- Seth Wright: So, I just got off the phone with an infectious disease specialist at the CDC. This bug is a rapidly mutating pathogen that accelerates its host's lytic cycle.
- Emily Rhodes: English?
- Seth Wright: Uh, it makes your cells explode.
- Emily Rhodes: Maybe don't tell the press that.
- Seth Wright: What kind of PR bump do you think the president will get off of an animal?
- Lyor Boone: A small one. I'd prefer a constellation, but, uh, this is what you get when you de-fund NASA.
- Kendra Danes: So this is the famous Kirkman toad?
- Lyor Boone: South American tree frog? Yes. Yeah, it's not a particularly robust example of the genus.
- Dr. Shen: I don't think you're qualified to opine about its robustness.
- Lyor Boone: It's spindly.
- [the frog suddenly inflates its throat and begins screeching]
- Lyor Boone: And now it's not spindly.
- Dr. Shen: It's a fight or flight response. Maybe if you stop staring at it...
- Lyor Boone: I don't think it's smart enough to view me as a threat. Yeah, brain to body mass, frogs are very low on the evolutionary scale. They're stupid, even by the modest standards of amphibians.
- Dr. Shen: Do you need to be here?
- Lyor Boone: Tasty, though. Yeah. I sampled the related frog, xenopus levis, on safari in Angola. And I must tell you... they go wonderfully with tamarind.
- Tom Kirkman: How'd you turn them around?
- Kendra Danes: I unified them by giving them a common figure to hate.
- Tom Kirkman: Huh. Sadly, I'm starting to realize that that's one of the great secrets of good governance.
- Aaron Shore: [watching Kirkman's press conference] The most powerful man in the world sucking up to the guy who lied to his face and tried to shake him down. You know what you call that?
- Lyor Boone: Leadership.
- Aaron Shore: Damn straight.
- Alex Kirkman: Why do I get the feeling that my mom likes you better?
- Tom Kirkman: 'Cause she likes me better.
- Carlton Mackie: Do you know what you've done?
- Tom Kirkman: Yes. I've ruined your reputation. But I'm gonna give you a chance to get it back.
- Tom Kirkman: Dr. Shen was just filling me in on our little friend here.
- Seth Wright: Yes, indeed.
- Tom Kirkman: He's incredibly resilient. Can fight off a wide variety of enemies, holds his ground.
- Dr. Shen: It's fiercely protective of its family.
- Tom Kirkman: And doesn't even sleep much. I think he's a perfect namesake.
- Dr. Shen: We thought so, too, sir.
- Tom Kirkman: Seth, why don't you get the White House photographer? Hylidae kirkmanus is ready for his close-up.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: Two Air Force muscleheads are telling me I got to get on a plane, that they're gonna carry me out if I resist. That's called kidnapping.
- Tom Kirkman: Well, you're gonna have to take that up with a higher authority. Wait a second, I am the higher authority. Come on, Tammy. They were following orders. They were trying to help.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: Yeah, I suppose.
- Tom Kirkman: The doc says you're gonna make a full recovery.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: I didn't get the job done. I am a soldier who left the field of battle before the battle was won.
- Tom Kirkman: Think of it like this. I'm a general who refuses to leave anyone behind, and I outrank you. Now, I want you to behave yourself. Listen to the nurses and do what they tell you because if I have to come back, it is not going to be pretty.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: Yes, sir.
- Carlton Mackie: Extasis is an experimental drug. Our patent is pending. But now the drug is in circulation, meaning every lab in America will be reverse-engineering it by Monday. We spent $1 billion in R&D on this drug. If that investment is gone, so is my company.
- Tom Kirkman: That is absolutely ridiculous. You're gonna peddle some kind of corporate doomsday scenario while the country is really dealing with one? Pharmaceutical companies have made billions upon billions of dollars profit every year on the backs of the American people with the understanding that if there is ever a crisis - a real emergency - you people would finally step up and do the right thing and make a sacrifice!
