Free Good Chemistry by George Stephenson

percent of the men you know and all the women. You can’t completely hide the sadness that’s always there, just under the surface. Now it seems to have broken through.”
    Debra sighed and cocked her head sideways shaking it at his condescending line of bullshit.
    “There’s a hot, passionate woman locked up inside of you like a caterpillar in a cocoon, waiting to burst forth as a beautiful butterfly.”
    Debra chuckled and glared at him defiantly. “Oh really. Is that so?”
    “Yes, actually it is. It’s rather obvious to anyone who has eyes to see it.”
    “Is that right?”
    “It’s all right there in your eyes.”
    Debra shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Either this guy was a really good guesser or he was some kind of psychic. She was beginning to feel cornered.
    “I see you. I know where you are and where you’ve been.”
    “And just where might that be?”
    “Hell. No man’s land. Your heart aches for someone to love you. To be your partner, your equal . . . but you’re too strong. You intimidate everyone. You’re the one who ends up feeling like Frankenstein. I’ve thought about making love to you.”
    “Is that so?”
    “Yes. I’m the only man who can.”
    Debra choked and sputtered on her tea when he said that.
    “I’m the only man strong enough to be your equal. I have no need to put you down or to control you. I can see that you’re in a tremendous amount of pain as well. I’m strong enough to be vulnerable and help you through it. I’m strong enough that I can afford to show weakness.”
    Johansen gazed deeper and deeper into her eyes. “I know what pain is. You won’t put me in jail, Debra Janine Manning. No. In fact, you’re going to join me.”
    This time it was Debra, who cracked up laughing.
    “You’re the only woman strong enough to be my partner. You’ve forged yourself into a sword of the hardest steel. The question is . . . do you have the will to wield it?”
    “Is that right?” Debra kept nodding condescendingly at Johansen.
    “You know it is. You’re already beginning to question everything. Why should you live a life like everyone else? If they want to be half-hearted peons, fine. Let them. But you’re strong enough to be free.”
    “To what, be a thief like you?”
    “Sure, why not? All of your life you’ve lived by someone else’s rule book. Where has that gotten you? You’re not loved. You’re not respected. You’re not understood. You’re not free. Hell, you’re not even appreciated for what you do.”
    Debra flinched. This bastard was reading her like a book and all she could do was sit there repeating, ‘Oh really.’
    “What you are is strong. Strong enough to forge your own destiny. However, without someone to share it with it’s completely meaningless. If you don’t join me, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. If you don’t use that strength you’ve developed, it will only become tiresome and heavy, and eventually it will outweigh you. Your own strength will collapse on you and crush you from within. I think it’s started already. Where are you thinking of going? The FBI, the CIA?
    It’s still the same school, just the next year along. Same weak, egotistical men calling you dyke to your face and bitch when your back is turned. Well, I’ve given you a lot to think about. I must be going, but I will be seeing you again, soon.” Johansen stood up and leaned his long steely frame over the table. Putting a strong, confident finger under Debra’s chin, he turned her face up to his. Gently his lips brushed across hers.
    Debra closed her eyes and tried with every ounce of her strength to stop shaking. Once more, Johansen seemed to take only a few steps before he disappeared. For Debra, her second encounter with the notorious Doc Robber was every bit as exhilarating as the first.
    She asked the waiter to bring her some Scotch tape. Debra used the tape to lift a print off the edge of the table where Johansen, or whatever the hell his