Storming the Kingdom (17 page)

“Walt went to war with labor unions, fought communism, testified before Congress, became part of the American war effort, revolutionized the Olympics—and the best thinkers and creative people from all over the world flocked to Walt for help, advice, and direction. Walt wasn’t just an entertainer, he was a connection point for people, he was a resource, he had friends and acquaintances…important ones…that is an historical who’s who of the movers and shakers in the world. Walt knew what they were doing. He helped some of them, he rescued some of them. They shared their secrets with Walt, and those secrets became his. We are after Walt’s secrets.”

“So, this is not about running a company?”

“No, it is about something far more important. It is about Walt Disney the man. Hawk, that is what you have been entrusted with. Taking care of and preserving Walt Disney the man.” Kiran wrinkled her forehead. “You thought this was about a theme park or a company?”

Hawk sat motionless. He had thought that for a long time. It had only been in the last few days that he had begun to sense more. It was what Farren was trying to tell him. It was what George had been trying to tell him. It was the quest he was now on.

Kiran threw her head back and laughed hard. He didn’t sense she was laughing at him, but he wasn’t sure.

“Hawk, over the course of their years, Walt and Roy accumulated secrets from all over the world. About anything, about everything. They were important secrets that, if they were known, had the potential to change the world. They couldn’t leave these secrets with their families. They wanted to protect their families…from people like me and my friends, who know how valuable those secrets can be. So, they protected their families just like they tried to protect the secrets…with a plan.

“They put a plan in place. They designed an elaborate plan, with the care and detail they used in every other of their lives. To make it happen, they had to recruit some of their most trusted and creative Imagineers. It was the greatest Disney story they ever wrote. This plan involved a key, Walt’s work, his thoughts, and his secrets.” She slowed and softened her voice. “Hawk, you are that plan.”

Hawk sat quietly. When she grew silent, he started to process what she had said. What she said made sense. He wondered how she could know all of these details about the Disney legacy, but somehow she did. What she was saying made sense, and it frightened him in some strange way. She knew more about what was going on than he did. Yet, he was convinced she could not be trusted. Deceit was what she excelled at. But before he could start sliding the impact of what she was saying into some sort of order, she spoke again.

“You really didn’t know this?” She laughed again. “Farren Rales really did keep you on a need-to-know basis. Now that he’s gone, you’re on your own.” She slumped in the chair, satisfied and folded her hands across her lap. “And the third Imagineer is the only hope you have of completely understanding it all. I have him.” She let the words hang in the air. “Like I said before, I have what you need more than anything in the world.”

Hawk realized she might be right. But Kiran had lied and schemed before. This could be just her latest attempt to confuse and manipulate him. He looked at her and realized she was done speaking. Now she was waiting for him, wanting him to respond.

“Kiran, that is a great story. You know I love good stories.” Hawk smiled, trying to sound confident. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“Sorry to have thrown you off your game, Hawk.” She didn’t move but continued to intimidate him with her stare. “I told you earlier, you have no way of knowing whether I’m being honest with you. But you can’t risk it. You could have me arrested. You already know I would never say a word about the Imagineer or give away any information about our plans. I’m not the one who is trying to kill you, so they are still going to be after you…and as you have already figured out, painfully…they will hurt anyone close to you that gets in the way. You can ignore me, and you probably are trying to figure out how much of what I have just told you is true. That creates an even bigger problem for you, doesn’t it? Right now, I know more about you than you do. I know more about what is going on, I am connected to the people who want you dead, I run with the people who are trying to steal the secrets, and I know who you can or cannot trust.”

“What?” Hawk again felt his world shift of kilter when she mentioned the word trust. “What do you mean, you know who I can or can’t trust?”

“It doesn’t matter, Hawk. What you need to understand is that you are the plan.
The plan
that Walt and Roy put in place to protect their secrets, their families, and their friends. What you have been given is something you can’t find in the family museum. You can’t find it in the Archives. Disney historians don’t have enough information to connect the dots. These are the secrets Walt was given over his lifetime that he needed to give to someone he could trust when the time was right. That is you, Grayson Hawkes.”

“How do you know all of this information? Where did you get it?”

“It’s not important how I know, it’s important that I do know…and now you know. You’re trying to protect a secret, but you don’t have any idea what the secret is.”

He had heard that before. As much as it pained him to believe her, there was much about what she was saying that sounded true. If it was true, then he had to figure out what this mystery was and do so quickly. However, Kiran was just going to make it more complicated; and she probably enjoyed that.

“I don’t know what the secret is, but you do…right?” Hawk crossed his arms.

“I think I know.” She seemed to know what he was thinking once again. “And the people I work with think they know. And if we are even partially right, then you and everyone you are close to are liabilities and need to be eliminated if they get in the way. Hawk, you are the plan, and that is a very dangerous thing for you to be.”

Hawk once again was overwhelmed with the threat that those close to him were now under because of him. He was desperate to protect them.

“You have my attention. How do you suggest I proceed?”

