Chapter 9: Discussions, Discussions.

Cami woke to sudden stillness. She had been rocking back and forth all night to the train, so the stillness was slightly unsettling. Sam was snoring next to her, completely unperturbed. He always was the heavy sleeper.

Cami crept out of the sleeping area and opened the door slightly. She looked out the crack and saw that the train had stopped in their destination. Cami shut the door and leapt back into the sleeping area.

"Get up Sam." Cami started shaking him. "Come on. Get up. We're here and we need to go." Sam refused to wake up. "Sammy, I have a huge chocolate sundae here for you, with nuts and strawberry and caramel sauce and a cherry."

"What kind of ice-cream?" Sam mumbled.

"Death by chocolate, mint chip, and vanilla." Cami whispered, picking out all of Sam's favorite ice-cream flavors.

"Whipped cream?" Sam asked, pulling himself up.

"Plenty of it." Cami said sadly getting up. "Dang, what I would do for an ice-cream."

"What I would do for a hot shower." Sam hoisted his bag over his shoulder and handed Cami hers.

"I take that back. I want the shower more than the ice-cream." Cami opened crawled out to the door and Sam followed her. They slipped out the back door and walked out of the train station without anyone bothering them.

"How did you sleep?" Cami asked, making conversation.

"Better than I thought I would. You?" Sam stretched his arms wide. "Where are we heading?"

"I slept well, and we need a base before we do anything." Cami said stretching too. "Any ideas?"

"We just got here and neither of us know the lay out of the land." Sam said flatly. "We need to look around for a base and find out where the Contessa is, but this time I'll be going in and you are going to watch from the sidelines."

"Of course, Samuel-Darling."

Sam groaned. "Shut it, Camille."

Cami just smiled.

After hours of searching, Cami had located the Contessa and Sam had located a temporary base. The two of them agreed to not do anything else until they had eaten something. They went into a little café together without disguises and ordered a huge breakfast.

"So, what are you planning to ask her?" Cami asked while she and Sam waited for the food to arrive.

"Pretend I'm interested in buying a house, and… I don't know." Sam finished lamely. "I honestly haven't thought about it."

"Direct approach." Cami said, smiling.

"No." Sam said flatly. "That is not going to happen."

"Then let me come with you." Cami said. "It will look weird if you come by yourself to buy a house for the first time. Don't people usually buy their first houses with a housemate or a sibling or someone?"

Sam looked down at the table and mumbled something about Cami's annoyingly true logic.

Cami laughed. "Well, I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yes." Sam growled. "Dang, why do we have to be accurate?"

"Because," Cami lowered her voice, "we're doing something dangerous and it's better to appear average and normal than anything else."

Sam rested his head on his fist. "Why are you right?"

"Because I'm hungry. I always do my best work hungry, especially when food is promised. Here it is!" Cami said as a waitress brought over a stack of pancakes for Sam and an egg, cheese, and ham sandwich. They each had an order of fruit and home fries.

"Is that true?" Sam asked once he had come up for air.

"What?" Cami asked with her mouth full of egg.

"That you work better when hungry?" Sam prompted.

"I don't know." Cami said once she swallowed. "It worked then. Maybe not all the time, but it worked once." She took another bite of her sandwich. "We should figure out what to say to the Contessa."

"We have the first part: pretend to be interested in buying a house." Sam's pancakes were swimming in maple syrup. "How are we going to discreetly figure out if she knows anything?"

Cami stabbed her fork into a slice of pineapple. "We could try to ask if she knows any good places in Prague. She lived there when Dad came after her, and when she had Mom locked up, right? It might unnerve her into saying something useful and we could keep asking about it." She stuck the pineapple slice in her mouth.

"Food also makes you think better." Sam licked syrup off his lips. "Same disguises?"

"I think we have to change them. I mean we need to be something like best friends, a couple, or siblings. Which would you prefer?" Cami asked. She had wolfed down her sandwich and was attacking her home fries.

"Best friends or sibs. You?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Cami asked skeptically. "Sibs or best friends?"

"Best friends. Sibs is too close to the truth." Sam said. "Come on, let's finish eating here and get ready."

Somewhere at the same time…

Sly groaned. He had a massive headache and he couldn't remember what had happened. He was lying on a hard metal bed and he could feel something tied around his wrists. Slowly, Sly realized he was in a windowless cell somewhere. He pulled at the restraints to no avail. Sly tried to lift his head, but it just made him dizzy.

"You're awake." Came a voice. It was low and masculine. "That's good, I thought you had died."

"Who are you?" Sly demanded. "Where am I?" He tried to see the speaker, but all Sly could manage was to see a huge silhouette.

"All in good time, Cooper." The voice said. "In the meantime, don't let that head wound get worse. You're needed alive."