Cars 2 (3 page)

H
idden from the party guests, Finn McMissile was secretly running the image of every one of those WGP cameras through his computer. So far, each one had been rejected as NOT A MATCH with the camera from the oil derrick.

From out of the crowd, a gorgeous sports car parked herself next to Finn and swiftly eyed her surroundings. Then she leaned in and whispered the secret code, “A Volkswagen Karmann Ghia has no radiator.”

Finn barely moved as he whispered the coded reply, “That's because it's air-cooled.”

The two spies had been given the coded prompt and reply so that they could identify each other at this party. Now they moved swiftly into their hushed introductions.

“I'm Agent Shiftwell. Holley Shiftwell from the Tokyo station,” she said. “I have a message from London.” Holley was a recent graduate of the secret- agent academy, brand-new to the world of espionage. Not a field agent like Finn, she did diagnostics work, examining and interpreting data.

“Not here,” Finn whispered as he led Holley to a glass elevator. When the doors closed, he spoke more freely. “So the lab boys analyzed the photos I sent? What did they learn about that camera?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary, I'm afraid,” Agent Shiftwell replied brusquely. “They said perhaps you could get closer pictures next time?”

Finn bristled. “A good spy gets what he can, then gets out before he's killed.”

The younger agent looked flustered. “Yes, sir. Of course.” Then she added, “There's an American agent who's been under deep cover on that oil platform. He was able to get a photo of the car who's running the entire operation.”

“This could solve everything,” Finn muttered.

“The American is here tonight to pass the photo to you,” Holley added. “He'll signal you when he's ready.”

Ding!
The elevator doors swung open.

Finn was pleased with Holley's news. “Whoever's in that photo is up to something big,” he commented quietly. “He has hundreds of hooligans working for him, including Professor Z.”

Holley, too, knew of Professor Z: “One of the most dangerous weapons designers in the world,” she whispered. Then she added, “There's one other thing before I go: The oil field itself? It turns out it's the largest oil reserve in the world.”

Finn pondered that for a moment. “This is bigger than I—” He stopped abruptly as he saw two Gremlins and a Pacer moving through the crowd—Professor Z's cars! Finn immediately recognized them from the oil derrick. He ducked behind a large Japanese ceremonial helmet. He knew that now he'd never be able to make contact with the American agent without being recognized.

“What is it?” Holley asked him.

“New plan,” Finn told her swiftly. “
You're
meeting the American.”

Mater continued to roll happily through the party. He really was beginning to feel at home in his glamorous new surroundings.

Wandering up to a sushi bar, he stared eagerly at the feast before him.

“Lightning's probably starving,” he said to himself thoughtfully. Then he asked the chef, “Hey, you got anything that's free?”

Mater noticed the fiery-hot green wasabi. “What about that pistachio ice cream?”

“No, no, wasabi,” the chef said, correcting him.

But Mater didn't understand. He still thought it was ice cream!

He pointed to the spicy green wasabi again. “That looks delicious. I should probably sample some myself just to be sure.”

The chef nodded and put a small dab of wasabi aside for Mater. “Uh, a little more, please,” Mater asked. The sushi chef 's eyes widened as Mater asked for more and more.

“My condolences,” the sushi chef said in Japanese when Mater finally drove off into the crowd with a huge glob of the hot green sauce.

As the party guests enjoyed their refreshments, Sir Miles Axlerod introduced Number 95, Lightning McQueen. The room erupted in cheers.

“You and your team bring excellence and professionalism to the competition,” Sir Miles was saying, when he was silenced by a piercing scream. It was Mater, driving in circles, eyes bloodshot red.

Mater peeled off toward the waterfall behind Lightning and Axlerod—and dove into the fountain.

“Sweet relief!” the tow truck howled as the water cooled his burning grille.

Sir Miles Axlerod was shocked. Lightning cringed. He could see that Mater was making a spectacle of himself. Other cars were laughing.

“Whatever you do,
do not
eat the free pistachio ice cream! It has turned!” Mater shouted. He was still splashing in the water and gasping for air. That hot green wasabi felt worse than an overheated radiator! Lightning turned to Axlerod and tried to apologize. “I can explain, Sir Miles,” he said as he introduced Mater. “He's, uh, just a little excited.”

“I can see that,” Axlerod said, looking down at the floor between them.

Lightning looked down, too, and saw a puddle of oil. Mater had leaked!

“Mater!” Lightning whispered as he pulled him aside. “You have got to get ahold of yourself. You're making a scene!”

Mater was confused and embarrassed. “But I never leak oil,” he told Lightning honestly.

Lightning just shook his head. “Go take care of yourself right now!”

Mater rushed through the crowd. “Comin' through,” he said. “Where's the bathroom?”

