Cars 2(21)

“You just need to focus,” Sally told Lightning. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

He was about to drop out of the race when Sir Miles Axlerod approached the pit.

“I just wanted to come down here and thank you,” Sir Miles said to Lightning. “After Italy, I was finished. And then you gave me one last shot. And I probably shouldn’t be saying this at all, but I hope you win today. You show the world that they’ve been wrong about Allinol.”

Lightning looked at his friends. He couldn’t drop out of the race now.

“It’s what Mater would have wanted,” Sally said to Lightning.

It was true. Mater would want him to race. Moments later, a very determined Lightning zoomed to the starting line. It was the only thing he could think to do for Mater. The race was on!

From up in the clock tower, Grem grinned as he heard the roar of engines.

The race had begun, and the cars in the lead were getting closer and closer to the giant clock. Soon they would race right by Professor Z’s two thugs and their deadly “camera.”

“Here they come!” Grem suddenly shouted. He turned up the juice on the WGP camera—to its highest level—and aimed it at Lightning.





Mater closed his eyes. He couldn’t stand to see his friend hurt. Finn and Holley were helpless, too. They saw Grem pull the trigger.

But Lightning zoomed right past the clock tower unharmed. He hadn’t even slowed down!

Grem and Acer were shocked. Professor Z radioed them immediately.

“What happened?” the Professor demanded.

“You broke it,” Acer said to Grem.

Grem listened to Professor Z on the radio. “I understand,” Grem said. “Yes, sir.”

“What’d he say?” Acer asked anxiously.

“We go to the backup plan,” Grem said, and they both headed for the doors.

“Backup plan?” Mater called to them.

Grem gave Mater a nasty laugh and said, “Yeah, we snuck a bomb into Lightning McQueen’s pit.”

“The next time he makes a stop, instead of saying ‘Ka-chow,’ he’s gonna go ka-boom!” Acer added.

“Dadgum Lemons,” Mater muttered out of a mix of anger and frustration. Of course, his computer heard “gum” and spun out his weaponry.

The Lemons left the tower, laughing. But Mater noticed that the spinning barrels of his weapons had begun to shave away at the restraints that tied him to the clock’s gears!

“Dadgum! Dadgum! Dadgum!” Mater shouted excitedly. It worked! The guns spun away at the restraints until they broke. Mater suddenly dropped toward the whirring gears of the clock.

He quickly whipped out his tow cable and hooked it onto a pipe. He swung himself toward the doors and landed with a thud.

“I gotta get y’all out of there so you can save Lightning McQueen,” he said, looking up at Finn and Holley in desperation.

“There’s no time!” Finn told him. “It’s up to you now. We’ll be okay.”

Holley said, “Go get some more dents, Mater!” Mater gave Holley a smile and shot out of the door.

“So, we’re going to be okay?” Holley asked Finn.

Finn shrugged. “He wouldn’t have left if I’d told him the truth.” They both watched as a giant gear moved one click closer to crushing them completely. “Being killed by a clock: gives a whole new meaning to ‘Your time has come.’”

That gave Holley an idea. She fired at the clock’s gearbox, sending a blast of electricity through the wires and into the gears.

“What are you doing?” Finn asked as a shower of sparks flew through the clock tower.

“Trying to turn back time,” she answered. “If I can reverse the polarity…” She strained to get off another shot. This time, she scored a direct hit. The clock stopped with a jolt and then reversed itself. The gears began to move away from them.

“Quick thinking, Holley!” Finn said, impressed.

But a different gear was now moving closer—a gear that was going to smash in their trunks.

“Drive, Holley!” Finn said as the gear began to move over them.

Chrome was ground off their rear bumpers as the two spun their wheels. They inched just far enough apart to evade the giant machinery—but not too far. The gear sliced right through the cable that had them tied bumper to bumper! Finn and Holley flew to opposite platforms inside the clock.

They were free!

“We’ve got to get to the course!” Finn shouted. “Calculate the fastest way to get there!”

Holley instantly popped out two wings from her side panels. She could see the shock on Finn’s face.

“They’re standard issue now,” she told him.