taking a long look at the world with me - from the courtyard, with its bustle, all the way to the horizon.

The cat has changed over the past three years. He has become more luxurious, more graceful, and in some ways, more leisurely. Even on the roof, he climbed gracefully and without fuss, finding a comfortable path between the downpipes and decorative curbs. His fur was glossy and well-groomed. His fluffy tail could be wrapped no worse than a scarf, but inside, he still was an eternally hungry kitty. And since he had appeared in the evening, it must be after nine o'clock - the time when any decent cat should be fed and put to bed.

Mashk rubbed my leg, ran the tip of his tail along my chin, and rested comfortably on my knees, peering at the toothy silhouette of the distant village buildings in the setting sun. At once it warmed up, and all the huge plans lined up again in a clear, very uncomplicated chain.

"Thank you, furry one," I stroked him between the ears.

There was a grateful purr under my arms, filling the chilly night with comfort. One last night in this place.

"We can go now," Vadik emerged with the silence he'd grown accustomed to over the past three years, "Everyone's been sent to their beds."

"Have there been many?"

"Like ten. Five each from Sneezer and Sailor."

"Pfft," I snorted dismissively, carefully moving the languishing cat from my lap to my arms.

I wasn't good enough to fight fair alone against ten guys. But it wasn't a fair fight, either, so I was a little sneaky, wrapping in my power from other people's blows, occasionally burning a panting rival with my punches. It usually takes a couple of minutes for the smartest ones to scatter and the stupid ones to think they've been betrayed. So ten was nothing.

"I saw an awl and half scissors in their hands," Vadik added dryly.

"Good: that means they'll go to the end," I nodded in reply, pushing my way through the attic door. "Put a stopper on the door to keep them out of the way at night."

"There will be a babysitter on duty at the door all night. For a hundred, she promised not to sleep a wink," he said modestly but clearly expecting approval.

He received a pat on the shoulder along with assurances of his cleverness. Although the price was a bit steep, the night should go by without prying eyes or ears.

A couple of steps up to my room, I put Mashk in my friend's arms, adjusted my clothes, got ready for business, and stepped inside with a radiant smile and great optimism in my eyes. For some time now, I was not living alone again - the boarding school needed a watchman, after all. And I needed another source of income.

"How are we doing?" I turned to the man who was hurriedly sitting down on the bed.

"Great," the exaggeratedly cheerful reply came back to me. "I can feel the progress!"

"Can Mr. Hare be pleased with you?" I pointed my eyes at the toy, vigilantly surveying the room from around the corner with its always open black eyes.

"Absolutely!" He nodded vigorously. "Mr. Hare can be proud of me! I'm ready to join society as a new, full-fledged, healthy person!"

"Let's have a look at the bracelet," I suggested along with a polite gesture and was pleased to note the full charge strip on the military specimen beacon bracelet.

It's a good thing - it shocks when the target moves away from the tethering point or tries to remove it. It doesn't work on me, of course, but it's already helped cure four complicated patients.

"Well done, Mr. Sidorov!" I patted him on the palm of his hand encouragingly. "Mr. Hare and I are proud of you!"

"You mean... I'm... cured?" He said in disbelief but with sincere hope, even weeping with joy.

"I dare say yes, Mr. Sidorov. You can go home to your family today."

"Thank you, sir! Thank you, Mr. Hare!" he slid off the bed, trying to catch my hand to kiss it.

"You shouldn't. It's our job, after all. Be a man, Mr. Sidorov. Pull yourself together."

After all, the sight of a big man sobbing is quite a bizarre spectacle. Especially when you remember how gleeful he was when he was forcibly brought here by his binge-weary relatives.

"But don't forget, Mr. Sidorov," I said in a stern voice, "one drop and Mr. Hare will come after you."

"Never! No way!" A heartfelt cry shook the room.

"Easy, easy, no need to worry. Get up and get ready. I'll call you a taxi."

When a warning honked outside the fence and the man was already standing ready to take off into town, it was time for a farewell gesture.

"Allow me your hand, Mr. Sidorov."

In a kind of absent-mindedness, he thoughtlessly gave me the palm of his hand, forgetting what usually happens on such occasions.

"A little reminder," I smiled dryly and pulled the bracelet from his body.

"No, don't!" He managed to speak a second before his body cramped from the impact of the bracelet and the corner of his mouth frothy with saliva.

"All right," I rubbed his shoulder reassuringly, helped him up, and led him to the taxi door.

"He'll wake up soon and tell you the address. I've got your number," I slipped half a hundred into the driver's window.

"Will do, chief," the taxi driver said, watching indifferently as I put the passenger in the back seat and fastened his seatbelt.

"Good luck," I slapped the roof of the car, which immediately drove off towards town.

Another case is completed.

As soon as the car disappeared from view, and with it the sound of the engine, the unpleasant sound of the bracelet was heard, displeased at the absence of the victim and the distance from the territory. I had to clasp it on my hand and quickly return to the room - to wind a couple of dozen coils of copper wire on my little finger without unnecessary glances, to touch the pad of my finger to the non-standard connector under the battery and to apply some of my power to the skin. Half an hour and the indicator light glowed green again. In the morning, the babysitter would make sure that no one had attempted to remove the bracelet, let alone thought of escaping.

