by Jeff Dixon
Hawk had needed to do a little research and recon in the afternoon, trying to figure out the best way to get to the model. There were a couple of ways, but the one he had chosen provided the best protection while they got in; by using an unseen service door along the People Mover track, they were less likely to be noticed going in or out. As they reached the top, Jonathan nodded at them and whispered, “All is clear.”
Hawk and Kate turned left and walked into the unloading portion of the ride. They were going to walk the line of the track in the opposite direction the ride vehicles would normally move. Since the model was on display near the end of the ride, this was the shortest distance to get there. Following the bend in the track that would take them over the entrance to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, where Juliette was standing, they veered to the right, then over and past the entrance to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club, which was now housed in the big Tomorrowland auditorium, then around to the back of both those attractions. As they walked along the People Mover track, Hawk looked over the surrounding area for any unusual or suspicious activity. He saw none, and they turned the corner in the dark tunnel that wound behind the buildings toward their destination.
“The Progress City model was really Walt Disney’s dream for what Epcot could be?” Kate asked quietly, as they walked along the smooth concrete pathway. With just enough room to walk side by side, Hawk would reach out with a steadying hand as they entered darker sections of the tunnel between the lights embedded along the ride track.
“Yes, that’s simplifying it, but his dream was for an experimental prototype community of tomorrow, or EPCOT. The model is more than that, Kate, it’s an important piece of Disney history. It used to be at the Disneyland park years ago as a part of the Carousel of Progress, until sometime in 1973. In that version of the attraction, the final holiday gathering scene offered a glimpse of Progress City off in the distance through the windows behind the audio-animatronic figures. After the show ended, the guests would head up to a second floor, where they could explore the entire sixty-nine-hundredsquare-foot model of the city.”
“Wow, that’s impressive.”
“It was an impressive dream.” Hawk smiled back at her in the darkness even though he knew she couldn’t see it. He used his hand to feel his way along the path until they turned the corner where there would be more light. “The Progress City we have here at Walt Disney World is just a very small portion of that model.”
“It would be awesome to see the whole thing.”
“I agree.” Hawk nodded. “Walt was not afraid to risk it all to accomplish something he believed in.”
“Sounds like someone else I know,” Kate interrupted. Hawk felt his face grow hot as he blushed in the darkness.
“He really believed he could help solve some of the struggles of people trying to make it in cities across the globe. I don’t know if it was right or wrong, but he was chasing a dream that he believed he was supposed to chase. A dream that would make the world a better place and that most thought was impossible. It was just the kind of project that Walt would tackle.” Hawk slowed as they approached a corner where light now illuminated their path. The smothering blackness of the tunnel yielded to an area where riders were supposed to peek inside an attraction. He wanted to make sure they were still alone as they stepped back into the light. “After he passed away, there was no one with the vision, drive, and passion for Walt’s project. So they build Epcot, which is spectacular, but not what Walt was ultimately trying to do.”
“So Progress City was his work in progress . . . so to speak?”
“Exactly.”
They rounded the corner to their right and came to the massive glass windows that looked out over Walt Disney’s Progress City. His bright and shining future of tomorrow, a glimmering city that contained all the hopes and dreams of what the future could hold. Featuring monorail systems, a huge business center, and massive multi-story high-rises in the center of the city portion, the model, even in this smaller version, was impressive to say the least. Hawk and Kate both pressed up against the glass and looked inside.
“It really is beautiful.” Kate scanned the city. “It’s a shame he never lived to see it happen.”
“Sometimes that’s the way dreams work.” Hawk glanced to his left, back into the darkened passageway. “It isn’t always seeing the dream come true as much as making discoveries along the way to where the dream is taking you that really counts.” Hawk motioned for her to remain where she was. “If Walt hadn’t been chasing that—” He pointed to the city. “None of what we know today as Walt Disney World ever would have existed.”
