“Were you ever in jail on Kalami Three?”

“I think if you’ll go there and check the records, you won’t find any mention of me,” replied Santiago.

“That isn’t what I asked.”

Suddenly Santiago grinned. “I’ve got it!” he announced. “Stern told you that I played chess with him!”

“Did you?”

“I’ve already told you: I don’t play chess.”

“Why would he have said you did?”

“Probably to embellish a story for which he was receiving a considerable amount of money.”

“But you were imprisoned on Kalami Three?”

“For a very brief period. My memory of Stern is that he bragged about the men he’d swindled and killed, and kept relating grandiose schemes about how he intended to find a solar system of his own to rule. It seems to me that we played cards until one of the prison attendants took away his deck.” Santiago smiled. “As I recall, he still owes me money from that game.” He looked at Cain. “Were there any other questions you wanted to ask?”

“Just two.”

“Ask away.”

“First, now that I’ve joined you, there’s no sense keeping me here on Safe Harbor once we’ve taken care of the Angel. What will you be wanting me to do next?”

“To tell you the truth, I haven’t decided,” replied Santiago seriously. “There’s the little matter of getting our money back from the late Mr. Kchanga’s heirs. The sooner we do it, the sooner we can purchase food and ship it to Bortai.”

“Bortai?” asked Cain.

“A mining world about two hundred light-years from Bella Donna,” replied Santiago. “They’ve only got a three-week supply of food remaining.”

“Can’t they import more?”

Santiago shook his head. “The Democracy’s tied up their funds.”

“Why?”

“Because a month ago they sold two hundred tons of iron ore—perhaps a week’s output, certainly no more than that—to a pair of alien worlds that have refused to join the Democracy’s economic network. This is the Democracy’s way of telling them never to do so again.” A savage expression crossed his face. “In the meantime, more than a hundred and fifty human children stand an excellent chance of starving to death.”

“When do I leave?”

“If you leave, it will be in about a week,” answered Santiago. “We’ll give Kchanga’s associates every opportunity to honor his commitment first.”

“That’s cutting it awfully close,” said Cain. “Once I get the money, you’ll still have to buy and ship the food.”

“I know. As I told you before, it’s a balancing act. It’s worth the delay if we can find someone in Kchanga’s organization that we’ll be able to deal with in the future. And if not,” he added with a quiet ferocity, “we’ll show them what it means to play fast and loose with Santiago.”