Chapter 23

“OK, the entertainment portion of the program is over. Collect your winnings and get back to work. Nobody goes home until the dishes are done and the floors mopped. Hounslow’s second in command needs to step up. The military hates a vacuum. And now that vacuums are on the table, those folks in the city administration who allowed this particular one to happen might want to burn some overtime and clean up the mess before the town wakes up and asks very embarrassing questions.”

“Billings here. Call me on the secure sat phone. Your ears only.”

I pocketed the earwig and speed dialed the number marked ‘spook central’.

“We’re private, Colonel. What can I do for ya?”

“First, you can stand down as soon as the wagons from the morgue get there. Lt. Darnell Titus is the National Guard MIC as of now. He’s competent, experienced in combat and has been notified through his command structure. His orders mirror yours.”

“That is a comfort. I’m not confident with this field marshal deal.”

“You did fine. Thank you for isolating the survivors. My people will be there in minutes to remove that problem. The Mayor has given those responsible until the cell towers are repaired to make the traces of their failures go away. Expect the scene to get very busy, very soon when the Borough Commander cracks the whip. They want to maintain the fiction of the realistic SWAT exercise.”

“Did the helicopter make it to a watery grave and are the Guardsmen clean?”

“As satisfying as it would have been, no. Aircraft in the East River attract reporters. The controllers flew the bird to LaGuardia and the Air Marshals took over. The newbies are just that, green and new. Not an undercover threat. No connections to the ‘Rebels’. The Captain is still under the microscope.”

“I wonder who made him an officer and how is it that his squad was on the spot so soon after you began inquiries. Coincidence? Efficiency? Suspicious much?”

“Answers to your questions generate more questions, Major. Get your girls and Capt. Belkin’s people into Bright Star ASAP. You’re off the clock. Load up and go home. Staff says the meat wagons are staging in Shinbone Alley. I’ll be working with the Regional NG Commander and the Police Commissioner to unscrew the streets. Sgt. Parrish will stick with Officers J. Brown and M. Pulaski. He works for me now.”

“Great news. He seems like a man eager to serve. Too bad about his knees.” I laughed. “For my money, he has the respectful disrespect a guy needs to be a good sergeant. I don’t think he will be a ‘yes man’ but he will do the right thing.”

“Exactly. A smart NCO with frontline cop chops. He’s my liaison with the NYPD now. The communications failures and information fiefdoms have to stop. With independent oversight, they will. We agree that some books are need-to-know, but no one gets to lock the library. Uninformed people are not effective.”

“When you get a moment tomorrow, Colonel, please let me know if we can help out in Philadelphia, Charlotte or Atlanta. From here, of course. Otherwise, I’m calling in my girls and the Ten Pennys for debriefing and cocktails.”

Earwig back in place, I announced, “We are off the clock. Bring the bus and the Humvee to the alley. All the Z-Girls, Frieda too, bring your weapons and meet everyone on the fifth floor. Bright Stars included. Button up the building. Remember what areas are classified and who has clearance. We need to talk.”

“On the way, Piper. We have to come in from Second Avenue. The street is a bit cluttered.” Nat reported. “We sent company. Some JDL folks named Levi and Sarah Steiner want to meet Dr. Allyn. You’ll recognize them at once. He’s the tall, distinguished man with a bowtie and smoking Uzi. The strap is the same color as his shoes and belt. She is the ‘Eve’ sized one in a tailored, spaghetti-strapped, blue dress, three-inch heels and matching scimitar. Both accessories have been used recently.”

Eve is 5’8”, slender and fit, with a very sweet set of ‘C+’ boobs. That made Sarah Steiner slightly taller and bustier than Frieda. Levi had good taste even if overdressed for urban guerilla wet work. The cosmopolitan commando stepping out at intermission for drinks and crowd control?

“Now we know where Frieda gets her chutzpah. She and Amy can stick around. I’ll meet them in the detritus outside. Everyone else hit the showers. Find something more or less presentable to wear. Don’t go past medium scandalous on the Airwear scale. And don’t go past the front door. Toon, check with me before you go indoors. Ears off. Now.”

Caralyn sidled up first. “Master. What do you need?”

