“In a perfect world, I would,” Herbert said. “But if the authorities find out our other friend may be involved, I’ll tell you exactly what they’ll do. They’ll circle the wagons around the big man. They have to. It would bring down his empire, do damage to the national economy. They’ll scapegoat some secondary guy to keep their national treasure from being sullied. If that happens, we’ll never get all the names we’re after. And we’ll never know if we’ve cut this caravan off completely.”

Herbert did not want to mention Darling’s name in case Kannaday was awake. If the man were going to talk, Herbert wanted him to mention Darling without being prompted. A lie or cover-up could usually be identified quickly. A half-truth was much more troublesome.

“I don’t agree that they’ll protect Darling,” Hood said. “Something this big would leak eventually. They will have to cut a deal.”

“I don’t like the smell of that,” Herbert said.

“It’s done in business all the time,” Hood said. “The alternative is closing your eyes or bringing down the whole system to get one man. In exchange for cooperation, regulators or investigators give executives a degree of immunity and time to turn the companies over to associates.”

“Jesus, Paul,” Herbert complained. “We’re not talking about insider trading here.”

“I recognize that—”

“I don’t want to see this guy have his passport revoked and agree to the equivalent of house arrest,” Herbert said. “That isn’t right.”

“I agree. And I don’t want you to forget that this isn’t about retribution,” Hood said. “That’s why a Richard Nixon resigns and gets a pardon, or a Kurt Waldheim has his visa shredded and any war crimes he may have been involved in are locked in a filing cabinet. It’s about fixing a problem with a minimum of embarrassment, if possible.”

“That’s the solution of a bureaucrat,” Herbert said. “I want this guy’s tanned hide.”

“That is the self-righteous indignation of the Lone Ranger,” Hood replied. “Bob, if Darling is guilty, I’d love to see him get life in prison. But that probably won’t happen. Right or wrong, you can’t just remove a foundation of international industry like that. Maybe over time, but not immediately.”

“Over time people will forget,” Herbert said. “They’ll forgive.”

“That’s possible,” Hood agreed.

“It’s inevitable,” Herbert said.

“Not if he was trying to kill people,” Hood said. “Al Capone was a folk hero until he ordered the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. People will cheer someone who beats the establishment. They won’t tolerate mass murder.”

The computer beeped, signaling that the file had been downloaded. Herbert terminated the link and opened the file. He was angry. He was not angry at Hood. He was angry because Hood was right. Jervis Darling would probably survive a worst-case scenario.

“Bob?” Hood said.