#3 Hypno Hounds! (Agent Amelia)

by Michael Broad

“I’m terribly sorry, miss,” he said. “But we do have many other nice things for a sophisticated young lady. I’m sure you’re too grown up to play with teddy bears anyway….”

  Trudy’s dad gasped and took a step back.

  “I don’t play with them, you silly little man,” growled Trudy. “I collect them!”

  “Oh,” gulped the manager. “I’m sure I didn’t mean …”

  “It’s a very grown-up and intellectual hobby,” interrupted Trudy. “My teddy bear collection is one of the finest in the world. You’ve just ruined my reputation with your incompetence!”

  With this Trudy stormed away, leaving the manager with his mouth hanging open.

  “Those roller-skating teddies must be awfully popular to sell out so quickly,” said Mom, stepping up to the manager. “Do you have any idea when they’ll be back in stock?”

  “That’s the problem, madam,” he said, scratching his head. “Fifty new Turbo Teds arrived this morning. We haven’t sold a single one! The entire stock just vanished!”

  I lowered my sunglasses when I heard the word vanished. In my experience, things never just vanish. There’s always someone behind the vanishing.

  “You mean they were stolen?” I asked casually.

  “No,” said the manager. “The head of security has been through all the security camera tapes. He said the bears were there one minute and gone the next. It’s a complete mystery!”

  Very suspicious, I thought.

  I was just wondering whether the missing teddies warranted an investigation when I saw something whiz by out of the corner of my eye.

  I only caught a brief glimpse, but it looked suspiciously like a small bear on roller skates!

  “I suppose we’ll have to find something else for your cousin,” Mom sighed. “I know he’ll be very disappointed, but I’m sure if we put our heads together, we can think of something nice.”

  I frowned at the “we” part. I couldn’t carry out an investigation with Mom tagging along. And I knew she’d find me if I gave her the slip. So I needed a really good excuse to go off on my own.

  “Can I have a look in the Girly Girl clothing section?” I asked. Mom would definitely encourage my showing an interest in pretty dresses instead of the usual combat gear.

  “Yes, of course!” Mom gasped. She flapped her hands eagerly. “Off you go, darling!”

  I immediately took off down the aisle toward the girls’ section. Without my backpack, I was planning to dress up in a pink frilly dress for my disguise. It would be uncomfortable, but Mom wouldn’t recognize me. No one else would suspect a girly girl of being a secret agent.

  Unfortunately, I had to abandon that plan the moment I arrived at Girly Girl.

  “Well, I think they’re all UGLY!” yelled a familiar voice from a sea of frills and bows. “I wouldn’t be seen dead in any of them. Don’t you know that the customer is always right?!?”

  I’d managed to avoid Trudy Hart back at the bear display, and I definitely didn’t have time for her now. So I ducked into the nearest aisle and found myself in the men’s clothing section!

  A secret agent can’t afford to be choosy when she needs a quick disguise. I rummaged through the racks for something I could work with. Eventually I pulled on a brown overcoat. Then I popped a bowler hat on my head and grabbed an umbrella.

  A quick glance in the mirror revealed a rather convincing businessman.

  I was adjusting my bowler, which was a bit too big, when I heard a commotion at the checkout lane. The customers in line were searching their pockets and handbags while the store staff looked bewildered.

  “My wallet!” said one man.

  “My purse!” said a woman.

  It looked as though most of the customers in the line had lost their money. This was a lot of picked pockets for one department store! There would have to be a whole gang of pickpockets working the place. This was a bit of an odd coincidence, considering the missing Turbo Teds.

  Unless …

  I scanned the store and saw a small furry paw reach into a woman’s handbag and pull out her wallet! Nearby another paw appeared from a clothes rack and reached into a man’s coat. Everywhere I looked, I saw little furry arms in pockets and handbags. Brown blurs were whizzing all over the place.

  The Turbo Teds were robbing the place!

