Chapter 2 - Harbour
All the townsfolk were still watching Finn with Mater and Sarge leaving town. The aloud interchange of their opinions started soon after the cars disappeared from their sights.
'I still … I still can't believe it,' Luigi started.
'Me neither,' continued Sally, 'But who knows what would've happened if Lightning'd been here. Maybe they still wouldn't have said goodbye to each other by now.'
'They sure wouldn't have,' said Sheriff slightly chuckling, 'Finn had it a lot easier to get Mater out.'
'But there are such serious problems with mafia in Italy? Nowadays?' Luigi worried, 'I just can't help thinking about my uncle Toppolino who lives there. I hope he's alright.'
'We hope so,' Sheriff assured, 'but I don't think it should affect them somehow.'
'It's still my homeland, and there's a bond between us. That's why I'm kind of distressed about both the uncle and the homeland,' Luigi explained his concern. Even though, he'd lived in the USA for more than thirty years, his love towards Italy was irrefutable, and there was still the homesickness preserved inside his soul.
'Look at Fillmore over there,' Sally suddenly changed the topic pointing at the pie-eyed hippie van, 'he has no idea about what just happened here. To be honest, I envy him. Unawareness is bliss.'
'Well, he'll find out tomorrow,' said usually delighted Ramone lugubriously and sighed, 'if only there was a way we could help our friends in this crucial moment.'
'I don't think we can. Unfortunately. We'd be a burden to Finn rather than a sidekick,' Sally was thinking aloud.
'Well, I'm sure Finn and Sarge will manage to look after Mater,' Sheriff tried to make the gloomy mood in town milder, 'and I'm sure they'll all come back alive and fine.'
'I'd love to share your optimism,' whimpered Luigi still overcoming the concerns about his uncle. He tried to stay calm but these nightmares were scaring him stiff.
'But Finn really does look like he's seriously concerned about Holley; he managed to lunge to our town in the middle of the night just to find some help for her,' Sally commended Finn's bravery and went on to encourage everyone (together with Sheriff), 'I'm sure they'll come back healthy and one day we'll be only laughing at this crisis.'
Seeing slightly outraged and indignant faces of everyone in town, she changed her last thought: 'Or we'll be remembering of it as something what was and never ever will happen again.'
'Was I the only one who was surprised at how Mater didn't mind going with Finn?' Ramone asked rhetorically leaving Sally's embarrassment behind.
'I think everyone was surprised. But most of us know what love can cause in real life,' Sally remarked. She sure knew what she was talking about; after all she'd been in a relationship with Lightning for an amount of time.
'Well, then, let's wish them all, and especially Mater good luck. Now, I guess we'd really better go back to sleep. Waking and musing here is not gonna help,' Sheriff ended the conversation.
Meanwhile at Mater, Finn and Sarge
As the cars were leaving town and the look at it was slowly dwindling in the yonder, it couldn't let Finn not to thank them both once again: 'I would really like to thank you for coming with me. You don't know how much I truly appreciate it.'
'Aw, shucks! That ain't nothing!' retorted Sarge as though Finn's gratefulness meant nothing to him.
However, Mater misunderstood Sarge's attitude and rebuked him: 'Why're youse so stern to Finn? He ain't do nothing bad. Just thanking you.'
Sarge only dropped his stern ogle on Mater which left him speechless.
'He's not stern,' Finn said smiling and winking generously at Mater.
Finn, of course, didn't forget to thank Mater as well. And in his case he was sure that he wouldn't retort to him: 'And particularly I'd like to thank you, Mater. You're doing a very brave deed and do deserve some respect. One might think that gentlemen have already perished but I have a living proof which proves one wrong; you, Mater!'
'Yes, to be honest, you surprised me with your abrupt but steady reaction as well,' Sarge applauded Mater as he slowly started to blush, even though he wasn't actually a prude type of personality.
'Thank you.' was all he managed to say at that moment. Mater was facing the contrary winds of bewilderment, and he couldn't quite keep up the pace with them. He'd never experienced someone he'd loved being seriously endangered.
