Power Play (38 page)

“It has been quite the eventful evening,” Wayne said. “I would doubt much more will happen before morning. They tried and they failed.”

“The blackout,” Finn said.

“Yes. Ingenious. We lost power like everyone else. Normally…well, there’s a system in place, but my understanding is that’s what they sabotaged. Quite brilliant, actually. But thankfully, it failed.”

“You know this because…?”

Wayne took hold of a television remote and worked the device. A flat-panel screen came alive, divided into four quadrants. Four jail cells. Two contained Maleficent and Chernabog. Two others were empty.

Finn gasped. Maleficent’s cell was identical to Jess’s drawing. He tapped the printout.

“You have to take me there,” Finn said.

“Have to?”

“Please take me there.”

Moments later, a guard led them through another series of electronic doors.

“They’ll admit us, Finn. But by rule, we won’t be allowed out until the shift change at seven am. You need to understand that before going in.”

“Seven am?” Finn said. He told Wayne about Cruella’s mention of the exact time. “It’s less than an hour.”

“Even so. We won’t be leaving.”

“I’m good,” Finn said.

They entered and were passed off to a burly guard with shoulders as wide as a doorway, and a nose that looked like it had been flattened by something unnatural. Two gates later, they were passed off to yet another guard, and now Finn recognized the jail cells from the video.

He and Wayne stopped in front of Maleficent’s cell. The prisoner slept peacefully.

Finn whispered to Wayne, “Please ask them to turn off the security cameras.”

Wayne said back, “Protocol dictates twenty-four-seven coverage.”

“They’re counting on that.”

Wayne viewed him curiously.

“Let me guess,” Finn said. “During the power failure, it was pitch-dark down here. I’m guessing a fire alarm
during
the blackout.” Wayne looked impressed; Finn knew he had scored. “Because that combination—power failure and fire—would mean the cells opened automatically for the prisoner’s safety.” Most of this had come from Philby’s extensive research following Finn’s proposal of a variation to Maybeck’s theory.

“There are measures in place,” Wayne said, not disagreeing. “That’s about all I’m allowed to tell you. Suffice it to say, not even a moth left this building at that time.”

“No,” Finn said. “But if you don’t turn off the cameras, you’re going to lose your prisoners.”

“That’s an oxymoron,” Wayne said. “The cameras
show
us the prisoners.”

“How much do you know about augmented reality?”

“I’m quite familiar with it. We use it a great deal for interior projections.”

“DisneyQuest?” Finn asked.

“Do I know about DisneyQuest? Of course,” Wayne answered.

“Is Downtown Disney wired for DHI projection?” Finn asked, already knowing the answer. Philby had been knocked sideways by his earlier discovery.

“It’s on the sheets. It’s in planning.”

“I witnessed two DHIs projected
inside
DisneyQuest. Outside, as well.”

Wayne was about to tell him that was impossible.

“AR technology. Security video cam projection.”

“I understand the technology, as I’ve said,” Wayne said, continuing to whisper.

“TURN OFF THE SECURITY CAMERAS!!!” Finn shouted into the cell.

Maleficent didn’t stir. Didn’t twitch.

Wayne looked back and forth between the sleeping fairy and Finn.

He shuffled over to a white wall phone, lifted the receiver, and spoke. The guard wouldn’t take his eyes off Finn, punishing him for the intrusion and inconvenience.

Wayne rejoined Finn and pointed to the nearest security camera. It had a red light atop it. There were cameras for each cell, and several more for the hallway.

Finn didn’t watch the camera, but the prisoner.

“There now,” Wayne said, as the red light went off.

Maleficent remained visible in bed.

“Satisfied?” Wayne asked.

“Let’s go,” said the guard. He reached out for Finn, who broke away.

“Give it a moment!” Finn said.

“We’re done here. Shift change is coming up.”

Wayne said, “Please, Finn. Let’s not make a scene.”

