ACT TWO
INT. JOSH'S OFFICE/TOBY'S APARTMENT—FRIDAY MORNING
As soon as Kaplan departed, Josh gave Margaret a list of people he wanted in his office within the hour. Lyle Edmonds, head of the USGS, was at the top of that list. Closing the office door, Josh then pulled out his cell phone and dialed a familiar number.
"I suppose it's too much to hope that this is your idea of a practical joke," he said when Toby answered the phone.
"I suppose it's too much to hope that you're not calling me from the West Wing," Toby replied.
"You just sent someone to my office with the news that
Josh could hear Toby's characteristic "I'm surrounded by idiots" sigh. "Bert came to see me yesterday and asked who he should talk to. I sent him on to you. Not being an expert on volcanoes myself, I don't know what more I can do."
"You can tell me whether he knows what he's talking about."
"Do we have a bad connection? Did you not hear the part where I said I'm no expert on volcanic activity?"
"Toby." Josh hoped his voice conveyed his level of frustration.
"All right," Toby grumbled. "Yes. I know Bert comes off as somewhat eccentric—"
"I miss your talent for understatement."
Toby, clearly, was choosing to ignore Josh's sarcasm. "Bert is the best at what he does. If he says the volcano is going to erupt, I would take him at his word. That doesn't mean you shouldn't confirm his findings with other experts. In fact, I'd put money on the fact that you've already given Margaret an extensive list of people to contact. All of which begs the question of why you found it necessary to call me."
Josh flopped onto the couch, rubbing one hand over his eyes. "I'm surrounded by neophytes here, Toby. Half of them still can't find their offices."
"You've got Sam. Donna's still in the building."
"The other side of the building," he complained.
"You do realize you're the only person who expected her to make a career out of answering your phone?"
"I didn't..." Josh wondered, not for the first time, why Toby had always been able to put him on the defensive so quickly. "My point is that I need to talk to someone with more experience. Someone I can trust."
"You have CJ's number, I assume?"
"Why are you making it so damn hard for any of us to remain friends with you?"
Several seconds of silence followed. When he finally answered, Toby was characteristically oblique.
"You're in Leo's office, aren't you?" he asked. "How long do you think you'd hold on to that office if President Santos knew you were still in touch with me?"
"I don't think that's relevant," Josh protested.
"Have you ever told him we're still in touch?"
It was Josh's turn to remain silent.
"That's what I thought," Toby said softly. "Goodbye, Josh."
Josh stared at the phone for several seconds after Toby hung up, debating whether to call him back.
Before he could reach a decision, however, Margaret knocked on the door.
"Lyle Edmonds and three people with thick glasses and pocket protectors are waiting for you," she announced.
Acknowledging that the possibility of a natural disaster took precedence over his private concerns,
Josh put his cell phone away.
CUT TO:
INT. LOU'S OFFICE
So far this morning, Lou had made three calls in an effort to drum up support for today's FDA announcement. So far, she'd had mixed results. She'd gotten a positive response from the first congresswoman she'd called; two senators had declined, fearing the issue would prove too controversial for their more conservative constituents. She never had time, however, to find out whether a fourth call would have brought better results. Just as she was dialing the number, Lester came running into her office.
The anxious look on his face suggested that whatever he was there to tell her took precedence over drumming up support for their big win. Setting down the telephone, Lou declared, "This better be good news, Lester."
"It's not," the press secretary replied. "Well, it is, just not for us."
"What are you talking about?"
"Donna and Annabeth cured cancer before we could." He pointed to the television in the corner of Lou's office. "The First Lady's announcing the approval of the HPV vaccine now."
Sure enough, Helen Santos was standing on a stage, surrounded by a couple of FDA officials Lou recognized and several women she didn't. Lou watched as The First Lady gestured toward the women on her right. "Each one of these women has battled cervical cancer and won. However, almost 4,000
Lester cocked his head to one side and studied the image on the TV. "You can tell Annabeth's been working with her," he noted. "She's not coming off quite as still as she did in some of the campaign events. She—"
Lou turned and faced Lester. "You've got to be kidding me!" she said. "We're critiquing her performance? The First Lady just walked off with *our* issue." Lou began digging through the papers on her desk. "When did this happen? Why didn't Donna send me word that this was on their agenda?" Lou moved to the office door and shouted for her assistant.
"Call Annabeth Schott's office," Lou said. "Tell her I want to see her as soon as she gets back from..." Lou turned to Lester. "Where the hell are they anyway?"
"The
"What he said. Hell, tell Donna Moss I need to see her too."
Lou sat back down, leaned her head back, and let out a deep breath. "So," she said, "I guess this means we need another win."
CUT TO:
"I adore airports," Ainsley declared.
