Chapter Eleven
The gunfire came from nowhere. Members of the Medellin Cartel were taken totally by surprise. They immediately held up their hands, some of them lay down on the floor. They knew the drill. Twenty miles away, another group of drug and arms dealers were doing the same thing. The Colombian Police, American soldiers and agents from both countries had swarmed the two warehouses. One of the men lay with his face turned to the side. He could see the soldiers' feet and then hear their whoops of delight as they discovered the stash of drugs. It was the largest operation of joint forces ever and had led to the biggest seizure of drugs and illegal arms in eighteen years.
"100 kilos of high-grade heroin, $23 000 worth of amphetamine pills, 124 semi-automatic rifles and countless rounds of illegal munitions, $28 000 worth of forged notes and 26 men captured. Four of them are major players in the Medillin cartel." Ron couldn't help grinning as he read the list of what had been seized to the President.
"Leo! Did you hear-"Bartlet changed his mind and walked quickly out of his office, "Charlie! Get the senior staff in here," he swept past Charlie's desk and into Leo's office. Leo had already gone into the Oval Office when he'd heard his name called. Bartlet walked through Leo's empty office and back into the Oval, where Leo was now standing talking to Ron.
"Ron just told me," Leo beamed. "I knew President Miguel was optimistic but I never thought we'd get a result like this."
"Two nations, Leo," Bartlet started.
"Don't," Leo moaned.
"Two nations. A unification of will and strength, two nations joined by a bond of outrage and a conviction to rout the common enemy." Bartlet pulled off his glasses and looked up to see Toby who was closely followed by CJ and Josh.
"Two nations, Toby!"
"Yes sir," even Toby was smiling. The joy in the room was contagious.
"CJ, you need to speak to Ron. I want every item of what was recovered detailed in your briefing. Ron will enjoy reading it to you. I think he knows it by heart. In fact, read it to them now Ron."
Ron started to repeat the list that he had read moments before. Barlet sat down next to CJ and took in the smiling faces of his staff. He glanced at Leo and saw his own grin reflected back at him.
When Sam had been writing the Statement of Aims, Bartlet and the Colombian President had been busy putting stage one into operation. Months of undercover work and intelligence gathering had resulted in American and Colombian joint forces succeeding in pulling off a drug haul so large that it had surpassed everyone's expectations. Not only was it an accomplishment in itself, but it sent a message loud and clear to the drug cartels that President Miguel was cleaning up and that he had friends who were happy to help him to do it.
"We should tell Sam," Toby announced when Ron finished talking. Sam had been in hospital for six days and was slowly improving. Toby and Josh hadn't visited him for the past four days. They had both phoned though. Often a nurse answered and gave their messages to Sam. A few times, she had handed the phone to Sam and he had spoken briefly to them.
"Go phone him now," Leo suggested, "before the press gets all the details."
Toby nodded and left the room. The others soon followed, Bartlet calling, "Every item listed in the briefing," at CJ as she closed the door.
Sam reached over and fumbled with the phone which had been placed so that he could reach it with his left hand.
"Sam, it's Toby. I wanted to tell you before you saw it on the news- the raids were carried out last night. They captured a hoard of drugs, counterfeit money, guns and a few members of the biggest cartels in Colombia."
"What were their names?"
"Who?"
"The men they caught, were they…"
Toby closed his eyes and rubbed at his forehead as he realised what Sam meant. "I don't have their names but I know it wasn't the men who-"
"It's alright, it was a stupid question." Sam had known that the first phase of the joint forces plan was happening soon and, even though he knew it was unrealistic to do so, he had hoped that Incul and Javier would somehow be involved and captured.
"It's not stupid, Sam, I hoped it was them too." Toby heard Sam sigh.
"Okay, thanks for letting me know." There was a pause before Sam asked, "I'll see you later?"
Toby closed his eyes again but this time in relief. "I'll come over this afternoon."
