Sorry this is taking so long to update, but it is, so I'm probably only going to be able to update sporadically about once or twice a week. Once all the busyness dies down it will go faster, but don't worry, I'm not going to leave you hanging for to long. Thanks for all your reviews!
CHAPTER VIII
"Is anybody dead back there?" Jed Bartlet strained his voice over the deafening clip clip clip of the helicopter.
"I don't know, sir. Its possible." Agent Ron Butterfield made sure that the President was securely fastened in his seat as he turned his attention to the First Lady and her granddaughter.
"What about, what about CJ?" The president had seen the firestorm in the pressroom before he was harshly whisked away to safety. That was the worst part, he thought, being whisked away to safety, somehow it made him feel cowardly.
"I wouldn't know about the press secretary's condition." Agent Butterfield watched the president's bemused face and was immediately pummeled by a strong sense of deja-vous. Hastily, he ran his hands across the president's head and torso. No blood. The agent let out a deep breath.
"Jed..." Abigail Bartlet let Annie finish talking into her ear. Then she resumed her shouts to her husband who sat three just three feet away. "Jed, Annie said she saw CJ."
His attention perked, the president strained to listen to his wife. "Saw her where?"
"Jed, she was in the fire, and Josh ran in and got her. Annie says she saw Josh come out with CJ in his arms." The first lady tightened her loving hold around Annie's neck.
Josiah Bartlet sat back in his seat. "I want to go to...can this thing land at Walter Reed? I need to speak to Leo as well, can someone get me Leo?"
Ron Butterfield gave the president's orders to the pilot through his radio, listened back, and then turned back to the first family. "Mr. President, I can take Ms Westin and the First Lady to the hospital, but we are dropping you off at a top secret location."
The president had never considered where his administration would deal with emergencies if the White House were no longer an option. "Where is this top secret location?"
Ron Butterfield looked back at the president. "Sir, I think you just answered your own question."
---
Carol approached the flight charts at Dulles International and uttered a particularly uncharacteristic gerund as she saw that Flight 308 to Potsdam was delayed by forty-five minutes. Coming to the conclusion that there was nothing left to do but wait, she decided to grab a coffee.
---
Donna veered around a corner, following the multiple ambulances on their way to the hospital. She checked her mirror, and sure enough Leo was crushed on the side of the car as the swerving momentum pushed the three assistants on top of him. Normally, this would make her giggle, but not today. Perhaps the funniest part, Donna realized, was that the front seat was empty, but they all crammed in the back anyway.
"Donna, pull over." Bonnie had her eyes glued to a mother and child standing on the side of the road whose genes could have been nothing short of presidential. "I think, I think that's Elizabeth Westin."
Donna pulled over to the side pulled down her window so she could talk with the dazed-looking woman. "Liz, do you want a ride to the hospital?"
Elizabeth looked in the car. She didn't seem to comprehend what Donna had just said. "Where's Annie, is Annie okay?"
Leo spoke up in the back. "Liz, she was right next to me when it happened, she was whisked away along with her grandparents to a helicopter, come with us and you can meet her in the hospital."
Elizabeth silently went around and sat in the front seat, Gus robotically positioning himself on her lap. "Who was hurt?"
For a few awkward moments the car was silent. Then Ginger spoke up, "CJ was right next to the podium, where it happened." There was continued silence, and then a timely interruption by Leo's cell phone.
Leo dug for his phone, finally silencing the ironically cheerful tones. "Hello...yes sir. Where? Okay. Is everyone all right were your at? Good. I'll see you in a few minutes, Mr. President." Leo looked up at the driver. "Donna, I need to be dropped off at the Department of Agriculture." Then he dialed his phone again. After a few minutes he reached the national security advisor. "Nancy, the president says close the airports. I see you in a few minutes."
---
Carol sat sipping her frappachino at the Airport Starbucks, watching the screen in the corner of the room. She could see the smoke at the white house on the TV screen, so she was relieved with the knowledge that the device had worked. She listened to the frantically talking heads with a growing grin...
Officials say that Press Secretary CJ Cregg was seriously wounded in the
Explosion, along with a White House reporter whose name has not yet been
Disclosed. The perpetrators of this attack are still a mystery, but the chief
Assistant Aide to the Assistant Secretary of Defense states, and I quote,
"The Bahi are not out of the question." As you may note, the Bahi were the
terrorist group responsible for the kidnapping over a year and a half ago
of the president's youngest daughter, Zoey Bartlet. In response to that
ultimately unsuccessful attack the United States under then President Walken
bombed terrorist bases in Qumar, at that time...
Carol took a delicate sip of her chilled coffee. For the time being, she was safe.
