Part Eleven:
Jed Bartlet paced the length of the Oval Office; Leo, Toby, Josh, and Sam watched apprehensively. "She came to me, after Staff, with this neat little plan, and Ron even agreed, said she'd done well. It seemed fool proof."
"Well it wasn't! How could you." Toby roared, and Sam and Josh moved to reflexively restrain him if necessary, but Jed shook his head, calling them off.
"I've already said as much. I should have never listened, never called in Ron. but you know our CJ." he paused, leaning backward against the massive desk. "One of the agents died at the scene, bullet wound to the chest, busted his aorta Abbey thinks, the other's at GW. Head trauma."
"Do we know where he's taken CJ?" Josh spoke, his voice quasi- childlike. .
This time it was Leo's voice that was strained, "No we don't. The surviving agent overheard snatches of a very one-sided conversation, this man. Tommy or Neil or whoever he is," he sighed, "says she belongs to him, like she's some object, like." he trailed off. "He says if he can't have her."
"No one can," Toby filled in, his voice hoarse, hollow, scared.
"We have a tracker on her, but she has yet to activate it," Ron spoke, waiting for permission to enter from his place at the doorway.
"Well, why the hell not?" the words burst from Toby's lips as if from a floodgate.
"There were traces of blood at the scene," he sighed, "we believe there's a possibility she's injured."
"Jesus H. Christ!" Toby exploded, "She's hurt and she's alone with a clinically insane psychopath that."
"Sociopath," someone interjected but was easily ignored.
".wants to possess her and will probably kill her if given enough reason!" he breathed, on his feet as he headed to the door, "And we're just sitting here like fucking bumps on a log! I'm not going to wait to be called to a goddamn morgue; I'm going to find her!"
"Toby, sit." The President spoke then, no longer friend and comrade Jed Bartlet, "You haven't a clue where he'd take her. We have men at both apartments."
"Hell of a lot of good it's done her so far!"
"Toby, Ron's got men working to turn the tracker on remotely. We need you to stay and think of CJ, for CJ. Where would he take her? Has she ever said anything about somewhere he's taken her? Where it began? A place he mentioned when he was with her?"
Toby was silent as Leo spoke again, "They found a microchip, a bug, in CJ's home phone and several other places around her home. He could be taking her somewhere he's heard that she likes, somewhere you mentioned wanting to take her. He was listening all the time, Toby, his apartment was a veritable audio-visual genius' playground," he paused, eyes slipping shut. "He had pictures of her everywhere, mostly stills from news broadcasts and photographs from newspapers, magazines," the room again fell silent, but the gears in Toby's mind turned relentlessly.
"She loves the beach." he finally whispered. "I practically met her at the beach." Leo's earlier words drifted through his mind, "Where it all began.He took her to the beach!" A second later, his voice had risen drastically as he nearly yelled - "The Potomac!" and forced his way through the doorway, fear and rage fueling his pace.
------
She had planned to arrange a meeting - to appear just as lost and hopeless as she had in the beginning, only this time would end. Stalking laws, being a cause she held near to her heart, were less than efficient at best where thy even existed. Provoke him to anger, she had told herself, but don't be a God forsaken martyr. And, CJ had smiled hesitantly as she exited the room with the head of the Secret Service on her heels, barking orders and mentally calling her a fool. "I like living, and I don't plan on doing anything stupid. It's entrapment," she paused, feeling almost guilty, "but this is political, and I was hired for my spin techniques."
He paused, stiff and starched as always, but almost smiling at her words, frightened by her idealism. "I'll make sure they're well-armed, Ms. Cregg."
She nodded, a little voice in the far reaches of her mind hissing, "It's not that easy, you're walking into a trap, Ceej! Don't simplify this!" But she pushed it away and waited for the go-ahead, ready to deliberate on whether or not to tell Toby. Moments later, CJ pushed that, too, from her mind, settling on all the reasons she shouldn't tell him, simply because he'd be able to stop her, and, she sighed, it was time to end the nightmare she'd fallen into unaware.
With a final sigh, she dove back into work as she would any other day.
"Doesn't everyone make mistakes?"
Eleven hours after she'd spoken the initial plan to the man who could enable it's beginning, CJ felt wind whiz by her ear before she heard the first man collapse, saw the second cry out as he fell. And, the darkness fell around her and she knew, then, that she would never enact her plan, because the final round had begun at Checkmate.
