In order to succeed in uncovering and laying bare the truth about a place that’s very existence was meant to be a secret, I needed a lot of help. My deepest gratitude to official Oak Ridge historian, D. Ray Smith, who gave freely of his time, knowledge, and expertise to give me guidance, to check my facts, and to provide me with historical/historically accurate documents and information. To Ruth Huddleston, one of the original cubicle operators at Oak Ridge, my thanks for sitting down for an interview and answering all of my questions so that I could get the technical details and mindset right. To Ed Westcott, to whom this book is dedicated, a posthumous thank you for your remarkable photographs that so richly captured life at Oak Ridge.

Beyond the primary resources, there were many other resources that proved helpful. Chief among these were:  The Girls of Atomic City, Denise Kiernan, Now It Can Be Told, General Leslie M. Groves, City Behind a Fence, Charles W. Johnson and Charles O. Jackson, Ignored Heroes of World War II: The Manhattan Project Workers of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Richard Cook, The New York Times Complete World War II, The Atomic Heritage Foundation, The American Museum of Science and Energy, and Edward R. Murrow “Orchestrated Hell” broadcast—CBS Radio, December 3, 1943.

To my team… To my wife, Cheryl, who traveled to Oak Ridge with me multiple times and was invaluable in helping me with research and imagining the perfect ending to this book, I couldn’t have gotten this right without you. To my first readers, you always make my work better and I am deeply grateful for your time and helpful feedback. To my editor, Ann Roberts, my thanks for adding spit-shine and polish and for your steady hand. To my cover designer, Ann McMan, there aren’t enough superlatives in the world to describe your beautiful work; I love you, little sister. To my e-book and web store guru, Toni Whitaker, thank you, thank you.

And to all of you readers, I am most grateful to you. Without you, I couldn’t do what I do. Thanks for the love.

Other Books by Lynn Ames

Stand-Alone Romances

Chain Reactions

Bright Lights of Summer

All That Lies Within

Eyes on the Stars

Heartsong

One ~ Love

Romantic Comedies

Great Bones

The Kate and Jay Series

The Price of Fame

The Cost of Commitment

The Value of Valor

Final Cut

The Mission: Classified Series

Beyond Instinct

Above Reproach

Anthology Collections

Outsiders

Specialty Books - Humor

Digging for Home

March – May, 1943

CHAPTER ONE

“Hey, Lindstrom.”

Nora didn’t turn around. She grew weary of the taunting, the inappropriate cat calls, and the constant buzz of emotionally stunted sophomoric boys that populated the physics lab at Pupin Hall. No matter, she would be graduating with a doctorate in physics from Columbia soon, and they could just call her Dr. Lindstrom after that.

“Lindstrom. Are you deaf or something?”