Although Shelby and Rod had initially told Ruthie she would need three days to get briefed on the extent of the fraud, they actually made a point of quietly giving her a week if and only if she needed it.
However it turned out that even the three days were unnecessary. Although Lisa was an educator by trade, she also had a very expansive memory capable of understanding any subject. Hers was not the rare, truly photographic memory; but Lisa was somehow able to absorb the massive amount of financial data that Thomas had briefed her on for several months. Lisa reorganized the data in her mind so she could brief Ruthie in the most efficient way possible. When Lisa was not grading student papers or looking after her children, she had produced a massive dossier of evidence, nearly ten thousand pages worth, and loaded onto a CD-ROM which she handed to Ruthie to be encrypted and sent on to the SEC and the FBI.
While Ruthie's laptop was doing the scrambling in the background, Lisa was dictating an executive summary that could be presented to prosecutors as a heads up on how to proceed, before a grand jury was convened. It took the two women exactly eleven hours to put together a seventy-five page brief (Ruthie was an extremely fast typist, able to write up to seven pages an hour) that could be presented as a cover letter of sorts with Lisa only stopping when Ruthie needed to clarify a point or concept. This summary, too, was encrypted in real time.
As Lisa explained it, a series of people working inside the bond business had figured out a way to hack into government and corporate computers, strip out the ten lowest serial numbers in each issue, then produce a fake bond amount with the same serial number – the "brother and sister" principle, but they had taken it to the level of a scam. In effect, the computers were tricked into thinking the government or corporation in question was borrowing money it had never borrowed.
There were actually two sets of instruments. One were treasury bills (or T-Bills), usually of three to twelve months duration, and were designed to help with short term cash flow issues, sold at a discount and which paid off the face amount at maturity, the difference being the interest. Two were long term bonds of two to thirty years to finance capital projects, that were either sold as a discount (known as zero coupon bonds which paid out only at the end with interest, like T-Bills); or sold at face value and paid interest twice yearly until the bond matured ("coupon bonds", although the coupon strips had long been obsolete). In either case, the higher the interest rate, the lower the implied entry price of the bond.
Bonds aren't cheap, Lisa pointed out. These are not savings bonds, the successor to war bonds. These have denominations that start at twenty-five thousand dollars and go up into the tens of millions. Moreover, on the secondary market, depending on the risk, bonds may sell above par (meaning the investor may lose some principal at the end, but can still be sure that he or she will at least get the interest), or below par (which means a higher effective interest rate, but the lower the going price the higher the risk of losing everything).
"Hence," replied Ruthie, "why bonds are rated - anywhere from Prime or AAA, and onward down to such levels as medium risk, speculative, junk - or the worst, default."
"Watching too much CNBC, Ruthie?" laughed Lisa.
"The other guys and I aren't real experts, but we do trade online," admitted Ruthie. "Mostly low to medium risk, like stocks and mutual funds. We do earn enough in capital gains to make it worth our while, and it does add a fair bit of cash – twenty to thirty thousand each – on top of our church stipends which approaches about a hundred thousand per. But we've never dealt with precious metals, foreign exchange or bonds. We know how to trade in them, but it's just too fucking risky for our stomachs."
"I can't blame you," agreed Lisa. "I don't either. But Tom sure knows how to. Mid six figures every year is proof."
Furthermore, continued Lisa, if a company goes bankrupt or a country defaults, it is the bondholders, those who have loaned the company or government money, who get first call on reorganization or liquidation. Shareholders, those who actually own the company (if the company is a public one) are often the last if there is anything left. So it is better to hold a bond, rather than a share.
With that basic explanation out of the way, Lisa detailed how the fraud unfolded.
In essence, once a fake bond had been created, it would float on the market. But instead of the company or government getting the cash, it would be rogue dealers or traders getting the money. And they would continue to do so, including getting the regular interest payments from the "borrower". Some of the early investors who may (or may not) have known any better would get the money back as it was put in escrow. Later buyers who bought the bonds would see money changing hands but there would be nothing backing it.
