Chapter Fifteen: July 22, 1945

Three days later, Colonel Trevor and Yeoman Prince both entered General Blankenship's office just in time to see the director of military intelligence speaking on the phone, and in a very foul mood.

"What do you mean it's been lost?" Blankenship angrily demanded.

Steve and Diana both exchanged puzzled glances.

"You've got to come up with a better explanation then that!" the general raged, "If you don't give me an answer soon, you can be damn sure that I'll be speaking to Secretary Byrnes personally about it!"

And with that, Blankenship slammed the phone down as hard as he could.

"What's wrong, sir?" Diana inquired.

The general looked up at them, his voice seething, "Every one of those files from the Iron Brigade's operation, have somehow been lost by the State Department."

"Lost?" Steve was bewildered, "How?"

"That's just it, they don't know. But they're all gone."

"That's incredible," Diana shook her head in disbelief, "Those files contained everything we needed to know about Russian spy operations."

"All down the tubes," Blankenship threw up his arms, "And with it, goes any chance of trying to get some extra leverage on them at Potsdam."

Steve was incredulous, "It's not like the State Department to lose something that confidential. Who'd you talk to about it?"

"Most of the top men are out of the country at Potsdam. I had to talk to the assistant secretary for political affairs. You've met him before. Alger Hiss."

Steve nodded, "I think so. He used to be a law clerk for Justice Holmes, didn't he?"

"Yes. He's a bright man, and one of the Department's rising stars. Which makes it hard for me to believe that something like this could happen."

"Maybe it's just a bureaucratic mix-up and they'll turn up later," Diana ventured.

"I hope so," Steve said, "Since it's quite obvious that the Brigade survivors will never talk, those papers are the only things we can use against the Russians."

"Nothing else you can do in the meantime except get back to work," Blankenship sighed.

"Yes sir," he said.

"By the way," the general casually inquired, "Is your wedding date now set?"

"Next Thursday at the Cathedral," Diana smiled, "You'll be getting your engraved invitation soon."

"I can hardly wait."

"Well how do you think we feel, General?" Steve slyly responded as they left.

Alone, Blankenship smiled and realized that he felt much better since they'd come in.

Later, Steve was back in his own Pentagon office going over Pacific Theater intelligence reports, when Diana entered.

"Message from General Groves at Trinity," she handed him a folder, "All scientific studies of Fat Man test confirm it to be a total success."

"That's good," Steve started to go through it, "Then there's no doubt about postponing Operation Olympic forever."

"He also reports that the Target Committee has made its decision as well," she tossed another file on the desk.

Steve stiffened slightly and he gingerly opened it.

"Hmmm," he grunted, "Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

Diana bit her lip, "Those are fairly large population centers."

"Yeah," there was no mistaking the sadness and regret he felt, as he closed the file, "It's a tragedy that it has to come to this. But if we had to invade, the civilian casualties would probably be even three times as much."

"I know," she nodded, "I guess that's the nature of how one has to fight against greater evils."

"Hopefully this will bring World War II to its long overdue end," he looked up at her and deliberately changed the subject, "Any word from the State Department on those missing files?"

"None," she shook her head.

He pursed his lips in disgust, "I think I'd better talk to them myself. Diana, get me Alger Hiss on the phone."

"Certainly," she went over and began to dial. "Hello. Colonel Trevor at the War Department to speak to Mr. Hiss."

After a brief pause, she handed the phone to Steve.

"Hello Colonel," a silky aristocratic voice came on the line, "This is an honor to talk to you. And may I offer you my congratulations on your engagement to Wonder Woman. You are a lucky man."

"Never mind that, Mr. Hiss," Steve's tone was all business, "I want to know if you have anything on those missing files we turned over to your department."

"Oh yes," Hiss said smoothly, "General Blankenship was very upset about that. Believe me Colonel, we're looking into that. However, you must understand that at the moment, there are higher priorities for the State Department to be dealing with."

"I'm aware of that," Steve tried to stay patient, "But these files deal with important matters of espionage against us by a country that is supposed to be our ally."

Hiss suddenly laughed, "Oh Colonel, come now. Have you been listening to all that demagoguery from Senator Taft and all those other fine Republicans who would have preferred that Hitler gobble up all of Russia?"

"Don't get funny with me, Mr. Hiss," Trevor snapped, "You get those files back now."

"We'll do our best Major," he said, "I should inform you though, that we've run up against this kind of problem before. Our bureaucracy is unfortunately a little too cumbersome, and sometimes things get lost in the shuffle."

"Then maybe it's time there were some changes at the State Department," his voice grew cold, "Good day Mr. Hiss."

"Good day Colonel."

On the other end of the line, the Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs smiled wryly as he hung up the phone.

He picked up his brief case and fingered the thick sheaf of files that had been stuffed inside it. One last time, he went over them, just to be sure that they were all there.

And then, he closed it and calmly made his way out of the office, down the long corridors of the Executive Office Building, and out the main entrance.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Hiss," a uniformed security guard smiled at him as he left.

Alger Hiss, respected lawyer and trusted adviser to the last two Secretaries of State, and a Soviet operative since the mid-1930s, politely waved back in acknowledgment. He then nonchalantly walked down the street, and the guard went back to his routine business.

Not until 1948, when a former Soviet operative named Whittaker Chambers testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, would the truth about Alger Hiss become known.

One week later, the attention of Washington shifted from the Potsdam summit, the stunning defeat of Winston Churchill in the British elections, the ongoing Pacific War news, and focused on what was being described as the Wedding of the Decade.

Reporters and newsreel cameras held a vigil outside the National Cathedral as the private ceremony got underway. They saw the brief guest list of fifteen show up first. They were mostly low-level personnel from the War Department, but when the staff car of the Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall arrived, the frenzied enthusiasm of the onlookers increased.

Somehow, the cars bearing the most important people were able to avoid the throng by parking on the other side of the Cathedral, and having the occupants slip through a back entrance.

With that, the ceremony no one else on the outside could see, got underway.

The small crowd of fifteen guests saw Corporal Etta Candy, smartly attired in her WAC uniform, and the costumed figure of Wonder Girl act as maids of honor. General William Blankenship, the director of military intelligence, wore his regular Class A uniform and acted as Best Man.

The wedding couple had eschewed formal attire as well. Colonel Steve Trevor wore his standard Class A uniform, while Wonder Woman wore her familiar red-blue-and-gold costume.

The rector of the Cathedral officiated.

"We are gathered here today," he said with usual ceremonial solemnity, "To take part in the time-honored ceremony of holy matrimony. A ceremony where two people declare their love for each other in the sight of God, and enter into a bond that is everlasting.

"Do you, Steven Leonard Trevor, take Diana to be your lawfully wedded wife, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, till death do you part?"

He looked at her with an expression that radiated pure love, "I do."

"And do you Diana, take Steven Leonard Trevor to be your lawfully wedded husband, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, till death do you part?"

She looked back at him with the same expression, "I do."

And then, they went through the ritual of exchanging rings. Finally, the rector looked at them with considerable pride and said, "By the power vested in me, I now declare that you are both man and wife. What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. You may kiss the bride."

As Mr. and Mrs. Trevor came together, the fifteen guests in the Cathedral rose to their feet and began to vigorously applaud.

A new chapter had begun in the lives of Steve Trevor and Wonder Woman. One that they would always remember as the happiest of their lives.