Uncle Sergei brought me, my first client, for "cure" - something went wrong with his insurance, so he decided to make some money on the "room with a housekeeper" by employing a slightly wrinkled man as a watchman. Uncle Andrew looked quite harmless and even a bit like a teacher, with his grey hair and a network of wrinkles near his intelligent eyes. He was not a bad man in general. He built houses, but he had to drink a lot because of his work. Then, outside of work, he started drinking so much that it became a serious problem for the family and the business. I did not interrogate him - he told me everything himself, embarrassedly put two lumps of sugar on a saucer and put it in the corner of the room. Then we got to talking, of course, and then the price came up.

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After finding out how much a "visit to the housekeeper" costs, I transparently hinted to Uncle Sergei on his next visit that the housekeeper only accepts a hundred notes now and that he can keep the sugar for himself. Uncle Sergei feigned incomprehension. The housekeeper did not come once during the week.

It seems that Uncle Sergei was badly beaten and forced to pay back all the money, at least, that is what Uncle Andrei shouted into the phone to his assistants. He did not feel very well. Anyway, I never saw him again.

I arranged for the second client to see the housekeeper on my own via the Internet. It didn't turn out too well, I even got in trouble a couple of times, and the patient managed to steal perfume from the babysitter and drink all of it. The disembodied spirit wasn't much of an obstacle to that - I wasn't around. And the "sick man" had no intention of doing his watchman duties - at least not for the first week. Then the belief in the housekeeper strengthened enough. But I was still dissatisfied. That's when Mr. Hare showed up instead.

I found the stolen toy in the back of the building. It was torn and crumpled. I don't know why my friend, who had never done anything bad to anyone, would have to be treated like that. I took all the pieces and stitched them back together neatly - as best I could. And I was no good at it, so instead of the once beautiful and clever hare was now a monster with rough seams and frayed paint on its eye. Instead of an elegant jacket, it was an awkward piece of fabric, crooked after washing and ironing, with small spots where my tears had fallen. I didn't wash them, afraid I might ruin them even more.

The first client was frightened by the hare, thinking it was a housekeeper. I didn't try to dissuade the second client. So there was a monster in the corner of the room, never sleeping, who was feared for his appearance, not knowing that, in fact, there was no creature kinder than him. He continued to sing that song even after everything that had been done to him.

The third patient tried to escape but got stuck in a crevice under the fence - I found him by his screaming for help. He could have got through, but it was Laika who took the jerking and kicking as an invitation to play.

But with the fourth client, everything was already brought to perfection. I was paid money. I was given the watchman's salary and an open-dated letter of resignation (client number two really wanted to stay. I could barely get him out), then the patient's arm was immediately adorned with my bracelet. There was no desire to drag someone's body out from under the fence again. My own watchman proved incredibly handy when we start ferrying whole boxes and crates of produce to the outside world. The whole night, until morning, was completely under my control.

And tonight would also pass without any alarming shouting. We were not going to steal anything - at least not more than what Oleg or I had already crossed out of one ledger and put in our ledger. It was just that manufacture was moving - not all of it, but its most expensive parts. Most valuable machinery, without which we could not work in the new place. The staff will be added later - a list of good and hard-working guys has been prepared. So after boarding school, they will get an offer much better than working in a cardboard factory.

Towards three o'clock in the morning, tired but happy, we loaded Tolik up with the last of the processor's parts, sending his new minivan on its final journey. There, at the other end of the route, they do not sleep too. But it is easier for them. They only manage - a hired team of loaders does not really care about cargo as long as there is no crime behind it. And no one will be looking for our stuff, for sure.

There was one last step left - a hard, difficult, but necessary one. It was hard for me to go for it, I had crossed it out every time and tried to soften it, but three months ago, I had become convinced that there was no other way. And now, looking at the scar across Oleg's face, thankfully not having hurt his eye, looking at his broken nose and limp, I am not going to change a thing.

We finished at half past five in the morning. With a weary grunt, we settled down outside the fence of the boarding school, taking in our company a case of our own ice cream. The tastiest ice cream in town was made for us. Only on the sticker for some reason, it says "Made by Cold-C LLC, St. Petersburg," and not our names at all. But the inscription: "By buying ice cream you are helping children!" - is absolutely true. We were too tired to talk, so we sat up at dawn.

Soon a car politely stopped behind us, not disturbing our rest with the sound of a klaxon or the flicker of headlights. I half turned around and waved to Simon, who was behind the wheel of an old but very spacious Volga, valuable because the back door swung out to the side and the passenger seat swiveled, allowing Uncle Kolya no pain to get out. It was a clever design but quite compact - even Tolik could find room for a nap.

Vadik, Oleg, Tolik, two whole Simons - how rich I am, after all! And also Uncle Kolya, Mashk, Mr. Hare, and Laika. She enthusiastically came for the free ice cream. The glade became crowded but for the same reason - much cozier.

"Soon?" asked Simon who taught me physics.

