Disclaimer: "The West Wing" and all related materials belong to Aaron Sorkin, NBC, etc.
They were in a helicopter, moving towards some base, secret or otherwise, that had been chosen at random by a computer. "Konrad deployed twenty men into Lafayette Park on a tip from a cab driver," Leo reported, hanging up the phone. It rang again even as he spoke. He considered leaving it for a second, then realised that wasn't an option. A few moments later, he hung up, face white. "Section five of the Pentagon has collapsed," he said in a raspy voice, "and the fourth plane is down in Pennsylvania. A field in Somerset County."
Jed nodded, looking out the window. "Get the UN and tell them--"
"Done. The headquarters, UNICEF, and the development offices have all been evacuated."
"Then get State and Justice on there and--"
"Both empty. Along with the World Bank."
The President turned to Leo. His expression is important, but indescribable. "Okay. So why the hell do I have the damn title, if I can't even tell people to evacuate?"
Leo nodded. "There's still the federal complexes. I'll have to fax them, though. We don't have a phone line for them."
"I don't care if you have to send Paul Revere, Leo. Do it."
Manipulating the finger pad of her laptop around the CNN site, CJ announced, "The FAA has confirmation from Canada that all international US-bound flights may be diverted to their airports."
"Damn fine of them," Josh muttered. "Where did you get the scotch, Sam?" he asked the back of the pilot's head.
"Never mind, Josh. How does 'wanton and unprovoked attack on innocents' sound?"
"American innocents. Don't forget to bring the rah-rah."
Sam erased the sentence and started typing again.
CJ cursed quietly. Toby looked over at the screen of her laptop. A grainy photo had just been put up of the north tower collapsing. A thin sliver of steel-spined concrete stood outside the flood of smoke.
"And that's six minutes old," he commented dryly.
She nodded, sobbing quietly.
Realising that she was crying, he put his unattached hand on the one she had gripped around the edge of her laptop. "CJ."
"Hoynes is on his way back from Honduras," Leo said, hanging up the phone again.
"Has Abbey landed?"
"She's at Fort Bragg, sir."
"Where are we going?"
"Not Nevada."
"God dammit. Is there an NSC phone line on your magic keypad, Leo?"
"When we land, Mr. President."
"Did you know today was primary election day in New York City?" CJ asked no one in particular, wiping her face with a tissue from Toby's pocket. "The day each borough elects its mayoral candidate. Mayor Giuliani has cancelled the election. Postponed it indefinitely."
"Well, yeah," Josh commented into the silence.
She tapped the mouse button a couple of times. "And Israel's evacuating their embassies and consulates."
"Will you put that thing away?" Sam asked quietly, not intending for her to hear. Josh turned in his seat and opened his mouth. "I'm not telling you where I got the drink, Josh."
"Governor Pataki says all the state government offices are closed. Mayor Giuliani's evacuating everything south of Canal Street," Toby said before CJ had a chance. She smiled a little through her slowing tears.
The President picked up the handset of the phone while Leo was out of the compartment, inspecting the cryptically labelled buttons crowding its face.
"What are you doing, sir?"
"I want to call my wife, Leo."
"Sit down and I'll see what I can do."
"No, Leo. Tell me how to get Fort Bragg on here," he waved the receiver around a little bit, for emphasis.
Studying Jed's delicately hunched shoulders, Leo considered. "There could be a chemical agent on the planes, sir."
He looked up suddenly, interest piqued. "Yeah?"
"CDC should probably get out there."
Surveying the buttons once again, Jed nodded. "Which one?"
"Third row down, second in."
"This one?"
"Yeah."
It was a hotel. Toby, CJ, Sam, and Josh were herded into a limo and spirited away.
"So we're going to be gone for a while?" Josh asked, leaning to open the minibar.
Toby held it shut with his foot, looking over CJ's arm at her laptop. "Maybe," he replied.
Turning to look at him, CJ pushed his head away from her shoulder and asked, "Where's your computer, Toby?"
He shrugged, settling closer again. "I'm sure Ginger's taking care of it." CJ rolled her eyes and disconnected from the internet.
At Toby's grumble, she pointed across the car at Sam, who was silently hunched over his own keyboard. "Go use his. Now that the flights are confirmed and the dust is settling a little--"
"Metaphorically, of course," Josh interjected, kicking Toby's steadfast foot and sitting beside Sam.
"--I need to get to work," she finished, sending Josh a glance of rebuke.
