*********denotes the beginning and end of a flashback.
"Come on.” Ahmed said stopping by the row of seats
Toby was sitting in.
“What?” Toby asked.
“Time for you to make more phone calls my friend. And
don’t try anything this time like you did last time.
You are to speak only to the Prime Minister and to
your own President.”
I speak only with the Prime Minister and the
President.” Toby repeated.
“Yes, you speak only with the President and PM. Do
not try anything this time like you did the last
time.” Ahmed said.
“I didn’t try anything.” Toby said to himself.
“What did you say?” Ahmed said.
“I didn’t try anything earlier.” Toby said.
“Sounded to me as if you were trying to signal
something to them.”
Ahmed then handed the phone to Toby, who called the
Israeli Prime Minister. Then he called President
Bartlet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Josh picked the phone up on the first ring. CJ had
fallen asleep an hour earlier, and he really hoped she
would not hear it ringing.
“Hello.” Josh said.
“Josh,” Jed said, “good idea not letting CJ answer
the phone.”
“Yeah, I thought it was sir. She fell asleep about an
hour ago, so I really hope this didn’t wake her up.”
“Well, when she wakes up, tell her that I’ve spoken
to Toby again. They’re giving the Israelis 48 hours to
release the prisoners.”
“Oh, hell. And if there not released?”
“They start executing passengers.” Jed said.
“I don’t think CJ needs to know that.” Josh said.
“It’ll be in the papers. There’s no way we can keep
it from her. Not to mention she going to be pissed if
we keep this from her.” Jed said.
“Yeah she will be. You want me to tell her?”
“I’m afraid you are the one there with her.”
“Yeah, I guess I should be the one to tell her then.”
Josh said. “Wait a minute! Did they say who they were
going to execute first?”
“No. I think Toby would be one of the last. Of course
that would be logical and terrorist are seldom
logical.”
“That’s true, sir. I just hope she doesn’t ask that
question.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Toby sat back down and closed his eyes. He knew he
should try and get some sleep, but it was hard to
sleep when there were five terrorists armed with
AK-47’s, who could possibly get trigger happy. The
only thing that was getting him through this ordeal
was thinking of CJ and Meghan. So, he immersed himself
in his memories.
*****************************************
“Well?” He asked, getting up from the chair and
walking towards her.
CJ walked closer to Toby before answering. “It
was...Toby, we’re going to have a baby!” She said,
her face lighting up with a smile as she spoke.
“We are?!” He said touching her face.
“Yeah.”
Toby put his arms around her, and brought her close
to him. They stood there in each other’s arms for
several minutes. Toby then drew away form her, and
led her to the couch. He sat down on the couch, and
pulled her onto his lap. After she was settled
comfortably against him, he spoke again.
“I thought you needed to sit down. You’re going to
need a lot of rest in the next few months.”
“Yeah, I probably will.”
“I intend to see that you get it.”
“Oh, you do?”
“Yes, you’re planning to make a doctor’s appointment
tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” He kissed her softly on the lips.
“Hey, you can do better than that.” CJ whispered.
Toby traced her lips with his finger for a moment.
“Yeah, I can do better.” He said before kissing her
again.
******************************************
CJ woke up and sat up in bed. She looked at the clock
and saw it was three. She got up and walked into the
kitchen, as she stood at the counter drinking a glass
of water she saw that Josh had fallen asleep on the
couch.
“What time is it?” Josh asked sleepily.
“It’s three.” CJ replied.
“Well, I survive well on one hour of sleep.” Josh
said.
“Okay, what’s happened?”
“President called about an hour ago.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?!”
“We decided to let you sleep. He’s spoken to Toby
again. Toby’s still okay.”
“Oh, thank God.” CJ said and sat down on the couch
beside Josh.
“Yeah, the terrorists have issued an ultimatum.”
“What?” CJ asked fearfully.
“If the prisoners aren’t released in forty-eight
hours...”
“They start killing passengers?”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t say I didn’t see that coming. Okay what’s
going to happen?”
“I don’t know he didn’t tell me.”
“But you think he knows what is going to happen?”
“Yeah.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jed was on the phone with the Israeli PM. “You’re
certain this will work, Moshe?
“Yes, I’m certain.” Moshe Ben-Amin, the Israeli Prime
Minister said.
“Minimal causalities?” Jed asked.
“As few as possible.”
“You know one of my staff is on that plane?” Jed
said.
“Yes, I know.”
“This better work. I don’t want to have to break any
bad news to his wife.”
“I realize that.”
“When is it going to happen?”
“They’ll go in tonight. Which means in about nine
hours.”
“Okay, let’s hope this works. I’m not going to tell
my staff so, they’ll be no leaks.”
“Not even...”
“No, definitely not CJ, not until it’s over.”
to be continued...