‘Diana! Hello!’
‘Steve!’ In spite of herself, Diana was happy to see Steve back at work in the office. ‘When did you get away from Aberdeen?’
‘I got back into town yesterday afternoon, made my report to Jack, --er, General Ripper, over dinner last evening and said farewell-not particularly fond, I might add-to the whole mess at that point.’
‘Was there anything sinister in the rash of radical activities?’ Diana phrased the question so that it sounded ironic.
‘There were elements of co-ordination among the campuses, but there was no direct evidence linking those actions to foreign sources.’ Irony was lost on Steve. ‘Campus radicals sometimes communicated their intentions to one another, mostly because they hoped for manpower help. The taps didn’t even reveal that the events were systematic.’
‘You used phone taps? Isn’t that against the law?’ Diana was angry about that.
‘Let’s go into my office. Some of the things we’ll be talking about are on a need-to-know basis, and we’re attracting a lot of attention here in the coffee circle.’ Steve said, lowering his voice. He headed for the hallway and his office.
‘Let me get my starters. I’ll be right with you,’ Diana called after him. She poured herself a cup of hot water and slipped a teabag into the cup. Then she grabbed a plastic plate and a jelly doughnut. She followed Steve’s trail down the hall.
Steve closed the door as she entered his office. As she settled into the overstuffed chair opposite his desk, he walked around his desk and dropped into the chair.
‘Have you seen Wonder Woman?’ he asked quickly.
Great Hera, this again? This is going to be harder than I thought. ‘No, Steve, I haven’t seen her but once since I got back, and that was quite a while ago. She told me she was working on something very secretive. And very personal.’
‘You’re just about the best friend she has. Didn’t you know anything about what led to yesterday’s abomination? Didn’t she keep you up-to-date on what was happening?’
‘Steve, Wonder Woman doesn’t tell me everything she’s doing. A lot of the things we talk about are after-the-fact. Maybe when I see her again, she’ll tell me what went into the events of yesterday morning. For now, I really don’t know how she wound up on the Lincoln Memorial yesterday.’ That’s certainly the truth.
‘Well, the one time you saw her, did she say anything about me? How was she?’
Diana took a long pause and her face revealed the anger, which was burning inside her. Steve noticed it, too. ‘Thanks, Steve, I’ve been fine, though a little under the weather yesterday. How have you been?’
‘I’m sorry, Diana. It’s just that I can’t get used to, you know, losing her like this. She has not had any contact with me since that day up in Newark. I just wish that she would talk to me, let me know what she’s doing.’
‘Steve, I’m in no position to advise you on your personal life right now. I can only tell you that I’m sorry about what may have happened. I’m sure that the decision was not an easy one for Wonder Woman. But I won’t be a conduit for your messages to Wonder Woman.’
Steve sighed and stared past Diana to the blank back wall. It was a full half minute before he said, ‘O.K.’ It was the sound of resignation.
‘Do you have a new assignment?’ Diana asked, trying to revive the dead man in front of her.
‘What? Oh, yes. I’ve taken over the explosion investigation. As usual, you’re working under me.’ Here Diana winced, both at the prospect of briefing Steve about the investigation and at his choice of words. ‘You’ve been out of touch for a few days, apparently. So, let me get you up to speed first, then you can fill me in on what you’ve uncovered.
‘Everything we have leads us to the conclusion that what happened took place in a vacuum. No anti-war group is claiming responsibility….’
‘Well, they certainly wouldn’t want to claim responsibility for an event that disrupted their own march, and that killed one of their most high-profile supporters,’ Diana injected.
‘No anti-war group is claiming responsibility and interrogations of various leaders seem to have convinced Mallory, Lefkowicz, and Borden that this may have been the action of a single marcher. Only Thompson still thinks that there’s a conspiracy involved here.’
Diana stifled herself. Thompson saw conspiracies everywhere. Come to think of it, so does Steve. ‘But,’ here Diana paused, as she tried to phrase the question based upon her reading of the newspaper reports from the last week, ‘but doesn’t all the evidence seem to point to Terry Carlton being that single marcher? After all, a bomb was apparently in his backpack.’
‘You tell me. Wasn’t that the trail you were pursuing?’
Diana’s mouth dropped open. Suddenly, several of her investigations began to make sense. Or, at least, they mutually supported one another. In going over her uniform last night, the single identifiable bit of foreign matter she was able to pick out was a strand of long grey hair. Actually, three such strands. One was on her boot, one on her golden belt, and one trapped in the coils of her magic lasso. If she were pursuing the question of Terry Carlton’s involvement, that meant that she probably went to the Senator’s home. The hair colour and length were similar to those of the Senator. Whatever happened to her, it had taken place under the Senator’s aegis, or at least under his roof.
