Storming the Kingdom (21 page)

Over his shoulder, he heard the voice of Al Gann trying to reassure him. “Don’t worry about how this looks or the mess we have on our hands. The guests are safe, you are safe, and right now that’s all that matters. You can handle cleaning up the mess later. Let’s get you off the main walkways and back home.” Gann gave him a reassuring pat on the back.

Hawk nodded agreement, and the entire group stepped through a cast member entrance in Liberty Square, out of sight, and they headed toward his apartment through the backstage area.

If the dark-haired man was watching Hawk’s progress, he was keeping himself well hidden.

CHAPTER THIRTY - THREE

Three Days Ago
Evening

T
he puzzle box was a secret panel chest. It could be opened only when a specific combination of movements was discovered by the user. Hawk had called Shep to satisfy his curiosity about what had been happening in the Haunted Mansion. Having Shep’s assistance had almost allowed him to capture his attacker. Hawk was frustrated that he had been so close. Having the assassin out of the mix would not have solved the mystery, but it would have given him more breathing room and eliminated one of the threats hanging over him. He had also told Shep about finding the box inside the piano and asked him to find out what he could about it. Shep had done some research and decided to hand deliver the information to Hawk at the Fire Station apartment.

The box had been constructed by a small company in Hikone, Japan. Made using a variety of wood species, this was an original souvenir sold in the Magic Kingdom when it opened in 1971. The boxes had been available for three years, and then the factory in Japan closed down. The cost of making the boxes was too high; they couldn’t produce them and continue to keep their profit margins, so they went out of business. Suddenly the value of these wooden souvenirs increased significantly. Shep had told Hawk that these items were highly desirable in the Disneyana collectible marketplace. The boxes could be worth hundreds of dollars today because they were of high-quality craftsmanship and never were going to be available again.

“Are you going to ever get it open?” Shep sighed as he watched Hawk.

The wooden puzzle box sat on the table. Hawk had been fiddling with it for some time. Trying various combinations of how it might open had been unsuccessful until he finally saw a pattern in how it was interconnected. Gently he pushed on the narrow end of the box, and a thin sliver of wood slid sideways, revealing a mechanism beneath. Reaching inside, he felt a small block of wood that served as a wedge or some kind of lock. He carefully removed it. After he did, the side of the box slid downward along a hidden groove. Once the side of the box had shifted downward, the top lid of the box could be slid and removed. With the top now off the box, he could see inside the small rectangular chamber. It was empty. He raised his eyebrows.

Breathing deeply, he knew there was something else that he had to do with the box. The other end of the box, the one that had not yet been moved, was where he focused his attention. Since the opposite side had been shifted and the top had been removed, he could see the faintest trace of what appeared to be a tongue-and-groove insert. He placed his finger on the top of this side of the box and pressed down to see if it would slide like the other end. It did not. Reversing his approach, he placed his finger on the bottom of the side and pressed up. It shifted slightly and then released. This end of the box slid up and locked into position. Now Hawk turned the end of the box he had just moved toward him. He saw it. Now revealed as the box side had been moved upward, there was an insert and a drawer that was hidden in the bottom of the box. He reached in and grabbed the small handle and pulled it toward him. The wooden drawer slid toward him and revealed its contents. A small piece of folded-up paper. He retrieved the paper, opened it, and saw the familiar handwriting of Farren Rales once again.

Hawk placed the note on the table and looked up at Shep, who smiled approvingly at the discovery. The both leaned in so they could read the words scrawled on the paper.

“A song from the past will reach your ears…It is a tune that touches some of your fears. A world with no Mickey is a terrible sign of what happened here in 1939.”

“It’s always another clue,” Shep said softly, “but never the answer.”

“That’s true,” Hawk agreed. “But whatever we’re looking for, as always, is something that has to be hidden so well that no one else can find it.”

“I just wish sometimes that Farren would have come out and told you what you needed to know.”

“Me too…sometimes.” Hawk glanced toward his friend. “But you already know that the things we’ve learned as we unlock the secrets Walt Disney left for us are important for us to know. They are the story within the story.” He paused and then looked back down at the clue on the table. “And our reality, where we always are having to protect these secrets, is why they have to be hidden so carefully. Because others want them so badly.”

Shep finished the thought. “And will do whatever it takes to get them.”

“Exactly.”

The two allowed silence to fill the space around them as they both mentally read and reread the clue in front of them. Hawk spun the paper around toward Shep so he didn’t have to read it upside down from the opposite side of the table. Hawk leaned back in his chair and looked out the window toward Main Street, U.S.A., which was glowing as all of the lights were on and night had settled over the Magic Kingdom. In just a few hours, all of the parks would be closed, and the guests moving through them would migrate back toward their hotels, homes, and other destinations.

He rubbed his chin and closed his eyes, trying to think about the clue, but was distracted by today’s fiasco at the Haunted Mansion. The attraction was shut down indefinitely. It was officially a crime scene, so it was crawling with law enforcement investigators. Hawk knew they would get in and out as quickly as possible. That didn’t concern him as much as the damage he had helped to create inside the attraction. The ballroom scene would have to be repaired. The massive glass panels used to reflect the images so perfectly were custom-made and would take time to get replaced. That meant the attraction would be out of commission for an indefinite time, and guests could not enjoy it. And he was personally responsible. He squeezed his eyes shut even tighter, wishing he could magically make the problem better. But he knew that the magic in the resort that people enjoyed and often took for granted happened only because of hard work and dedication. One of the lines he had said in an interview that had become one of his most quoted was “The secret to making magic happen is doing the hard work so well that it makes it look easy.” This was not an easy fix. It was not easy to clean up, it was not easy to explain…it was going to take a lot of hard work to make it right and get the attraction opened again.

