by Jeff Dixon
He listened as it rang and went straight to voice mail. He waited for the notification beep before speaking. “Kate, this is Hawk. I was watching the network’s coverage of the storm and didn’t see you. Was just checking in, everything is good here, I’m safe, just missing you. Love you.” He ended the call, but worry was rising within him.
His next call was to Juliette from the safety of this unknown number. He told Juliette he was safe, and he found out that Tim and the kids were safe and she was helping at the resort she was in. Hawk told her to stay out of sight, and she just laughed. They kept the conversation simple and were careful not to reveal information about either of them as they had all agreed previously. He repeated the process with Jonathan to make sure he and Sally were OK. He was bothered even more that no one had heard from Kate. He then placed a call to Shep.
Shep answered and laughed about the variety of ways that Hawk had been finding to stay in touch. He asked Hawk where he was and then remembered they weren’t sharing that kind of info and apologized. He asked if Hawk had any luck with the rock hunt. Hawk made a strategic decision not to share that info yet. Since he hadn’t finished solving the mystery, he felt it was best not to reveal too much. He did ask Shep about how the resort was holding up. Shep said there were more and more reports of damage, the buildings were holding up, and the roads were passable. Roadways around the Magic Kingdom seemed to have the most damage due to the trees that had been snapped off by the storm. Shep also had not heard from Kate and like Hawk thought it was odd that she was not on the air from Miami. Hawk ended the call.
Ollie brought over a heaping bowl of beef stew, and the aroma of this comfort concoction warmed him before he took the first bite. It was poured generously over a huge biscuit, and served with a large soft drink. “It isn’t fancy, but it’s hot and good.”
Hawk ate. Ollie was right, it was good. Hawk silently worried, wondered, and watched the weather. The beginning of a plan began to build and swirl like a storm in his mind. It might just work, and if he were right, the mystery could be solved. But for it to work, timing was going to be essential. He closed his eyes to rest and pray. He had to get this right.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Storm Day
6:30 A.M.
The plan was a little bit crazy buried under a great deal of danger. Hawk had watched footage of the storm slowing down in the night as it churned over the state. Ginger’s full force lingered, dropping more rain and giving the wind more time to do damage. Hawk had calculated when he wanted to make his move. He wanted the storm to be bad and raging when he left Epcot to head to the Magic Kingdom. He knew the worst winds were on the eye wall of the storm; that, he would avoid, but he wanted to brave the fury of the storm when it was bad so that no one could possibly be watching him or tracking him, get back to the safety of the Magic Kingdom before the worst of the storm hit, then wait for the eye of the storm to pass over. The eye of a hurricane is terrifyingly calm…until the eye wall hits for the second time.
His plan was to search for Walt’s long-hidden secret during the eye of the storm and have it secured before the storm started back up again. Hurricane Ginger’s eye wall would be his security team—if he could predict the weather accurately. After convincing his new friend to hide his tablet and key for safety, against Ollie’s better judgment and in the brutal winds and rain of a hurricane, he ventured out of Mission: SPACE to go find his car and attempt to do the impossible, to get back to the Magic Kingdom. He braced himself against the storm, and as he got the car, he looked up toward the monorail station again. The station was still empty—not that he had expected anyone to bring his monorail back—but at this moment, he would have chosen that as his means of transportation. For most people the thought of riding a monorail in a hurricane would have been reckless. But Hawk understood that with the weight of the monorail, the way it was secured over the track rail, and the sheer size and bulk of the track and supports themselves, that it would have been the best way to travel safely in the storm. Hurricane Ginger was a monster to be certain, but she was not strong enough to blow a monorail off the track. But it was not there, so it was not an option.
Getting behind the wheel of the car, he put it in gear. It sounded as if it was under attack as he drove out into the rain and wind, which beat the vehicle relentlessly. The wipers could not keep the windshield clear, so he had to crawl through the parking lot. The wind kept catching the side of the SUV, and he could feel it slide on the road. This was insane. He remembered Shep describing the roads around the Magic Kingdom as being obstructed, and as he drew closer he found out why. The beautiful trees that lined the roadways were being beat up by the storm, large branches were down, and some of the massive trees had broken in places, littering the road with debris.
Hawk wheeled up under the cover of the ticket booths at the Transportation and Ticket Center and strained to see if the monorail he had left earlier was still there. Monorail Blue was right where he had parked it, and he decided that it was the only way to get around the mile-and-a-half distance between here and the theme park. Monorail Red on the Epcot line was back at the center as well. Hawk blinked. He wondered why it had been brought back to this location, and by whom. With both parks being closed, there should have been no reason to move it. Shaking his head at the oddness of the situation, he pushed open his door and struggled against the weather to get through the gates to the monorail station. Heading up the ramp toward the landing area, he slipped and used the handrail to stabilize himself as he steadily made the trip upward.
