with a single demonstration of its power but we need that plutonium. Otherwise it might take us a decade to create a bomb. We were planning on telling the President as soon as we verified the sample Bowie was bringing us from Africa. If we started work right away Teller thinks that with a couple pounds of plutonium we could have a working weapon by 1939. Now we must wait and pray that somehow Bowie managed to ship some ore separately. If he didn’t then all is lost because only he knew the mine’s location.
“Without an atomic deterrent there is nothing to stop that Austrian paper hanger from taking over all of Europe or the militarists in Japan from continuing their expansion. You not only killed the passengers of the
Already close to the breaking point because others had profited from his genius while he languished in a Manhattan cold-water flat, Tesla said nothing, his lips working like a fish gulping air.
A string of saliva dripped unnoticed from the corner of his mouth as the enormity of what he’d done echoed in his fractured mind and the last vestiges of sanity slipped quietly away. He started to sob.
“Come inside and warm up,” Einstein said softly. “Let us get you some dry clothes.”
He placed a hand on Tesla’s shoulder. Tesla shoved him away, his expression feral. He said nothing as he raced from the house and back into the storm.
“Who was that?” Einstein’s longtime secretary asked.
“The man who has prevented me from averting a second world war.”
