by Dixon, Jeff
“Sorcerer Mickey is symbolic of Walt Disney Imagineering. The Imagineers see themselves as the devoted and loyal group that helps create the magic. Their inspiration is Walt himself. You have an Imagineers name tag.”
“I see.” Hawk nodded, although he hadn’t had time to think through what he might be doing with this badge next.
“Is that all you found?” Kiran inquired as she pulled his car into the reserved parking area facing the Transportation and Ticket Center of the Magic Kingdom.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
* * *
Day Six
Morning
“SO WHAT DID YOU TELL HER?” Juliette demanded of Hawk later that morning.
Jonathan had done exactly as Hawk had requested. He had gotten in contact with both Juliette and Shep and they were all waiting on the beach at the Grand Floridian Resort when Hawk arrived at eight a.m. The early morning sun glistened off the water like a sheet of gold between the beach and the Magic Kingdom. Hawk’s shoes sank shallowly in the sugar sand as he walked across the beach. He felt his face brighten into a smile in genuine pleasure at the sight of his staff. So much had happened, and he was much more eager than he’d thought to tell them the events of the past few days.
After settling into a tight circle of beach chairs and exchanging quick pleasantries, he began to unpack the saga.
“And that’s all I told her,” Hawk answered Juliette’s question.
“But you found something else, didn’t you?” She leaned forward, nearly falling out of her chair.
“I also found this.” Hawk reached into his pocket and pulled out the flat rectangular discovery he’d found with the name tag below the yeti. He sat with the others and passed it over to Shep, who was sitting across from him in their beachside huddle.
“An employee ID?” Shep said.
“Yes, complete with my name, picture, and the department I work for within the Walt Disney Company.”
Jonathan took the card from Shep. “Hey, you’re an Imagineer!”
All three of them were studying the small card intensely. Juliette reached over and took the card from Jonathan, turning it over in her hand. A look of puzzlement crossed her face.
“You know, I’ve seen some of the cast IDs that folks at church have, but this looks different.”
“Different how?” Hawk wondered.
“There is more to it. It’s heftier, like a credit card.” She continued to examine it. “This magnetic stripe on the back is different than any cast member ID that I’ve ever seen before.”
Jonathan took the card from Juliette and concurred with her summation. Shep then examined the card again and nodded. After a few moments he passed the card back to Hawk. Replacing it in his pocket he exchanged it for the key that Farren had given him. Holding out the gift that had started his wonderfully strange scavenger hunt, he offered it for his friends inspection. They all examined it with the same thoroughness as they had the ID card.
“So what do you think happened to Farren?” Jonathan asked.
“I really don’t know,” Hawk said. “I initially thought he was just ignoring my calls while I tried to solve the mystery of the key. But when I couldn’t find him and he didn’t show up at work, I didn’t know what to think.”
“Do you think the person chasing you at the Gamble House had something to do with his disappearance?” Shep asked the very question that had weighed on Hawk.
“I’ve thought that. As far as I know he hasn’t been seen since that night.”
“Which means you were the last person to see him before he disappeared,” Juliette interjected.
“Right.”
“Now that he’s missing and the sheriff’s department is involved, I would imagine they’d be interested in hearing about your late-night excursion,” Jonathan added.
“Maybe you should go ahead and talk to them,” Shep said.
“I don’t mind, but I was hoping that if I could solve the puzzle or whatever it is, I might be able to figure out what happened to him.”
“Or at least know if the key and the puzzle are connected to his disappearing, right?” Juliette said.
“So maybe you shouldn’t talk to them yet.” Shep raised his shoulders.
“That’s the problem, guys. I don’t know what to do.”
The question-and-answer session was similar to their weekly staff meetings. They occasionally poked fun at one another because each had such a strong personality they rarely bogged down when making a decision. However, in this situation silence settled across the group. Hawk found himself absently watching the early morning movement of a monorail snaking past the Grand Floridian to the Magic Kingdom.
“If you aren’t ready to talk to the sheriff yet, what’s your next move?” Jonathan asked.
“I don’t know,” Hawk restated.
“You don’t actually have another clue to chase down,” Shep said. “I suppose you could just wander around and wait for Pal Mickey to talk to you.”
“You do have a clue to chase,” Juliette corrected.
“I do?” Hawk asked.
“Sure you do. The Old Yeller DVD you found in the Police Telegraph Box at the Carthay Circle Theatre. You had to have it to figure out where to find the map to the plane, but you said the DVD wasn’t factory sealed.”
“But it looked like a regular DVD.”
“Yes, and your Pal Mickey looks like a regular stuffed animal, and you don’t look like a man who’s been sneaking into resort attractions after hours.”
Hawk cringed. “Okay, you made your point.”
Juliette nodded and smiled a satisfied smile.
Jonathan was now plotting their next strategic move. “We need to watch the DVD. But Hawk, we can’t go back to the office or your home, the sheriff’s department might be there to talk with you.”
“So we can go back to one of our houses,” Shep reasoned.
“Eventually they might drop by those if they’re actively working the case,” Jonathan disagreed.