More important, if someone wanted to redeem a bond early, even at a penalty, the government or company would have to hand out money it did not even have to pay back. Paired with a real bond, it was the financial equivalent of double jeopardy. Wealthier and larger countries and companies might be able to afford the hit because they could also go after those who had "punk'd" them. Less well off states and corporations, not so much – and their often shaky economies or structures would nosedive in no time at all.
Since most people cannot come up with even the basic entry level amounts to get into the game, they instead pay for units in mutual funds that invest in bonds. These come with commissions but it makes playing the market easier. And it spreads (and potentially reduces) risk across many investors because, in turn with a larger pool of money, there are usually in turn big portfolios of bonds from a variety of issuers. When it came time for redemption, the same problem would happen. Early investors would see returns, but later ones would keep waiting. And banks and brokerages who had set up funds in good faith wouldn't get their principal back either.
Thomas' trade panic was just the tip of the iceberg that Lisa spoke of. Dozens of reputable fund managers and traders the world over finally caught on about the same time, after the scheme had gone on unnoticed for five years. While bonds and mutual funds do not normally qualify for deposit insurance, banks were prepared to dip into their resources to help out their unwitting customers get at least some of their money back. At least the customers of the larger ones – smaller banks could not, which meant their customers would get no luck at all with getting their money.
The big banks would then have to turn to their insurance companies, who in turn would have to turn to the re-insurance companies – insurance for the insurance companies – and after such a bailout from reinsurance, their premiums would spike and they'd have to pass those costs on to consumers and businesses who took out policies. Bottom line - life, liability, automobile and real estate policies for everyone around the world could potentially triple. And when that happened in just a few months, there would be an unprecedented revolt by policy holders.
"In total, nearly one trillion dollars had to be put in over a weekend to stop the fraud - or at least the first wave," said Lisa. "It's incredible that weeks later there still haven't been any leaks about it."
"That's about as much money as the federal government back home collects in taxes - in four months!" said a shocked Ruthie.
"Brace yourself for the real shocker," replied Lisa.
If that was all to it, she said, confidence in the world's systems would be shaken bad enough. But it became even more sinister after Thomas and many of his colleagues worldwide had an emergency conference call to figure out what had been going on.
Among those on the conference call were Mike Pearce, Lucy's one time boyfriend, and his wife Elena Casey, both of whom were now living in Sydney. Both were very successful desk traders although at competing firms. And one day, one very suspicious transaction caught Elena's eye. It was for a brother and sister – one being $2 million, the other for a rather odd amount, $800,000. Both were traded at the same time. She pulled up the transaction record to find out who were the buyer and seller. To Elena's dismay, all that came up were post office boxes.
But Mike had done some legwork for his wife (after she told him about the unusual nature of the transaction during pillow talk), and he discovered that the renters of the boxes were two militant members of the concept know as "British Israelism". This notion espouses that there are "Ten Lost Tribes of Israel" and that several of them had migrated to Western Europe after the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. Therefore, most white British and American people, as well as whites in former British colonies, are the direct descendants of those scattered tribes.
Ruthie laughed when she heard the BI phrase – and with cause for she, Lucy and their father not only knew the alleged genetic links had long been busted by legitimate science, but the overall concept was also un-biblical. Worse, as some believers interpreted an already heretical concept for their own purposes, it had become a stealthily racist concept. The most controversial parts of the revised doctrine were that the British Royal Family are directly descended from King David (which even many in the House of Windsor itself, have long dismissed), that Germans are actually Assyrians and therefore genetically disposed to commit evil (which the BIs say explain the two World Wars and what are the ulterior motives behind the creation of the European Union), and that while whites are collectively chosen by God to spread the word, other races are collectively damned and it is only individuals within those groups who can seek salvation for themselves. They would also make a point of trying to co-relate everything going on in the news to what is written in the Bible and then stand on their "perfect" record of predictions, but refuse to acknowledge those they got wrong - hundreds of them. And they also said the Catholic Church was trying to take over the world - even though they claimed they did not hate Catholics on an individual level.
