“Whose engine is this, Mater?” Finn asked.
“It’s kinda hard to tell from this picture, ain’t it?” Mater answered.
Holley stared at Mater. “But you’re the one who took it!” Then she looked at Finn. “Oh, of course,” she added. “A good spy gets what he can, then gets out before he’s killed.”
“You guys is spies?” Mater was dumbfounded.
Finn turned and looked at Holley. “This was supposed to be a photo of the car behind everything—not just his engine!”
Holley searched for more information, but there was only that single image.
“An engine like this could be in any number of cars,” Finn said, thinking aloud. “This doesn’t help us at all. It’s a dead end. I am not happy about this.”
“You might not be, but he’s gotta be,” Mater commented.
Finn was getting increasingly frustrated. “Who are you talking about?”
“This clunker here,” Mater said simply as he looked more closely at the engine in the image. “See how he’s had most of his parts replaced? Those are original parts. They aren’t easy to come by.”
“Rare parts,” Holley said to Finn. “That’s something we can track.”
“Well done, Mater!” Finn exclaimed. “I never would have seen that. I know a black-market parts dealer in Paris. He’s a treacherous lowlife, but he’s the only car in the world who can tell us whose engine this is. Mater, what would you say to forming an informal task force on this one?”
“Well,” Mater answered hesitantly, “okay. But you know I’m just a tow truck, right?”
“Right. And I’m just in the import-export business!” Finn winked at Mater and Holley. Then he called to Siddeley: “Paris, toute suite!”
“Yeah, two of them sweets for me, too, Sid!” Mater shouted. “You know, I always wanted to be a spy.”
As Siddeley reached cruising altitude, he asked Finn, “Afterburners, sir?”
“Is there any other way?” Finn replied.
The jet suddenly jolted forward, and in a few short hours they were looking down at Paris.
Once they’d landed, Mater carefully followed Finn and Holley through backstreets and along alleys toward Finn’s “contact.” Mater was excited to see the sights, but he tried extra hard to follow Finn and Holley’s lead. This was serious business!
They soon reached a marketplace where cars swarmed them, speaking in French. It seemed that every car had something to sell!
Just then a wobbly three-wheeled car turned in their direction and spotted Finn.
Tomber was a parts dealer who drove a hard bargain. He also was Finn’s informant. But Tomber didn’t like strangers or his customers to know he had a relationship with the law. So when he saw Finn with a tow truck, he took off like a shot.
Finn finally caught up with him. “Mater! This chap’s double-parked. You know what to do.”
Mater’s tow hook shot out like a whip. Moments later, Mater was towing Tomber into a dark garage. Holly followed as Finn quickly pulled the door shut, so the four cars could speak in private.
It was all part of the game. Tomber could not afford to let the crowd outside see him talking with strange cars. Finn was pretending to kidnap him while he actually gathered information.
Holley whipped out the holographic photo of the bad engine identified by Mater.
“All right, informant,” Holley said. “Inform us.”
“What a bucket of bolts!” Tomber exclaimed. “Wait. The parts: original from the manufacturer.”
“Any idea who this might be?” Finn probed.
“I haven’t seen parts like this in years. They’re very rare and very expensive,” Tomber said, confirming Mater’s previous remarks. He paused and added, “I’m sorry, Finn. I can’t help you.”
“Mater, is there anything else you can tell us about this engine?” Holley asked desperately.
“Sorry.” Mater frowned. “I told you everything I know about this Lemon.”
Everyone in the room paused.
“Lemon?” Holley asked.
“Yeah, you know—cars that don’t work right,” Mater replied. “Lemons are a tow truck’s bread and butter. Like those Pacers and Gremlins at the party and race and airport and such? They’re Lemons, too.”
“Holley,” Finn blurted. “Pull up the pictures I took on the oil platform. I want to know what other types of cars were out there.”
Holley pulled up the photos and started naming the cars. “There were some Hugos.”
“Mater, is a Hugo considered a Lemon?” Finn asked. He was detecting a trend!