WONDER WOMAN:
The Senator’s Crisis by marat
Chapter 5
‘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
Comments, questions, suggestions welcome::
contact the author at marat1793@comcast.net