“I have no professional interest in you,” he assured her. “I just want to talk.”

“And yet you have been carrying your gun in your hand since entering my labyrinth.”

“You’re not the only person who feels the need for protection,” he replied. “I wouldn’t be the first man you’ve killed.”

“We are both killers,” said Altair of Altair. “Shall we declare a truce?”

“For how long?”

“You will be warned before it is over.”

“I’m willing.”

“Then leave your gun in the vestibule. You can pick it up when you leave.”

“Not a chance,” he said.

“Will you at least replace it in your holster?”

He did so, and she rose, walked to the computer, and touched a small octagonal button.

“The, shield is down,” she announced. “You may enter now.”

“Thank you,” he said, walking gingerly through the doorway and stepping into the chamber. The floor was covered by a soft yielding substance that was more resilient than it looked and glowed with different colors every time he set his foot down.

“I have been wanting to meet you for a long time,” said Altair of Altair.

“Have you?”

“Yes,” she said. “Killing is a lonely profession. It is so rare that one gets to visit with one’s peers.”

“We’re not exactly peers,” answered Cain. “You’re an assassin; I’m a bounty hunter.”

“But many facets of our work are the same,” she pointed out. “The endless waiting for the prey to appear, the moment of exultation at the kill, the distrust of confederates, the craving for solitude. Do you not agree?”

“Perhaps,” he said noncommittally. “But the differences are even greater, and the fact remains that you will commit murder for anyone who pays your fee, and I kill criminals at the behest of my government.”

“True,” she said thoughtfully. “But then, even among bounty hunters you are a unique individual.”

“Oh? In what way?”

“Most of those who make their living by killing lawbreakers were once lawbreakers themselves. Peacemaker MacDougal was a smuggler, Giles Sans Pitié and Barnaby Wheeler were bandits, even the Angel was an assassin. Of them all, only you have always operated within the law.”

“You’re wrong,” he said. “I once had a price on my head, too.”

“You were fighting on behalf of what you believed to be a legal government in exile,” she replied with a smile.

“How do you know that?”

“I have been studying you for a long time,” said Altair of Altair. “In our business, one does not live long without knowing the face of the enemy.”

“I’m not your enemy.”

“And Santiago is not yours,” she replied. “Why do you want him dead?”

“What makes you think I’m after Santiago?” he asked.

“Who else could have brought you this far from Keep-sake?” she replied. “I repeat: Why do you wish to kill him?”

He smiled. “Have you seen the size of the reward?”