As Mater was strolling in a continuous flow of his thoughts, Finn started talking about the mission: 'Well, we'd better get to the point of the mission.'
'I'm listening!' exclaimed Sarge with his military manner.
Mater giggled at Sarge's attitude, but Sarge stayed still, and reminded Mater of one of those guards he'd seen in Buckingham Palace who hadn't moved or blinked with their eyes and were had just been standing still what made him giggle even more.
'Well, first we need you to get the compulsory gear. Luckily, I do have my associates everywhere, and there's one in Genoa's vicinity as well, so when we land, first we'll get there. The list of the things you'll take will be given to you when we arrive at Genoa,' Finn explained ignoring Mater's childlike giggling.
He went on: 'As I've already said, I managed to place an eavesdropping bug on one of those rascals what's given much information about Holley's status. It doesn't seem that anything bad might be about to happen to her, nonetheless we do need to get there as quickly as possible, because she's still in jeopardy.'
After Finn finished, there was mainly silence on their way. It took them a few minutes to reach him, even though they were quite in hurry.
'Hi, chum! I'm back with good news!' Finn greeted Siddeley.
Seeing Finn come with two other cars, Siddeley couldn't have not remarked smirking: 'Well that was quick! See you were successful more than you expected!'
'I still can't believe how generous the townsfolk were! Seemingly, you can recognize your good friends only when you're in a problem. And we can definitely vanquish the crooks, since one of them, Sarge, used to be in American military,' said Finn slightly smiling.
'Oh, you've got your associates everywhere!'
'Mater, Sarge, this is Sid,' Finn changed the topic abruptly.
'Nice meeting you,' both the cars responded.
'Nice to meet you both too. It'll be a pleasure and an honour for me to work with you,' Siddeley beckoned.
'Oh, shoot, don't sweat it!' Mater rebuffed the Sid's admiration, as he'd already felt uncomfortable enough from all the praises.
'Well, I'd be honoured to join forces with you and fight against that plague dilating here!' Sarge concurred.
'So, now, when you know who you're going to work with, let's finally go and have a few hours of rest, shall we?' proposed Finn. Both the cars beckoned.
The journey didn't take very long as Siddeley had been a fast and skilful plane. During the journey, Mater, in spite of his effort to stay up, passed out of fatigue overcoming him shortly after getting on the plane. Sarge and Finn, however, did stay up successfully.
They used the time they had to clarify how the mission would go on.
'So, Sarge, we'd better get to the plan of the mission,' Finn proposed.
'How about Mater?' Sarge asked.
'He'll comply with your commands I'll give you. Do you think you could handle Mater?'
'I hope so. What's the plan?'
'It's basically pretty simple,' Finn started to talk after turning on the holographic device with the schemes of the ferry he'd already made, 'first of all, you need to know that Holley is kept in a ferry which is now floating to Genoa. I managed to get that from the bug. We need to get through the ferry's entrance where there are two patrols guarding it. This is where I take part. I'll shoot between from my gun. If everything goes all right, it'll distract them and they both will leave. Then we'll sneak up on there.'
'Hold up, how do you know that the shot will distract them?'
'It will do something what will make them leave the entrance, that's for sure. Whatever happens, it'll give us an opportunity I'll use.'
'Okay, then, I hope you know what you're doing.'
'Don't worry, Sarge. I do.'
'Yeah …' Sarge growled.
'Well, the next part of the mission is the part which cannot be handled by a single car, because I need someone to be on the two places at the same time which is certainly impossible.'
'That's right.'
'In the ferry's hull is a dashboard taking care of the entire safety system in the ship. I might go there and deactivate it but that would cause the alarm to go off.'
'How do you know that the alarm will go off? And how do you know there even is one?' Sarge's incredulousness wouldn't let him not ask.
'Take a look here,' Finn patiently explained, 'Can you see these alarms? They're pretty well hidden but if you look more thoroughly, you'll see them crammed in the corner. And it's not only here but here and here …' Finn pointed at the alarms in the pictures.
