Chapter Nine

Lexie glanced at Alex and the tuners and then crossed the lobby to the rest of Team McQueen. "Everything okay?" Lightning asked.

"Yeah, considering. Ready to party?" Lexie replied.

"Are you?"

"We're McQueens, Dad. We can handle anything."

"Ain't that the truth," Mater said.

"Well, we'd better go. Don't wanna be too late," Lightning said.

"And I've got a feeling these guys," Lexie gestured to the tuners as she spoke, "won't wanna deal with all the security that comes with all those VIPs showing up."

Lightning flashed them an uncertain look, and Boost said, "We'll be fine."

"Yeah," DJ added. "If anyone can hide from some petty officers, it's us."

Lightning looked at Lexie and Alex, who both nodded, and said, "Let's go."

The group drove out of the hotel, the tuners in the middle, and Lexie and Alex flanking the group. Somewhere along the way, Lexie noticed that Finn, Holley, and a few lemons fell in behind the group at various points along the way. The group, then numbering around two dozen, split into two on approaching the venue. Team McQueen proper entered through the front door and party security.

Lexie scanned the thin crowd of early birds before spotting Alex, the tuners, Holley, Finn, and a small group of lemons entering through what she assumed was a back door. She drove over to the ice sculpture in the middle of the room, of a variety of cars, from rally cars to formula racers, and Alex, Finn, and Holley joined her. "Kind of a strange sculpture for a race, but I guess it makes sense," she said. "I've heard that all sorts of racecars are eligible."

"You've heard correctly," Holley said, "at least, according to Mater, but the Manufacturer knows how much of it is true. I mean, this is Mater we're dealing with."

"Speaking of, those spy stories that you're allowed to tell him are being stretched out into weird little tales that he's telling the tourists."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. I really doubt a lot of the details, but what can you do? The tourists all think they're just funny little stories, and they move on with their lives and probably forget whatever they heard."

"I'll have to have a word with Mater about that. Excuse me." With that, Holley drove away.

"Probably has to talk to him about security and such," Finn said.

Lexie shrugged. "What can you do?" she said again, turning from the ice sculpture to the rest of the party. Francesco Bernoulli and his entourage were just rolling through the door at what could be technically be considered fashionably late. She rolled forward, rolling beside her father as the Italian approached.

"Bono seda, McQueen," Francesco said cheerily. "Who is this?"

"Oh, that's my daughter," Lightning replied.

"Oh, a Mini McQueen. Equally slow, I presume."

Lexie erupted into a fit of laughter. "Sorry," she said as she began to recover herself. "I'm adopted. You can't play the make-and-model card on me."

"No matter. Tomorrow you will see Francesco whoop your father's sorry baby butt to death."

"Guess again, Fragile," Lightning replied, pronouncing the last word as if it were Italian.

"Fragile. You call a-Francesco fragile?"

"Certainly can't stand up to an army of armed-to-the-teeth sportscars, that's for sure," Lexie said, glancing at such a group passing through the front door. Francesco turned and followed her gaze.

"Okay, what do we do?" he asked, anxiety seeping into his voice.

Lexie turned to Lightning and Francesco "Act normal." They both gave her confused looks. "For you two, that probably means continue insulting each other and claiming to be able to beat the other car in a race." The two racers looked at each other. "Okay, this might not work, but at least as long as we're engaged in something there's a chance they won't take much notice of us."

"How much of a chance?"

"Pretty good." Lexie glanced at the door again. The room was more crowded than it had been a few minutes prior. "What racecars wouldn't talk about the next day's race and how they're gonna kick each other's bumpers?"

"It's not talk. Francesco always-a wins."

"Except when he's racing me," Lightning said.

Lexie chuckled and glanced at Holley and Mater, who looked to be engaged in a serious discussion, and then scanned the room for Finn, who was discussing something with a Zundapp Janus wearing a monocle, a Zundapp she assumed was the Professor she'd heard so much about. Alex was talking to a group of nearly-perfect-looking lemons as they slowly made their way to the punch bowl. The sportscars moved throughout the crowd as if they belonged there, and they seemed to socialize easily. They didn't want suspicion on them if anything went wrong.

