Chapter 14
“Sir, the British foreign office wants to give us a heads up on something.” Josh
said as he entered the Oval.
“It’s our lucky day, then.” Santos quipped. “Aren’t you even going to ask me if
I had her escorted out of the building?”
“I don’t know how else I can convey my total lack of interest in that subject,
sir.” Josh droned. “British intelligence is picking up some chatter about the
UAE. Our team needs 30 minutes to confirm before we brief in the sit room.”
“They know we just got everyone to sit down and play nice in Kazakhstan,
right?” The President asked.
“What can I say, when it rains it pours.” Josh replied.
“Secretary Vinick to see you sir?” Ronna asked from the doorway.
“Send him in.” Santos requested. “Arnie? What do you know about the UAE?”
“They’re a federation of 7 Arab States rich in Oil and natural gas. Also,
they’re going to be a pain in our ass for the next four years.” Vinick answered.
“I’m surrounded by comedians today.” The President complained.
“Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has announced that there will be a 20%
reduction in oil production to begin immediately.” Vinick answered seriously.
“This is in response to?” President Santos enquired.
“Ostensibly, they feel that the price of oil is artificially low.” Vinick replied.
“But in reality?” Josh cued it up.
“They’re firing a warning shot to the new American President who’s talking
about alternate fuel sources.” Vinick informed them. “They’re also concerned
that our ‘interference’ in Kazakhstan is about controlling the oil pipeline there
rather than any diplomatic mission. They’re talking about ‘assisting’ the
Chinese against the evil Russian empire.”
“How do we put out this fire, Arnie?” Santos asked.
“I think you should invite the new Sheik here to discuss the relationship
between our two countries. There is a lot of anti-American sentiment growing
in the UAE as a spillover from their neighbors in Iran and we should nip it in
the bud.” Arnie advised.
“Josh?” The President asked for his Chief of Staff’s input.
“We should wait for the report downstairs, but I think it would be wise to start a
dialogue now.” Josh agreed.
“Dialogue through this office or Arnie’s?” President Santos pondered out loud.
“I think it should begin with me, Mr. President.” Arnie offered. “Direct from my
office to their state office before it gets shot up the food chain. We want to
take this seriously without overreacting. We come on to strong and they’re
going to think they can run the table.”
“Fine, but I want to see my Secretary of Energy in my office today. He’s going
to be part of this dialogue too.” President Santos agreed.
“Yes, sir.” Josh replied.
“Thank you, Mr. President.” Arnie said as he left with Josh. “Josh, I need a
minute.”
“Sure, Carol? Hold my calls please.” Josh called out before he shut his office
door. “How nervous should I be here, Arnie?”
“Pretty damn nervous.” Arnie replied. “With the current troop levels in
Kazakhstan we’d be stretched too thin to start another offensive in the Middle
East. Iran is ratcheting up the rhetoric and the new Sheik thinks it might
solidify his support to rattle the American Government.”
“We can’t withdraw any troops from Kazakhstan. It’s like a tinder box there.
We almost lost control in the last few days and that was from an accidental
incident.” Josh mused out loud.
“We’re going to need more help from the UN. I’d like to start working on this
from that angle.”
“Yeah. See what you can do at that end. Are you going to stay for the
Pentagon briefing?”
“Absolutely. The more information I can take to the UN the better.” Arnie got
up. “We need to stay on top of this, Josh.”
“We will.”
“I mean, I know the education bill is important to the President, but if it comes
down to a choice; he needs to put the push behind this.” Arnie clarified.
“Don’t worry about that.” Josh assured him. “We’re working with our partners
on the ed bill, and we understand that security trumps education reform.”
“As long as we’re on the same page.” Arnie nodded. “I’ll see you downstairs.”
*************************************************************
“Thank you for your time, Senator.”
“It was a pleasure, Mrs. Santos.” The Senator replied and they paused for a
photo before Helen and her Chief of Staff left the last office for the day.
“Is this really what Josh and Sam do when they come over here?” Helen
asked.
“Yes, ma’am it is; although their methods may be a little different.”
“Well, they deserve a raise.” Helen decided. “We can go back to the White
House now?”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Donna nodded. “Right this way. Your car is waiting for you.”
“That’s what I like to hear. Annabeth, can you call Ronna and find out where
my husband is?”
“I’m on it.” Annabeth got on her phone.
“The kids have to be wondering where the hell I am by now.” Helen noted.
“I’m sure Angie is keeping them occupied.” Donna assured her. “The kids
seem to like her a lot.”
“She’s great with them, she’s just not their mother. They’ve had enough
changes in their life already. I was hoping to be there when they got home
from school, but with our late start to the hill…”
“I’m sure they’re fine. Would you like me to call? Would you like to call?”
Donna asked.
“No, we’ll be there in a few minutes. Tell me more about Congresswoman
Santiago.”
“She said they she was sorry to have been unable to get in touch with you
personally, but that she would be happy to help in any way you saw fit with the
new ed bill.” Donna reported and Helen gave her Chief of Staff a sardonic
look.
