Chapter Fifteen

At around dusk, Lexie returned to Radiator Springs after a day of driving through the desert, and she drove up to Finn as soon as she spotted him. "Know anything about the crater out in the desert? Looks fresh?" she asked. "Got a little debris in it still?"

Finn looked around and rolled in closer. "That crater used to be CHROME United States," he breathed. "Some lemons managed to destroy it about twenty years back, and now I have reason to believe that it was part of Montgomery's elaborate distraction ploy."

"The Professor told me something about him."

"I see you've met."

"Yeah. You seen him?"

"Not of late, but I heard he was staying at the Wheel Well just outside the town limits. It's probably a move to protect himself."

"Montgomery appeared in Detroit."

"I've heard."

"From Alex?"

"From the Professor."

Lexie nodded. "If he's looking for me, I'll come to him. I've been meaning to talk to him for a while now."

"Do you think it can be done? Montgomery has to be one of the most sly cars in living memory, and he is certainly the most devious I have come across."

"I'm his weapon, aren't I?"

"Where did you hear this?"

"From the Professor, but that's beside the point right now. I'm his weapon, and I can use that to get him to talk to me about why."

"Are you certain?"

"What else can I do?"

"You can avoid him altogether."

"Something tells me he's not gonna let that happen."

Finn nodded as if to concede, and he looked out over the desert. The sky was filled with red, orange, and purple, and even the desert sands began to change color, shifting into a soft scarlet rather than their usual light orange.

She looked at Finn and then down Route Sixty-Six. "Doesn't look like any visitors tonight," she said absently.

"Good," Finn replied.

She turned and drove into town. It wouldn't be long before she had to go to school for her last year, and somehow she felt it would be even sooner before she came face to face with Montgomery and had a shot at getting an answer out of him. She swallowed and settled in to listen to one of Mater's tall tales.

CARS

The second Lexie locked eyes with Shorts as he rolled back into town, her gas tank clenched. To all superficial appearances, he looked normal, but in his eyes she saw fear, the dissolved sort that appeared a day or so, or even a week or month, after a particularly shocking experience, but fear nonetheless. "Montgomery?" she asked. He nodded.

"There a place for me to hide in this town? Several others turned me away," he replied.

"There should be, somewhere, but if I were you, I'd be careful who I talked to. Something's about to go down, and if we fail, I don't want anyone else in trouble but the ones they're after in the first place, which is you, me, Finn, and the Professor."

"He's here?"

"That's what I hear, and apparently that's what Finn heard, as well."

"Won't hurt to check."

"You do that. I'm waiting for the go-ahead to skip town."

"Who needs permission to ditch town?"

"School, dude. School."

"Oh, right. School."

"I'm serious. I have to go to my senior year of high school or I'm a dropout and thus ineligible for the racing circuit."

"Oh, I see. You wanna go into legit racing."

"Yes, yes I do."

Shorts chuckled, and then he rolled past her to the very edge of the settlement. Lexie turned to follow and thought better of it. "Have you seen Alex?" she asked.

"What's he look like?" he replied.

"Aquamarine Pacer, scarring on the hood, front bumper, and front side panels."

"Yeah, he was in Detroit a couple days ago. He got me away from Montgomery."

"Oh, so that's why he asked about you."

"He did, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Well, go Alex."

"Take it you like him."

"Never said I didn't." Shorts shook his hood and rolled forward. Lexie glanced over her fender at Route Sixty-Six and then followed the tuner into Radiator Springs. "The Wheel Well's several miles outside of town."

"Got it."

"You'll know it when you see it."

"I said, I got it."

"Fine, be that way." She parked at the cafe and took a few deep breaths. Tricky situations call for this sort of thing, she thought. It's nothing personal. It's life getting to us, all of us.

Lexie looked around the town, but everyone went about business as usual as if nothing had happened, and without being exactly sure why, she drove off toward the Wheel Well.

CARS

Shorts knocked on what had to be the tenth door in the past fifteen minutes, and he braced himself for someone to yell at him or throw something at him, but to his surprise, a Zundapp Janus sporting a monocle answered the door. "So the rumors are true," he said.

"Yes, they are," Zundapp replied. "Come in."

Shorts drove into the room, and Zundapp closed the door. "Just came from Detroit."

"Yes, I heard about what happened there. Are you alright?"

"Me, I'm just fine. I'm not sure about the Pacer that saved me, but I guess he's okay."

"Which Pacer?"

"Alex."

"Oh, yes. He holds out quite well, considering he floats a little between the families, especially during mob wars."

"He does?"

"You don't know?"

"I don't do that kind of business anymore. This Alex Pacer's a young kid, so I probably got arrested before he was even heard of."

"So what are you doing here?"

"Running from Montgomery, like you are."

"Very well, then, but you know this is risky."

"Yeah, but so's everything. That's the way life works."

Zundapp nodded and turned toward the window. "The storm is coming, all the way from Detroit."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've heard we're all screwed. Can't these cars just show up and try to take us out so we can get it over with already?"

Zundapp turned toward Shorts and raised an eyelid. "That eager to die, are we? You know he will notice that, and you'll be the first to go."

"Doesn't mean I won't die right off."

"True, but it does mark you in a way that the rest of us are not marked. You, through your sheer pride, will make yourself more of a target than you may find you truly desire."

"Yeah? Well, what the hell do you know, grandpa car?"

"What do you think? I am a weapons developer, not a chronic moron. Perhaps you might recognize me as Shotgun Willie? One of your son's friends has." Shorts let out a breath and settled back, biting his lip and narrowing his eyes. "Have you spoken with McMissile?"

"No, but I talked to Lexie the second I got here."

"Good. She is well, I trust?"

"So far as I could tell."

"Wunderbar. I will talk to McMissile myself. As for you, hole up somewhere and lay low. We can't risk your hubris getting us all dead."

Shorts nodded and drove out of the room.

CARS

Lexie ducked into a corner as Shorts drove down the hall, and after a few minutes, she drove out to the lobby of the Wheel Well. Guido was tending the bar for the evening, and her parents were at a table in the parking lot, and the Sheriff, Flo, Ramone, Sarge, and Fillmore were watching the television. She drove out of the Wheel Well and down Route Sixty-Six to Radiator Springs.