The brows shot up over Stahl's piggish eyes. "What!"
"Here's my proposition," Steel said, smiling. "Instead of rewarding me—if I get The Bear—I want Vita-Heat to go into partnership with me. A sort of partnership in philanthropy. As my reward, I want Vita-Heat to go to work in the upper levels."
Hampton Stahl adjusted a long cigarette into a silver holder. "I must say, this is—"
"It shouldn't run into much," Steel continued. "You'd be using your own material and labor at cost prices. It would just be a matter of installing enough vita-lamps up there for people to live by—there's only one to a street corner up there now."
"But—a million dollars!"
"Mr. Stahl," Steel said, "your company's already lost five million and, the way I see it, you're going to lose a lot more if The Bear isn't stopped. I think this partnership business of mine is pretty sound. We both have good reason to want The Bear brought to justice."
Suddenly a cunning look came into Stahl's eyes. "Just what makes you so anxious to get The Bear, Mr. Steel?"
For a moment, Steel hesitated. But he couldn't forget that picture in his mind—Floyd, lying in that deserted building, cornered, hunted down like a mad dog. Sure it was justice—but what had made him a mad dog! His smile faded. "All right," he said quietly, "I'll tell you why I want to get The Bear. It's the same reason I want to get you, Mr. Stahl—or your money rather. Those poor souls in the upper levels have two enemies—the gangsters and the big corporations. The gangsters find a young kid up there, give him a gun and make a criminal out of him. And your corporations force him into a career of crime just as much as the gangsters do. You own the tenements. You make those people live in conditions that are so bad you won't even go up there and look at them. You pay $2.00 a day in your mercury mines while you get $4.00 a day rent for your vita-lamps." Steel had to hang on to his temper. "If the upper levels are given a chance to live decently, they will live decently!"
Stahl's thick lips curled in amusement. "A pretty speech, Mr. Steel. I admire your philosophy." He sank back in his chair, toying with his silver cigarette holder. "But business, you know, is business...."
Steel stared at him, wondering what was holding him back. He wasn't a member of the Force anymore. Reach across that desk and push his fat face in! Instead, he said, "Okay, I guess that's all then. I'll have to do what I can with just the reward money."