“Philby said there’s a thirty-to-forty-second buffer to keep the DHI video smooth.”

That hit home; clearly Wayne knew this as well. He glanced at his watch: an antique Mickey Mouse watch.

“Very well,” he said.

The guard’s impatience enveloped them both. It had been a long night.

With all three men watching, Maleficent popped, and vanished.

“What the—?” The guard hurried to unlock the cell.

“No!” Wayne reached out and stopped the man. He turned to Finn. “I think I owe you an apology.”

“Without Jess on our side…” Finn said. “If I’d put her under that spell instead of Amanda, we’d have never known.”

“Somebody had better tell me what’s going on,” the guard said angrily.

“No one’s left this wing?” Wayne verified.

“No, sir. Not since shift change at ten PM.”

“
Before
the blackout,” Finn said.

“Yes, sir,” the guard said to Finn, suddenly with deference and respect.

“So,” Wayne said. He seemed to be waiting for an answer from Finn.

The guard whispered, “Are you telling me that…
thing
is loose somewhere in here?”

“Not exactly,” Finn said.

He asked them to repeat the camera procedure with Chernabog. Five minutes later they determined that he, too, was nothing but a DHI hologram.

The guard, sweating profusely despite the air conditioning, reached for his radio. Wayne stopped him.

“You don’t want to do that,” he said. “They’ll sound the alarm, yes?”

“Of course.”

“We’ll take a rain check,” Wayne said. Turning to Finn: “So they’re asleep in here?”

“They have to be. During the combination of blackout and fire alarm, they escaped from their cells. They couldn’t leave the prison because of your precautions. They had to get somewhere and get to sleep. Quickly. I imagine they’ve been awake for a day or more, to ensure their fatigue. Once asleep, once the power went back on, their DHIs took their places in their cells.”

“How brilliant of them!” Wayne said.

“They intend to walk out of here during the shift change,” Finn said.

A wall device sounded. Finn recognized it as the same tone used between classes at school.

“LOCKDOWN!” Wayne shouted at the guard.

“You told me not to radio!” the man said, fumbling for his walkie-talkie.

“I didn’t look at the time! Lock it down!”

The guard hollered into his radio, but the eyes of all three were on the wall clock.

Wayne shouted frantically, “The guards must nap somewhere.”

The guard shook his head, his ear to the radio. “Shift change’s already under way.”

“Tell me! Damn it, man! Show me where they nap!”

“I’ll get them fired!”

“NOW!”

The guard took off. With sirens alarming, down the hallway, up the stairs they ran. Wayne moved like he was thirty years younger.

Together they reached a plain gray door marked storage. The guard tried his key, but it wouldn’t go in.

“The lock’s been jimmied. The key’s not going to work.” He leaned his shoulder into it. “It can only be opened from the inside. We’re cooked.”

Finn checked the clock: 7:05. The shift change had already begun. Too late? Finn wondered. “It’s me,” Finn said. “I can do this.”

“I’m afraid so,” Wayne said.

The guard looked totally confused.

“The guard has a Taser. All you need to do is get the door open,” Wayne said.

“We hope,” Finn said.

Wayne nodded.

“What exactly are you two talking about?” the guard asked.

Finn closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and pictured the dark train tunnel.

He walked through the door.

He heard the guard say something Finn would never repeat.

* * *

Finn’s brief
all clear
passed nearly instantly. He was through the door, but too tired to hold his
all clear
. He flipped on the light switch. The storage room was a small, L-shaped cinder block. Mattresses were stacked along the far wall. Metal shelving held toilet paper, paper towels, and soap. He saw brooms and buckets, blankets and plastic bowls.

The guards had fashioned the space into an improvised bunk room to take unauthorized naps. Finn stripped back the blankets. He jumped back as he discovered a bare-chested guard. The man’s hands and feet were taped, his mouth gagged.

Finn was able to open the door from the inside. The guard outside hurried in.

