"You know, Abbey, I am so lucky to have such a great staff. They work such long hours and are so dedicated to the goals of this Presidency. I really don't know what I would do without them."
"I agree with you, hon. What made you say this now?"
"I don't know. I guess it was the staff meeting this morning when I looked around the room, and no matter how tired they looked, everyone seemed so eager to take on even more tasks. What more could you ask of people?"
They pulled the bedspread down and threw the throw pillows to the chairs on the other side of the room. Climbing into bed together, a rare occasion these days, they kissed each other good night, turned off their individual lamps, and snuggled together.
"I missed you these last few days," Jed whispered in his wife's ear.
"Me, too," she responded. "I hate sleeping alone."
"Not tonight." They snuggled closer and soon were sound asleep.
And so, when the phone rang on Jed's side, it disturbed the closeness they were feeling. He grunted, turned away from his wife and toward the phone. Noting the time of 3:15, he knew it could only mean one thing, Situation Room.
Picking up the phone, he responded as he normally did in the middle of the night, "Yeah, Leo?"
"Mr. President, I…" but he couldn't continue.
"Leo, what's wrong?" This was not starting out as a normal call from his Chief of Staff telling him there was a need for him to get out of bed and come down to take care of some international crisis.
There was no response, so Jed tried again. "Leo, I said, what's wrong? Answer me. Please." By this time, he was more awake and had turned on the bedside lamp.
Abbey had heard her husband ask Leo a second time and had turned over to listen to the conversation. Something was wrong.
Jed heard some noise on the other end of the phone, and a new voice came on the line. One that was totally unexpected.
"Mr. President, this is Ron. Mr. McGarry and I are at GW and I have…"
"Ron, why are you both at GW? Is something wrong with Leo? Is he sick? Is he injured?"
Jed felt Abbey's hand on his shoulder.
"Mr. President, please give me a minute to explain."
The President took a deep breath and sat on the side of the bed. "Okay, Ron. Please explain."
"Sir, I don't have many details yet. All we know is that your Senior Staff members have been brought in with various life-threatening injuries occurring within two hours of each other. Mr. McGarry and I don't believe this is a coincidence."
"Ron, you had better give me more details than that."
"I'll give you what I know. Mr. Lyman's car was hit head on by an out-of-control box truck, Ms. Cregg was shot in the chest while walking home from the White House, Mr. Zeigler was shot in the neck through his living room window, and Mr. Seaborn, well, we can't really tell how his injuries occurred."
"What are Sam's injuries, Ron?"
"Mr. President, he looks like he was mugged pretty badly, but he was found in his apartment by his landlord who had heard some noises and had gone to check them out. When he got to Mr. Seaborn's apartment, the door was open and Mr. Seaborn was unconscious on the living room floor. According to the police, there was no sign of forced entry. They are all either currently being assessed in trauma rooms or, in the case of Mr. Zeigler, have gone straight to surgery."
"I'm coming down there, Ron. Tell Leo I'm on my way."
"A car is waiting for you, Sir."
"Thanks, Ron." He hung up the phone and immediately got out of bed.
"What's going on, Jed?"
He explained to Abbey while he threw on some jeans and a sweater.
She jumped out of bed. "I'm coming with you. You'll need me there."
"Thanks. Ron has a car waiting."