'Okay but why would it go off after the deactivation of the alarm?' Sarge still insisted on knowing everything.
'I was very lucky, Sarge,' answered Finn smiling, 'I could see from the video that one small alteration of the ferry's safety system caused the alarm to ding through the whole area. Would you like to see the video?'
'Yes, please.'
Having watched the video, Sarge was enticed and believed Finn.
'That's why I need you and Mater to get here,' Finn pointed at the 3D scheme, 'We'll be communicating between one another with the transmitters, and once we both reach our points, we will deactivate the systems. But don't forget of the order; first you must disable the alarm and then let me know. After that, I'll deactivate the safety system.'
'What's the difference between the safety system and the alarm anyway?' Sarge had to ask another question.
'The alarm indicates the intruder on the deck, and is turned on manually. The safety system goes off automatically when you walk through the lasers sensible for any movements,' Finn explained to Sarge who was finally fully content with knowing everything. At least for that time he did.
'And after we have deactivated the systems, we'll gather in the hall which is located here.'
'What do we do after that?' the time of Sarge's satisfaction was gone.
'Well, we save Holley. She's beyond this door.'
'How do you know that?' Sarge asked for the umpteenth time.
'I know Holley is in that room from the video. It's not a very large room, so the key to save her is to enter the room which will be easy after the deactivation of the systems, and then we'll just escape. If there were a problem, I'll be there to solve it.'
'This plan seems really daring,' Sarge remarked.
'I know but it's the only functional one. Believe me, if there was a simpler way of having assurance to save Holley, I'd choose it. But the rascals have been ready for me. And paying them $10,000,000 is a preposterous idea. That's not even the value of my property; and I'm rather well off.'
'Look, I've been trying to avoid asking you this but do you think we'll survive this mission?' Sarge asked with concern.
'We should. It's not the easiest mission I've been to but I did my best to make it as easy as possible. But with your and Mater's skills, we're sure to succeed.'
3 hours later in Genoa
It was about 3 o'clock a.m., and even though it was scarcely dawning in Radiator Springs, it had already been a bright day in Genoa. Rays of the sun were beautifully arranged with the ambient houses of the Italian Riviera. It would be very hard to believe that such a glamorous city might be a nest of the international crime.
Siddeley landed on the ground on a public airport station. He seemed a normal plane arriving at it for the public around, even though it was all the part of their disguise; to blend with the audience, so they wouldn't draw too much attention to themselves.
Finn looked guiltily at Mater. He didn't really want to wake up the dozing tow track, but he had no choice. He cautiously came to Mater and nudged him with his tyre a few times. All of a sudden, he woke up panting for air.
Seeing Mater shocked at something, Finn drove aside and spoke to him slightly chuckling: 'It's fine, it's just me, Mater. We've arrived at Genoa and need to go.'
'Okay, wait,' Mater muttered.
Once the squad got outside, they were on the airport zooming with aeroplanes landing and departing from every direction. Finn kept leading the mission: 'Now, as I've said we'll go and see my associate here. But first, there's a harbour distant from this airport only a few hundred metres. There's probably our ship where Holley's kept. If the information the bloke on the transmitter has unwittingly given me is correct, there will be a huge black ship dwelling in the harbour at this time but it might float away at any time, so we must hurry.'
'Okay, then. Let's go,' Sarge said.
But Mater asked seeming surprised: 'Does dat mean Holley is on a public place?!'
'Yes, it is, Mater. Are you surprised at it?' Finn reacted trying to understand Mater's thoughts.
'I thought she'd be kept on a secret place. But … they dare to be dat cheeky to show off on public?!'
'Well, why does that seem strange to you? After all, they're mafia,' Finn leered at Mater.
Sarge was observing the conversation between the bickering cars. He was smiling at seeing how unknowledgeable Mater was. He didn't regret having gone with Mater at all, because he knew sooner or later, Finn wouldn't manage him.
