Chapter Sixty Nine - Stand back and Watch

'Bess' Russell called out after her as they exited the oval office. Elizabeth slowed her pace and smiled warmly in the direction of Russel as he approached her.

'Can I just ask, has the CIA always been that territorial, or have I just forgot?' She mocked taking a swipe at the heated meeting they had both just left.

'No idea, I tend to let the kittens fight it out' he dismissed, 'Listen, About your urm, your woman's education thing'

'You mean my worldwide partnership for girls and women education conference that I am hosting' she replied proudly as they began to walk down the corridor

'We got a request from the Saudi ambassador, the girl you've got as your keynote speaker?'

'Noura Al-Kitabi, you do actually know this stuff' Elizabeth pointed out as she raised her eyebrows at him

'They want you to go look for someone else' Russell grimaced as he dropped the bombshell on her

'What?'

'Apparently this king is sensitive about her, she's been critical of the royal family, we've got this big arms deal in the works…' he lingered on his words as he stopped in front of her.

'You're asking me to dis-invite an internationally renowned champion of education, a girl who was acid attacked for it no less to protect an arms deal?' Elizabeth felt the anger begin to stir up inside her, her arms snapping in motion as she spoke a little harsher.

'And not publicly offend one of our most important allies in the middle east, Yes!' Russell defended himself

'But if the royal family has such a problem with what its most celebrated citizen Is saying about them publicly maybe they should, oh I don't know, give half their citizens the right to an equal education, or how about just letting them drive, why don't we start there' She responded sarcastically

'I thought you might see it that way, so I made a counter proposal, no one from our side appears with her publicly'

'I'm hosting the conference, how can I not appear with my keynote speaker?'

'This arms deal creates five thousand new jobs, most of them in swing states, but by all means you tell the president you want to put that at risk so you can get your picture taken with a teenager' Russel barked at her

'She is twenty, neither one of us is even worthy enough to shine her shoes so don't strong arm me Russell.' Elizabeth fought back, forcing Russell to ease off.

'Just lay low, avoid the cameras, that's all I am asking…' he paused, watching as she held her body upright, a large intake of air filling her lungs as she pondered her response. No words escaped her lips, but the slow shallow exhalation signalled defeat on her behalf. 'Alight, I'll get word to Prince Asim-'

'No, I will, since he should have come to be about it in the first place' She hissed as her heels strode down the hallway.

'Gently please!' Russell warned but Elizabeth had already walked off, climbing into her motorcade and heading for the state department. Elizabeth sat in the back of the SUV with her anger, her chest rising and falling a little harder as she felt the pressure within her chest.

Her mind slowly drifted back to last night, something else that was adding fuel to the fire. Her mind hazed with confusion of her relationship with Henry, what was it? How did they go about re-defining it? And why did she want to be back in his arms all of a sudden? Or had that feeling never gone, perhaps It was buried beneath the hurt. She couldn't tell anymore, her thought process once so clear and sharp was now clouded and blunt.

She slipped her hand into her pocket and retrieved her phone, quickly tapping out a message of apology to Alison before pulling up outside the State Department and bracing herself for the onslaught of questions as to why they couldn't attend from her staff.

To: Alison

From: Mom

Hey Noodle, I won't be at the conference today, 'Politics' I will be watching though. Hope you enjoy it, talk when I finish work. Love you, Mom xxx

'Ugh, Mom's just text to say she can't make the conference' Alison announced at the kitchen table. 'Politics apparently, who would have an issue with girls' education!' She scoffed, gutted she couldn't spend the afternoon with her mom.

'Probably has something to do with Saudi Arabia, they hate girls' Jason mocked

'Urm, Jase, that is not entirely correct, so if you don't have anything of value to add to the conversation might I politely suggest you zip it' Henry warned him as he began to clear away the breakfast plates and bowls.

'Jase you're still coming though right? And you Stevie? I can't go to this alone' Alison moaned

'Yep I'll be there, I've got to sort some things out at work first, but I'll meet you outside the conference hall before. I'll text you' Stevie smiled as she grabbed her coat and bag 'See you later' she waved her goodbyes

'Jase?'

'Yes I'll be there, but only because mom will interrogate me later if I don't go, and I went out last night so I kind of owe her one' He reasoned

'Thank you' Alison smiled

'I'll join you both too' Henry announced

'You will?'

'Yeah, my old work colleague is snowed under with work so I've got nothing planned, we can head down together, I'm sure your mom reserved me a space initially so it should be ok' He grinned

'Want me to text her and find out?' Alison reached for her phone and began to type out a message

'No it's ok Ali, she must be busy if she only text you to cancel and not ring, I'll go and check with Matt now, he should know' Henry stopped her and smiled as he walked to the front door, and came back into the kitchen not too long after.

'Well?'

'Yep all good, we leave in two hours' Henry announced

- MS -

Elizabeth and her team sat around her office, all of their eyes focused on the TV in the corner of the room as they watched Noura Al-Kitabi begin to deliver her speech at the conference.

