Unlocking the Kingdom

by Jeff Dixon

  Hawk took the final strides toward the door and heard a hollow noise at his foot. Looking down, he chased the source of the sound with his eyes as it rolled away from him. He spotted it and crouched to get a closer look. Reginald, who had paused at the door, walked over to see whatever it was his boss had discovered. Hawk stepped to the wall where the object had come to rest and picked it up. After tossing it in the air and catching it again, he inspected the white golf ball that he had inadvertently kicked. He smiled, noticing it was a Mickey Mouse golf ball and tossed it to Cambridge. Reginald snatched it from the air and inspected it just as Hawk had.

  “Someone must have dropped this,” Cambridge stated.

  “Or it was dropped on purpose,” Hawk quickly responded.

  “I’m not sure what you are driving at.”

  “Good choice of words, Reginald. Not sure what I’m driving at . . . golf ball . . . driving . . . that’s good.”

  “Hmm.” Reginald did not smile. “You think this means something?”

  “It could. Have you ever ridden this attraction?”

  “Yes, when it first opened I rode. It was well done.”

  “I agree. You remember the scene where a golf ball flies at you while you’re soaring over the golf course?”

  “Yes, it comes straight at you.”

  “If you’re real quick, you see there’s a Mickey Mouse on that golf ball . . . but the real message to me may be who hits the golf ball.”

  “You know who hits the golf ball in the film?”

  “I do. It’s the ex-CEO of the Disney Company. Michael Eisner.”

  “So the message is?” Cambridge frowned at the ball.

  “This is my final shot or I will become an ex-leader of the company . . . just like Eisner.”

  “Do you really think that is what it means?”

  “Hard to know for sure, but details do matter. . . . They do matter.” Hawk nodded curtly and shoved open the doors of the attraction.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  * * *

  HAWK EXITED EPCOT AND CAUGHT the first monorail of the morning. As it snaked its quiet way along the highway in the sky toward the Transportation and Ticket Center at the Magic Kingdom, Hawk stared out the window. A few guests sat in the car with him. They whispered, as guests regularly did when trying to figure out if Hawk was indeed who they believed him to be. Arriving at the Ticket and Transportation Center meant he would have to change monorails and jump on another one that would make stops along the resort hotel loop.

  He disembarked at the Contemporary, then crossed over to the Bay Lake Towers, where the first of the formal interviews with Total Access was scheduled to take place. He walked into the lower floor of his office at exactly ten o’clock, and Nancy Alport smiled and said good morning. Hawk wasn’t sure whether she was glad to see him because she liked him or because he was actually on time for this appointment, as opposed to the disastrous day he’d had yesterday. Bounding up the steps toward the offices, he crested the stairs and could see the conference room had been gutted and set up for the interview. Chairs set against the backdrop of the picturesque view of the Magic Kingdom, lights strategically placed to illumine the interviewer and the interviewee without causing reflection off the glass.

  Three different cameras would capture the interview from every angle. A control center, where both director and producer would watch the events unfold and make notes to make editing easier in postproduction, was positioned along the wall. As he moved past the door, he could see Kate Young in front of a mirror with Allie, applying makeup and going over notes. Pete Brady stood in the doorway, going over production notes with Juliette and Punky.

  “Good morning, Dr. Hawkes.” Pete smiled and nodded, as Hawk moved toward his office.

  “Good morning,” he said pleasantly. “Punky, how is the arm?”

  “I think I’ll live, thanks.” Punky was sporting a wrapping on his wrist. He had either gone to have it checked as Hawk suggested or had self-treated the injury.

  Juliette excused herself from the meeting with the director and producer and followed Hawk into his office. He’d known she would, and was waiting for her to come in and close the door. She did so with a look of concern crossing her face.

  “What don’t I know?” Her eyes narrowed toward him. “What happened last night?”

  “It was bad, I messed up.” He felt a fleeting quiver in the pit of his stomach as he admitted it.