Jed Bartlet paced the length of the Oval Office; Leo, Toby, Josh, and Sam watched apprehensively. "She came to me, after Staff, with this neat little plan, and Ron even agreed, said she'd done well. It seemed fool proof."
"Well it wasn't! How could you." Toby roared, and Sam and Josh moved to reflexively restrain him if necessary, but Jed shook his head, calling them off.
"I've already said as much. I should have never listened, never called in Ron. but you know our CJ." he paused, leaning backward against the massive desk. "One of the agents died at the scene, bullet wound to the chest, busted his aorta Abbey thinks, the other's at GW. Head trauma."
"Do we know where he's taken CJ?" Josh spoke, his voice quasi- childlike. .
This time it was Leo's voice that was strained, "No we don't. The surviving agent overheard snatches of a very one-sided conversation, this man. Tommy or Neil or whoever he is," he sighed, "says she belongs to him, like she's some object, like." he trailed off. "He says if he can't have her."
"No one can," Toby filled in, his voice hoarse, hollow, scared.
"We have a tracker on her, but she has yet to activate it," Ron spoke, waiting for permission to enter from his place at the doorway.
"Well, why the hell not?" the words burst from Toby's lips as if from a floodgate.
"There were traces of blood at the scene," he sighed, "we believe there's a possibility she's injured."
"Jesus H. Christ!" Toby exploded, "She's hurt and she's alone with a clinically insane psychopath that."
"Sociopath," someone interjected but was easily ignored.
".wants to possess her and will probably kill her if given enough reason!" he breathed, on his feet as he headed to the door, "And we're just sitting here like fucking bumps on a log! I'm not going to wait to be called to a goddamn morgue; I'm going to find her!"
"Toby, sit." The President spoke then, no longer friend and comrade Jed Bartlet, "You haven't a clue where he'd take her. We have men at both apartments."
"Hell of a lot of good it's done her so far!"
"Toby, Ron's got men working to turn the tracker on remotely. We need you to stay and think of CJ, for CJ. Where would he take her? Has she ever said anything about somewhere he's taken her? Where it began? A place he mentioned when he was with her?"
Toby was silent as Leo spoke again, "They found a microchip, a bug, in CJ's home phone and several other places around her home. He could be taking her somewhere he's heard that she likes, somewhere you mentioned wanting to take her. He was listening all the time, Toby, his apartment was a veritable audio-visual genius' playground," he paused, eyes slipping shut. "He had pictures of her everywhere, mostly stills from news broadcasts and photographs from newspapers, magazines," the room again fell silent, but the gears in Toby's mind turned relentlessly.
"She loves the beach." he finally whispered. "I practically met her at the beach." Leo's earlier words drifted through his mind, "Where it all began.He took her to the beach!" A second later, his voice had risen drastically as he nearly yelled - "The Potomac!" and forced his way through the doorway, fear and rage fueling his pace.
------
She had planned to arrange a meeting - to appear just as lost and hopeless as she had in the beginning, only this time would end. Stalking laws, being a cause she held near to her heart, were less than efficient at best where thy even existed. Provoke him to anger, she had told herself, but don't be a God forsaken martyr. And, CJ had smiled hesitantly as she exited the room with the head of the Secret Service on her heels, barking orders and mentally calling her a fool. "I like living, and I don't plan on doing anything stupid. It's entrapment," she paused, feeling almost guilty, "but this is political, and I was hired for my spin techniques."
He paused, stiff and starched as always, but almost smiling at her words, frightened by her idealism. "I'll make sure they're well-armed, Ms. Cregg."
She nodded, a little voice in the far reaches of her mind hissing, "It's not that easy, you're walking into a trap, Ceej! Don't simplify this!" But she pushed it away and waited for the go-ahead, ready to deliberate on whether or not to tell Toby. Moments later, CJ pushed that, too, from her mind, settling on all the reasons she shouldn't tell him, simply because he'd be able to stop her, and, she sighed, it was time to end the nightmare she'd fallen into unaware.
With a final sigh, she dove back into work as she would any other day.
"Doesn't everyone make mistakes?"
Eleven hours after she'd spoken the initial plan to the man who could enable it's beginning, CJ felt wind whiz by her ear before she heard the first man collapse, saw the second cry out as he fell. And, the darkness fell around her and she knew, then, that she would never enact her plan, because the final round had begun at Checkmate.