'That looks like somewhere I should be' Elizabeth sighed, her words flat and deflated as she focused on the young girl speaking passionately about her story.

'Hey, we're watching in here?' Jay glanced around the office as he entered

'No one reads my email' Blake replied sarcastically, causing a little giggle from Elizabeth as she turned to glance at Jay.

'Sorry I was touching base with Walter, we just got some really weird news from Moldova, but it can wait' He turned his back to Elizabeth but she stopped him, intrigued by his words.

'No, what is it?'

'CIA tracked who was trying to buy the uranium in the raid, it was Hizb Al-Shahid, the same group that recruited the two American girls' He took a few steps closer to the secretary. She listened intently and lent forward in her seat as she watched him, her concern and confusion growing.

'Wait what?'

'I know, crazy coincidence right?' Jay shook his head

'I don't know if that's a coincidence-' She whispered, her eyes narrowing on the desk before her as she willed her mind to be clear and sharp once again, even for a moment.

'What do you mean?' Jay asked

'On the one hand you have Saudi Arabia who does not want us to know that their citizens are funding Hizb al-Shahid, so they takes those girls hostage in order to cover it up-' She paused, standing to exert her point that little bit more '-Meanwhile in Moldova we have a group trying to buy uranium, something no other terrorist group has been able to do.' Again she paused for breath, her clear thoughts back, the ending of her own sentence apparent in her mind before she had even spoken. 'Back in Saudi Arabia we learned that Hizb Al-Shahid is targeting the family of Noura and now you're telling me that's the same group that was trying to buy the uranium?' The panic rose within her

'But both situations were contained' Jay shook his head, not quite following. Their conversation silenced the room as everyone homed in on Elizabeth, hanging on her every word.

'What if it isn't, what if their whole point was to put their main target right there in front of us while we all stand back and watched?' She scanned the office, focusing on her staff individually before turning to look at the conference on the screen.

'We have to shut it down' She spoke

'What?' Jay looked around

'The conference shut It down now!' Elizabeth spoke with haste, her chest tightening as she knew all too well how this was going to end. She watched her staff scurry out of the room to make the calls 'Blake please call…'

'Yeah Yeah' he called back, already two steps ahead of her and trying to reach the people he was sure she was going to ask him to call, the kids.

'Henry' she whispered to herself, her mind yearning for him to soothe her panic and fear.

Elizabeth hadn't moved by the time all her staff filtered back into the office, all of them with variations of updates on how or who they'd contacted to evacuate the conference. Elizabeth slipped from behind her desk to the front of her staff, her hand resting on her chest as her eyes fixed on the TV screen, unable to pull them away as she watched everyone whisper and slowly begin to evacuate. Her eyes frantically searched for her children's faces within the crowd, her body aching to watch them exit, everyday she was already a slave to the heartache, she did not need another reason, another person or persons to grieve the loss of.

Her breath lodged in her throat as the cameras shook and the loud noise of an explosion echoed through the speakers. She held the air in her lungs a little longer as she watched the screen turn black, her body shuddering with the reality.

'No' she whispered, panting as she finally realised the air she held captive.

'Madam Secretary you need to leave, you need to get to the White House' Nadine's voice broke through the still air. Elizabeth turned stoically to face her, the rest of her staff rushing out the door to make calls, to do their job, something Elizabeth was unsure if she could do right now.

'My Kids' her breath withered

We're calling them, Ma'am you need to get to safety,'' Nadine reminded her, watching as the Secretary nodded in shock, her hands shaking as she reached for her bag, forcing herself to slip her coat on and head towards her motorcade.

'Blake go with the Secretary' Nadine order

'My Kids, I would like to know all of my family are ok before they rush me off to the White House' her voice cracked, she needed answers, why wasn't anyone giving her answers. 'Henry' she whispered once again.

'All three kids are with security, they're fine, they're fine' Jay shouted as he ran down the corridor behind her catching her up. 'They're on the way to St annes-'

'Why the hospital?' Elizabeth panicked

'They have to be checked for radiation-' Jay continued but was interrupted once again

'It was a dirty bomb?' Fear captured her as her eyes scanned Jay's for more answers but he didn't have any. 'What about Henry?' She asked

We are still locating him Ma'am' Nadine confirmed, Ma'am I am sure he is safe, you said he was meeting an old work colleague this afternoon, as soon as we locate him we will get him to the kids' She reassured Elizabeth as best she could.

'Madam Secretary we really have to leave or Security are going to come and take you themselves' Blake interrupted and she nodded frantically

'Ok, Ok, lets go, I'll try and call the kids on the way, if someone gets through to my kids please direct the call to me, I need to speak to them, I need-' she paused as she felt her chest get heavy, panic laying thick between her chest walls as she struggled to breathe and think. She climbed into the back of the motorcade with Blake and held on tight as they shot off towards the White House.

Elizabeth pulled her phone from her pocket as did Blake.

'I'll keep calling the kids, ' He confirmed and she nodded silently. Elizabeth scrolled through her phone and pressed the dial; Henry. I need Henry…