“Don’t believe everything you hear,” said Donny. “Especially not about money. And especially not in Dallas.”

“I heard you’re behind this too,” said Thelen, pointing at the TV.

“I tricked a lot of clients at the same time,” said Donny.

“So they had him in New Orleans the whole time?”

“I can’t say. I signed a confidentiality agreement with the Interpol people. And there are others to protect. I’m sure it will all come out in time, though.”

“Well, cheers,” said Thelen as the server poured the Champagne he had already ordered.

Donny took his glass and joined in the toast. The late-afternoon light made the bubbles look like a thousand tiny suns. Donny wondered if it was the residue of Dallas acid or New Orleans mushrooms that made him think about the other worlds that must be floating in there too. And then he drank them down, with a gulp that felt like pleasure and regret all at the same time.

Thelen was staring at him, with the enthusiastic smile of a deal guy who wants to know the war story.

“Don’t tell me you gave it all away, Donny.”

Donny looked back at him. “No wonder you’re such a good outlaw underwriter, Terry. You read people better than most cops.”

“I just know what an idiot you are with dough. What are you thinking? That’s some serious fuck-you money you tricked your way into, pal.”

“Well, I kept enough to pay you back. And a little more as walking-around money.”

“Right, but the rest—”

“We all have our price to pay. And I wasn’t the only one who’s giving money away. We worked out a deal that will fund a lot more future than we had before.”

“How do you mean?”

“I ensured the outcome I was hired to make sure didn’t happen. See those fields out there?”

“That’s why I like this view. I was an early investor, you know.”

“Well, you may want to sell. Because they agreed to give it away.”

“The farms?”

“The seeds. More accurately, the genomes. No more patents. All open-source. They can still sell the actual seeds, and the actual crops. But so can anyone. And people can make their own versions. Better versions, like the ones they already developed in New Orleans.”

“They’re going to give up the most valuable asset of the company?”

Donny nodded. “That, and a lot of cash. All the parties are. Even the Popular Front, though mostly what they’re contributing is expertise and ideas.”

“Contributing to what?”

“A new fund, for restoration and conservation, education, land reform. To kick-start a new ecology, or that’s the idea. And with the rights to the seeds opened up, we might even figure out ways to get it all to pay for itself, under a new business model that’s about a different kind of free market than the economists had in mind.”