Chapter 9
He rolled over onto his stomach, groaning, and tried to push himself onto his knees and hands. His head was throbbing, his stomach aching, his back shooting in pain, his legs weak, and he could barely hear himself think over the noise. He managed to get on his hands and knees and stayed that way for a few seconds, trying to will himself to stop shaking, start breathing, and not fall back down. Again, he sent up a thank you to whomever was listening for getting Donna out of there.
He tried to stand, but couldn't push himself up to his feet, so he stared at the dirt ground underneath him and watched as blood dripped off his face and pooled there below. He wasn't sure if it was coming from the gash on his forehead or if the punch to his face had caused something new, but either way, there wasn't much he could do about it now.
He felt hands on him and he immediately dropped back onto his side, balling himself as small as he possibly could and covering his head with his arms again and hoping, nearly praying that he wouldn't get hurt too badly. It occurred to him that maybe he should fight back, but he was simply too weak to do anything but lie there.
"Can you stand?" someone yelled to him.
He wasn't sure he heard it correctly at first, the voice asking him if he could stand. But whoever it was shouted it again and started pulling on his arm. He opened his eyes and saw a police officer standing over him, shouting, and although he could barely make it out over the noise, he suddenly felt safe.
"Try to stand," he shouted again.
Josh rolled back onto his stomach, pushing himself onto all fours, and the offer grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him to his feat. He leaned forward on him for several seconds and then started to take on his own weight, slowly standing upright. The park seemed to spin and he could taste the blood that now dripped down his face and into his mouth, the taste of it mixing with the vomit from a few minutes earlier making his stomach not only physically hurt, but now completely nauseous as well.
The officer stood in front of him, holding onto his shoulders, looking down into his face. "You ok standing on your own?" he shouted.
He stood for a second, checking his balance, then nodded.
The officer looked in his eyes but brought Josh's his left arm out in front of him, and Josh felt something around his wrist. He still wasn't sure what was happening, even as his right arm was pulled around and handcuffed as well. "Wait," he said, confused.
"This is just a precaution, you're not under arrest yet," he shouted to Josh.
"But…" he trailed off in exhaustion as they started walking, the officer behind him, pushing him gently along.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
He stood at the door to the oval office watching CJ and the President discussing something quietly. Probably something else to sabotage the democrat's chances of getting back in the White House, he thought. He wondered for the first time if President Bartlet wanted it that way. If he was so egotistical he didn't want a democrat following in his footsteps, doing things as well or better than him. He shook the thought out of his mind. He couldn't, wouldn't, work for that man. This President couldn't have turned into that man.
He cleared his throat and the President looked over at him. "Toby."
"Yes Sir," he replied coldly, walking into the room. CJ closed the folder she was holding and Toby rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Any news on Josh?" the President asked.
He stood in front of the President's desk with his hands behind his back. "It appears someone's gotten into the pavilion he was in and now he's not answering his phone."
"Damn it," the President shouted, hitting his desk with his fist. "Why in the hell is this thing still going on? It's been almost an hour!"
"Miami hasn't sent in their riot team," he answered simply.
"Why the hell not?"
"Officially? They don't believe it's large enough to warrant it and they don't want to alienate their Cuban-American population and create even more problems in the city."
"And unofficially?"
He shrugged. "We look extremely bad right now. I'd guess the republican mayor and republican governor see this as their chance to ensure Vinick gets Florida in November."
The President stared at him for a minute. "You're kidding me," he said quietly.
"No," Toby replied simply.
The President took a deep breath and looked down at his desk. "How many dead now?"
"At least nine," he replied.
"Debbie," the President shouted. Several seconds later she appeared at his door with raised eyebrows. "Get me the mayor of Miami on the phone. Now."
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They got to the barricades in just a few minutes and watched the chaos around them. Police offers and were literally running around, in and out of the still very large crowd of people. There were at least a dozen ambulances just outside the barricaded area and even more police cars were parked in the grass, along the small street leading to the park, and across the street in the parking lot. People were being brought out handcuffed and placed in police cars or in ambulances and then the officers were heading back into the nightmare. And the noise; she couldn't believe how loud it was; it seemed to have gotten worse instead of better over the last 55 minutes.