They had just spent 40 minutes waiting in line at security. The flight to
"The flight to
"Today, we do."
"Then we have to wait two-and-a-half hours to get a one-hour flight to
"First, it gives us plenty of time to discuss the Superfund suit," Ainsley said as they began the walk to their flight's gate. "But most importantly—" She waved a hand in the direction of the food court. "—there is airport food. I love airport food."
Sam shook his head. "Only you would say something like that."
"Pizza by the slice, Sam." Ainsley's eyes seemed to light up at the prospect. "Cinnabon! Hot pretzels.
Those giant-sized chocolate chip cookies. Eating at the airport is like a holiday all by itself."
Before Sam could reply, Ainsley headed for the Auntie Annie's kiosk. "What are you having?" she asked.
"A headache," Sam said sarcastically.
Smiling, Ainsley pointed in the opposite direction. "You can get Tylenol over there. That's something else I love about airports. You can find almost anything you need right here."
Sam, mentally acknowledging that it was futile to come between Ainsley and her appetite, found an empty table and deposited their luggage on two of the seats. Amused despite himself, he watched as Ainsley moved from counter to counter, purchasing pretzels, cookies, and Chinese food.
"No pizza?" he asked, when she returned to their table with a tray laden with her purchases.
"Maybe later." Apparently noticing his smirk, she added, "As you pointed out, Sam, we have a long flight ahead of us."
"*Three* long flights."
"So," Ainsley continued, "I felt it necessary to purchase several items we can snack on should we become hungry during our travels."
"Because there won't be any food available in
"I'm sure there will be," Ainsley said as she handed Sam a pretzel. "However, I always find that it is best to be prepared when traveling. Which reminds me, I should bring along extra knives and forks." ith that, she got up and left the table.
One thing about traveling with Ainsley, Sam thought. It was never boring. The last time he and Lauren had flown, they'd had started getting on each other's nerves somewhere between the second and third cancelled flight. Not that Lauren could be blamed for that.
Sam took his cell phone out and stared at it guiltily. With one last look at Ainsley (who seemed to be debating whether to get another pretzel), he called Lauren's office. He got her voice mail.
"Hey, it's me," he said. "I'm at the airport. It'll be 7 or so before we get in, but I'll try to call you again from
Putting away the phone, Sam stared in Ainsley's direction and wondered why it was he felt as though
he'd just lied to his fiancee.
CUT TO:
INT. JOSH'S OFFICE
"Hubert Kaplan is a notorious troublemaker," Lyle Edmonds said.
"I don't care whether he's a pain in the ass," Josh replied. "I just want to know if he's right."
"I've received no information that Kaplan is on to something,"
"Please have a seat, Lyle," Josh said in a commanding tone he'd learned from Leo long ago. The words might have been couched as a request, but everyone in the room understood that Josh had just pulled rank. After an unsuccessful attempt to stare Josh down,
"Kaplan is no longer stationed at the CVO,"
activity at
control of the room to the way his fingers tapped nervously against his thigh indicated that the man was hiding something.
"Kaplan told me that what he has showed me is the latest information from the observatory," Josh pointed out. "Are you saying that he lied?"
"Lied?"
"But you're not a geologist, right?"
"No,"
"I'm well aware of that," Josh said. "That's why I brought in Drs. Powers, D'Acci and Warth to look this stuff over." He turned to the three scientists who had been carrying on an intense conversation on the other side of the room. "What do you think? Is
Powers spoke first. "I'd need more details to be sure," she said. "But we all agree that there is reason for caution. We seem to be divided on how imminent the threat is, however. As you can see from these graphs, there have been occasional spasms and ground shakings different from the sharp jolts characteristic of earthquakes." She pointed to a red line on the graph. "These vibrations have been associated with eruptions at volcanoes in
"I'm afraid I disagree with my colleague," Warth said. He waved the print-outs in front of him. "These are very disturbing. There's visible swelling and cracking already. Here's a photo taken two months ago, and here's one taken three days ago. Clearly the bulge near the summit has doubled in size. It's not purely gas that's pushing against the surface. It's magma."
Powers nodded. "It's like blowing a bubble with your gum. It doesn't matter how slowly and carefully you do it, that bubble is eventually going to pop. Only, in the case of a volcano, molten rock and ash will flow from the erupted dome."
"Given the history of
D'Acci, the most experienced of the three, regarded Warth skeptically. "It's more likely that it's gas, in which case the expression 'blowing off some steam' comes to mind. Besides, the latest activity was three days ago. That was after three weeks without any trouble. I know
"I'd say the real danger right now is that the President will waste money and resources on something that isn't a threat,"
Warth looked at
"Of course not,"
FADE TO BLACK