Ron, do you have any details?"

"Yes, Sir. It was centered about 20 miles off the coast and about 10 miles deep. According to the reports, it was felt as far south as Acapulco and as far north as the California/Oregon border. But the most severe damage seems be around the LA area. There's no access in or out of the area."

"Which means we can't go there now?"

"Yes, Sir."

Jed sat down on the sofa. That information didn't leave him much of a choice. He couldn't get into LA so he might as well head back to Washington where at least he could direct the extensive federal assistance that would be needed. And make plans to pull Abbey out. That is, if she was still alive.

"Leo!"

"Yes, Sir?"

"Get the Mexican President on the phone. And the OAS President. Then call the Colonel and ask him how long till Air Force One can fly. We're going back to Washington tonight. Then call CJ and Toby to get down here. Ron, come over here."

Ron got closer to the President. Jed lowered his voice so only he and Ron could hear what he was about to say. "Ron, I have to get back to the White House. But no matter where I am or what I'm doing, if you hear anything from LA about Abbey, I mean anything, good or bad, you have to tell me. That's a Presidential order. Do you understand?"

"Of course, Sir. I wouldn't have it any other way. I have agents there as well."

"Thanks, Ron. Just so you understand."

"I do, Sir."

"Okay." He turned to Charlie. "I want you to pack my bags and Leo's. He is going to very busy and won't have time to do that."

"No problem, Mr. President. Consider it done."

Leo spoke up. "President Eduardo on the line, Sir."

Jed picked up his extension and explained to the Mexican President why he was canceling the State Visit. The Mexican President fully understood. "I hope we can reschedule it soon, Mr. President. The prayers of our nation goes with you."

"Thank you, Mr. President."

Jed hung up from that call and saw the blinking light on the second line. He picked that line up, assuming it was the OAS President. Before he could say a word, the OAS President told him not to worry, that the others fully understood the need for him to return to Washington to take care of the major disaster in his country. Jed thanked him and said that he appreciated the hospitality he and his group had been shown during his short stay,

The next call was from Colonel Walker. "Mr. President, we can be ready to fly in two hours. I'm sorry for the reason, but we will be ready to take off at 11:00 pm. It is a seven and half hour flight so we will arrive in Washington at approximately 6:30 am Friday morning."

"Thank you, Colonel. We'll see you when we board."

CJ and Toby were waiting for him when he got off the phone.

"Mr. President, we heard about the earthquake in LA. We're so sorry," Toby stated.

"Thanks. Air Force One will depart at 11 pm. You need to get the press out of here and to the airport by 10:30 pm. Anyone left behind will find their own way home. Understand?"

"Yes, sir," CJ agreed, already thinking about the text message to send out.

"Sir, do we have a statement yet about Mrs. Bartlet?" Toby asked, knowing that the press would want one immediately.

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing, and looked at the President, waiting for a response.

Leo walked over to him, and was going to answer for him when he responded himself.

"Tell the press that my wife was having surgery for a ruptured appendix when the earthquake hit and we have no word on her status at this time. We will notify the press when there is additional news. We are going back to Washington so we can take care of all Californians."

Toby just stared at his boss, knowing it took a great deal of emotional strength for the President to give that response. "Yes, Mr. President. Thank you."

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, it was chaos everywhere, including Cedars-Sinai. Besides the obvious power outages and ruptured gas lines across the city, hospital hallways were blocked by ceiling debris and staff were scurrying, checking on patients and their families who might have been in the rooms with them. Essential equipment in patient's rooms had to be switched to the red outlets so the emergency power could feed them. In the ICUs and the NICUs non-critical staff were drafted to squeeze ambu bags so patients who had been on ventilators wouldn't die from respiratory arrest until the power cords could also be switched over.

And in the operating room which held their VIP patient, the First Lady of the United States, when the power went off, the scene was controlled chaos. The anesthesiologist quickly removed the ventilator tubing and connected the ambu bag and started hand ventilating his patient. There was an instant scramble by the circulating staff in the operating room to switch the ventilator to one of the few available red plugs. Once that was done, the ventilator was reattached to their anesthetized VIP patient. The emergency lights came on quickly but didn't provide a great deal of light. The two surgeons quickly requested head lights so they could see what they were doing in the dim room.

Because of the limited red plugs, the circulating nurse took the multiple IVs off the pumps and hand calculated the drip rates. A scrub tech eased herself into position at the head of the table to take vital signs by hand and keep track of them. Every fifteen minutes the anesthesiologist would give an order to the circulating nurse on how much anesthesia medication to give to the patient via IV in order to keep her under enough for the surgery to proceed. The Secret Service agent, standing off the side, was amazed at the coordination of the surgical team under the worst of circumstances. If they got out of this, there would be kudos all around for this amazing group in front of him.

This dance went on for the better part of two hours before the surgeons said that they had done all they could. They made their final stich and nodded to the anesthesiologist that he could now end the anesthesia medication.

"Thank you, everyone," the lead surgeon, Dr, Ambrose said to the team. "It was going to be difficult enough, but the little shaker we had made it even more difficult. Now, is there any way we can get her to ICU?"

The anesthesiologist shook his head. "Without any power, the elevators are stopped. I'm going to recover her here. I've already called one of my best nurse anesthetists and she's just waiting for the surgery to be over. Between the two of us, we can handle this."

"Okay. Let me know if you have any problems. Preferably before they becomes problems."

"I agree with you."

The team left, leaving the anesthesiologist and the incoming nurse anesthetist alone with their VIP patient.

Vital signs were taken and an assessment was made of her level of consciousness. There was still no response. Dr. Stark, the anesthesiologist, settled down for a long wait, not knowing when or if the First Lady would wake, but hoping she would once the anesthesia wore off.

Down in the lobby, the agent with Lilli was still trying to get out on his phone. What few phone lines that were still in working order were jammed. Finally, after an hour and a half of trying, he cornered an LA policeman and explained who he was and why he was at the hospital. The policeman agreed to cooperate with the Secret Service, and let the agent use his satellite phone. The agent urgently dialed his boss's phone.