The Temptation of Dr. Geek

Her name had been Zenni Al Farhan. She was a quiet, slight woman with haunted eyes and fine features. She was an expert in antiquities, famous for being able to spot truly ancient artifacts from even the most artful fakes with a simple touch of her fingers. Her secret, of course, was that she was an especially talented Caster who could gain information from people and objects that she touched with her bare fingers. Her talent was as much a curse as a blessing however, since everything (and everyone) she touched with her fingers would flood her mind with images and emotions. Because of this, she wore gloves almost all of the time.

As an agent of the Mukhbarat, she had used her talents to keep a tight rein on other members of the Ministry of Culture from selling off Iraq’s rich cultural heritage on the black market for easy cash. As a truly talented and trusted academic expert, she had had more freedom to travel to foreign conferences than many of her colleagues.

With the American invasion, her status as an agent of the secret police brought her under the scrutiny of the Americans. She had turned herself in in the hopes of clearing her name and resuming her post in the academic ranks as soon as possible.

When she was brought before Daniel that first time, they had recognized each other from their brief encounter years before. Possibly hoping to use this past connection to secure her release, Zenni had asked him for a private meeting, if he could arrange it.

Curious, and more than a little attracted to the diminutive woman, Daniel had her delivered to an interrogation room late one evening and then dismissed the guards to wait outside of the sealed room.

At first she had looked frightened, but when she saw the guards depart and Daniel remain with her, she became visibly relieved. “Dr. Bernstein, I want to thank you for this meeting. I was so afraid when they came for me this late at night.” As she spoke, she shivered and pulled her shawl closer over her disheveled hair.

“My pleasure, Mrs. Al Farhan. I am most curious as what you think I might be able to do for you.” It was disgusting, reliving these memories of his, because I could ‘feel’ his desire for this woman, I could tell that this could only end badly. Daniel’s memories had already revealed him to be a man of little self-control.

Unfortunately, the woman was apparently blind to his lust, or too desperate to care. “Dr. Bernstein, I was wondering if you could perhaps use your influence here to have me released from this place. I have very important work to attend to.”

“Well, ah...Zenni...I am afraid you may have overestimated my position here, I am not an officer in the military. My role here is more an observational role.”

She stood up, clasped her gloved hands together in a sort prayerful gesture and moved closer to him. “Please, Dr. Bernstein, you must listen and see if there is a way you can help me, as well as your associate, Dr. Kampmann.”

That name cooled his lusts like a bucket of water dousing a small campfire, although the embers still glowed underneath. “What did you say about Drake Kampmann?”

She moved even closer, closer than most Americans would be comfortable with in normal conversations. Her eyes were intense, even hopeful. “If you help me to leave this place, it will also help Dr. Kampmann.”

“How exactly will my helping you also help Dr. Kampmann?” His curiosity was overtaking his physical lusts.

She stepped back, looked down briefly before looking up into his eyes again. “I have found some things he has been looking for. Things that have been lost for a very, very long time.”

Now he was really curious. He stepped forward, touched her lightly on each shoulder, ignoring her instinctive flinch at the touch of a man who was not a relative. “Tell me, Mrs. Al Farhan, what are these things that he was looking for? And how did you come about them in this...place?”

She pulled away from his grasp, turned her back to him. Her voice came out in halting, soft tones, just barely above a whisper. “Years ago, even before we had met at that conference, I served as a translator and as a guide to foreign dignitaries when they came to visit our historical sites. On one such occasion, I was assigned to work with Dr. Kampmann on an archaelogical dig near the ancient city of Ur. He and I worked together for many weeks. He came to know of my special talent to discover the truth of things and people by touching them with my hands. During our time together, we came to know each other very well, and after he had to leave without finding what he had been looking for, I promised to continue looking for it.”

Daniel couldn’t contain his excitement and determination to know more. He grabbed her by the shoulders again and turned her back around to face him. “Tell me, what was he looking for in this God-forsaken country?”

She looked away from his face, even as he held her in his suddenly harsh grasp. Her voice came out in a raspy, choking whisper. “Home. He was looking for his home.”

“What?” His disappointment ran deep. “What are you talking about, woman? Drake Kampmann is not from Iraq. He’s an American, born in New York to immigrant parents!”

She was frightened at his sudden coldness, his doubt. “You don’t know him as well as you think, Dr. Bernstein. Dr. Kampmann has many, many secrets. But these are not mine to tell, if he has not shared them with you. But you must believe me when I tell you this, I have found what he was looking for. I have some very, very important items that I recovered from the site, items that he must have returned to him. But I have not told anyone else where they are, I must be freed so that I can recover them and return that which is rightfully his.”

Now, Daniel’s lusts were ignited on multiple levels. He knew he must have her, and he must know more about Drake’s secrets.

He released her from his grip and backed away. “Yes. I can see that I must find a way to help you then.” He turned away from her and reached into an interior pocket of his white lab coat, pulling out a sealed needle where she could not see his hand. He slipped the cover off of the needle nose and squirted a small fraction of the liquid out to clear any air bubbles from the mixture.

Hiding the hand that held the needle, he turned back around and approached her in a more comforting manner. “Let me talk to the commander, then, and see if there is some accomodation I can make for you.”

As he finished speaking, he brought the needle down and behind her before she could react. With a swift jab of the needle, it pierced her clothing and sank into the softer flesh of her bottom. He held her close, preventing her from jerking away as he injected her with one of his ‘special drugs’.

Her struggles quickly ended as she slumped into his arms, soft and pliant to his will, but fully conscious.

He pulled the needle out and discarded it on the floor as he lifted her now totally limp weight and placed her on the long wooden bench along the far wall.

“I am sorry, my dear Zenni, but you are going to have to provide more answers to my questions. You should know that your voluntary muscles below your neck will be beyond your control for several hours now. You can still speak, but you will be unable to escape until I apply the antidote to this drug, or it wears off in the morning.”

“D...D...Dr....B...Bernstein, w...w...why are you doing this? P...p...please do not do anything you or I will regret later.”

“Well, I for one, will not regret this one bit. You may not either, if you cooperate and answer my questions fully. You may even enjoy the encore.”

She understood his meaning. “I...I...I am a married woman, please don’t do this.”

“Cooperate with me fully and you may have some new tricks to take home to your husband.” With that, Daniel began to slake both of his lusts...the purely physical, and the lust he didn’t even realize that he had before, to gain a measure of power over Drake...