The Return of Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future by Mike Resnick

bounty hunter to believe?"
           "You're going to believe whoever's offering the money, so why are you wasting both our time talking about it?"
           "I do believe you've got a firm grasp of the situation, Danny, my boy," said Bennett. "I always believe the man with the money. That could be you."
           "What are you talking about?" demanded Dante.
           "A business deal," said Bennett. "A transaction, so to speak." Suddenly he turned to Virgil. "Keep those hands where I can see 'em, Injun!" Then back to Dante: "Before I can get paid, I have to take your body back to the Democracy for identification, or to one of the Democracy outposts, and I think the nearest one is fifteen hundred lightyears away. That's a lot of bother."
           "My heart bleeds for you," said Dante.
           "It doesn't have to. Bleed, I mean."
           "So what's the deal?"
           "Pay me the 50,000 credits and I let you walk."
           "When do you need an answer?" asked Dante.
           "I'm a reasonable man," said Bennett. "If I wasn't, you'd be dead already." He looked up toward the sky. "It's getting toward noon. I'll give you until noon tomorrow. Either you hand me the money then, or I'll kill you and your pal."
           "Why Virgil?"
           "I don't like him very much."
           "He hasn't done anything to you."
           "No corpse is safe around him. That's reason enough." He turned to Virgil. "I'm going into the hotel now. I think it might be a good idea for you to stay where you are until I'm inside."
           He turned and walked through the hotel's doorway and vanished into its interior.
           "Wait-a-bit Bennett," said Dante, staring after him. "You never mentioned him to me."
           "I didn't know he was in this part of the Frontier."
           "Tell me about him."
           "There's not much to tell," said Virgil, finally getting to his feet. "He's a bounty hunter. A good one. He's up around twenty kills, maybe twenty-five."
           "Then let's go meet Tyrannosaur Bailey and get the hell off the planet before morning," said Dante.
           Virgil shook his head. "You're 50,000 credits on the hoof. You don't think he's just going to let you walk just because you can't pay him the reward, do you?"
           "He can't watch us forever."
           "Forever ends tomorrow at noon."
           "I meant that he's got to sleep sometime. We'll sneak out tonight."
           "He knows that nobody comes to Tusculum without a reason. He's gone off to take a nap while you take care of whatever business brought you here. He'll be awake by dinnertime, and he'll seek out your ship and wait there until noon, just in case you're thinking of leaving."
           "This is ridiculous!" said Dante. "I came here to get away from the Democracy and now they're paying bounty hunters to kill me!"
           "The only difference between here and where you came from," said Virgil, "is that out here there are no voters and no journalists to restrain the Democracy's worst instincts."
           "Is Wait-a-bit Bennett as good at his trade as he thinks he is?" asked Dante.
           "Better," answered Virgil. "You didn't see me move when he told me to be still, did you?"
           "How am I going to get 50,000 credits to buy him off by noon?"
           "You've got a bigger problem than that."
           "Oh?"
           Virgil nodded. "Even if you get the money, you don't think he's the only bounty hunter who reads Wanted posters, do you?"
           Suddenly Dante's stomach began to hurt.
     
     

     
    6.
     
                  Wait-a-Bit Bennett, calm and cool,
                  Sips his drink by the swimming pool.
                  His prey appears, all unaware;
                  He'll wait a bit, and then—beware!
     
           Virgil Soaring Hawk hit the roof when