Ruthie had as a very young child found infomercials produced by such "churches" to be way too entertaining to believe, but still fun to watch so she could sort out how her understanding of "apologetics" contrasted to such ridiculous claims. But she stopped watching them altogether as a teenager when she did a book report on cults in her freshman year in high school and discovered to her horror that one of the main proponent churches of BI opposed the Civil Rights Movement, and later openly supported apartheid in South Africa and still insisted that the country was worse off now, than before the system was abolished in nineteen ninety-four. As well, the church also once had a rogue member who in nineteen sixty-nine set a fire inside the al-Aqsa mosque next to the Dome of the Rock in a deliberate attempt to trigger Armageddon - without church authorization, or so it claimed.
Mike then asked Elena to check and see if there were any more suspicious trades or bond issues. She found literally hundreds. All of these, it seemed, were created at the same time one of two things happened – a terrorist attack in Israel or the Occupied Territories, or when a settlement was created.
Settlements separated from Israel but which effectively operated as "exclaves" of the country were considered illegal by the international community, even most of its allies; unlike legal exclaves such as Port Roberts, Washington, or Angle Inlet, Minnesota, both part of the United States but which can only be accessed by going through Canada.
However, Elena noticed a huge spike in bond trades when a settlement even Israel considered illegal was created. These were created by an entire crop of rogue Jewish elements and their American "supporters". Although Mike and Elena had no proof that Kahane Chai - Kach was involved (although they suspected it), Lisa said she and Thomas wouldn't be surprised either.
This was a group formed in 1971, and was so extreme that it was barely tolerated by Israel to begin with; but it was outlawed all together and forced underground in 1994 after a rogue Israeli connected to the group murdered twenty-nine and wounded one hundred twenty five more at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, West Bank; one of the very few sites considered holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians (tradition holds the cave holds the bodies of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah). Conspicuously, many BIers who supported KCK merely downplayed the terrorist act if they were asked their reaction. In fact, they bemoaned the banning of KCK saying they were doing the will of God - demolishing democracy. They claimed that since the Bible doesn't mention democracy it shouldn't exist, just as Christmas and Easter shouldn't exist either for that reason.
"Oh give me a break!" interrupted Ruthie. "That's as specious as some Christian sects who say that electricity produced by any source other than the sun, the wind or the bounty of the land is immoral. Just because the Bible doesn't mention it doesn't make it not so."
"You might want to be careful there, Reverend," warned Lisa. "The Mennonites and the Amish aren't fanatics. For the most part, their understanding of Christianity is actually otherwise in line with ours. In fact, their simple way of living is a model for the rest of the Church. My posse's household included - we have considerable wealth, over a million euros per between all of our salaries, but we don't flaunt it; we only live a working class lifestyle as much as possible, maybe not even that much. Keeping it simple helps keep our priorities straight - and ensures our kids will keep theirs on the level when they get their trust funds."
"But the Amish would never condone something like this!"
"Of course not," agreed Lisa. "Matter of fact, someone else on the conference call is a former Amish member who left her commune after her Rumspringa. She had to make an urgent plea to the community that shunned her to dump their bonds fast. Thankfully they did. They haven't exactly welcomed her back into the entire fold yet, but she's no longer banned from her family."
"Well, that aside ... what gets me is that while BI is an inherently racist ideology, or can be, it doesn't necessarily mean all its followers are racist - likely, not even most," said the minister. "If I had to venture a guess, if you count those who believe all of the following - the Lost Tribes, House of Windsor equals House of David, Germans are bad, we're still bound by Jewish dietary laws and holidays even if we are saved by the cross, denying the Blessed Trinity, and taking no medicine unless absolutely necessary by which time it's too late anyway ... that extreme variant that rose during the Depression and continues to this day, has about a million members around the world, plus who knows how many non-member adherents. If even one percent of the members are involved in the scam - that's ten thousand. Not exactly easy to manage a financial army like that. You'd think that surely one out of ten thousand would break ranks and blow the whistle at some point."
