Chapter Fourteen

"A car is much more than the sum of his or her parts," Zundapp had said. Something about the phrase sounded familiar to Lexie, but she wasn't exactly sure what. She shook her hood and focused on the more pertinent aspect of her conversation with the Professor. He had told her that she was a superweapon, and he even complemented her on that. She had to admit she hadn't been complemented on the quality of her design as a weapon before, and she wasn't exactly sure on the protocol.

As her tires passed over the desert, the sand getting in her treads and in certain places in her undercarriage, her mind wandered over everything that had happened up to that very moment ever since this mess started back in Los Angeles and she first met Alex Pacer. He had saved her once, in a way, but she had to save herself. That was the only thing she was certain of anymore.

She exhaled softly, glancing in her rearview mirrors at the dust cloud behind her. Her eyes scanned the endless desert before her, with its clusters of bushes and millions of square miles of dust, and whatever else was out here that hadn't been found by conventional law enforcement, treasure hunters, or anyone else. All this separating Radiator Springs by hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement, also along the Mother Road.

Lexie's tires kicked up dust wherever they went, and she was certain she could feel her way across the desert with her eyes closed. The sun continued to sink low in the western sky, but she really didn't care.

She wove around a bush and took air off another one, and then she drifted to a stop the instant she spotted a crater. The crater looked fairly recent; the edges were jagged and sharp-looking, and there were pieces of debris scattered about on the crater floor. "Weird," she whispered, giving the scene a once-over and turning to drive back to Radiator Springs.

CARS

Tubbs looked at the heads of the three families. "Look, we have a problem to address, and we can't tapdance around it like we do at other meetings," he said. "Somebody attacked my grandnephew, and that can't be ignored."

"How the hell do we expect to track him down?" Curby asked. "Tell us that, and we'll do it."

"He'll go to Radiator Springs," Alex said, "because he knows that's where Alexa will be, and Alexa's the kingpin in all of this. If she goes one way or another, our fight's either won or lost." The four dons looked at Alex with raised eyelids, and he rolled forward and added, "No matter what, our hope, our fate lies in Radiator Springs. Our job is to get to it before Montgomery and his agents do."

Vladimir, Victor, and Curby exchanged looks, and then Victor locked eyes with Tubbs and nodded. The other two copied the gesture, and then Victor asked, "How many cars do you need?"

Every other car in the room looked at Victor Hugo, but no one was willing to speak for a long moment. "Send me first," Alex said. "It'll tip them off if dozens of lemons show up in one town at once, and besides, I've got the perfect excuse: a cute girl." Nearly everyone, including, to Alex's surprise and others, Victor, chuckled. "What? It's true. Well, cute is an understatement. She's more like outright hot."

Tubbs shoved Alex lightly on the fender. "Let him see his girlfriend," he said through his laughter.

Victor recovered from his chuckling and said, "Very well. Our messenger friend has done his duty to us. He may return to Radiator Springs."

"Thank you," Alex said, tilting his hood toward Victor.

"Let us know personally if anything happens, to you, her, or anyone else."

"I will."

"Good. Now, you best get going. The sooner you leave, the sooner you get there."

Alex nodded to the dons and hugged Tubbs before driving out of the building and heading south.

CARS

Finn and the tuners drove lazily into Radiator Springs, where several residents greeted them. Finn waved to Sarge and the Sheriff and nodded to Flo and Sally. "Well, boys, I'll leave you here. My informant, Sir Miles Axlerod, is somewhere around here, presumably hiding in fear of his life. I think I'll have a word with him before I go," he said amiably. The tuners drove into the V8 Cafe, and Finn drove into the Cozy Cone, asking Sally where Axlerod was staying in and then driving over to the Wheel Well, several miles out of town, and knocking on the door.

"Yes?" Axlerod asked timidly from inside the room.

"It's McMissile."

"Oh, yes, come in." Axlerod opened the door, and Finn drove inside. "Is everything alright?"

"I just heard from the Professor that Montgomery has appeared in Detroit while the dons were gathering for a meeting concerning him. That means somehow he knows the moves of the dons before they do. It's going to be difficult to stay a step ahead of him."

"He used to be the chief of CHROME Britain. I'm not all that surprised, really."

"Listen to me. You won't be safe here if he arrives, because I suspect he knows he's been spied on."

"That means you're not safe, either."

"I can handle myself. You've always been relatively safe. I fear that you will freeze up in a situation of real danger and lose your life."

"I'm a dangerous criminal and now an escapee from a maximum security prison."

"But a car nonetheless. I have a soft spot for life." Axlerod sighed and looked at the carpet, smirking momentarily before frowning and rubbing the carpet with one of his tires. "My point is, be careful. This is about to get dangerous."

"You don't need to worry about me, McMissile," Axlerod said, meeting Finn's gaze. "I'll be just fine."

"I should hope so."

"I will."

"If you insist."

Finn drove out of the cone, and the door closed just after he heard Axlerod say, "I heard I'm not the one you need to worry about."

"That's odd," Finn muttered to himself. He filed the moment away for future reference, but he tried not to think too much of it.

He returned to the V8 Cafe, where the tuners waited, clustered together and watching the residents around them as if watching a movie. "Are you four alright?" Finn asked. The tuners exchanged looks and nodded to him. "Are you sure? You look like you're about to be sick."

"You don't look so hot yourself," Boost replied.

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed."

"Dude, how busy have you been? Do you remember your last day off?" Wingo asked.

"I feel just fine, thank you very much."

Wingo and Boost raised eyelids and looked at each other for a moment before returning their attention to Finn. "You sure?" Boost asked.

Finn sighed. "I admit this isn't the typical mission. It's much longer, seventeen years, and still going strong. It's got to be the longest battle of wits I've ever been in, against any opponent."

"Think you can handle it?" Snot Rod asked.

"Oh, I hope so. I hope so."