The Key To the Kingdom (36 page)

Hawk walked toward him before freezing in the awkwardness of the moment. Dr. Grayson Hawkes would defend himself, fight for a cause, champion a battle for those that couldn’t, and would fight for anything that threatened his faith or those he loved; both Juliette and Farren were missing, and he wanted answers. There was no more fight in Jim because he was not in the habit of fighting. He had proven that with the one punch he had thrown.

“Hold on there!”

Hawk looked up to see two men trotting their way. They were maintenance cast members. He regretted causing this rare sight in the Magic Kingdom, two men fighting on the streets in the middle of the night. Sadly a little bit of the real world had managed to break into the magical setting of the theme park.

Frustrated, Hawk released Jim and painfully eased back into the darkness. Joints and muscles screamed as the adrenaline surging through his system only moments ago had now ebbed and the aftermath released a blast of pain he doggedly tried to ignore. Knowing he needed to put some distance between himself and the scene, he loped beneath the second level of the Columbia Harbor House. The second story formed an overpass above the street that served as the dividing line between Liberty Square and Fantasyland. The sign for the Columbia Harbor House Restaurant featured a U.S. shield with an eagle crying and clutching arrows in its right claw. Hawk knew the sign represented that the country was at war on its own soil. Unraveling this mystery was becoming more like a war with each passing second and with each action that pushed the boundaries of what he knew to be right. There were a number of things he needed to do. His mind formatted the checklist. Getting out of the street, tracking down Kiran, and finding somewhere to rest for a few moments were the ones that topped his priority list.

Emerging from beneath the overpass he entered Fantasyland. Hawk imagined Jim would create whatever fable was necessary to relieve him of any guilt in their fight, and add fallacies creating an additional layer of trouble for him. Seeing the Swiss ski chalet to his left, he settled upon his destination and chugged through the brown wooden A-framed entrance and up the walkway leading to the loading area of the now defunct Skyway to Tomorrowland. The Skyway no longer existed and this loading area was isolated and off the beaten path. The entrance had been converted to a stroller storage area and was ignored by most people.

Hunkering down in the shadow of safety created by a sidewall, Hawk listened for sounds emanating from the path below. Silence wafted up toward his hiding place. It wouldn’t be long before security heard whatever report Jim concocted that would send them scurrying to find him.

Darkness smothered him as he strained his ears to hear any detectable signs of being followed. Flattened against a wall in the structure, he plotted his next course of action. Kiran was somewhere near but exactly where, he didn’t know. The last clue had been discovered in Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe but Pal Mickey had not offered any more information. He allowed the animated voice to rewind and play again in his mind.

You’re doing terrrrrific! But we have to keep looking because we have more to find. So watch out, don’t pout, and don’t cry. Let me tell you why! Walt’s grandfather has left you a gift. Find it quick, but be careful. I imagine there are a lot of people chasing us by now, and that can be a huge problem. But don’t worry, I once got seven with one blow, I’ll be here to help you, pal
.

Since the clue was the gift left by Walt’s grandfather, he needed to figure out what was still missing.
Find it quick, but be careful
. Hawk could find no hidden meaning in that line.
I imagine there are a lot of people chasing us by now, and that can be a
huge
problem. But don’t worry, I once got seven with one blow, I’ll be here to help you, pal
. He was being chased and it was a huge problem. If there was a clue in those lines, it were still hidden.
Seven with one blow
sounded familiar, but he didn’t know why.

Muffled voices drifted through the air, snapping Hawk’s focus from the clue to his surroundings. Lifting his head over his Skyway barricade allowed him to see two workmen walking down the street. They moved past him along the street without pausing to search in any of the alcoves or darkened corners along the path. If they were looking for him, they were not searching diligently, and their voices soon disappeared into the background noise of the evening. Hawk knew he couldn’t stay where he was. If he didn’t find the next clue, the mystery would remain locked away and his efforts in finding the whereabouts of Juliette would be wasted.

I imagine there are a lot of people chasing us by now, and that can be a huge problem. But don’t worry, I once got seven with one blow, I’ll be here to help you, pal
.

The familiar voice of the mouse played again in his imagination as he closed his eyes and thought about each word. Slowly exhaling he allowed his eyes to reopen with new insight rekindled by the possibility of understanding. On aching legs he rose to his feet, peered around the corner to check for any motion, and then moved away from his place of refuge. Crossing the street he moved under the alcove to Peter Pan’s Flight.

“Ha-ha!”

The sound stopped Hawk in his tracks and he whirled around to see if there was anyone around him that might have heard the noise. No movement could be seen and he crept into an opening that offered guests a Fast Pass to ride the attraction. Back pressed against the pass distribution machine he slid down until he rested on the ground. Releasing the stuffed travel guide he gave it a tight squeeze to hear the next clue.

“You’re here too early, pal. It’s not time yet.”

Craning his neck he looked back at the attraction. Peter Pan’s Flight was where he had been when the alert sounded. He was there
too early
. . . it wasn’t
time yet
. He didn’t realize he needed to be there at all. Thinking about time gave him pause to glance at his watch. Hawk had no idea what time it actually was. Twisting his wrist so light would fall across the face of his watch, he noticed for the first time that it was cracked. A spiderweb of fine lines danced across the crystal. Slightly changing the angle of the wrist he could see the sweep second hand of the watch lying dormant in the wreckage of the timepiece. This was the second watch in two days he had managed to trash. This time he blamed Jim.

