CJ glanced at her watch when she got back from having
lunch with Josh and Sam. It’s was two-thirty which
meant Toby should be back in seven hours. That meant
she had seven hours to figure out a way to tell him
that she is pregnant again. She had spent every spare
moment of the last three weeks trying to figure out a
way to tell him.
“Yeah, Carol” CJ said when Carol opened the door to
her office.
“Leo wants to see you in his office.”
“Okay.”
CJ ran into Josh as he came out of his office.
“Leo wants to see you also?” She asked.
“Yeah. Wonder what’s it’s about?”
“I don’t know.”
When CJ and Josh got to Leo’s office, Sam was already
there.
“Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Sam asked
them.
“None whatsoever.” Josh replied.
“Not a clue.” CJ said.
“Well, this is great.” Sam said.
Just then Leo came through the door that connected
his office to the Oval Office. “Guys, why don’t we
have this meeting in here.” He said.
Once CJ, Josh, and Sam were seated in the Oval
Office, Leo begun to speak. “We have a situation
developing with an El-Al plane.”
“Leo, isn’t that the Israeli national airline?” Josh
said.
“Yeah, it is.”
“Then wouldn’t the Israelis handle the situation.”
Josh said.
“Well, the plane’s destination is Washington.”
“Washington?” CJ said. “Leo what’s going on with the
plane?”
“It’s been hijacked.” Leo said.
“What’s the flight number?” CJ asked.
“9454. We don’t...” Leo said.
“Oh, God no.” CJ said burying her face in her hands.
“CJ, what is it?” Jed asked.
“Leo, you were getting ready to say that you don’t
have a passenger list right?” CJ asked.
“Yeah.” Leo said.
“I can tell you one person that is on that flight.
That’s the flight Toby’s on.” CJ said softly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The entire office was silent for a few minutes after
CJ spoke. Finally Josh broke the silence, “Claudia
Jean are you certain of that?”
“Yeah, I’m certain.”
“How do you know this?” Leo asked.
“What, do you think he wouldn’t tell me the number of
the flight he’s coming home on? If you don’t believe
me, he left a message on the answering machine at
home. I call home and let you hear it.” CJ said.
“CJ, I believe you, it’s just this is an unbelievable
situation.” Leo said.
“If you think it’s unbelievable, Leo, you should try
being me for about five minutes.” CJ said.
“Okay, you're not going to brief the press on this.
I’ll do it myself. If we know he’s on the plane, the
terrorists will find out soon.”
“Hold on Leo what makes you think they’ll find out?”
Sam asked.
“Once CNN gets a hold of the passenger list, they
will broadcast it. And if the terrorists don’t already
know, they’ll know then.” Josh said.
“Josh is right.” CJ said quietly. “I wish he wasn’t
but he is. There’s no way this can be kept secret.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first order the terrorists gave was that the
passengers of Israeli and American nationality were to
go to the coach compartment. That order had been give
half an hour earlier, and now the terrorists were
taking the passports of those in coach. Toby silently
handed his passport one of the terrorists.
“Since we’re going to be here awhile, I think I
should introduce myself.” The elderly lady next to
Toby said. “I'm Hannah Rubenstein.” She said.
“Toby Ziegler. If you don't mind me asking, where are
you originally from? Your accent is almost like my
mother’s.”
“Warsaw.” She answered.
“Ah, my mother was from Lublin.”
“Then that would explain the similarities in our
accents.”
“Yes, it would.” Toby agreed.
“Was she around my age?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought she probably was.”
“She emigrated to Israel after the war. Actually she
was one of the illegal immigrants. Then in the early
fifties she met my father. He...was an American
working on a kibbutz for a year. He wanted to go back
to Brooklyn, so she went to New York. After my brother
and I were grown they decided to return to Israel. Mom
died seven years ago, and...we buried Dad yesterday. I
don’t know why I’m telling you this, I normally don’t
open up to people.”
“It could be the situation, or that I remind you of
your mother.”
