“Got that off the guard on the inbound coach from Albany not more’n an hour after we first spoke,” Stagg said. “He was handin’ ’em out. What’s it say there? Two troopers dead, a slew more injured and a stable block burnt to the ground? Sounds like it was quite a night.”

“You think this is us?”

“Oh, please …” Stagg said.

“And if I told you it wasn’t?” Hawkwood said.

“That case,” Stagg said drily, “I’d say you were probably talkin’ to the newly crowned King of Persia.”

Hawkwood tossed the handbill aside. Stagg might have been many things but he wasn’t an idiot. “So what are you after, more money?”

“Hell, yes,” Stagg said. “That’s the general idea.”

“How much?” Lawrence asked.

“Two hundred dollars is a tidy sum.”

Lawrence sucked in his cheeks.

“Can’t disagree with you there,” Hawkwood said. “Shame we don’t have it.”

“Weren’t askin’ you for it,” Stagg said dismissively. “Just pointing out it’s a tidy sum. And I already got that.”

“By that, you mean us,” Hawkwood said.

“There you go,” Stagg said amiably. He stabbed a finger at the handbill. “Got me a promissory note right there. All I need now is the balance.”

Hawkwood wondered what Stagg would do if he jammed the handbill into his mouth and started chewing furiously.

“Balance?” Lawrence frowned. “What does that mean?”

“Means whatever you and Mister Smith are carryin’.”

“We’re not carrying anything!” Lawrence protested. “Damn it, we’ve paid you all we had!”

“Yeah, right, and as I told you I’m—”

“The King of Persia,” Hawkwood said, thinking furiously. “Yes, we got that.”

Stagg didn’t seem too bothered by the notion that his crew was now privy to his previous financial arrangement. Either the skipper had informed his men of the transaction in the spirit of generosity or else he knew the infraction would be overlooked in favour of higher rewards to come, which only served to further illustrate the Snake’s chain of command.

“You expect me to believe the two of you are tapped out?” Stagg shook his head. “Don’t reckon that’s likely. You wouldn’t leave yourselves short. Too risky. Nah, you’re carryin’. Sure as God made little green apples, you’re carryin’. Only question is, how much?”

As money-making schemes went, Hawkwood had to admit Stagg’s master plan had its merits. First pick his and Lawrence’s pockets, then hand them over to the authorities for the bounty. Two bites of the same cherry. Stagg and his crew would probably make more from this run than they had from their last half-dozen combined.

“Why wait until now?” Hawkwood asked. “If you’d already worked out who we were, you could have turned us in back at Whitehall.”