"Yes Ruthie," said Lisa, "but you're thinking the outlaw biker 'one percent' rule. Cops dealing with organized crime have always said it's more like a fifth of one. Extrapolating ... knock it down to two thousand. At that level, it's much easier to keep a tight grip, especially when you ban your members and 'seminary' students from social media and other news websites on pain of dis-fellowship as well as threats of blackmail for speaking out," said Lisa. "Tom's colleagues and he are still trying to find at least a few whistle blowers in that posse - surely one of them has to have a conscience. So far the good guys have had no luck. The bad guys have really closed ranks."
That said, Lisa continued her oral dissertation.
The Holy Land has would continue to do what it could to disband those rogue and doubly illegal settlements on the West Bank fairly quickly. But unbeknownst to Israel, a team of hackers would, at the same time, create multiple fake Israel bonds (taking advantage of the country's perfect interest payment record) and sell them on the secondary market knowing that eventually the country would have to pay up. And that country would have only two choices – pay ransom to recall and cancel a bond it had never issued, or to do things it would never have seriously considered. Which is what KCK had called for - the expulsion of all Arab Muslims and Arab Christians from not just the Territories but from Israel itself. That is to say, Arab Israelis who had been law-abiding citizens for decades, and actually wanted no part in the conflict, would be fair game too.
It was only the most extreme elements of the pro-Israeli lobby in the States that actually called for an outright expulsion of Palestinians. It was even fewer people within that subset that advocated for the abolishing of Israel's democracy. Once the democracy was abolished by coercion, and a member of the House of Windsor was "persuaded" (by force) to become the new David, the new cabal could then use their success to begin the process of ending democracy worldwide, one country at a time, to make way for a worldwide dictatorship, led by Jesus, which to them was the only acceptable form of government.
Of course, the rogues could not hoard all the money on the way to paradise, even in offshore accounts - otherwise they'd get caught. So they engaged in vices they openly disdained (houses of ill repute and gambling, for instance), registered to vote and voted even though they claimed their religion "forbade" them to, as well as financially backing and endorsing candidates more extreme than those in the so-called "Tea Party", and even sponsoring kiddie beauty pageants and making sure known sex offenders were in the audience and taking notes for possible young future recruits - for cash, and even possibly "grooming".
And finally, they also used front companies and fake parishioners to make donations to churches which had views totally contrary to their own, to hide some of their ill-gained commissions and to get tax receipts to avoid the tax man. And this is how Ruthie and her cohorts got stuck with $20 million they were not entitled to, even if their church got it through no fault of its own. And how other churches of all sizes were in a similar predicament, and those portions of their treasuries were also under embargo by the feds.
But Thomas, Lisa and their colleagues had finally gotten the evidence - or a paper trail, at least. And they had put in stopgaps to make sure it could not happen again, for now. Time wasn't on their side, though, which is why they needed Ruthie to get the evidence to an American embassy in yet another country to be determined, so it could be sent back to the mainland by diplomatic pouch.
Lisa also told Ruthie she had a special and urgent message from Mike and Elena: "Thank you, Ruthie, and please watch yourself! These people will stop at nothing."
After eleven hours, Lisa ended her recitation. Ruthie was grateful, for her wrists were just about to give out. She ran a spell check, then burned the encrypted dossier and summary onto several disks. She then put them into the pouch provided for the purpose and sealed it up.
Ruthie and Lisa ordered a Chinese combination. Lisa stepped into the shower, and came out wearing her nightgown with nothing under it except her natural and unclothed form. Ruthie then did the same. When the meal had been delivered, the women appreciated being able to have something to eat after having gone without food all day. The meal was rather quiet until Ruthie realized she wanted to ask Lisa a few questions.
