Cars 2 (9 page)

“C
omputer,” Mater said, zooming down a side street. “I need the thing you did before to get me away from Lightning.”

“Request acknowledged,” the computer responded. Lightning was more than a little surprised to hear Mater talking to a computer. He was even more surprised when the rocket thrusters kicked in.

Lightning and Mater, still hooked together, were catapulted toward a wall. Mater screamed to the computer, “Now I need you to do the chute—the second kind, not the first!”

“Ahhhh!”
Lightning yelled. He closed his eyes and heard a swooshing sound. Then he felt air beneath his tires. Lightning didn't understand, but Mater's chute had popped open. The two best friends from Radiator Springs were airborne over London!

Mater steered the chute toward Buckingham Palace. The Queen of England stood on a balcony, surrounded by an audience of dignitaries, including Sir Miles Axlerod. They were gathering to celebrate the completion of the World Grand Prix.

“Who's winning the race?” the Queen was asking one of her attendants, when Mater and Lightning suddenly dropped from the sky.

“Look out below!” Mater shouted.

“Back up! Back up!” the royal guards yelled. “Stand back!”

The Queen smiled. “Lightning McQueen!” she said brightly, recognizing the international racer.

“It's okay!” Lightning tried to tell the crowd. “Mater has something to say. Go, Mater!”

Mater felt everyone's gaze turn to him. “Okay!” he said, trying to gather his thoughts. “Someone's been sabotaging the racers and hurting the cars, and I know who! Oh, wait! Your Majesty!”

Mater realized he had forgotten to bow. As he leaned over, everyone saw the ticking time bomb!

“He's got a bomb!” the guards yelled, jumping into action. “Get down now!”

“Hold your fire!” It was Finn McMissile. The agent had tracked Mater to the palace, along with Agent Shiftwell. “You could hit the bomb!”

Finn and Holley raced toward Mater. Finn dove and rolled quickly to place himself between Mater and the Queen. He trusted Mater, but he had to protect the Queen!

“Mater,” Finn said calmly, “I don't know what you're doing, but stand down now!”

Lightning nudged his friend. “Mater, just cut to the chase!”

“Okay!” Mater cried. Then he turned toward Sir Miles Axlerod. “It's him.”

“What?” Axlerod exclaimed. “Me? You've got to be crazy!”

Mater continued: “I figured it out when I realized y'all attached this ticking time bomb with Whitworth bolts—the same bolts that hold together this crummy old engine from the photograph. And then I remembered what they say about old British engines: If there ain't no oil under them, there ain't no oil in them.”

Axlerod was beside himself. The bomb was ticking.
“What is he talking about?”
he exclaimed.

Mater looked Sir Miles Axlerod straight in the eyes. “It was you leaking oil at the party in Japan. You just blamed it on me.”

“Electric cars don't use oil, you—you twit!” Axlerod stammered.

“Then you're faking it!” Mater shouted, filled with confidence. “You didn't convert to no electric. We pop that hood, and we're gonna see that Lemon engine from that picture right there.”

But as Mater moved toward Axlerod to pop his hood, Holley spoke up. “Axlerod created the race, Mater. Why would he want to hurt anyone?”

“To make Allinol look bad, so everyone would go back to oil,” Mater replied firmly. “He said it himself with his disguised voice in that casino.”

“Mater,” Finn said. “He created Allinol.”

“Yeah,” Mater said, “but what if he found that huge oil field just as the world was trying to find something else? What if he came up with Allinol just to make alternative fuel look bad?”

Now Mater had the attention of Holley and Finn. They all moved in toward Axlerod.

“Keep away, you idiot!” Axlerod screamed at Mater. There were exactly eight seconds left before the bomb would explode! “You're insane! You are!”

And then Axlerod said it: “Deactivate!”

The bomb stopped ticking.

“Bomb deactivated,” a computer voice announced. “Have a nice day, Sir Miles.” That proved it. Axlerod was the only voice that could deactivate the bomb. He was the Lemon behind the plot.

The following day at Buckingham Palace, Mater was knighted by the Queen. The rusty tow truck bowed deeply as the Queen said, “I dub thee Sir Mater.”

Mater looked up. “Sir?” he asked the Queen. “Why, you can call me Mater, Your Majesty. I don't want to hear none of this ‘Sir' business. By the way, have y'all met each other? Queen? Lightning McQueen. Lightning McQueen, Queen. Queen? McMissile. McMissile, Queen.” Mater went on with his introductions as the crowds cheered their new hero—the hero who had shown the courage and intelligence needed to save them and the rest of the world, too.