---
Leo waved back at Donna and the rest of the passengers as he made his way for the back door at the Department of Agriculture. He could hear the president's helicopter taking off, so he assumed that Jed was already secure in the emergency situation room. Suddenly a secret service agent appeared.
"Please follow me, Mr. McGarry."
Leo did follow, and was led through many passageways and stairwells, that existed for the sole purpose of confusing people, beneath the Department of Agriculture, eventually reaching an elevator. As they entered the antique structure that Leo wasn't entirely certain would even move, the agent spoke up.
"Sir, you need to use your card, it will have the appropriate directions on it."
Leo thought for a moment, and then dug the card out of his wallet. Sure enough a seven-digit number was printed on the card, and this number Leo typed into the elevator keypad. Within a few minutes Leo entered the new situation room, which was remarkable similar to the one in the White House, except for the fact that all of the screens seemed much older.
Nancy McNally sat at the end of the table in a cobalt outfit and a blue face. She watched as Leo entered the room. "Leo, we were just informed by agent Donalbain that we have a prime suspect in the press room bombings. The president already knows."
Leo sat next to his closest friend. He looked into the president's reddened eyes as he listened to the shocking words. "Leo, it was Carol."
"Carol...Carol Fitzpatrick? Personal aide to CJ?"
"Yes."
The bemused Chief of Staff looked around at the joint chiefs. "Nancy, how do we know?"
"Josh claims that Carol handed him a button to press when CJ went up to the podium, and that Carol just left. He was under the impression that it would start a radio."
"Oh God, Josh, how can you be so stupid!" Leo was fuming. In the corner of his eye he could make out the saddness imprinted on the president's face. "Still, we can't be sure that even Carol knew there was a bomb in the podium."
A large joint chief spoke with a chilling, raspy voice. "Yes we can, these still images from the press room security camera show Carol fiddling with the podium, seemingly installing something."
Leo was on the verge of shouting. "So why didn't we stop her then?"
"Because we assumed she was making sure it was ready for the press conference, see it was a new podium, it came in to replace the old one that morning." The chief was showing Leo and the president the eerie photos of Carol.
"Why did we get a new one?"
Nancy spoke with an unconscious grim smile on her face. "The old one was infested with termites, believe it or not. The thing is, we think that Carol put termites in the old podium months ago to weaken its structure, so that when the bomb went off, it would be twice as lethal. Luckily a reporter noticed a termite a few weeks ago on her seat, and that led to discovering the infestation in the podium. To get to the point, the reason nobody was killed was probably because the White House went miserly and bought a plastic- fake wood- substitute podium to replace the much more dangerous one, and not a moment to soon either."
The round table sat in silence. Then the president spoke up. "So are we looking for her?"
Nancy fumbled with the file folders in front of her. "There are crews looking right now, including all airports in a fifty mile radius, which on your recent orders are just beginning to close."
---
Carol lazily left her seat and threw away her empty plastic cup. She watched the people through the glass walls striding along the movable airport walkways, all of them busy, busy bees, she thought, such busy bees. Suddenly an announcement echoed throughout the patron filled Starbucks:
Do to recent events, all airports have been ordered to close. Therefore all
Flights not yet departed will be delayed until further notice. We apologize for
The inconvenience, however the Washington metropolitan area offers a plethora
Of sightseeing ...
At that point Carol stopped listening. She knew that she wouldn't have much time, they were probably looking for her right now. Hurriedly she picked up her phone and dialed, just as armed agents began to make their way down the movable walkways.
---
Donna checked her gas. There wasn't much left. She could hear Ginger talking on her phone behind her, but could only make out a couple "yes's" and "All right's". Suddenly a strange tone began to clang, and Bonnie picked up her cell. As they both chatted softly Donna stared at the road ahead, the ambulances were a ways in front of her, but she knew her way to the hospital. She knew her way all to well. Her glance at the serene sight beside her of a tired child sleeping on his worried mother's lap was interrupted by another clash of tones. Donna's own cell phone was ringing. This must be her she thought to herself.
-
Margaret listened to the clipped conversations of the three women riding with her in the car. None of them said anything very coherent or loud, just ordinary affirmative or negative responses to seemingly innocent and concerned questions from various loved ones. Elizabeth just sat in silence, she noticed, most likely not comprehending much anything she heard. Margaret's mood suddenly became sullen as she realized that no one would likely be calling her with their concerns.
Just then the small sedan pulled into Walter Reed, where two close friends and one acquaintance to the five women in the car awaited the support of their friends and loved ones. Support the five women would be happy to give, except one of them. One of them had a job to do.