Storming the Kingdom (32 page)

CHAPTER FIFTY - ONE

Storm Day
7:30
A.M.

S
tinging needles of rain burst across Grayson Hawkes’s skin. His shoes squeaked as they slid across the metal surface, desperately searching for a foothold so he could maintain his balance. Wind blasted against him. The savage wrath of the storm turned each drop of rain into a dangerous projectile threatening to knock him off of his moving perch. Bracing himself by leaning into the fury, he inched forward.

Hurricane Ginger had arrived just as the forecasters had predicted. The category 3 storm was packing winds of 125 miles per hour, but those were nested along the eye wall of the meteorological monster, and Ginger’s eye wasn’t on him yet. Hawk hoped the eye of the storm was still miles away. The gusts he was battling were just an 80-mile-per-hour preview of the main attraction coming soon. The storm had not surprised him, or anyone else for that matter. There had been plenty of advance warning as hurricane trackers had watched the force of nature develop and then followed her path toward Central Florida.

The unexpected twist for Hawk was that he was facing the onslaught of the storm while struggling to stay balanced on top of a Disney Mark VI monorail streaking though the Walt Disney World Resort, traveling at a speed of 35 miles an hour, headed for the Epcot theme park.

Slowly his foot glided forward, grabbing another step across the top of the monorail. Hawk was on the last car of the six-car train. His goal was to travel the length of the train to get to the lead control cabin. He steeled himself to step across the juncture between the cars. The gap would be an easy one for him to cross…on a normal day. Today was anything but normal. Normal would have meant he was riding inside the monorail instead of standing on top of it. Normal would have meant that the monorail was transporting guests to and from theme parks instead of running empty because the parks were closed due to the storm. Normal would have meant that this monorail, Monorail Red, was stored away safely until the storm had passed. This was definitely not a normal day.

As the sleek monorail snaked along the concrete track, Hawk shoved himself airborne to cross to the roof of the next passenger car. His front foot landed exactly where he had hoped. Perfect!

A gust of wind hit him. The cyclone force of it struck him in the chest and drove him back. Feet lifting off the roof, Hawk felt himself flying backward and glanced over his shoulder to see the monorail passing beneath him. Momentarily suspended in midair, he longed for gravity to return—and his wish was granted instantly. He smashed onto the roof of the monorail, flat on his back, staring up into the angry gunmetal sky.

The driving wind, the rain-drenched white roof of the cabin, and the speed of the Mark VI combined to propel him skating on his shoulder blades across the slick surface. Flipping over, he spread out both arms against the wet metal to slow his slide and stabilize himself. Excruciatingly slow seconds passed, and finally he screeched to a stop. Inhaling deeply, he gradually worked himself back around to face the other direction.

The gap between the cars was a good thirty feet ahead of him; his failed attempt to get across to the other car less than a minute ago had caused him to lose ground. Willing himself to try again, he pushed himself up into a crawling position. The new strategy would be to creep across, keep his center of gravity closer to the roof of the car, and then figure out a different way to cover the gap between the cars when he reached the connect point. Inches became feet, then feet became yards as once again Hawk made his way across the expanse of the monorail section. Glancing forward and squinting his eyes against the blinding deluge, he realized that the track was about to veer to the left.

In less than a heartbeat, Hawk felt the sickening shift of the vehicle below him. Flattening himself against the roof of the car, he braced himself as another raging blast of wind surged against him. He felt his body twist in an out-of-control tumble toward the side of the narrow roof of the monorail. Hands grasping for anything they could close around, they found nothing but air. Hopelessly sliding, Hawk knew there was nothing he could do to prevent the inevitable. He thought to himself,
How in the world did I end up in this mess?
as he slid over the edge and off the roof of the monorail, as it raced through the raging storm.

Hawk’s shoulder slammed into something as he fell, and he reached out to clutch it with his other hand. Clinching his fist tightly, he grabbed a mirror protruding from the side of the cab. A safety feature that allowed the driver to see behind as the monorail was moved in reverse, this fixture had saved Hawk’s life. He hung now on the side of the monorail, being flung backward with the motion of the train and getting whipped about by the winds. He had to get back to the roof. Pulling up his body, he swung his legs upward and grabbed the slightest of footholds on the mirror housing. This was enough; he pushed against it will all his strength and lurched back onto the roof the racing monorail.
Out of the fire and into the frying pan.
He grinned.

He repositioned himself for another crawl across the top of the car. Trying to orient himself in the resort, he estimated that for the next few minutes, the monorail track would remain fairly straight. If he had a chance of getting to the front, this was it. Every fiber of his being tried to focus on staying stuck to the top of the monorail. Each motion seemed excruciatingly slow, yet his progress was constantly forward. The rain pelted him and made his body feel numb as the chill of the water and the constant pounding wore on him. One car, then the next, then the next…each gap where the cars were connected was the most frightening. He literally was stretching his body across a gap of nothingness and then pushing off with his feet to slide onto the next passenger car. Each landing caused him to slide on the ice-slick surface. He would finally stop his slide, try to position himself in the centerline of the monorail, and then move forward again.