"Okay." Sam hung up.
Toby replaced the receiver, glanced at his watch. If he gave the mission statement he was working on to Jason then he could probably be out of the office by four. He walked next door and handed Jason the file and his notes. Jason decided that Toby was even more unnerving when he was smiling.
Toby was nearly out of the West Wing when he heard Ron call his name. He waited impatiently for him to come over. He had been held up and was going later than planned and the more time that passed the more anxious Toby felt about the visit.
"It's good news at last," Ron said as he walked towards Toby. "I've just sent two agents over to Colombia to talk to one of the men they captured last night. He was being interviewed and started to bring Mael's name into the conversation. He also mentioned Incul and Javier. He hasn't said anymore, but it's clear he might have something to offer us. The press never released the names of the men who took Sam and we already know that his abduction wasn't general knowledge within the FARC. This could really lead to something."
"This day just keeps getting better and better doesn't it," Toby said as he smiled at Ron and walked out of the building.
When he got to the unit, the doctors were in with Sam and so he took a seat outside. Nurse Stanton passed and then did a double-take.
"I thought it was you! Does Sam know you're here?"
"Not yet. How long do you think they'll be?"
She looked into Sam's room, "Well that's Doctor Mitchell. He'll be looking at Sam's hand I should think. I doubt he'll be much longer." She hurried off as her name was announced over the intercom. Toby stood and looked into the room. He recognised Doctor Chenner. The doctor that the nurse had identified as Mitchell was examining Sam's hand while Doctor Chenner listened attentively to what he was saying. Neither of them seemed to be paying much attention to Sam except to ask the occasional question. Toby couldn't see Sam's face. The curtains were pulled around the bed and Toby sat back down.
After a while the curtains were pulled back and the two doctors left the room. Toby watched as they looked at some X-rays that had arrived. Doctor Chenner acknowledged Toby and then walked towards the elevator leaving Doctor Mitchell to return to Sam's room alone. He walked over to Sam's bed and started to talk but then Sam stopped him and the doctor walked out of the room.
"Are you Toby Ziegler?" he asked Toby who nodded. "Sam said he'd like you to come in," Doctor Mitchell explained and held the door open for him. Toby smiled at Sam as he walked towards him and stood by the bed. The doctor walked around to the other side.
"Sam, we've had a look at the X-rays of your hand and you'll be pleased to hear that we don't need to re-set any bones or carry out any further surgery at the moment. We can treat the broken scaphoid bone in your wrist with the cast. We will need to X-ray your wrist over the coming weeks to make sure it is healing okay. If it looks as if there is a risk of non-union of the bone then we will need to operate to reset it or maybe pin it." The doctor paused and allowed Sam to take in the information. Toby listened carefully. He knew Sam was embarrassed by how he seemed to be forgetting things that were said to him and so he made sure that he memorised every word.
"Okay?" Sam nodded at the doctor and he continued. "All of your finger bones, or phalanges, are broken except for your little finger. Also some bones in your hand are fractured. There are many different types of fractures and you have sustained quite a number of them. Your thumb isn't broken and I need you to start moving that as much as you can. A physical therapist will see you later today and show you some exercises. A wound care specialist will also come and see you later on in the week. We're going to remove the splints on two of your fingers as we want you to start moving them as soon as possible. The process of healing is going to be a long one Sam, and if you are going to regain full use of your hand then you need to follow all of the advice that the members of the hand trauma team give you."
"You said if I am going to regain full use, what are the chances that I won't?"
"Hand injuries are incredibly complex to treat. There is always a chance that you will experience stiffness in your fingers. Scaphoid fractures are particularly complex and can result in arthritis, ongoing pain or in some cases a slight deformity. But what you have to hold onto is the fact that despite the delay between your injury and treatment, the prognosis for a return to full mobility is very good. Do you have any other questions?"
Sam shook his head and looked up at Toby. The doctor followed his lead and looked up at him also. "How long will he be in a cast?"
