One Step Too Far: Chapter Ten
"Mission Impassable"
"Say, Toni, I was wondering...I umm..." Lightning muttered, as he kept strolling with the agent. "Surprise me" Toni answered. "I..don't know if this will come as a shock to you but...I have a proposition, a favour. I hope it won't be too much of a hassle" Lightning quested. Toni was suddenly very interested. "I'm listening..." he replied. The two cars stopped at where they were at. Lightning then reached into his satchel, and he pulled 11 photos out, each of them being an individual picture of all the racers of the World Grand Prix. He then handed them to Toni. "Ok, listen up. See this one? " Lightning pointed to Max Schnell's photo. "This one, told me that all the others are hiding away somewhere because of this guy" McQueen then pointed to a photo of an Italian Ferrari F1 who's colour scheme took after the Italian flag. "That's Francesco Bernoulli. He's been very mean lately to the rest of the group. Because of him, Schnell told me that they are now hiding away because they say he is lurking around here somewhere, and they don't want anything else to do with him..." he described. "The point is, if you CAN, try and find those cars, and tell them that Lightning sent you. Tell them to meet me outside on the porch area. There, I can try and convince them to come out from hiding. Think you can handle it?" McQueen requested.
"Well, at least it doesn't involve flying...hmmm..." Toni finally agreed. "Ma, okay monsieur, I will find your friends. I will be as quick as possible" he assured. "Thanks Toni! Good luck!" Lightning thanked him. Toni ran off ahead of Lightning and started to look around on floor D first. However, shortly after he sent Toni to hound them down, a loud blaring voice on a speaker echoed from the Karaoke room. Lightning curiously followed the booming. And he heard along the lines of "Give it up for Gearsley and Hamilton!"
"Hello?! This is 'in hiding'?!" Lightning questioned in disbelief. He slunk around the corner till there was a huge glass window, which people could watch the karaoke from up here. Lightning made himself one of those watchers. He observed from the pane. And right there on that stage, was Nigel Gearsley, singing the song "Heat Dies Down" by the Kaiser Chiefs, and Lewis was adjacent to him, helping. Nigel was wearing large grey headphones and a red and orange electric guitar tied around him, which was mainly just for show, but every now and again, Nigel would strum the guitar which would excite the audience and cheer him on further, while Lewis was seen occupying a drum set, but again, it was just to help create the atmosphere normally seen at a rock concert. Lightning continued to pay attention to Nigel yelling the rhymes and lyrics, whilst pretending to play the rock guitar, and jumping up and down on the stage to the beat. After the stage cars were finished, a huge ruckus of cheers and cries of astonishment and admiration erupted from the crowd. As the duo made their way off stage, a good bundle of the fans asked for their autographs and signatures, some even fainted when one patch of them touched against the duo. Even McQueen found himself clapping a little. "Wow, they're GOOD" he commented.
Nigel and Lewis exited the room, and were instantly greeted by Lightning. "Oh hello?!" Nigel greeted in shock. "Woah man, you just came out of nowhere didn't you? How's it goin' man? I ain't seen you 'round since the WGP." Lewis asked McQueen. "It's a long story. I take it you two are here for the EGP?" McQueen replied. "Ohh yeah, it's gonna be a riot!" Nigel remarked. "You saw us right?" Lewis questioned, a little bit embarrassed. "Yes I did, guys that was amazing! Out of this world! They certainly went insane over you two" McQueen commented. "Ohhhh! Thanks!" they smiled. And while they were sharing conversation, McQueen sought the opportunity to ask.
"Hey guys...have any of you seen the rest of the WGP's?" he questioned. Lewis tried to remember where he saw at least two others last. "Hmmmm...Have you checked the spa and leisure centre?" Lewis suggested. "Awww darn I was just there!" McQueen told. "Well, check again. Check the leisure centre too. Cuz if I know Miguel, he'll either be in the solarium or the sauna, and Rip in the swimming pool" Lewis insisted.
"Great! Thanks guys!" Lightning rushed off in the opposite direction, back down to the spa again. It was still very misty, but not as much now. And sure enough, the first thing he did was examine the 5 solarium rooms, but there was no sign of Camino in any of them. So he then went on to the saunas. Soon enough, he came to the last one, peeked in through the window, even though it was very foggy, and could make out the gist of a yellow and red Ginetta-resembling supercar. That car was getting ready to leave the sauna, so McQueen stood back a bit. The door opened.
"WELCOME!" Lightning declared to him. The car got a massive fright and flipped over onto his roof with a loud *THUD!* "AAHH! Ayundame! Ayundame!" he hollered. "Ohhh darn sorry! Umm...ermmm...you there! Can you give us a helping tyre over here?" Lightning panicked, as he called out to a big BMW X5. The SUV nodded. He placed his front tyres under Camino's roof, and he sent Miguel spinning in the air very briefly before the racer landed perfectly on his wheels. "Owowowowowww...I have un headache..." Camino groaned. Lightning was very impressed. He thanked the BMW so much, then tried to get Miguel to focus. "Ooooooohhh...whoever did this, I going to tear them a...McQueen?!" Miguel exclaimed. "Dude I am so sorry! I totally didn't expect that to happen!" Lightning tried to explain. "...Aaaahhh! So glad you could make it, mi amigo!" Camino expressed, hugging McQueen tightly. "Ooof! Yes Miguel I'm here! Oww..Easy, easy!" Lightning pained. "Hah...umm perdona" Miguel apologized, letting go. "It's alright. And damn it's been such a long time! I take it you're in this GP too huh?" McQueen commented, trying to change topic. "Ehhhy, of course, amigo! Wouldn't be here otherwise!" Camino chuckled. "And I take it you are looking for the rest, si? " Miguel guessed. "How did you know?" McQueen questioned. "Well...I saw you, and I saw this other chico with you, and you told him to go look for us" Miguel admitted. "Ohhh! Hahaha! You did? Umm yeah that's uhhh...that's nobody...just a friend" Lightning tried to convince him. "Ohh, bien. Well, if you want to find the next one of us, look at the indoor pool" Miguel advised. The young Spaniard bid farewell for now to Lightning, and he slowly wandered off into the corridor, where Lewis and Nigel were waiting.
"Darn, if this is them "hiding" then Toni is just wasting his time.." McQueen uttered to himself. So he did the only nicest thing by taking his cellphone out and calling Toni, who trusted Lightning and Sally enough to give his number to them. The phone rang, and then stopped as the spy switched his Bluetooth on.
" 'Ello?"
"Toni, I'm so sorry to tell you, but you're wasting your time. These cars aren't hiding, I just met 5 of them down here alone. So yeah, mission aborted I'm afraid..."
"Ohhh, I see. If they weren't in hiding, why did you say zey were?"
"Because Max tricked me good. He's the one who told me so. But maybe they were hiding while he tried to look for them...So anyway, you can stop spying now, see ya later"
Lightning hung up. He felt rather foolish for wasting Toni's energy and time. But what was done, was done. And while he still remembered, he went off to search for No. 6: Clutchgoneski...