“Especially since we all saw Farren the day he disappeared.” Juliette shook her head. “You can’t go home and you can’t go to the office.”
“Why do we have go anywhere?” Hawk’s eyes flickered with inspiration. “We’re in the greatest tourist destination in the entire world. Let’s get a room here at the resort and watch the DVD.”
“That also gives you a place to stay away from the usual places,” Juliette added. “After all, you did tell us you were going to be out for a few days.”
“I’ll get the room for you,” Jonathan offered. “That way no one will be able to trace your name to it.”
“Let’s go.” Hawk got to his feet.
Shep, Juliette, and Jonathan joined him and shuffled along the sandy shoreline. Reaching the concrete pathway, they knocked the sand off of their shoes. As they headed toward the resort, Hawk thought how oddly they must have looked dressed in casual work attire, sitting on a beach.
“This place is great. By the way, Jonathan, thanks for offering to pay for my vacation.”
“Pay nothing,” Jonathan retorted. “You’re going to pay me back.” They all laughed.
The four entered one of the side entrances to Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. The hallway teemed with people enjoying the luxury of the nineteenth-century-themed resort, and Shep got separated from the other three in a surge of people. The Victorian decor was meticulous in detail including the ceiling fans rotating throughout the interior of the massive complex. After glancing at the beautiful detailing, Hawk let his gaze drift to the faces of the people mingling about doing the things that tourists do. Suddenly his eyes ran across a face and then darted back, doing a double take. Locking onto his stare from across the expansive lobby was a round face he had encountered before. The preacher saw the same crooked nose holding up the same pair of dark sunglasses now worn indoors. He didn’t need to see the man’s name tag to remember his name was Reginald. The same official-looking, stern-faced cast member that had se
en him at the Carthay Circle Theatre.
Although Hawk couldn’t see through the lenses of the glasses, he was sure that Reginald had not only seen him but was intently watching him.
“We have a problem,” Hawk informed the team.
“What?” Juliette whispered as she immediately looked around the lobby.
“Don’t look, just listen.” Hawk kept his gaze from straying back to Reginald. “There’s a man watching us, a cast member named Reginald. He saw me when I found the DVD at the Studios. He wasn’t very friendly and I don’t think it’s a coincidence he’s here now.” Hawk risked a glance and saw Reginald now headed their way. Shep, completely unaware of what was transpiring, caught up with their group as Hawk hurriedly gave instructions.
“Jonathan, you go and get a room at the Contemporary. Call me when you get checked in. Juliette, you and I are going to head up the grand staircase and move to the monorail landing. Shep, I want you to make sure the gentleman with the bald head, dark glasses, crooked nose, and the name tag that says Reginald doesn’t stop us.”
They immediately moved into motion. Jonathan peeled off and headed toward the resort’s exit. Juliette and Hawk hustled toward the huge staircase that connected the entrance level to the next floor, where shops and the monorail station were located. Shep trailed a short distance behind them. By the time they rounded the first flight of steps and turned to head up the next flight, they’d broken into a run. Hawk glanced back as they crested the last step and charged to their left, headed for the exit doors past the shopping area.
Reginald broke into a casual trot, quickening his pace to a sprint as he avoided guests lost in the ambience of the Victorian resort. As he reached the top of the steps Shep grabbed him in a bear hug. Reginald’s momentum knocked both of the men off balance. With both arms pinned at his sides, he managed to get his legs back underneath him and kept both of them from falling.
The monorail doors were open and loading guests as Hawk and Juliette exited the automated sliding glass doors that opened up from the interior of the resort. Moving through the doors Hawk ventured a last glance behind them.
Shep was grinning, pounding Reginald on the back as though the two were long-lost friends. If they weren’t in such a rush to escape, Hawk would have stopped to watch the brilliant acting.
Heels clicking on the concrete, Juliette picked out an open car and veered off toward it. She reached back and clutched Hawk by the arm, pulling him toward the opening. They breathlessly hurtled into the empty passenger compartment of the monorail and sank back into the seat. It was only after they were seated that Hawk dared to look out the window to see if Reginald was still in pursuit. Seeing nothing, he looked over at Juliette seated next to him.
“You will never believe what I just saw!” Hawk said, trying to catch his breath.
The automated announcement warned, “Please stand clear of the doors,” as the doors silently slid to a close and the monorail streaked out of the station.
“Uncle Reggie!” Shep exclaimed. “Don’t you remember me?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
* * *
Day Six
Morning
SILENTLY GLIDING ALONG THE TRACK, the monorail accelerated sleekly from the Grand Floridian toward the Magic Kingdom. The short journey gave Juliette and Hawk very little time to plot their next move. Each stop of the monorail involved a turnover of guests. The doors would open for passengers to disembark, then the doors on the opposite side of the car opened allowing new riders to climb aboard. Although extremely efficient and fast, when you were being pursued the moments of waiting could be excruciatingly slow. Hawk realized that if Reginald wanted them stopped, he could radio ahead and the monorail would be delayed until security arrived.
“Who was that?” Juliette asked.
“Like I said, he was watching me at the Studios.”
“Security?”
“I assume so.”
“So what do we do?”
