ACT 1
INT. – JOSH AND DONNA'S APARTMENT
Still on the phone, Josh stared straight ahead for a moment as the words ran through his mind. An assassination attempt on the President of Amiir. There was an assassination attempt on the President of Amiir. Donna was in a country where someone had tried to assassinate the President, while standing next to the woman married to the most powerful man in the world.
All the useful things a terrorist could do with that kind of leverage started running through Josh's mind. With sheer will he put a stop to it, he had to think. He couldn't help Donna unless he could think.
"Wake the President. I'll be right there."
CUT TO:
EXT. – KAMROY HEALTH CLINIC
Donna glared defiantly at the agent who had just hung up her phone and then powered it down, effectively hanging up on Josh.
"What's going on?"
"We need to move." Before she could say another word, they each took one of her arms and started hustling her towards the motorcade.
She resisted the urge to wrench away from them, the strong grip they each had wasn't necessarily painful, but it was unsettling to say the least. She wasn't used to being manhandled in such a way. But she hadn't spent nine years around the Secret Service for nothing. She knew that she needed to cooperate and that they were there to protect her, but from what or whom she had no idea. There seemed to be nothing amiss at the health care clinic.
"Why?" Donna asked breathlessly.
"There's been an incident."
"Incident." Donna repeated the word. The ball of apprehension that had formed when she'd first seen the agents coming towards her started to grow. She'd been involved before in incidents. As they pulled her along she glanced down at her right thigh.
Ahead Donna could see Mrs. Santos and Annabeth being ushered into one Suburban while Dr. Perez, Dr. Bashir and the photographer were climbing into another. They all wore expressions that she assumed were similar to her own. A bit dazed and a lot confusion.
Glancing down, Donna noticed her phone still clutched in the hand of the agent who had grabbed it. Josh. She'd been on the phone with Josh. He would be worried. Her voice carried urgency, "I… I was on the phone back there. I need to call back…"
"Ms. Moss, your phone needs to remain off for the time being."
"Procedure." The other agent added without emotion.
"But he's going to worry." She said it out loud, but nobody was listening. The next thing she knew she was practically being lifted, rather than climbing under her own power, into the Suburban.
Donna quickly surveyed her surroundings. She was next to Helen in the middle row. The back seats held Annabeth and one of the security detail, while agents occupied the driver and passenger seat.
Immediately, she met the First Lady's eye. She definitely appeared confused and maybe a tad paler than normal, but other than that she looked okay. She certainly didn't look as afraid as she probably should. Annabeth was in the back seat mumbling and almost frantically trying to untangle her seat belt, as if driving without being belted in was more dangerous than not moving at all. Donna knew better. Obviously neither of them had been through this as many times as she had, they didn't realize that something very bad must have happened somewhere. At the moment Donna wasn't sure if she was happy that her own experiences didn't afford her the luxury of ignorance.
"Helen, are you okay?" Donna asked quickly, for once losing all formality.
She nodded hastily. "What's happening? Where are we going?"
Donna just shook her head as her heart raced in her chest. "I have no idea."
CUT TO:
INT. SAM AND LAUREN'S BEDROOM
"Sam… Sam!"
Sam grunted as he turned over. "What?"
With frustration Lauren gestured towards her nightstand. "Your phone."
Wearily, Sam rolled and reached over her for the buzzing device.
"You know if they are going to call you at all hours because a Senator from
Her voice held humor, but with a definite edge. While she spoke, Sam flipped open his phone with one hand, put it to his ear and mumbled, "Sam Seaborn."
"…or some Cabinet Secretary was caught with a goat and you've got to debrief the goat, the least you could do is leave the phone on your side of the bed so you can hear it ring." Lauren finished, but Sam was no longer paying attention to her. His attention was immediately captivated by a tense and angry voice on the other end.
"We should have known something like this would happen. Nearly a third of the population is Arab, and they don't appreciate our presence in their country just on principal. Hell, the State Department knows good and well that the Janjaweed is active in the border regions of North and
Sam resisted the urge to flinch at the raised voice. "Josh, what happened?"
"Assassination attempt."
At the word Sam jumped out of bed. "When?"
"I don't know."
