Chapter 9
As soon as the plane leveled out, Ron knocked on the office door.
Getting no response, he slowly pushed open the door to see four people sprawled on the floor. The two upright people seemed to be giving some kind of first aid to the other two. A longer glance brought his worst fears to the surface.
The two people down were the President and the First Lady.
As he moved quickly to get more information, he yelled into his wrist mike for additional assistance. "Eagle and Regina down. I repeat, Eagle and Regina down. Code blue!"
First bending by CJ, he quickly noted that the First Lady was conscious and talking.
"Mrs. Bartlet, are you hurt?"
"No. I think I just got the wind knocked out of me. See about Jed."
Ron moved immediately to assess the condition of the President. As Toby moved, Ron realized that the President had suffered at the very least a deep scalp wound from which blood was streaming. He did not appear to be conscious, but no other obvious wound was evident on the rapid assessment.
Other agents quickly materialized, along with the Flight Surgeon. "Get me two stretchers and set up the medical room. NOW!"
Dr. Bishop had been assigned to several flights of Air Force One and the President had specifically requested him for this particular assignment. The President had teased him on a previous flight about his graduation from Dartmouth and how could he had given up the beautiful New Hampshire mountains for the Air Force. They had joked about it, and Dr. Bishop had won the argument by saying he planned to retire there in a couple of years. He knew where his home was.
Dr. Bishop quickly strapped neck braces on his two patients, directed the first set of agents to carefully lift the President, and take him immediately to the fully furnished medical room. He turned his attention to the First Lady for a quick assessment. Running his hands over her arms and legs, he determined that she had no obvious fractures.
"Let me up. I just got the wind knocked out of me."
"No ma'am. Not until I check you out. You might have some unknown injuries and I think it would be advisable to just stay still until I get through with the President."
Disappointed, Abbey resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't going anywhere. "Oh hell!"
"Yes, ma'am," was the response.
After assessing the seriousness of any injuries, he made the decision that the President was his first patient and the First Lady could wait. He sprang off the floor and ran to the medical room where his primary patient waited.