Diana’s mind raced. ‘Well, the Senator was understandably upset about the death of his son….’
‘He’s certainly been vocal about radical hippies and traitors on the Senate floor these last few days. And even though the networks cleared Wonder Woman of the events of yesterday morning, he really tore into her and the liberal media that was protecting her yesterday. He’s hiding his grief well.’
More of the evidence seemed to support her idea that the Senator was deeply involved. Diana tried again. ‘Well, he was not exactly co-operative when I saw him. He was distant from his son….’
‘Diana, I sense that there’s not much there there,’ Steve smiled.
Diana thought, it’s not often he’ll make a Gertrude Stein reference. Steve thinks she’s a pervert. ‘You’re right, Steve,’ she said after a moment. ‘I just drew a big blank.’ Again, you’ll never know how true that is.
‘It happens. You’re usually smarter than that, though, Diana. It usually doesn’t take you three days to find that out. You’re usually so insightful, so intelligent about these things.’
‘Well, like I said. Yesterday, I was a bit under the weather.’
‘O.K. Two days. But you’ve got to make regular reports. Thompson is fit to be tied about your leaving him in the dark about what you were doing. The office needs to know what you’re doing. Suppose something happened to you? How would we know how to get to you? You didn’t even call in sick yesterday. And don’t tell me you were too sick to call. Janet told me that you’ve got a roommate. Why didn’t you call?’
‘It’s a long story, Steve. It just wasn’t possible until it was very late in the day.’
‘You’ll probably lose leave for yesterday. But as rarely as you use it, you’ll never notice.’
‘Oh. Didn’t Janet tell you that I used a week’s leave a little while ago when my roommate moved in?’
‘As a matter of fact, she did mention that.’
‘Is there anything else from my personal life you would like me to fill you in on?’ Diana rose from her chair and her voice rose with her.
Steve smiled and tried to calm her. ‘Diana, please. I’m not prying into your personal life. This is my first full day back and I just asked Janet whether there was anything new or exciting happening. She told me about your roommate, Stevens’ pending divorce, and the new house she was moving into.’
Diana took her seat again. She realised that she was sensitive talking to Steve about her personal life, particularly as it had also affected his. She needed to change the subject. She took a deep breath as unobtrusively as possible. ‘What direction is the investigation going, Steve?’
‘We’re looking at the more violent groups. Mallory came up with a good idea. These are groups that are used to using violence. Maybe one member, on his own…’
‘Or her own.’
‘…or her own, decided to make a statement. We’re having our research people check the files, although we’re not too optimistic about finding anything there. We’re convinced this is someone who is new. What you’re going to do is work with our people who have been working with the Weathermen.’
‘The Weathermen!’
‘It’s a tough assignment. They’re eternally suspicious, they’re dangerous, they’re as violent as they get, and they often act as lone wolves. You’ll be co-coordinating our three operatives in the D.C. area. And you’ll report directly to me.
‘Diana, this is your first real assignment out on your own. They want me to sit behind a desk here. They say that I’m too well known to be a field operative. You’ve always worked under me and you’ve always been smart and insightful. Use those qualities to keep out of trouble. And, if there’s nothing there, don’t try to find it. I hope you learned that lesson over the last few days.’
‘The Weathermen.’ Her voice was softer this time, but still filled with awe.
‘Yes. Go down to Records and talk to Dan Fillauer. He’ll give you all the information on the agents and the status of the penetration.’
Diana left the office quickly before anything could go wrong. She couldn’t believe the charmed life she had been leading the last two days. Penelope’s intervention directs popular and press treatment of her incapacitation at the Lincoln Memorial yesterday (not to mention the fact that there were no serious aftereffects of her mistreatment), Steve’s return means that there are the usual missed communications in a case, so that the fact that she knows nothing, in fact she knows less than she did when she started the case, is lost in the shuffle and she could dazzle Steve with her footwork, and, finally, they give her the proof that her career in military intelligence was not harmed by any of this because they offer her surveillance of one of the highest-profile and most dangerous groups of the Radical Left. And to top it all off, she now knew that she had been investigating Senator Carlton, and that he was at least partially responsible for her blackout. She hurried to the elevator before the Fates could catch her and change her fortune.
Olga Kobyrynka made a nice living in the touristy section of Georgetown. Overhead wasn’t much, since her shop wasn’t much more than a half-a-garage with a sign out front: ‘Madame Olga, Horoscopes, Futures Told’. There were still enough people out there who were gullible enough to believe in fortunetellers. All you had to do was cast what you said in sufficient mystery, make it general enough for them to make any connexion on their own, and generally be positive and optimistic about their future. Mostly, they wanted a reason to believe that things would get better.