"Was it successful?"
"I don't know. I don't know anything else. I'm in the car. She's there and I don't know anything. It's only a matter of time before it starts."
"Before what starts?" Sam forced his voice to be calm, but at the same time he quickly started to get dressed.
"The violence."
They both let the word hang there for a moment.
By the sound of Josh's voice, Sam could imagine his tight jaw and the vein that was working in his temple as he spoke. "I was on the phone with her. I was on the phone with her, Sam, and there was nothing I could do."
"What? Was Donna there when it happened?" Sam asked with new horror.
"No… no… they were at a clinic outside the city. She…" Josh swallowed hard. "She said something was going on and I heard someone—must have been an agent-- say they had to go and the line went dead."
Sam let out the breath he'd been holding; he was relieved, but still he spoke with more confidence than he felt. "Josh if they were outside the city, I'm sure they're fine. They're traveling with an extensive security detail. They're probably headed for an airstrip right now. They aren't going to go anywhere near the city and any potential violence. As soon as you get in you'll hear that they're on a chopper bound for an aircraft carrier in the
Josh swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat as Sam spoke. "Ya' think?"
"Yes, Josh, Donna is going to be just fine. They all are. Those guys know what they're doing."
Sam heard Josh let out a harsh breath. Sam reached up and rubbed his forehead. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Josh replied quickly.
"You're not too close to this?"
Josh let out a soft snort. "I have a feeling that the President and I are both too close to this, but that's just how it's going to be tonight."
"Yeah… okay." Sam replied, knowing it was the truth. "I'm on my way."
"Call Lou and Lester. I… uh… I have no idea if anyone has this."
"Got it. And Josh…" Sam wasn't sure what to say so he repeated himself. "They're going to be fine. Donna is going to be fine."
Josh hesitated for a second and then just said, "Yeah."
With that Sam hung up the phone and for the first time since he answered remembered Lauren's presence.
"Were you talking about Donna and the First Lady? Are they the ones who are going to be fine?" Lauren's brow was creased with worry.
Sam was about to reassure her like he had Josh when he stopped and shook his head. He wasn't sure they were going to be okay, he wasn't sure about anything. "Honestly, I have no idea. I gotta go, I'll call you later."
CUT TO:
INT. SUBURBAN OUTSIDE ZAYTUN
The caravan of Suburbans sped along the dirt road at a rapid clip.
"They just fired shots at President Heili in broad daylight?" Helen asked incredulously.
The agent in the passenger seat turned back to answer. "We don't really have any details, Ma'am."
"Why can't we use our cell phones?" Annabeth asked Mark, the agent sitting next to her.
"Precaution. No communication or signal that might let anyone know exactly where we are."
"But we're moving." Helen replied.
"We're vulnerable." Donna answered for him. "They don't want any communication or signal that might let them know where we are while we're vulnerable."
"How do you know that?" Annabeth asked curiously.
Donna was silent for a second as memories flooded back to her. "I've traveled with a high profile contingent in a volatile part of the world before."
Helen turned towards her with sympathy in her eyes. She laid a hand on her arm. "I didn't even think…. Are you okay?"
Donna looked up at her and when she saw the concern written across her face, she steeled herself. Roughly, she rubbed her thigh with her hand and realized that bad memories needed to be pushed aside for now. It was her job to be a comfort, not the other way around. "Absolutely. This… is nothing like that. This… this is an adventure."
"An adventure?" Helen asked with disbelief, but also actual mirth.
"Yes, an adventure that we will hold over the boys' heads for years to come." Donna managed a teasing tone, even though the apprehension she felt knowing what Josh was going through at the current moment flashed clearly across her eyes.
Helen's smiled faltered for a moment, and then she played along. "Oh, yes, we will."
CUT TO:
INT. WHITE HOUSE, OTTO'S OFFICE
"Working in the White House is so much more impressive than working on the campaign," an attractive young woman purred as she walked behind the desk in order to look out the window.
Bram smiled tightly, the shallow part of him was thrilled she was impressed, but the practical part of him would only be thrilled when he got the information he needed.
"That's great Sierra. But remember the deal. I show you my office." He gestured about, failing to mention that it was actually Otto's office. "And you remind me what happened on October 22nd."