Hawk now moved alone through the darkness and found the door he was looking for. Completely unseen by passengers on the People Mover, this door had no door knob and was painted to blend into the darkened tunnel. It did have a keyed lock, and Hawk pulled out the kingdom key and slid it inside. He felt it click into place, and with a counterclockwise turn, he felt the mechanism release, and the door opened toward him.
He stepped through it and pulled it closed beside him. Standing on the edge of the Progress City model, he was shielded from view of anyone looking through the window. He glanced up at the catwalks bending in a semicircle above the window; these contained the lights and wiring used to light up and power the model city. To his left was a stairwell that would carry him to the catwalk. He quickly moved toward it and bounded up the steps to the top.
Hawk walked around the catwalk, looking down at the model city. He stopped in the middle, directly above where he calculated Kate was now standing below him on the other side of the window. He leaned on the rail and was taken again by the beauty of this city, this dream that Walt was chasing. Glancing down, he strained to see if he could spot Kate looking in the window. He couldn’t; the angle was too severe. The design was masterful. All the behind-the-scenes pieces needed to make the guest view enjoyable were put into place here just like everywhere throughout the parks.
Hawk surveyed the area around him. He moved methodically to his right and searched for anything that didn’t seem to fit. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he turned his attention back to the electronics used to light up the area. This display was static; it had been here a long time, and there was no new technology to be found here. Then he noticed a gunmetal-gray box affixed to the railing on the far right of the catwalk.
Moving to stand in front of it, he saw nothing unusual about it. A metal conduit led to the bottom of the box, and Hawk assumed it was a light-control panel of some sort. He crouched, looked at it more carefully, and noticed a keyhole on the bottom of the box. There was no way to see this lock without scanning the box from this angle.
A living blueprint of the future where people can actually live a life they can’t find any place in the world. . . . I can see it from here. . . . Go to it. . . . Find that vision. . . . Stick with it. . . . . This must be the place. This was Walt’s vision, those were Walt’s words; George could see the model and had invited Hawk to come to it and find it. He carefully inserted his kingdom key into the lock and turned it.
A clicking noise emanated from the box. Leaving the key in the lock, he pulled back his hands, and the top covering of the box retracted in two distinct pieces. They clicked as they moved, eventually revealing a black control box with an illuminated top panel. Five spaces glowed in the panel, and he immediately knew what the clue meant. The stick with it would happen now.
He had concluded that the phrase was a reference to the collectible pins and the play on words was a clever way of letting him know that. The illuminated panel showed him lighted spaces whose outlines matched the classic shapes of the Walt Disney pins he had found along the way. He removed the pin box from his pocket and opened it carefully.
He started at the top left of the panel and inserted Mickey Mouse into place. He moved to the right, where Minnie Mouse had a place designated for her. Below Minnie was a space that outlined Donald Duck. Back to the left, Goofy was put in p
lace. The last collectible pin, fitting into the center space, was Pluto. As he put Pluto into his space, a new light started blinking at the top of the panel. It was a button, an activation switch. He pushed it, and the control panel glowed with a stunning white light. A whirring rose from the model below him.
The model rumbled as though it were coming to life. The floor below him made a grinding noise, and he watched the old fragile display shudder slightly. He expected to see it begin to fall apart, but it did not. Everything looked just as it should. Except the church.
Walt had insisted this house of worship be included in the model. Although he hadn’t been vocal about his faith, his children would recall the stories of their dad taking them to church each week, and he had spoken in a very intimate and revealing interview about the importance of faith for him and society. Walt had understood that without faith, there could be no future.
The rumbling was replaced by a rapid series of clicks, and then as Hawk stared over the railing down at the model, the church itself began to lower into the base of the model and disappear. The space where it had been was now nothing but an open hole, a perfect circle about a foot and a half wide. The lighted panel along the rail went dark. Hawk stood there waiting for something else to happen, but nothing else occurred. He studied the opening in the model from where he stood and knew there was only one thing to do. He made his way back along the catwalk and then descended the stairs to the model itself.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
* * *
KATE YOUNG STOOD WITH HER HANDS PRESSED against the glass, rising on her toes to get a better angle, to see where the church had gone or what might be in the hole that was now in the model.
