“I’d have to have a free hand⁠—no favors to anybody⁠—run the job as I pleased. And I’d have to have a ten-thousand-dollar retainer.”

“Ten thousand dollars! Why in hell should I give that much to a man I don’t know from Adam? A man who’s done nothing I know of but talk?”

“Be serious. When I say ‘me,’ I mean the Continental. You know them.”

“I do. And they know me. And they ought to know I’m good for⁠—”

“That’s not the idea. These people you want taken to the cleaners were friends of yours yesterday. Maybe they will be friends again next week. I don’t care about that. But I’m not playing politics for you. I’m not hiring out to help you kick them back in line⁠—with the job being called off then. If you want the job done you’ll plank down enough money to pay for a complete job. Any that’s left over will be returned to you. But you’re going to get a complete job or nothing. That’s the way it’ll have to be. Take it or leave it.”