Chapter Ten

Tomber was startled awake by a knock at the door, and he rushed over and shook Axlerod awake as best he could with only three wheels. "Huh? What?" Axlerod grumbled. "What's going on?"

"Be ready to run, either toward or away," Tomber said. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes, I understand."

"Good."

Axlerod followed Tomber to the area closest to the front door, typically reserved for Tomber's repairs. The Reliant Regal opened the door, and Finn rushed inside, giving once-overs to first Axlerod and then Tomber. Tomber and Finn exchanged phrases in French, and Finn nodded. "Axlerod, come with me," Finn said. "Tomber, I'll be in touch."

Axlerod followed Finn out of Tomber's shop and through the marketplace, down a few streets, and to an abandoned airfield, or officially abandoned. Parked in the field was a solitary plane. Finn and Axlerod drove through an opening in the fence and approached the plane.

Finn nodded to the plane, who lowered his ramp, and the two cars boarded. "I'll take you to an isolated location for your safekeeping, but through the nature of circumstances as they are, I will have to relocate you before too long to prevent our enemies from finding you. If you feel the need to, you may assume a new name, a new identity, and start fresh. Quite frankly, I recommend it, and the practice has had a remarkable track record in the United States and elsewhere."

"But where will I go where no one will recognize me?" Axlerod asked.

"That's a trickier matter, I admit, but I have come across some towns with no access to television, radio, or very much news of any sort. I think I can find you one where all you have to do is introduce yourself under an alias that you can remember, and you can start a whole new life. Job and everything. Of course, regarding the job, you'll have to start at the bottom, and it won't pay as well as the oil business-"

"I don't want anything to do with the oil business."

"Excellent. When we relocate you for good, you could clean rooms in a hotel or wait tables at a small-scale restaurant. As far as I know, you won't have to deal with the oil business very much."

"Good."

"Are you clear on the rules of what we're about to do to you?"

"Yes."

"Can you follow them? I understand you were once a public figure."

"That was almost two decades ago. I'm sure people had forgotten about me in the interim. And other than that little slip-up with Montgomery where he wanted me to distract from something, I never did figure out what, I would consider myself a good car."

"We're not sure of what Montgomery wanted; even if we guessed, we could never say for certain."

"Say you did have to guess. What would you say?"

"Superspy car."

"How would that require a distraction?"

"He needed some way to get Holley and I out of HQ so we wouldn't pick up on anything suspicious."

"So I only played a small part in his scheme."

"Does that make you feel strange?"

"No. It kind of reminds me of how I felt in prison. A number who, regardless of his part in a grander scheme, killed. You get used to that feeling after a while."

Finn nodded and looked out the window as Europe gave way to the Atlantic Ocean.

CARS

The helicopter landed in Porto Corsa, and Alex disembarked. He spotted a few Hugos in the square and approached cautiously. One of them gave him a once-over and met him half-way across the square. "Alex Pacer?" the Hugo asked.

Alex nodded. "Alex Hugo?" he asked in reply. Hugo nodded. "I've got something I think your boss wants to hear."

"Oh? Who sent you?"

"Me. This is a voluntary mission, and I'm not under orders from any of the others."

"What've you got for us?" After a pause, Hugo said, "I'll pass it on to the Boss, I promise."

Alex glanced around the square, but no one but the Hugos appeared to watch them closely. "Montgomery busted out of jail and disappeared," Alex said.

"Okay, kid, come with us." Hugo led Alex to the cluster of other Hugos, and they circled around him. The circle of Hugos and one Pacer drove into one of the buildings on the edge of the square, and Alex Hugo led Alex Pacer across the foyer to a office in the back of the building. Hugo exchanged a few words with Ivan, and Victor said from the other side of the desk, "Let me see the Pacer child." Alex drove forward, and Victor turned the chair around to face him. "I know that look. You bear bad news."

Alex Hugo moved to say something, but Victor held up a tire to stop him. "I want to hear this from young Pacer," he said, nodding to Alex Pacer.

"Montgomery's out of jail and nowhere to be found," Alex said. Victor raised an eyelid, and his mouth hing slightly open.

"Excuse me?" he whispered.

Alex blinked. He didn't remember Victor Hugo ever being afraid, but in that whisper he heard more fear than he ever heard before, from anyone. "M-Montgomery busted out of jail," he said again. "Nobody knows where he is right now."

"Who have you told?" Victor asked; he seemed to have recovered himself.

"Everyone but Trunkov. Curby plans to hold a meeting."

"I was going to do the same thing, but I appreciate someone else taking the initiative. Now, you still need to inform Trunkov, yes?"

"Yes, sir."

"I will escort you myself. Ivan. Alex."

The blue tow truck looped his hook effortlessly under Victor's front axle, and Alex Hugo and a troop of other black Hugos circled around Victor and Alex Pacer. The group drove out of the meeting room and out a back door, down a side street, around a corner, and down another side street.

After a few minutes, Alex Hugo tapped on a door in a specific manner, and a Trunkov opened the door and nodded for them to enter. They drove into the dimly lit building, and a few more Trunkovs appeared out of the shadows. "What a surprise," one of the Trunkovs, Vladimir, said. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Don Victor?"

"We have a situation," Victor replied. He turned to Alex Pacer and prompted, "Young Pacer?"

"Montgomery's out of jail," Alex said.

"What?" Vladimir asked. Alex repeated what he said, and Vladimir seemed to turn white and teeter on the edge of losing consciousness. Two of the Trunkovs prepared to catch him if he fell, and Alex watched closely. Finally, it seemed Vladimir had recovered himself, and he asked, "Who's calling the meeting?"

"Curby."

"Okay, good. You got a lift outta here?"

"Yeah."

"Whaddaya say, Don Victor?"

"I say we leave as soon as possible," Victor said.

"So what're we doing idling around here? Let's go."

Ivan pulled Victor out of the building, followed closely by Vladimir Trunkov and the Hugos. Alex took up the rear, half his time spent checking his mirrors for pursuers. The group of lemons boarded the helicopter, and Alex gave orders to fly back to Detroit.