Sierra looked at him coyly and approached him with almost a predatory manner. "I can tell you what happened on October 23rd… you didn't call me."
She was wearing a short black skirt with strappy stiletto sandals, all topped by a shiny satin red bustier, and all under a black trench coat that was currently hanging open. It's not that she looked like a hooker, necessarily. It's that she didn't *not* look like a hooker, at least by White House dress standards.
Bram grimaced, then smiled. Under other circumstances he thought he might really enjoy the predatory gleam in her eye. But not tonight. "I meant to… it was just we were so busy with the campaign and traveling all the time. But, hey, I called today."
"Yes, almost a year later. When you needed something."
Bram was trying to think of a reply when he was distracted by a door slamming, from what sounded like down the corridor. The last thing he needed was for someone to find him with this woman, who was probably not a hooker, but who might be construed as one in Otto's office in the middle of the night.
"Stay here a sec. Please." He added on the 'please' when she'd given him the look. Once in the bullpen he immediately saw Josh tearing by.
"Josh?"
Josh didn't stop, but he did look over at him. "Bram, good, first one in. I'm on my way to the Sit Room. I want people from State who can talk to me about this in my office in the next fifteen minutes."
Josh exited as quickly as he'd entered and Bram just stared after him, wondering what the heck was going on.
But he had no time to figure it out before Sierra poked her head out of Otto's office and asked almost joyfully, "Is something exciting happening?"
Bram sighed and hung his head as he saw his political life flashing before his eyes.
CUT TO:
INT. SITUATION ROOM
The Sit Room was unusually sparse this evening. Only a few men in uniform, and a few out, stood tensely around the table. But it was just twenty minutes after two in the morning and the crisis wasn't very old yet. The large screen in front projected back huge aerial photos of the region and other tactical maps.
However, the President wasn't interested in tactical maps tonight.
"Where the hell is my wife, General!?!"
Even some of the most harden military men in the room blanched slightly at the President's tone. Josh felt his jaw tighten, even as his stomach roiled. Like the President he very much wanted to start strangling people until they told him where Donna was. But right now he was the Chief of Staff. This was the Situation Room. He needed to hold it together, especially if the President wasn't able to.
"The First Lady's delegation was at the Kamroy Health Clinic about 30 Kilometers Northwest of Zaytun. Currently, they are safe and in a convoy headed to the U.S. Embassy."
"To the Embassy? Why the Embassy? Shouldn't they go directly to the plane? Get the hell out of there?" The President barked each of the questions as he paced back in forth across the room.
"Sir, the airfield may not be secure. Until it is, the Embassy is the best place for them."
"But the embassy is where the violence is." Josh interjected for the first time.
Glen Moorehead, the National Security Advisor, shook his head. "There have been some reports of people gathering in the streets and some small time looting, but so far there's no reason to think it's going to escalate into anything more."
Now Josh turned to glare at him and his voice was louder. "No reason to think it's going to escalate? It's a coup! Of course it's going to escalate. They shot at President Heile in order to stop a vote in Parliament this morning. If they're that upset that we're trying to put a U.S. Military base on their soil; they aren't going to stop there. Who do we have on the ground?"
The Generals and NSA just stared at him. "What do you mean?"
"I mean what kind of military presence do we have right now in Amiir?"
"The Marine Embassy Guard."
"And?"
"And the security detail that's traveling with the delegation."
"That's it?" Josh asked and then looked directly at the President. This was not his particular area of strength and unlike Leo and Jed before them, Josh often deferred to the President's expertise. "Who exactly is securing the airfield then?"
The President looked at General McClain. "That's an excellent question."
"We have troops on the ready at the base in Qumar waiting for your-"
"Get them in the air, General. Now!" The President ordered without a second's hesitation. "I want that airfield secure and I want the delegation out of there. If State needs to clear it through channels tell them to do it while they're on the way. And if it's too chaotic in Amiir to get permission right now, land them any way. Where's Vinick?"
Moorehead and McClain exchanged glances before Moorehead cleared his throat.
"What?" The President demanded.
"Sir, Secretary Vinick was standing next to President Heile when the shots were fired."