CJ made her way back to the bullpen, noting the quiet around her. It had been projected to be a quiet weekend and the Senior Staff had urged their assistants to take the weekend off. It looked like they all had taken the recommendation. It would be hard for CJ to ruin Carol's weekend, but that was just part of the job and Carol didn't complain.
"Hi, CJ."
The voice startled her, and she reached for the light switch to see whose it was. A certain red-headed reporter sat in the chair by the desk, smiling back at her.
"Danny!"
"I've been waiting for you."
"How long? Who let you back here?"
"Well, as you can see, there's no one here to stop me. I've been waiting about an hour. I knew you were here because I saw your car in the parking lot. And Josh's. And Sam's. And Toby's. So, I knew something was going on."
"Danny, do you have a direct question or are you fishing for a story?"
"CJ, now don't get pissed. I have a question."
CJ walked around the back of her desk and sat down. "Yeah?"
"I have a source that says the First's Lady's plane had to ditch in the Indian Ocean last night or this morning or whatever the time was, near Australia. My source says that the Australian military was contacted for assistance. Can you or will you confirm the story and can you update the status of the First Lady and the passengers on the plane?"
"And your source is?"
"CJ, you know I'm not going to tell you my source, but it is high up in the Australian military and very reliable. Now, can you please answer my questions? And can you tell me why the White House has not informed the press about the story?"
"Does anyone else have it?
"Come on, CJ. This is BIG. What do you think?"
She knew he was telling the truth. She hadn't had a chance to check her emails or voice mails in a couple of hours so she didn't know what was waiting for her. "Just a minute, Danny." She signed into her email account and looked at her messages. Almost 1200 new messages showed up, most in the last forty-five minutes. Yep, the story was out. "Okay, the story is out. So, I'll give you the basics. I'll have to call a briefing. But let me call Carol first. I need to give her time to get in and help me."
Danney nodded.
CJ pressed Carol's number, waited for it to ring and then Carol picked up.
"What's up, boss?"
"Carol, I'm sorry. A major story has broken and I need you in here. I'm sorry to ruin your weekend."
"No problem, boss. Be there in fifteen minutes."
"Thanks, Carol."
CJ hung up the phone, leaned back in her chair and began the short version of the night's events for Danny, leaving out the parts of the President's emotional response to the events. She was going to keep his privacy, if it killed her. When she was finished, she asked him if he had any questions.
Danny had been feverishly making notes during the conversation and finally looked up from his notepad. "CJ, just tell me one thing."
"OK."
"Why the hell did the White House think they could keep this a secret?"