Shep tapped on the table, and Hawk snapped his attention back to his friend seated across from him.

“Do you have any idea what the clue means?” Shep spun it back toward Hawk.

“Let’s break it down.” Hawk refocused his attention on the clue. “‘A song from the past will reach your ears…’ I’ve got nothing on this part yet
.
‘It is a tune that touches some of your fears.’ To me that might mean someplace that scares you.”

“Like the Haunted Mansion?” Shep studied the clue.

“Sure, but since we found it in the mansion, it has to mean something else.”

“OK, how about Pirates of the Caribbean? It’s dark and scary.” Shep paused. “Or the caves on Tom Sawyer island? They’re dark and spooky. And Stitch’s Great Escape still has that whole Alien Encounter vibe…very scary stuff. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is just flat-out creepy and scary to me. Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom is loud, terrifying, and takes you back in time. That could be it…” Shep didn’t seem to notice Hawk break into a wide smile as he listened to his friend talk. “Expedition Everest is frightening, and if it’s just a ride itself that could be scary, then Space Mountain is a good choice as well. Ah, man, but Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster will scare you to death. And don’t forget at Disney Quest there’s Pirates of the Caribbean—Battle for Buccaneer Gold. You get shot at with cannonballs, it’s dark, there are skeletons… that is pretty high on the creep-you-out meter as well—” Now Shep noticed Hawk smiling at him. “What?”

“I didn’t realize that so many places at Walt Disney World scared you.” Hawk laughed.

“You said it might mean some places that scare you,” Shep said in defense of himself. “I was just helping you out.”

“Oh, that’s good. For a minute, I thought you were telling me places that you were actually a little scared of yourself,” Hawk pressed.

“Well”—Shep’s face flushed a little—“they do kind of scare me…in a good way, of course.”

“Of course.” Hawk laughed again. “It could be any of those places you mentioned, actually. But the rest of the clue might help us get started. ‘A world with no Mickey is a terrible sign of what happened here in 1939.’ Let’s focus in on the 1939.”

“Well, 1939 is the target year used over in Disney Hollywood Studios. Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards are designed to look like Hollywood in the 1930s and ’40s, and certainly 1939 falls into that period. Right in the middle of that period.”

“Yes,” Hawk said, leaning forward, “1939 is also an important date in the history of the Walt Disney Company. Disney’s Burbank studio was opened on Christmas Eve in 1939. So there are references to that particular year randomly scattered—on purpose, of course—throughout Hollywood Studios.”

“So we are going to Hollywood Studios?” Shep got up from the table.

Hawk waved him off. “No, not right now. I promised I would not be doing any more searching for clues while the parks are open.” He motioned toward the door. “I have a very antsy security team waiting at the bottom of the stairs and some very angry members of not only security, but law enforcement as well because I have been giving them the slip and not letting them know where I am.” Hawk yawned deeply and stretched. “They’re supposed to be keeping an eye on me and keeping me safe.”

“How long has it been since you slept?” Shep asked.

The question had come from nowhere, and Hawk had to hesitate and think back for a moment. “A while,” he admitted.

“Over twenty-four hours?”

“At least.” Hawk was still trying to remember the last time he’d slept. He remembered the nightmare in which he’d heard gunshots. “Like I said, it’s been a while.”

Shep studied his friend carefully. He reached over to the table and picked up the clue. After rereading it again, he placed it back in front of Hawk.

“Why don’t you get a few hours of sleep? The parks won’t be closed for a while yet, so you can give the night crew some time to move in and get their initial push of work started. Then we can head to the Studios. I’ll give Jonathan and Juliette a call and see if they want to meet us.” Shep waited to see if Hawk was going to say anything.

Hawk picked up the note and looked back toward Shep. “I would rather go alone. All of you need to lay low, stay out of sight, and stay safe.”

“Al Gann has us all protected with officers outside our homes already. When I came here to meet you, my personal guard came with me. He’s waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs with your security team.” Shep smiled. “I think we’ll be OK.”

Hawk was torn. He wanted the help, wanted his friends close, but was gravely concerned for their well-being. The quicker he could solve the mystery, the better off they all would be. Shep seemed to be reading his thoughts and now moved to the door of the apartment.

“I’ll meet you at 3:00 a.m. at the Great Movie Ride. I’ll see if anyone else wants to join us. That way, they can decide, and you don’t have to worry about us.” He opened the door and then looked back. “Get some sleep.”

Shep disappeared through the door and closed it behind him. Hawk sat at the table and looked back through the window. He saw Shep come around the corner of the building below and saw an officer from the sheriff’s department walking beside him. He got up and moved over toward his couch. Slumping back onto the sofa, he suddenly felt extremely tired. He pulled his phone from his pocket and texted Kate. He wanted to make sure she was safe—or as safe as she could be, looking down the path of an approaching hurricane. He needed to check the news for an update on the projected path, get the report, and then check the status of the Emergency Operation Center. There were so many things to do before the storm hit, if indeed it was coming. He wondered if Kate was going to be able to get to the resort to ride out the storm close to him or whether the network would keep her in South Florida. Glancing back toward the table, he saw the wooden puzzle box. He wondered if they could find another company to start producing them; they really were a great keepsake. He was sure they would sell well in the parks. The Haunted Mansion was a mess; how long would it be before they could start repairs? As long as it was crime scene, they couldn’t get in to begin work. A smile crossed his face as he realized his mind was just as much a jumble. All of the things he was trying to think about at once were important, but they had come rolling across his brain in a cluttered mess. Shep was right, he needed to sleep for a few minutes. He would close his eyes and get a quick nap. Then he could think more clearly.

His eyes shut, and he descended down the valley of restless slumber.