"What are those flight figures, by the way?" Sam inquired, looking up, the eerie blue glow of the screen reflected in his glasses. "I want to use them for dramatic impact," he explained, even though no one had asked why.
His penchant for giving more information than is asked of him is important.
LAX evacuated. SFO evacuated.
Nothing happened there. It's not important.
"Close the borders?" Leo asked, surprised.
Nancy was silent on the other end of the line.
The conference room of the 'undisclosed location' was as lushly appointed as modern military fashion would allow. Bartlet closed his eyes and tapped the end of his pen on the table, pretending it was a cigarette.
"I think that's a bad idea," he said into the silence.
Nancy remained silent, but her irritation was palpable despite the fact that she was in Virginia and they were...not.
"If we seal ourselves off, for one thing, the Vice President is not going to be able to get back into the country--"
"Vice President Hoynes has already landed at Lauderdale, sir," Jack corrected him from North Carolina.
"Fine, then," Bartlet amended. "Whatever help we can elicit from--I don't know where--Canada is going to be useless if they can't even get down here--"
"Of course, diplomatic and rescue crews are a different matter altogether, sir," Nancy interrupted. "Look, Mr. President--"
"Thank you, Nancy, for that reminder. I am the President, and I say put the borders on Alert One. Both of them. All necessary identification to get in, a damn good reason to get out. Do inform the INS of this decision, please, Leo. Thank you all for your time." He stood and walked away from the table.
The National Security Council chorused, "Thank you, Mr. President," from four different states.
This is not important.
At 1:04 the undisclosed location was revealed as Ft. Madison, in Missouri.
Drawn but defiant, the President held the edges of his podium and spoke with semi-gritted teeth for forty-two seconds.
"All appropriate security measures are being taken. The military of the United States has been put on high alert worldwide, and I want to state categorically that once the identities of the individuals, organisation or state responsible for this vicious attack on the values of all western nations--this vicious attack on democracy and freedom--once the perpetrators are identified, they will be brought to swift, unflinching justice. I ask that the prayers and good will of the world be directed to the victims of these attacks and their families. God bless America."
Looking up from his laptop, Sam frowned as Josh whistled and said, "You sure he needs you to write something for him, Sam?"
"Shut up," CJ spat, hitting him on the shoulder and leaning toward the TV. "They're going to the mayor of DC."
A few moments later, she sat back, sinking into the three layers of pillows on the hotel bed.
"If there's a state of emergency in Washington, when are we going back?" Sam asked hesitantly.
Toby launched himself from his chair and left the room silently, shutting the door firmly.
CJ pushed Josh out of the way and followed.
Sam and Josh looked at each other and shrugged. Sam bent back over the laptop while Josh went to the wet bar by the window, the spectacular view of the Jersey shore offered by which is unimportant.
He cursed as the cabinet doors proved locked.
"Baker said what?" Leo said, glancing at Bartlet's rigid back as Lennox repeated his colleague's statement. "No, no," he interrupted, "five warships, not three. Out of Norfolk. Yes, all of them. The carriers too. Washington and Kennedy, man. Yes, for the nostalgic value, you moron," he added sarcastically. "Send those two to New York. The others, put them on patrol along the seaboard. Yes. I'm relaying the President's wishes, I'll have you know. I could give him the phone and he could tell you the same thing but much less politely. Okay. You're welcome. Goodbye."
He hung up with an incredulous expression. "You'd think these guys didn't know how to take orders or something."
Bartlet was looking out the window, concern creasing his forehead. "We're going to Maine, right?"
"In fifteen minutes, yeah. Get your coat on."
"I want to stop in New York."
Leo paused mid-movement as he drew on his own jacket. "What?"
"I want to stop in New York," the President repeated, turning to give his friend a steely glare.
"Why?"
"Because it's my damn country. I want to see it live, Leo."
The other man shook his head slowly. "No, sir, I'm afraid not. The security--"
With an explosion of anger and grief, Jed swept a vase off the table under the window. It shattered a few feet away, the pieces tinkling into silence as if embarrassed
Leo let the left arm of his jacket dangle to the floor as he stared at his President.
Taking a deep breath, he said quietly, "The security doesn't work, Leo. That much is brutally clear. It didn't work in Rosslyn, and it didn't work this morning. As I've been reminded several times today while being told to shut up and accept predetermined protocols, I am the goddamn President of the United States. We're stopping in New York. And you're bringing my wife and children to the White House PDQ."