  One of the bears whizzed past my legs with a pink purse in its paws. I took off after it, chasing it through the aisles as its fuzzy, brown legs skated like mad. The toy weaved in and out of clothes racks. It was getting away, so I leapt forward, swung my umbrella, and hooked the cuddly crook around the waist.

  “Gotcha!” I said. I immediately flicked the switch on its back to Off.

  Then I plucked the purse from its paws and inspected the fuzzy bandit. I suspected someone had programmed the toys and sent them on a crime spree. But there were no marks or modifications. It looked like a regular Turbo Ted.

  A regular remote-control Turbo Ted!

  Someone was controlling the burglar bears from a distance.

  The department store was huge and full of people moving around. Trying to spot a suspicious character among the masses was like finding a needle in a haystack. Then I looked up and saw a security camera buzzing over my head.

  “Aha!” I said. I shoved the bear headfirst into the clothes rack.

  The manager said the security guard hadn’t seen the bears disappear, but he wasn’t a secret agent with an eye for evil geniuses and criminal masterminds. If I could just find a way to view those security tapes….

  “THIEF!” shrieked a familiar voice. “That short man has my pretty pink purse!”

  I quickly whipped the umbrella handle under my nose to conceal my face from Trudy. Before I could escape, the store manager appeared from behind and grabbed my arm firmly.

  “Gotcha!” he said, taking the purse and handing it to my fuming foe.

  Trudy snatched the purse. She was about to tell the manager off again when I suddenly knew how I could get in to see the security tapes. I quickly fished around in my pocket and pulled out my library card.

  “Excellent work!” I said, in my deepest, most official voice. “Very well done!”

  “Excuse me?” said the manager.

  “I’m the Regional, er, Security Supervisory, er, Manager!” I said waving my library card in his face. “I got a call from headquarters saying you have a security problem in your store?”

  “Well, yes,” frowned the manager. “But—”

  “No time to explain,” I said, pocketing the card and tugging my arm free. “You must take me to your head of security immediately!”

  “But what about me?” Trudy demanded. “I’m a victim of crime!”

  “Pardon me, miss,” I said. “You dropped your purse over by the frilly underwear. I was simply attempting to return it. Perhaps you should spend more time guarding your things and less time yelling at people!”

  The store manager stifled a smirk as he led me to the security guard’s office. He introduced me as the Regional Security Supervisory Manager, which was handy because I’d forgotten the made-up title I’d told him.

  “So you need to view the tapes?” said the security guard after the manager left.

  “Yes,” I said. “Please start with the Turbo Ted display from earlier today.”

  The man fiddled with a couple of buttons and then pointed to one of the monitors. But instead of the teddy display, the screen showed a close-up of the men’s clothing section, with me assembling my businessman disguise!

  It was then that I took a closer look at the joysticks lined up along his desk. At first I’d assumed they were there to operate the security cameras. After a closer look, I realized they were not actually connected to cameras. They were remote-control joysticks!

  “You’re working the cuddly crooks!” I said. I was annoyed that I hadn’t figured it out earlier. “And you’re using the security cameras to direct them from a distance!”

  “Yes,” said the security guard
, proudly. “And this is only the beginning!”

  “Whatever do you mean?” I gasped. I knew exactly what he meant. I can usually tell when a taking-over-the-world rant is coming. I had to stall for time while I worked out a plan.

  “Once my bears have stolen enough purses and wallets, I’ll buy an army of Turbo Teds,” he said, pointing to the pickpockets on the monitors. “And soon I’ll have enough to rob the whole world!”

  “You won’t get away with it!” I said.

  “Oh, yes, I will!” he laughed. Then he began tugging and jerking the joysticks.

  At first I thought he was ignoring me and carrying on with the pickpocketing. Then I heard a strange noise thundering down the corridor. I realized he’d guided the teddy bears to the office!

  The rumbling reached the room, and the door burst open. Then fifty fluffy bears zoomed inside with wallets and purses. They began circling my legs like I was standing in the center of a tiny roller rink.