He slid to a stop before the gap between the first two cars. This last bit of progress was even more dangerous than the others. If he pushed off toward it with too much force, he could hit the car, slide forward, and then off the slope of the nose of the monorail. He would fall onto the track and be hit by the train, or he could slide over and then off into the woods along the side of the track. He carefully placed his foot on the edge of the car and got ready to spring forward. He flexed, extended, and now was sliding forward. Trying to spread out his hands, lie flat, and will himself to stay in that position, he slid close to the front edge of the car…then dug in with is fingers and toes and screeched to a stop. He blinked away the rain streaking down his face as he looked straight down the nose of the vehicle. Whew! He had almost gone over the front. Twisting his body, he reached back and felt for the handle for the hatch.

The monorail reached a curve in the track. As it began to turn, inertia caused him to begin sliding sideways.

He found the handle and twisted it violently. The door opened into the car. He grabbed the edge and pulled himself toward it, his body sliding across the top of the car. He poured himself through the opening and fell into the cab of the monorail. Crashing on his shoulder, he rolled over and then looked up.

His mouth opened in shock at the sight in front of him.

CHAPTER FIFTY - TWO

Storm Day
7:40
A.M.

K
ate Young was strapped into the driver’s seat of the monorail. Her hand was taped savagely to the lever, which caused the monorail to stay in gear. To ensure that she wouldn’t be able to flex her arm to disable the motion, her arm was tied at a painful angle and pulled backward, completely immobilizing her. So she became a living, breathing dead man’s switch. Tape covered her mouth and was wrapped all the way around the high-backed command seat. This prevented even her head from moving. Her eyes shot open wide with a mixture of relief and fear as Hawk fell into the cabin.

The entire back of the compartment was lined with fireworks. This was not the consumer variety that people could buy at the endless roadside stands that lined the East coast and southern states. These were professional explosives, the kind used each night in the Disney theme parks. Beautiful and dangerous—and the cabin was full of them. This fireworks display would destroy the front of the monorail, the track, and anything else that it happened to be close to when the explosives went off. He got to his knees and looked out the front window; the monorail was arriving on Epcot property and was winding its way toward Spaceship Earth. It would loop around it, giving guests a view of Epcot before arriving at the station by the front gate of the theme park. He looked back toward the explosives and tried to see how they would detonate. On the far end of the wall of fireworks, he saw a glowing electronic display fastened to a black metallic box. This was it, an electronic detonator. He patted Kate on the leg as reassuringly as he could and scampered to the detonator. It had been set up in such a way that if the door to the monorail was opened, it would pull a switch and cause the entire package to detonate. Hawk thought it was an ingenious way to make sure the explosion happened. He had entered through the only door that was safe—the one on the roof.

His greater concern was the timer, which read 00:28…

The explosion would be detonated at Spaceship Earth. The front car of the monorail would be obliterated, blowing a hole in the side of the huge silver icon, destroying the track, and showering the park with concrete shrapnel and then sending the rest of the cars into a brief free fall before they crashed down in the theme park.

The timer said 00:27…

Hawk leaned in closer, trying to see where the lead wires were connected.

“I’m going to try to pull the wires off of this and disarm it,” he said over his shoulder to Kate, who could only look forward at the Epcot icon growing closer and closer.

The timer counted down…00:25…00:24…

Hawk traced the set of wires with his fingers as he crawled on his knees across the floor of the monorail. He tracked the wires into the center of the firing device placed in the middle of the bank of fireworks. Having watched a Disney fireworks show being set up, he remembered that the explosives were fired electronically to coincide with the music; this device was identical to ones he had seen before—other than the fact that it was inside the monorail. But now he had to figure out which wire he needed to disconnect to ensure that no firing signal reached any of the explosives.

The numbers on the timer flashed their inexorable warning…00:19…00:18… 00:17…

Hawk found a red wire that he was reasonably sure carried the signal between the detonator and the firing device. He doubled-checked to see if he had missed anything. This had to be it.

Sweat ran down his face. He leaned back toward Kate and placed his hand on her shoulder. “I’m going to pull the wire. If this doesn’t work, we’re going to die. I love you, Kate.”

She murmured something. There had been no time to take the tape off her face, and he couldn’t understand what she’d said. Her eyes welled with tears, and he knew she felt the same.

He watched the numerals, wishing their lives hadn’t come down to the hope that he’d chosen the correct wire: 00:09…00:08…00:07…

Hawk pulled the wire.

It didn’t break loose.

The timer kept going: 00:06 . . .

He gripped the wire in his waterlogged fingers. He tugged it again, but his fingers slid down the wire, and it did not give.

The seconds seemed to speed up each time a new numeral changed, and his hands shook as he watched 00:05 become 00:04 . . .

