Touched by an Angel

Episode 305: “Secret Service”

Episode 305: “Secret Service”
Original Air Date: October 13, 1996
Written by: Kathleen McGhee-Anderson
Directed by: Bethany Rooney
Produced by:

Martha Williamson
Jon Andersen
Robert J. Visciglia, Jr.

Guest Cast:
Ulysses Dodd Ben Vereen
Senator Guy Hammond Roy Thinnes
Marty Dillard Heidi Swedberg
Mr. Phelps Jack Conley
 

Marty Dillard, an overachieving Secret Service agent, is at odds with Monica, assigned as an agent to protect a Presidential candidate. While off duty, Marty enjoys fishing and befriends Ulysses Dodd, an older gentleman who teaches her to enjoy the sport for its own sake rather than for sheer competitiveness. Baffled by a series of death threats to Senator Hammond, Marty begrudgingly accepts help from Monica and Andrew, who’s posing as a forensics specialist. Working together, they manage to apprehend the would-be assassin and save the senator’s life. However, the assailant’s wayward bullet strikes Ulysses, whom Marty had invited to the campaign rally.

She visits him in the hospital and begins to suspect his diabetes may be more serious than he let on. Hammond, impressed with Marty’s savvy, asks her to head up his presidential detail. Yet she doesn’t feel like celebrating when she returns to the riverbank and finds that Ulysses is still in the hospital. There Tess, the attending nurse, tells Marty the trauma of the bullet wound has caused one of Ulysses’ kidneys to shut down. If he doesn’t have a transplant soon, he will die. Commenting on the situation, Tess tells Monica it’s ironic that so many people are willing to sacrifice their lives for Senator Hammond but only one can save Ulysses. The next day Marty learns she is a viable donor to save her friend but would no longer qualify to be a field agent.

Torn, she asks his advice. Ulysses encourages her to accept the position and be thankful for the time together God gave them. Later that night, despite another campaign victory for Hammond, Marty is still preoccupied with her ailing friend. Revealing herself to the secret service agent, Monica tells her all humans are created in God’s image, and they are all the same in His eyes. Furthermore, His love is given freely and need not be earned. Realizing she has spent her life always trying to prove herself, Marty anonymously donates her kidney to Ulysses. She rejects Hammond’s offer to find another position for her on his detail, telling him she’s not sure what’s next for her–except that she plans to go fishing.

(); ?>