They were in a helicopter, moving towards some base, secret or otherwise, that had been chosen at random by a computer. "Konrad deployed twenty men into Lafayette Park on a tip from a cab driver," Leo reported, hanging up the phone. It rang again even as he spoke. He considered leaving it for a second, then realised that wasn't an option. A few moments later, he hung up, face white. "Section five of the Pentagon has collapsed," he said in a raspy voice, "and the fourth plane is down in Pennsylvania. A field in Somerset County."
Jed nodded, looking out the window. "Get the UN and tell them--"
"Done. The headquarters, UNICEF, and the development offices have all been evacuated."
"Then get State and Justice on there and--"
"Both empty. Along with the World Bank."
The President turned to Leo. His expression is important, but indescribable. "Okay. So why the hell do I have the damn title, if I can't even tell people to evacuate?"
Leo nodded. "There's still the federal complexes. I'll have to fax them, though. We don't have a phone line for them."
"I don't care if you have to send Paul Revere, Leo. Do it."
Manipulating the finger pad of her laptop around the CNN site, CJ announced, "The FAA has confirmation from Canada that all international US-bound flights may be diverted to their airports."
"Damn fine of them," Josh muttered. "Where did you get the scotch, Sam?" he asked the back of the pilot's head.
"Never mind, Josh. How does 'wanton and unprovoked attack on innocents' sound?"
"American innocents. Don't forget to bring the rah-rah."
Sam erased the sentence and started typing again.
CJ cursed quietly. Toby looked over at the screen of her laptop. A grainy photo had just been put up of the north tower collapsing. A thin sliver of steel-spined concrete stood outside the flood of smoke.
"And that's six minutes old," he commented dryly.
She nodded, sobbing quietly.
Realising that she was crying, he put his unattached hand on the one she had gripped around the edge of her laptop. "CJ."
"Hoynes is on his way back from Honduras," Leo said, hanging up the phone again.
"Has Abbey landed?"
"She's at Fort Bragg, sir."
"Where are we going?"
"Not Nevada."
"God dammit. Is there an NSC phone line on your magic keypad, Leo?"
"When we land, Mr. President."
"Did you know today was primary election day in New York City?" CJ asked no one in particular, wiping her face with a tissue from Toby's pocket. "The day each borough elects its mayoral candidate. Mayor Giuliani has cancelled the election. Postponed it indefinitely."
"Well, yeah," Josh commented into the silence.
She tapped the mouse button a couple of times. "And Israel's evacuating their embassies and consulates."
"Will you put that thing away?" Sam asked quietly, not intending for her to hear. Josh turned in his seat and opened his mouth. "I'm not telling you where I got the drink, Josh."
"Governor Pataki says all the state government offices are closed. Mayor Giuliani's evacuating everything south of Canal Street," Toby said before CJ had a chance. She smiled a little through her slowing tears.
The President picked up the handset of the phone while Leo was out of the compartment, inspecting the cryptically labelled buttons crowding its face.
"What are you doing, sir?"
"I want to call my wife, Leo."
"Sit down and I'll see what I can do."
"No, Leo. Tell me how to get Fort Bragg on here," he waved the receiver around a little bit, for emphasis.
Studying Jed's delicately hunched shoulders, Leo considered. "There could be a chemical agent on the planes, sir."
He looked up suddenly, interest piqued. "Yeah?"
"CDC should probably get out there."
Surveying the buttons once again, Jed nodded. "Which one?"
"Third row down, second in."
"This one?"
"Yeah."
It was a hotel. Toby, CJ, Sam, and Josh were herded into a limo and spirited away.
"So we're going to be gone for a while?" Josh asked, leaning to open the minibar.
Toby held it shut with his foot, looking over CJ's arm at her laptop. "Maybe," he replied.
Turning to look at him, CJ pushed his head away from her shoulder and asked, "Where's your computer, Toby?"
He shrugged, settling closer again. "I'm sure Ginger's taking care of it." CJ rolled her eyes and disconnected from the internet.
At Toby's grumble, she pointed across the car at Sam, who was silently hunched over his own keyboard. "Go use his. Now that the flights are confirmed and the dust is settling a little--"
"Metaphorically, of course," Josh interjected, kicking Toby's steadfast foot and sitting beside Sam.
"--I need to get to work," she finished, sending Josh a glance of rebuke.