But then Mater ineptly proposed: 'And could we go see that ferry? I mean what it looks like. I always wanted to see one of them ferries …'
'Forget it!' Sarge settled down Mater. He ceased to talk at once. Sarge and his military manners had apparently worked on him.
'Mater, I wouldn't go there now if I were you, because if you draw too much attention to yourself, it might cost you a lot. And we're still in hurry to save Holley!' Finn urged.
On their way, Sarge still wanted clarifications: 'What gear exactly are we going to be given?'
'Oh, it's hard to say. You'll definitely need some guns for protection and professional transmitters so that we'll be able to communicate. But first, we'll go and take a look at all he offers, and then according to our needs we'll assess what we need to take. I know what the place we'll be performing the operation in looks like, so I'll be in charge of choosing the proper gear for you both. It's not going to be something very advanced, though. For safety reasons he keeps only rudimentary gear.'
15 minutes later
The cars finally got to the place where Finn's friend was. It wasn't very big, and looked somewhat odd, but Finn knew this was the place.
He knocked on the door. The familiar voice came from behind: 'Who's there?'
'It's me, Paul,' Finn answered with their password, 'I came here to bring you that black marten you'd asked me for.'
All of a sudden, the door opened with a small green car standing at the threshold smiling and encouraging the folks: 'Come in, come in!'
As Finn, succeeded by his friends, entered the house, it couldn't let Sarge and Mater not to laugh at the password they'd just heard. 'Black marten? That's crazy! And pretty extraordinary,' Sarge scoffed.
'Yea' and I thought I was the only one who had the crazy ideas!' Mater stoked it up.
'Oh, stop it, you two!' Finn rebuked the clamouring cars, 'We don't actually use only this password; it's a set of many rules according to which we can mutually recognize our identity very easily.'
'What are these rules?' Mater inappropriately asked.
'Not important.'
'Well,' Jim, Finn's associate, started talking, 'I see you need help, Finn. I know you but how about the rest of your squad? Who do they work for?'
'To be honest,' Finn smirked sheepishly, 'they are just my friends. But I need their help and …'
But before Finn managed to go on, Jim looked at Finn, outraged interjecting his speech: 'You mean to tell me they're both untrained?!'
'Well, no; the older one served the American military for decades, and the other one once helped me out during the mission last year. Then he was the one who revealed who had been the mastermind. You remember the scandal with Allinol, don't you?'
'Oh, this! I knew I'd seen that truck before, but I just couldn't remember where … But I still don't get why you've brought them here.'
So Finn explained everything as it was.
'Okay, then. Come with me and I'll show you what I've got,' Jim finally said.
When the cars entered the stock, Sarge was quite surprised at seeing all the sagely devised gadgets placed on every wall of the stock. Many of the technologies which there were he'd never encountered before.
Mater's reaction wasn't very uncommon, as he'd already witnessed the full arsenal of the top secret gear. But he reminisced of the events from the last year where the exact things were happening. These memories made Mater a little bit uncomfortable but he instantaneously realized who he'd been doing it all for; for his Holley – and his concerns were gone just like that.
Finn's reaction seemed fine as well until he suddenly dropped a gaze on a device he'd already been familiar with. That device was a holographic disguise emitter, and it unequivocally wasn't a basic technology. Being curious about its source, he came to Jim and asked him scowling suspiciously: 'Where exactly do you have those holographic emitters from?'
'Oh, those little things?' answered the bloke slightly smiling.
'This is the top-secret and advanced technology of C.H.R.O.M.E.! How did you happen to get it?!' Finn insisted on getting the answer.
'Well, it's a long story …' started the car his story but he only enraged Finn even more 'Will you answer me or not?! I'm bloody anxious to hear the story but do make it fast; we're in hurry!'
'Okay, just calm down. I'll tell you. It was a one year ago when some of your friends left it here for me.'
'Who was that friend?!' asked Finn still speaking fast of the anger grappling him.
The car remained silent for a moment. He knew it would be hard for Finn to process. Then he only sheepishly whispered: 'Leland. Leland Turbo it was.'