- Carlton Mackie: It isn't just my sacrifice. We have heart disease drugs in the pipeline, diabetes drugs. Whatever happens with this outbreak, if we go bankrupt, more people will die from the drugs that we do not develop than from this bug.
- Tom Kirkman: I took an oath to protect the American people. My job is to save lives now, today, and I will not let you get in the way.
- Carlton Mackie: I know what you think of me, sir, but I'm not a racist. I'm a capitalist.
- Tom Kirkman: Yet the fact still remains the community that is suffering from this right now is made up of minorities.
- Carlton Mackie: And I want to help them. But I don't run a charity. So pay me what I deserve or have me arrested for contempt of court, but your lawyers better be ready for a fight. In the meantime, Mr. President, I have a business to run. Just like you.
- Chuck Russink: So, you must miss London, huh?
- Damian Rennett: Always.
- Chuck Russink: How long you here for?
- Damian Rennett: Well, that depends on Hannah. I can't tell my government the threat he posed is over until your government says it is. And you being the lead investigator, you're "your government".
- Hannah Wells: My government says to keep digging.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: I read an abstract recently about an experimental cancer drug called Extasis with interesting antiviral properties that seem to reduce the ability of viruses with a genome similar to the H7N9 to replicate.
- Aaron Shore: So not a prevention, but a treatment. That sounds promising. Where do we get it?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: A guy named Carlton Mackie. He heads this cutting-edge pharma firm in Delaware called Benevax.
- Emily Rhodes: We're on it.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: Meantime, we need to widen the quarantine to neighboring counties. This thing's getting away from us.
- Rev. Tramer Dale: I appreciate your efforts at conciliation, Ms. Daynes. But I still remain fundamentally opposed to the relocation of that statue.
- Liz Rosenblum: At least we know the price for the great Tramer Dale selling out. A trip to the White House.
- Rev. Tramer Dale: Young lady, you mean well. You declare "this is racist" and "that is racist". But you are young, white, and living in America. You don't know what it's like to walk in my shoes. And I won't always be around to tell you, but that statue will. It stays.
- Tom Kirkman: Reverend Dale, this is a great honor for me.
- Rev. Tramer Dale: The honor is mine, sir.
- Tom Kirkman: I also wanted to thank you for your willingness to compromise on the statue. In the end, we moved it to an area that was less trafficked. I know that's not what you wanted.
- Rev. Tramer Dale: No, sir. I believe we sanitize history at our peril. It's nice when it's history we don't like.
- Tom Kirkman: But not when it's something we do.
- Rev. Tramer Dale: Yes, sir. It's a dangerous precedent we set here today, sir.
- Tom Kirkman: I don't disagree with you, but sometimes compromise seems to be the only way to move forward.
- Rev. Tramer Dale: Yeah. Well, you can thank your pistol of a young lawyer here for bringing me around. She reminded me that there's no virture in absolutism. Old lions like me can be stubborn.
- Tom Kirkman: Yet they still roar.
- Alex Kirkman: Hey, mom, is something wrong with the coffee?
- Eva Booker: Yes. I didn't make it.
- Alex Kirkman: Come on. I told you, you can use the kitchen anytime.
- Eva Booker: Someone else's kitchen. Someone else's coffee.
- Tom Kirkman: Eva, it's only been a weekend. It's gonna take you some time to get settled. Besides, the White House has 132 rooms, so if you're not happy with the one you're in...
- Eva Booker: You're so sweet. And a wonderful host. I just... want to go home.
- Alex Kirkman: Mom, your house is still an active crime scene.
- Alex Kirkman: Your son's bedroom is an active crime scene. My house is just a place some lunatic broke into, and he's dead. And I'm not.
- Tom Kirkman: I promise you, I give you my word we'll get you home as soon as possible. Until then, know you have the run of the place.
- Tom Kirkman: Okay, what do we got?
- Tom Kirkman: Thirty-two cases in the past twenty-four hours in South Carroll Parish. It's twelve fatalities.