But Olga Kobyrynka was also a witch. The latest in a long line, she had been indoctrinated by her Aunt Myra, who had learned the craft back in Russia. Only a few select individuals knew, most of them major players in Washington and in the Government. She had made and destroyed more than a few careers in her time, starting with Joe McCarthy back in 1954. McCarthy had frequented Aunt Myra’s parlour, but she had died and Olga had been approached first by McCarthy’s enemies. She felt no loyalty to the man who gave witch-hunts a bad name. Then there were the Presidential nominations she had secured, Kennedy in 1960, Goldwater in 1964. But now the White House was finding her very useful, starting with the Chappaquiddick incident in 1969. A White House operative had put Carlton on to her about a year ago, and the Senator had found her help necessary in his re-election race this year, dissuading a potential rival within the Party from running against him.
William didn’t like bringing her out to the house. She smelled and every time Olga came out he was the one stuck cleaning out the back seat. Also, she was a real bitch about the radio.
He had her there by 10.00AM on Friday morning. Olga waited in the library for the Senator. The boy who waited with her, in his uniform, was not much of a conversationalist. He just stood, looking out the window. People like that troubled Olga: They were either very smart or very stupid. She wondered which he was.
Punctually at ten, the library door flew open and in waltzed the Senator. ‘My dear Olga, how are you? I hope you don’t mind the early hour, but I have to rush.’
‘The time’s not important. What do you want?’
The Senator looked her up and down. ‘Can’t you do something about your clothes? We certainly pay you well enough for you to dress better.’ Admittedly, Olga looked like something out of a Dickens novel.
‘It helps to sell the image. Politicians are learning about image now, too, aren’t they? Didn’t we elect the “New Nixon”?’
‘Yes. And if he’s going to be re-elected, you’re going to have to do your work well for the next few days.’
‘Who is the target?’
‘Wonder Woman.’ Can your power overcome hers?’
‘My power is ancient and deep. It descends from Circe herself. Of course I can defeat a mere mortal. Even an Amazon. But you know what is required.’
‘We have her essence here.’ He opened a case he had brought with him. Inside were the dildos that had penetrated and tortured the Amazon over the course of her trial on the bitchbender. ‘These entered her sex, these her ass. We have some that penetrated her mouth, but they had a coating, which might cause problems. Do you need anything else?’
Olga picked up the dildos and smelled them. ‘This one, and this one.’ She set the next aside. ‘This one as well.’ She continued through the collection, finally settling on five that she believed gave the essence of the Amazon most strongly. ‘What do you want?’
‘I want to control her.’
‘Her will is strong. Her essence shows it.’
‘Are you telling me you can’t do it?’
Olga smiled at the taunt. ‘I can do anything you are willing to pay for.’
‘Then begin casting your spell. Will you have her ready for us tonight?’ The Senator appeared anxious.
‘Perhaps. Leave the coins here before you leave. Remember how strong she is. Leave me until after sundown tonight. At that time I’ll tell you if she is ready.’
The Senator removed a large red cloth bag from the same case as had held the dildos. As he threw it on the table, the distinct ‘Chink’ of metal coins was heard. Then, smiling broadly, he left the room. Olga began unpacking her Gladstone bag and prepared to cast her spells.
Diana left the Pentagon feeling pretty good. All in all, not a bad day. She needed to go to George Washington University to contact the first of her operatives. These were the sorts of things that she didn’t like about her job. Clearly, planting a military intelligence agent in a student group believed to be a front for the Weathermen violated the Constitution, but she, and everyone else involved, more than anything else, wanted to protect innocent people from violence. And the Weathermen were violent. They had blown up ROTC buildings on campuses like the University of Wisconsin. They had threatened to lace municipal drinking water with LSD. If the citizens of the United States were to be protected from extremists like these, perhaps this sort of surveillance was necessary. Anyway, it wasn’t general. The groups selected were carefully chosen.
It was just past noon. The drive to GWU would take awhile, so why not stop for lunch on the way. She had the class schedule of her contact. He was in class until 2.00 anyway. She could catch him after his last class and advise him of the recent changes. Besides, for him to be seen talking to so beautiful a woman might raise his standing among students on campus. These plants were always the youngest looking and most dedicated agents. They were always very straight laced and rather boring, no social life outside the job. They had a tough job, admittedly, trying to get close to potentially dangerous people, but always staying in the background, colourless, not drawing attention to themselves because they can’t incite events (that would be entrapment). So, they couldn’t get too close to anyone, they couldn’t have any real relationships.
