"Nothing that need be sealed from any Lensman. The main object of all of us, as you know, is to push Boskonia out of this Galaxy. From a military standpoint they practically _are_ out. Their drug syndicate, however, is very decidedly in, and getting in deeper all the time. Therefore, we next push the zwilniks out. They have peddlers and such small fry, who deal with distributors and so on. These, as it were, form the bottom layer. Above them are the secret agents, the observers, and the wholesale handlers; runners and importers. All these folks are directed and controlled by one man, the boss of each planetary organization. Thus, Bominger was the boss of all zwilnik activities on the whole planet of Radelix. "In turn the planetary bosses report to, and are synchronized and controlled by, a Regional Director, who supervises the activities of a couple of hundred or so planetary outfits. I got a line on the one over Bominger, you know--Prellin, the Kalonian. By the way, you knew, didn't you, that Helmuth was a Kalonian, too?" "I got it from the tape. Smart people, they must be, but not my idea of good neighbors." "I'll say not. Well, that's all I really _know_ of their organization. It seems logical to suppose, though, that the structure is coherent all the way up. If so, the Regional Directors would be under some higher-up, possibly a Galactic Director, who in turn might be under Boskone himself--or one of his cabinet officers, at least. Perhaps the Galactic Director might even be a cabinet officer in their government, whatever it is?" "An ambitious program you've got mapped out for yourself. How are you figuring on swinging it?" * * * * * "That's the rub--I don't know," Kinnison confessed, ruefully. "But if it's done at all, that's the way I've got to go about it. Any other way would take a thousand years and more men than we'll ever have. This way works fine, when it works at all." "I can see that--lop off the head and the body dies," Haynes agreed. "That's the way it works--especially when the head keeps detailed records and books covering the activities of all the members of his body. With Bominger and the others gone, and with full transcripts of his accounts, the boys mopped up Radelix in a hurry. From now on it will be simple to keep it clean, except of course, for the usual bootleg trickle, and that can be reduced to a minimum. Similarly, if we can put this Prellin away and take a good look at his ledgers, it will be easy to clear up his two hundred planets. And so on." "Very clear, and quite simple--in theory." The older man was thoughtful and frankly dubious. "In practice, difficult in the extreme." "But necessary," the younger insisted. "I suppose so," Haynes assented finally. "Useless to tell you not to take chances--you'll have to--but for all of our sakes, if not for your own, be as careful as you can."