Chapter Three: Jenny in Control

"Good heavens, Nick!" Jenny Halsey wrinkled her nose as she entered the dank, foul-smelling cell inside the busy police station. "What on earth have you been up to?"

"Assault," said the tough black cop. He handed the beautiful blonde scientist a form to sign, releasing bruised and battered Nick Morton into her personal custody. "He jumped a bunch of girls from the Crandall College Rowing Team on the river early this morning."

"Those girls are marked for death!" Nick's bloodshot eyes were wide with alarm, his filthy, unshaven face frantic with terror. "Ahmanet is using them as bait, don't you get it?"

"Right, we get it." Jenny handed the signed forms back to the New York City cop. "A bit too much to drink, that's all. Mr. Morton and I were celebrating last night, our archaeological expedition in Iraq was a great success. But now it's time we got back to business!"

Nick didn't like the way Jenny smoothed things over, using all her English charm on the tough black cop. His head ached from lack of sleep as well as from the beating he'd taken. Before he could make it clear that he was in charge she whisked him out the door and into a waiting taxicab.

"We need to go to Crandall College," Nick croaked, rubbing his throbbing head. "The professor there has been messing with girls, while pretending to do a study on Egyptian relics."

"How interesting," Jenny said coolly. She gave Nick a look. "Perhaps you've been messing with the girls yourself. How on earth did you get beaten up so badly?"

"I'll explain after we see the professor." Nick wasn't up for a debate, especially not with Jenny Halsey. He just didn't have the energy. He felt like he'd been trampled on by a herd of elephants.

"No, you'll explain after we get you cleaned up and cared for."

Nick got the picture. Jenny was taking him back to her hotel room. There was nothing out of line in how she took control, putting the shower on high and shoving him under jets of steaming hot water. Nick threw back his head, feeling the sting of the water and remembering the hot, scorpion kisses of Ahmanet. He moaned, and Jenny Halsey frowned at all the bruises on his naked body.

"Get that evil goddess out of your head," she growled. And then she climbed into the shower with him.

Afterwards, they rested on the bed. Nick told Jenny everything, but the part about Professor Bloomberg preying on the girls seemed silly without any evidence to back it up.

"This Bloomberg chap doesn't have the Eye of Ra," the sensible lady scientist pointed out, as she was rubbing Nick's shoulders while he rested face down on the bed. "All he did was write a book about the dark history of Egyptian magic, and the curse of the lost gold medallion. So how could the professor be using its powers?"

"I don't know," Nick grunted. "But I sensed evil in the park."

"That's why you ran down to the boathouse?"

"I had to warn the girls."

"Right, of course you did." Jenny kept up the soothing massage, stroking her male companion's bruised and battered muscles ever more slowly while Nick sank little by little into a deep sleep. He was very tired after all that ridiculous running about. As soon as she felt poor Nick was out, Jenny went to her closet and began to dress.

Nick was jumping to conclusions, she decided. But perhaps Professor Bloomberg would appreciate a lady visitor.