To her left, she saw Hawk step tentatively onto the model. He had obviously seen the same thing she had and now was making his way to the opening to investigate. He looked back at her, and she noticed an excitement in his eyes as he was finally closing in on what she knew he believed was the last step toward solving this mystery. He carefully placed his foot on the model, then tested to see whether it would support his weight, then moved another step forward.
His slow and methodical approach was driving her nuts. She tapped her thumbs on the glass as she willed Hawk to move quicker and find out what was there. If he could hear her thumb drumbeat, he did not react. He took his time, reverently traversing this city of the future.
With his back to her, he stood where the miniature church had been. Kate slid to her right, looking for a better vantage point. Stopping, she watched Hawk crouch and then reach down into the opening. He pulled his hand up, but there was nothing in it. She exhaled loudly, the sound echoing in the tunnel, and realized for the first time just how tense she was.
He got down on one knee, similar to the way he had knelt before her in front of the castle, and reached down into the opening again. His arm disappeared into the opening almost to his shoulder before he slowly withdrew it. This time he had something in his hand. Sliding back to her left, she tried to get a clear view of it but could not. She pounded her palm on the window to get his attention.
His head turned, and she motioned for him to show her what he had found. She watched as he turned and held up a book. A thick leather book with parchment pages. Her hands shot out to her sides with her palms up in an effort to ask him silently through the glass if this is what they were looking for. He nodded at her, and she took her hand and wiped it across her brow in exaggerated relief.
Hearing a faint clacking sound behind her, she whirled. A blue ride car rolled inexorably toward her.
Kate slammed herself against the window to keep from getting hit. The back of her head thudded on the glass, as the People Mover car silently grazed past her.
With a heart-sinking realization, she knew the attraction was now running. That was not the plan; Jonathan was not supposed to start the ride, and with a sickening lurch in the pit of her stomach, she feared something had gone wrong. Now that Hawk had found what he had been looking for, all of the pieces of the puzzle were exposed—and were ripe for the taking.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
* * *
HAWK WATCHED IN SHOCK AS KATE PRESSED herself against the window. When she looked toward him, a look of surprise bubbled in her green eyes. Stepping away from the opening, he gently but much more quickly navigated across the model city toward the door he had entered through. Reaching it, he pushed it open, then he ran back toward the viewing area. He could hear Kate yelling at someone but couldn’t make out what she was saying. As he rounded the corner and got a clear view of the window, he saw Kate was gone.
Something hard struck him from behind, and he crashed to the concrete pathway. Groggily, he rolled to his left as a blue ride car passed him.
The People Mover ran with very little noise, and he had not heard the car approach. Spaced to operate at safe distances, each ride vehicle offered the luxury of a semiprivate ride along the “Blue Line” of the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Hawk got back to his feet and glanced behind him to make sure there was not another car close; there was not one there yet, but he knew it would be coming.
The details raced across Hawk’s synapses, and he rolled through the situation unfolding around him. Kate was gone, and because she had disappeared so quickly, he had to assume she was now in a ride vehicle. But the ride had not been in operation—and Jonathan stood at the controls.
Hawk had pushed back all his suspicions about his friend, but in a heartbeat, they came roaring back. He had known and trusted Jonathan for years; he wanted to believe that all of the ailments and mysterious absences of the past few days had been orchestrated by someone else. Jonathan had to be his friend. Yet he had turned the ride on. But for what purpose?
Hawk ran out of the tunnel where he could get a clear view of the ride vehicles. Emerging from the darkness of the tunnel, he saw two figures on a ride vehicle; Kate was struggling with a masked man dressed in black. As Hawk looked on, the ride took a turn, and they fell across the seat. She was too far away for him to be able to help, and he looked from side to side to calculate how to get to her.
