PORTLAND — It was a clean getaway — a would-be car wash robber ran off wet and with no money after getting drenched by an attendant armed with a washer wand.

A gunman wearing a skeleton mask and hooded sweat shirt strolled into Washman Carwash near a Portland commercial strip on Dec. 13. Employee Chris Truax was on duty, wearing a Santa cap.

“Give me your money!” Truax remembers the man saying, producing what looked like a handgun.

The gun broke, Truax said, and the gunman stuck it back in his waistband.

Aha, Truax remembers thinking, a fake — emboldening him to lead the robber to the till in the car wash’s tunnel.

The gunman ordered Truax to fill a bag with cash. Truax stepped away. The robber grabbed for the cash.

Pulling the power washer from a pail and aiming it like a rifle, Truax directed a stream of soapy, lukewarm water at the robber with a force of 2,000 pounds per square inch. The man fled.

“It had to hurt. I promise you that,” said Jason Marsh, Truax’s assistant manager. “It was brilliant.”

The robber remains at large.