by Jeff Dixon
They were hurrying. That was a good sign, wasn’t it?
Hawk followed them. As he ran, he glanced around him, conscious that the assassin was still out there somewhere.
Crowds lined the balconies on the side of the Contemporary. Guests hearing the commotion, already frightened by the storm, had stepped outside their rooms into open-air hallways that were meant to give a spectacular view of the grand concourse of the resort. They were shocked at today’s view, which was anything but spectacular. In stunned silence, they could see a monorail parked half inside the resort, and they watched as the beehive of activity left through the shattered door of the monorail and a woman drenched in red was rushed away on a stretcher. Behind the stretcher followed a man; most guests recognized the familiar but anxious face of the Chief Creative Architect of the Disney company. This was storm damage they never could have anticipated.
CHAPTER FIFTY - FOUR
Storm Day
11:45 A.M.
Calm covered the magical land of Walt Disney World for a short time before the eye of the storm passed and the wind and rain returned. Sitting in the darkness of his office in the Bay Lake Towers, Hawk stared out the window as Hurricane Ginger battered the Magic Kingdom. Cinderella Castle and Space Mountain stood against the onslaught, majestic in the midst of mayhem. He had been sitting there in silence, listening to the whistling wind and the rain as it splashed against the window, for a long time.
He had not gone to the hospital in the ambulance. Kate had not lived long enough to make it to the ambulance.
By the time the elevator had reached the bottom floor, she was gone. They had taken her to the hospital, not in a rush to save her life, but as required because she was a shooting victim. There had been no need to rush, no need for any additional heroics to save her life. It had been snatched from her by the same assassin who had been stalking Hawk and all of those he loved for the past week.
His executive office suite was a hub of activity. Law enforcement, Disney security, cast members, and others were swarming the lower floor of the offices. Doing whatever they needed to do, Hawk supposed. No one had been allowed to venture up the stairs to his private office and conference room. The emptiness he was struggling with threatened to swallow him into the black hole of sadness, and in this moment, he just didn’t care. He was tired of fighting, tired of solving mysteries, tired of the secrets, and tired of those around him always being in danger because of him. He cried at times as he sat thinking about Farren, George, and especially Kate. Tears would start burning his eyes and sobs would smother him in a wave of grief. Then the burning tears would flare into white-hot anger.
His wife, his kids, his friends had all been taken because of him. His life and his life choices had managed to rob them of their chance to really live. And now, Kate… for the first time in a long time since the death of his family, he had begun to plan a future with a woman who had reminded him that he could love again. Now she was gone as well. He wished the driving rain could wash away the pain that was tearing through his soul.
A knock on the door brought his mind from a distant place, looking through the window back to the moment. He didn’t turn to see who was there, he simply sat and waited; whoever had come upstairs had come up to check on him.
“May I come in?” a man said behind him.
“Sure.” Hawk motioned slightly with his hand. The voice was familiar, but he didn’t have the energy or the desire to try to identify who it belonged to.
“May I sit?”
“Sit.” Hawk finally looked up to see Sheriff Cal McManus taking the seat next to him.
McManus joined Hawk in looking out the window over the Magic Kingdom as the storm continued to hammer the resort.
“The worst of the storm has passed,” McManus said. “Damage reports are coming in from all over the county. Things are bad. I’m here to get a damage report on you.”
The unique way the sheriff made the statement caused Hawk to turn to face him. He felt a tear trickling down his cheek and wiped it away with his palm. “I’m fine.”
“You are anything but fine,” McManus said softly. “No way you could be fine, but nice try, Dr. Hawkes.” McManus inhaled and exhaled deeply. “I’ve had a chance to look at the reports. You sure it was the same shooter?”
Hawk nodded as he turned back to the window.
“I’m sorry for your loss.” McManus reached over and patted Hawk on the arm. “I understand that you and Kate Young were making plans for your future.”
Hawk squinted as he felt his eyes begin to burn. Again he nodded.
The other man gave him some time to regroup, then he cleared his throat. “We’ll get the man who did this. We’ve been doing some digging, and although it’s still just a theory, we have an insider who leads us to believe that even though he is in prison, Reginald Cambridge is very much involved in this plot against you.” McManus looked out the window once again. “Your red hanky group managed to help us round up Douglas Hall and some other Disney cast members who were trying to hurt you. Mr. Hall and his crew aren’t talking very much yet. It isn’t clear how they’re connected to Cambridge, and we still have not gotten a clear connection from Cambridge to Kiran Roberts. But we’ll figure it out.”
“I can help you there,” Hawk said flatly. “Kiran Roberts isn’t connected to Reginald. At least she isn’t anymore. She’s running her own operation.”
“There was enough explosive power in the Red Monorail to blow apart the train, the track, and most anything that would have been close. Are you saying she is trying to kill you as well? With her own plan and plot?” McManus furrowed his brow.
“Yep.” Hawk nodded and turned back toward McManus. “Two groups trying to kill me and anyone close to me.”
“Then we’ll stop that group as well,” McManus said resolutely. “And we’ll keep you safe.”