"Lisa," said Ruthie, "how did you ever decide to be a teacher? And in Luxembourg City, of all places?"
"After I was raped," said Lisa, "I felt the only way I could ever get back at the son of a bitch for what he did to me, was to do something I wanted to do, or try to. So when I got into university I took one of the most challenging programs of all – Modern Languages and Comparative Literature. The languages I chose were French and German which just happen to be two of the official languages in Luxembourg, although at the time I had never considered moving there."
"Wait a minute ... classes about foreign books in translation into English - and more classes learning those two languages and reading even more novels and poetry in those languages, untranslated? Wow, that's not for the faint of heart, especially when - with respect - you didn't do all that great in Spanish in high school if I remember right," said Ruthie.
"Well, having dyslexia doesn't help much. But I improved there, too. I took summer school between my junior and senior years to redo Grade 11 Spanish, and I put in everything I had, and I got one hundred percent, and also got ninety-seven in my senior year. I put in all I had again in university, and I graduated summa cum laude, and a GPA of four point eight, out of five. I was on track for a career at the State Department, in fact I had been hired for the foreign service corps, when Tom called me to help him and his wife, Brigitte. That was ten years ago, when you and Peter stood down that pedophile, Frank Henderson. Good riddance!"
"Peter and I at the time openly condemned his murder, but we couldn't help but have felt a bit of Schadenfreude when he got whacked. However much we forgave him for nearly ruining the lives of our classmates and ours, we have never forgiven him for raping his sisters and his own children, and we never will. For what he did to his own blood, he certainly deserved it."
"Can't say I blame you for feeling as much."
"That said, my second question", said Ruthie, "and I'm sorry if I'm being indelicate about this -"
"No Ruthie," interrupted Lisa. "I know what you're thinking. I definitely didn't break up the marriage. Tom called me because his and Brigitte's marriage had already been on the rocks for some time. They needed a nanny to make sure the children wouldn't go crazy over the breakup. The kids actually dealt with it like real champs. During my time tutoring them during homework, we managed to have entire conversations in four languages – English, French, German and Spanish – switching back and forth, and with perfect comprehension and continuity of trains of thought.
"That's when I thought, 'I like this. I can be a teacher and do this all day.' I got hired on the spot and have a great job at a high school in the financial district. Low six figures. Okay, a hundred and forty thousand euros - about two hundred thousand bucks."
"You certainly deserve it if you can speak, read and write four languages fluently. Good for you, Lisa ... and congratulations!"
"Thank you, Ruthie."
"So how did you end up with the ex-wife? That is, after you and your ex-boyfriend - his name, please?"
"Brian."
"Thanks. After you and Brian broke up?"
"Well, Brigitte is a teacher by trade, too," said Lisa. She opened her wallet and retrieved a picture of her partner, a blonde bombshell in a business suit and looking every bit she had equal parts of brain and beauty. "About four years ago, we went on business to a teacher's conference in Strasbourg, France. We talked about our jobs, our kids, everything. We had a rather spacious hotel room. Most nights we took turns using the facilities and each took our time, but on our last night we had a late dinner and it was before midnight and we had to take an early train to Paris before connecting back to our home base. We each had quick showers. When I stepped out and in a house coat, she was wearing her nightgown, and her bosom started peaking through her nightgown at a rapid rate. I also felt my breasts swelling, like they hadn't since I was pregnant. I just wanted to touch her bosom out of curiosity. She then touched mine, and a few seconds later we were necking like there was no tomorrow. It went on from there, an inch at a time – I was munching her carpet within ten minutes and she mine five minutes later. Then we grinded each other for over an hour. That's when we both knew."
"How did your respective exes react?"