“Find the Tanner Sisters. You girls get the bulletproof slabs of material in the basement hidden in the storage area on the fourth floor. Have Rose seal off three and four. None of the new people can see or know anything related to our production or research until and if they are cleared.” I pulled her close. “No exceptions. This is bigger than protecting trade secrets. Make sure our girls understand. Foreign governments would love to have the body armor we may be able to make. We will have visitors with potentially divided loyalties. I understand and sympathize, but I won’t take sides when even the good guys have zealots. The possession of virtual invulnerability by the troops on one side of a conflict discourages compromise. That’s why it is classified Top Secret.”

“Understood, Master, no leaks. See you inside.” Caralyn scooted to the building at double speed.

Amy came up under my right arm. “Don’t forget the morning meeting, Sir. Patty, Sam, Beth, you and me in the lobby at 9:00. Can you tell me what it’s for?”

“This is between us. I bought the building next door and plan to connect them together at the fifth, third and first floors. The dorm space upstairs will be enormous. I want to move the living and entertainment rooms over and expand the study and art spaces to the whole floor in the present building.”

“This is wonderful! The first floors can be offices for Eve and the Baxters, for ArtFinder and your businesses. We can move the entire sleeping area to the annex and let the old dorm be a dressing room for the dance studio.”

“I’m thinking we can have a real dojo and exercise space. The ceilings aren’t high enough for a regulation gym, but some equipment might be a good thing. There’s a people elevator on the joining wall, too, so the fourth and second floors will be easily accessible from either building.” I smiled, “We’ll give tours when the papers are signed.”

Frieda slipped under my left arm and waited while her parents picked their way through the bodies on the street. Levi was taking pictures of faces as the couple casually strolled closer. I felt a tug on the front of my shirt. It was Mika with a wet cloth and dry towel.

“You need to wipe your hands, Master. You’re kinda bloody.” She giggled, “Ms LaSalle said you’ll have to burn the clothes. She said it was the only way to kill rabies and prevent the spread of swine flu.”

For the first time since the fighting ended I looked down at my girls and myself. “We’re all kinda dirty. The kind of dirty that doesn’t easily wash away.” I took the washcloth and scrubbed my hands the best I could and then dried with the towel.

Levi and Sarah were close enough to overhear our exchange. “Mind if I take a battlefield picture for Frieda’s scrapbook?” She asked. No ‘Hello Frieda, how are you?’ No asking about injuries. Hmmm.

Anne, Beth and Carol were trailing behind them, apparently not trusting strangers, Frieda’s people or not.

With some hesitancy, I gave permission. These folks were way too ‘done up’ for street-level warfare.

Sarah framed it so we formed a diamond shape, me in the rear, Frieda and Amy forward and to the sides, with little Mika in front: a sweet portrait of blood-spattered comrades with a bullet-pocked Bright Star building as the backdrop.

“You will be permitted to print hard copies only. You can’t send it to anyone via any means electronic, period. No email, no web posting, no nothing. I don’t want our faces associated with this location for security reasons.” I said. “I don’t want this cut ‘n sew operation associated widely with our faces.”

Levi laughed, but his eyes didn’t. “You know the authorities have taken a million photos here, don’t you? Those images will be all over the Internet as soon as the cell service is restored. Why should we be restricted? How can we be restricted?”

“The police are on our side and can control their information. Once your picture is in the wild, so to speak, it is out of your control. Every twit and tumbler is not our friend.” I answered coldly. “Humor me. I can make it expensive otherwise. Why put Frieda and a bunch of garment workers in jeopardy, no matter how remote the chance?”

“Maybe you’re right. It’s not a worry for now.” He finally laughed for real. “That was an award winning performance out there at the end. Your gunnery team clued us in on the facts, but still! Are you always like that?”

“Almost never.” Mika answered for me. “Just when some fool threatens his friends or family. Most of us owe him our lives in one way or another, so we are as protective of him as he is of us.”

“Papa, I watched them fight. It was hard to tell who was scariest, but Dr. Major and his skeet practice stands out as the showiest.” Frieda giggled. “You saw that little bitty Vietnamese doll absolutely destroy the captain. You won’t believe what she did in a crowd. Those triplets behind you are worse. This group has seven or eight who can trash the best the Mossad has to offer, four or five more who can fight any agent to a draw. The rest will shoot first.”

Amy added. “It’s a very bad idea to get our leader upset. He’s better than any of three of us together. Besides, you have to admit the survivors will be more willing to spill their guts if they are convinced he will do it for them.”

