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Lockdown
Disclaimer: The following is intended for noncommercial amusement and perhaps enjoyment of my friends. Characters have been borrowed without malice etc. etc. etc., "i.e., Insert standard disclaimer here." Rating: PG-13 for possibly disturbing realistic content, adult situations and language (more big words than bad ones...).
Monday morning in the West Wing started with a bang for Josh Lyman. Literally. A large stack of thick legal textbooks crashed to the floor with a wave of Leo's hand across his desk. "Up, Josh, Get Up! How many times have I told you to GO HOME and sleep? It's 1AM." Josh managed to open his eyes after hitting the floor with a groan and blearily watched Leo's shoes head into the hallway. "Well... Hell, What's he doing here anyway," Josh grumbled. Josh looked longingly back at his couch, considering the possibility of simply going back to sleep. But he was up, he was here, and he had a 6am meeting. And there was more work to do. He wasn't going anywhere. Leo startled him again by shouting down the hall that he'd just made fresh coffee, and he wanted the briefs on yesterday's meetings on his desk in ten minutes. "I'm gonna make him wear a bell around his neck so he can't sneak up on me, yeah, that's it" "Talking to yourself is a BAD thing Josh", supplied Sam Seaborn in his usual, calm tones. Sam leaned casually against the door frame and surveyed Josh's hopelessly cluttered office. Josh startled again and turned to Sam. "Damn, why is everyone giving me grief today? And you, Mr. Posterboy for the 'I look GQ on two hours sleep club' just piss me off. Why are YOU here?" "Leo called me an hour ago to get in here to prep on the special press conference this morning about the Ebola outbreak" "The WHAT outbreak? Where is it?" C.J. breezed by and answered, "Ebola, E-B-O-L-A, she spelled, as in the nasty viral hemorrhagic fever, and the outbreak's near Zaire. The meeting's in the main conference room." Josh processed this quickly, and followed C.J. and Sam down the hall to raid the coffee pot. It wasn't lost on him that Leo had let him sleep for an hour before he woke him up. Being here had meant he hadn't had to come back. He allowed himself a small smile at the rare rewards of a workaholic. Toby strode by with his head down, mumbling something about killing the person who took his usual parking spot. Josh felt a bit better. At least Toby could be counted on to be grumpier at all times and thereby make Josh seem a little more civilized. Senior staff was joined by the President, an ambassador from Zaire, and a CDC representative. Josh spent most of the briefing staring at the CDC officer, Dr. Kate Scott. She looked somewhere around 30, was nearly as tall as C.J., and spoke so commandingly that even Barlett seemed to be at attention. She was also decidedly "out of uniform." She wore simple dark slacks, a grey blouse and sensible flat shoes. This blaring contrast to the standard D.C. female power wardrobe of mid-length, bland colored suits and matching pumps, was striking. She seemed even more exhausted than Josh, and he liked her for that right away. "The Ebola virus, as you all know, is highly lethal, highly communicable, and virtually untreatable with anything but supportive care. Current antiviral therapies have little or no efficacy, and once diagnosed the disease is often too far advanced to be arrested by therapy. At least five hundred cases have been confirmed in areas surrounding Zaire. Strain typing and tracing is underway. Current mortality stands at about 70 percent in the presenting cases. Our greatest concern is the large number of people exposed or potentially exposed to the virus, The incubation period, though short, allows potentially infected people to get on airplanes and return to nonendemic areas. If infection hits a populated area, say in a large U.S. city, containment and treatment of the infected would be virtually impossible if not caught immediately. Due to common rapid travel in the population, a pandemic could ensue." When she stopped speaking, the room was silent for a moment. "Oh my God," said Sam, " How do we tell people this without scaring them to death?" Kate Scott turned her full attention to Sam, "That, Mr. Seaborn, is what I'm hoping this meeting can accomplish." The next two hours passed in a blur for Josh. He absorbed the complex information about the pathogenetics of the disease, trade routes at risk, and economic consequences. Sam, Toby and C.J. left the meeting with sad looks and a stack of briefings to prepare a statement to the already clamoring press. Leo and Josh scattered to begin research to garner financial and political support for the affected African cities. Bartlett, Kate Scott and the Ambassador remained behind closed doors for another half an hour. A 4am, Kate Scott ran into Josh in the hall leading to the coffee pot. Both were attempting to walk, think, and read in sleep deprivation mode and recognized kindred caffeine spirits. "Mr. Lyman, would you like six or eight sugars in your triple strength coffee this morning?" "Can I just get a hit of intravenous caffeine so I don't have to be coordinated enough to drink it?, Josh smirked. " I have tried but I still haven't formulated a suitable intravenous preparation that's legal." She smiled back. He wasn't sure if she was kidding. There was an unusually bright spark of mischief behind her eyes, and Josh realized it had been a long time since he'd seen someone adept enough to maintain mellow humor in his often chaotic world. Josh opened his mouth to reply but shut it again as Leo bellowed into the hall. "The press hits the room in 30 minutes people, I need to see some paper with the little words on it....perhaps NOW!! And Dr. Scott, you have a call in my office." The last part was spewed with considerably less volume and rancor, and Josh immediately realized that Leo already liked and respected the young CDC doctor. "Catch you again in a few.", Kate threw over her shoulder as she headed to Leo's office at a brisk clip." "Hey, she sure can walk fast." Sam quipped. He'd fled a cursing Toby in his office to refill his coffee. "Um, brilliant comment Sam, You guys got some smart stuff to say on this?" "Toby's in there adding more commas to the part I wrote," Sam shrugged. A few minutes later, Leo returned down the hall with a grim expression. "Conference room. NOW. Get C.J. and Toby." Josh read Leo's "Hell has broken loose" face far too easily. He'd only seen it on a few occasions but it was unforgettable. The crew assembled with coffee in all hands to find both Leo and Kate on the phone. Kate paced the front of the room with her cell phone to her ear. Leo was yelling. "You, heard me, the press briefing is canceled, send them away!", Leo gestured with his hands as if this could help make the point over the phone. A voice continued to talk at the other end but Leo just hung up. Worried looks passed among Josh, Toby, Sam and C.J. Kate's eyes roamed the room as she listened intently a bit longer then hung up. She turned slowly to face them and sat down. "There's no easy way to say this. I have bad news. Ambassador Ulara's wife has just been diagnosed with Ebola. We've all realized how devastating this ordeal is to him already. He came here with intent to help us understand the situation and to protect other countries. His wife's exposure was unknown and unsuspected. But he was with her before he flew here yesterday for this meeting. Everyone in this room has had potential exposure to Ebola. As of this moment, the west wing, and all of us, including the President and anyone he's come in contact with, is under quarantine. It's a total Lockdown."
End Part 1 Anybody interested?? Shall I continue?
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