His vision exploded with a spectacle of dancing and flashing lights. Bone-jarring pain seared across his shoulders. He lurched forward and felt a powerful tightening over his side as he was lifted up and dumped into a ride vehicle.
He blinked away the flashing lights strobing through his field of vision. Between light blasts, he could see Reginald Cambridge standing over him, breathing heavily, struggling to gather a breath under his aching ribs. Hawk’s mind began to rapidly piece together the past few disconnected moments. Reginald had been riding in the passenger car and had hit Hawk across the shoulders and neck. As Hawk fell forward, Reginald had grabbed him and heaved him into the car.
But now Reginald was battle weary from their previous encounters, which gave Hawk an extra moment to catch his breath. Suddenly, Hawk remembered the book he had been carrying. He somehow had held onto it when he had fallen; it lay on the floor of the car, just beyond his reach, as the ride vehicle slipped silently around the curve.
Finding his feet and rising to face Reginald, he noticed at the last moment the punch that was already being thrown his way. The blow landed on the side of his head, and an explosion of stars flew across Hawk’s field of vision. Closing his eyes an extra few milliseconds, Hawk bent his knees and ducked down. He clenched a fist and drove it up ramrod straight, aiming at where he believed Cambridge was standing. As he felt the jab connect, he opened his eyes. Reginald’s head snapped back, and he fell away from Hawk, back into the seat.
Hawk surged toward Reginald, grabbed two fistfuls of shirt, and jerked him back upright. Driving a knee into his stomach, he heard the air whoosh from Cambridge’s lungs. Hawk threw another right hand that crumpled Cambridge back into the seat. As he went down, Hawk looked up to see if he could spot Kate’s ride vehicle and figure out a way to help her.
Blinking his eyes and trying to get a clear view of what was happening in front of him, he could s
ee her ride vehicle entering the unloading area, where it would slow down to a snail’s pace so passengers could disembark. He saw Jonathan and Shep intercept her car, grab her attacker, and pull him out onto the moving platform. Juliette moved to the ride vehicle to assist Kate, before losing sight of the three of them struggling with the person who had taken Kate from the viewing area.
As Hawk smiled, confident they’d overpower the attacker, the vehicle jerked around a bend, throwing him off balance and over the edge of the blue ride vehicle. He held on and pulled himself back in, slumping into the seat next to a semiconscious Reginald Cambridge. Hawk shoved him to the edge of the car and they entered the unloading area. Hawk patted him on the knee and laughed.
“Nice try, Reginald. You had to try one more time, didn’t you?”
When the doors of the vehicle automatically opened, he saw Shep, Juliette, and Kate rush toward him. Behind them, Jonathan kept an eye on a masked man who lay on the ground, hands bound behind his back. Hawk got to his feet and stepped out onto the moving platform as Shep reached into the car to grab Reginald.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
* * *
THEY WERE SEATED ON THE CURB in front of the impressive set of gears that read Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. The security team had arrived along with Al Gann and some of his deputies from the sheriff’s department. Hawk flinched as the EMT finished bandaging the cut next to his eye where Cambridge had hit him. Through his other eye, he saw medical personnel wrapping a bandage around Kate’s arm where she had sustained a minor wound tangling with her attacker.
The last few minutes had compressed quickly in Hawk’s brain. As he had gotten out of the ride car on the People Mover, he had stepped over the masked man on the ground and taken off his mask. Under it was Zeke Reitz, the maintenance worker he had met a few days before. He had snarled at Hawk when the mask was removed and muttered that Hawk was trying to destroy his company. While Hawk’s friends had been trying to make sure he and Kate were alright, he had deciphered that Shep had seen some motion above him coming out of the darkened tunnels on the People Mover level from Space Mountain.