- Emily Rhodes: Which means thousands are infected.
- Tom Kirkman: So what's the CDC saying? Is this as bad as Liberia?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: Worse. It's influenza "A", likely avian origin. Highly contagious. Short incubation period facilitates the spread.
- Tom Kirkman: Could this be the superbug you've been worried about?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: Well, I might have an answer for that if the CDC had some money for infectious disease research.
- Tom Kirkman: Just like when we were teaching at Columbia. Always trying to squeeze blood from a stone.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: But that was for faculty pensions. This is about lives.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: This flu appears to be an H7N9 subtype. Like the Yangtze Delta flu.
- Tom Kirkman: And no one here has immunity. How fast will it spread?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: Our simulation says the H7N9 will appear in surrounding states in thirty-six hours. In seventy-two hours...
- [showing the simulation of the disease spreading across the country]
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: ...that's what it will look like.
- Tom Kirkman: Oh, my god.
- Emily Rhodes: We have a shot at containment because the area is so isolated. They didn't even have state roads in some parts until the '70s.
- Aaron Shore: The FAA shut down all airports in a 200 mile radius. Same for NHTSA and highways.
- Emily Rhodes: And I told Governor LaSalle that we're at his disposal.
- Tom Kirkman: Okay, good. Aaron, I'm gonna want you to be the liaison between the World Health Organization and the UN. We also need to notify the Canadian and Mexican authorities.
- Emily Rhodes: HHS has activated the Strategic National Stockpile of vaccines and antivirals, so hopefully one of them will match this flu strain.
- Tom Kirkman: Emily, bring Seth up to speed. As soon as word leaks out, panic's gonna spread like wildfire. Let's get on it.
- Tom Kirkman: A hundred years ago, the Spanish flu wiped out 5% of the world's population. How bad is this?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: I'll give you a call when I have boots on the ground.
- Tom Kirkman: All right.
- [she turns to leave]
- Tom Kirkman: Tammy.
- [she turns back]
- Tom Kirkman: Be careful.
- Seth Wright: Hey, um, did you leave me a blueberry muffin?
- Emily Rhodes: I did.
- Seth Wright: That was really nice.
- Emily Rhodes: Yeah, I picked out all the blueberries, so don't make it a big deal.
- Seth Wright: Well, I won't now. Oh, uh, that zoologist from the National Museum wants to come by; the guy who's naming the animal after the president. He wants a photo op.
- Emily Rhodes: [sarcastic] Bringing an alien species into the White House while we're fighting a possible pandemic that originated with animals is... a great idea.
- Seth Wright: Hey, I just work here.
- Emily Rhodes: Hey, new girl. You getting up to speed?
- Kendra Danes: Trying. It's a little, uh...
- Emily Rhodes: Intimidating?
- Kendra Danes: That's the word.
- Emily Rhodes: Just remember, it's another office building.
- Kendra Danes: Whose halls were walked by Lincoln, FDR, and Kennedy.
- Emily Rhodes: You'll get used to it.
- Kendra Danes: Really?
- Emily Rhodes: No.
- Hannah Wells: It makes no sense.
- Damian Rennett: Nope.
- Hannah Wells: Lloyd's on the run for six months, and the last thing he does before he holes himself up in a bunker is trash the First Lady's mother's house? Why?
- Damian Rennett: Because he wanted to show your president that he could get to his family? Or - and, uh, just spitballing here - because he was a psychopath.
- Hannah Wells: Evidence Response Team tagged everything Lloyd touched.
- Damian Rennett: Why? He was throwing a tantrum.
- Hannah Wells: What if he wasn't? Whatever he did, he always had a method. Lloyd was meticulous. He cut a clear pathway through the house, and never doubled back.
- [they head upstairs]
- Hannah Wells: Every drawer in here is tossed except for the desk.
- Damian Rennett: Did he run out of time?
- Hannah Wells: [searching the drawers] Or he wanted to lead us here.