She glanced at the punch bowl again, where Alex and the lemons were talking. "Excuse me," she said. "I think I'll get some punch." She approached the group of cars, casting a sidelong glance at a nearby cluster of sportscars.

"They makin' ya nervous?" Alex asked, jerking Lexie out of her thoughts. She nodded.

"Alex told us the whole story," a Pacer said. "We all figured we may as well be here in case the whole place went to hell."

Alex gestured to the Pacer. "That's Uncle Tubbs. Technically granduncle, but yeah."

Lexie shook tires with the Pacer. "He won't shut up about you," he said. "Now I see why."

Alex gestured to the Gremlin next to Tubbs. "J. Curby Gremlin."

"From Detroit," the Gremlin added.

"He always insists on that," Alex said, continuing on with the introductions. Next to Curby was a Trunkov named Vladimir, and next to Vladimir was a Hugo named Victor. Both watched her with narrow eyes. "It's okay," Alex said. "Not a lot of lemons trust cars like you to not burst out laughing."

"I guess that's a testament to how and where I grew up," Lexie replied. "It's nice meeting you all. Sorry the situation's so bad you all had to turn out to this."

"Well, it could be worse," Tubbs said.

"Probably is, considering the Professor's here," Curby replied, looking at Tubbs.

Lexie glanced at Finn and the Zundapp, who now approached the group. She heard something about speaking of the devil, presumably from Vladimir, and in her peripheral vision, she saw Victor nod. "I see you've been introduced," Finn said brightly. "How is the punch?"

"Not poisonous," Alex replied. "I checked."

"Oh, that's good." Finn lowered his voice. "They're asking around. Has one approached you yet?" Alex and Lexie shook their hoods, and after exchanging a look, the other four followed suit. "Good."

"So she's not the only one who's nervous."

"With good reason." Finn looked over his fender at the nearest group of silver and black sportscars.

"Why should we listen to this car again?" Victor asked.

"He worked under Montgomery," the Zundapp replied. "I challenge any one of you to determine whether you know our enemy better than he does." Victor lapsed into a begrudging silence, and Lexie nodded in a way to indicate that she was impressed. Alex smiled and nodded to her, indicating that he knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Now that that's cleared up," Finn said, "We can't exactly loiter here." He adopted a lighter tone and said, "I highly recommend the sushi bar, but I suggest you go easy on the wasabi. It's unusually strong, I've been told." Lexie, Alex, and, amazingly, the four lemons chuckled, and they followed Zundapp and Finn across the room slowly, engaging in some casual conversation.

CARS

"So do you understand everything I just said to you?" Holley asked, turning to face Mater.

"I understand perfectly," Mater replied. "I gotta be a little more careful talkin' about all that super-secret agent stuff that you do."

"Good. Can you do that?"

"I can try."

"That's all I can ask. Thank you."

"No problem."

"And I'll be the first to admit that I do talk a little bit too much."

"That's okay. I get to talkin', too. How'd you think I got in that whole secret agent mess to begin with?"

"And you did a fine job of it."

"Uh, thanks, I think."

Holley smiled and turned back toward the crowd. "Oh, look, everybody's here," she said.

"You mean our sportscar friends from the start of the season?"

"And some of our lemon friends, oh, and the racers, of course." She drifted closer to him and whispered, "Mater, listen to me. If anything goes wrong, help evacuate this entire room. Alexa can stand up for herself just fine, but the rest of these racers I'm a little worried about. Bernoulli, for instance. He does look a bit fragile."

"Oh, McQueen can race circles around that car."

"Yes, I know, but stay focused. Our silver and black friends aren't supposed to be here, and odds are, there are even more uninvited guests just waiting to crash the party."