As Coffey got off, Hood hit the Mute button. He wanted Herbert to think he was conducting other business. In fact, he wanted to take a moment to think about what he was going to say. Unless Bob Herbert himself did the closing, he did not respond well to having trapdoors shut on those dark, complex, underground tunnels that ran through his mind.

Hood tapped off the Mute button. “I’m back,” he said.

“What happened?” Herbert asked. “Did I honk you off or something?”

“No,” Hood replied. “Just the opposite. When you feel strongly about something, I don’t like closing the door.”

“Boss, I feel strongly about everything,” Herbert said.

“I know,” Hood said. “But Lowell was pissing you off. I wanted to get him on his way, then come back to what you’re thinking.”

“He pisses me off because he’s a left-wing elitist,” Herbert said. “But he may be right about this. I’m not sure I’m right about going after Dahman.”

“And I’m not sure you’re wrong,” Hood admitted. “What if you went to Malaysia? Did some checking?”

“Frankly, I’d enjoy the hell out of it. If time were not at a premium, I’d push for it,” Herbert said. “But since we don’t have the resources to go in with me, I’m not sure it’s the best use of my time, but I appreciate the counterproposal. Did you think I’d accept?”

“I wasn’t sure,” Hood said. “I thought you might.”

“My independent Southern soul?” Herbert commented.

“Something like that.”

“Well, I’m thinking you might be right about that one,” Herbert told him. “I got into the spy game because I wanted to be Peter Gunn. Remember him? The TV private eye?”

“Vaguely,” Hood said. “I was a Gunsmoke and Bonanza man myself.”

“An ensemble guy,” Herbert said.

“I never looked at it that way, but I suppose so,” Hood admitted. “I wanted to run the Ponderosa.”

“Gunn was a loner,” Herbert said. “He always knew what to say whether he was talking to a thug, a cop, or a woman. Just the smartest, most confident repartee. He was tough. He could take a beating or give one. And he never lost. That’s what I wanted to be like.”

“But?”

“But I don’t have Gunn’s writers,” Herbert said. “I learned there is a big fat difference between fiction and reality. Just between us spies, I didn’t get quite as much information as I wanted from Colonel Hwan.”

“You got what we needed.”

“Barely,” Herbert said. “When that happens, I tend to push a little too hard on the next one. Thanks for reeling me in.”

“You reeled yourself in,” Hood said.

“You’re wrong, but we’ll leave it at that,” Herbert told him.