- [finding a manila envelope, she takes out the contents]
- Hannah Wells: It's a medical record from 1987 for a heart transplant operation for Andrew Booker. That's the First Lady's father.
- Damian Rennett: Why would Mrs. Booker leave a thirty-year-old file just randomly lying on top?
- Hannah Wells: He left it here. He wasn't looking for something. He was leaving us something.
- Damian Rennett: But why would he give a toss about Andrew Booker's heart?
- Hannah Wells: I don't know. But I'm gonna find out.
- Aaron Shore: Ten more dead?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: And eleven more in the ICU hanging on. The mortality rate of the patients in the hospital will be about 40%.
- Aaron Shore: Have we made any progress?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: No. The viral gestation cycle is short. The patient's lungs are damaged, and the oxygen loss leads to organ failure.
- Emily Rhodes: What about our antiviral stockpile?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: The South Carroll Parish strain is resistant.
- Aaron Shore: What about creating a new vaccine?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: Even if you threw every brain from the CDC at it, it would take months.
- Dr. Shen: From the Amazonian rainforest, I present Hylidae kirkmanus.
- Lyor Boone: [moving closer] What is it? Where is it?
- [seeing it's a frog]
- Lyor Boone: No, no, no, no, no, no. You can't name that thing after the president.
- Dr. Shen: We already have.
- Lyor Boone: Don't you have something better? Like a... like a crested eagle or a panther?
- Dr. Shen: It's not a flea market, Mr. Boone.
- Lyor Boone: You and Kermit need to leave right now.
- Dr. Shen: Oh, we can't...
- [Lyor taps the frog's tank]
- Dr. Shen: Oh, don't move... that's not gonna be possible, 'cause it's already traveled 6,000 miles in the last three days. If I move it before it habituates to its new surroundings, it... it could die of shock.
- Lyor Boone: Well, so could the president.
- Seth Wright: Uh, so, how... how long, uh, does he have to stay here?
- Dr. Shen: It's a hermaphrodite, so it's not a "he".
- Lyor Boone: [deadpan] Well, this gets better and better.
- Mike Ritter: Is Reverend Dale in there? I was hoping to meet him.
- [Kendra steps aside; Mike opens the door, hears the commotion inside, and shuts it again]
- Mike Ritter: I'll come back.
- Lyor Boone: Hey. How's this thing going?
- Kendra Danes: Good.
- Lyor Boone: [hearing the shouting inside] Yeah. Sounds good.
- Kendra Danes: It's a contentious issue.
- Lyor Boone: Do you like frogs?
- Kendra Danes: [confused] Frogs?
- Lyor Boone: Exactly. No one does.
- Carlton Mackie: Dr. Bruner is right. Extasis could work on H7N9.
- Tom Kirkman: That's great. Carlton, that's excellent news.
- Carlton Mackie: You're suggesting an untested, off-label use not approved by the FDA. If it doesn't work, if it kills someone, Benevax's liability could be catastrophic.
- Tom Kirkman: I understand, which is why I had the White House counsel's office draw this up. It's an indemnification.
- Carlton Mackie: I appreciate that, Mr. President. But it will take my lawyers weeks to vet this.
- Tom Kirkman: We don't have weeks. We... we have hours. People are dying. Carlton, I'm asking you to trust me.
- Carlton Mackie: All due respect, sir, I have an obligation to my shareholders, and I don't satisfy that obligation by saying someone from the government said "trust me." Even if that somebody is the president.
- Tom Kirkman: I respect that. Honestly, I... I do. But there are times in our society where we have to act in faith on behalf of the greater good. And unfortunately, this is one of them.
- Damian Rennett: The First Lady's father died in 2002. Why would Lloyd leave us a breadcrumb trail to an old medical document?
- Hannah Wells: Because if we find it, it's evidence, and we're obligated to investigate it.
- Damian Rennett: Evidence of what? And that's assuming it's not a plant.
- Hannah Wells: There's only one way to find out. Ask the First Lady.
- Damian Rennett: What are you gonna tell her?
