Transfer of Power

"Ah… I made them."

"I thought so." Hayes handed the phone records back to Stansfield and turned to Jones. She handed him a folder and a pen. Hayes crossed over to King and dropped the pen and folder in his lap.

"We took the liberty of typing your resignation for you. Sign both copies, and keep one for yourself."

Hayes watched King sign the two sheets and took one of them back.

"You may leave now."

It was silent as the vice presidents chief of staff got up to leave.

King was more relieved than any of the others in the room could know. He could handle a quiet resignation. The truth, however, would ruin him.

Hayes turned his attention next to Vice President Baxter.

"How do you like foreign travel, Sherman?" Baxter looked up at Hayes and said nothing.

Hayes went on.

"I hope you like it a lot because for the next three years I'm going to send you to every third-world country I can think of." The president turned and walked to the front of the room. It was obvious to all that he was trying to keep his temper in check.

"You have set our foreign policy and national security back a decade. I would fire you if I could, but the harsh truth is that I can't. So I'm stuck with you for the rest of the term, and then, Sherman, as everyone in this room is my witness, you will choose not to run." Hayes's cheeks were flushed. For good measure, he added, "Don't press me on this, or I swear to God, I'll have Director Stansfield start leaking your CIA file to the media. Now get out of here, and keep your mouth shut." Hayes pointed to the door.

When the door was closed. Director Stansfield looked around and said,

"Mr. President, I don't have a file on the vice president." Hayes winked and said, "I know that, but he doesn't."

The president grabbed a glass of water and took a sip. Turning back to the group, he said, "I can't thank all of you enough for the job you did. It was truly unbelievable. I'm going to start with you, Mr. Adams Hayes walked over and shook his hand.

"I am indebted to you for what you did. The risks you took, when you clearly didn't have to get involved, speak volumes about your character."

Adams was uncomfortable with all of the praise. "I was just doing my duty, Mr. President."

Hayes grabbed his shoulder and squeezed.

"We need more people like you. Milt. If there is anything I can do for you, just let me know and I will take care of it."

"There is one thing that I can think of, sir."

"What's that?"

"This retirement thing isn't all it's cracked up to be, and I was thinking that since your house is in dire need of repair, I could come back and help supervise the rebuilding."

"Absolutely. That's a great idea. Milt. I will have it taken care of immediately. Anything else?"

"Nope."

"Well then' Valerie will walk you to the door and get all of the information. I can't thank you enough."

Adams finished shaking the president's hand and turned to Rielly. Milt reached out and kissed her on the cheek.

"Watch out for this guy here." Adams let go and shook Rapp's hand.

"Well, Mr. Secret Agent Man, I suppose this is the last I'll see of you."

"You never know." Rapp pulled Adams over and gave him a hug.

"I'll make it a point to stop by and see you."

"Yeah, you do that. Just don't come asking me to join you for any more crazy missions. I'm too old for this stuff."

Adams started for the door and turned back. "You two make a cute couple.

Maybe you should stop by some night, and I'll make you di

"We'll have to do that." Rapp turned to Rielly and laughed.

After Adams left, the president focused his attention on Rielly.

"Young lady, your first day at the White House turned out to be a doozy."

"Yes, you could say that."

"Are you going to stay on, or has this experience soured you?"

"Stay on?"

"At the White House."

"Of course."

"Good." Hayes smiled. "I asked you here this morning for two reasons The first was to thank you for all of your help. I've been told you played a crucial role in helping Mr. Kruse here pull this thing off."

"A very small one." Rielly blushed.

"Well, thank you. Your sacrifice is very much appreciated."

Hayes looked over at Rapp for a second and then back to Rielly.

"Can you guess what the second reason is?"

Rielly folded her arms across her chest.

"You wanted to talk to me about how much of my story I plan on telling."

She intentionally chose the word "my."

"Precisely." Hayes backed up a bit.

"How many reporters do you think have witnessed an exchange between the president and the vice president like the one you just witnessed here this morning?"

"Probably none."

"That's right." Hayes gestured to the four people sitting on the couch.

"These four fine individuals think I should pressure you into signing a bunch of documents that will bind you legally from publishing anything we think a threat to certain security interests. But I have assured them that there is a better way to handle this."

Hayes paused to give Rielly a moment to reflect on the first option.

Walking back to the front of the room, he continued.

"The other way, the better way, is for you and I to make a deal." Hayes raised his eyebrows.

"In exchange for your voluntary cooperation in regard to keeping certain aspects of the most recent events secret, I will give you a head start on certain events of importance."

Rielly could barely believe she was even in this meeting let alone receiving such an offer from the president. She told herself to play it cool and asked, "What types of things will you want to censor from my story?"

Hayes looked to the four on the couch. Ke

"If you leave out Mr. Kruse and any direct involvement by the CIA, we're fine."

"Am I all right if I say you were involved in intelligence gathering and pla

"As long as you stay vague, we won't have a problem."

Rielly raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Define 'vague."

"Hayes stepped forward and waved his hands in the air.

"Hold on. I have a better idea. Ms. Rielly, how would you like to get the scoop on a huge part of this story?" Hayes looked her in the eye.

"At noon FBI Director Roach is going to hold a press conference, and the cat will be out of the bag. I can give you that story right now, and you can head out to NBC and break it to the world. You will scoop everybody."

Rielly was interested. Very interested. This could turn out to be a nice arrangement. She nodded and said, "I'll play ball."

"Good. Here's the deal. The FBI has searched the White House, and they can't find one of the terrorists. We have reports that last night after the explosion someone from the FBI carried a wounded woman out of the Treasury tu

"Oh, and one other thing. There were no FBI agents in the building when the bombs went off."

Rielly's eyes got big.

"So you're saying Aziz escaped."

"It looks that way."

Rielly looked to Rapp, who reluctantly nodded. After shaking her head, she said, "Wow."

Hayes walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm serious about our arrangement." The president turned her toward the door and started walking with her.

"You've earned this, A

Rielly didn't know what to say. She didn't feel as if she had done all that much.

"Thank you, sir."

"No—thank you." Smiling, Hayes squeezed both of her shoulders.