B
ack in Radiator Springs, the town put up a new sign. It read: WELCOME TO RADIATOR SPRINGS–HOME OF LIGHTNING MCQUEEN AND SIR TOW MATER.

Mobs of tourists had shown up to see the final race of the World Grand Prix. All the racers who'd never gotten to finish the race in London were there, too, including Francesco Bernoulli. But all the attention was on Mater.

“So were you really a spy?” one of the tourists asked Sir Tow Mater.

“Tell us everything!” another said.

Mater told them about taking a spy jet to Paris.

“Did that really happen?” a car in the crowd asked. “A spy jet? Come on.”

Just then they heard Siddeley, the spy jet, overhead.

Siddeley made a perfectly smooth landing right next to the Cozy Cone Motel at the edge of town.

“You're right. It does sound a little farfetched,” the sleek jet joked dryly.

“Sid!” Mater shouted. He saw Finn and Holley exit the plane. “What are y'all doing here?”

“We hear that there's a special competition here today,” Holley said.

Luigi rolled up. “So you got my email!” he said as the whole Radiator Springs gang gathered around.

Mater suddenly noticed the dent in Holley's side. It was the dent she'd gotten when she saved Mater from Grem and Acer. Mater hadn't noticed it earlier.

“Don't worry,” Mater said gently. “My buddy Ramone can fix that dent for you in no time.”

Holley smiled. “Oh, no, I'm keeping that dent,” she said. “It's way too valuable.”

“A valuable dent?” Luigi said to Guido. “She's as crazy as Mater.”

Holley and Mater shared a laugh. Maybe spies could have friends after all.

Lightning rolled up and asked why his engine hadn't exploded when the WGP camera beam hit it.

“We couldn't figure that one out, either,” Finn said as he looked around at Mater's hometown.

“Our investigation proved that Allinol was a fake,” Holley explained. “It wasn't really an alternative fuel at all. And Axlerod engineered it so that when it got hit by the beam, it would explode.”

Lightning turned to Fillmore. “Wait a second. Fillmore, you said my fuel was safe.”

Everyone turned to Fillmore. “If you're implying I switched out that rotgut excuse for alternative fuel with my all-natural, organic biofuel just because I never trusted Axlerod, you're dead wrong. It was him,” Fillmore announced. He was looking right at Sarge.

Sarge just shrugged. “Once ‘big oil,' always ‘big oil'…man.”

“Tree hugger,” Fillmore fired back.

Sheriff's voice suddenly came over the loudspeaker. “The Radiator Springs Grand Prix is about to start!”

As the racers moved to the starting line, Francesco caught up with Lightning and Sally.

“Francesco!” Lightning greeted him. “I'd like you to meet Sally.”

“Signorina Sally,” Francesco said, and bowed, enoying the introduction. “It is official. Lightning McQueen is the luckiest car in the world—which he will have to be to have a chance against Francesco today.”

Francesco noticed a sticker on Lightning's rear bumper and asked, “What is that?”

Francesco got closer. “‘Ka-
ciao
, Francesco,'” he said, reading the bumper sticker. “I get it.
Ciao. Ka-ciao
. Is your cute little thing you say. Very clever. Not as clever as Francesco when he say it first.”

As Lightning and Sally turned to leave, Sally said, “Okay, so he's not that great.”

Lightning just smiled.

As the racers pulled into position, Finn and Holley were getting ready to leave. They heard the sound of engines zooming through the desert as they headed toward their jet.

“You're leaving already?” Mater asked them.

“We've got another mission,” Finn told him. “Just stopped by to pick something up on the way.”

Holley and Finn were now partners. They wanted Mater to join them.

“Her Majesty asked for you personally, Mater,” Finn said, holding out one last hope.

Mater grinned. He wasn't a stupid tow truck after all. He was so dang smart that they wanted him to work with them as a bona fide, honest-to-goodness secret agent.

“Well, thanks,” he said, meaning it. “But as much fun as it was with y'all, this is where I belong.” He was glad everyone thought he was smart, but he was even happier to be with his friends.

“We understand,” Finn replied. “Although if there's ever anything I can do for you, just let me know.”

Mater paused, but not for more than a second. “Actually, there is one thing,” he said, grinning.

Moments later, Mater was zooming past every race car on the course.
“Woo-hoo!”
he hollered when he caught up to Lightning.

“Mater?” Lightning shouted in surprise.

“Check it out!” Mater yelled back, grinning. “They let me keep the rockets!”

The two hometown favorites—and best buddies—laughed out loud as they raced side by side toward the finish line.