Chapter Six – Unusual Brainstorms

Breakfast the next morning was clearly strained despite Elizabeth and Henry's best attempts to make it normal. Both Alison and Jason could tell something was up. Their parents weren't speaking much and they kept glancing at each other. Being touchy was pretty typical of their parents, but they were being way more touchy than usual. Whenever the opportunity presented itself their dad would rest his hand on or squeeze their mom's shoulder. Plus they were almost constantly holding hands. Their mom was acting nearly as bad, but she kept touching them. A brush of a hand on one of their arms or backs. A touch on the head. It was weird. Alison was pretty sure she'd caught her mom staring at her or Jason when she thought neither of them was looking. Jason glanced at her, then their parents, and then questioningly back at her again. Okay, she got it. Jason could see something was wrong too, and they couldn't simply let it go.

"Okay, what's going on?" When both of her parents glanced up at her in surprise – and was that fear? – Alison continued, "We aren't stupid. We can see that you're worried about something."

She turned most of her attention to her mother, figuring whatever was causing the worry was coming from her mom's end. It usually was after all.

"I can't tell you, sweetheart," Elizabeth replied.

"Oh come on, Mom."

"I really can't. Details are being heavily restricted."

Elizabeth understood her daughter's frustration, but that didn't change anything. She couldn't reveal anything about the current situation in Africa, not even to admit it existed.

Alison sighed in annoyance.

"Okay, so what can you tell us?"

Elizabeth dropped her eyes and struggled for words. She was not in the right frame of mind to figure out what to say to her children. Henry noticed and handled it for her.

"Some people's lives are in danger, and your mom has to figure out how to save them and bring them home."

"So basically like every other day," Jason said.

Jason's words were actually reassuring to Elizabeth. Perhaps it was because he made her current situation sound so normal. Maybe this situation really was like every other day. It did feel like she was rescuing one person or another near constantly. If she ignored the fact that Stevie was involved this hostage situation was simply routine. Routine was reassuring. Routine she could handle.

"Don't worry, Mom," Alison told her. "You'll figure something out and get them all home."

"Thanks, Noodle."

She offered Alison her best attempt at a smile, which by definition couldn't have really been called one. Even so she felt a little more hopeful than she had last night. She'd handled similar situations before and she could do it again. Henry had to be right. An unexpected solution was out there, and she would find it.

O . o . O . o . O

The hours seemed to be slipping by far faster than they should have been. Elizabeth and her entire staff had been gathered in the conference room since she'd arrived. They'd been throwing ideas back and forth all morning, but she hadn't been paying much attention. Her mind kept going back to what Henry had said. Unexpected. Look at it from another angle. Unexpected, unforeseen, not looked for… What could they do?

"Okay," Matt said as he threw his pencil down and shoved his chair away from the table in dramatic fashion.

"Has anyone actually come up with something?"

He received dead silence in reply.

"Oh come on. Somebody has to have had a brainstorm."

"What about the African Union?" Daisy offered.

"We've been over that already," Jay reminded her, barely holding onto his irritation as he did. "This doesn't involve African citizens. They won't get involved."

"But the people who the missionaries were helping are hostages too."

"Doesn't matter. There's only been a threat against our people."

"We've helped them save thousands of African lives before," Matt pointed out. "That could be used for something, right?"

"Doubt it," Blake returned.

"They're not going to go out of their way and put their people's lives at risk to help us, Matt," Nadine elaborated. "The United States might have helped a few times but we've also caused problems for them. They'll see this as our mess, not Africa's."

"So the Secretary can talk to them. She's convinced a ton of people to come around to her way of thinking."

Everyone's eyes turned toward Elizabeth. Matt did have a point. If anyone could talk someone around it was Elizabeth McCord. As ridiculous as it was, this was the best plan they had. They were all waiting to see Elizabeth's reaction, but she still wasn't paying attention to them. A plan was formulating in her mind, and the pieces were slowly clicking into place. The plan would require a lot of details working out and an incredible amount of deception, but it was possible. She would take possible.

"Henry, you're a genius."

"Uh, what?" Matt asked, basically saying exactly what the entire staff was thinking.

They had no idea what Elizabeth was talking about. Unfortunately for them she wasn't about to take the time to explain. For the first time since she'd found out Stevie was a hostage she felt true hope and excitement. She could actually save her daughter. First though she had to get more information and make sure the plan would work.

"Blake, get Admiral Hill in my office immediately. Tell her it's important and I need her expertise."

"Yes, Ma'am. Right away."

Unlike Matt, Blake didn't feel the need to ask for an explanation. He'd learned to trust Elizabeth even when he had no idea what she was doing. This was one of those times, and he was simply going to follow her orders.

"Nadine, I want a list of all foreign military action that's currently taking place in Africa, preferably by Canada or European nations."

"In any specific part of Africa, Ma'am?"

"No. Include everything. I'll narrow down the list later."

Elizabeth stood and paced back and forth, thinking rapidly. She paused and pointed at Nadine again.