- Hannah Wells: As little as possible. I don't want to drag her into this if I'm following a Lloyd fabrication.
- Tom Kirkman: What do you mean Carlton Mackie didn't deliver the medicine?
- Aaron Shore: He reneged, sir. He found another buyer.
- Emily Rhodes: Pharmacies whose clientele are willing to pay two grand a dose.
- Tom Kirkman: So the residents of South Carroll Parish will not get the medicine they need, while the residents in Cameron Parish will.
- Emily Rhodes: Yes, sir. It's all about the money; who has it, who doesn't.
- Lyor Boone: It's like Katrina on steroids, Mr. President.
- Tom Kirkman: Not if I can help it. Tell Kendra I'm gonna need her in federal court as soon as possible.
- Kendra Danes: [arriving at court] I'm sorry, Your Honor.
- Judge Corbin Robinson: It's your motion, Ms. Daynes.
- Kendra Danes: Yes, for specific enforcement of a contract.
- Rafer Blaine: There's no contract here, Judge. Just a handshake extracted under duress in the Oval Office by the leader of the free world.
- Kendra Danes: That's not the contract at issue.
- Judge Corbin Robinson: I'm listening.
- Kendra Danes: It's a compulsory contract. The Defense Production Act requires businesses essential to the national defense - like drug manufacturers - to sign agreements when necessary for the national defense.
- Rafer Blaine: When necessary. Mr. Mackie has already made Extasis available to the population.
- Kendra Danes: To the rich. And the rich are predominately white. Socioeconomic status is a proxy for race here.
- Rafer Blaine: That's not Benvax's concern.
- Kendra Danes: But it's the government's. South Carroll Parish, a black community, has 95% of the cases. The president can decide how to distribute a drug during a public health crisis and at what price.
- Rafer Blaine: Why should he be allowed to substitute his judgment for the private sector's? Freedom of contract is a hallmark of our democracy.
- Judge Corbin Robinson: But not when the government is facing down a public health emergency. Mr. Mackie, you will relinquish 10,000 doses to the federal government, now.
- Tom Kirkman: How's it going down there?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: The drugs arrived late this afternoon. My team spent the rest of the day titrating the proper dose.
- Tom Kirkman: You think it's gonna work?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: I don't know, sir. We're administering it now.
- Tom Kirkman: I don't even have the words.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: Sir?
- Tom Kirkman: To tell you how grateful I am. The greatest enemy we face these days is one we can't even see, and I send you down there behind enemy lines. And you go. Without hesitation, no questions asked.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: Do you know why I do it?
- Tom Kirkman: Why?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: Because I know that you would.
- Damian Rennett: I already reconnoitered the place. Crap security, and no one on site. You sure you don't want to go the subpoena route?
- Hannah Wells: Well, they're medical records. It would take months to get through the HIPPA regulations.
- Damian Rennett: The enduring charm of American bureaucracy. Let's head around back. I cut a hole in the fence.
- Hannah Wells: Oh, subpoena, huh?
- Damian Rennett: I didn't say I needed one.
- Detective Blakey: Do you guys want to tell me what you're doing on private property after hours?
- Hannah Wells: No.
- Detective Blakey: Want to start again? 'Cause right now I got you on B&E and torching the place.
- [she shows him her badge]
- Detective Blakey: That supposed to impress me, Agent Mills?
- Hannah Wells: No, it's just to show you that we're working a federal investigation and that I don't have to answer any of your questions.
- Detective Blakey: Well, this isn't federal property.
- Hannah Wells: Well, I am. So call the White House and verify my credentials.
- Damian Rennett: Hanging around with you should qualify me for hazard pay. I've been shot, knocked unconscious.
- Hannah Wells: Not stabbed, though.
- Damian Rennett: No, not yet.
- Lyor Boone: [after a press briefing] Seth's good.
- Emily Rhodes: Yep.
- Lyor Boone: The virus is better.
- Emily Rhodes: Yep.
- Lyor Boone: The NAACP wants to know why eight times as many people have died in a black parish than a white parish.
