CHAPTER 3

January 21. 3:30 AM. EST. Capitol Building rubble

Kevin was a Red Cross volunteer from Virginia. He and his wife had been watching the ten o' clock news when they had interrupted the weather to announce that the Capitol Building had blown up. Not being the most political guy in the state, Kevin hadn't been watching the State of the Union. So he was shocked to find out and got prepared to head to Washington when the call came. It came about fifteen minutes later and he and Sheryl had joined their local chapter and headed up.

Now he sat in what remained of the parking lot, surrounded by the flaming skeletons of federal limos. He wished he could be inside, searching for survivors, but he was old and had a bad leg so they assigned him to man the food and medical supplies. He would've complained, but he knew now wasn't the time. Sheryl however, was in there and he was terrified that she wouldn't come out.

One man was found within the first hour of searching. He was a Representative from Arkansas and he had been there with his wife. Now he was conscious, but pinned under a ceiling beam.

"Karen," he said as four rescue workers lifted it off of him. "Where's my wife?" No one answered him as they got him onto a stretcher and carried him away.

An obviously dead body was found about fifteen minutes later. The workers all knew that this was more like what they were going to find. They worked carefully, solemnly sifting through over twenty feet of debris.

The agent who had called the White House was sitting in the back of a Red Cross van with Kevin. He was uninjured except for a scratch across his face. "I should have been in there." He kept saying, staring down at the cup of coffee in his hand. "My job is to protect the President to my death."

"Son, if it hadn't been for you, we wouldn't've gotten here as soon as we did. You've saved a lot of people's lives."

The young agent, who was named Tyler, gave him a disbelieving look, but said nothing.

5:51 AM EST. Leo McGarry's office.

Donna, Margaret, Carol, and Charlie sat in silence. Occasionally one of them would clear their throat as if to speak, then think better of it. Charlie had finally convinced Secretary (or was it President?) Fryer to go down to the bunker, along with the two Senators and Representatives that had stayed out, and Debbie, who was the only one who knew the way except Charlie, who had no intention of going down. The Congressmen had come from their undisclosed location and had been immediately escorted down.

Donna leaned back against the back of the chair and closed her eyes. She didn't mean to fall asleep and thought there was no possible way she could, but when she opened her eyes sunlight was peeking into the room and the others were also asleep. The phone rang and everyone jumped about a foot before scrambling for it. Margaret got it first.

"Leo McGarry's office." She said automatically.

The others watched intently as she listened. After a few seconds her face drained and she closed her eyes. "Yes, thank you." She said in a surprisingly strong voice, and hung up. As soon as the phone was out of her hand all show of strength was gone and she crumpled onto the floor in a very un-Margaret-like way, sobbing. Donna knew what the call had been.

After a few seconds Margaret got herself together. "They found them." She said, "They identified Toby, Leo, Sam, and Mrs. Bartlet."

Donna felt like her heart had been flattened. But at the same time there was the slightest glimmer of hope. Whoever had called, they didn't say anything about Josh.