Storming the Kingdom

by Jeff Dixon

  “I’m ready.” She leaned in, ready to quickly extract what they had both seen.

  “Let’s go.” He lifted—and groaned, as it was heavier than he had imagined.

  Slowly the case rose, and Juliette reached underneath it. Her hand slid into the small cattle car and grabbed what they had both seen. It was a folded piece of paper. She freed it and her hand from the case, and Hawk let the case ease back down to its base.

  By the time Hawk had made sure everything was back in place, Juliette had already unfolded the paper, which Hawk recognized instantly as a map of the Magic Kingdom. Juliette studied it as Hawk moved next to her and started doing the same. It was a typical guest map that was available in a variety of languages to any guest who entered the park. It gave basic information about where to go, where to eat, where to find restrooms, and where to shop. Juliette handed it to Hawk and pointed to the one thing on this map that made it different from any other guest map at Walt Disney World. On this map, following the line of the train track surrounding the Magic Kingdom, between the Main Street Train Station and Adventureland, there was a black X with one handwritten word beside it: desperation.

  Hawk said softly, “That is Farren’s handwriting.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY - NINE

  Three Days Ago

  Late Morning

  Brilliant sun heated up the Florida morning. The blue sky was accented by periodic lines of ominous dark clouds that for now were swallowed up by the beauty of the bright morning; an unusual combination of all being calm countered by the threatening storm clouds. Florida weather was unique to be certain, especially during the peak of hurricane season. It was easy to understand how frightening hurricanes must have been in the days before advanced weather forecasting and detection. The beauty of the Sunshine State sky would quickly turn dark and the power of the storm would roll in. With no way of knowing it was coming, people were never prepared and the results were devastating. If the forecasters were right, this beautiful morning would be just a memory as the storm grew closer. Dark skies, squally weather, gusts of wind, and bands of rain would be on them soon. The impending storm created within him an even greater sense of urgency to figure out what Farren had wanted him to discover. Not that he needed another reason, but internally he could feel the storm forming. He was running out of time.

  Hawk and Juliette had reentered the Magic Kingdom area through a cast member entrance and were driving along the backstage roads that encircled the theme park out of the view of guests.

  “So does Kiran really have the third Imagineer?” Juliette asked as they pulled into a parking area behind Adventureland.

  “I have no idea. I want to believe she is bluffing and trying to play me.” Hawk hesitated. A few years ago, Juliette had been kidnapped by Kiran and her accomplice, Jim Masters. “But we both know it fits her operating pattern.”

  “And it seems she has stepped up her game and is willing to kill as well,” Juliette said with an edge as they exited the car.

  “Just like before, she has inserted herself into this mystery and is trying to pull the strings behind the scenes.”

  “But we know her now.” Juliette moved in step beside Hawk as they cut across the parking lot and through a backstage gate. “She fooled us all once. This time she doesn’t have that kind of power.”

  Hawk nodded and once again looked at the map they had found hidden in the Carolwood Pacific room. The handwritten X with the word desperation could refer to only one place. In Hawk’s mind the clue was simple, but he was noticing a pattern once again in how Farren was telling him this mysterious story. He was using a variety of clues and methods of delivery. Just like he had done before, the clues had been given in various styles using new and old methods. Farren had explained it was more fun for him to create that way. The truth was that using a variety of clues offered in different ways made them harder to unravel, and the mystery was unpacked more like a scavenger hunt. Hawk ventured to Caribbean Way in the behind-the-scenes area and started walking toward the entrance to the theme park from this roadway.

