‘That is correct,’ McAuley replied, nodding his head. ‘We only have to bear the cost of transporting troops who are still on active duty or wish to return to their original duty stations for discharge. Some troops will be discharged directly into New York’s state militias or into the civilian workforce, which will serve to reduce expenditures even further.’

‘So we’re not doing too badly, then,’ Culver interjected. ‘If there’s a safe place on the eastern seaboard today, it has to be New York. Next to KC and the Hood, it’s the most heavily armed and populated outpost in CONUS.’ He felt pretty good about that. Maybe in another year the joint naval base of Norfolk would join that list, if the Brits got a move on.

‘This is significant,’ Paul McAuley agreed. ‘Even after the end of major combat in the city, we were still haemorrhaging funds there. That difficult period is now behind us.’

The Secretary of the Treasury shifted in his seat, crossing his legs as though settling in for a long haul. Jed decided to avail himself of the sandwich plate. In many respects, McAuley was potentially the most powerful man in the room. Relegating Chief of Staff Culver to second place. Fortunately, while McAuley had Alexander Hamilton’s grasp of economics combined with a modern-day understanding of the imploded global economy, the egomania wasn’t included in the package, for which Culver was eternally grateful.

‘The line of credit negotiated with our Vancouver Alliance partners was activated at midnight last Friday,’ the Treasury chief continued, ‘guaranteeing our recurrent funding needs for the next twelve months. Once we agreed to pay our surviving creditors at face value with regular interest payments, our ability to regain credit was somewhat restored.’

‘So let me get this straight, Paul . . .’ It was Kipper now who held his hand up. ‘We’re just going to make the minimum payment. We’re not going to try to pay all of the debt off?’

‘We couldn’t if we wanted to, sir. Everyone knows that. It was not possible to pay off our debt prior to the Wave either. However, if we maintain our interest payments to the top six surviving creditors – aside from China, who are no longer a unitary state creditor – then we can restore a minimum level of faith, enough to grant us credit for funds to sustain us through the short term.’

‘I’ll never quite get over this notion that debt can be a good thing,’ Kip sighed. ‘You pay your bills, that’s what I was taught.’

Culver could not resist. ‘Spoken like a true Republican, Mr President.’

Kipper glowered at him.