"Four to six weeks. It will depend on what the X-rays reveal."
Doctor Mitchell reminded Sam about the importance of moving his thumb and doing whatever exercises he was told to and then left him and Toby alone. Toby placed his coat on the end of the bed and pulled up a chair.
"That sounds good, what Doctor Mitchell said, it all sounds…good."
Sam nodded and pushed himself up the bed. The oxygen mask had been replaced with a nasal cannula and Sam's breathing sounded much better, but Toby didn't mention that. If he had, he would have been drawing attention to the fact that Sam had refused to see him for the past few days.
"Is your mother still here?" he asked instead.
"She's doing some sightseeing. I think she's planning to come and stay at weekends." Sam reached over and picked up a book that lay on the bedside table. "This was from John Delaney."
Toby took it from Sam and started to read the blurb on the back. "That was nice of him. Have you read any of it yet?"
"Was John the man who bought me to the hospital?"
Toby put the book back on the table. "Yeah. Don't you remember?"
"I didn't but I'm starting to. Last night I remembered John talking to me…I remembered him stopping. The first car didn't stop. He looked at me and then he locked his door…I remember that." Sam closed his eyes and sighed. "There was a little girl too. She was smiling and then she saw me and…stopped smiling. Her mom pulled her back into the house. They were frightened of me."
"They were just frightened, Sam. They weren't frightened of you."
"Would you have stopped?"
Toby wondered how many conversations he would have like this, helping Sam to make sense of what happened. "I honestly don't know. I'd like to say that of course I would stop and help someone, but I don't know."
"I don't know," Sam said and Toby wasn't sure if he was making a statement or simply echoing what he had said. Toby told Sam what was happening at work, being careful not to mention the President or Josh. Sam listened but Toby could tell he had no real interest in the subject. After a while, Toby leaned back and picked up his coat.
"Thanks for letting me visit. It's good to see you looking better." He stood but made no move to leave. He wanted to ask if Josh could visit but his time with Sam had gone so well that he was afraid to say anything that might cause any friction.
Sam knew why Toby was reluctant to leave. He also knew he needed to face Josh at some point. "Is Josh around tonight?"
Sam could see the relief on Toby's face. "I'll tell him to come later." Toby walked to the door. He didn't think anything of it when Sam shouted out for him to leave it open. Later, when Sam was out of the hospital, it would come back to Toby and he would realise its significance.
"I am grateful to my son for getting home to me, no one else."
CJ's head sprung up at the television screen.
Carol appeared at the door. "Are you watching?"
"I am. Is Toby in?" CJ was already out of her seat and moving past Carol.
"He just got back," Carol called after her as she headed towards his office.
Toby was hanging up his coat when CJ walked into his office and said, "I am grateful to my son for getting home to me, no one else."
"Why has my stomach just lurched?" Toby asked without turning around.
"Because it's attuned to bad news," CJ sat down on the sofa and waited until Toby had turned around, "It's already on cable, and, following footage of a smiling President and images of the clear up after the drug raids, it makes for quite a sound bite."
Toby slumped into his chair and put his head in his hands. "And it's being presented as the words of an emotional and exhausted father?" he asked hopefully.
"No, it's being presented as an indication that Sam's father isn't the only one who is unhappy with the way the administration dealt with Sam's abduction."
Toby groaned and dropped his head to the table. "Ginger! Get me the next five minutes Leo's got." Toby stood up and CJ followed him out of the room. "Talk to your contacts, find out who's running with it." He headed to Josh's office to tell him that Sam wanted him to visit, pleased to have some good news to depart before he told him about Scott Seaborn's quote.
Josh was surprised to find that he felt nervous as he got out of the elevator and walked towards Sam's room. He knew that Sam didn't really blame him for what happened, but he also knew that confused memories and snatches of images could conspire to make emotions very jumbled. He had waited a long time after Rosslyn before he had asked what had happened after Toby had found him. Once Toby had described the moments before the paramedics had come to him, Josh had felt a lot more secure in the snatches of images and voices that he could recall.