"They were receptive, immediately," said Lisa. "Brian said he had known about me and Brigitte for quite some time and he didn't know what took so long for me to realize it, but he was glad I had, that he was proud of me, and he'd always have my back even if we weren't together anymore. Tom not only congratulated Brigitte for coming out, he actually kissed her on her lips and said he'd stand with her no matter what, even if they weren't together anymore either - and that he was proud of her too. All of our children made the same promise, they too said they were proud of us – and that made all the difference. Thank God."
"How did your mother react?
"Disappointed, naturally; but she told me she always had suspected as much, and said if that's how I want to be and if I really want to live with Brigitte for the rest of my life, that's fine with her. I wouldn't say she's proud, but she's willing to tolerate it - which I'll accept."
"Happy with Brigitte?"
"Yes. We love each other!" said Lisa happily. "And as it turns out, Luxembourg already recognizes our partnership. The country is also working on going all out - pardon the pun - on legalizing marriage. But that's up in the air in Parliament, and has been for the last couple of years. So we're getting married by the end of the year in Belgium; she's on a six month contract in Brussels so she meets the residency requirement for us to get hitched. And the whole gang will be there. Even all of our parents, including the exes'!"
Lisa proudly showed off her engagement ring - a five carat Canadian diamond with even more miniature diamonds all around the platinum ring. She in turn had gotten Brigitte a South African diamond that was no less spectacular.
"Really?" asked Ruthie. She was stunned at Lisa's announcement as well as the size of the ring. "You're getting married?
"Well, Lisa, I have to say this up front: The idea of a gay or lesbian marriage goes against what I personally believe, my family believes, same as my colleagues, which is that a marriage should be a union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. My Dad, Lucy and I - as well as Pete, Shel and Rod - can theoretically perform such a ceremony, whether as a church affair or a civil transaction since we're licensed to do marriages on behalf of the state. But because it goes against our religious beliefs, we will never preside over a gay marriage, even though there are more than few homosexual couples who attend my church as well as Lucy's. Never.
"But, we all also think that as long as two - and only two - adults truly love each other and as long as their relationship is a consenting one, what they do is no one's business. They and their kids are families as much as straight couples and their kids. And the love they share is no less in quantity or quality. So while gay marriage goes against my ethics, our ethics, my buds and I - and Dad and Lucy - we all also think that it's a matter of equal rights and for that reason we agree as a matter of equality there should be no issue. So, as a legal principle, we do support the right of gays and lesbians to get married. And so I offer my congratulations. This calls for a beer. A good, expensive, European one! And my treat!"
"Thanks, Ruthie! And hey, as long as you're willing to keep an open mind, I appreciate your support."
"No problem, and I do. Well then, and I have to ask this ... if you're so happy with Brigitte, why in God's name did you try to seduce Shelby?" Ruthie gave every indication she was perplexed by this hanging chad. She also retrieved the bar menu which listed over a hundred different beers then called room service to make her selection - and ordered two bottles at the equivalent of twenty dollars each.
Lisa paused until Ruthie hung up the phone.
"Good question. Long story short: As well as my having sex with Brian once a month - I know, friends with benefits but we like it, Brigitte and I are in a semi-open relationship, until she and I tie the knot," replied Lisa. "Twice a year, she and I each have one week to try to have a fling with another partner - female or male. If we're not up to it we can bank the time. I've gone without for two years. So I have four weeks, and this is pretty much my last chance; even my special relationship with Brian will end for the obvious reasons although he'll continue to live with all of us. My meeting with Shelby ten days ago, was three days into week one. I still feel horrible about what happened; that's why I reached out to Rod and told him before Shelby got back to St. Louis."
"It's okay. We all make mistakes. At least you're willing to own up, and that shows you have class!"
"Then let me ask you something, Ruthie," said Lisa. "I'm not going to say this is a hypothetical kind of thing, I just want to hear your thoughts. If, and only if, I tried to make a pass at you – and because you have a very important mission here, I promise you that I am not going to make a pass – but if this wasn't going on, we got reacquainted, and if I did make a pass at you under those circumstances, or if I wanted to, would you accept?"