Kiran eyed him. She had gotten her point across and he knew that she was pleased. He also knew that she was suspicious of him, and she had every reason to be; he knew her and didn’t trust her. So he waited for her to tell him what she was thinking. If it was reasonable, then it would raise his willingness to go with her plan. If it wasn’t, then he would call the sheriff and have her arrested. Hopefully calling her bluff, if indeed she was bluffing.

“I want you to do exactly what you’ve been doing,” she said.

“What?”

“I want you to keep trying to find whatever Farren has out there for you to find.” His face must have revealed his thoughts. “I know you’re surprised, but I want you to do what you do better than anyone else. Figure out the mystery. When you find what Rales has left you, give it to me, and I will give you the third Imagineer. It’s that simple.”

“And you’ll call off the hit squad? For me and my friends?”

“No, can’t do that.” She frowned. “As you put it, I’m going a bit rogue here. I’ll do my best to run some interference for you so you can accomplish our little task. But that is the best I can do.”

“You have to do better than that.”

“I can’t.” She looked sincere. “That is the best I can do. I am not in charge of this operation.”

“Who is?” Hawk felt his voice sharpen.

“Can’t tell you.”

“You mean won’t tell me.”

“I mean can’t and won’t.” Kiran stood to her feet. “Who is in charge doesn’t change one thing you need to be doing.” She began to move toward the office door. She stopped and turned in the doorway. “At some point, this MagicBand I am wearing will become important. Like I said, it’s one of my insurance policies. You will need me to solve some sort of clue, and it gives me a chance to see where we are in our mystery. Until then, rest assured, I will be close…very close…closer than you will ever realize.”

She blew Hawk a kiss and exited down the hallway. He heard her footfalls on the stairs, and then…nothing, as she descended into the lower office.

CHAPTER TWENTY - SEVEN

Three Days Ago
Morning

I
mmediately after Kiran retreated from his office, Hawk went into action with a sense of urgency. He opened up his broken phone and discovered the SIM card was intact. He took it out of the old phone and slid it into the new one. All of his stored information, numbers, and apps transferred from one smart phone to the next.

His first call was a somewhat panicked call that awakened Kate in New York. Although he assured her that he was just calling to check in, after hearing her voice and realizing how much he was missing her, he proceeded to catch her up on the details of what he had been doing since she had been gone. Her first instinct was to race to his side to help him figure out this latest puzzle, then she shifted gears and voiced her concern for his safety and urged him to back off the search…then realizing how futile that advice was going to be, she returned to her plan of coming to help him. Hawk told her about Kiran’s return and how he sensed a veiled threat in her asking about Kate. Kate reassured him that she was fine. He told her not to underestimate Kiran and this group she was a part of. They had already seen what they were capable of.

Kate reiterated that she was safe, fine, and would continue to be. She laughingly told Hawk that she had always wanted to meet Kiran, so now that she was back, that was going to be a priority. According to Kate, there were a few things she wanted to discuss with Kiran. Hawk reminded her how dangerous and malicious Kiran was. Kate countered with the cautionary warning to Hawk, reminding him that this evil woman was back, had purposely placed herself in the middle of this mystery, and wasn’t afraid to let Hawk know she was there and very close to him…at all times. She ended her warning by turning it toward Hawk and telling him that he too needed to remember how dangerous and malicious Kiran could be.

Hawk was torn. He wanted to protect those closest to him, and common sense was telling him that they should stay far away from him during this time. However, he had to stay in touch with them and know they were safe for his own peace of mind. Kate had to be safer in New York than with him in Florida. He was glad she was there. But when she informed him that although she wanted to head toward Central Florida right away she wasn’t going to be able to do that yet, his feeling of security about her melted away. The storm raging toward Florida now had a projected path that would cause it to rip up through the Caribbean and strike South Florida. She was getting on a plane and heading toward Miami, where she would be covering the storm for the network. So she
was
coming to Florida; she was heading into a storm.

Hawk’s concern knotted in his belly. Hurricanes were dangerous, especially along the coast. He asked her if she had to take the assignment, but he already knew the answer. She was the best at what she did, and hers was one of the most recognized, fair, and trusted voices in the nation when it came to real issues, situations, and news. When Hawk had met Kate, she had a successful investigative network platform as the creator and host of
Total Access
. Yet anchoring the show had meant she was also anchored to a production schedule that kept her in New York with quick trips to various locations to create reports and then back to the big city. Once they had started dating, she had reworked her position at the network, slid back over into the news division, and used her celebrity journalist status to have more freedom to pick and choose what to cover.

The new position took her away from the weekly grind of producing
Total Access
and gave her more time to spend with Hawk. But if the news was big and if the crisis was intense enough, Kate Young was in the middle of it. That meant heading into the storm when you should be trying to get away from it. It was her fearlessness that Hawk respected and at the same time wished she didn’t have. Still, as concerned as he was that she was headed toward the anticipated landfall of a hurricane, she might be safer in that storm than the storm that swirled around him.

Kate made him promise to keep her posted and made him promise to be very safe. The first promise he knew he would keep. The second promise he made so they both would feel better, although neither one believed it would be possible. She promised to be at Walt Disney World as soon as she could get away from South Florida. They would talk again after she arrived in Miami.