He found Sam's door wide open and walked through to see him sitting up in bed reading the book that John had given him. On seeing Josh he closed it and put it back on the table. Josh walked over to the bed and sat down, his arms resting on his legs and his hands clasped tightly together.
"I just wanted to get to your place and watch the game," Josh began and Sam nodded. "That man came up and started talking to you and I thought you were about to embark on a longwinded explanation of directions and alternative routes. I didn't think anything was wrong, it seemed odd that he was taking so long to unfold that piece of paper, but I didn't think anything was wrong." Josh relaxed slightly but still leant forward and didn't look up at Sam. "I saw him blow the drugs in your face, but I couldn't make sense of what had happened. I heard you call out and I started to run towards you. The man with the folded paper pulled a gun out and held it against you. Another man appeared from nowhere and grabbed your arm. I was still running though but then a van pulled up behind you. Three men got out. They were wearing masks and they had guns. I stopped running then, partly because Toby grabbed me and partly because I froze at the sight of the guns. They had guns Sam and there were five of them. The drugs took effect on you almost immediately, you could hardly stand up. They dragged you into the van. There was nothing I could do." Josh sat back and placed his hands on the arms of the chair.
"Thank you," Sam said. "I remembered the man and the paper and then just you running and stopping. There were five men?"
"Yeah, and five guns, and they looked like the sort of men who would have a few stashed in the back of the van, so I didn't want to chance it."
"Like the A-Team," Sam smiled.
"Exactly like that, but baddies not goodies," Josh returned the smile.
Sam reached over and picked up the book. There was a piece of paper marking a page and Sam held it out to Josh. "Give this to Toby. Tell him that he can eat his hat." Josh took the book and put it in his back pack. He was about to ask Sam what it was all about, when Jessica came into the room. She was holding a magazine and a bag of grapes.
"I simply cannot believe that man!" she said as she dumped the grapes and magazine onto Sam's bed.
"What man?" Sam asked.
"Your father! I was just in the shop downstairs and suddenly he appears on Fox saying how…well I forget what he said but he's basically continuing the theme of what he said to you before he left. And it's no good playing innocent, I know what he said to you and I know you don't want to talk about it, but there it is…out in the open…on national television, thanks to your father."
"Sit down, mom," Sam said as he watched her pace back and forth at the end of the bed.
Josh looked at Jessica who seemed to be slowly calming down then turned to Sam who was studying the front cover of the sailing magazine. He waited for Sam to speak, hoping that he would say that his father was wrong or that it would all blow over.
"This is Martin Conroy's boat," Sam said instead as he opened the magazine and Josh knew he could add his father's comments to the list of things Sam wasn't going to talk about.
The next day, Sam was moved back to the ward he had been on before. The doctors had said that if he continued to make good progress he would be able to go home at the end of the week. Leo took it upon himself to make sure that Sam's return home was as easy as possible.
"Do any of you know what Sam's plans are for when he gets discharged?" Leo asked CJ, Toby and Josh after the morning staff meeting was finished.
"His mother is staying for the first week and I think she's planning to come back at weekends as well," Toby said. "I know he wants to go home. I don't think he wants to stay with anyone."
"But his hand is still in plaster right? He's going to find that hard, and I would think he'll need pretty intensive therapy for that." Leo was searching his desk for something as he spoke. "I've been looking at agencies…I made a list…somewhere…here it is! I've got the names of some physical therapists who will do home visits. Will one of you sound Sam out about it? It would mean that he wouldn't have to worry about getting to the hospital and he could probably have more therapy than the hospital would provide."
"Things like that don't come cheap, Leo. He may just want to go with what his insurance-"
"I'm paying," Leo interrupted.