She was between Ned and Matt and they were sandwiching her in as much as possible. The closer they got to the scene, the closer they'd gotten to her. Finally, the congressman had simple taken hold of her arm. She wanted to protest, to tell him to leave her the hell alone so she could get to Josh, but he had a valid point. Josh had worked very hard to make sure she wasn't in that.
Several police officers rushed by them as Matt tried to get their attention, but they didn't even glance their way. There were several other people behind the barricades looking in, and Donna found herself wondering how many of them were waiting like her…on news, on a rescue, on the sight of someone they loved.
Matt turned towards her and shouted in her ear. "I'm going to see if I can find anything out. You wait here. Don't leave Ned."
"I'm coming with you!" she shouted back.
He shook his head. "No!"
She gave him the glare he was getting somewhat used to and started walking towards a group of officers several yards from them. He looked at Ned and put his hands out pretending to strangle the air where she'd been standing before turning and jogging to catch up with her.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Just keep walking, he thought to himself. Just keep going. You're with a police officer and your safe. You can explain who you are and that you shouldn't be under arrest when you get out of this mess. Just keep walking… Then he remembered the police officer.
"There's someone in the pavilion," he yelled, turning his head slightly, hoping the officer would be able to hear him.
"We know; we're working on getting to him."
He stopped walking. "What?"
"We know!" He gave Josh a little push to get him walking again.
"No! That's me! There's someone else. A police officer."
"What?"
He stopped again and turned around. "An officer. Two men were…" he trailed off. "He's unconscious. He's in the pavilion behind a picnic table!"
"When?"
"Just a few minutes ago. I came out to get help and…" he held up his handcuffed hands.
The officer shook his head. "I can't hear you. A police officer?"
Josh nodded and shouted again. "Yes! His head's bleeding. It looked bad."
He looked at Josh and pulled out a walkie-talkie. "This is Davidson. We have an officer down in the pavilion. Repeat, officer down in the pavilion!"
"Repeat that Davidson, we can't hear you," Josh heard someone reply.
"There's an officer down in the pavilion! Get someone in there! He's…" he looked back at Josh.
"Behind a picnic table! He's bleeding and he's unconscious," Josh shouted.
Davidson put the walkie-talkie as close to his mouth as possible and used his other hand to block out the surrounding noise. "He's behind a picnic table. You're going to need a gurney, he's not conscious."
"Still having a hard time hearing you Davidson. Someone's down in the pavilion?"
"Yes, bleeding badly and unconscious!"
There was silence on the other end of the line and the officer looked at Josh. Finally, he came back over the line. "Sending in a team now Davidson."
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She moved a barricade slightly and maneuvered between it and the one next to it and headed straight to a group of officers with Matt and Ned just behind her. When they reached the officers, Matt started talking. "Excuse me. There's a man trapped in that pavilion!"
"We know Sir. You need to move over there," he shouted, pointing to the other people waiting behind the barricades.
"Josh Lyman. Has anyone gotten him out of there?"
The officer shook his head. "We're working on it. We know he's there, we're getting to him as soon as possible."
"He's a chief advisor for President Bartlet. He needs to be rescued now!" Donna screamed.
"We know who he is ma'am. We're doing our best," he yelled, motioning another officer to them.
The man walked up to them holding a walkie-talkie and yelled in his ear. "I've got Davidson. Something's going on. I can barely hear him." They both leaned in close when Davidson started talking again.
"He's behind a picnic table. You're going to need a gurney, he's not conscious," they barely heard through the walkie-talkie.
The officer holding the walkie-talkie shouted. "Still having a hard time hearing you Davidson. Someone's down in the pavilion?" Donna's head jerked in the direction of the officers and she and Matt moved closer. The officer they'd been talking to looked at them and then moved so they could hear.
"Yes, bleeding badly and unconscious!" Davidson replied.
The officer looked at Donna, whose face was pale. Tears immediately sprung to her eyes and she buried her head in Matt's chest.
The officer clicked the button on his walkie-talkie. "Sending in a team now Davidson."