“Then you’re faking it!” Mater shouted, filled with confidence. “You didn’t convert to no electric. We pop that hood, and we’re gonna see that Lemon engine from that picture right there.”
But as Mater moved toward Axlerod to pop his hood, Holley spoke up. “Axlerod created the race, Mater. Why would he want to hurt anyone?”
“To make Allinol look bad, so everyone would go back to oil,” Mater replied firmly. “He said it himself with his disguised voice in that casino.”
“Mater,” Finn said. “He created Allinol.”
“Yeah,” Mater said, “but what if he found that huge oil field just as the world was trying to find something else? What if he came up with Allinol just to make alternative fuel look bad?”
Now Mater had the attention of Holley and Finn. They all moved in toward Axlerod.
“Keep away, you idiot!” Axlerod screamed at Mater. There were exactly eight seconds left before the bomb would explode! “You’re insane! You are!”
And then Axlerod said it: “Deactivate!”
The bomb stopped ticking.
“Bomb deactivated,” a computer voice announced. “Have a nice day, Sir Miles.” That proved it. Axlerod was the only voice that could deactivate the bomb. He was the Lemon behind the plot.
The following day at Buckingham Palace, Mater was knighted by the Queen. The rusty tow truck bowed deeply as the Queen said, “I dub thee Sir Mater.”
Mater looked up. “Sir?” he asked the Queen. “Why, you can call me Mater, Your Majesty. I don’t want to hear none of this ‘Sir’ business. By the way, have y’all met each other? Queen? Lightning McQueen. Lightning McQueen, Queen. Queen? McMissile. McMissile, Queen.” Mater went on with his introductions as the crowds cheered their new hero—the hero who had shown the courage and intelligence needed to save them and the rest of the world, too.
Back in Radiator Springs, the town put up a new sign. It read: WELCOME TO RADIATOR SPRINGS–HOME OF LIGHTNING MCQUEEN AND SIR TOW MATER.
Mobs of tourists had shown up to see the final race of the World Grand Prix. All the racers who’d never gotten to finish the race in London were there, too, including Francesco Bernoulli. But all the attention was on Mater.
“So were you really a spy?” one of the tourists asked Sir Tow Mater.
“Tell us everything!” another said.
Mater told them about taking a spy jet to Paris.
“Did that really happen?” a car in the crowd asked. “A spy jet? Come on.”
Just then they heard Siddeley, the spy jet, overhead.
Siddeley made a perfectly smooth landing right next to the Cozy Cone Motel at the edge of town.
“You’re right. It does sound a little farfetched,” the sleek jet joked dryly.
“Sid!” Mater shouted. He saw Finn and Holley exit the plane. “What are y’all doing here?”
“We hear that there’s a special competition here today,” Holley said.
Luigi rolled up. “So you got my email!” he said as the whole Radiator Springs gang gathered around.
Mater suddenly noticed the dent in Holley’s side. It was the dent she’d gotten when she saved Mater from Grem and Acer. Mater hadn’t noticed it earlier.
“Don’t worry,” Mater said gently. “My buddy Ramone can fix that dent for you in no time.”
Holley smiled. “Oh, no, I’m keeping that dent,” she said. “It’s way too valuable.”
“A valuable dent?” Luigi said to Guido. “She’s as crazy as Mater.”
Holley and Mater shared a laugh. Maybe spies could have friends after all.
Lightning rolled up and asked why his engine hadn’t exploded when the WGP camera beam hit it.
“We couldn’t figure that one out, either,” Finn said as he looked around at Mater’s hometown.
“Our investigation proved that Allinol was a fake,” Holley explained. “It wasn’t really an alternative fuel at all. And Axlerod engineered it so that when it got hit by the beam, it would explode.”
Lightning turned to Fillmore. “Wait a second. Fillmore, you said my fuel was safe.”
Everyone turned to Fillmore. “If you’re implying I switched out that rotgut excuse for alternative fuel with my all-natural, organic biofuel just because I never trusted Axlerod, you’re dead wrong. It was him,” Fillmore announced. He was looking right at Sarge.
Sarge just shrugged. “Once ‘big oil,’ always ‘big oil’…man.”
“Tree hugger,” Fillmore fired back.
Sheriff’s voice suddenly came over the loudspeaker. “The Radiator Springs Grand Prix is about to start!”