The Time Travelers' Club: Chapter 35 -- Give Me the Information

(Dear reader, remember chapter 20.  The one where there was a man bound to a chair.  Did you wonder who it was?  Well, here’s that same chapter, only expanded.)

"Tell me what I want to know!" Dr. Herkeimer was sharp.  He loomed in the shadows of the barren room. 

The metal shade of the low-hanging ceiling light created a circle of light on the floor. In that circle sat Griffin Graff, strapped to a wooden chair.  Dried blood lined his face and matted his salt and pepper hair.  His bristly beard was greasy and mangled.  Barely conscious, he rolled his head from one side to the other.  His tired eyes squinted as he looked up at the glowing bulb.

Griffin had been kidnapped outside a small village in South Africa, where he had been tracking another copy of Namvelt's books on time-travel.  His nephew, Xavier, had reported his disappearance to the Time-Savers several few weeks ago.

"I don't know.  I swear to you," said Griffin, licking his dried chapped lips.

Bruno, the brutish of Dr. Herkeimer's minions, stood in front of Graff.  "Boss, I'm tired of askin'. I've been mussin' this guy for a couple of hours.  By now, he woulda spilled."

Dr. Herkeimer's voice responded.  "Very well. We must get the old lady or the boy.  One of them will know."

The Doctor and Bruno left the room.

Griffin slumped forward in the chair, feeling the ropes dig into his chest.

Outside in the dimly lit hallway, Dr. Herkeimer gave Bruno instructions.

"I want you to come back later and see if you can get any further information.”

With his instructions, Bruno hulked away.  Dr. Herkeimer popped his knuckles and marched to another door, unaware of the cloaked figure lurking in a dark corner of the hallway.  

The figure slipped along the wall and through the door of the room where Griff sat.  He gently closing it behind him trying to make any sound.

The shadow flattened against the inside wall, evaluating the bound man, then tiptoed slowly towards him.

"Griff," whispered the cloaked figure, laying his hand on his shoulder.  Griffin raised his head, dazed again at first by the bright light above him.

"I'll tell you nothing." Griffin barely looked at the shrouded face, but then recognized the voice.  “It’s you.”

"We must get you out of here."  The shadow pulled a knife from inside his reddish-brown cloak and cut through the rope.  Sliding the bindings off, Griffin managed to rise from the chair and with the help of the cloaked figure, staggered towards the door.

"Here drink this first.  It'll give you the quick strength you need to escape." 

Griffin took the small vile filled with bluish-green liquid.  After gulping it all, within moments, he perked up as if he had just come back to life.  Griffin wiped his moustache and mouth with his shirt sleeve. 

"Damn. What was that stuff?  Tasted like mix of sour grapes with a dead monkey." 

"I just mastered it.  I'll tell you later and besides it won't last long so we've got to move quickly.  Wait here."  The cloaked man went back to the chair and placed a white calling card with a winged-hourglass symbol.

The figure then slowly cracked the door open and checked in both directions.

"We have to go that way." The cloaked figure pointed to the far end of the corridor. An oak door with wrought-iron strap hinges was lit by a single lantern hanging above it.

When they reached the door, the cloaked figure slowly pulled it open. Griff felt a cool wind rush in on his face. They slipped out and found themselves outside.  The full moon provided some illumination on a gravel path weaving through a flower garden, well-groomed shrubs, and mighty trees.  The wind rustled the leaves.

Griffin followed as they hurried along the gravel path.  Griffin turned to see a gloomy old stone mansion.   The moonlight glowed on the dark glass panes in recessed and arched windows.  Towards one end of the wall, a few windows had light glowing from inside.  Turrets on each corner had high-pointed roofs that looked like witch's hats.

"So that’s Dr. Herkeimer’s lair, eh?" said Griffin.  "Looks like s typical villains’ hideout. So why don’t we poof out of here?"

“I don't want to do that here even though we are along the side of the house.  Takes too much of the excitement away from the daring escape."

They came to an iron gate overgrown with weeds.  "I oiled the hinges earlier, so they don't squeak."

They slipped through just as voices echoed from near the house.

"I think they've discovered I'm gone," said Griffin.

"Wait...," said the figure. "The voices are coming from the front of the house."

Hiding in the overgrowth around the gate, they could see long shadows on the ground cast from interior light coming out of the front entrance.  On the driveway, someone was getting into the driver's side of a roadster.

"Someone's leaving.  I see headlights."

Moving from the gate, they ducked behind a hedge that lined the entire side of the drive.  The car's headlights illuminated the drive as it raced past them.  Griffin and the figure ran along the other side of the hedge all the way to the drive's end.  The car turned and sped off. Taking advantage of the car's noisy exit, they ran across the road into an overgrown field.

"My car is hidden on the other side of this field," said the figure. "I found a path among the high grass. We follow it until we reach the other side.  We should be safe."

"You're great at making plans," said Griffin.  "Why don't we just poof to the other side?"

"Too dangerous.  And they're called incantations.  And quit asking.  They might see the flash of light caused by using them.  That's the problem with using some of them.  You can't use it in the dark that well, especially if you're trying not to be seen."

"Good thinking.  You really know this stuff."

"It's my job.  They don't call me The Rescuer for nothing."  They disappeared into the field.  Eventually, they emerged on the other side where an old beat-up yellow car sat.

"Nice car.  Where'd you get it?  The junkyard?"

"I bought this car a long time ago.  Its engine is the quietest I've ever heard."

They sped away.