“You spent most of your young manhood fighting to overthrow various governments. Santiago, to the best of my knowledge, has primarily attacked and looted those enterprises that are owned or controlled by the Democracy, or are at least vital to its well-being. You were branded as a revolutionary, and once had a price on your head. The magnitude of his actions is certainly far greater, but he might also be considered a revolutionary, insofar as most of his crimes are against the State. You have so many things in common with him that I’m just a little puzzled about why you want so desperately to kill him.”

“The bulk of his crimes are committed against the Democracy simply because the Democracy has more assets than any other potential target,” said Cain. “As for his being a revolutionary, you might say the same for any train robber back on old Earth who ever robbed a government payroll. The man’s a criminal, plain and simple.”

“Have you ever known him to kill anyone?” she asked.

“He killed seventeen colonists on Silverblue just last year,” replied Cain.

“Rubbish!” said the Sargasso Rose. “He hasn’t been to the Outer Frontier in years.”

“You know that for a fact?” he asked sharply.

“Why else would the Angel have moved into this area?” she replied.

“Maybe he’s chasing him,” suggested Cain.

“You don’t believe that for a moment. The Angel catches anyone he chases.”

“He’s just a bounty hunter, not a superman.”

“You still haven’t told me why you want to kill Santiago.”

“Why does anyone want to kill him?” replied Cain with a smile. “There’s a hell of a big reward.”

“That is not an acceptable answer,” she said. “You are a very wealthy man, Mr. Cain, so surely money is not your primary objective.”

“Money is always an objective,” said Cain. “And,” he added thoughtfully, “it would mean something.”

“What would it mean?”

“That I made a difference,” he replied. “That just once, something I did mattered.”

“How about the men you helped place in positions of power?” asked the Sargasso Rose.

“They were the wrong men,” answered Cain wryly. “They won’t even be footnotes in the history books.”

“And the criminals you’ve hunted down?”

“Even I hadn’t heard of most of them before I went after them.” He paused. “But Santiago is different. He matters, so the man who brings him down will matter, too.”

She smiled. “So you want to be written up in song and story yourself.”

“I’ve been in a song. I don’t like it much.” He finished his drink. “I don’t care who else knows what I did—just so long as I know it.”

“Well, it’s a novel approach, I’ll grant you that,” said the Sargasso Rose.

“Now let me ask you a question,” said Cain.

“We haven’t settled on a price yet,” she pointed out.

“That wasn’t the question.”