“He was in the backseat of the helicopter,” Coffey said. “I couldn’t really see.”

“Paul, was he airlifted from the Beirut rubble?” Liz asked.

“I believe he was,” Hood said.

“This could be subconscious motor memory, the chopper sound and vibration triggering unresolved hostility,” she said. “Bottom line, Lowell. Do you think Bob is dangerous?”

“That may be an overstatement,” Coffey replied. “I mean, you want a guy in that position to be aggressive.”

“So the answer is no,” she said.

“The answer is no, he was sounding almost blood-thirsty,” Coffey replied. “Not quite, but getting there.”

“But he was not violent,” she said.

Coffey said he was not.

“Paul,” Liz said, “were there any reports of Bob overreacting on his last field operation? In Germany, I think it was?”

“It was Germany, and no, there was nothing,” Hood said.

“What this sounds like is displacement,” Liz said. “Shifting anger or desire from an original target to a more convenient one. Possibly triggered by the chopper, possibly by delayed post-traumatic stress. All of it tied together by Bob’s natural frustration with the system and possibly some jet lag. It’s difficult to ascribe exact causes without talking to Bob. But it doesn’t sound as if he’ll flip out on you. People who experience transference usually peak at the onset of symptoms. They’re looking to dump. Something triggers it, and off they go.”

“So we’ve seen the worst of it,” Hood said.

“Probably,” Liz replied. “Unless someone sprays lighter fluid on the fire. Is that likely to happen, Lowell?”

“From everything I’ve heard, Jervis Darling is a pretty cool fellow,” Coffey said.

“What about the people Bob is traveling with?” Liz asked.

“Leyland is pretty lighthearted, and Loh is very quiet and serious, almost catatonic,” he replied.

“That should help keep him in balance,” Liz said.

“So we’re okay to let this play out,” Hood said.

“Given that nothing is ever guaranteed, I’d say yes,” Liz told him. “I don’t see him blowing.”

“Not even if they’re stonewalled?” Hood asked.

“Bob has a self-imposed objective, which is to get data from a telephone,” Liz said. “If he fails to do this, he’ll be angry. But his training will probably keep him in check. He will regroup and try again. The real danger is if he is personally exposed by Jervis Darling.”

“As a spy and not an animal welfare worker,” Hood said.

“That’s correct,” Liz said. “The assumed identity gives him a way of keeping his real feelings inside. If that’s stripped away, he might become the person Lowell described. It’s part of the fight-or-flight mechanism, and Bob Herbert is not prone to flight.”

That was the truth. Hood had never been a big believer in psychiatry. But if he peeled away the jargon, the things Liz said made sense.