Shareef Assassinated: Silent Confirmation Seals Bartlet's Fate
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
On a remote landing strip, Abdul Shareef and his bodyguards exit a plane, unaware of the sniper's presence. The snipers fire, killing all three instantly.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Completely unaware of impending doom
Exits the landing private plane with bodyguards at the remote Bermuda strip, looks around unknowingly before sniper fire instantly kills him, his body yielding the pen recorder.
- • Disembark safely from plane
- • Scan surroundings for threats
- • Diplomatic travel ensures security
- • Bodyguards provide adequate protection
Clinical detachment in lethal execution
Watches plane land via night vision on Bermuda strip, takes aim with team and fires precise shots killing Shareef and bodyguards; one retrieves pen recorder from corpse and attaches to phone for transmission.
- • Eliminate targets with precision
- • Retrieve and transmit recorder confirmation
- • Orders justify lethal force
- • Night cover ensures operational success
Steadfast resolve veiling operational finality's weight
Alone in the Situation Room, Fitzwallace waits tensely by the phone, then picks it up to receive the sniper's confirmation signal of the assassination's success, his face registering the operation's grim closure.
- • Confirm assassination execution
- • Close the covert operation loop
- • Presidential order demands unflinching execution
- • National security overrides moral qualms
Profound moral isolation amid irreversible choice
Turns head to watch Leo answer phone in hallway, meets him as news is relayed amid drowning chorus, then steps behind curtain where his solitary silhouette lingers hauntingly.
- • Absorb confirmation of ordered death
- • Seek momentary solitude for reckoning
- • Leadership demands such costs
- • No retreat from authorized action
Grim determination underscoring relief at closure
Answers phone in theater hallway amid loud singing chorus, meets Bartlet briefly to relay assassination success—words bled out by music—then walks away decisively.
- • Inform President of mission success
- • Maintain operational discretion
- • Pragmatism serves greater security
- • Bartlet must face consequences directly
Unsuspecting confidence in their vigilance
Flank Shareef exiting the plane on the remote Bermuda strip, scan surroundings unknowingly, then collapse dead from sniper shots alongside their principal.
- • Protect Shareef during disembarkation
- • Assess immediate threats
- • Remote landing minimizes risks
- • Their presence deters attackers
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Shareef's Gulfstream private plane touches down on the remote Bermuda landing strip, disgorging the targets into sniper crosshairs; serves as unwitting transport vector transforming into the assassination's prelude, heightening the trap's dramatic irony.
Bartlet ducks behind Broadway theater box curtain post-relay, its dense folds framing his lone silhouette against chorus; symbolizes profound isolation, lingering as final image before dissolve, etching emotional cost of command.
Snipers' night vision pierces Bermuda strip darkness, tracking plane landing and targets' exit to enable precise aiming and firing; functions as covert surveillance enabler, amplifying the operation's technological detachment and inevitability.
Sniper extracts Shareef's pen recorder from his corpse on Bermuda strip, embodying Bartlet's authorizing voice; its transmission via phone confirms the kill to Fitzwallace, narratively sealing the moral pact's execution.
Sniper thrusts pen recorder into compatible phone on Bermuda strip under night glare, initiating transmission of success signal across to Fitzwallace; pivotal communication nexus bridging kill site to command, underscoring remote precision.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Theater hallway facilitates Leo's phone answer, tense meet with Bartlet, drowned news relay amid intermission chorus; shadowed conduit for grim confirmation, juxtaposing cultural uplift with death's whisper.
Remote Bermuda landing strip hosts plane touchdown, unaware disembarkation, sniper execution, and recorder transmission under enveloping night; isolated ambush site amplifies kill's cold finality, contrasting oblivious theater revelry.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The pen recorder Bartlet drops in discomfort is later retrieved as evidence after Shareef's assassination."
"The pen recorder Bartlet drops in discomfort is later retrieved as evidence after Shareef's assassination."
"The pen recorder Bartlet drops in discomfort is later retrieved as evidence after Shareef's assassination."
"Bartlet's silhouette behind the theater curtain symbolically contrasts with the hopeful chorus about peace, highlighting the irony of his decision."