Toby raised his eyebrows at CJ. "That's a nice gesture, Leo, but you might find Sam wants to get a little control back after being-"
"It's not a gesture," Leo interrupted again. "I'm just trying to be practical about what we can do for Sam when he gets home."
"You didn't buy me a nurse," Josh complained. "Man, I could have whiled away a few hours if I'd have had a nurse making regular home visits."
CJ cuffed Josh on his head and Leo shook his. "Go away the lot of ya. I'll let you know what I decide to do."
Josh put the phone down and called out for Donna. "They're discharging Sam after two. Did you clear my afternoon?"
"Yes, and I phoned Jessica and arranged for you to meet her there."
"Okay, I'm going to see Leo." Josh stood up but Donna blocked his way.
"You can't."
"Why?"
"He's meeting with a physical therapist that an agency has sent for Sam." Donna stood her ground even though Josh was trying to dummy past her.
"There's a nurse sitting outside Leo's office…waiting…nervously. Why didn't you tell me! I should go over there, just to say hi, introduce myself, you know, put her at ease."
"She's a physical therapist not a nurse. Please, Josh, don't." Donna made one last attempt to block his path. "You're going to flirt, and stand there with a big goofy grin on your face, 'Hi, I'm Josh Lyman, let me put you at ease' and it's going to be embarrassing for everyone. It's my duty to stop you from embarrassing yourself."
"I'm not going to embarrass myself! I'm going to be polite and professional and regale her with tales of the White House while she waits."
"Well I'm resigning from my post of embarrassment shield then."
"Accepted," Josh said as he pushed past and headed towards Leo office.
Margaret looked up from her work and offered the woman sitting opposite her a cup of coffee. She shook her head politely. Josh walked confidently into the outer office and leaned against the doorjamb. "Hi, I'm Josh Lyman, Deputy Chief of Staff."
She looked up and smiled. Josh wondered if leaning against the door presented quite the image he was hoping to achieve and so he walked towards her and stood by Margaret's desk.
"Has Leo got a minute?" Josh asked.
"No," Margaret answered without looking up.
Josh glared at Margaret's head. Presenting himself as a powerful politician wasn't going entirely to plan. He walked closer to the seated women.
"I'm just going to wait around here for a while. I've got this thing I need to discuss with Mr McGarry." a polite nod was his only response. "So this must be pretty nerve wracking, meeting with the Chief of Staff in the White House. The White House can be pretty daunting but you get used to it. I wasn't daunted by it-" Margaret snorted loudly but Josh ignored her and continued, "but I know some people who still get the shakes when they visit here. Anyway, I'll just hang around here and wait for Leo. I'm sorry if I hold up your meeting but, you know, affairs of state wait for no man."
Pleased with his speech, Josh perched on the edge of Margaret's desk and waited for the door to open. He could hear Leo thanking someone and as his voice came closer Josh stood up. Leo held the door open for the woman who walked out of his office in front of him.
"Josh, this is Judy Cook. She is the physical therapist who will be working with Sam."
Judy held her hand out and Josh shook it before turning back to the woman who was sitting down. "And this is?"
"Professor Caine, who is here to lecture me about our appalling environmental record and then take me to lunch."
Josh thought he could still salvage the situation. "Have you got a minute?"
"No! Josh, go to the hospital, pick up Sam and leave me alone."
Sam was sitting on his bed. His packed bag was beside him and he held his coat in his hands. He didn't want to go home. He had felt safe in the hospital. He had liked the routine. He would go home, recover and go back to work, he told himself. But he wouldn't tell anyone how he was feeling, he wouldn't break down. He had fought his captors by not showing them the pain they were inflicting and he wasn't going to start showing that pain now.
"Josh is on his way, honey. You ready to go home?" Jessica asked as she brought the wheelchair into the room.
"Sure am, Mom," Sam answered and he rose from the bed, sat in the chair and let his mother wheel him towards a future that he dreaded.