"ARE YOU FRAPPING CRAZY?" shouted Ruthie at the top of her lungs, and standing up facing down her friend. Despite Lisa's denials, Ruthie knew exactly what Lisa was proposing right then and there. "You know how much I love Peter, even more than my parents or siblings. You know how much fidelity means to me. And even if Peter and I were in trouble, I'd never even consider sleeping with a woman, any woman! A dude maybe, but not a dudette. I'm flattered … I suppose … but I would never accept, not under any circumstances – not even if you paid me a million euros!"
For a full minute, Lisa let Ruthie's words hang in the air. At the end of the minute, Lisa stood up, looked Ruthie straight in the eyes, and smiled.
"Wrong, Ruthie," she said. "You would. You know you would."
"What gives you the right to say that?" asked an indignant Ruthie.
"Because of how you answered," replied Lisa. "If it truly was no, you would have said 'No' as your very first word in your response. You instead began by telling me you thought the concept was crazy, and rationalized about why it's crazy for you. And yes, it is crazy for any heterosexual woman or man who if she or he is asked if they would have sex with someone of the same sex. I know it was for me, until it happened as it did. You never know when it might happen to you, Ruthie, so don't presume you know what you'd say.
"My mistake last week is I didn't even ask Shelby first. I should have. I kissed Shelby on the lips for five seconds, unsolicited, then I pulled her closer and started a French kiss for another five. She grabbed my wrists and pushed me away, more like shoved me back into my chair. And by shove, I mean really hard."
"What did you expect would happen, Lisa?" asked Ruthie. "You know she and Rod are not just Marines, not just spies, not just ministers, they're commandos! She shoved you like that because you challenged her sense of honor. You're lucky she didn't kill you. And I would have thought that you, as a paid informant for the FBI, would have known better."
"I totally forgot she is Special Forces," admitted Lisa, shamefully, sitting back down. "And as soon I was firmly planted back in my seat, the very first word she said, the very first word, was 'No.' I accepted her answer because it was genuine. I realized how much Rod means to her. And it occurred to me that even if I had asked, she still would have said no.
"Your response to me just a moment ago, with respect, was and is far less convincing. Which tells me, Ruthie, you and Peter have underlying issues that you and he may not even realize you have!"
"So what are you saying?" asked Ruthie. She resumed her seat.
"You have definitely thought about the idea of munching and grinding another woman. It may have been another classmate or a fellow church member. You may have even fantasized about having sex with Lucy or Mary – or both and at the same time. But you have thought about doing it with at least one woman, and if you deny it you're lying. To me, as well as to yourself. So look, Ruthie, you're here in Europe for another six days. You know how and where to reach me. If I don't hear from you by next Thursday, I'll know your answer is no, and I'll respect that."
"And let's just say, Lisa, for the sake of argument, I do want to go through with it? Even if it goes against everything I believe?"
"When you make your drop at the embassy in London, and that's the mystery site I'm sure you've wondered about, you'll get instructions where and when to meet your next contact for the next briefing, which I promise won't be nearly as long. She'll in turn give you instructions on where to make the next drop.
"Since Tom and I will get a copy of the CD-ROMs for our vault at home, in case of a worst case scenario, I will also tomorrow morning before you leave give instructions on how to include a personal message in the encrypt – to let me know where you want to meet me and when. When I read it, it will be stripped from the rest of the drop so it'll be like it was never there. But again, it's your choice. No matter what it is, I hope we can still be friends, regardless."
"Any pal of any of my siblings is a pal of mine; always and forever." Ruthie gave Lisa a hug. "So... um, should I sleep on the couch?"
"It's separate beds, pal – nothing's going to happen here. You can trust me, just as I trust you."
Ruthie winked at Lisa. Lisa winked back. By that time, the beers were delivered to their suite. They continued their meal with the alcohol, and caught up on the rest of each other's lives.