She pulled in at a restaurant on the way. It was a real restaurant, not one of those fast-food places that were springing up all over town. She took a seat in a booth. The waitress came by quickly and offered her a menu. ‘Care for something to drink?’ she asked without looking at her customer.
‘Not just yet.’
‘All right. I’ll be back for your order in a moment.’
As Diana was looking over the menu, deciding between the turkey club sandwich and the BLT, she felt a wave pass over her. She felt queasy in her stomach, she briefly swayed in her seat, sweat broke out on her brow, and she began to lubricate. It didn’t last long, but it stayed with her. What was happening?
Olga Kobyrynka watched the green flame in the cast-iron dish. As she removed the dish from the flame, which was its source of heat, she noted how the flame continued unabated, longer and longer each time she did it. Then the flame went out. ‘Your will is strong, Wonder Woman. But this is a strong sampling of your essence. And you have experienced MY power already.’ As she waited for the Senator to return she thought that it yet necessary to purify the essence. Late tonight there would be a test.
Senator Carlton returned home late from the Capitol on this Friday. The debate on America’s policy in Vietnam was long and acrimonious. Many things had been said that would take a long time to heal. Even the Senator, who usually couched derogatory remarks to his colleagues in gentlemanly terms (though he was not so courteous to his opponents outside of Congress), had engaged in the angry rhetoric of the moment. This war was tearing the Senate apart and could keep it from doing the People’s business. The American People, he was more convinced than ever, must be unified behind this Government and its effort to find an honourable solution to the war.
Madame Olga went to the front hall to receive Senator Carlton, looking like part of a casting call for Oliver! Seeing her waiting made the Senator almost forget the tedium, the anger, the recriminations he was still feeling. ‘I take it from your location that you have good news. If it works, I’ll give you another hefty payment.’
‘It works. But I will not accept your offer until you have seen it work. I propose a test. When the essence is refined in a few hours, I will call her to any place you wish. You will be there to witness her arrival under my bidding. When you have seen my power, then you will double my fee.’
‘Double!’ He paused. ‘All right, but only if she’s there when I say. Let me get bathed and changed. Have her at the front entrance of the National Archives at two AM.’
‘And I will have my fee at three AM.’
Diana and Penelope were sound asleep in each other’s arms. Diana’s return on Thursday had led to a savage round of lovemaking that night, Penelope driven by the sense of relief that Diana’s return had inspired. For the first time in weeks, Penelope had demanded that Diana not have her costume on when they went to bed, so fearful was she about the implications of Diana’s alter ego and the threat that was ever-present to Wonder Woman. Penelope had said many times that the satin of the costume was one of the most sensual experiences she had ever been through. She loved to strip her lover of the uniform, to take away her power and identity, so that they could unite in their love without the intrusion of the outside world. Now, Penelope was trying to do away with that identity altogether.
Tonight, the two naked bodies had fallen into bed together, Diana almost fully restored in her strength, Penelope ravenous in her hunger for her lover. In the dark, their tongues sought out and penetrated each other’s mouth, using touch to define the outlines and extent of that cavern. Penelope was dominant and rolled on top of Diana, reaching down between her legs and tracing her firm round buttocks and up Diana’s back. In doing so, she lifted the Amazon’s leg until it was draped over the dancer’s shoulder. She then pressed her face down to the Amazon’s round and tingling breast. She took the nipple full in her mouth and sucked gently, at first, but gradually became more demanding. Eventually the two women twisted into a ‘69’, each plowing deep into the other’s sex.
The experience fulfilled and exhausted them, and, turning to face one another, they fell asleep each holding firmly to the shoulders of the other, their foreheads touching.
Suddenly, Diana was wide awake. She sat bolt upright in bed, leaving Penelope holding only the air in front of her. Quickly, Diana slipped out of bed and moved to the hall. There was a cry out there for Wonder Woman. Without saying a word, she spun into her uniform and went downstairs. She had to go to the National Archives. She was needed there.
Racing out into the darkness, Wonder Woman seemed to be staring blankly ahead, under the power of a force beyond even her control. The run from Georgetown to the Archives was several miles, but she covered them quickly. As she arrived at the front entrance, precisely at two AM, there was no one anywhere in sight. But Wonder Woman wasn’t looking for anyone. She simply ran up to the front of the building, and then stood stock still, as if waiting. She stared out toward the Capitol Dome, unmoving, unblinking, unaware. A car drove away from the curb across the street. She didn’t notice it. Only when it had turned the corner did she seem to come out of her trance.
Shaking her head, she looked around dazedly. What am I doing here? How did I get here? I don’t remember getting up, or coming here. What is happening to me? What is the meaning of this blackout?
End of Chapter 5