‘Oh, I’ve had him and Sarah working on what we might do with all those people in the camps back east,’ Kipper declared, around licking his fingers. He knew he couldn’t tell her the real reason Culver had called in, to try to bully him into sending Agent Monroe to Fort Hood.

‘They’re mostly women and children, aren’t they?’ said his wife.

‘Mostly. There’s a couple of old geezers in there. And we’ve got another camp full of fighters who survived New York. They’re more of a problem. But most of them have ties to the women and children.’

Barb finished her wine and thought about pouring another one, before deciding against it. She placed the empty glass carefully on the coffee table, next to her plate.

‘Can’t send them home, then?’

‘Not all of them, no,’ Kip sighed. ‘A lot of places in Europe, if that’s where they hailed from, won’t have them back. And a lot of their original homelands still glow in the dark.’

The show was returning from another ad break, but Barb used the remote to mute it.

‘And I’ll bet Jed is worried about how you sell the idea of letting them stay,’ she ventured.

‘Hell, I’m worried about that myself. Honestly, they don’t deserve to stay. If he had his way, he’d stick them on a garbage barge, tow them out past the twelve-mile line and sink them if they tried to come back.’

‘Most people would.’

‘I know. And I totally get that. But these guys were just servants, followers. After every war we’ve ever fought, we’ve eventually forgiven the enemy. It’s what makes us better than them. Stronger, I believe, in the end.’

He wondered if there could ever be forgiveness between Blackstone and himself. Probably not, if the FBI turned the case Jed Culver had made into a real indictment. Hell, it could even lead to the mad bastard trying to secede. But Kipper didn’t see that he had any choice. If there was some link between the Governor of Texas and the Emir’s forces in Manhattan, the President had to maintain as much distance from the investigation as possible. When they finally went public, there could be no suggestion of political interference. Jed, however, wanted to handle the whole thing in as Machiavellian a fashion as possible.

‘Why?’ asked Barb. She turned around to face him on the couch.

‘Huh?’ She’d surprised him. Was she talking about Jed – about Monroe even? Had he mumbled something in a beer haze? ‘Er, why what, Barb?’

‘Why does it make us stronger than them?’ she said, dragging him back on topic.

Kip’s heart sank. He really didn’t want to get into this, not on pork chop night. On the other hand, at least he hadn’t inadvertently blown the Blackstone investigation . . .