"And I need any photos or video we have of this area. Do that first. I'm going to need it when I talk to Admiral Hill."

"Of course, Ma'am," Nadine replied despite the fact that she had no idea what was going on in Elizabeth McCord's head.

"Good. As quick as you can."

Without another word she left the conference room and headed for her office. Once the door closed behind her Matt turned to the remaining staff.

"What the hell just happened?"

"I think she just came up with a plan," Jay replied, still somewhat stunned.

"Then let's go make this plan of hers happen," Nadine informed them. "We have work to do."

O . o . O . o . O

"Ma'am," Blake called as he stepped into her office. "Admiral Ellen Hill is here."

A smile split across Elizabeth's face as she looked up from what she'd been working on.

"Good. Send her in."

Blake had barely turned around when he heard paper rustling followed by what sounded like something being knocked over and a bunch of small objects landing on the floor. He had to force himself not to turn around and look. She wouldn't let him help clean any of whatever it was up anyway. No doubt she would see it as a waste of time at the moment, and time was not something they currently had in abundance. Instead he hurried out of the office to get Admiral Hill.

Ellen Hill stepped into the Secretary of State's office and managed to remain entirely professional despite the vast disarray she saw. She wouldn't have figured the secretary would allow her office to be anything but pristine when she had a meeting. And yet there was very little that could be called pristine throughout the room. It wasn't like Ellen was coming unexpectedly either. Secretary McCord had called this meeting.

The secretary's desk appeared to be covered in papers, some of them rather large, and they were pushing nearly everything else off the desk. That was probably why pens were scattered across the floor. Their container must have been knocked over at some point. A huge stack of files was sitting on a nearby chair, and some appeared to be in danger of joining the pens on the carpet. The secretary's suit coat was inside out and thrown haphazardly across the arm of the couch. Maybe it was all just further evidence of the severity of the situation. She had been unexpectedly called here rather immediately after all. So far the Secretary of State hadn't even looked up from whatever was spread across her desk.

"Madam Secretary," she stated, announcing her presence.

Elizabeth McCord's head shot up, and she waved Ellen forward.

"Let's just skip formalities, alright, Ellen? Right now I need the opinion of someone I trust who has more expertise in battle strategy than I do so I can create a daring rescue plan that nobody will see coming."

A daring rescue plan that nobody would see coming? Ellen wasn't sure what to make of that.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but – "

Elizabeth cut her off before she could even finish.

"Elizabeth."

"Elizabeth," Ellen corrected herself. "What is this about? I don't think I understand."

Elizabeth paused for the first time since Ellen had walked into the room. She'd been a compete flurry of motion before that.

"Sorry," she said as she ran a hand through her hair. "I got ahead of myself. We've been working non-stop and finally have the semblance of a plan."

She quickly explained the situation to Ellen, leaving out the fact that her daughter was involved. After that the two of them spent the next hour discussing Elizabeth's plan and pouring over the pictures and maps spread across her desk. When Ellen fell silent and considered everything she'd been told, Elizabeth forced herself to stay still and not start pacing. If Ellen didn't think this plan would work Elizabeth wasn't sure she could come up with another one. She didn't even want to consider that possibility. Plan A had to work.

"I know I still have a lot of details to work out, but do you think it could work?"

"From what I can tell, yes, it's possible," Ellen admitted.

"With minimal hostage casualties?"

"Depending on how it's played, yes. It's an unorthodox plan, but a good one."

The absolute rush of relief that flooded through Elizabeth was enough to almost cause her knees to give out. Her breath left her in a whoosh, and she started laughing. It was the first good news she'd heard in two days. As much as she'd tried to ignore the thought, she hadn't truly believed she could bring Stevie home alive. Now there actually was hope of that.

"Thank God."

"There might be another way to reduce the risk. I can't think of a way to actually do it, but if anyone can, it's you."

Even more excitement ignited inside Elizabeth. If Ellen thought there was a way to make this plan better, safer, then she was going to jump on it. Better and safer were good. They meant a greater chance of getting Stevie home. Anything that increased that chance was worth it.

"How?"

"If you can find a way to separate some of the rebels from the compound you can remove them from play before the fight reaches the hostages."

"Separate some of them," Elizabeth mused. "Like an ambush."

"Exactly. The question is how to get them away from the compound and into a set up because they're not going to show up in an ambush on their own unless you get miraculously lucky."

"I'm not relying on luck for this one. I can't."

She didn't like relying on luck for any kind of rescue, and the thought of doing that when her own daughter was involved nearly made her sick. No, luck wasn't an option. Everything needed to be planned out as close to perfectly as possible.

"Then you're going to have to come up with a way to pull the rebels away."

"Right."

But how? What could draw a group of rebels off without giving them reason to harm hostages? Elizabeth had absolutely no idea, but she would think on it. Her plan of throwing something at the rebels that they wouldn't expect was working for her so far. Maybe a similar strategy would save her again.