His plan was working, although already it had not been as simple as he’d thought. He had underestimated the fury. If he could get back to his apartment or even somewhere on Main Street, U.S.A., he would wait for the eye of the storm and then would move again, safe from anyone who might be watching him. He was confident that no other person, besides himself, was crazy enough to be in the storm right now. Stepping up onto the loading platform, he headed for Monorail Blue, which was on the track aimed to take guests to the resorts and the Magic Kingdom. As he stepped toward the cab of the monorail, he heard the door click and watched it open. A bulky man dressed in black stepped out and nodded at him. Before he could react, he heard all of the doors on Monorail Blue click open and turned to see another man dressed in black step out from the other end of the monorail train. He blinked rapidly in disbelief; he had been wrong; there were others who had braved the storm.
Instinctively, he knew they were crazier than he was. From the middle of the monorail cars, a third person stepped out. Dark mane of hair, green eyes, and dis-armingly pretty even in a storm, Kiran Roberts walked across the platform toward him. The wind howled inside the cover of the platform, blowing her hair wildly around her face.
“Hi, Hawk.” She reached out and took him by the hand. “We’ve been waiting. Don’t make this tougher than it needs to be.”
The two men stepped beside him and roughly grasped his arms. They were strong, and he flexed his arms to resist, but he was locked in place in their grip. Lifting him slightly off the ground, they dragged him backward toward the other monorail waiting across the platform. Monorail Red was on the Epcot line as it had been earlier. Hawk felt his heart sink as he realized that Kiran had been the one to move it back and had been waiting for his return. The men forced Hawk into the last car of the monorail; it was identical to the front cab, except the view from this wraparound window showed you where you had just been. Hawk could look down the concrete rail as he was forced into a seat. One of the men wrenched his arms behind his back, and then the other moved behind him. He felt tape being wrapped around his wrists and heard the tearing sound as it was cut from the roll.
Having bound his hands behind his back, the two men now stood in front of him, holding him in the seat, while Kiran, who had been waiting and watching, approached. She searched his pockets roughly and plucked out the piece of paper he had found in Hollywood Studios. Glancing at the paper, she once again searched Hawk and didn’t find what
she was looking for.
“No key or tablet…very smart, but not smart enough.” Kiran raised an eyebrow.
She read the aged paper, and like he had done, recognized it as a receipt from 1966. The gift of Redstone from Walt and the studios to the city of Kissimmee. She smiled triumphantly as she refolded the paper and motioned for the men to leave for a moment. They walked away; Hawk noticed that one of them remained right outside the door while the other headed for the front of the monorail.
Hawk looked into Kiran’s eyes. “Where is Douglas?”
“Oh, as you know, he was detained.” She leaned in close and reached behind him, finding his back pocket, and removed the red handkerchief. She waved it in front of him. “You think you’re clever, using this red hanky as a signal to get help. Douglas was unfortunately the victim of your little plot. They weren’t smart enough to catch and stop me.” She threw the handkerchief back in his face.
Hawk strained against the tape binding his wrists and tried to reposition himself in the seat so he could sit up a little straighter. Kiran shoved him sideways, forcing him to slump over in the seat. With a sneer, he immediately began repositioning himself again to sit up straighter.
“I knew you would find what Walt had left. This piece of paper from 1966 will take me to the secret that has been hidden for years. It’s a shame that the storm kept you from finding it. It would have been so much easier for me if you had. But this will do, this is enough. I will track it down.”
Hawk now was upright in the monorail seat again. He tried to look angry. Kiran had no idea what to do with the clue or that under the cover of the storm, he had already figured it out. She had a worthless piece of paper, she just didn’t know it yet. He intended to keep it that way.
Kiran watched as he struggled against the tape on his wrists. “Keep struggling. That’s one of the things I always admired about you. You just don’t know when to quit.”
She suddenly slapped him across the face. “That is for Douglas.” She leaned in close and then slapped him again. “And that is for the grief you have caused me.” She slapped him again. “And this is for my mother.”
“Your mother?” Hawk’s face was on fire where she had slapped him. It stung, but she hadn’t hit him hard enough to do any real damage. This was her moment to gloat, and she was enjoying it. “Did you just say your mother?” Hawk pressed again.
“Don’t talk. Just listen.” Kiran got right next to his ear and spoke softly, almost sweetly. “Remember I said I was going to take what you loved? This is where it ends for you. This is your last ride. And as you take it, I want you to understand…I have won, you have finally lost…I have the secrets of Walt Disney. I have taken those closest to you, and now I will take you.”
One of the men stuck his head inside the monorail. He motioned to her, and when she walked over to him, he whispered, “We’re ready.”
She came back to where Hawk was sitting and bent down once again. This time, instead of whispering, she kissed him lightly on the cheek. She laughed, walked to the door of the monorail, and waved. “You know, Hawk, there’s a part of me that will miss you…goodbye.”
Hawk heard someone outside the monorail say, “The timer’s set.”
The door closed, and the monorail slowly pulled away from the loading dock. He could see out the window as he left the station. The two men were standing alongside Kiran. She waved to him as the monorail turned, and then the trio disappeared from sight. He could feel the monorail picking up speed, and he began to struggle with urgency to get the tape off his wrists. It was snug and secure. If there was a timer, then there was some type of explosive on board, which meant that the monorail would blow up, the track would be destroyed, and if the explosion didn’t kill him, the monorail’s plunging to the ground would. He had to get free.