“If he’s security and radios ahead, they’ll hold the monorail and we won’t make it to the Contemporary.”
The monorail they had managed to escape on was designated to make the resort loop around the Seven Seas Lagoon. The next stop along the rails would be the Magic Kingdom, then the Contemporary, the Ticket and Transportation Center, followed by the Polynesian Resort, and then once again at the Grand Floridian. The system was designed to get guests to their resort locations and allow them to navigate all of the Magic Kingdom Resort areas connected to the monorail line. There was a second monorail line running parallel to the first, making the same circle around the resort. The other track was the express track transporting guests nonstop between the Ticket and Transportation Center and the Magic Kingdom entrance. The express monorail ran in the opposite direction of the resort loop, giving guests the chance to see another monorail zipping past them going the other way.
As these monorails slid past there was just a few feet of clearance between them. Hawk was thinking about what to do next as a monorail passed going the other direction.
“We have to get off,” he softly stated.
“And then?”
“Not sure, let’s do one thing at a time.”
The monorail slowed and pulled into the station in front of the Magic Kingdom. A ding signaled the opening of the door. As soon as the door slid open Juliette got up to exit as Hawk had said. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back toward the seat.
“Wait!”
“I thought you said we needed to get off.” She frowned.
“We do, but casually look out there.” As he pointed, Juliette turned her head to the massive unloading area that dumped into a ramp carrying people toward the security checkpoints in front of the main entrance. “Have you ever seen that many security guards standing on the platform?”
She looked closer. “I count at least five.” This was unusual because the security checkpoints were waiting for all of the guests at the level below.
Another ding signaled the opening of the opposite side door so passengers could climb aboard. These doors slid open and passengers began to make their way into the car. Hawk jumped to his feet and signaled for Juliette to follow. They moved against the flow of people surging aboard. Unusual movements in crowd flow always catch the attention of cast members and theirs was no exception. A cast member helping to load passengers headed to intercept them to see what was happening. The cast member smiled as she moved in front of the pair.
“Everything all right, Grayson?” The cast member smiled a friendly smile.
“Just great, Ashley, we’re just getting a feel for how things are working.” Hawk traded smile for smile, without hesitating.
Juliette turned toward Hawk with a puzzled look. Then her gaze slipped to the Imagineer’s name badge he’d clipped to his chest. This, which had enabled the cast member to call him by name and Hawk to return the courtesy had also given them an official pass for going the wrong way.
“Take care,” Ashley offered as she waved them on.
“You too, Ashley.” Hawk nodded as they moved down the curved ramp. Trying to look nonchalant, they walked shoulder to shoulder as they searched for any possible obstructions to their escape.
“I didn’t see you put the badge on,” Juliette whispered in his direction.
It had been a last minute impulse as he and Juliette surveyed the security guards on the landing platform. His hunch was that while Reginald might have had time to get security to be there to meet them at the exit, they wouldn’t be looking for them to exit through the entrance. He also knew that Reginald did not have time to launch an all-out effort to look for them, since it had probably taken him a few moments to get out of Shep’s bear hug.
“We were lucky.”
“Never hurts to have a little luck,” she responded.
The pair moved to the bottom of the ramp and began to mingle into the movement of people heading toward the next stop of their vacations. To their right was the boat-docking area where
passengers could travel in a variety of different directions. Ahead of them in the distance they could see the Contemporary Resort; above them the monorail they had been riding on passed over headed in that direction.
“Are we going to walk?” Juliette, like Hawk, was familiar with the resorts, transportation options, shortcuts, and how it all worked. Her family often relaxed and took advantage of all the entertainment choices Disney World offered. She knew it was just a short walk to the Contemporary along the pathway below the monorail line.
“Let’s take a bus.” Hawk moved toward the massive bus loading zone. “Buses don’t make the short jump to the Contemporary, so we can go to Wilderness Lodge and make the connection there.”
Finding the right bus was easy and in moments they were waiting in line for the bus to arrive. Hawk had removed the employee name badge, and they tried to blend in with other guests, occasionally risking a look for arriving security.
The bus arrived and the pressure of the brakes brought it to a halt. The click of the door being opened invited them to enter. They stepped on board and shuffled to the back. Collapsing into their plastic seats they looked toward each other and sighed.
“After we get to the Contemporary we can go around the back of the hotel to the boat docks. We can hang out there until we hear from Jonathan. That way, we don’t get anywhere near the monorail stations and we aren’t even in the hotel until we know exactly where we are going.” Hawk unfolded his rapidly created plan as the bus began to move.
Juliette nodded. “I know you said Reginald saw you at the Studios, but why exactly would he be chasing you?”
“Not sure. Maybe I just look suspicious?”
“Maybe, but he would have tossed you yesterday if he thought you were up to something.”
Hawk wondered if it was just coincidence that Reginald had been in the Grand Floridian. If it was coincidence, then his hurried escape had cemented his guilt in Reginald’s mind. He needed to stay calm and not panic. If he was going to solve this puzzle, he couldn’t afford to make mistakes. The ride was short and they quickly arrived. Juliette hesitated as Hawk began to move off to go around the building.