  This was a clue that was hidden in plain sight for any guest who wanted to notice it. Hawk figured the X marked the Desperation Outpost, visible to anyone who is riding the Walt Disney World Railroad. It is probably one of the most frequently seen things in the Magic Kingdom that no one ever remembers. This made Hawk smile; a detail hidden in plain sight was a great place to hide a clue. After you board the train at the Main Street Station, you leave the busy activity of Main Street, U.S.A. and are swallowed up by trees on each side of the train. The sounds of Adventureland fill the air. Although guests rarely realize it, they are actually traveling past the far end of the Jungle Cruise attraction. Less than two minutes into the train ride, riders come to a crossing signal that alerts them they are crossing over a road. That road is Caribbean Way, located on the west side of the park. At this crossing signal, because there is so little to see among the trees, the Imagineers created an interesting staging piece. A small shack with windows, sitting out all by itself just to the right side of the train track, greets the train as it chugs past. It is Desperation Outpost, created as a tribute to the danger and adventure that awaits you as you go deeper through the jungle and enter the Caribbean. As soon as you pass the outpost, you cross over the access road and head toward the Pirates of the Caribbean tunnel.

  Hawk and Juliette were approaching it from the road. They stopped as they reached the train tracks. The shack was just across from where they stood. They could see the white sign, hanging askew above the window. Its bold black lettering said Desperation with smaller lettering on a line above it: Outpost. Listening closely for a train whistle, they looked back down the rails toward the curve coming through the outskirts of Adventureland. Seeing and hearing nothing, they crossed the tracks and approached the shack. Arriving at the shack, Hawk powered up his electronic tablet. As they stood waiting for it to come to life, in the distance they heard the whistle of a train heading their way. Moving around to the back of the shack, which is almost completely out of sight from the train riders, they continued to wait.

  The touch screen began to glow, and the golden key icon appeared, but there was no update indication. Hawk caught Juliette’s look at him. She was puzzled.

  He shrugged. “An old-school map must lead to an old-school clue.”

  The clanging bell of the crossing signal sounded, the safety arms of the signal lowered, and the train clacked past them. They pressed against the shack to remain as out of sight as possible from the view of the passersby. Once the train had passed, the crossing signal fell silent, and Hawk began checking the windows on the shack. One was not fastened shut and slid up easily. He leaned inside and scoured the inside of the outpost with his eyes. Nothing stood out; a few things were placed on the floor of the shack, all of them items that would be used and stashed by the maintenance crew. Nothing he saw looked like a clue.

  “Well?” Juliette spoke softly behind him.

  “Nothing.” Hawk straightened up and once again began to visually inspect the shack.

  Juliette’s phone began playing a ringtone; it startled both of them for a moment, then she opened it and began speaking to her caller. Hawk moved around the shack, looking for anything that might be or contain a clue. He was still looking along one side of the structure when Juliette ended her call.

  “I’ve got to run.” She shook her head. “We seem to be having a bit of trouble dispersing and relocating all of the media people we have stacked up over at Epcot.”

  Hawk tilted his head and waited for her to continue.

  “After all, they have all gathered to report the attempts on your life”—she smiled—“which has become a lot less intriguing to them since they’re hearing very little from law enforcement, and you as a target have been completely silent since the attempts.” She shrugged. “Now we’re trying to get them moved so they’ll be safe if the storm hits. Apparently some of the crews are being instructed to cover the impending storm, so they
want to stay put, and well…it’s just tough to find a good story to cover these days.”

  “Oh, well, some days you can’t get what you want.” Hawk nodded for her to do what she needed to do. “I’ll be fine here. I don’t live that far from here, you know, I can get home.”

  “Yes, but I want you to get home and stay safe. Which, right now, appears to be something that’s nearly impossible for you to do.” She pointed a finger at him. “Call me when you know what you’re doing next. Let me help if I can.”

  “Juliette.” Hawk smiled at her calmly. “I asked Al Gann to get some additional protection for you, Tim, and the kids. I want you to be safe. I need you to call Al, tell him where you are and what you’re doing, and make sure he gets a security detail to wherever you are.”

  “I think we’ll be fine.”

  “I’m not kidding.” Hawk allowed a slight warning tone to deepen his voice. “You already had one run in with Kiran. She and her band of hoodlums have raised the stakes this time. You get your family here at the resort and hunker down somewhere to ride out the storm. Let Al protect you. Be safe.”

