Chapter 11: This isn't Good.
"You are never going to into anything like that ever again." Sam said for the eighth time. "You look too much like Dad! I need to do all the undercover work myself!"
The two of them were in their temporary safehouse. Cami and Sam had long since shed their disguises, but during the entire time since then Sam had been pacing and worrying.
Sam stopped to take a breath and Cami started talking. "Sam, calm down. She said that we never saw her and she never saw us, so I'm hoping that she'll keep her mouth shut. Besides, live and learn. We now know that I need to cover my tail with something. That's a good thing, 'K, Sam? Calm down." Cami said quietly. She rubbed her tail.
"How are you so dang calm?" Sam asked exasperated.
Cami shrugged. "I'm not, I'm internally freaking out. Who are we going after now?"
Sam snorted. "Right on task, aren't you? Well, we have Dimitri, Panda King, Bentley, and Murray left. Which one?"
Cami crossed her arms for a moment and then kneeled next to Sam's backpack. She opened it and started shifting through it.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Sam looked over her shoulder. Cami pulled out the pictures that Sam had found inside the file.
"I was looking for these." Cami pulled out the photo of Sly, Bentley, Panda King, Murray, the purple koala, the mouse-lady, and the salamander. Cami pointed to the salamander. "This guy, he's Dimitri, isn't he?"
"Whoa, yeah. I guess he is. I never noticed before." Sam said staring at it. "So, you're saying we should go after Dimitri next?"
"Yeah, I think we should." Cami said. "He looks as though he's Dad's friend, so this might be relatively safer, but I still vote for disguises."
Sam gave her a lopsided smile. "Better ones this time."
Cami rolled her eyes. "I'll cover my tail with something." She donned a thoughtful look. "How do you want to find him? Internet, again?"
"Yeah, that's probably best. Only one of us should go to the café since we were both disguised together." Cami knew what Sam was implying.
"You're really shaken up that the Contessa recognized me, aren't you?" Cami asked quietly. She cocked her head to the side.
Sam looked at his hands. "Yeah…"
Cami smiled slightly. "Fine, you find out where Dimitri is and I'll get some food. We should go to different places for each. We could meet back here in an hour or so."
"No, that won't work! You shouldn't go out! It's too dangerous." Sam said still freaking out.
"Sam!" Cami said so sharply that he stopped, dead. "We have been in danger since the beginning of this whole misadventure or whatever you want to call it. You need to stop acting like a big brother! I know you don't want me to get hurt and I don't want you to get hurt, but right now were risking everything for Mom and Dad. You need to promise me that you won't try to protect me from everything. Right now we're more than siblings, we're partners in this whole fiasco and as partners we need to do stupid things to accomplish the mission! Got it?"
Sam just stared at Cami for a minute. He finally spoke. "I still am your big brother."
Cami snorted. "Only by three minutes, fifty-six seconds."
"Three minutes and fifty-six seconds wiser than you." Sam said goofily. Cami snorted again. Then she burst out laughing. Sam soon joined her.
"Alright." Cami said recovering from the laughter. "But seriously, you understand me?"
"Yeah, Cam, I understand." Sam said rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry for the whole freak out."
Cami shrugged. "If you hadn't done it, I would have. So, you are going to find Dimitri and I'll get us food. We'll meet back here in an hour."
Sam sighed. "Fine. Cover your tail."
Cami rolled her eyes. "And you won't?" She asked sarcastically.
"No." Sam said flatly.
A Short While Later
Sam had found an Internet café in the Southern part of town that was closest enough to the safehouse that Sam could get there relatively quickly, but also far enough that Sam was sure no one could trace him to it. He was dressed with his favorite fake facial hair: a moustache and a goatee and he was wearing thick glasses.