Finn said, “Two guards. Two uniforms. The shift change!” He ran down the corridor, Wayne surprisingly close on his heels.

The lockdown was in full effect. They were blocked from leaving at the first station they encountered. Wayne shouted back and forth with a guard on the other side, making demands that were not accepted.

“Wayne!” Finn shouted, pointing through the thick glass to a flat-panel display rotating between security views.

He pointed to the frame showing the facility’s final door—the door to the outside. To freedom.

“Check out that guard’s neck. The collar.”

“Green skin…” Wayne muttered. He sounded sad, defeated. Maleficent in a guard’s uniform.

“Chernabog was too big,” Finn said. “She must have transfigured him into a man. He’s the one at her side.”

On the video, the door shut, and the two figures were gone.

* * *

Attempts were made to stop the two. Radio calls shut down the Park’s Security exits by road. Dog teams searched the Park for scents prior to opening, but perhaps because of the abundance of wild-animal odors, failed at their task. The Park opening was delayed seventy minutes, visitors standing at the gates waiting in the heat. They were told a computer malfunction was to blame.

At last the Park was opened, and tens of thousands of guests streamed inside.

Maleficent and Chernabog were not seen again.

Despite repeated efforts to trap the Overtakers on Tom Sawyer Island, the fort went unused by them. If it had once been a hideout, as Finn and Amanda continued to claim, it was no longer.

S
EVEN DHIs—THE KEEPERS
, along with Amanda and Jess—sat along the catwalk surrounding the water tower in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Their DHIs shimmered slightly against the night sky, but even from several feet away they looked perfectly real. The technology improved with every software upgrade.

“What now?” Charlene asked.

The mood was not good. Despite the Keepers’ control of the fob and their preventing a takeover of the power plant, the Evil Queen had engineered Maleficent and Chernabog’s escape. Right under their noses.

“We find them,” Finn said. “And we find wherever they’ve moved their hideout to.”

“We can help,” Ariel said. “But we need a leader.”

All eyes shot down the metal railing at Finn. “We want to help,” Finn said to her. “But I can’t see the characters following one of us.”

Ariel laughed. “One of you? Oh, no!” She covered her laugh. “I’m sorry! I don’t mean it to sound like that. But we have a long and
storied
history.” She giggled, self-amused. “
Our
leader. There’s only one leader.”

Finn thought back to Shan-Yu’s comments about emperors and leadership.

“Mickey,” he said.

Ariel’s face sagged. “Yes.”

“Where is he?” Willa asked.

“Minnie is so sad. No one knows for sure. He might be in hiding. He might be…We just have no way of knowing. They’ve taken down his house, you know? Minnie’s, too. ‘Updating,’ they call it. Don’t believe it. It’s all because of ‘the Night.’ ”

None of the Keepers had ever heard of a particular night or event. As a group, they looked at her curiously.

“We heard noises from his house on that night,” Ariel continued, oblivious to their confusion. “A struggle of some kind. He’s not been seen since. The family will listen to him.
Our
family. What you call the characters. He can bring us together. We thought…You see, we understood…We believed
you
were sent here to find him for us.”

“Us?” Philby said. “But we never knew he was missing!”

“We’ve guarded the secret. Not even the white-hair knows.” She meant Wayne.

“But why?”

“He’s too important. He
is
the magic. The Green One knows. She understands his power.”

“Maleficent,” Charlene muttered.

Amanda squeezed Finn’s hand unseen. He squeezed hers back. For a very long time, no one spoke. The crickets and night animals made a buzz that filled the air. A breeze blew. Somewhere down there was Frollo. The Green Army.
There was much to learn
, Finn thought.

“What frosts me,” Philby said, “is that three weeks later and still there’s been no kind of discipline or investigation into Luowski and Hugo.”

“They stopped wearing the contacts,” Amanda said. “There’s no proof of any of it.”

“They’re building an army,” Maybeck warned. “Just as we thought. We’d be wise to do the same.”