  “I told you to be careful.” Juliette raised her hands in exasperation. “How bad?”

  “Well, it could be catastrophically bad.” Hawk lowered his head.

  “Tell me.”

  “They have footage of me digging in a graveyard in the middle of the night and then getting attacked by an unknown assailant.”

  “Oh, that silly kind of stuff.” Feigning nonchalance, she lowered her face for a moment. When she raised it again, her eyes blazed at him. “Have you gone insane? They have footage of you in a graveyard? What did you tell them was going on?”

  “Nothing yet. When I brought Kate back to the Contemporary last night, she was hammering me and trying to intimidate me pretty tough.” He looked up and tried to reassure her. “I pushed back, and we were at a standoff when the night ended.”

  “So what is your plan?”

  “We may have to give her the story of a lifetime.”

  “You’re going to tell her everything?”

  “No, I didn’t say that. But we may have to give her a story if she’ll wait to run it under the conditions we set. I’ll need your help on this if it works.”

  “Alright, what do you want me to do?” She sighed, looking slightly more relieved than Hawk felt about his beginnings of a plan.

  “Get Jonathan and Shep to meet us later. Right now I have to survive this interview. We’re going to ask her about last night and find out whether she’s going to do a ‘gotcha’ interview.”

  “And if she does?”

  “Then we shut it down and start trying to figure out how to spin it.”

  “Is there a good way to spin it?” Her voice lifted hopefully.

  “Not that I see.”

  “Great.”

  A knock on the door ended their conversation as Juliette went over to open it. Allie stood there asking if they were ready to begin. He noticed the circles below her eyes. She had been up all night, and he hoped it was not from reviewing the footage they took in the cemetery. Juliette turned toward Hawk, who nodded and got up out of the chair to make his way over to the conference room. Stepping with him into the hallway between the two rooms, Allie inquired if Hawk needed to apply some makeup before the interview. He waved her off; early on in his new role, he had promised himself that whether it was a filmed interview or a photo shoot, he would not wear makeup. Juliette considerately stepped between them, as Hawk breezed into the conference-turned-interview room. Kate Young stood there, looking perfectly rested, watching him enter with her usual dazzling smile on display.

  “Morning, Hawk.”

  “Kate.” He acknowledged her with a nod. “How’d you sleep?”

  “Good, just not enough of it.” He heard the slightest crack of fatigue in her voice. “And you?”

  “Excellent.” He took a slow breath and tried to exhale away his own weariness without her noticing. “Just enough to be ready for the day.”

  “Glad to hear it.” She waved Hawk toward a chair, then indicated a second one. “This will be your seat. I will sit here. The cameras will roll constantly, but we’ll take a few breaks and give you a chance to relax and for me to go over any notes. Understand?” She pointed out where everyone would be stationed in the room. Juliette would be joining Pete and Punky behind the makeshift control booth. Allie would be the guardian of the door in case someone needed access while they were filming. As Kate explained, she described what was—in her words—standard stuff.

  Hawk felt like her instructions would never end. He wanted her to speed it up and get the entire event over. His mouth felt dry a
s he tried to pay attention. She then took her seat and crossed her legs opposite Hawk. Leaning toward him, she whispered, “I had a good time last night.”

  “No, you didn’t. You were frustrated and didn’t get what you wanted.” He smiled as Punky fitted him with a microphone and then hid the wireless battery pack.

  “I’m hurt you would think that.”

  He tried to read the emotion in her pale green eyes but could not. Pete was reminding everyone to turn off their cell phones, and that reminded Hawk he needed to get a new one. He jerked his head to Juliette, who must have been thinking the same thing. She nodded and gave him a thumbs-up. The lights clicked on, and the room turned to shadows beyond them.

  The countdown for the interview started.

