Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn

then looked to Piper, who was whispering something to him. Slowly, Aziz took his focus off the president.
    Piper motioned to one of the couches by the fireplace and in a hushed voice said, "Let's have a seat over here. He'll be with us in a minute."
    Aziz followed Piper to the couch and calculated his chances of rushing the president. The door they had just come through was still open, and he knew that there were agents posted outside two of the room's other three doors. Aziz had also guessed that the president had security measures in and around his desk. With only a small composite knife as a weapon, he couldn't risk alerting the agents posted outside the office until the president was within reach. But he was so close.
    Aziz calculated that he could cover the twenty feet to the desk in two seconds at the most. It would take the agents almost that long to draw their weapons. Think fast, he told himself as a film of sweat began to form on his skin.
    Piper plopped down on the couch and patted the seat next to him. Aziz nodded and stepped past Piper. It was time to sit or move. Aziz looked across the room at the president, who had just swiveled in his chair and turned his back to them. Hayes was looking out the window while he talked on the phone; his head was all that could be seen above the back of his black leather chair. In that split second Aziz decided to move.
    He checked the underside of his belt to make sure the knife was there and then brought his left hand up toward his chest. Aziz looked down at the watch and selected the correct button that would send out the signal to the men waiting in the truck. He was about to make history, about to strike a blow for all of Islam. Piper said something from behind him, but aziz did not hear the words. His attention was elsewhere.
    Slowly, he brought his other hand up to the watch. Aziz brought his gaze down to his wrist to make sure he pressed the right button. His heart was pumping so fast he felt his temples begin to throb. A layer of sweat on his skin glistened, and his hands were clammy. So moist were his palms that he stopped short of pressing the button and decided to wipe the sweat from his palms one last time. He ran his opened hands up and down the thighs of his pants twice, reminding himself while he did it how difficult it was to hold the small knife. When his palms were as dry as he could get them, he brought the watch back up and went to press the button.
    His right index finger poised over the button, Aziz sensed movement and stopped everything. He looked up. From the door to the right of the president's desk, a woman in a bright yellow blouse came walking quickly forward. She continued around the nearest side chair to where the president was sitting and deposited a stack of papers on his desk.
    Aziz exhaled a deep breath, his body trembling in a release of energy as he did so. Piper said something again, and Aziz turned around to face him.
    "Sit down, Prince Kalib."
    Aziz looked back toward the president and the woman, and then sat. A bead of nervous sweat ran down his forehead, and he wiped it away with the back of his hand.
    "Are you feeling all right?" asked Piper. '"You look a little warm."
    Aziz turned and smiled.
    "It is a little warm in here, but nothing compared to my country."
    "That's a good point."
    Slowly, Aziz began to regain his composure. He reminded himself of how far he had come, and of how close he was to obtaining everything he had struggled for. He needed the president to come to him. He needed to be patient. Aziz had waited this long; another minute would be nothing.
    When the president went to shake his hand, it would begin.
    SECRET SERVICE AGENT Warch walked into the president's secretary's office, which was sandwiched in between the Cabinet Room and the Oval Office.
    "Sally, I need to see him ASAP" Sally Burke finished writing something and looked up, smiling.
    "Good morning. Jack." The president's secretary could tell by the tone ofwarch's