“Yeah.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CJ was sitting silently in her office watching Leo do
the press briefing. Josh was sitting in her office
with her because no one wanted her to be left alone
right now. She looked up, a few minutes after the
briefing was over, when Carol came in and whispered
something to Josh.
“I’ll be back in a minute.” Josh said as he left the
office. Carol sat down on the couch as Josh left.
“Danny?” Josh said when he was out of the office.
“How is she?” Danny asked. He had learned of the
situation during the briefing.
“I think she’s in shock. She’s hasn’t said two words
since we left Leo’s office. None of us want her left
alone so I’m sitting with her.”
“That was probably a good idea.”
"Yeah."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Carol”
“Yeah, CJ.”
“Do you mind leaving me alone for a few minutes.”
“CJ..” Carol said.
“Carol, please.”
“Okay.” Carol said and left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Carol?” Josh said when Carol came out of the office.
“She wanted to be alone for a few minutes.” Carol
explained.
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.” Josh said.
“She’ll be fine. She deals with things better when
she’s alone.” Carol said.
“Okay, I guess. I’ll give her about twenty minutes, I
guess.” Josh said.
“Is she still the same?” Danny asked.
“Yeah.” Carol said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Carol left the office, CJ picked up the phone
and dialed her home number. She then punched in the
code to play the messages on the answering machine.
More than anything, at that moment, she needed to hear
Toby’s voice. When he said he loved her, she begun to
cry silently. She hung the phone up and walked over to
the other side of her office. There was a small CD
player on the top of the cabinet. She kept the CD’s in
the bottom drawer. She looked and found the one she
was looking for and put in the player and pressed
play. She stood silently through the first part of the
song, and then she heard the part that mirrored what
she was feeling.
When I reach to hold you I’ll still be alone
When I hear the ringing of the telephone
I’ll think it is you
It will not be true
I know why the river runs
To a place somewhere far away
I know why the sky is cryin’
When there aren’t any words to say
I could play the message that you left for me
I could hear your voice and I could still believe
That you will soon be home
But you will never come
She played that part of the song over and over until
Josh came back into the office. She then let the song
finish playing.
I know why the river runs
To a place somewhere far away
I know why the sky is cryin’
When there aren’t any words to say
There’s a silence that I don’t want to hear
There’s a hole now where my heart used to be
They say that healin’ comes in time
But I dont’ know what that means
I lie here for so long
But you will never come
I know why the river runs
To a place somewhere far away
I know why the sky is cryin’
When there aren’t any words to say
I know why the river runs
To a place somewhere far away
I know why the sky is cryin’
When there aren’t any words to say
I know why the river runs
“You okay?” Josh asked.
“Yeah, I guess so.” CJ said.
“What are you doing?” Josh asked.
“I’m listening to part of a song over and over.”
“Why?”
“Toby left a message on our answering machine at
home. The flight was supposed to land at Dulles at
nine-thirty. He told me to tell Meghan that he would
be home soon and he ended the message by saying he
loved me. What if those are the last words I hear him
say?”
“CJ...”
“I know I should keep a positive attitude, Josh, but
these are terrorists. They have a habit of killing
Americans. And since this is and Israeli plane...”
“They’re likely Arab and don’t like Jews or Americans
very much.”
“Toby is both.”
“I know. Listen you have no way of knowing what will
happen. You need to think positive. Think about
Meghan.”
“The only thing I can think of right now is I want
her father to see her grow up and I want...” CJ said
placing her hand on her stomach.
“What CJ?” Josh asked.
“Nothing, Josh, nothing.”
Carol knocked softly on the door. “Leo wants to see
both of you in his office.”
“Okay.” Josh said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“This is fortunate for us.” Toby heard the person he
assumed was the lead terrorist say. “We have someone
on board who is a aide to the President of the United
States. Which one of you is Toby Ziegler.” The
terrorist acknowledged Toby when he stood up. “You
will transmit our demands to your President and the
Prime Minister of Israel.”
to be continued...