  Kate leaned in to Hawk and motioned to him to lean toward her. He did, and she whispered in his ear. “Just remember, Hawk, this isn’t personal.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  * * *

  THE INTERVIEW HAD BEEN A LIVELY GIVE and take between Hawk and Kate. He had not been surprised by her questions as she probed into his background. They had talked about the church, his faith in Jesus, his call to ministry, and how he viewed life. The first break allowed them a chance to grab a drink of water and then shift gears for the second portion of the interview. During the second portion, they had talked about Disney. The company, the state of the company when Hawk took the helm as chief creative architect, and the success they had experienced in the eighteen months that followed. He’d answered questions similar to this in many of the interviews he had endured.

  “You’re doing great.” She nodded encouragingly.

  “Thanks.”

  Kate removed her mike, then wandered over to consult with the producer.

  Formal interviews drained the life out of Hawk. Probably because of the nerves and the effort it took to make the interview look natural. They had been at it now for hours, and he was getting tired. He yawned in an attempt to exhale the fatigue. Standing for a moment, he stretched, wishing for an extended break.

  “One more segment for this formal interview today if you’re ready,” Pete called out.

  “She is really not covering any new territory.” Juliette confirmed what Hawk had been thinking. “Maybe you have her curious enough to wait and see if there’s a bigger story out there for her to find.”

  “I hope so.” Hawk watched as Juliette moved back to the control booth and Kate reseated herself across from him. The investigative journalist reached out and patted him on the knee as the countdown started.

  “Just remember what I said earlier.” She flashed her smile at him once more and moved into the interview as the count reached one. He felt his heart crawl toward his throat when her question began. “Now Hawk, there has been much speculation about your life prior to becoming the chief creative architect for the Walt Disney Company. We have talked about your background, but tell us a little bit about your family.”

  Hawk shifted in his seat and battled back the urge to get up and leave. He looked through the darkness toward the outline of Juliette as she nearly dropped the bottle of water she was holding. He knew immediately where this was going. Kate was getting ready to try to peel back one of his most private chapters. Only his closest friends knew, and it was never discussed among them. This was a portion of his life that was closed because it was extremely painful. The emotion was still real, and it was something he constantly battled. His personal demons began clawing at the surface of his world.

  “Not much to tell.” Hawk smiled cautiously. “I grew up here in Central Florida, loved it, just a well-rounded Florida kid whose mom and dad taught him right from wrong, taught him to love Jesus, and to believe you can change the world. Not much that your viewers would care about.”

  “I disagree. I think our viewers have a great curiosity about your life. How about a wife or children?”

  Hawk felt his throat tighten. The silence in the room echoed in his ears. He could sense the unseen control booth, where he knew both Punky and Pete would be leaning forward, anxious to see where this question might take them. Juliette would be getting ready to move in and stop the interview immediately. Before she could do so, he decided to answer.

  “No.” Hawk smiled a crooked smile and leaned back in his chair.

  Kate leaned forward as if on a hunt. “No? No wife or children? Or no, you don’t want to talk about it?”

  “No.” Hawk tried to slow his rapidly beating pulse.

  “That really isn’t an answer, is it?” She scrunched her face in a choreographed expression of confusion. “Somehow this is a topic that has never come up in any of your background interviews. I think our viewers would love to know more about who you are and what makes you tick. So you’ve never been married or never had children?’

  “Well, I don’t talk about it.” Hawk again turned toward the people off camera behind the lights. Although he knew he had a friend back there, right now he was alone. Kate was fishing and had a hook in him. She was now just reeling in the line. He could stop it and end the interview. Or he could hold on and try to keep it together and survive. Hawk understood she had gradually worn him down through the earlier segments. He should have known this question was coming.

  “Why don’t you talk about it, Hawk?”

  “It’s private. It is a part of my life that is in the past. I’ve worked hard to move forward beyond it.” He was telling the truth. This was his standard answer if someone got too close. Usually it was the answer he gave when he was digging in and not going to give any more details. It was enough for most. His past was deeply hidden; many speculated, but few knew for certain. Hawk now was fighting to stay alive in the interview, not knowing how much Kate really knew.