Hawk’s next call was to Al Gann. He wanted the sheriff to know about Kiran, what she had said, and what he was doing. Al was not pleased, which did not come as a shock to Hawk. Despite Al’s warning, his wishing, and his passionate pleas for Hawk to be cautious, they both knew that was not going to happen. Al said he hoped that adding security around Hawk would help to keep him safer while he did what Al already knew he would do—try to solve the mystery. Reluctantly he asked how he could help. Hawk told him he needed to make sure that Shep, Juliette, and Jonathan were safe and asked if there was any way to get them extra protection. Al felt sure that could be arranged. Hawk also wanted Al to see if he could get some of the extra security that had been protecting Hawk pulled back. Gann immediately told him that would not happen and that he felt safer knowing where Hawk was at all times. Hawk explained that they had no idea where he was now, where he had been, or what he was doing. Avoiding his own security was an extra step that was slowing him down and taking valuable time away from what he needed to do. Their conversation got more heated than Hawk had hoped, but he understood why. Al wanted him to be safe. Gann told him the security needed to stay, just let them tag along as much as possible and work around them if he needed to. But he was not going to make the call to remove them. Period.

Hawk’s third call was to let Shep know about the details of the previous few hours, tell him about Kiran, and ask him to stay close to his cell phone if Hawk needed him. They had done this before; Hawk used Shep for research, and his friend had proven invaluable. Shep agreed and reminded Hawk to be safe. Everyone was reminding him to be safe.
If only it were that easy
.

Ending the call, he heard voices coming from downstairs; it was his office team arriving for the day. He exited his office and headed down the stairway, where he was greeted by the early arrivers for work. Heather looked up as he stepped into the main office area.

“Good morning.” She looked pleased. “I didn’t expect to see you this morning.”

“Trying to get an early start.”

“Well, since you’re here, there’s something I need you to see.” She passed him her iPad, which had a full-screen image of a satellite radar map. “We’re already operating on Phase Five Preparedness. I need the go-ahead to move to Phase Four.”

Hawk had been so busy running after the clues Farren had left for him that he had been aware of the storm only on the fringes of his thinking, even though Kate had reminded him. The massive, circular mass of clouds was covering up much of the image. He gulped softly as Heather pointed to the storm.

“This is Hurricane Ginger, sir.” Heather slid her finger across the screen. The image shifted and a new one took its place. This time he could see an outline of the southeastern United States overlaid by a number of lines, all different colors, that were projecting the path of the hurricane. He swallowed hard. Over half of the storm tracks had Ginger making landfall near Miami, where Kate would be waiting, and then heading up the center of the state. The storm would be on top of them.

“Move to Phase Four,” Hawk instructed. He realized he was putting a series of events in motion designed to protect their guests and to make the vacation capital of the world ready for the approaching storm. Phase Four of Emergency Preparedness would active the Emergency Operations Center at WDW. Staff would be called in, and each theme park, each area of the resort, would begin briefing personnel and putting plans into place to prepare for the storm. As they made things ready, they would watch weather reports and watch the clock. Each hour as the storm moved their way, additional caution would be exercised.

If the storm continued on its current path, they would automatically activate Phase Three. The Executive Policy Team of the company would intensify cleanup and tie down every area of the resort. Selected ride-out crews would be given one shift off to secure their personal property. Then this cast would return to ride out the storm in the resort. The WDW Emergency Operations Center would remain open and fully staffed until the storm passed. Florida battled hurricane season for months each year. Rarely did the theme parks have to move to Phase Two, which meant the storm was imminent. But if you were going to face a storm in Central Florida, Walt Disney World was the safest place to be.

“Probability?” Hawk asked.

“Strong.” She paled with gloom. “Our forecasters say it’s going to hit us.”

“You know what to do.” Hawk nodded. “Let’s keep everyone safe.” He moved toward the door of his office. “Call me if you need me.”

“Are you still sequestered in your apartment in the Magic Kingdom?”

“No, I have some things I have to do.” He waved at other staff now arriving. “You can reach me if you need me.”

As Hawk grabbed the handle on the door, Juliette was entering on the other side of it. Surprised to see him, she halted in the doorway.

“Hi,” she said as they faced each other.

“Good morning.” He placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her around. “We’re just leaving, come with me.”

“I was coming in to make arrangements to move all the media out of the Epcot parking lot. Hurricane Ginger looks like she’s headed our way,” Juliette said as they entered the elevator.

“I’ve heard. Kate is on her way to meet her in Miami.”

“Oh, no, that’s awful…and dangerous,” Juliette offered.

“I know, but it may be safer than being here.”

“Disney World is the best place to ride out a storm,” she corrected him.

“That’s not the storm I’m talking about.”

“Oh.” Juliette made the mental jump with him. “You may be right.”

“Kiran has officially emerged.” Hawk lifted his chin, feigning conviction. “I’m more worried about Hurricane Kiran than Hurricane Ginger right now.”