  His intensity concerned her, not only for her family and herself, but also for him and what he was trying to do. “I will,” she promised.

  Hawk hugged her goodbye, and she crossed the tracks to head back to her car. He turned his attention back to exploring the shack. It was an old-school clue; he had followed the map, X marked the spot, and he had ended up here…at a point of desperation. He tried to think like a storyteller, which Farren Rales had told him to do many times. Years ago, when he had first met Rales, he had asked Rales to help him. As a preacher, he believed he was called to tell the greatest story ever told. Yet he felt like often, he didn’t tell the story well enough for people to remember it, or have the story move them and cause them to respond like they should. He countered that with the reality that Disney was the greatest storyteller ever and the stories Disney told were remembered for a lifetime. Rales had opened up so many ways of not only how to tell a great story, but to find the story in the places around you. So again, Hawk tried to think of the story Rales was telling him. What would he need if he were here, at the crossroads, at a point of desperation. Then he saw it. It was on the front of the shack. Hidden but not hidden, right in plain sight.

  One of the essentials anyone needed to survive was water. Strategically placed on the front of the shack was a canteen. What if the clue was inside the canteen? Hawk reached up and grabbed it, releasing it from where it was fastened. He shook it and thought he felt something moving inside. Turning the lid, he looked inside and saw something rolled up inside. A note?

  With a flip, the canteen turned upside down; he shook it and a note fell out and dropped to the ground. Replacing the lid and reattaching the canteen to the bracket on the shack, he quickly retrieved the note and unrolled it. It was the clue; he knew it was, because it was written in Rales’s distinctive handwriting. He read the clue silently.

  I am a container that holds keys for which there exist no locks…yet these keys are trying to unlock souls but cannot. Maybe they will unlock for you how to find that which you are searching for.

  Hawk furrowed his brow and reread the clue. A container with keys for which there exist no locks, that can unlock how to find that which I am searching for…He tried to formulate what the clue could mean. A train whistle startled him, and he heard the clanging once again of the warning bell of the train crossing. A train was on the way around the curve coming toward him. The sound snapped him back to look at his surroundings; across the tracks, a man stood staring at him. As the crossing bars came down, Hawk moved slightly to see the man better. Short, black hair and sunglasses were the first things Hawk noticed. As Hawk focused in on him, the dark-haired man smiled. Instantly, Hawk knew where he had seen him before.

  This was the assassin who had tried to kill him in the hospital. The man nodded as though pleased to see that Hawk remembered him. He took a step toward Hawk. The whistle from the train screamed at them, and with a powerful force, the train rolled between them. Now the assassin was trapped on the other side of the tracks, and Hawk knew he had to move. He raced into Magic Kingdom, running on the path that carried him into Frontierland. He didn’t have long; the train would be past quickly.

  Glancing over his shoulder as he ran, he caught a glimpse of the dark-haired man jumping up into the air, trying to see him. The man’s sight line was broken by the train moving past. Turning his attention back to the path in front of him, Hawk raced into Frontierland and began cutting between the guests who moseyed along the streets of the Western frontier.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Three Days Ago

  Noon

  Urgently running into the Western frontier, Hawk sought an escape route. He had known that his assassin would reemerge, but as often happened in life, the expected occurs at the most inopportune moments. He hadn’t yet had time to decipher the latest clue. His mind clanked around the keys that had no lock. But his more immediate concern was not as much for his safety, but the safety of all of his guests. Somewhere in his transition from pastor to CCA, he had come to understand that all of the people who traveled to spend time at the resort were his guests. Right now, his proximity to the people was putting them all in danger. He had to get off of the street in order to keep them safe—along with himself.

  Thundering through Frontierland, he dodged between clusters of tourists. He did not steal a glance behind him but instinctively knew that the dark-haired assailant was back there…somewhere. At the outskirts of Frontierland, Hawk slowed as he merged with a crowd that was bottlenecked near Liberty Square. Looking to his left and then right, he ducked into the dining area of the Columbia Harbour House. There was a cast member doorway inside that would allow him to descend into the Utilidor and find an escape. Moving through the restaurant and trying not to attract attention to himself, he paused before moving down the hallway that would take him to the door.