We talked about the Battle for the Bowery for a while. Sarah inspected my katana and I scoped her scimitar. We agreed we liked our own blade better than the other.

“Interested in a little contest, Dr. Allyn, with an experienced sword user? I think I’m good enough to be a fair test of your skills.” She challenged. “Full speed, no blood, what you would be wearing on a normal day?”

“With edges this sharp? Can you pull your strikes at full speed?” I questioned, “Mistakes will be very painful if not fatal.”

“Can you? I would like to see if you live up to the hype against a real opponent.”

“OK. Flat side contact only, no cuts or the match ends there. Who do you want to judge?”

“Levi, your best bladed weapons girl and the cook. But the result should be obvious.” She nearly sneered. “Beating three schoolgirls is not a great endorsement.”

The triplets began a Rochambeau session and settled on Carol as the designated judge. This was no conceit on their part and there was no comment from the other Zephyr girls. The Bakers were truly scary good.

“Marsha Terrell, the ‘cook’ has a name. Use it. See you in the basement after I clean the imaginary terrorists off my face.”

Rose called from the second floor window, “You guys have the showers now. Clean up so Marsha will let you in the kitchen. She fixed a late night snack to hold you until breakfast.”

“Saved by the dinner bell. Shall we?” I led the way and headed straight to the freight elevator. Amy, Mika and Frieda followed me. The Bakers shadowed the Steiners. “Get one of the girls to give you a tour. I have to get my dry duds from June. See you later.”

“Sir, they are going to send the picture anyway.” Amy whispered as soon as the door closed, pulling out her sat phone. “Should I back up their files? Both have phones like this.”

“Go ahead. They can thank us later.”

She pressed a few keys at my quiet direction “Done. I got the photos, too.”

“You have the drive contents of the home machine, also. They don’t need to know that yet.”

June, Lulu, Vicki and Linh met us at the sixth floor, stark naked. The katana fell to second place as my sword of choice.

“Not that I mind, but this is a little more than medium scandalous.”

“We’ll get dressed like the other girls after we get you all polished and shiny, Mr. Allyn.” June promised, unlacing my boots. “Rose made some new Roman style dresses while we were at ‘Calimex’.”

“Think mid-thigh skirt with a half-halter top starting at the waistband, in half-sheer silver.” Linh started on my belt. “Silver/Silver pendants on the belt, collar and inverted nipple spring. It looks fabulous on us and on the website. Can you guess who modeled for the photo?”

Pheromone overdose? “Rose and YoBeau?”

“Nope. It was Holly and Polly. Neither wore a nipple cover, just a necklace carefully draped. Their Mom wanted it posted before Beth had a chance to blur anything.” Vicki pulled my shirt and vest off. “My Mom wore the bed jacket and tap pants.”

“Your Moms are not in charge of our site, Vicki, no matter how much they want the world to ogle Tamera’s monumental boobs or to humiliate their daughters in public. That’s my job.” I turned and hefted hers. “I would have chosen to show yours to the world. In fact, I’ll do just that.” Vicki and her virgin pussy had a date with the Vitruvian binding frame when we got home, right beside her big titted sister on the St. Andrews cross, if I could last that long. If a better chance popped up sooner, so would the cherries.

At this point, the girls finished removing the blood streaked clothes and dragged me under the hot water. It soothed the stress of the battle away, making me feel like a part of the real world again. That world had unanswered questions aplenty.

The first answer I wanted was the reason why certain red lights on my phone stayed lit whenever Frieda was around.

I motioned Linh up from her knees where she was trying to swallow my dick. Frieda took her place. “Do you have a radio up here?” I whispered. “If so, please turn it on to a classical station.”

Linh zipped to her roomlet and the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Ninth sounded through the dorm. Excellent background music for porking the Kosher Kommando’s throat. I fired a load down her neck to the last crescendo, roaring my own ‘Ode to Joy’.

June looked like she was in pain. “Tired of waiting?”

She nodded, closed her big brown eyes and leaned back against the tiles. I stepped between her legs and stooped slightly. “Open your eyes, June, I want to see you watch my dick split you for the first time. When I touch your pussy, put me in the right place.”

My little Korean girl, swallowed, craned her neck and gripped me with trembling fingers that did not meet her thumb. “Oh My God. Can I take this?”