“How about keeping the people I know safe, Sheriff?” Hawk reached out and placed his hand on the sheriff’s shoulder. He gave it a squeeze. “For myself, safety is nowhere on my radar.”
“Well, Hawk…why don’t you let me see if I can keep all of you safe?”
“No sir, we’ve tried that.” Hawk shifted forward in his chair. “Somehow, these groups managed to infiltrate my security, your protection, and no matter how I tried to play it…allowing security to tag along to protect me, or whether I was going it alone…no one was ever safe.”
“You have not made it easy to protect you.” McManus’s voice grew stern.
“It’s not easy to protect me, because the people who are trying to kill me are operating with an agenda that is impossible to predict.” Hawk tried to smile. “It has always been impossible to protect me.”
“I’m sure we can keep you safe from here on out.”
“You don’t understand.” Hawk made his voice more serious. “I don’t want you or need you to keep me safe. Like I said, keep the people I know safe, that’s all I need.”
“I don’t like the implications of what you are saying.” McManus stood. “I can place you under a house arrest or a protective custody to keep you and others out of harm’s way.”
“But you won’t. You have too many others things to take care of. In just a few hours, we’re officially post storm, and then the cleanup begins. You’re stretched too thin to babysit someone like me.” Hawk shook his hand. “Thanks for coming by.”
“What are they after? Why are these people trying to kill you?”
“It’s hard to keep and protect a secret when you don’t know what the secret really is.” Hawk released McManus’ hand. “That is what is so disturbing about all of this. They don’t know what the secret is any more than I do. However, trust me when I tell you, I am the only one who can find it.”
“Your friends are downstairs. I told them they couldn’t come up until we were done talking. Is it alright with you if they come up?” McManus paused in the doorway.
“If you wouldn’t mind, ask my friend Shep to come upstairs. If you co
uld get everyone to wait a few minutes, I’d like to talk with him first.”
“Sure, I can do that.” McManus disappeared through the doorway.
Hawk took his seat back in front of the window and breathed deeply. Closing his eyes, he saw Kate’s face, could see her laughing, and then could see the look in her eyes just before she closed them for the last time. He closed his eyes tighter, trying to will the image out of his mind. He could not.
“Hey, boss, how are you doing?” Shep said as he entered the room.
“It’s tough,” Hawk admitted as he motioned to the open chair next to him.
Shep sat down as McManus had and looked out at the normally spectacular view of the Magic Kingdom, now covered in clouds, wind, and rain dancing across and drenching the unforgettable landscape. Neither man spoke for a few moments. There was a tension in the air. Hawk couldn’t tell if it was real or just his imagination. He was about to say something that made his heart sink, and he knew that once it was said, he could never take it back.
“Why’d you do it, Shep?” Hawk didn’t look at him when he said it. He kept looking out the window.
“Sorry, what’s that, boss?” Shep’s tone went just a bit higher.
“I said”—Hawk turned toward him and lowered his voice—“I asked, why’d you do it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Shep leaned away from Hawk.
Hawk shook his head. “I think you do. What I want to know is why.”
“I know you’re upset,” Shep said, trying to stay calm. “I would be too, it’s been a rough week for all of us.”
“But for some reason unknown to me, you decided to make mine rougher.” Hawk glared at him. “I have to admit, it took me a while to figure it out. I really didn’t slow down long enough to put the pieces together until just a little while ago. But sitting here, watching the storm, thinking about this past week…about Farren, about George, and mostly about Kate…it dawned on me that it was you.”
“Me? I didn’t . . .” Shep shifted nervously in his seat.
“It was the only thing that made sense. The thing you did that gave it away was when I went to Discovery Island. It was you that cut loose my boat and left me stranded there.”
“Why would I do that?” Sweat beaded on Shep’s forehead.
“That is what I still don’t completely understand. But you had to have done it, because you were the only person who knew I was at Discovery Island. And then when Kiran showed up to pick me up, out of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere… then it clicked even louder. You told her where I was. You were helping her.”
“But—”
“You were with me in my apartment the first time I saw Kiran. She knew I was there because you told her I was there. When I just happened to look out the window and see her, that almost blew her plans and exposed you right then.” Hawk held a finger in front of his lips when he saw Shep getting ready to speak. He had more to say. Hawk noticed Juliette out of the corner of his eye. She was stepping into the doorway but stopped as she heard them speaking. “Shep, Kiran kept telling me that she was always close, very close, and she kept showing up at the most opportune moments. You were letting her know where I was and what I was doing.”
“Hawk, I did it . . .” Shep said, clearly rattled.
“I know you did it,” Hawk growled. “And then you reacted so oddly after the incident with my car and the fight at the Tower of Terror. When I figured out there was more than one group after me, you said out loud…‘That can’t be.’ See, as I was putting all these pieces together, you were helping Kiran, but she wasn’t keeping you informed, was she?”
“I did it to protect you.”
Hawk was on his feet, and with his movement illuminated in a flash of lighting, he grabbed Shep by the shirt and jerked him up out of the chair. Hands clenching the fabric of his clothing, Hawk swung him ferociously against the picture window and pinned him against the glass. Forcing his fists upward, he lifted Shep off his feet.
