Read Online Cars 2 by Irene Trimble - Free Book Online Page A

weapons.
    â€œDadgum!” Mater said into his radio.
    â€œGaitlin gun. Request acknowledged,” Mater’s computer answered.
    Mater was shocked to see guns roll out of both of his side doors.
    â€œShoot. I didn’t mean—” Mater tried to say as he suddenly sprayed the ceiling with bullets.
    Mater was thrown back by the force of one of his guns. “Whoa! Wait!” he hollered. “I didn’t mean that kind of shoot!”
    â€œCorrection acknowledged,” the computer replied. “Deploying parachute.”
    With a whoosh, a large parachute shot out from Mater’s undercarriage. In seconds, he was dragged out onto the casino’s balcony.
    â€œWhoa!” Mater cried as the chute filled with air and hoisted him into the sky.
    Mater drifted over the town of Porto Corsa until he spotted a motorboat speeding through the water below. He dropped his tow hook and hitched a ride toward the race site. There was no time to lose. He had to get to Lightning and warn him.
    Mater could see Lightning onstage, talking to the reporters, as he dropped into the crowd.
    â€œLemme through!” Mater shouted as he tried to make his way to the stage.
    â€œBack up, sir,” a security guard told Mater, who was frantic with worry.
    Mater kept pushing through the crowd.
    â€œWe have a lunatic at gate nine,” the guard said into his walkie-talkie.
    â€œNo, listen!” Mater sputtered. “I—I was disguised as a tow truck with some Lemons, and they got this ray-gun plot!”
    â€œRepeat. Lunatic at gate nine,” the guard said.
    Mater could still see Lightning onstage. He used all his tow truck weight to keep pushing through the throngs of cars. “Comin’ through. Life-or-death situation here,” he said as he tried to move forward. But no one seemed to believe him.

A s additional security closed in on Mater, he yelled, “Lightning McQueen, if you’re out there, they’re gonna kill you! ”
    Lightning suddenly looked up. He saw a tow hook moving through the crowd.
    â€œMater!” he called out. Lightning drove off the stage and pushed through the throng. He kept tracking the tow hook, only to find it wasn’t Mater at all. It was the Lemon driver, Ivan.
    â€œSorry,” Lightning said, filled with confusion and disappointment. He could have sworn he had heard his buddy Mater.
    As Lightning was led back to the stage, Ivan breathed a sigh of relief. He had done his job by distracting Lightning while Professor Z’s Lemons hijacked Mater! Now Mater was in the back of a transport vehicle. Nobody objected to seeing the lunatic tow truck being hauled away.
    â€œLet me go!” Mater yelled. Professor Z just smiled.
    â€œYou really care about that race car. Fascinating,” he said as he slammed the doors of the transport. Professor Z released a sleeping gas into the small space where Mater was trapped. “Pity you didn’t warn him about it in time.”
    Mater’s eyes slowly closed, and he tipped over like a fallen tree. He dreamed about everything that had happened over the past days: how Finn had called him an idiot, how he had called in to The Mel Dorado Show and said that Lightning was the fastest car in the world, how he had embarrassed Lightning at the WGP racers’ party—and how he had caused Lightning to lose the first race of the World Grand Prix. Maybe Mater was an idiot, just as Finn had said.

    Bong! Bong! Bong!
    Mater’s eyes suddenly snapped open. He was awake but couldn’t get his bearings. He was hanging upside down, and his whole body was aching. Now all he could hear was a very loud click-click-click.
    Mater looked around and saw nothing but enormous, churning gears. And then he figured it out: he was inside the workings of a huge clock. He spotted Finn and Holley strapped bumper to bumper nearby. Professor Z and the Lemons had caught all three of them.
    â€œHolley! Finn!” Mater