  “But you are now a very public figure, Hawk. People care about the backgrounds and the pasts of those who make their living in the public eye. So tell us, why you don’t talk about your wife and kids?”

  “I don’t have a wife and kids.” He stared at her, willing her to let it go.

  “But you did.” She smiled and nodded as if to prod him along. He now knew that she knew. Just remember, Hawk, this isn’t personal.

  “I did.” But with a tilt of his head, he stopped short of offering any more information. “But that was a long time ago.”

  “Indeed it was. But according to our research, you were married at one time and had three beautiful children. Isn’t that correct?” Her eyes bore into his.

  He was determined not to give her the satisfaction of knowing how painful this was.

  “If that’s what your research says, then I guess Total Access can’t be wrong.” It was a weak response, and he knew it as soon as he said it.

  Kate paused, glanced down at her notes, and then refocused on him like a lioness ready to spring. “Why don’t you tell us about the accident?” Her tone softened slightly.

  “I don’t remember much about it.” He looked directly into her eyes and said the next words very slowly, measuring each one. “Why don’t you tell me and your viewers what you think you know.”

  “You were a young seminary student, traveling with your wife and three children back to Orlando for a family vacation in Walt Disney World. You’d just finished your final exams for the semester, and you had been doing what most students do . . . cramming and using every minute to study.” Her pale green eyes were riveted on his as she unpacked the narrative, each word driving into his heart like a nail. “Right after the last exam, you loaded up the car and started the twenty-three hour trip to Orlando. Does this sound about right? Please tell us what happened.”

  Hawk never broke his connection to her eyes. He was desperately trying to see beyond them to her motivation. Was this really all about getting a story? Was she hoping he would stop her and tell her she was wrong? Was she just guessing at his background and trying to trick him into divulging more information than she really knew? He was going to wait for her to tell the story. But he was not going to help her. He repositioned himself in the
chair and listened.

  “Your wife had suggested that you rest a bit or delay the trip until the following day, hadn’t she?”

  Hawk thought back to those moments years ago. His wife had asked him to wait, but the kids were excited, he was excited, and he was so ready to have a break from the studies and have time to play with his family. No matter how deeply he tried to bury the memories, they were always just a heartbeat away. He heard Kate’s voice again, dragging him back to the interview.

  “But you didn’t wait, did you? You were excited and anxious to get to Disney World. So you drove. You didn’t have much money as a seminary student, and you needed all the funds you had for your vacation, so you decided to make the trip without stopping, you decided to drive it straight through.”

  This time there was no pause to ask a question. Kate had figured out he would not answer. He continued to explore her eyes with his and felt his begin to sting a bit around the edges. He saw her green eyes moisten as she continued her story.

  “It was in the panhandle of Florida, along Interstate 10. It was a long stretch of dark, lonely, isolated highway. Everyone else in the car was asleep. You felt your eyes get droopy. You found yourself fighting to stay awake. And then you dropped your head and went to sleep. Out of sheer exhaustion, you had pushed yourself to the limit and you couldn’t stay awake any longer.”

  Hawk clenched his jaw. His face tightened, and that sensation ran down both sides of his neck and across his chest. Blinking away the stinging in his eyes, he kept his gaze connected to Kate’s, locked in a battle of wills. He was going to force her to look away before he gave her the satisfaction of seeing him crack under her questioning.

  “The car careened off the road into a ravine along the interstate. The police investigation later would report that you went to sleep and for an extended time stayed on a straight stretch of the highway. But by the time the car left the road, you were traveling in excess of ninety-five miles an hour. The vehicle rocketed into the woods along the highway. It cut through a tree and came to rest deep in the forest. Your car was so deep in the woods, and so badly damaged, that you and your family remained trapped inside for three days before someone found you.