Chapter Eleven: July 16, 1945

Shortly after one in the morning, Washington time, Bolle's commercial flight finally landed at National Airport. The other passengers, exhausted from the long flight that had resulted in two plane changes en route, mostly staggered down the steps and into the terminal.

Bolle however, descended the steps at a brisk and lively pace. Compared to the others, he was the picture of strength and vigor.

As he entered the terminal doorway, a trenchcoated figure came up to him, "Nice to see you again," the man mumbled.

Bolle looked him dead in the eye, "Ah, Hauser. Nice to see you again, too."

"Let's not talk here," Hauser kept his voice low, "Not until we're in the car."

"Of course," they began heading for the baggage area.

Fifteen minutes later, with the baggage retrieved, they exited the terminal and headed for the parking lot. Hauser's car, a pale blue DeSoto, was in the first row of the lot.

Hauser opened the rear door of the car and Bolle stepped in. Immediately, he noticed the heavyset form of Becker sitting on the other side.

"Sergeant Becker," he nodded politely.

"A pleasure to see you again, Herr Oberst."

Hauser slipped behind the wheel and started the clutch. Soon, the faded DeSoto puled out of the lot.

As they left the airport behind them, and headed toward Arlington, the long silence lingered inside the car.

"Dr. Fuchs provided some fascinating information about the project, that I'm sure your superiors will appreciate," Bolle finally broke the ice.

"They certainly will," Hauser's tone was neutral.

"And there is one other piece of information you should know," Bolle was bursting with pride, "Our revenge on Steve Trevor is at last complete."

There was only an indifferent silence from Hauser and Becker that disappointed the ex-SS colonel.

"Is it now?" Becker finally spoke, "How did you accomplish that, Herr Oberst?"

"He and Wonder Woman were both there to witness the test. But I saw to it that they witnessed it from ground zero. The end was rather swift for them both."

"Really," Hauser was equally indifferent as he continued to drive.

Bolle began growing exasperated, "Why does all that not impress you?"

Hauser pulled over to the side of the road, stopping next to a guard railing that overlooked a steep hillside.

"Herr Oberst," he turned around and looked at him with a cold stare, "None of us are impressed by the foolish failures of a man who can never learn to put the past behind him."

"Failures?" Bolle was startled, "What are you talking about? There was no failure. They're dead. They were incinerated. Vaporized."

"Tell us how that could have happened to them, when no test took place yesterday, Herr Oberst," Becker's tone was a mixture of sarcasm and coldness.

Bolle's jaw fell open, "Not possible," he whispered, "Not possible. The test took place at nine AM, yesterday."

"True, it was supposed to take place yesterday," Becker acknowledged, "But I'm afraid Wonder Woman had other ideas."

"No," he shook her head, "Impossible. Absolutely impossible."

"I'm afraid not, Herr Oberst," Hauser shook his head, "Unless I'm prepared to believe that Klaus Fuchs and Harry Gold are the most outrageous liars on the face of the earth. But experience has taught me to trust them a lot more than I'd ever trust you."

"I don't---" he started.

"Your little trap for Wonder Woman, turned out to be a miserable failure," Hauser went on, "And it didn't take the good Dr. Fuchs more than ten seconds to realize who was responsible for that bizarre trap. Did something awful to his nerves. That's why he immediately went in to Socorro to make a coded phone call to his friend in New York, Mr. Harry Gold. And two hours later, Mr. Gold places a coded phone call to me, telling me all the wonderful details of how you'd decided to spend your spare time in New Mexico. And it just so happens that things are even more difficult for us, because Wonder Woman has already informed military intelligence that her would-be assassin chose to reveal to her that his present employer was the Soviet Union."

Bolle was looking about in stunned disbelief. He looked at Becker's cold glare and began to feel the hair rising on his neck.

"You have left us with no option, Herr Oberst," Becker began to reach in to his pocket, "Our superiors have given us just one chance to remain in favor with them. It pains us that we must disgrace our former commander's memory, but I'm certain he would understand."

"And you should too, Herr Oberst," Hauser added, "After all, in your heyday with the SS, you authorized many similar executions."

"No," Bolle whispered in fear, "No."

"Oh yes," Becker was nonchalant as he pulled out his pistol, "Goodbye, Herr Oberst."

Acting quickly, the SS colonel suddenly delivered a quick blow to Becker's face, causing the heavyset sergeant to drop the gun. He then scrambled for the door and spilled out of the car.

"Get him!" Hauser shouted as he undid the door on his side, "Schnell!"

Bolle climbed over the roadside railing and began sprinting down the hillside.

Above, Becker got to the railing, pointed his pistol and fired into the darkness.

Grim-faced, Hauser stared down into the dark valley below. It was next to impossible to see. Their ears then perked up when they heard the distant sound of a police siren.

"It's too dangerous to stay and look," Hauser said, "But he can't get far. We'll get in touch with some men who can take care of him in a more professional manner."

"Zero minus two minutes," Dr. Allison's voice boomed through the PA system.

"Time to put on the glasses," Steve said as he slipped his on. Lying next to him in the trench, Wonder Woman did so too.

"Is your head giving you any trouble?" she asked.

"It is, but I can manage for now."

"Zero minus ninety seconds."

She squinted through her glasses to the distant sight of the shot tower, "We'll know soon enough if the men were able to repair the damage I caused to the firing relays."

"Cross your fingers, Diana," Steve grunted, "A million soldiers designated for Operation Olympic, are counting on this."

"I am."

"Zero minus sixty seconds."

Slowly, the countdown continued.

"Minus tens seconds," Allison's increasingly nervous voice was accompanied by the sound of a gong.

Instinctively, Diana squeezed Steve's hand. She'd never known seconds to last so long.

