chapter 17
“I’m supposed to be meeting with Sam.” Amy complained to Lou.
“Sam is the Deputy Chief of Staff. He’s very busy. Besides, we’re essentially
looking at a communications/P.R. issue here, so the communications
director is the perfect choice.” Lou replied.
“You think the only trouble the Republican leadership can make for you is P.
R. trouble?” Amy questioned.
“I think this is a matter we can settle between the two of us.” Lou
sidestepped the threat. “I’m sure you have only the best interests of the
country in mind.”
“Naturally.” Amy drawled and rose. “Tell J that he’s going to want to deal
with me personally on this, or things are going to get decidedly more
uncomfortable for him and his boss.”
“Gee, Amy, that sounds an awful lot like a threat. All threats to the President
and his Chief of Staff are investigated by the Secret Service.” Lou rose too.
“You should be expecting their visit very soon.”
Lou left ahead of Amy and went directly to Josh’s office. This time she
remembered to check in with Carol before she went it.
“Joshua…” She moaned.
“Lou! You checked in, knocked, and everything. Very well done.” He teased.
“Tell me again why I was chosen for this mission with the wicked witch? I
mean, what did I do in a previous life to warrant such a punishment?”
“I don’t think we need to go back to a previous life, Lou.” Josh replied.
“She said that you’re going to want to deal with her personally, or things are
going to get “decidedly more uncomfortable” for you and your boss.”
“To which you replied?”
“The Secret Service investigates all threats to the President and his Chief of
Staff.” Lou repeated.
Josh’s lips twitched. “Sam, you’re up!”
“Gee, Dad, I’ve got a lot of homework. I’m not sure I’ll have time to-“
“Do it.” Josh ordered as there was another knock on his door. “Entre!”
“Mr. Lyman?” A man wearing a maintenance uniform came inside.
“Yes?”
“I have a work order here. Is this a bad time?”
“A work order for what?” Josh asked taking a sip of his coffee.
“Your doors, sir. The report says the locks aren’t working properly.” Josh
spits coffee across his desk as he remembered why Donna might have an
interest in doors with functioning locks on them. “Is there a problem, sir?”
“No. No problem. I’m going to be in a meeting in the mural room so your
timing couldn’t be better. Go right ahead.” Josh got up and motioned for him
to come into the office. Josh grabbed the files he needed and along with his
Deputy walked toward the mural room.
“Carol, call my fiancé and tell her thank you, will you?” he requested.
“For what?” Carol called back.
“For taking care of me.” Josh replied and whistled all the way to the meeting.
***************************************************************
“Secretary Vinick. What do you have to report?” The President asked from
the secure line in the sit room.
“Officially, the Sheik is looking forward to working with the new American
President to ensure a positive relationship in the years to come.” Arnie
Vinick shared.
“And unofficially?” Josh asked.
“They don’t like the direction the President’s new energy policy is taking and
they feel that this subtle reminder of where we get our bread buttered will
help us see the light.” Arnie drawled.
“We can show them the knife we use to spread the butter, sir.” General
Kinney suggested.
Josh laughed. “Sorry, that was just one too many metaphors for me
considering it’s the middle of the night.” Josh sobered. “Are you kidding me?
We have serious readiness issues, General, that-“
“That you haven’t the slightest understanding of, Mr. Lyman.” General
Kinney snapped. Kinney had made it clear that although he had marginal
respect for President Santos, who had served, he had none for his Chief of
Staff. Josh thought it ironic considering the tables had been turned when it
was Leo and Jed Bartlet in these respective offices.
“First things first. We’ve evacuated our people?” President Santos
confirmed.
“We got the all clear 20 minutes ago.” Kinney acknowledged.
“Arnie, what do you think the odds are that-“ President Santos stopped in
the middle of his sentence as all hell broke loose. Pagers are going off,
phones are ringing and everyone is on their feet trying to decipher what’s
happening.
“Somebody better tell me what’s going on before-“ Josh never got the
chance to finish the threat.
“Sir, we’ve got a confirmed report of a suicide bombing just outside our
embassy in Abu Dhabi.” General Kinney explained.
“Give me a report.” President Santos demanded.
“We have Unconfirmed reports on deaths and injuries; 89 dead, 103
wounded, including 8 Americans.”
“You just told me-“
“They weren’t part of our embassy, sir, and everything is still sketchy, but it
looks like an American group was targeted.”
“I don’t like sketchy, General. Fill in the blanks.”
“We’re trying, sir.”
“Arnie?” Josh calls to the disembodied voice of their Secretary of State. “Are
you okay over there?”
“Yeah…yeah, I’m fine. We felt the blast though. I’m trying to see out the
window but there’s a ton of smoke.” Arnie reports. “Damn…there’s rubble
everywhere.”
“We’re hearing that it was a truck that rammed into the wall surrounding the
embassy. Can you confirm?” General Kinney asked.
“No, I can’t see much at all.”
“Stay put Arnie, we’re going to get you right out of there.” President Santos
nodded at General Kinney who in turn nodded at his second in command.
