At college, he met and fell in love with Joyce Cumberland, the daughter of a former governor of California. Before they were married, Wong opted to become an American citizen. His family was fabulously wealthy and well-connected. Her family was very wealthy and even better-connected. James did not need to work, but he had a golden touch and enjoyed making deals. It was the sport, not the money, that really mattered to him. He and Al Augustus had become fast friends in Washington. They played tennis together. They socialized together. Their wives were close. They were the strength of the cabinet.

“Now, for the bad news,” Secretary Wong began. “There are about fifteen hundred banks and thrifts in California with total assets of six hundred billion dollars. The Bank of America is the nation’s second largest bank. Wells Fargo, based on the West Coast, is number fifteen. In industries such as banking, energy, aerospace, high-tech manufacturing, health care, construction, agriculture, and, of course, entertainment, California has been the leader. The state produced in excess of three hundred billion dollars in wholesale sales and a hundred billion in retail sales each year during the late 1990s. The best estimates suggest that total annual output of the state may have been in excess of eight hundred thirty-five billion dollars. Many California-based firms are listed on the Big Board or NASDAQ. In addition, we collect nearly sixty-four billion dollars in federal taxes each year from California, which is twelve percent of the total. We haven’t got all the numbers on total market capitalization, but it is massive, and the loss of that market is going to send shock waves worldwide.

“Now all that is gone,” he said, “and I can’t begin to calculate the economic toll this will take on the rest of the country. How will we calculate what claims California residents had on other parts of the country? Who is entitled to the assets? How will we treat losses by those in the rest of the country who were owed money by someone in California? How do we process claims against insurance companies for damage caused by fire and flood? Such claims could bankrupt every insurance company doing business in California.

“We have learned that although most banks, insurance companies, and commercial businesses kept duplicate computer records in safe storage, only a few were kept out of state. Some data went out earlier today by high-speed data transmission, but such panic developed that the flow of data soon stopped.” He paused with a helpless look on his face.

Al Augustus asked pointedly, “Where will these evacuees get money?”