Based on the evaluation at t = −1 of the generating polynomial for the hyperoctahedral group by the number of descents, an observation recently made by Hirzebruch, a new q-secant number is derived by working with the Chow-Gessel q-polynomial involving the flag major index. Using the doubloon combinatorial model we show that this new q-secant number is a polynomial with positive integral coefficients, a property apparently hard to prove by analytical methods.