"The compound has already turned into a scorcher," I estimated, feeling the sun beating down on me, "and everyone will be ordered out into the courtyard."

As if at my dictation, the doors of the boarding school opened, releasing a noisy avalanche of children. They can't see us - the place is a bit uphill, and it's overgrown with bushes.

"What next?" Uncle Kolya's low bass asked.

Uncle Kolya knew nothing about my plans except that I had figured out how to disappear without leaving a trace.

"And then our friends will seize the moment and storm the safe," I replied mundanely.

"And we're not going to do anything?" Tolik twitched.

"Absolutely."

"But there are thousands of imps!"

"A considerable sum," I nodded back, "so both Sneezer's men and Sailor's men will go for the job. In fact, they'll take the lead in it."

"I don't understand how you can stand there so still and watch?" My friend's fingers gripped his hair.

He didn't know about my plan either.

"Maxim," Simon the Physic touched my shoulder, "I know what you're counting on... But they won't fight over loot. There's too much."

"Our safe..." I answered after a few minutes, mentally estimating the time, "is in the booth of the gas boiler. It's a nice place, with a separate entrance to the boarding house and a secure lock. Not so secure, though, that the greedy mob couldn't break the door down. And here they were, almost on target, in a place they had never been before, but they knew many rumors about..."

"Maxim?" Uncle Kolya suddenly called out anxiously.

"They know they have to turn some kind of valve to get the safe to open."

"Damn, what's going on, Maxim?!"

"Rumour says this valve is sneakily titled Do not open! Fire hazard!"

"Maxim!"

"But the trouble is that it is already open, and for the past two hours, gas has been flowing through the hose into the empty concrete cavity under the shed, seeping gently out..."

"We must warn everyone immediately!" Uncle Kolya twitched.

"They will," I confirmed. "Now Pavlik comes up to our beloved babysitter and shows her where her favorite pupil has gone in the company of the bad guys. And she will immediately rush to save her dear boy..."

"Run!" Uncle Kolya barked, but in the commotion, who could hear the distant and alien voice? "Where is the telephone? Give me the telephone! Maxim, how could you..." He fidgetily took a mobile phone out of his pocket with one hand, but the handset was snatched out of his trembling hands and fell to the grass.

"The problem is not that the hiding place won't open even after all their efforts," I went on, "but that it's too dark to search, the light bulb is blown out... But there are matches forgotten by someone else. Good, long, hunting matches..."

A pillar of fire roared into the sky. There was a bang in the ears. Like in a fight, with two palms. Shards of glass spattered in tears from the boarding school building. There was a blaze in the sky, a whiff of smoke, and a gust of air, and it was as if I had been swept onto my back. Uncle Kolya towered over me, clumsily pressing an unruly body and driving his fist into the raised guard.

"You bastard, you killed them! You killed them all!"

After a couple of minutes, he slid sideways and stared blankly at the grass.

"Yesterday, they came to me with shivs," I sat down next to them and started to list them. "You know, the kind they sharpen in the prison. I don't know where that is, but Sneezer's brother lives there for a long time, rarely coming to town. Before that, they mutilated a friend of mine. They wanted his phone, you know? But Oleg smashed it up so he wouldn't have to give it. Soon they'll be out on the streets, unable to do anything but abuse. They're used to taking everything by force. They'll do it later. So does it matter in whose emperor name the death sentence is pronounced?"

"You gave me your word that you wouldn't burn down the building..."

"Other people's greed did that," I shook my head and got to my feet, to the patiently waiting friends and the slightly dazed Tolik and Simon. "By the way, I died today too. There, by the boiler, my boots, my bracelet, and a few notable things remained. Oleg, Simon, and Vadim will confirm that they saw me walking there."

"So many kids left without a roof over their heads..."

"It's summer. The building is insured. In five to ten minutes, the plumbers will arrive to fix the plumbing problem. They'll call the fire brigade. I think they already have - the smoke has risen high enough. Children's deaths automatically suspend the headmistress from running the school. The police will be here before she is. They'll secure the building and seize the documents. I think they'll look in the safe, too."

"You planned this beforehand... And you didn't tell me anything..." whispered the uncle.

"The less you know, the better you sleep," I shrugged. "Have you complied with my request?" I turned my attention away from the smoky building.

"I... I found the right person. It's expensive, but the specialist is good."

"Another request."

"Red bow ties? Simon, bring it over."

In a minute, I was carefully putting on each of my friends' scarlet cloth petals, fastening them with a handy rubber band on the collar of their shirts.

"Take care of Mr. Hare," I admonished Oleg as I handed the toy to a very serious chap.

He is not afraid of appearances, knowing that the main thing is inside.

"Uncle Kolya, will you take Laika in?"

"The watchman will come in handy," the man said in an impassioned tone.

"Great." I lifted Mashk in my arms and handed him to Simon Sr. "Keep him safe, but don't spoil him too much. He's a fighter."

"He will hunt the rats," Tolik seconded.

I walked over to him and gently adjusted his collar, hiding the loose elastic band.

"I'll crush the rats myself," I said softly, looking him in the eye, "when I get back."

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Chapter 18

The world through other eyes