As Violet, Duncan, KitFox, and the Man with a Beard and No Hair walked to the car, Violet whispered to KitFox, "What is in the sugar bowl? You never told us."
"Ssh, not in front of him," KitFox answered, nodding in the direction of the Man.
Duncan and Violet got into the back seat, and KitFox and the menacing Man got into the front of the car, with KitFox driving again.
Sitting next to Violet, Duncan was able to share memories of his V.F.D. training with Violet without talking aloud. KitFox had put them through an intense drill of memorization, exercise, and combat training, almost like a boot camp. Duncan hadn't cared for it much, though he had no trouble with the memorization. Unfortunately he could provide no details about the sugar bowl, only that it was something extremely important to the V.F.D.
Violet shared back some of her memories since they had last seen each other: the horrors of Hemoglobin Hospital, the carnivorous cats at the carnival, and scaling the slippery slope... suddenly, she realized she should hold back the memory of stopping with Quigley on the rocky shelf. It was too late. Duncan recoiled and moved as far away from her as he could on the back seat. He stared out the window and wouldn't turn around to look at her.
Finally, KitFox spoke. "One of our agents reported a rumor that the sugar bowl has been hidden at the Hotel Derrière. It's a long shot, but that's where I suggest we search first. Any objections?"
"Go ahead, knock yourself out," said the Man with a Beard and No Hair, a phrase which usually means, "Go ahead and do it."
KitFox drove for what seemed like hours in a series of complicated turns through side streets and back alleys, finally arriving at tall building by the seaside.
"Here it is," she said. "The Hotel Derrière."
As they walked closer, the children noticed something unusual about the building: it has wheels. Dozens of dismantled trolley-cars had gone into its foundation.
"No wonder we couldn't find the Last Safe Place," said the Man with a Beard and No Hair. "You've been moving it."
The hotel lobby was elegant, oriental-carpeted, and deserted. Violet realized that Quigley must have warned the V.F.D. of villains' plot to destroy the place.
"Our agent reported that the sugar bowl might be in the laundry room," said KitFox.
All four headed to the back of the hotel, where there was a coin-operated laundry room. Violet, KitFox, and Duncan began opening washing machines and dryers to look for the sugar bowl.
Suddenly, Violet looked up. "Where's the Man with a Beard and No Hair? He didn't come in with us."
KitFox sniffed the air suspiciously. "I smell a trap. There's dynamite here!"
KitFox grabbed up Violet and Duncan in a single bound, and she was leaping for the door when the bomb exploded. Violet got a force field around them just in time. The blast propelled them out of the door and through the back window of the hotel. The force-field ball rolled over and over on the sand and came to a stop at the water's edge.
"Are you all right, Violet?" Duncan asked. "My break-fall training came in handy just now."
"I was able to roll with it, too," Violet said. "I must have absorbed a little training when we shared memories."
Duncan turned red and looked away.
"Oops," Violet thought, "I reminded him again."
"Come on," said KitFox. They ran around to the front of the hotel, which was now a blazing inferno.
"You broke the truce!" KitFox snarled at the Man with a Beard and No Hair, who was leaning against the taxi.
"Hardly," said the Man. "That trap was set before the truce began. It's not my fault that you blundered into it."
"You gave no warning," said KitFox.
"I warned you that you would knock yourself out if you went ahead," said the Man with a Beard and No Hair smoothly. "You chose to ignore my advice."
"That's diabolical," said Violet.
"Thank you," said the Man.
A short man with a bandaged face appeared from the left side of the building. Violet recognized him as the manager of the Salubrious Stench Lumber Mill, the man they always called "Sir."
"Mission accomplished," Sir told the Man with a Beard and No Hair.
"Not quite," said the Man. "Everyone got out alive."
"You?" said KitFox in a rage. "You reported that the sugar bowl was in there."
"Sorry to disrupt the precision cog-work of your organization that way," Sir said with a sneer.
"Why you..." KitFox growled.
"Now, now, remember the truce," said the Man with a Beard and No Hair.
"You're a V.F.D. agent?" Violet asked Sir.
"I was," said Sir. "His side pays better."
"So the job my Dad had with you at Insuricare, and then our job at the Mill..."
"Was to keep you supers under control, yes," said Sir. "It didn't work out well in either case." He indicated his bandaged face, which had gotten that way after Mr. Incredible knocked him through several walls in a fit of rage.
KitFox's cell phone rang. She talked briefly, then turned to the others.
"That was Isadora from the sea team. They have a lead on the sugar bowl."
"How are we going to get there in a taxi?" Duncan asked.
"We're not," KitFox said. "We're going to get the Valorous Flying Dirigible."