His watch read 11:57- He was beyond his timetable; his two minute reserve evaporated. Panic was replacing fear. He reached down and snatched a Colt Woodsman .22-caliber automatic from a holster strapped to his right calf. He screwed on a four-inch suppressor; and for a brief instant he was not himself, a man outside himself, a man whose only code of duty and unleashed emotion blinded his perception. He aimed the gun at the President's forehead on the other side of the transparent cover, Through the mist of his drugged mind, Margolin recognized what Suvorov was about to do. He staggered across the cocoon chamber and lurched into the Russian agent, grabbing for the gun.

Suvorov just sidestepped and pushed him against the wall. Somehow Margolin remained on his feet. His vision was blurred and distorted, and a wave of sudden nausea threatened to gag him. He flung himself forward in another attempt to save the President's life.

Suvorov smashed the barrel of the gun against Margolin's temple and the Vice President dropped limply in a heap, blood streaming down the side of his face. For a moment Suvorov stood rooted.

His well-rehearsed plan was cracking and crumbling apart. Time had run out.

His last fleeting hope lay in salvaging the pieces. He forgot the President, kicked Margolin out of the way and shoved Larimer through the door. Heaving the still unconscious Moran over his shoulder, he herded the uncomprehending senator down the corridor to the elevator.

They stumbled around the final corner just as the concealed doors parted and Lugovoy was about to step inside.

"Stop right where you are, Doctor."

Lugovoy whirled and stared dumbly. The Colt was held rocksteady in Suvorov's hand. The eyes of the KGB agent blazed with a contemptuous disdain.

"You fool!" Lugovoy blurted as the full realization of what was happening struck him. "You bloody fool!"

"Shut up!" Suvorov snapped.

"And step back out of the way."

"You don't know what you're doing."

"I'm only doing my duty as a good Russian."

"You're ruining years of planning," Lugovoy said angrily.

"President Antonov will have you shot."

"No more of your lies, Doctor. Your insane project has placed our government in extreme jeopardy. It is you who will be executed. It is you who is the traitor."

"Wrong," Lugovoy said in near shock. "Can't you see the truth?"

"I see you working for the Koreans. Most likely the South Koreans who have bought you off."

"For God's sake, listen to me."

"A good Communist has no God but the party," said Suvorov, roughly elbowing Lugovoy aside and shoving the unprotesting Americans into the elevator. "I have no more time to argue."

A wave of despair swept Lugovoy. "Please, you can't do this," he pleaded.

Suvorov did not reply. He turned and glared malevolently as the elevator doors closed and blocked him from view.