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She smiled.“You didn’t die, and you’re not going to. Now try to get some rest. It’s still a couple of hours before we land.”

She withdrew, leaving us to ruminate on our most recent brush with death.

“Max?”

“Mh?”

“I don’t think I like airplanes all that much after all.”

“Me, neither.”

I must have fallen asleep then, for when I woke up the plane was already landing. We’d arrived in Thailand, and our new adventure had begun.

The moment we were off the plane, a fancy black car took us to our hotel, where Odelia proceeded to introduce us to our room. The next day we were traveling to the island that would be our home for the next couple of weeks. But for now we were in five-star lodgings in the heart of Bangkok, which is Thailand’s capital, and probably its most famous city.

As I gazed out of the hotel room window, I saw a hubbub of life outside. Little cars called rickshaws or Tuk-tuks crisscrossed the streets, and it appeared as if there were people and cars and buses everywhere.

“This looks a lot busier than Hampton Cove,” Dooley remarked.

“Yes, it certainly does,” I agreed.

I also saw plenty of dogs that didn’t seem to belong to anyone, and wondered briefly if the rumors about the Thai eating cats and dogs weren’t true, after all. At least they couldn’t eat us, ensconced as we were in our fancy hotel room.

“Let’s go out,” Odelia announced.

“Are you sure? I’m pretty bushed,” Chase replied, indicating her words hadn’t been meant for Dooley and myself.

“Yeah, I’ve never been to Bangkok before. We should take this opportunity to see something of the city.”

“As you wish,” said Chase with a smile.

Odelia crouched down next to us.“Will you guys be all right in here?”

“Oh, sure,” I said, and stifled a yawn. In spite of the fact that I’d slept on the plane, I was ready for another nap. “You and Chase have a good time,” I said encouragingly. “Dooley and I will nap until you get back.”

She petted my head and then they were off, leaving us in the relative silence of our room on the fourth floor of the hotel.

And it has to be said, I slept like a log, and didn’t even notice when Odelia and Chase returned.

“It’s jet lag,” Dooley knew when we both woke up in the middle of the night. “I saw it on the Discovery Channel. Your body travels through several time zones and it takes a while to catch up.”

We were both curled up on the foot of the bed, and as I listened to the combined snores of Odelia and Chase, it felt just like home.

I woke up again from the sound of footfalls on the carpet and opened my eyes to see what was going on.

In the darkness of the room, I suddenly saw that a man was standing there. He was at the foot of the bed, holding up a phone and it looked as if he was filming us.

I gulped a little, and poked Odelia’s foot. She stirred, and I whispered, “There’s someone standing there filming us!”

“Yes, Mom,” she murmured. “I promise I’ll be a good girl.”

“Chase, wake up!” I said, giving the cop’s foot a prod.

“The name is Bond. Chase Bond,” Chase mumbled.

“There’s an intruder!” I loud-whispered, to no avail.

The intruder must have gotten hip to the fact that a cat was following his every move, and what sounded to Odelia’s ears as actual words forming coherent sentences must have sounded to him like plaintive mewling.

So even before I managed to rouse my human from sleep, the man lowered his phone and tiptoed away again.

I hopped down from the bed, eager to go in pursuit and find out what was going on, but as I reached the door, he closed it, and that put a stop to my attempts to play detective.

Before he shut the door, though, I caught a glimpse of his face. A scar sliced his left eyebrow, giving him a very sinister aspect indeed.

As I returned to the bed, this time eager to alert my human of the dastardly deeds in progress, she opened her eyes and, after I’d told her my tale, smiled and said, “Go back to sleep, Max. You’re just having a nightmare, that’s all.”

“But he was right here!” I cried.

“That’s great,” she mumbled, and tumbled into a deep sleep, setting an example for me to follow.

Unfortunately I wasn’t convinced it had been a nightmare. In fact I was pretty sure it had been a real person. But I was so tired that soon sleep came, regardless of my vigilance, and when Scarface returned, it was in my dreams, just as Odelia had said. Only in my dream he wasn’t holding up a smartphone but a deadcat. And as he opened his mouth, showcasing two neat rows of razor-sharp teeth, he growled, “I could eat a horse!” But instead of a horse, he ate the cat instead!

I returned to wakefulness with a yelp, only to be greeted by the sight of Chase prancing around the room in his boxers and announcing,“I could eat a horse!” to anyone who would listen.

“What’s wrong, Max?” asked Dooley. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

After I’d told him my tale of woe and sorrow—or rather our nocturnal visitor—he stared at me, wide-eyed and fearful.

“A catnapper!” he cried. “He was here to catnap and eat us, Max!”