He took his finger and twisted the wire around it.

The seconds counting down their lives had diminished to 00:03…

Spaceship Earth loomed in front of the monorail. He felt the train shift as the track began to make the turn to go around the attraction.

The countdown mocked him by changing to 00:02…

He curled his finger in the wire and threw himself backward. Either the wire would break free or his finger would be torn off, but something was going to happen this time. He felt the wire pull loose, and as his back hit the floor, he looked toward the electronic display.

It changed to 00:01…00:00…

Hawk closed his eyes against the coming blast and waited for the end.

Nothing happened.

He felt the monorail shift again below him as the track rounded Spaceship Earth and then straightened as they approached the station. Getting to his knees again, he looked out the window as they streaked through the station without slowing.

Kate tried to speak through the tape once again. Hawk turned back to her and felt a wave of relief wash over him. Managing to stop the explosion now allowed him to release and unbind Kate. The tape over her mouth he unraveled first. He kissed her on the lips as soon as he could get to them. She was crying by the time he had finally gotten the tape off the chair and she had the freedom to move her head.

“I thought we were dead.” She sobbed.

“I did too.” Hawk looked up at her as he went to work to release her arm from the painful angle it was secured at. “But we’re not dead. We had plenty of time.” He winked at her as he continued to work at the tape. “What are you doing here, how did you get here?”

“I took your advice. You told me Walt Disney World was the safest place to be when a storm hit. I convinced the network to let me come here…because I wanted to be here with you. I tried to reach you, but I couldn’t.”

“My phone . . .” Hawk shrugged. “Well, you know I don’t take very good care of phones. I’ve gone through a few of them over the past few days.”

“Your ex-girl Kiran is an interesting piece of work. I went to your office at Bay Lake Towers and got the chance to meet her. Her very strong friends brought me to the monorail, and she promised me that you and I would get a chance to die together.” Kate could now move her arm and eased it forward. As her hand left the dead man’s switch, the monorail started to slow.

The monorail had passed through the Epcot station and now was on its way back to the Ticket and Transportation Center at the Magic Kingdom. Kate’s hand was still fastened securely to the drive shift, but now that she could move her arm, Hawk helped her to move the lever and cause the monorail to come to a stop on the track. The storm whipped around them, jarring the monorail back and forth slightly. But it was securely nestled on the track and could sustain the winds flailing against the sides.

“Kiran was wrong,” Hawk said. “We didn’t die together, although she did her best to make that happen. She’s is crazy, you know.” Hawk finally got the last of the tape off her hand.

“Really?”

Kate was now free and got to her feet. Hawk embraced her, and she wrapped her arms around him. He felt his eyes begin to sting and blinked back tears at the edges. He hadn’t expected to see her, he hadn’t expected to almost lose her, he hadn’t realized how much he had missed her, and he hadn’t realized how exhausted he was until this moment. All of that welled up in him, and he found himself gripping her tightly.

She pulled back her head from his shoulder to see his face. “Are you crying?”

“No . . .” He smiled at her and then hugged her tighter.

“You wimp.” She laughed. “I missed you too.”

Hawk gently seated her by the window and took the controls of the monorail himself. He slowly put it back in gear, engaging the engines, and it smoothly eased forward.

“Why don’t we go someplace safe, and I can catch you up on everything.” Hawk said as they began to glide back to the TTC.

“That sounds perfect.”

Hawk was nervous as they arrived back at the Ticket Center, because that’s where he’d last seen Kiran and her squad of bad boys. As he pulled in to the station and brought the monorail to a halt, he looked about. It seemed deserted. Monorail Blue was still sitting on the resort rails; it could carry them back to the Magic Kingdom. As he popped open the door, he carefully glanced outside, taking in their surroundings. Hurricane Ginger was wreaking havoc all around them, but somehow that seemed tame compared to Hurricane Kiran. Convinced it was all clear, he took Kate by the hand, and they switched monorails so they could make the rest of the trip back to the Magic Kingdom. At the monorail station there, they would be able to run through the rain to his apartment back at the Fire Station and then ride out the storm in safety.

They talked and laughed as they rode on the monorail line that carried them past the Polynesian and Grand Floridian resorts. They raced through the stations and made their way to the Magic Kingdom. Finally, Hawk slowed the monorail as they pulled into the Magic Kingdom station just outside the main gates to the park. Hawk looked through the storm-obscured windows for any activity around them. All the time he’d spent studying the storm path before setting out into Ginger’s wrath told him the eye wall was approaching; within minutes, the hurricane would reach the point where no one was safe in it. Thankfully, the coast was clear for them to disembark. He opened the door to the monorail.

“We’re going to get a little bit wet trying to get to my apartment.” Hawk looked fondly at Kate. “You up for a run in the rain?”

She kicked off her shoes and picked them up in her hand. “I’ll race you.” She smiled at him as she stepped out the door.

A gunshot rang out, the report cutting through the wail of the storm.