The Case of the Cute Little Teddy Bear

In the last episode, Ben returns to his old hotel, which the three assassins call "our place." As Ben works to regain his memory and strength, he finds out he's a prisoner in his own room.

Someone sneaks into his room and leaves a note and package on his desk. If only he could remember where he hid Tina's jump stick and her little diary.

 Back at Laxo Smut Klump, things are getting interesting, too. Doug is in the thick of things as he responds to a hotline complaint about China.

Read on...

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The figure put a large envelope on the desk and crept out of Ben’s room. Ben waited for a good ten minutes, but he couldn’t hold on any longer. He had to go for a wiz.

He struggled again to get out of bed but now had a pattern of singing and lifting that seemed to work. He peered out of the peephole. Both men were sitting back in their chairs. The one watching in the room two doors up was asleep. The one watching Ben’s room was very still. He looked very nervous.

Ben relieved himself, which was pure ecstasy, and hobbled over to the desk. Strangely, his leg didn’t seem to hurt anymore. It was just a huge inconvenience. On the desk was a note scrawled in pencil:

‘Dear Mr Snake, take the money and go; you have no future in China. You will get hurt.’

Ben was puzzled. Ben couldn't go anywhere even if he wanted to. He was locked in a hotel room and in plaster. He realised that this note was from the guy who had entered his room. He opened the envelope, and there was another wad of money. There must have been ten thousand dollars or more.

He went to the wardrobe. His luggage was in the wardrobe, and his safe was still locked. His clothes looked just like he left them, but they were neater. This showed him that someone had gone through his stuff. Where was Tina’s suitcase? He distinctly remembered getting her suitcase and putting it in his wardrobe, or did he?

Ben sat on the end of his bed. He was mad at himself because he couldn't remember what had happened. Think, you idiot, think!

“How are you feeling, Ben?” came the all-too-familiar voice from in his head.

“Where the hell have you been? You were meant to help me!”

“Easy, Tiger, do you think you are the only person in the world who needs compliance help? Let me tell you…"

Ben cut him off. “Spare me the lecture - I am in no mood. Are you going to help me or not?”

“Ben, if you do not work these things out for yourself, how are you ever going to learn the skills that you need? How can you become the experienced, reliable, and trusted compliance expert everyone seeks?"

"I am going to be sick,” replied Ben. “Blah, blah, blah, just give me the answers like when I do training with no assessment. Why make it so difficult?”

‘Let’s work through this,” responded Calvernicus, taking back control.

Ben shared his memories with Calvernicus. When Ben hesitated, Calvernicus filled in the gaps.

“So, all I have to do is remember where I put Tina’s tiny teddy and his tiny notebook,” relayed Ben.

“I have got it,” said Ben. “It’s in my dirty washing bag.”

“Brilliant,” said Calvernicus as Ben headed for the wardrobe. “They would never think to look there,” he continued sarcastically.

“Maybe they could check there,” Ben said while digging through his dirty laundry. “But I doubt they’ll really do it." Ben thought they could have at least sent it to the laundry. His eyes teared up from his laundry, which was several weeks old!

And there it was. A baby Mr Paddington bear. A little blue coat, a tiny red hat. So soft and cuddly. He pictured Tina cuddling the guy and wondered where she was. Was she still alive, or had she really run off as Ding said? He squeezed his tummy, waiting for Paddington to protest. Bingo! Ben felt the shape of the jump stick and the four corners of Paddington’s tiny little diary.

He put it on the desk and went back to the wardrobe. Was his laptop still in the safe?

He entered the code, and the door opened. "Bingo!" he said again as if he had won his second frozen chicken prize at the local RSL.

Ben went back to the peephole and checked the guard. He sat in his chair, fast asleep. He got back into bed and opened his laptop. “Let’s go to work, Calvernicus,” who was now back in the good books.

The encryption code for the jump stick had to be in the little book somewhere.

He scanned through the little diary. Nothing seemed to jump out. The first couple of pages were about Paddington. When Tina bought him, although the receipt was nearly faded. Some made-up health checks and measurements for Paddington: weight, height, and other basics. Then four pages of numbers that made no sense to Ben. He thought they must be the start of a Sudoku quiz, a Word Finder of some sort, and the rest of the pages were blank.

There must be something, or was it just wishful thinking? "Think," said Calvernicus, trying to be supportive.

Ben wracked his brains and remembered that one of Tina’s hobbies was doing Word Finders and Sudoku. He reread the email Tina had sent him just before they left for China. He read and reread it, and then one sentence jumped out.

She had made a special point of saying, “Ben, this email is your reference if anything goes wrong in China. We must make the numbers add up so we can uncover the key to the past.”

That was it! In Tina’s diary, it was the series of numbers that looked something like "the Omega code."

A knock at the door. Ben stuffed his laptop under the bed. He put the teddy, the code, and the jump stick back in his laundry and raced back to bed. Why were they knocking this time when they had a key?

“Come in,” he said in the weakest voice he could muster, thinking it must be the Three Amigos.

The door opened, and in walked…

Next Episode: Episode 39-  James Bond Would Be Proud of You (I think?).

Till next time,

Calvin