The girl in the third row raised her hand. “Yes? What’s your name?” Nora hadn’t meant to ask that.

“Mary Trask, ma’am.”

“Yes, Mary?” Mary Trask. It suits you.

“Will you be checking our work?”

Nora’s pulse quickened. “Your floor supervisor is the person in charge on your shift. I will be visible throughout the course of your time here, and yes, I will periodically stop and visit with each of you.” The room closed in on her. Air. She needed air. “Mr. Honeycutt? They’re all yours.” Nora strode quickly from the room.

She exited the building and gulped in the fresh East Tennessee fall air. Her heart continued to race. What was it about that girl? It doesn’t matter. Ignore it.

“Hey, Dr. Lindstrom. Fancy meeting you here.”

She turned at the sound of Del’s friendly voice. The irony of the timing was not lost on her.  “Hello, Dr. Ludlow. You’re back, are you?”

“Couldn’t stay away from you.” Del wrapped Nora in a bear hug. “How’ve you been, Nora?”

She welcomed the chance to focus on work. “Baffled and frustrated. How about you?”

“About the same. We’ve tried all kinds of tweaks and permutations at Berkeley. Until we get a look at the actual configuration up close and personal, we’re not going to figure out what’s wrong.”

“I could’ve told you that.”

“Indeed. So maybe it was an evil plot on my part to get back here to visit with my good friend.”

“You’re neither that Machiavellian, nor that clever.”

“Right on both counts, I’m afraid.”

“You’re headed over to Alpha-1?”

“I am, and by the way, later tonight there will be some other, much higher-ranking visitors stopping by. They’d like you to be available. Do you think you could do that?” He winked.

“Do I think I could be available for…” She let the sentence hang there, trying to ascertain, without asking directly, whether they were talking about the same visitors.

“Yes. It’s kind of a command performance.”

“I understand.”

Dr. Lawrence and General Groves were on their way. Good. Now maybe we’ll get to the bottom of this.

Mary stared after her retreating figure. Dr. Nora Lindstrom. She was larger than life, her blond hair flowing and blue eyes brimming with intensity. What is it about you? She knew she shouldn’t have asked that question, but for reasons she couldn’t understand, the idea that she might never see Dr. Lindstrom again bothered her.

It was worth the risk. Now you know that you’ll cross paths with her again. But how could she learn more about her in the meantime? It wasn’t as though there was an employee yearbook with pictures and biographies.

“Mary Trask? Are you here? Last call.”

Mary tuned back in. What had she missed?