Warning: Physical violence portrayed
Late that day, the doorbell rang at the estate of Lord John Marbury. By the time the butler answered, whoever had rung the bell had vanished. He picked up the large manila envelope, addressed to Lord John, and although curious as to what it contained, immediately brought it to the Lord in his study.
"Sir, this was just dropped off for you. The person who did so vanished before I got to the door so I did not see who left it."
John took the package, "Thank you, Charles. I'll handle it from here." John was curious as to what it might be as he was not expecting any deliveries so he cut open the very top and began to pull out the contents. A white dress was first, then ladies' undergarments. He felt something else and reached deeply only to pull out a set of diamond wedding rings. Finally, only a CD-ROM with a note attached remained. It read "Lord Marbury, President Bartlet will be very interested in this." This, of course, only served to increase Lord John's curiosity so he slid the CD-ROM into his computer and hit play. What he saw and heard had him fixated for about twenty minutes.
"Oh, Good Lord! Tell me please Lord they're not doing this to Abbey. Not Abigail Bartlet!" But he knew it was her. There was no doubt it was her. And he had to call the White House and tell them.
When it was over, he immediately picked up his phone and called Washington.
"Hello, Leo McGarry's office."
"Margaret, this Lord John Marbury. I'm calling from England and I need to speak to Leo immediately. It is very urgent."
Margaret immediately recognized that Lord John had called Leo by his real name, not by Gerald, and knew something critical had occurred. "Just a minute, Lord Marbury."
Margaret stood up and knocked on Leo's door. Without waiting, she opened it and went in. "Leo! Lord John is on the phone and he said it's urgent."
Leo sighed. "Tell him I'll call him back later. I'm in the middle of something."
"Leo, he didn't call you Gerald. He asked for Leo. I think it is something really important and you should take his call now."
Leo looked at his longtime assistant. Margaret usually had a sixth sense about these things. Maybe he should take the call. "Okay."
"Line two, Leo."
"John, Nice to talk…"
"Leo, this isn't a social call." He went on to explain what he had just seen and the contents of the envelope. Leo shuddered when John said the envelope had contained a white dress and wedding rings. No one except the Service and a few others in Washington had known that Abbey had worn a white linen dress yesterday at Wimbledon. And the rings were inscribed. These items definitely belonged to the First Lady.
"Okay, John. I'm going to get our CIA to send MI6 out there to get the materials to examine them at their headquarters in London and to get us a copy of that CD. Thanks for letting us know about that and we'll keep you in the loop. We may be calling on you to help us, if that's okay?"
"Of course. Anything I can do I will. Goodbye Leo, and please give the President my best."
"I will, I promise. Bye for now."
It had taken a couple of hours to get an electronic copy of the CD sent to Washington, but the National Security Council finally had a copy.
Leo entered the Oval Office when the copy arrived.
"Mr. President?"
Jed looked up from the endless stack of papers on this desk. "Yes?"
"We have our first break in Abbey's abduction."
Jed stood up. "What is it?"
"Lord John recently received a packet at his country manor that contained women's clothes and jewelry, which have been confirmed to be Abbey's, and a CD-ROM that has video on it."
"Leo, what are you not telling me?" Jed looked at his Chief of Staff curiously. He could tell Leo knew something he wasn't sharing.
"Mr. President, I haven't seen the video myself. John described it to me, but urged me to see it for myself. We have now received an electronic copy of it and it is waiting for us downstairs."
"Let's go. What are we waiting for?" Jed took off running. Finally, he would know something about how Abbey was.
"Sir, wait a minute."
Jed stopped and turned back to Leo. "What, Leo? Is there something you're not telling me? I am asking you again to tell me."
Leo hesitated, but knew, in the end, the President had to know. "Sir, Lord John said the video is very disturbing. I just want you prepared for whatever it shows."
"Leo, I have to see whatever it is. I have to know. Let's go."
It opened with a shot of a tall red-haired Irishman speaking to the camera. "President Bartlet, I sincerely wish you had seen fit to invite me to talk with you at the White House regarding the issues in Northern Ireland."
"Stop! Who is that?"
Nancy spoke up. "Brendan McGann, Sir. Head of Sinn Fein."
"Was I supposed to invite him here?
Leo spoke next. "He's the guy Lord John, as the British Ambassador, told Toby at Abbey's birthday party that you couldn't invite, but in the next breath, as a private citizen, said you should listen to what he has to say."
"Why wasn't I told about that?"
"I guess it got lost in the confusion."
Jed stared at Leo. But then said, "Okay, continue."
Nancy nodded to the tech to continue.
"Because of the lack of an invitation to come to Washington, I have been thinking of my response. And then the opportunity presented itself. Or should I say, herself."
The camera moved and Abbey came into view. She was hanging from a bar with her hands tied to it, her dress stripped off, dressed only in her bra and panties, a blindfold on her eyes, and her legs hanging off the floor with her feet tied together.
Jed shuddered, but forced himself to stay in his chair. He realized his wife was on view to the entire National Security Council, but he wanted to see what this monster was going to do to her.
"So far, your wife has been treated well. But I'm tired of playing nice. I have asked some of my men to come forward with some of their favorite toys and play with her. Gentlemen, if you please."
Brendan moved out of camera range and two men, with black hoods on, moved toward Abbey. They pulled tasers out of their pockets and began to probe her body with the points of the tasers. Each time they made contact, her body jerked and screams came from her mouth. After a few minutes, she dropped into unconsciousness and her head dropped forward lifelessly. One of the men checked her carotid pulse and nodded to Brendan that she was still alive. They resumed the torture.
By this time, Jed had gotten up and fled the room. Leo followed him, not as his Chief of Staff, but as his best friend. He found him in the anteroom, throwing up and shaking with anger. "How can they do that, Leo? How? Not just to Abbey, but to anyone? The incredible pain she's going through. I just can't watch it. I can't."
There was nothing Leo could say that would make Jed feel better. Hell, Leo was feeling the same way. All he could do was to wait until Jed had gathered his strength to go back into the conference room and face the others with all the grace he could muster.
After a few minutes, Leo asked, "Are you ready to go back in?"
"I guess so."
"Let's go, Sir."
They scanned their hands and reentered the room. Sitting down, Jed gathered the cloak of the Presidency around him. "I want to see the rest of it. Continue."
"Are you sure?" Nancy asked.
"Yes, I have to." Jed dug down deep and gathered all the strength he had. Nodding to Nancy, he braced himself for whatever he was about to see.
The tape picked up with an image of Abbey hanging limply from the same bar as before. The two men, who before had been tasering her, were cutting her loose from the bar and carrying her across the room to a table where a black vinyl bag lay. They carefully placed her inside the bag and zipped it up, completely covering her from head to toe.
It took the President a second or two to realize what that black bag was normally used for. And when he did, he tried to stand, but immediately collapsed, unconscious.
"Get the doctor down here right now!" Leo screamed as he knelt next to the President. This time he didn't know if the President would recover from the shock of seeing his wife being placed in a body bag that was used for carrying dead people.