  The security guard snatched the loot from each of the bears and stuffed it in a sack. Then he threw the sack over his shoulder, laughed like a maniac, and bolted from the office.

  The Turbo Teds had picked up so much speed that I couldn’t step through them. I pulled off my overcoat and threw it over the toy tornado. Most of the bears became tangled in the coat. They tumbled across the room and landed in a heap against the wall.

  The rest I slapped away using my umbrella like a hockey stick.

  I ran to the camera controls and saw the security guard walking very quickly through the store. Then I noticed there were still a few remote-control bears in the store. I began wiggling the joysticks to get them to move.

  Once I’d figured out the joysticks, I sent the skaters after the guard. I made them weave in and out of his legs. The bears slowed him down, but he was still getting away, so I took off after him.

  Back in the store, I realized I was no longer in disguise. The coat and the umbrella were in the office. All I had left was the bowler hat. It must have looked pretty odd on its own, so I slipped it off.

  I ducked down as I ran through the aisles. I couldn’t risk drawing attention to myself dressed as me. The guard was nearing the exit doors. If I didn’t act fast, he would escape with the loot.

  I couldn’t shout out, because no one would suspect a security guard of picking pockets. I had no backpack, and that meant no gadgets to help me. All I had was a silly bowler hat that wasn’t even mine….

  Then I had an idea. I paused to turn the hat over in my hands.

  As I suspected, there was an electronic security tag on the inside. No one could take the hat from the store because alarms would go off as it passed through the sensors!

  With the guard approaching the exit doors, I knew I only had one shot. I made a few practice flicks with my wrist, and then I threw the hat like a Frisbee.

  The bowler flew through the air like a black flying saucer. It soared over the heads of the shoppers and through the sensors as the guard approached. It was a better shot than I’d hoped. It clipped his head and knocked his cap over his eyes.

  The store alarms screamed, and all the shoppers turned to see the guard bump blindly into the doors before staggering back into the store. Just then, a stray bear rolled under his legs. The crook tripped and landed on his bottom.

  “My wallet!” yelled one man.

  “My purse!” shrieked a woman.

  The loot sack had fallen open, spilling its contents over the floor. A crowd of angry shoppers quickly gathered around the crook. Moments later, the store manager appeared and pulled the guard to his feet.

  “Has anyone seen the Regional Security Supervisory Manager?” he asked. “He’s a little man with an umbrella and a bowler?”

  Needless to say, no one had seen him. The store manager called the police, and the dazed guard was taken away. He was mumbling about little girls and bears. He didn’t make any sense to anyone.

  As the crowd left with their purses and wallets, Trudy stormed toward the manager with her dad. She picked up the stray Turbo Ted that had tripped the crook. She waved it at the manager.

  “So you had them in stock the whole time!” she growled.

  “Er, I’m not sure where this one came from,” said the manager. He frowned at the bear.

  “But I’d be happy to let you have it, to apologize for any inconvenience. I’m sure we can find the joystick….”

  “Are you crazy?” Trudy squealed. “It’s worth NOTHING if it’s not still in the box!”

  Trudy Hart stomped out of the department store. She left without ever knowing I was there, because this time I was hiding behind a rack of puffy pink dresses.

  “There you are!” said Mom, stepping through the aisle. “Did you find anything you like?”

  “No!” I gasped. I backed away from the dresses before she insisted on buying one.

  “Me neither,” Mom sighed. “It’s such a shame about those roller-skating bears….”

  “THE TURBO TEDS?” I yelled, loud enough for the manager to hear.

  “IF ONLY THEY HAD ONE IN STOCK! I’M SURE WE DON’T CARE IF IT’S IN A BOX OR NOT….”

  Mom had obviously missed all the drama and didn’t understand why I was shouting. So I just raised an eyebrow and tried to look surprised when the manager walked over to us.

  He was smiling and holding up my cousin’s birthday present.