  In his mind he heard the question, why are you stopping? He was feet away from opening a door that would let him disappear and get away from his would-be assassin. But he wanted to see if he was still being followed. He was sick of running, he was fed up with having to hide, and he was furious that there was a group of people who were hurting those around him. He wanted to make it stop, and he knew if it was going to stop, he was going to have to do it. Even as he rationalized his thinking, he knew it was not rational.

  The lunchtime crush had descended on the restaurant. The clamor of people ordering food, waiting in lines longer than they would like, and diners talking created a crowded cavern of conversation that he hoped would allow him to remain unnoticed as he turned to move back through the eating establishment. Hawk moved through the maritime dining experience with its nautical maps, relics, and remnants of seafaring vessels and headed to the stairwell. The Columbia Harbour House featured two dining levels and one of the best-kept secrets of the Magic Kingdom. The Imagineers needed to create a way to delineate between Liberty Square and Fantasy-land in the theme park. They did this by creating and decorating a bridge between the two lands that guests would walk beneath. Inside this bridge is additional seating for Columbia Harbour House. The room is created to look like the interior of a ship. On one side of the room are two tables that look out onto Liberty Square. On the other side are three tables that look out onto Fantasyland. The middle of the room is dotted with a few round tables, and the result is an exclusive dining area that most never discover inside the Magic Kingdom. Hawk navigated through the main seating area of the second-floor dining room and emerged into this ship interior private seating area. The tables along the windows on both sides were full, and as Hawk entered, all of the guests turned toward him.

  “Aren’t you Grayson Hawkes?” one guest asked.

  Another asked something similar, and immediately the room bubbled with whispers that the CCA of the Disney company was standing in the room with them.

  Hawk smiled. “Sorry to interrup
t your lunch. I hope you are enjoying it. I’m just dropping by to check a few things out.”

  He stepped over to the Liberty Square windows and looked through one, down toward the street. He loved eating in this room because he could watch the people walking by. Rarely did they look up this high; usually they were too busy looking at the amazing world that surrounded them. Hawk studied the crowd, looking for the dark-haired, bespectacled enemy. In the ebb and flow of the crowd, he spotted him. Trying to blend in, moving past the entrance to the Liberty Square Riverboat attraction, the man was scouring the crowd. Leaning back a bit, Hawk hid behind the sheer drapes to make sure he was not seen. Just as he remembered, the man was short; the distinctive hair and glasses that Hawk previously had thought might have been a disguise appeared to be the way the man looked in real life.

  The man wandered with no clear sense of direction, jostling along in the flow of people, drifting to the edges of the crowds, pausing, changing direction slightly, and then moving again. He was looking for Hawk, but trying to be nonchalant and undetectable. Hawk found himself thinking that he was doing a very good job at blending in and on any other occasion would have gone unnoticed. The dark-haired man continued to walk and now was immediately underneath the window Hawk was watching him through. The man stepped under the bridge, so the CCA moved quickly across the room to the windows on the other side. He pressed up close to the glass to wait for the man to emerge on the Fantasyland side of the walkway. He should be able to see the man any moment. He did not.

  Hawk felt a slight increase in his heartbeat. The man should have come back out on the other side of the bridge but had not. Hawk moved back to the window he had looked through previously into Liberty Square and scanned the crowd. He did not see him. That meant the man had either stopped under the bridge or had stepped inside the restaurant. Hawk’s heartbeat quickened again. There was no way the man could have seen him. There was no way the assassin could know he was here. But yet, he had disappeared from Hawk’s surveillance and did not reemerge where he should have. The lingering doubts echoed in Hawk’s mind. Stopping here, wanting to see the man, thinking he could somehow manage to hide in a crowd of people, had been foolish. Not only was he at risk, but everyone around him was at risk. Which he had never intended, but which, if the man had entered the Harbour House, was now exactly what had happened.