"I want information," Sutton said.
Case sighed. "All right, then. We'll give you information."
"Why do you want my book?"
"There are three parties interested in your book," said Case. "One of those parties would kill you to prevent your writing it. What is more to the point, they probably will if you don't throw in with us."
"And the other party, the third party?"
"The third party wants you to write the book, all right, but they won't pay you a dime for doing it. They'll do all they can to make it easy for you to write the book and they'll try to protect you from the ones that would like to kill you, but they're not offering any money."
"If I took you up," said Sutton, "I suppose you'd help me write the book. Editorial conferences and so forth."
"Naturally," said Case. "We'd have an interest in it. We'd want it done the best way possible."
"After all," said Pringle, "our interest would be as great as yours."
"I'm sorry," Sutton told them, "my book is not for sale."