Now isolated in the monorail car, Hawk could hear the sound of his heartbeat thrashing in his ears. It drowned out the sound of the storm pummeling the outside of the vehicle. Every sense he had now became heightened, and it seemed as if time slowed down as he focused on the problem he now faced.
How much time was on the timer? Where would the explosion cause the most damage? An explosion near Epcot or Spaceship Earth would destroy much of the area around the front entrance. He was thankful the damage was intended for him alone, since the parks were closed.
As he squirmed about the cabin, he tore at the utility compartment on the wall. It plopped open and the contents inside fell to the floor. There he saw it, a utility blade, tucked in among the other tools that might be needed on any given day. He turned backward and grabbed it with his fingers. He slowly began to saw through the tape. Another thought struck as he worked. How was the monorail moving? It had been designed with a dead man’s switch. Someone had to be keeping the drive shift engaged, and it would not run if there was no person holding it in place. Somehow, they had been able to figure out a way to bypass it. He was sure it was possible, he just didn’t understand how. He was surprised that Kiran and her team did. The system was designed to be fail-safe.
Finally he felt the tape break free and his hands were loose. He rubbed the circulation back into them as he looked at the set of controls in the cabin. He adjusted them to see if he could somehow control the monorail from the back cabin, He could not. The indicator lights read that it was being controlled from the front and that the drive shift was engaged. He had to get up there. If he were riding a subway, he could simply have walked through the doors that connected the cars. Monorails had no connecting doors. Only emergency escape doors located in the roof of each compartment.
Rain lashed the windows. It was getting bad out there, but he had no choice. He looked up at the top of the cabin and located a handle. He reached up, grabbed it, and gave it a twist. The door mechanism released, and the door fell open. Waves of rain poured into the cabin. Hawk reached up, grabbing either side of the opening, and hoisted himself up through the hatch. The blast of the storm greeting him as he exited the cabin and the speed of the wind shoved him violently as he struggled to free himself from the hatch opening.
The rain beat on him as he worked to position himself on top of the moving monorail. The length of the six cars on this monorail configuration stretched farther than he could see into the dark fury of the storm. And he had to get to the front and figure out a way to stop it…and keep it from blowing up.
CHAPTER FIFTY - ONE
Storm Day
7:30 A.M.
Stinging needles of rain burst across Grayson Hawkes’s skin. His shoes squeaked as they slid across the metal surface, desperately searching for a foothold so he could maintain his balance. Wind blasted against him. The savage wrath of the storm turned each drop of rain into a dangerous projectile threatening to knock him off of his moving perch. Bracing himself by leaning into the fury, he inched forward.
Hurricane Ginger had arrived just as the forecasters had predicted. The category 3 storm was packing winds of 125 miles per hour, but those were nested along the eye wall of the meteorological monster, and Ginger’s eye wasn’t on him yet. Hawk hoped the eye of the storm was still miles away. The gusts he was battling were just an 80-mile-per-hour preview of the main attraction coming soon. The storm had not surprised him, or anyone else for that matter. There had been plenty of advance warning as hurricane trackers had watched the force of nature develop and then followed her path toward Central Florida.
The unexpected twist for Hawk was that he was facing the onslaught of the storm while struggling to stay balanced on top of a Disney Mark VI monorail streaking though the Walt Disney World Resort, traveling at a speed of 35 miles an hour, headed for the Epcot theme park.
Slowly his foot glided forward, grabbing another step across the top of the monorail. Hawk was on the last car of the six-car train. His goal was to travel the length of the train to get to the lead control cabin. He steeled himself to step across the juncture between the cars. The gap would be an easy one for him to cross…on a normal day. Today was anythi
ng but normal. Normal would have meant he was riding inside the monorail instead of standing on top of it. Normal would have meant that the monorail was transporting guests to and from theme parks instead of running empty because the parks were closed due to the storm. Normal would have meant that this monorail, Monorail Red, was stored away safely until the storm had passed. This was definitely not a normal day.
As the sleek monorail snaked along the concrete track, Hawk shoved himself airborne to cross to the roof of the next passenger car. His front foot landed exactly where he had hoped. Perfect!
A gust of wind hit him. The cyclone force of it struck him in the chest and drove him back. Feet lifting off the roof, Hawk felt himself flying backward and glanced over his shoulder to see the monorail passing beneath him. Momentarily suspended in midair, he longed for gravity to return—and his wish was granted instantly. He smashed onto the roof of the monorail, flat on his back, staring up into the angry gunmetal sky.
The driving wind, the rain-drenched white roof of the cabin, and the speed of the Mark VI combined to propel him skating on his shoulder blades across the slick surface. Flipping over, he spread out both arms against the wet metal to slow his slide and stabilize himself. Excruciatingly slow seconds passed, and finally he screeched to a stop. Inhaling deeply, he gradually worked himself back around to face the other direction.