“Hawk!” Juliette yelled as she raced across the room toward them. “Let him go, this has to be a mistake.”
“You heard him.” Hawk did not release his grip. “He did it, he said he did it. He said he did it to protect me.” Now Hawk turned his attention back to Shep. “But while you were trying to protect me by helping Kiran, you were really helping her to follow me, steal what I had found, and try to kill me and Kate. Kate is dead, Shep!”
Juliette managed to wedge herself awkwardly between the two men, her friends, who had suddenly become bitter enemies. “There has to be more to the story, Hawk. This has been a horrible day, you aren’t thinking clearly. This doesn’t make sense.” Now that Shep was standing back on the floor, she motioned for him to return to the chair and for Hawk to let him go. “Shep, what is he talking about?”
Jonathan had heard the commotion as he was positioned on the stairway downstairs. He rushed into the room to see the scene unfolding in front of him and moved in to help break up the fight alongside Juliette. Shep, shaking, returned to his chair. Hawk stood in front of him, waiting for the explanation. Juliette held her position, standing between Hawk and Shep. Jonathan moved to stand behind Shep’s chair.
“I was trying to protect you.” Shep looked at Hawk. “I promise. It was after that night at the hospital. You and Juliette had been in the car with Farren when he was killed. An assassin had tried to get to you in the hospital—in the hospital…that’s nuts. We had never faced anything like this before since you got that key from Farren. Farren was already dead, they had targeted you, and then later, they killed George Colmes.”
“Yes, I was there.” Hawk tensed. “Tell me what I don’t know.”
“The next day, I got a call…from Kiran Roberts. She asked if I remembered her. Of course I did. She asked how you were. I lied and said you were fine. Then she proceeded to tell me about all of the things that had just happened. Things that she couldn’t know but she did. She told me that Reginald Cambridge had put together a team, and this time they would not stop until you and everyone close to you were dead. They wanted what you had.”
“And then?” Juliette asked.
“And then she said that she didn’t want to see any of us get hurt and that she could help. She said she loved you and that she knew you still had feelings for her.” Shep was talking so fast you almost couldn’t tell when one sentence ended and the next began. “She said she knew you were with Kate Young now, but she wanted to make sure you stayed safe. Kiran told me I could help make that happen.”
“How?” Even as Hawk asked, he knew the answer.
“All I had to do was help her find the secret you were looking for, and she would make sure the assassin stayed away and that the killing would stop. When you realized there was more than one group after you, it dawned on me that either she was lying to me, or there was another group that was getting too close…I was helping her, but I was doing it to make it all end, to get this over with.”
“And then you figured out she was using you.” Hawk’s anger still was burning, but he was reminding himself of the Shep he knew and loved. He had always known that Shep had a good heart and the desire to do the right thing…at least the Shep he thought he knew was that way.
“Yes, I didn’t know she wanted to kill you and Kate.” Shep sobbed. “I am sorry. So sorry. Instead of helping make things better, I just made everything worse. I didn’t know how to tell you, I was scared, I messed up. Can you ever forgive me?”
CHAPTER FIFTY - FIVE
Storm Day
12:45 A.M.
Hawk’s pulse was racing. The rage that had seized control moments ago now was ebbing away. Inside he was torn. Shep was one of his closest friends in the world. He was closer than a friend; Hawk considered him family. Yet for the past week, he had been betrayed, and the price of that betrayal was too high to calculate. Now, Shep was asking to be forgiven. The preacher in him, the follower of Jesus in him, knew that he had to forgive because it was the right thing to d
o. Forgiveness is really not as much about the one you are forgiving as it is about you being able to move forward. If you can’t forgive, a piece of you dies inside, and you will never live the life you were created to live. The inability to forgive others robs you of the joy of living each day as a gift.
The sounds of the storm outside rumbled, softening the sobs coming from inside the room. Shep had buried his face in his hands. His body was shuddering.
Hawk lowered his head and closed his eyes. He moved past Juliette and walked behind Shep’s chair. Jonathan moved aside for him, and he and Juliette watched carefully as Hawk slowly reached out and placed a hand on Shep’s shoulder. He gave it a reassuring squeeze and then leaned forward just a little bit.
“Shep, I want you to do something for me,” Hawk said softly.
Shep slowly lifted his face and turned toward his friend. He nodded silently.
“I want you to contact Kiran.” Hawk spoke calmly. “I want you to keep helping her.”
“But I haven’t talked to her since…” Shep shook his head. “No,” he whispered.
“Quiet,” Hawk insisted. “I want you to contact her. Tell her that I still have not learned my lesson, and you want to help her so we can all go back to our old lives.”
“Hawk, she’ll try to kill you again. I can’t—”
“You can and you will. “ Hawk tightened his grip of Shep’s shoulder. “You are going to tell her that she still doesn’t have the secret. Tell her that I am going to find it tomorrow. You don’t know what it is, but you know I am going to Tom Sawyer Island in the Magic Kingdom in the morning, and while everyone is digging out after the storm, I am going to finish solving the mystery.”
“Hawk, I don’t know what the secret is, and I can’t…I don’t want to.” Shep stood up to face Hawk.
