“Very well said,” responded the Swagman. “I approve wholeheartedly. And what about Cain?”

“We decided to pool our resources and our information,” answered Virtue. “Our interests are parallel, but not identical. We both want Santiago, but he wants him for the reward and I want him for the feature.” She paused, staring at him thoughtfully.

“Have you something to add?” he suggested pleasantly.

“Just that nothing about our agreement is written in stone,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “If I were to meet someone who was better able to help me...” She let the sentence hang.

“Wonderful!” laughed the Swagman. “A woman after my own heart!”

“Do we have a deal?” asked Virtue.

He laughed again. “Of course not—at least, not on those terms. If you’ll double-cross one partner, you’ll double-cross others—and in your mind Cain must certainly be a more formidable antagonist than I am. After all, he’s a bounty hunter, and I’m just a harmless art collector.”

“That’s not the way I hear it.”

“One mustn’t believe every scurrilous rumor one hears,” said the Swagman. “However, that’s neither here nor there.” He smiled at her. “Not to worry, my dear. We seem to have another case of parallel interests. I don’t want your story, and while I’d certainly like the reward money, there are things I want even more.”

“Such as?”

“Such as one less competitor,” said the Swagman. “Did you know that I used to work for him?”

“No.”

“I did—indirectly, for the most part. I actually met him on only two occasions.”

“Why did you stop working for him?” asked Virtue.

“We had a falling-out.”

“About what?”

“Methodology,” he said noncommittally. “At any rate, although he himself is not a collector, and indeed has no interest whatsoever in things esoteric, he has a number of exquisite art objects in his possession on any given day. Should we reach an accommodation, I would regard those pieces as mine, if our little enterprise succeeds.”

“How many pieces are involved?”

“I really couldn’t say. But he has warehouses and drops all over the Inner Frontier. I’m sure that I would be satisfied with the spoils of conquest.” He shrugged. “Let greedy, immoral men like Cain keep the blood money,” he concluded deprecatingly.

“You’d only take the pieces you wanted to keep?” asked Virtue, suddenly aware of yet another source of income above and beyond her fee for the feature.

He shook his head. “I’m afraid my creditors have very expensive tastes, my dear. I keep the finest pieces that I find, but all the rest go to support my life-style, and not incidentally to pay for my menials. No, my fee for helping you is, as our friend Father William might state it, all of Santiago’s temporal possessions. Take it or leave it.”

“Why haven’t you gone after him before?” asked Virtue.