He sat down at one of the computers and searched 'Dimitri'. He came up with famous Dimitris from history. He specified by typing in 'Dimitri, deep sea scuba diver' into the search bar. Sam came up with a fangirl website obsessing about him. He skimmed over various stupid things some crazed fangirl would type before going to a different website. This website was much more informative. He found out Dimitri now lived in coastal Italy. Sam copied down the address and then searched for a way to get to Italy. He clicked on a link that brought him to a travel website that told him about a train that would work. It even had a map of where it would go. Sam was copying the information when he heard a snippet of conversation.
"They're Coopers, of course they're around here." Sam jerked up and saw a boar and a dog conversing.
The boar showed a photograph to the waitress squirrel. When she shook her head, the boar and dog moved on. Sam looked back down at his notebook as he tried to calm his nerves. He scribbled the information down quickly and changed the page as fast as he could.
"Excuse me, sir?" The dog spoke to him.
Sam looked up slowly. "Yes?"
"Have you seen these two kids?" The dog said as the boar held out the photo.
Sam swallowed. The photo was of Cami and himself. "No, I don't think I have." Sam said as normally as he could. He didn't dare make eye contact.
"Really? Are you sure?" The dog persisted. "They might be disguised or something like that."
Sam made himself look at the photograph again. "I'm sure, I haven't seen them." Sam made eye contact.
Meanwhile with Cami…
Cami was waiting for her order to be called. She was sitting at one of the tables in the café. She was disguised as no one in particular; she just didn't want to look like herself. She had used liberal amounts of powder to cover the stripes on her tail and powder to cover the raccoon mask she had over her eyes. She amused herself by watching the various people who walked by the window and into the café.
"Excuse me, Miss?" Cami turned to see an eagle behind her.
"Yes?" Cami asked politely.
"Have you seen these two kids?" Eagle-guy asked. He held out a photo. Cami took it from him to get a better look at it. Her heart skipped a beat. It was a picture of her and Sam together.
"No, I'm sorry." Cami said as calmly as she could. She handed it back to the eagle.
"Oh, well, thank-you." The eagle walked over to the dingo in the corner. Cami heard him ask the dingo the same question. Cami kept the eagle in her peripheral vision until her order was called.
Cami turned around to see the eagle leaving the café. Cami paid as quickly as possible and left. She started following the eagle from a distance. Cami had a knack for staying unnoticed. She used it to her advantage as she followed the eagle. She saw him go into every café and socializing place on the street. Cami knew he was asking people about her and Sam. The eagle-guy walked out of a shop only to get a phone call on his cell phone. Cami crept towards him and tried to eavesdrop on the conversation. She managed to hear a part that made her heart nearly stop.
"Where? Don't let him get away. I'm on my way." The eagle hung up and took off jogging down the street.
Cami was frozen, as her mind comprehended what she just heard. They had found Sam and by the sound of it, he was running. Cami tried to make up her mind on whether to follow the eagle or run to the safehouse. She chose the stupid option and darted into the alleyway next to her. She chucked the food into a dumpster and pulled off the heels she was wearing and chucked them too.
Cami looked out at the street and then back into the alleyway. There was a fire escape that led up to the roof. It would be easy to jump from building to building unnoticed, she had done it once before. Except that time she had Sam with her to help her across. Cami reached for the rail and then pulled back.
"I can't do it." She said out loud. Cami turned and sprinted down the street after the eagle-guy.
Cami ignored the looks she got for running down the street shoeless and in clothing that was not for sports. She caught up with the eagle easily and kept up with him as he dashed down streets and through every shortcut in the city. Cami was bewildered when the eagle ran right past the safehouse. Cami took a quick detour as she slipped in to grab the file, the note, the debit cards, all the cash, and her notebook. She mentally made sure she was leaving nothing behind that wasn't clothes. She knew that Sam had his shock pistol on him, but she also knew that Sam was not going to use it unless it was a total emergency. Cami strapped the second shock pistol to her side, grabbed a pair of good shoes, and left the rest of the supplies there.
She ran back outside and slipped her shoes on. She took off in the direction that the eagle had headed. She was out of breath, but she refused to slow down. Her brother was in trouble and she wasn't going to let fatigue get in the way.