“My feelings precisely. On the other hand, I wouldn’t take her defection too seriously. Based on what I know of the Angel, her life expectancy once she meets him is, not to be too pessimistic about it, perhaps ten minutes.”

“She’s a lot harder to kill than you might think,” commented Cain. He was silent for a moment, then looked directly at the Swagman. “All right,” he said. “So Virtue’s gone off to join the Angel. What makes you think I’m looking for another partner?”

“You needn’t look at all,” said the Swagman with a confident smile. “I’m right here in front of you.”

“And what do you think you can bring to this proposed partnership?” asked Cain skeptically.

“A lot more than Virtue did,” replied the Swagman, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping the sweat from his face. “For one thing, I used to work for Santiago. I can identify him for you.”

“I can identify him myself.”

“You mean by his scar?” The Swagman laughed. “And what will you do if he’s wearing gloves, or has a prosthetic hand?” His eyes narrowed. “I know other things, too,” he said persuasively. “I know what world the Angel is going to run into trouble on. I know half a dozen men who are still in Santiago’s employ. I know a number of his drop points for stolen goods.” A satisfied smile crossed his face. “How does that compare with what Virtue MacKenzie could do for you?”

“What do you want in exchange for all this?” asked Cain, eyeing him warily.

“Nothing that would interest you,” said the Swagman. “Though if you felt it incumbent upon you to give me a piece of the reward, I probably wouldn’t refuse it.”

“And just what is it that interests you?”

“Do you know what I do for a living?” responded the Swagman.

“You rob, you smuggle, and you kill,” said Cain.

The Swagman laughed. “Besides that, I mean.”

“Suppose you tell me.”

“It would not be inaccurate to say that I’m an art collector. You want the reward money; I have no interest in it. I want certain of Santiago’s possessions; you have no interest in them. Virtue, on the unlikely assumption that she was actually telling me the truth and hasn’t tried to team up with the Angel, wants only a journalistic feature. None of our desires overlap at any point. Therefore, I see no reason why we shouldn’t be able to work together.”

“Why don’t you go after him yourself?” asked Cain, rubbing his eye as some sweat rolled into it. “That way you’d have the reward and the art objects.”