“Augustino brought them.”

Slowly, as if he were approaching something alive, Oppy stooped and picked up the wands. “The captain hasn’t even been up here to the shed. I can’t believe it was you.”

“You don’t understand. And if you weren’t so damned clumsy—”

“There is something rich and laughable about you working with me and Harvey and Fermi at the same time you were working with a medicine man.” The wands sparkled and twisted in the light of the bulb as he raised them. “Chief Joe Peña. What an incredibly stupid time for you to turn into an Indian.”

“Give them back.”

“Do you really think I’m going to let the effort of all these good men be endangered by a … tribe?”

“It’s not just you, it’s Anna, too. Augustino knows she quit the Hill.”

“Of course. I told him. The last thing I needed was a certified lunatic threatening the success of the project and whoring with the soldiers.”

As Oppy tried to slip by, Joe hit him backhanded. It was like slapping a fly. Oppy landed, bent double, on the ropes. The wands flew onto cables, his hat and paperback under the bomb cradle.

“I’m sorry,” Joe said.

Oppy clutched his chest and gasped rheumatically for air. Some men go through their whole lifetimes without being hit, it occurred to Joe. They say anything, do anything and never expect a fist, but they’re willing to blow up the world.

“I’m really sorry,” Joe said.

He checked the wands. The yellow micaceous skin was not even chipped. He retrieved Oppy’s hat and book from under the bomb cradle, then knelt and gently placed the book back in his jacket.

“You bastard.” Oppy looked at the .45 on Joe’s belt. “What are you going to do next, shoot me?”

“Listen,” Joe said. “Forget the wands. You don’t want to tell Groves there’s some crazy Indian up here or he’ll send up Eberly with a submachine gun and what will happen to your precious bomb then?” He pulled Oppy to his feet. He put the hat on Oppy’s head, brushed dust from his shoulders and steered him through the door. “Most of all, don’t say anything to Augustino. In an hour, the test will be called off and I’ll explain everything then.”

“I thought you were my friend. Captain Augustino warned me, but I trusted you.”

Lightning hit a nearby bunker. Oppy rocked unsteadily on his feet.

“It’s Fuchs,” Joe said. Through the thunder he doubted that Oppy heard him. It didn’t matter.