"What are those flight figures, by the way?" Sam inquired, looking up, the eerie blue glow of the screen reflected in his glasses. "I want to use them for dramatic impact," he explained, even though no one had asked why.
His penchant for giving more information than is asked of him is important.
LAX evacuated. SFO evacuated.
Nothing happened there. It's not important.
"Close the borders?" Leo asked, surprised.
Nancy was silent on the other end of the line.
The conference room of the 'undisclosed location' was as lushly appointed as modern military fashion would allow. Bartlet closed his eyes and tapped the end of his pen on the table, pretending it was a cigarette.
"I think that's a bad idea," he said into the silence.
Nancy remained silent, but her irritation was palpable despite the fact that she was in Virginia and they were...not.
"If we seal ourselves off, for one thing, the Vice President is not going to be able to get back into the country--"
"Vice President Hoynes has already landed at Lauderdale, sir," Jack corrected him from North Carolina.
"Fine, then," Bartlet amended. "Whatever help we can elicit from--I don't know where--Canada is going to be useless if they can't even get down here--"
"Of course, diplomatic and rescue crews are a different matter altogether, sir," Nancy interrupted. "Look, Mr. President--"
"Thank you, Nancy, for that reminder. I am the President, and I say put the borders on Alert One. Both of them. All necessary identification to get in, a damn good reason to get out. Do inform the INS of this decision, please, Leo. Thank you all for your time." He stood and walked away from the table.
The National Security Council chorused, "Thank you, Mr. President," from four different states.
This is not important.
At 1:04 the undisclosed location was revealed as Ft. Madison, in Missouri.
Drawn but defiant, the President held the edges of his podium and spoke with semi-gritted teeth for forty-two seconds.
"All appropriate security measures are being taken. The military of the United States has been put on high alert worldwide, and I want to state categorically that once the identities of the individuals, organisation or state responsible for this vicious attack on the values of all western nations--this vicious attack on democracy and freedom--once the perpetrators are identified, they will be brought to swift, unflinching justice. I ask that the prayers and good will of the world be directed to the victims of these attacks and their families. God bless America."
Looking up from his laptop, Sam frowned as Josh whistled and said, "You sure he needs you to write something for him, Sam?"
"Shut up," CJ spat, hitting him on the shoulder and leaning toward the TV. "They're going to the mayor of DC."
A few moments later, she sat back, sinking into the three layers of pillows on the hotel bed.
"If there's a state of emergency in Washington, when are we going back?" Sam asked hesitantly.
Toby launched himself from his chair and left the room silently, shutting the door firmly.
CJ pushed Josh out of the way and followed.
Sam and Josh looked at each other and shrugged. Sam bent back over the laptop while Josh went to the wet bar by the window, the spectacular view of the Jersey shore offered by which is unimportant.
He cursed as the cabinet doors proved locked.
"Baker said what?" Leo said, glancing at Bartlet's rigid back as Lennox repeated his colleague's statement. "No, no," he interrupted, "five warships, not three. Out of Norfolk. Yes, all of them. The carriers too. Washington and Kennedy, man. Yes, for the nostalgic value, you moron," he added sarcastically. "Send those two to New York. The others, put them on patrol along the seaboard. Yes. I'm relaying the President's wishes, I'll have you know. I could give him the phone and he could tell you the same thing but much less politely. Okay. You're welcome. Goodbye."
He hung up with an incredulous expression. "You'd think these guys didn't know how to take orders or something."
Bartlet was looking out the window, concern creasing his forehead. "We're going to Maine, right?"
"In fifteen minutes, yeah. Get your coat on."
"I want to stop in New York."
Leo paused mid-movement as he drew on his own jacket. "What?"
"I want to stop in New York," the President repeated, turning to give his friend a steely glare.
"Why?"
"Because it's my damn country. I want to see it live, Leo."
The other man shook his head slowly. "No, sir, I'm afraid not. The security--"
With an explosion of anger and grief, Jed swept a vase off the table under the window. It shattered a few feet away, the pieces tinkling into silence as if embarrassed
Leo let the left arm of his jacket dangle to the floor as he stared at his President.
Taking a deep breath, he said quietly, "The security doesn't work, Leo. That much is brutally clear. It didn't work in Rosslyn, and it didn't work this morning. As I've been reminded several times today while being told to shut up and accept predetermined protocols, I am the goddamn President of the United States. We're stopping in New York. And you're bringing my wife and children to the White House PDQ."