“You can take it and you will, June Kim.” I began to stand, stretching her cunt wide to give her the first fuck in her sixteen-year life. I felt my head slip in slowly. I reversed direction several times, shallow stroking her opening. “Do you feel that?’

“You’re making me come already. I never knew. I never knew.” She repeated between spasms and wheezes. “Don’t stop, Mr. Allyn, make me come forever.”

“You still don’t know. We aren’t fucking yet. I’m coming to your cherry now, sweetie, can you feel it stretch?” Gripping her little ‘A+’ tits, I pressed her back to the wall. “Look at my eyes, June.” Then I straightened my knees, driving my iron prick through her hymen, all the way to the top of her hot wet fuck hole. The little piece of skin protecting her innocence gave scant resistance before shredding into history. Her tiny feet were lifted six inches from the floor, her body supported by my cock and hands, gently squeezing those pebble-pointed tits.

Her eyes grew as big as saucers. “My insides are exploding apart but I’m still coming!” June’s narrow hips figured things out and had their own dance party before she realized what was happening.

“This is fucking.” I smiled, and began plunging in and out, slowly at first, picking up the pace in rhythm with her unconscious pelvic action. At this angle I could hit her clit on every stroke. June’s body found her perfect angle, reveling in the sensation of my dickhead slipping across her G-spot. “It’s OK, my newest fucktoy, you can blink now.”

Her wet black hair began to fling water as her head started shaking and her eyes rolled back in her head.

“You are so hot and tight, June Kim. I love being in your cunt, can feel every little ripple, every pulse. You feel my cock slip in and out, touching the end of your dripping pussy.” I pinched her nipples. “And you like it. You like getting fucked in public.” I began a rapid-fire rhythm, pounding her into the wall, then turned my back to the tiles and bounced her up and down on my pole.

“June, now they can actually see your cunt stretch around my dick. Amy’s taking pictures for a new poster.” Her body went into overdrive. “Oh, you are even tighter than before. Let yourself feel it, sweetie, come for me.” That was all it took for both of us. Her crazed spasms and shakes set me off and my swelling prick pushed her higher. The novel sensation of jetting hot liquid against her cervix sent her into a frenzy of quakes, seizures and gasps.

June fell limp in my arms. “So, that’s fucking! I’m addicted, Mr. Allyn. I want it every way Lulu did and more. Any time, any place, in any hole, as soon as I find my bones.” Her pussy made a slurping sound when I lifted her off and steadied her on the floor.

Little Linh pulled Vicki to her knees, gave a quick dick-sucking lesson, and licked June to a second orgasm while pushing the James girl’s down until her nose touched my pubic hair. “That’s how Master likes his cock sucked. And when he comes, swallow. Don’t you dare waste a drop.” Ms James, the younger, milked the third load out of my balls. Swallowing was not as issue since I was past her throat at the time.

Lulu and her talented tongue spent their spare time bringing Amy to her knees, but my dutiful XO kept the camera rolling until June took the palmcorder away. Amy was free to do a quick sixty-nine, returning Lulu’s ministrations. June finished the documentary of the events surrounding her first fuck, Frieda’s first face fuck, Vicki’s deepthroat lesson and Lulu’s first girl-on-girl action.

Home movies are a treasure. Ours were a felony in most states.

We finally ended the second clean up and the girls got sorta dressed. The Greco-Roman boob baring toga thing was truly stunning. Silver over silver, decorated by silver, commando spoke volumes to my libido, mostly encouraging me to earn another shower. I resisted. I needed to save my strength for the sparring match.

June gave me my evening wear, a pair of mid-thigh black linen cargo shorts, blousy solid black Airwear sport shirt and sneakers. Given the choices made for my group, a remarkably sedate selection I was pleased to see.

Something long and not all that interesting by Mahler on the FM box brought me back on target. Those persistent red lights.

Signaling the girls to remain silent, I searched Ms Steiner’s clothes near the radio and hit the jackpot. Amy helped me remove the expected evidence, placed both items near the speakers and turned up the volume a notch.

“You girls go down the stairs to the communal kitchen. Frieda, wait for us by the freight elevator. I need to speak to my XO for a minute.”

When they were gone, I explained to Amy what we found. “The GPS tracker is live. Someone knows where it is every instant. The voice recorder listens until the memory is full, and then broadcasts a micro burst and resets. We don’t know the frequency until it sends.”

