Date: 08/07/2001
From: SouthernSlider

AAARRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!! Finally!!!!!! It is now 2:20 and I have tried all day to get on to post another chapter. It kept telling me the website was not responding. At one point I was able to get in and respond to DMD's elevator post, but then it wouldn't let me post a new topic. This is the pits!

Anyway, time's awasting. Here is the next chapter, before the crazy thing bumps me off!
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Chapter Twenty

Just when Quinn’s impatience was about to get the better of him, Arturo came to a door, headed with Jim Austin, Proprietor of Time. He sucked in his breath, hoping he
would find the right answers in there -- and that they would be good ones. Arturo punched another key into the slot; the latch released with a click and the door opened only an inch. Arturo pushed in opened and entered.

Quinn and the stranger entered on Arturo’s heels. Colin turned to say something to Remmy, then jerked around with surprise to find him nowhere in sight. Looking up
and down the corridor and seeing nothing but long empty hall space, he raced inside the room to catch up to Quinn.

Quinn looked around at what he gathered to be the outer waiting room to Jim Austin’s office. Nothing looked out of the ordinary of any waiting room he had ever been
in. Plush, leather sofas, brocade-covered chairs, elegant end tables and coffee tables all cluttered with magazines -- outdated, he was sure. The only thing was: it didn’t match the sterility of the hallway, reception area, and scientific wing of this vast establishment.

“Quinn!” Colin said, tapping his brother’s shoulder.

“Just a minute, Colin.” Quinn put him off. He was headed for the only other door in the room aside from the one they had entered. Patience wasn’t one of his virtues. He
could no longer stand on ceremony and wait for the professor to handle things.

“No, Quinn. I think we have another problem,” Colin answered. He grabbed at Quinn’s arm to keep him from walking away. Quinn turned on him with a frown.

“What?” he said angrily. “What now?”

“Remmy is not with us.”

Quinn scanned the room and saw his brother was right. In irritation, he responded. “Maybe he stopped off at a bathroom.”

“I do not think so, brother. As we walked down the corridor, I saw nothing but four rooms, marked as Time Travel Rooms for the different decades. There were no
doors marked as restrooms.” He tried to ignore Quinn’s aggravated scowl. “I know he was with us when we entered this corridor. Something has happened to him.”

“Great. Just damned great!” Quinn grabbed a magazine sitting just at the tips of his fingers and flung it across the room.

Arturo turned from the office door to see red-faced Quinn, an astonished stranger, and an apologetic-faced Colin. “Great Caesar’s ghost! What is the matter now?” he
bellowed.

“It seems I’ve lost another of my party!” Quinn bellowed in return. “I might as well give up. I can’t keep track of anyone!” Another magazine fell prey to his irritation
as it sailed through the air to settle next to it’s companion.

“What in the world is going on out here?” came a voice floating through the opening door. “Arturo! So glad to see you, my man. Miss Ellis informed me you were
on your way over.” He looked around the rotund man to see the others. “But she didn’t say why. Are these gentlemen with you? Bert!”

He recognized his buddy from town. Bert often dropped by the store to chat, but had never been to the Complex. Surely, he couldn’t be in on anything with the lady he
had brought here.

Quinn stepped forward in a flurry, grabbing the man by his shirt. “Where’s Maggie?” he yelled, snorting like a bull about to charge.

“I . . . I beg your pardon?” He turned to the professor. “Arturo, is he with you? Young man, please unhand me!” He grabbed at Quinn’s hands to push him away.
Recognition slapped him in the face. “Quinn Mallory!” he whispered in awe. “She was right!”

“Who was right?” Quinn slammed him against the wall. Although the man outweighed Quinn by close to a hundred pounds, he was no match for his height and raw
strength, especially when anger and fear were fueling him along. “What have you done with Maggie?”

Jim Austin sputtered, wondering if his burly henchmen could hear what was going on, hoping they would abandon the woman to come to his rescue.

“Mr. Mallory! Please! There is no need for this violence,” yelled Arturo. “If he has your precious Miss Beckett, I am sure there is a logical reason; and he would not harm her. Now, let him be!”

Quinn didn’t move, except for the twitch in his jaw. It took several seconds for the professor’s words to process. The man almost whimpered in his grasp. Only when he
assured Quinn that the lady was all right, did he release his hold on the man.

“Where is she?” Quinn’s teeth ground with every word.

“I . . . I thought she was with the government. She was trying to buy time for only a few minutes. This isn’t the first time they’ve tried to nail me for wrong-doing. I wasn’t going to have any of it. Then she told me she was with you, that she had spoken with you just this morning.” He furiously tried to explain himself, desperate to have the maniacal Quinn Mallory out of harm’s way.

Quinn pushed him aside, rushing into the man’s office. No one. Seeing the closed door in the opposite corner, he raced toward it. A muffle sound could be heard on
the other side. He sucked in his breath when he saw Maggie bound and gagged in the chair with two giants standing over her. He stopped dead in his tracks. Austin may have
been a push-over, but Quinn was smart enough to know he wasn’t going to muscle his way through the two goons to make a rescue.

“Call them off, Austin!” he yelled, never taking his eyes off Maggie. Her eyes flared with anger. At him? Or at herself for getting into this mess?

Austin, Arturo, Colin and Bert came running up behind him.

“It’s all right, gentlemen. Get her loose,” Austin commanded. The man on the right frowned and hesitated.

“You heard him! Get those things off of her!” Quinn ran to her side, only semi-assured the goons wouldn’t make Play-doh out of him.

“Well, it’s about damn time!” she bellowed as soon as the tape came off. At the click of the handcuffs, she twisted and bolted out of the chair. She came within seconds
-- and inches -- of giving the closest goon a swift kick in the shin.

“What the hell do you mean, it’s about time? What have you gone and gotten yourself into? Next time, maybe I’ll just leave you to your own rescue and see how you fair!”

Loud, angry words flew back and forth as they lashed out without hearing a word the other said. Their diatribe continued for several seconds, much to the amazement of
Arturo, Austin, and Bert. Even Austin’s henchmen raised wary eyebrows. Colin wanted to be amused, but his mind flew to the absence of Remmy. He had to get Quinn’s
attention and move to the next catastrophe at hand.

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I hope I will see you in the morning. It all depends on this cantankerous website.

SS

Wonderful : )

Date: 08/12/2001
From: sliderlynn

I didn't have a chance to read your story until today.
As usual, you have done a wonderful job!!!!! But I really
wouldn't want to be between Quinn and Maggie while they
are fighting. Now to find Remmy.Thanks to Colin. My
prince. :)

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Nominated by DieselMickeyDolenz