Finn's eyes went wide. He didn't expect to receive such an answer. But he wasn't suspicious about the legitimacy of the Jim's answer. His instinct was nifty enough to recognize a deceit but this time it was the truth spoken from the Jim's mouth.
'But how did Leland get here in first place?' Finn wondered.
'It was before his last mission where, as you know, Leland deceased. I don't know what made him do it, he probably wanted a safe temporary stock for his equipment which was redundant for him or something but he brought it to me to keep it safe until he would come.'
'Why have you been keeping them even after his death and didn't tell me?'
'Well, when he gave them to me, I put them here to the stock, so they'd be in a safe place. But when I heard he passed away, I gradually forgot of it. I wasn't concerned about it; after all they're on a safe place now, so what bad might happen?'
'Basically, anything. There are crooks daring enough to abduct Holley a few miles from this place and if they traced your stock, you might get in real trouble.'
'So, what would you propose?'
'Now let's not think about it. We still have to save Holley and we're just wasting our time with this nuisance.'
In the meantime, Mater and Sarge were observing the conservation between the cars. They didn't get much from their speech, but seeing Finn's perplexed face, they knew something crucial was happening.
'Sarge, Mater, sorry for that delay but there was some business which needed to be taken care of. But now, let's go and pick up some equipment. Come with me,' Finn spoke.
Then the squad entered the stock and Finn looked around: 'So, let's think what might come in handy. As I've said we will need transmitters and guns. That should do.'
'Won't we need anything else?' Sarge objected.
'Nope. Guns and transmitters will be enough. There's not much to choose anyway. Speaking of guns, I don't know how your body is adapted for hiding them, so you'll have to undergo a fast check-up first. Mater is fine I already know where he can keep his guns. Is that okay?'
'If you have no other choice, then fine. Will it take long?'
'No, it ought to take about fifteen minutes.'
'Hey, Finn, what about dat contraption over there?' Mater pointed at the holographic disguise emitter not knowing it was what it was.
'That's a holographic disguise emitter. It would come in handy as well, but its implanting takes at least three hours, as it's a delicate procedure, and we can't afford to fritter so much time. You remember it took you rather long to have it implanted when we were heading for Porto Corsa, don't you?'
'Yeah, it seemed endless,' Mater remembered, but then he asked the most ridiculous question he could: 'Can I be a monster truck again after saving Holley?' He certainly remembered of how he was playing in a train when they were heading for Porto Corsa. He was a monster truck, a German truck, a funny car … simply anything he wanted to be!
But Finn coldly retorted: 'There's no time for games, Mater!'
'You wouldn't endure being even only for one day in American military!' Sarge rebuked Mater who sheepishly put his head down.
'Basically, now I know what you two will be taking for the mission. These two things will be enough for you. Anyone has got any other proposal?' Finn asked Sarge and Mater.
'I see here these retractable pads converting one into a hydrofoil. Wouldn't they be suitable for the mission in case something went wrong and we would have to escape through water?' Sarge tried.
'I've been considering taking them too, but I don't think you will need them. First of all, it takes lots of time to attach it to a car, and second of all, I still possess oxygen cylinders which will help you survive in case of danger. They can last for about 1 hour each and I've got four of them.'
'But we should be prepared for any case of danger,' Sarge objected.
'Yes, but in this case these pads are not necessary; actually they'd be redundant. And have I mentioned that the procedure takes almost an hour for each car? And we mustn't waste our time.'
'I still think you're doing pretty risky compromises.'
'Well, we can't waste two hours with attaching the pads to you. We can't let the ship float away. Now we have a unique opportunity to sneak up on there without facing any bigger problems.'
'Okay, then,' Sarge gave up, 'I trust you.'
'Thank you a lot,' Finn winked at Sarge, 'I appreciate it.'
Although Sarge remained speechless, Finn knew Sarge had found his arguments reasonable.
A few minutes later, both the cars were prepping to get on the operating theatre.
When it was all done, they departed the house and rushed back to the harbour side.