“Sir, we ought to be able to get the serial number on the tracker if we scan the signal up close. The recorder sounds too exotic to be off-the-shelf Radio Shack. Spycraft?” Amy was a quick study. “It’s too small to have much ‘oomph’ so the receiver or a repeater has to be nearby.”

“We would know about a repeater. My dear, you have been paying attention. I already have the GPS device number and you are right about the audio listener. It gets to stay by the radio. Wait for an hour and clone the Steiner’s phones again. Maybe they are the listeners. Who else would care where Frieda was?”

“Wonder how much chat they got from the restaurant? We had some very interesting conversations in the dining rooms.” Amy asked. “Can we assume that has uploaded?”

“Clone the phones now. If it is in the memory, we can find out what they found out.” I considered something else. “Amy, what do you think about the Steiners?”

“Not much. I think Levi acts like a detached, uninvolved father. He seems gay actually, a little more flamboyant than Nat and Smitty and, like them, capable and dependable. He is proud and somewhat cocky, but seems to be a serious Nazi hunter.” My XO hesitated as if considering her next words. “Sarah, not so much. First, she is younger than Levi and Frieda parses her language carefully whenever she refers to ‘Mama’ Sarah almost as a title. Levi is just plain Papa. Second, she just feels a little off, more associate than wife. Not Mom material.”

“I agree. She’s not really cold, but there is no motherly warmth, like Frieda is scenery in a picture that can change easily.” I concluded, “Sarah serves to make Levi’s life look less ‘alternative’, his show partner. Frieda is just another tool as far as she is concerned. There is no obvious malice but no emotional connection, either. However, there is a vague family resemblance, too. She’s either Levi’s sister or Frieda’s maternal aunt, but not her mother.”

“So, is there a reason we can’t ask?” Amy wanted to find out sooner rather than later. “Oops. One of the phones is fried. Somebody tried to send the photo. And we know who was receiving the audio, the person with the dead phone.”

I looked at the captured info on the sat phone screen. “The long audio files are on the phone with the group shot, not the other, so it was Sarah’s. She knows it, too, but I’ll bet she won’t mention it to us.” I grinned. “Head games are on the table, why not have some fun?” The GPS tracker went into my pocket. “What say Frieda takes a phantom trip tonight?”

Pure nosiness made me open a file or two. “What’s up with the Jordanian and Syrian country codes in her contacts list?”

“More reason to think she is not as advertised. Little impressions lead to big conclusions.”

We strolled to meet Ms Steiner. Amy casually asked, “Frieda, who is Sarah and what happened to your real Mom?”

Her whole body slumped in resignation and the words spilled out in a flood. “I was a toddler in kindergarten here when a suicide bomber in Tel Aviv killed Sophie, my real mother. The police reports called it a targeted assassination but she was working undercover and no one outside of her agency was supposed to know her whereabouts. Later, Papa came out of the closet to the family but for professional reasons needed a ‘beard’, so to speak.” She sighed sadly. “I knew Aunt Sarah’s masquerade would never last. She’s too wooden to pull off the act. She’s really Levi’s younger sister and so she took Mama’s place and didn’t have to change her name. She got a job working out of the Israeli Consulate in New York. They told people here she was Sophie’s sister instead so Papa could pretend to be remarried. Maybe Mom was just for show, too, and I was part of an older charade.”

“How many people know the whole story?”

“I don’t think anyone knows everything. Very few outside of his family even have a clue and they are diplomatic staff who know what they are told by the government. Papa’s family moved back to Israel and isn’t talking to the ‘queer black sheep’ or the incestuous Sarah anymore. Mama was an only child and the end of her line.” She tightened up. “I barely knew her, but she’s who I want to make proud. I’m the last of this branch of Meyersons.”

“I guess your gay Papa doesn’t mind you flashing your hot naked body to the world?” I had to ask. “He will see it in a few minutes. He’ll probably see me use it hard.”

“Charade or not, now I don’t care who sees me get fucked hard, just so long as it happens soon.” She grinned this time. “Dr. Allyn, we have been to clothing optional resorts before. Last winter, he let me run around completely naked, but he is so far up-the-down-staircase, he ignored his constantly nude sister and me. Papa had eyes for the men only. I think we were anti-bait, I more than she. Anyone who looked at us and didn’t get rock hard was fair game for his approach. He said that anyone who didn’t respond to us was either gay or had perfect control and that no living male was that perfect. I guess he did notice us after all.”

