‘Sit down, Sarah,’ he said. ‘And relax. Please. I’m not going to go upside your head for that tag-team effort you and Ritchie laid on me back there. In a way, it was kind of admirable. The sort of thing I would do, since Kip was never going to go with my suggestion to just push them all off the end of a dock and tell ’em to keep swimming until they reach France. With that said, this settlement scheme you’ve got can probably be turned to our advantage, as long as I can sell the harsher, more punitive aspects of it.’

‘I’m sure that’s where you’ll shine,’ she replied, accepting his offer of a chair, one of two single-seater Chesterfields standing sentry in front of his desk.

He closed the door and manoeuvred around the end of the long table into his own chair. It took some doing in the tight space.

‘The program will be fine,’ Jed said. ‘It’s just a matter of how we frame it. If we could choose a few diehards to expel from the country, or even better, to execute for crimes against humanity, it would show everyone we’re not a soft touch.’

Humboldt shifted uncomfortably in her seat. ‘Well, I don’t know that I –’

‘Of course, you wouldn’t put it like that, Sarah. You’re a nice person. Unlike me. You just want the best for everyone. I don’t, I want the best for this administration, because I think, most things being equal, that means getting the best for the country as well. Sometimes that’s going to mean hurting somebody’s feelings, possibly breaking a few heads – or even shooting a few guys in the back of the head. Guys who desperately need it, I’d add. But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about today.’

‘Good,’ she said, with real relief. She had not been at all comfortable with the direction of his thoughts.

Jed figured Ms Humboldt to be the type who lived in liberal blogistan and faithfully followed their constant bloviating about the conditions for detainees at Fort Leavenworth. Heaven forbid that we water-board anyone or use their holy book for cigarette papers. We couldn’t possibly sink to the same level as those guys, who saw off heads and put them up in streaming video feeds on the internet . . .

Frankly, such people reminded him entirely too much of his grade-school teachers and their endless preaching about how violence never solved anything. It was a funny thing; they never seemed to mention the hundred or so historical examples he could think of right now where violence really did solve problems.

He could have sighed. Sometimes it was a drag being the smartest guy in the room.