“You were telling me earlier that sometimes we have to ignore these political
ploys and other times we have to lay down the law. Which category does this
fall into?” Helen asked.
“We’re going to ignore this one after we make it clear that if there’s a next
time, she won’t be so lucky.” Donna handed her the phone. “Congresswoman
Santiago, Ma’am.”
“Congresswoman….yes, I’m glad to finally be speaking in person to you as
well. You know, Gloria, when a member of my staff calls you on my behalf,
they do it because something important has come up. When they make that
call, I need you to return it immediately or working together on issues isn’t
going to be a possibility going forward…I’m glad you understand…Yes, that
would be very helpful. Annabeth is going to have new talking points for you to
use when you make those appearances. If there’s anything else you need
from this office please contact Donna Moss directly. ..Thanks, Gloria, the
President and I appreciate your work on this.” Helen hung up. “That sound
okay?”
“Perfect, Ma’am. You’re already a pro.” Donna smiled while she tried to reach
Josh. She tried not to be disappointed when her call was picked up by Carol
instead who informed her that Josh had been closeted with the President and
Secretary Vinick for the last few hours. Whatever was brewing couldn’t be
good…
*********************************************
“General Kinney needs to see you, sir.” Ronna announced.
“Thanks, Ronna.” President stood up to greet the General. “What can you tell
me Richard?”
“Sir, we’ve been able to confirm the information we briefed on earlier today.
Our embassy in Abu Dhabi is being targeted for an attack. After assessing
our security risk there, we feel it would be most prudent to remove the
American personnel there at once.”
“Just pull them out? You’re that certain as to the reliability of the information?”
Josh asked.
“There are several Iranian groups that have established training camps in the
UAE, one in particular has been successful in getting their hands on explosive
materials and the chatter indicates they’re ready to move on our embassy.”
“How do we evacuate the embassy without creating panic and more instability
in the region?” President Santos asked. “Wouldn’t it be more prudent to send
additional troops in to protect the embassy?”
“We considered that, sir, but given the time constraints, we feel evacuating
the embassy, until such time as other arrangements can be safely executed is
our best move. The team is ready to go over the details with you downstairs.”
“Thank you, General, we’ll be right there.” President Santos decided and held
Josh back a minute until they were alone in his office. “I want to keep the
people in our embassy safe, but I don’t think it’s in our best interest to
completely withdraw from the area either. They’re going to hand me a force
depletion report downstairs. I want to be sure I have the latest information on
our troop numbers in Kazakhstan as well as the numbers of current
deployment worldwide.”
“Sir, we’re going to be stretched pretty thin if we send additional troops into
Abu Dhabi.” Josh reminded him. “The foreign minister in London said that
they can swing some help for us in Kazakhstan, at a cost, but they’d never be
able to help us in the UAE under these conditions.”
“Let me guess…the offer of assistance is off the record.” Santos smirked.
“Yes, sir.” Josh acknowledged.
“After the briefing in the sit room, I’m going to want to speak the Prime
Minister…and the other leaders in the G8.” President Santos announced.
“Yes, sir.” Josh made a stop in his office to gather all the requested data
before following the President to the sit room.
*****************************************************
“Hey, are you ready to go home, yet?” Donna asked from Josh’s doorway.
After a painstaking evaluation of the situation in the UAE, the President had
decided to evacuate the embassy, and personnel there had all been removed
safely. Still, there was plenty Josh could do in the office.
Josh gave a short laugh. “You know, I could probably live here for the next 4
years and never get caught up.”
“Which is a good reason to remember the need for balance.” Donna
sauntered across the room to stand behind him and massage his neck. “I’m
NOT going to let you turn into another Leo…Of course I meant work hours-
wise.” She amended.
“I know what you meant. Yeah, let’s go home. I’ll need to look at this report
with a fresh pair of eyes anyway.” Josh sighed.
“Kazakhstan?” Donna guessed.
“Sort of.” Josh shrugged before he turned to yell. “Carol? Will you please let
Jack know I’m ready to leave? Thanks!”
Donna gave him a glare.
“What?” Josh asked. “I said please AND thanks.”
“You’re a prince, Joshua.” Donna drawled.
“And you’ve agreed to shackle yourself to me for life.” Josh grinned.
“It was only out of sympathy and it’s not a legally binding agreement yet.”
Donna reminded him.
“We should take care of that soon.” Josh agreed.
“Soon is not going to happen.” Donna informed him. “Weddings take time,
several months at least, to plan and execute.”
“Not if you go down to the courthouse on your lunch hour.” Josh replied as he
took her hand and led her out of his office. They both called out ‘goodnights’
to Carol as they made their way to the waiting town car that would take them
home. Donna kept the conversation light between them during their car ride
home. Sometimes, Josh was able to shake off these moods all by himself and
she just needed to give him the opportunity to unwind and laugh a little. But
when they arrived at their place and he was still unusually somber, she
decided this wasn’t one of those times.