- Emily Rhodes: That's a fair question.
- Lyor Boone: I'm saying the president needs to devote more resources...
- Emily Rhodes: Look, we have the CDC, HHS, NIH, FEMA...
- Lyor Boone: I don't think we can contain this with acronyms, Emily.
- Tom Kirkman: How are we doing?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: The Extasis is working, sir. It dramatically reduces the viral load so that the body's immune system has a fighting chance. The patients that we've administered it to are recovering.
- Tom Kirkman: Thank god.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: Problem is we don't have enough. Not anymore.
- Tom Kirkman: Well, we lost a lot of time. We had to chase that son of a bitch into court.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: Yes, sir, and this virus is moving much faster than we thought. We need more medicine.
- Tom Kirkman: Unfortunately, Mackie gave us everything that he had.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: 10,000 doses, right?
- Tom Kirkman: That's correct.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: I don't think that's all he had.
- Tom Kirkman: Why?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: This medication is extremely expensive to develop. 10,000 doses is simply not a cost-effective production, especially for a company that invests as much into R&D as Benevax.
- Tom Kirkman: Right. We'll look into it. I'll get back to you as soon as we can. Emily, I want...
- Emily Rhodes: On it, sir.
- Aaron Shore: Did you and Damian break into a storage unit?
- Hannah Wells: We were following up on a lead regarding Patrick Lloyd.
- Aaron Shore: With a burglary.
- Hannah Wells: Aaron, I can't get into the details.
- Aaron Shore: Hannah, you answer to me.
- Hannah Wells: And you answer to the president.
- Aaron Shore: Your point being?
- Hannah Wells: That this is about his family. And until I know exactly what I'm dealing with...
- Aaron Shore: You don't want to expose me.
- Hannah Wells: Yeah.
- Aaron Shore: Okay. All right. I'll trust you on this, Hannah, and I'll run interference, but what I can't do is run interference for someone who works for another government. Surveillance cameras on the factory across the street caught him breaking through that fence. He can answer for that, or he can leave.
- Emily Rhodes: Sir, Carlton Mackie's in the West Wing. Want me to bring him in?
- Tom Kirkman: No. He doesn't set foot in the Oval Office ever again.
- Tom Kirkman: You recognize this? It's a bill of lading from the United States Postal Service for the shipment of 30,000 doses of Extasis to a warehouse in Jacksonville. You're in violation of a court order.
- Carlton Mackie: No, sir. Court order covered exactly 10,000 doses.
- Tom Kirkman: Because you misled us. You allowed us to believe that's all you had. You failed to acknowledge the 30,000 doses that you were holding in reserve.
- Carlton Mackie: I provided an amount I was told was sufficient.
- Tom Kirkman: Which very well might have been if we didn't have to hunt you down to get it. Lives are at stake here, Mr. Mackie.
- Carlton Mackie: I understand that, which is why I'm making additional doses available.
- Tom Kirkman: So you and your company can line your pockets.
- Carlton Mackie: Respectfully, sir, it is not that simple.
- Damian Rennett: One-way ticket and twelve hours to leave the country? Your government's pretty ungrateful.
- Hannah Wells: Yeah. In England, you'd get a... a ceremony, right?
- Damian Rennett: In England, I'd be knighted.
- Hannah Wells: Well, we don't think much of burglars here, I guess.
- Damian Rennett: Yeah, well, I don't think much of not finishing a job.
- Hannah Wells: I'll keep you posted. Don't worry.
- Damian Rennett: [offering a handshake] Wells.
- Hannah Wells: No, I'm gonna walk you out.
- Damian Rennett: I'm touched.
- Hannah Wells: Don't be. They wanted me to make sure you got in the cab.
- Lyor Boone: Twenty-four hours on the button. If that thing's still here, I'm gonna frog-walk it down Pennsylvania Avenue myself.
- Seth Wright: That's a little harsh.
