Cars 2(9)

“Got it,” Holley replied. “We’ll rendezvous then.”





Mater strolled back to the party and finally met up with his team.

“There you are,” Lightning said to him. “Where have you been?”

Mater seemed to be in a daze. “What’s a ‘rendezvous’?” he asked Luigi.

“It’sa like a date,” Luigi answered.

“A date!” Mater said, thrilled.

“Non ci credo!” Guido answered.

Luigi translated. “Guido don’t believe you.”

“Well, believe it,” Mater said to them proudly. “There she is right there.” Mater nodded in the direction of the beautiful British sports car across the room. “Hey, hey, lady!” he shouted.

Holley glanced at Mater and quickly drove off. She did not want their cover to be blown!

“See you tomorrow,” Mater called after her.

“Non ci credo,” Guido said again. The little forklift kept shaking his head.

Luigi translated. “Guido still don’t believe you.”



Somewhere on an industrial dock in the city of Tokyo, Grem and Acer had Rod suspended from an electromagnet.

“I gotta admit: you tricked us real good,” Grem said to Rod.

“And we don’t like to be tricked,” Acer snapped.

Rod simply smiled.

“Hey, what’s so funny?” Acer demanded.

“Well,” Rod said, embracing the fact that he was in serious trouble. “You know, I was just wearing a disguise. You guys are stuck looking like that.” He knew he was about to be roughed up by these two thugs. He figured he could at least insult them first.

Rod steeled himself as he was lowered onto a treadmill. He guessed they would start by making him run until he stalled out. He could handle that, but he wasn’t sure what other means they would use to get his secrets. A gas tank filled with Allinol stood next to him.

“Allinol?” Rod said. “Thanks, fellas. I hear this stuff is good for you.”

“So you think!” The mood changed dramatically as Professor Z emerged from the darkness and addressed Rod. “Allinol by itself is good for you. But what poor Miles Axlerod doesn’t know is that we’ve secretly sabotaged his wonder fuel. When hit with a blast of radiation, it becomes extremely dangerous.”

Rod looked up and spotted the mysterious camera with WGP printed on its side—the same one Finn had seen earlier on the oil derrick. But this was no camera. A piercing beam of light suddenly shot from the lens.

“You were very interested in this camera on the oil platform,” Professor Z said as he turned up the intensity of the beam. “Well, now you will witness what it really does.”

“Whatever you say, Professor.” Rod’s engine, now filled with Allinol, began to heat up. He couldn’t figure out why, but he could endure the pain. It was part of his training.

Grem and Acer turned on a video monitor in front of Rod. Footage of the prerace party flashed into view.

“You talked up a lot of cars last night. Which one is your ‘associate’?” Acer demanded.

But Rod refused to answer.

Grem was beginning to get ticked off. “Should I start it, Professor?”

“Do fifty-percent power,” Professor Z replied mildly. He turned to stare right into Rod’s eyes. “This camera is actually an electromagnetic radiation emitter. The Allinol is now heating to a boil, dramatically expanding, causing the engine block to crack under stress, forcing oil into the combustion chamber.”

“What do I care?” Rod grimaced. He could feel his engine beginning to give way. “I can replace an engine block.”

“You may be able to,” Professor Z said smugly. “But after full exposure to the radiation, unfortunately, there will be nothing to replace.”

“How about him?” Acer asked, flashing some footage of Mater rolling out of the men’s room. Professor Z noticed that it caught Rod’s attention—he saw a split second of recognition in Rod’s eyes.

“That’s him. He’s the one,” Professor Z said as he stared at Mater’s image on the TV monitor.

“No!” Rod protested.

But the Professor rolled away and radioed his mysterious leader, the Big Boss himself.

“Yes, sir,” Professor Z said. “We believe the infiltrator has passed along sensitive information.”

An angry voice replied over the radio: “Well, then, get it! You’d better make sure this doesn’t get any further!”

“I will take care of it before any damage can be done,” Professor Z quickly replied. There was a sharp click over the radio. The “leader” had turned off his radio. He—or she—had nothing more to say.