“I can certainly understand that he knew good fuck bait when he saw it. He isn’t a sightless idiot. Even understand that he was too gay to care about fuckable and naked teenaged girls. The idea of his totally naked and fuckable daughter made available is a little more difficult to reconcile. Did Levi allow you to run around naked, insist, or did he simply accept that you were going do what you wanted; show your ripening new body to strangers because exhibitionism made your pussy wet and your nipples get so hard they ached?” Another Alpha generated thought intruded. “Frieda, did you compete with Sarah for his attention?”

“In the beginning, Papa accepted that I was going to expose my body sometimes for the strange thrill of it and then noticed the phallic filter factor, as he called it. I became his gayness gauge to be used whenever he wanted a hook-up. He forced me to be naked constantly whether I felt like it or not, even when we went to dinner or to tourist attractions. The same with his sister, but Sarah didn’t need to be forced. He didn’t even have to ask. If I was naked, she was naked, which was all the time, day and night.”

“Sounds like she was diluting the pool of nude girls voluntarily, if not competing for attention from someone.” Amy said. “It’s different when you strip on a beach where there are many bare bodies, where nudity is exciting, yet socially appropriate. You were doing it on command, now, in places where not only is nudity rare, possibly unprecedented, but where you are the only naked person present, instantly the center of focus.”

“But Sarah was wearing skin also, Amy.” I interjected. “Our little cutie was the only one given no choice. Two questions: Did you seriously resist the command to be naked around the clock by your Papa who would see you be seen by strangers? Were you embarrassed at the forced exposure but pleased that people wanted to see the titties and pussy that you allowed yourself to be forbidden to cover?”

“I was hesitant at first, but Papa hid my clothes and more or less dragged me out the door. That’s when I realized the forced public exposure made me so hot I creamed everywhere. I crossed the Rubicon at some point and decided that if they wanted to see me naked and it made me feel good about how hot I looked, why not be naked and let them look? Waiters started to put extra-thick cotton napkins on the chairs so the busboys didn’t have to clean the cushions. Other than to be sure I was fully exposed, he hardly looked at me, just at the few men who weren’t staring at my openly jiggling tits. He never looked at Sarah and I think that pissed her off. She upped her game, posing like a porn star for him at every opportunity.”

Amy insisted, “Somebody was competing for Papa’s libido. That much is clear.”

“As far as he was concerned, I was just the wing girl. Two naked Jewish girls with drippy boobs, dipping lobster and crab in clarified butter without so much as a bib, drew the kind of crowd Papa was trying to weed out. I was doing my naked part to thin the herd.” She giggled madly. “The shellfish amped up the taboo factor an order of magnitude for me. Kosher or not, I started to crave seafood with dangerous claws.”

We all laughed at that picture. “I would have licked you clean.” Amy offered to show her best technique now.

“As for competing? With myself to see how brazen I could be for how long? Yes. Vying with her, for Papa’s eye? No way. I wasn’t drippy for my gay father. But it’s pretty clear to me now; she was for her gay brother. That’s sorta weird.” She admitted, suddenly shy. “Sarah hardened as many strange cocks as I did, but had thoughts only for his and was all over her brother like a second skin. He totally ignored her full-on lap dances. If he ever got hard, Sarah would have fucked herself right then. It never came close and she never came at all. If she imagined a competition, it was one-sided, and she lost anyway. I was just embarrassed for her because she was humiliating herself. The family accusations of incest are totally false, despite her best efforts.”

“You opened up pretty quickly, Frieda. I’m surprised.” I was a little wary, even though she sounded relieved and sincere. “You answered questions we didn’t ask. Why?”

“You guys are so honest and open with each other, I felt kind of dirty holding back.” She smiled. “It was not too bad acting a role to shield Papa until Sarah challenged you to a swordfight. She is very vindictive and remembers every tiny slight or insult as if it happened an hour ago. It stopped being a recitation of lines in a play for me, Dr. Allyn, she hates to lose. She will try to hurt you if that is the only way to win and will keep trying forever. I want out. I have lost trust in her, not that I had much to begin with.”