How is she?” she asked the doctor for the hundredth time.
“We don’t know, Madam President. We won’t know until she wakes up,” she said.
What she did not and would not say was that they didn’t know for sure if she would wake up.
Charlotte didn’t know how long she’d been sitting there. It felt like days, but there wasn’t a chance that she’d be left alone that long, especially after what had transpired. She’d stood in the operating room while they worked on Dale. It wasn’t like scenes of operating rooms in the movies or on television shows. It was quiet and calm. No one talked. The doctors just worked on her for what felt like twelve hours but was probably more like five or six. She had shrapnel in her lower abdomen. It had hit her just where her flak jacket stopped and had gone almost all the way through her body, from just below her belly button all the way through to her back. At first, they were concerned that she’d be paralyzed, but her spinal column had been spared. They worked to repair her stomach and intestines for hours, and just as they repaired one organ, they found bleeding in another. The doctors asked Charlotte to leave a few times, but she made it clear that she wasn’t planning on going anywhere.
Charlotte hadn’t been more than twenty feet away from Dale since they’d brought her in from the crash site. When they moved her to the ICU, where she’d stay until her condition was stable enough to travel to the military hospital in Germany, Charlotte sat in a chair in her room.
A military aide knocked on the door. “Madam President, Secretary Taylor would like to see you,” he said.
“Please tell him to stay away from this room.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“What time does Melanie Kingston land?” she asked.
“She left Andrews at one A.M., Madam President.”
“I don’t have any idea what time it is here, or in Washington. Please just tell me how much longer until she lands,” Charlotte snapped.
“About an hour and a half.”
“Please send her straight here,” Charlotte ordered.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Charlotte looked at Dale. She was breathing through a ventilator, and various other machines and monitors surrounded her. Even with a sheet and a blanket covering her wounds, Charlotte could tell that her body was swollen and mangled. Charlotte stood up and walked to the table where they had set up a secure phone for her to use. She picked it up and asked the military operator to connect her to Melanie on the military transport plane that was rushing her to Afghanistan.
“I have Ms. Kingston on the line, Madam President,” the operator said.
“Melanie, can you hear me?” Charlotte asked.
“Yes, Madam President, I can hear you. How are you?” Melanie asked.
“I’m fine. Come see me as soon as you land. We need to do a statement soon.”
“I’ve been working on a statement on the plane. I spoke to Roger, and—”
“You spoke to Roger?” Charlotte asked.
“Yes. He went over the fact pattern for me. We’re going to need to brief the press on the entire operation. The military will brief after you, and—”
“Operational briefing? Melanie, do you have any idea what happened?” Charlotte said, her voice rising.
“I think so. There was sniper fire on the airstrip, so Roger put you in the closest helicopter to get you out of there, and then the helicopter with the press pool on it was hit. Dale is in critical condition, but the others are OK. She’ll be moved to the military hospital in Germany as soon as she’s stable enough to travel,” Melanie recited.
“God, Melanie, no. No, that is not what happened,” Charlotte moaned.
“I’m sorry. What am I missing? I have been on secure video conferences for the last seven hours. What did I get wrong?”
“That is not what happened. They told us to cut the trip short. They told me on Air Force One, and I didn’t listen,” Charlotte said. “Melanie, are you there?”
“I’m here, Madam President. I’m listening.”
“We left the interview location, and we were heading back to the helicopters. I got on Marine One, but something was wrong—or that’s what I thought, but now I don’t know. Roger grabbed me, literally pulled me out of Marine One before the agents could even get to me. There was sniper fire. Did they tell you that?”
“Yes, that’s what I said, Madam President. Listen, you might be in shock. Have you been checked out by the doctors?”
“Stop talking to me like I’m a fucking idiot. Listen to me,” Charlotte insisted.
“I’m listening,” Melanie said.
“Melanie, we knew it was too dangerous. The intelligence suggested that there was an uptick in violence, and Albert suggested we cut the trip short, but Roger said it would be OK. And then, as we were taking off, they just came out of nowhere and started firing. The base was under attack. I was on Marine One, but Roger made them land, and then he pulled me out and put me on the other helicopter. He told them the mechanics didn’t sound right, but I was told that Marine One was fine. I didn’t know, Melanie. And it all happened so fast. I didn’t know what was happening until we lifted off the ground on the press chopper, and I saw them. I saw them running toward Marine One. They must have fired a shoulder-launched grenade. I saw it go up in flames and crash. They thought they had killed me and they were celebrating. But Roger left Marine One on the ground as a decoy. Do you understand what I’m saying, Melanie? Roger left Marine One there as a target. He used Dale and her crew so I could escape on another helicopter. He left them on Marine One to die.” Charlotte’s voice started to strain with emotion, but she steadied herself. “Melanie, are you there?” she asked.
“I’m here.”
“Melanie, I need you to ask Roger for his resignation as soon as you get here.”
“Charlotte, you need to do the statement as soon as I land. The public hasn’t seen or heard from you in nearly twenty hours. All they know is that Marine One went down, and word is getting out that Dale was hurt. There are rumors that she’s dead. We need to get in front of this before it’s too late.”
“Melanie, for once, this isn’t about getting ahead of the press. If that girl dies, our administration has blood on its hands. Roger nearly killed her. We need to announce his resignation,” Charlotte insisted.
“We’ll talk when I get there. He thinks he saved your life, Charlotte. He thinks he deserves your gratitude, and he can’t figure out why you won’t see him.”
“What he did was not brave. He traded one life for another. That’s not heroic—it’s criminal.”
Melanie sighed. “I’ll be there in about an hour. Don’t do anything until I get there, Charlotte, OK?”
“Yeah. OK. See you soon,” Charlotte said.
She hung up the phone and asked to be connected to Peter’s cell phone. A military aide had called Peter and her parents immediately following the crash. They were told that there had been an unanticipated security breach and that Charlotte was safe and being taken to an undisclosed location from which she would call as soon as she could.
“Charlotte, are you all right?” he asked on the first ring.
“Yes, I’m fine. Are you with the kids?”
“Yes, we’re all here. They want to talk to you. Let me put them on.”
“No, not yet. I need to tell you something, Peter.”
“What? Were you hurt? Are you OK, Char?” he asked.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine. It’s Dale,” she said.
“She was in a helicopter, and it was hit by a shoulder-launched grenade. They went down, and she was brought to the hospital here, in Afghanistan. She was in surgery for, I don’t know how long, a long time. I was in there the whole time, Peter. I was in there, and they took really good care of her. She’s in the ICU now. She hasn’t woken up yet.” Charlotte’s voice cracked. She couldn’t cry. She wouldn’t cry. She took another breath. “Peter, a plane is waiting for you at Andrews. It will take you to the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. They’re going to move her there as soon as they can,” she said. “Peter, listen to me. She’s tough, and she’s going to be fine.” Peter still hadn’t said anything.
“I’m in her room now. She’s resting, and she looks really peaceful. I am going to call her parents next and have them meet you at Andrews.” She could hear him breathing. “Peter, say something,” Charlotte said.
“Why are you in her room?” he asked.
“What?” Charlotte was stunned by the hostility in his voice.
“Why are you with her? You don’t sit at the kids’ bedsides when they’re sick,” he said.
His words were like body blows. Peter’s resentment had been building up for so long that even he seemed surprised by its ferocity.
Charlotte took a breath and spoke calmly. “You’re right. I’ve missed a lot of colds and flu bugs over the years. But we both know that’s not what this is about, don’t we?”
He was silent.
“You think I put her in danger. You think that I am so petty that I put your girlfriend in harm’s way, what, to punish you? Give me a fucking break, Peter. For once, give me a break.”