Chapter Sixteen

It had to be around ten in the evening when Alex Pacer rolled into town, and Lexie could hear a helicopter fly off in the distance. "They sent me for now," Alex said. "I'm supposed to let them know when it gets bad."

"Okay," Lexie replied, "but I don't know if they'll get here in time."

"If that's true, what about you?"

"I can handle myself, thank you."

"You sure?"

"Positive." Alex nodded and settled in next to her. "Do you know, offhand, if Tubbs would...support you if you decided to leave his world and settle down, you know, live an average life?"

"I'm pretty sure. Uncle Tubbs is sorta like my dad, and I know he wants the best for me, or I think he does, at least. I hope he does."

"You know what? Me, too. If he doesn't, then I'll have to have a rather serious chat with him, wink, wink, hint, hint."

Alex chuckled, closed his eyes, and shook his hood. His smile faded, and he said, "Don't think I'm getting out, though. The Pacers are my family, and I can't just drop them like hot potatoes so I can stay alive. It might not even work, for one. Soon as Tubbs dies, if I get out, I'm a marked car. I'm as good as dead."

"Where do I come into all of this?"

"What do you mean?"

"I figure my case is rather unique, so I might add some element that throws the traditional scheme of things way out of whack."

"Well, maybe. Couldn't hurt anything to introduce a new element or so."

"And if it does?"

"I...don't know. I really don't know."

Lexie nodded and scanned the town. Radiator Springs was quiet for that time of night; even the tuners, who she expected to have a drag race of some form nearby, were most likely in their cones. "It's like everybody's getting ready for the end, whatever it may be. Like they can all feel Montgomery coming with his own small army to kill us."

"Are you ready?"

"I hope so. I wish he'd get here so I can get this over with and go to school."

"You should be careful what you wish for," a familiar icy voice said.

"You made it," Lexie replied, turning to face a silver Scion tC. "Good thing, too, because I've got a few questions for you."

Montgomery chuckled and gestured to the black Aston Martin at his side. The car drew a gun and drove toward Alex, and Lexie slipped a gun out of her hubcap and took aim. "Oh, what do we have here?" Montgomery asked. "Looks like you have a boyfriend." Lexie switched from aiming at the black Aston Martin to aiming at Montgomery.

"I know what you had them make me into. I heard it from one of the cars working on me. You want me to be a weapon? Then have it your way, right here, tonight. I'll fight."

Montgomery laughed outright. "You think you can win?"

"I have to if I'm going to live."

"Lexie, are you sure?" Alex whispered. She gestured for him to be quiet.

"Do you expect me to humor you? Is that it?"

"You must've gone to a lot of trouble," Lexie said. "I wonder how important I am to you as a weapon. What if I jumped off the cliff out by the Wheel Well, which is about three or four hundred feet over the valley?" Montgomery paled, but his expression didn't change. The black Aston Martin turned the gun on Lexie, and she added, "If your boss wants me to live, do you really think that's a good idea?" Reluctantly, the car tucked the gun back into his hubcap.

"I did go to quite a bit of trouble for the Ceres Project, thank you for noticing. Now, are you really going to jump or are you bluffing?"

"Lexie, this is getting dangerous," Alex hissed through gritted teeth. Again, she gestured for him to be quiet.

"If you really want me to send myself off of a four-hundred-foot cliff, then go ahead, by all means. I'll even give you directions."

"Oh, how accomodating," Montgomery said with an oily smile. It took all Lexie had to repress a shudder.

"Right this way," she said, driving off down Route Sixty-Six. Montgomery and the black Aston Martin followed, and Alex wove his way through Radiator Springs in search of a few cars in particular.

CARS

Lexie pulled into the parking lot of the Wheel Well, right next to one of the patio tables, and turned to face Montgomery and the black Aston Martin. "Welcome to the cliff just outside the Wheel Well. As you can see," she gestured behind her, "the view is spectacular, save the Interstate, if you want my opinion on it. Of course, the desert below will be the last thing I'll see, unless you decide to stop me right now." Slowly, she backed up toward the drop, and a few feet away, she turned to face it. How the hell did I talk myself into this mess? she thought.

"I deem it fair to warn you right now that the concept you were built around dictates that you will survive this jump," Montgomery said. "I've gone over every detail myself. However, I won't stop you if you are, in fact, suicidal and do wish to jump."

Lexie turned to face the two sportscars. "You sons of bitches," she said. "You sons of bitches. You made me talk myself into jumping off a cliff. You don't care if I live or die. Are you sociopathic?"

Montgomery shot forward, and Lexie braced herself for impact. She only allowed herself to be sent a couple of feet, but it was enough. Her left rear tire slipped off the edge of the cliff, sending dust and debris out into the valley below. Her hubcap slipped away from the rest of her wheel and spun on an axis with the sound of a buzzsaw, and she pushed up. He rushed back, a gash splitting the lower half of his front bumper, all the way up to his lip, in two. Past Montgomery, Lexie could see the black Aston Martin disappear inside the Wheel Well. "Looks like you're on your own," she said.

"Well, you know what they say. When you want something done right, you have to do it yourself."

"That doesn't mean you have to be abandoned by your most trusted henchcar. He is a henchcar, right? Or am I getting that wrong? Feel free to correct me if I am."

"You vastly underestimate the complexities of my relationships with my agents."

"Oh, they're agents. Since you just got out of jail, are they rogue?"

"I certainly don't think so. Most loyal bunch of cars you'll ever find."

"Certainly not if your lieutenant just bailed on you when he saw I can kick your bumper from here to Tulsa."

"I'd love to see you try."

"Come at me and you will." Over his fender, she noticed Finn, Lightning, Sally, the Professor, Shorts, and others gathering around outside the Wheel Well. Montgomery drew a gun from his hubcap and cocked it. Lexie braced herself as he took aim, doing her best to control her breathing and think of a way out of this. She talked a lot of talk, yes, but she wasn't sure why.

Then it hit her. He had no qualms about killing her, so why did she have qualms about killing him?

Montgomery approached, and Lexie reached forward and grabbed his gun. He fired, and she felt a piercing pain by her wheel. The bullet was deep inside her, near her defroster vents, and almost unbearably painful, but she turned anyway. He fired again, sending another bullet into her, this one embedded near her engine, and he tumbled over the ledge, firing a last shot that grazed her side panel.

Lexie drove to the edge of the cliff, watching the sportscar tumble end over end into the valley, laughing.