Instinctively the preacher knew Jim still had to be close. His ability to find Hawk and Kiran in Liberty Square had been troubling. If they were discovered there, then Jim was capable of discovering them again. Except Hawk was alone now, and where was Kiran? He had told her to run during the fight but now in the aftermath he was surprised she hadn’t reemerged. He wondered if she’d been caught or had to hide as well. He was isolated and full of questions with few answers, and caught in the most unlikely of all situations . . . hiding in the Magic Kingdom in the middle of the night.

With this latest installment of information he wondered whether he should stay and wait or keep moving forward. Waiting, he concluded, was the worst option since he had no idea what he was waiting for. He would move forward into the streets of Fantasyland. Pausing at the edge of the attraction he looked across the concrete pathway toward Sir Mickey’s. Sir Mickey’s was a souvenir shop located behind Cinderella Castle.

As guests traveled through the interior of the castle they would emerge into Fantasyland. To their right they would see the shop Hawk was looking at now. If they went left they would find Cinderella’s Fountain. The fountain itself was an amazing piece of Imagineering that Farren had once shown Hawk. To the casual observer it was nothing more than a fountain featuring Cinderella dressed in the rags she wore before she was a princess. However, from the perspective of a child, you could look up into the face of the princess and there would be a crown sitting on her head. This optical trick allowed the crown painted on the back wall of the fountain to be seen through the hopeful eyes of children in the place it belonged, on the head of Cinderella. Farren pointed out that seeing beyond what others could see was the difference between just moving through life and really living life. When you really live you can see the impossible and the incredible. It was that kind of detail to storytelling that Grayson Hawkes was hoping would help him now. The first time Farren explained the fountain, Hawk had told him that the story of Cinderella was really about transformation. Cinderella was always a princess, she just didn’t know it. It was only when she believed that she became what she had been created to be. The fountain reminded Hawk that Jesus had said to follow Him with a childlike faith. Only a child could clearly see that Cinderella was a princess at the fountain. Those observations had sparked some serious conversation about spiritual things that crackled with creativity and had drawn both men closer in their friendship.

He was tempted to head in the direction of the fountain when he glanced back toward the gift shop. Sir Mickey’s was a shop in which Imagineers had blended two classic Mickey tales to create the look of the shopping haven:
The Brave Little Tailor
, created by Walt in the late 1930s, and
Mickey and the Beanstalk
from the
Fun and Fancy Free
feature created nearly ten years later. The sign to the shop hung crooked, and upon closer observation the casual viewer could find the reason. The post the sign was hanging on had been surrounded and choked by a vine. This vine had snaked its way around the sign and moved the sign askew.

Hawk remembered from seeing both of those films that in each one Mickey had faced a
huge
problem. In each of the cartoons the brave mouse had come face-to-face with a giant. In
Mickey and the Beanstalk
he had faced a giant named Willie after he had traded the family cow for magic beans. The beanstalk had grown out of control and was now meshed into the architecture of this unique little shop. The giant he had faced in
The Brave Little Tailor
was similar. Mickey ended up facing this huge problem due to a misunderstanding. He had said something that was taken out of context, and then as the story line progressed, everyone assumed he was a giant killer. Sir Mickey’s had blended these two cartoons together and created a themed shopping experience where Mickey still faced his huge problem.

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY
-S
EVEN

Day Seven Early Morning

T
HE GUEST ROOM
Jonathan had secured in the Contemporary Resort had now become a command center. Al Gann had covered the table with notes he had written as Shep and Jonathan recounted the story that had been unfolding in the life of their friend, Grayson Hawkes. Shortly after midnight, Tim Keaton had arrived. Juliette still had not been found.

“Tim, you say Juliette called you while she was on the way to her car leaving here?” Gann asked, reviewing something he had written down earlier.

“Yes, we were going to meet at the house and then come out here for dinner.” He paused, slumping in his chair. “She said I wouldn’t believe the mystery Hawk had been drawn into. From what I’ve heard here over the past couple of hours, she was right.”

“Al, do you still think Juliette’s disappearance is tied to what Hawk is involved with?” Jonathan asked.

“I’m sure.” Al rested a hand on Tim’s shoulder. “Tim, we haven’t filed a report. I’m here unofficially trying to help some friends. We can make it official and get my department involved.”

“What do you think has happened?” Tim inquired as Jonathan and Shep leaned forward.

“This whole thing is unbelievable. Hawk gets a message from Walt Disney, you are getting chased through resorts, there is some mystery woman who arrives in Hawk’s life just as this starts unfolding, then Juliette ends up missing. The only thing that the department is working on is trying to locate Farren Rales. When he didn’t show up for work, a woman named Nancy Alport—she works with Rales—reported him missing. Apparently Hawk is one of the last people to have had contact with him.”

“You know Hawk doesn’t know where he is or what happened to him!” Shep’s voice rose anxiously.