Cryptotrappers- It Haunts the Thames

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Thursday 24. I took a few days off work to be with Randy in hospital. Fortunately, Eva was all for the idea; I think she was worried about him as much as I was. He's recovering very well for what the injury did to him; and so am I for that regard. No more limp, and only mild back pain. We binge watched some anime that I found admittedly fairly tropey, and told jokes for most of the visit. Even Sid popped in once or twice. With any luck, Randy should be back on his feet soon. But I'm still in a two man band for now. I could talk about the impacts being on the team has had for my daily life at college, but this log's for my work. So, as per the norm, I walked to town, and entered the base, this time without having to lie to Lucy. Something was off as soon as I entered; Eva was dealing with some new beeping device whilst in the storage room, somebody was packing furiously.
"Eva, what's going on?" I hurriedly asked, catching her attention."
"Michael, good you're here." Eva sighed with relief. "A delivery ship in the Thames has sent out a distress signal, one that we've picked up. Whatever the situation, it sounds cryptozoological. I need you two to check it out."
Eva's tone sounded dire, I didn't blame her. If just to feel helpful, I joined Sid in the other room to help pack.

It seemed that Sid was already nearly finished by the time I got there, but as I approached, Sid nodded my way and gestured to the table.
"Throw me that net there, I might as well throw that in."
Tossing the net at Sid, I decided to look around a little more to see what tools of the trade I'd have to use in future. Rifles and darts of course, rope, nets of various sizes and uses, camping gear, baits, and other things I didn't recognise.
"By the by, what size..." Sid began, before shaking his head. "Never mind, it should fit fine. Come on, let's head outside."
"Outside?" I asked, stopping where I stood in confusion. "We're going outside?"
"Oh, Eva didn't mention?" Sid smiled, a concerning sight in itself. "I'm driving us there."

That's how I ended up swerving past the London Eye, sheet white and holding on for dear life, as Sid swerved into parking between a taxi and a lamppost in his spike covered off-roader with a generic looking heavy metal band sticker on the back. As I sat in the back trying to escape my own body, I asked myself a simple question- why couldn't Eva have driven! The journey left me feeling seasick, never mind carsick! Woozily, I crept out from the vehicle, fighting the urge to throw up and collapse on the pavement for about five minutes as Sid opened the boot.
"How the hell do you have a license!" I asked, voice shaking as I tried to pull myself together.
"I act nice in front of cops." Sid replied, deadpan. "You've got a wetsuit and rebreather waiting in the boot. With any luck, we don't need them, but better safe than sorry. Especially with you."
"Diving gear." I nodded, inspecting the sleek black wetsuit. "Where was this when I was drowning trying to capture Gambo?"
"In my pack. I wasn't exactly awake to hand it over." Sid answered gruffly, before beginning to walk off. "Now come on, we've got ten minutes."
"Until what!" I asked for the last time, exasperated.
"We've got a witness to interview."

"So, it was a giant frog." Sid growled, miserably.
It had been one hour and seventeen minutes, and we were nowhere closer to learning what had happened. Witness was, well, a quite simple lad called Greg. He's a vegan, 26 years old and he has had four girlfriends across his life, with one of whom the relationship lasted four whole months, before she left him and went off with a very unflatteringly described banker named Joseph. You may be wondering how I know all of this useless information? Well Greg, clearly in no rush to give his statement, went through his entire life story during our interview. By this point in the conversation, I was fairly hungry and desperately in need of an overpriced coffee. But I went on listening, for the sake of the Cryptotrappers, and for the mission as a whole.
"Yes, a giant frog," he said. "Probably. Definitely. Probably. Yeah. A giant frog, with a helmet on, or something similar. I didn't see everything clearly, but I think it strangled the captain? I mean I wasn't expecting it to be there, I wasn't expecting to see... you know, I mean I was only even by the Thames because otherwise I'd risk crossing paths with Linda and-"
"Greg, I won't sugarcoat this. I don't care about Linda." Sid finally admitted, as I sighed a silent sigh of relief. "Please, just finish your statement so we can go and sort out whatever it is you saw."
"Alright..." Greg responded, a little dejected seeming. "Well, after it strangled the captain, I think, as I said I didn't see it too well, it jumped into the river! And it's still out there. I've even given it a name- the Thames Strangler."
"Creative." Sid replied, his face stone.
"Thanks!" Greg replied, clearly missing the irony. "Okay, I've just remembered something. So you know I said about that party with Janice-"
"Okay statement over, great to meet you Greg, we'll be going now!" I quickly finished the conversation, pulling Sid away before he burst a blood vessel and leaving Greg to babble to nobody about whatever he was going to say. I needed a drink.

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