- Lyor Boone: Well, you want to write a release about a swollen, sexually ambiguous toad named after the president whose defining characteristic, by the way, is that it expectorates on its insect prey?
- Seth Wright: Not so much.
- Hannah Wells: A Defense Department purchase order.
- Chuck Russink: Yeah, for a contractor called Icarus Astrotech.
- Hannah Wells: First Lady mentioned that her mother was a government secretary. Where did she work?
- Chuck Russink: DOD. Contract Oversight Services. Her department would have handled Icarus bids.
- Hannah Wells: And which Icarus employee signed this?
- Chuck Russink: Contracts officer named Eric Little. Still works there, actually.
- Hannah Wells: So the First Lady's dad gets a heart transplant around the same time that her mother is handling the paperwork for a defense contract. Why does Patrick Lloyd want us to know this?
- Chuck Russink: Look, there's a difference between correlation and coincidence.
- Hannah Wells: Tell me what you correlated.
- Chuck Russink: I looked into Eric Little. In 1987, he was on the board of the hospital where Alex's dad got his transplant.
- Hannah Wells: A bribe?
- Chuck Russink: If you're reaching, yeah.
- Hannah Wells: So let's play this out. The First Lady's mother gives inside info to a government contractor in order to win a bid.
- Chuck Russink: So the First Lady's father could move up the transplant list? It's a pretty circumstantial case.
- Hannah Wells: Which is why we need to speak to Eric Little.
- Tom Kirkman: Tammy, what's wrong? You don't look well.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: It's not what you think.
- Tom Kirkman: What is it?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: [showing him an IV in her hand] It's kidney failure.
- Tom Kirkman: What? How?
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: I had to test out the antiviral on myself to determine its toxicity, and I knew the quickest way to do it. Turns out the proper dosage is only one millileter, not two.
- Tom Kirkman: I want you out of there. I'm bringing you back to Walter Reed. You're coming home.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: No, Mr. President.
- Tom Kirkman: I'm not asking.
- Dr. Tammy Bruner: I know, sir. But we're still fighting here. A good soldier doesn't leave the field early. She stays until the last shot is fired. It's what you would do.
- Emily Rhodes: [seeing Kendra resting in her office] Looks about right. I hear you're off to a pretty good start.
- Kendra Danes: Oh, no, I guess. Maybe I'm just off.
- Emily Rhodes: You negotiated a settlement for the Emmitt Akin statue.
- Kendra Danes: That no one's really happy with.
- Emily Rhodes: You went to court to get medicine distributed to sick people.
- Kendra Danes: A bunch of whom died because we didn't get it there fast enough.
- Emily Rhodes: See? Firing on all cylinders.
- Kendra Danes: Feels like the whole job around here is just putting out fires. Is it always like this?
- Emily Rhodes: No. Usually, the flames are much higher.
- Tom Kirkman: Did you get a chance to talk to the reverend?
- Mike Ritter: Yes, sir. And I shook his hand. It's one of the many things I'll get to tell my grandchildren.
- Tom Kirkman: He's seen so much. I can't help but wonder what he honestly thinks about where we are. What about you, Mike? What do you think about where we are?
- Mike Ritter: Sir, this country's Constitution originally said I was 3/5 of a person. That's where we started. But I'm more interested in where we're headed.
- Tom Kirkman: We need to do better.
- Mike Ritter: Yeah. But we've also come a long way. My great-grandfather was a sharecropper, and my dad was an auto mechanic. And I'm in the Oval Office talking to the President of the United States.
- Tom Kirkman: You didn't mention your grandfather. What happened to him?
- Mike Ritter: He was a drunk. Progress can sometimes skip a generation.
- Tom Kirkman: It's 2017. We should be talking about anything and everything but this.
- Mike Ritter: But we're not, sir. And as long as we're having the conversation, you're the person I want to be having it with. You've got the boat pointed in the right direction.
- Tom Kirkman: Thank you, Mike. Well, here's to hoping one day, we can all learn to row together.
- Mike Ritter: It's all we can do, sir.