She offered to start some dinner for them which he readily agreed to and
once they sat down to eat began to poke a bit.
“Is it something you can talk to me about?” she asked.
“What?” Josh answered her question with a question.
“Whatever it is that has you in such a sober mood. Is it something you can
talk to me about?” Donna realized that many things that crossed his desk
were classified now and were way above her paygrade.
“It’s nothing.” Josh blew it off. “You want to pick out a movie?”
“It’s something, Josh. If you can’t talk about it, fine, but if you can, I’d like to
know what has you so troubled.” Donna explained.
“I just…we’ve been closeted with the joint chiefs and DOD most of the day.
Some of the reports they shared were…troubling.” Josh admitted.
“In what way?” Donna prodded further.
“We had to pull people from the National Guard as well as reservists to bring
our numbers up to what we needed in Kazakhstan and we may need to pull
more if any other developments occur.” Josh told her without sacrificing any
classified information. “These men and women aren’t usually deployed
overseas in hostile situations. Some of what was reported to us was the
number of all our servicemen and women that are
experiencing…psychological trauma during and following their deployment.”
‘Ah,’ thought Donna, ‘Now we’re getting to the real issue.’
“Psychological trauma? Like PTSD?” Donna asked.
“Yeah…” Josh confirmed. “Just like PTSD. There are some reports that the
people in the service who are reporting PTSD symptoms and asking for help
are being drummed out of the service. Their mental health issues aren’t being
addressed by the military and once they’re drummed out, they can’t get any
mental health services covered.”
“So…we’ve got two issues, really. One, the people we’re sending into hostile
situations aren’t able to ask for or get the help they need and two, you’re
looking at this issue from your personal prism and thinking about what might
have been if you hadn’t been able to get the help you needed when you
needed it.” Donna summed up and Josh put his fork down to pace the living
room.
“How can I NOT see it through my personal prism?” Josh lashed out. “I was
working in the White House and I wasn’t let go because of it. In fact, I was
promised that it would never affect my employment at the White House. These
people, who volunteered to serve their country and are risking their very lives,
are being tossed out on their asses when they have the audacity to tell
someone they need help before they put their hands through a window.”
“I can’t imagine how you could fail to see it through your personal prism.”
Donna got up to join him in his pacing. “But you can’t fail to see how that
impacts your decisions about the troops, either.”
“Then how do I- I can’t be objective about this. It’s appalling!” Josh told her.
“But I can’t very well walk into the sit room and announce that I know more
about PTSD than they do, because I have it!”
“You’re concerned that you won’t be Chief of Staff any longer, or that you’ll be
perceived differently if you tell them that?”
“The President knows about the PTSD and he’s the only one that can fire me,
but if I’m ineffective in my job because I’ve lost the respect of the people in
that room, what good can I do for the President?” Josh asked rhetorically.
“Maybe you’re not able to judge the situation clearly since you’re so deeply
embroiled in that subject.”
“Please.” Josh guffawed. “They’re tossing their own service members out of
the service because they see them as a risk to their outfits; as unfit for duty.
You think they’re going to be more open minded about a Chief of Staff with
PTSD?”
“I think that attitudes roll down from the top. If you and the President choose
to make this a priority, they’ll fall in line behind you both.” Donna suggested.
“Maybe to our faces, but not behind our backs, not where it really counts.”
Josh shook his head. “This is too important not to pursue, but I can’t be the
one to pursue it.”
Donna pulled him to the couch to sit down with her. “I’m sure you’ll figure
something out. But for now, turn it all off and relax. That’s usually how the
best ideas come to you.”
“No, the best ideas usually come to me when you inspire me with some insipid
piece of trivia. Got any of that handy?” Josh teased. “Who am I kidding; of
course you do! Lay it on me.”
Donna pursed her lips and gave him a glare. “No, I don’t think I will. Just for
that, you can figure it out all by yourself.”
“No, please! I take it back! I need your personal brand of wisdom,
Donnatella.”
“I’m sure you do, but because you chose to mock, you’re not getting it
tonight.” Donna said primly, making a show of examining her fingernails.
“You’re just going to let me hang here in my moment of need?” Josh asked.
“Don’t be ridiculous; I got you home and made you dinner.” Donna smiled.
“I’m going to pay for this until I apologize for the insipid comment, aren’t I?”
Josh quirked an eyebrow at her.
“You are SO smart. It’s just one of the things I love about you.” Donna gushed.
“Uh-huh.” Josh leaned into her to steal a kiss. “I’m sorry about the insipid
comment. I really don’t know how to respond to this and it’s frustrating me.”
“You’ll figure it out.” Donna assured him. “In the meantime, let’s curl up with a
movie we’ve seen already.”
“Why a movie we’ve seen already?”
“So we won’t miss any important plot points when I’m seducing you.” Donna
moved toward the bedroom and she knew, without using even her peripheral
vision, the exact moment he got up to follow her. She was THAT tuned to him.