As one of the best pilots flying combat missions in Europe, Colonel Paul Tibbets is a natural choice for a test pilot on the newest US bomber, the B-29. During that assignment, he’s called away to Denver, where Army brass interrogates him about his past. Satisfied, they introduce him to his new, top-secret job by asking, “Did you ever hear of atomic energy?” (147).

They teach him the basics and then ask him to devise a way to release the “gadget” from the plane without killing everyone aboard. Tibbets chooses the remote salt flats near Wendover, Utah, for training, handpicks his crew, and doesn’t tell them about the nature of their assignment.

After months of prepping his team to kidnap Werner Heisenberg, Carl Eifler learns, with great disappointment, that the mission has been scrubbed. In reality, OSS director Donovan tells him this to let Eifler down easy; the director instead believes another man can do the job without Eifler’s flamboyant, attention-grabbing style. Donovan selects Moe Berg, an attorney and ex-pro baseball player. Berg studies atomic physics in preparation for traveling to Switzerland, where Heisenberg will give a lecture.