"Minus five, four, three, two, one, ZERO!" Allison's last word was a scream.

And then, Dr. McKibben threw the switch that sent the final charge of high voltage into the firing unit up in the shot tower, that Wonder Woman had shut down the previous day.

It was 5:29 and 45 seconds, Mountain War Time, on July 16, 1945. The beginning of a new, uncertain era in world history.

Later that morning, Wonder Woman sat alone outside Groves' office, waiting for Steve and the general to finish a Top Secret telephone conversation with Secretary of War Henry Stimson in Washington.

As she waited, she saw a thoroughly subdued Robert Oppenheimer enter the room.

"Dr. Oppenheimer?" Wonder Woman rose, "I wanted to be the first to congratulate you."

The chief scientist seemed oblivious to her.

"Dr. Oppenheimer?" she gently repeated.

"Hmmm?" he noticed her for the first time, "Oh. Yes. Thank you, Wonder Woman. I think."

Her expression became one of empathy, "You still have doubts."

Oppenheimer smiled thinly, "Tell me Wonder Woman, when you saw that flash and that mushroom cloud, what was your reaction?"

"Mixed," she said, "But strangely enough, I was less horrified than I thought I might be."

"Really," he was intrigued.

"What I saw was terrible and horrible," she went on, "But I also remembered that it was something that had been developed to prevent something even more horrible. A bloody invasion of the Japanese mainland. A small evil was needed to prevent a greater evil from happening."

Oppenheimer chuckled mirthlessly, "Your optimism is far greater than mine, I am afraid."

"What did you think, Doctor?" Wonder Woman gently prodded, "What went through your mind?"

The chief scientist gazed off into the distance, "'If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky," he recited, "'That would be like the splendor of the Mighty One. I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds.'"

Her expression became taut, and she was silent for a moment.

"An ancient Hindu epic," she noted, "The words of Bhagavad-Gitta."

"I'm impressed," Oppenheimer turned back to her, "You're very well-versed in literature."

"I've tried to understand a lot of things," she said, "And believe me Dr. Oppenheimer, I sympathize deeply with the way you feel. You're afraid that from now on, wars are going to be fought solely with weapons as terrible as that. You're afraid that it will mean the beginning of the end for civilization as we know it, and that you might one day have to carry the terrible burden of knowing that you set that chain of events in motion."

"Remarkable," he whispered in admiration, "Not only are you very intelligent, Wonder Woman, you are also a woman of gifted insight."

Wonder Woman came up to him, a look of gentle sympathy filling her face.

"Dr. Oppenheimer," she said softly, "As much as I feel compelled to think that you might be right about that, there's something in my heart that tells me you're wrong. The way I see it, the atomic bomb just might prove to be the one thing that will be able to keep the peace in this world. Not because it is a weapon we'd so easily use, but for the very reason that it is a terrible weapon of mass destruction. Because of that, nations are going to be more cautious than they've ever been before. It just might be that we'll never again see a dictator like Hitler launch a blitzkrieg thrust, or a bloody ground war of conquest. Not if nations have to worry about the bomb."

Oppenheimer looked down at the floor.

"In the end, the bomb might turn out to further the peace than we could have imagined," Wonder Woman persisted, "Think about it, Doctor."

He finally looked back up at her and began to pace about.

"I hope you're right," Oppenheimer sighed, "But I'm afraid I have little faith in human nature."

"Maybe it's not human nature we have to have faith in, Doctor," she responded, "But rather faith in the mercy of God. If there is a God who controls the course of history, then I seriously doubt that He will ever allow the world to be consumed in a nuclear fireball."

The agnostic Oppenheimer smiled thinly at her and then slowly walked away. "Think about it Doctor," she called after him, "Think about it."

But there was no response, as the chief scientist opened the door and left with nothing but a sense of intense pessimism and gloomy foreboding. A pessimism that would lead Robert Oppenheimer to oppose the development of the Hydrogen bomb in the early 1950s, and make statements against the arms race that would lead many to brand him a communist sympathizer, and cause his security clearance to be revoked.

By the time of his death in 1968, the words Wonder Woman had just spoken at Trinity would be long forgotten by him.

At nine PM, the MATS plane carrying Steve and Diana back to Washington, landed at Andrews Air Base. As Wonder Woman helped Steve down the steps, he was visibly surprised to see a battery of photographers and newsreel cameramen waiting.

"Colonel Trevor, Wonder Woman, if you could please comment on..." they all were shouting.

"Boys, boys," Trevor was confused, "What's this all about?"

"Well sir, there are rumors coming out of New Mexico that you and Wonder Woman had an important announcement to make, as soon as you'd both returned."

"I don't--" he started and then looked at Wonder Woman, who was smiling mischievously.

"Ah, yes," Steve nodded and turned back to the cameramen "Yes we do. Wonder Woman and I are both proud to announce to you fine members of the press, and to the people of America, that we have become engaged to be married. We have not yet set a wedding date, but when we do, we'll all be glad to let you know. Thank you, that's all."

"Wonder Woman, could you---?"

"You've got your story, gentlemen," she said beaming before the camera, "That's all for now. Run back and try and beat each other to get the news out first."

They made their way through the throng and into the base terminal. Slowly, the reporters began to break-up and start a footrace for the nearest phone.

From inside the safety of the terminal, Steve tenderly wrapped his arm around Diana's waist, "Now I understand why you paid a visit to the cockpit. To radio ahead for reporters to be here."

"Yes," she smiled, "I felt you deserved another chance to make a public announcement."

"I'm glad you did. What other surprises do you plan for us?"

"Well there's another one I've been dying to do for a long time, for the benefit of our dear friends in the office."

Steve began to break into laughter as he got the idea, "God, I can hardly wait to see that."