P
oor Mater found his way to the bathrooms, but the signs above the doors were in Japanese. Mater knew he had a fifty-fifty chance of getting it right. He made his choice and rolled in. Two seconds later he zipped out with the sound of high-pitched shrieking behind him.

“Sorry, ladies!” Mater called back.

Mater entered the ultramodern men's room. He rolled into an open stall and was very impressed. It was equipped with a fancy lift and a flat-screen monitor.

Mater pushed a few buttons. Lights began flashing. The little stall seemed to come alive with moving gadgets, and the monitor lit up.

“Welcome to the bathroom!” a little cartoon character giggled. Mater wasn't sure if he should hide. The character was a girl!

Now,
this
was something Mater had never experienced! The lift began to rise under him as the little character said, “Please sit quietly and let us do the work for you.”

A tiny spurt of water tickled him. Mater giggled.

Then Mater screamed! The water flow had increased, shooting up into his undercarriage. The water was freezing! Gadgets from every direction began poking and prodding him. Mater desperately pressed knobs and buttons, adjusting water velocity, temperature, and brushes. A lot of things were working, all right, but none of them was doing what Mater wanted! He just wanted to leave!

Outside Mater's stall, Rod Redline, the American agent, was getting ready to pass off the information he had for Finn. He removed his disguise and looked at himself in the mirror.

“Okay, McMissile,” he muttered under his breath. “I'm here. It's time to make the drop.”

Swiftly, Rod sent out a coded signal to Finn.

Immediately Holley picked it up. “The American has activated his tracking beacon,” she radioed Finn, waiting for further instructions from him.

“Roger that,” Finn replied. Then the seasoned British agent told Holley, “Okay, move in.”

As Holley rolled toward the men's room, Mater slammed buttons and thrashed about, struggling to get out of the stall.

Just outside, Grem and Acer had discovered Rod. The American agent had been cornered and barely stood a chance against Professor Z's two thugs. They fought as Mater thrashed around inside the stall.

Finally, Mater crashed through the stall door, smashing into the thugs.

Mater had no idea that he had just interrupted a brawl. Rod was already pretty badly beaten. Professor Z's two cars were determined to recover his top-secret information.

Huffing and puffing, Mater stared at Grem and Acer. He towed cars like these all the time back home in Radiator Springs!

“Hey! A Gremlin and a Pacer! No offense to your makes and models, but you guys break down harder than—” Mater stopped short. He felt a tickle as Rod slipped a small device into his undercarriage.

“What the…?” Mater said as he turned and saw Rod for the first time. “Whoa. You okay?” Mater asked the battered American agent.

“I'm fine,” Rod responded, knowing that Grem and Acer wouldn't get the information he'd been carrying. It would soon be out the door with this dented old tow truck. The device he'd slipped into Mater's undercarriage contained information that would lead Agent McMissile to the head of Professor Z's evil operation.

“Hey, tow truck?” Grem said, trying to get Mater's attention. “We'd like to get to our
private business
here, if you don't mind.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Mater answered. “Don't let me get in the way of your private business.” He was about to leave, then turned back and added, “Oh! A little advice: When you hear her giggle, press that green button. It's to adjust the temperature.”

“Got it,” Acer answered.

“All right, then,” Mater said, and rolled out of the bathroom.

With Mater gone, Grem and Acer turned their attention back to Rod.

Outside the men's room door, Holley picked up the signal coming from the device on Mater. The rusty, dented tow truck was hardly keeping a low profile.

“This can't be him,” she said into her radio. No secret agent she'd ever heard of would act like this!

Mater was shaking a rear tire as he approached the dance floor. “Look out, ladies,” he said. “Mater's fittin' to get funky.”

“Is he American?” Finn radioed back.

Holley sighed. “Very.”

“Then it's him,” Finn told her.

Holley quickly drifted over to Mater and whispered the coded message: “A Volkswagen Karmann Ghia has no radiator.”

“Of course it doesn't,” Mater replied. “That's because it's air-cooled.”

If there was anyone who knew all about cars, it was Mater. He was a tow truck, after all. He loved to help other cars. When they broke down, he tried to fix them or tow them. It was his nature.

In the world of espionage, though, Mater had just delivered a secret code to identify himself as an international spy! Naturally, Holley and Finn assumed he was the American agent.

“I'm from the Tokyo office,” Holley began to tell him. But Mater wasn't done giving her all the facts on air-cooled engines. She was, after all, a very pretty car, and he was hoping to impress her.

He rattled on about all sorts of makes, models, and years in car history before Holley finally interrupted.

“Listen,” she said, “we should find somewhere more private. Impossible to know which areas here are compromised. When can I see you again?”

“Well, let's see,” Mater answered happily. He couldn't believe she was asking him out on a date! “Tomorrow I'll be out there at the races.”

“Got it,” Holley replied. “We'll rendezvous then.”