Operation “Get Vinick the Hell out of there” was being put into action.
“Mr. President, I need to stay.” Vinick announced and the room stopped for
a moment. “If you pull me out of here right now, it’s going to take months to
get anyone back in here. The new Sheik is very suspicious of us and our
motives. I have to stay and get his cooperation in this from here.”
“And if he’s the one responsible for it?” The President asked.
“He’s not.” Vinick declared.
“There is no way you can know that for certain.” Josh added.
“You put me in this job because you trusted my judgment and experience.
Both my judgment and my experience are telling me this is not his work. Let
me stay, sir.”
Vinick is being careful not to order the President or countermand the
President. But he also needed to tell the President what he honestly
believes is the best course of action.
“He’s right, sir.” Josh agreed. “The Sheik may not have been behind this,
but he sure as hell is watching to see how we’ll respond.”
“And our response should be military.” Kinney piped up.
“We don’t even know what we’re dealing with yet, General.” Josh argued
hotly.
“We know WHO we’re dealing with, Mr. Lyman.” The General responded.
“Mr. President, let’s move the divisions we discussed moving earlier. We
need to show our muscle.”
“We don’t have the muscle right now, sir, and the General is well aware of
that fact since a good number of his servicemen and women are being
discharged at an alarming rate!” Josh’s voice shook with anger.
“Enough!” President Santos shouted. “Josh is right; we don’t know what we’
re dealing with yet. We’re not going off half cocked and half blind. That can
only lead to disaster. What do you need there, Arnie?”
“A few more members of the military would be welcome here.” Vinick told him.
“They’re on their way.” The President assured him. “Check back in with us
in another 30 minutes unless you need us sooner. Thanks Arnie.”
“Yes sir, Mr. President.” Arnie agreed before he ended the call.
Josh looked at the pandemonium around him in the sit room and noticed the
open hostility coming from Kinney. Josh may not have had a military
background, but he’d usually gotten along fairly well with the brass. He and
Admiral Fitzwallace had even become friends and Josh had always had the
utmost respect for him. Kinney was different. And Kinney’s antipathy for him
seemed to be a little much to be blown off as simple scorn for someone who
never served in the uniform.
The President had noticed it too, but he valued the opinions of both men
and for the most part felt they leveled each other out. In the last few days,
though, there was another layer to the conflict between them; only Santos
didn’t have the luxury to figure it out just now.
**************************************************
Sam was waiting for Josh when he exited the sit room.
“Talk to me Samuel.” Josh ordered as they half walked/half ran upstairs.
“Lou is working on a statement for the President but she’s a little short on
details.”
“Aren’t we all?” Josh muttered. “Arnie is staying put right now and he’s going
to be our best source of information. Kinney is ready to bomb the place
back to the stone age and we haven’t even determined who is responsible
yet.”
“He likes the big stick part.” Sam muttered.
“Excuse me?”
“A week ago we were talking about the negotiations with Abu Dhabi and I
mentioned that famous quote, ‘Walk softly and carry a big stick’. Kinney
looks at me and says if you have the biggest stick you don’t have to worry
about how to walk.” Sam rolled his eyes. “I’m just saying…”
“Well, he’s not my biggest fan, so whatever I recommend, he immediately
recommends the opposite which would be fine if that’s what he really
believes but I get the feeling that it’s more about proving me wrong. Am I
that unlikeable?”
“You got Donna to agree to marry you and she’s like, the nicest person I’ve
ever met, so you can’t be that bad.” Sam quips.
“Picked me right up there, Sam.” Josh muttered. “I need to call her when we
get to my office. I’m going to be hanging here for awhile.”
“I think she’s already figured that out, Josh. She dropped off a change of
clothes earlier.”
“Of course she already knows that. She’s a very smart woman.” Josh
agreed.
“Then you don’t need to call her.” Sam pointed out.
“I didn’t say I needed to call her to tell her I’d be staying here, I just…I need
to call her.”
“Ah. Got it.” Sam smiled. “Very sweet.”
“It’s not sweet. I’m not sweet.” Josh objected. “I’m a bad ass Chief of Staff to
the President of the United States.” Josh kept eye contact with his Deputy
until he got an answering nod from Sam.
“It is kind of sweet though…in a bad ass kind of way.” Sam teased as they
pushed through Josh’s office door.
“Joshua…I need news to give to the new organizations camped outside my
office.” Lou opened.
“They really shouldn’t be outside your office, Lou. That’s what we’ve got a
press room for.” Josh replied. “You’ll get a full briefing as soon as we can
confirm our information.”
“AP has got it that some of the casualties are American?” She pressed.
“Unofficially, that’s what we’ve got too.” Josh acknowledged before
answering his phone. “I’ll be right there.”
“Now what?” Sam asked.
“I’m needed next door. Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan is on the line
wanting to speak to the President.” Josh announced and put his suit coat
back on for his foray into the Oval for the call.
“As Leo would say, ‘Now we got ourselves a ballgame’.” Sam noted.