by Dixon, Jeff
“Not sure,” Hawk told her. “His name is Reginald.”
“Reginald?”
“Yes, crooked nose with bald head. My height and tough looking.”
“Reginald Cambridge,” she said decisively.
“You know him?”
“If we’re talking about the same guy.” Kiran again glanced back toward the store they had exited. “Why is he following you?”
“He saw me snooping around.”
“Hawk, he’s a trouble shooter in our security division.” Urgency crept into her tone. “Even though we’re all supposed to be on a first name basis as cast members, he’s always called Mr. Cambridge.”
“Security you say?”
“Yes, security I say. But he’s a rough customer. When he gets involved in a situation, it’s serious business. Hawk, what have you done now? What have you found?”
“I guess I was just in the wrong place at the right time.”
“And he just started following you?” Kiran’s voice revealed a twinge of exasperation.
“I guess.” Hawk smiled, trying to downplay her concern. Guilty as it made him feel, he didn’t want to tell her about the events of the day involving Reginald Cambridge.
“You are leaving something out,” Kiran said. “Mr. Cambridge doesn’t stalk people without a reason. What are you leaving out?”
She wouldn’t let it go. And he couldn’t keep lying to her. “I have another clue.”
“What?” Kiran’s eyes grew wider.
“But something else has happened. One of my staff is missing.”
“Because of your key?”
“Yes, Juliette is missing. Our entire staff was together this morning and I showed them the key. She left but never showed up at home.”
“First Farren and now Juliette.” She closed her eyes and lowered her head. “What is it that you’re looking for that is so important?”
The sincerity of her concern reaffirmed Hawk’s decision to tell her the truth. Kiran silently guided him back along the snaking, isolated path and then down a walkway that would take them toward the entrance of Adventureland. Looking over his shoulder, Hawk stole one last glance toward the Christmas Shoppes. Reginald was nowhere to be seen. He was certain Mr. Cambridge had spotted him and was probably still looking for him.
“Where are we going?” Hawk asked.
“Somewhere safe,” she whispered. Their pace was brisk but not so fast they would draw attention to themselves. They slipped back among the moving guests as they crossed the bridge into Adventureland. The sound of drums drove the soundtrack that compelled them to enter this area of the theme park. Once across the bridge Kiran turned her head to speak in Hawk’s ear as they walked.
“Do you have the name tag you found last night?”
“In my pocket.”
“Good, put it on please.” She nudged him to the right as she put on her own name tag.
Following her lead he stepped out of the fast lane of tourist traffic.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
* * *
Day Six
Evening
KIRAN AND HAWK STEPPED into an isolated backstage area of Adventureland, surveying the landscape for unexpected company. They saw no one, and she pointed for Hawk to walk in front of her toward a doorway a few feet away.
Once you step behind the scenes in the Disney theme parks, either the magic dissipates or you are even more intrigued by the way everything works. Grayson Hawkes appreciated both sides of the Disney show. On a different day, under different circumstances and with a different agenda, this would have been a moment he would have slowed down and tried to enjoy. This was not that day. Gripping his cell phone he dialed Shep, who picked up on the first ring.
“Did you get hold of Al Gann?” Hawk asked.
“I sure did.” Shep was typing on his laptop as he spoke. “I told him everything.”
“What does he want us to do?”
“He said he’ll get started on the search for Juliette and contact whoever he needed to. And he’ll call you as soon as he knows anything.”
“Thanks, Shep,” Hawk let his eyes cut directly to Kiran, who was listening to his half of the conversation with interest. “Did he have any advice?”
“He said for you to be very careful and stay out of trouble.”
“I didn’t need him to tell me that.”
“Seriously, he said you were obviously into something a lot more serious than you thought.” Shep paused. “He thinks we might all be in danger.”
“You be careful too, then.”
“Jonathan is coming back over here to meet me, and we’re going to go look for Juliette.”
“Do you have a plan?”
Kiran leaned in closer as if trying to overhear what Shep might be saying.
“We’re going to retrace the path we think she took back to her car. Al’s meeting us there.”
“I’ll come and help you.” Juliette could be in danger. That trumped the urgency of finding Farren’s clues.
“No, you need to get that puzzle of yours figured out,” Shep said. “Juliette could be anywhere. If it’s related, solving the mystery might help. Keep your phone on you, okay?”
“Sure thing.” Hawk ended the call.
“No word on Juliette?” Kiran asked, concerned.
“No.”
“I’m sorry.” She laid a hand on his arm for a moment. “What are you going to do now?”
“I’m going to try to find the next clue; maybe it will somehow help Juliette.”
“Let me help.” Kiran reached over and grabbed Hawk by the hand, gently rubbing her thumb across his fingers. “I want to help you, please.” She waited for some response or reaction. “You still need my help, right?” He couldn’t make himself give her the response she wanted. “What’s wrong?”
“Sure.” His answer sounded hollow and unconvincing.
“Sure what?”
“Um . . . sure I need your help.” Hawk tried to cover his hesitancy. He knew he was doing a poor job of it. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“You’re lying.” Releasing his hand and stepping back in stunned surprise, she whispered, “I don’t believe your nerve! All I have done since we met is rescue you. On any number of occasions I could have had you arrested, but I didn’t. I listened to your far-fetched story, and somehow you managed to convince me it was true and you act like you don’t trust me. That’s it, isn’t it? You don’t trust me? I have rescued you for the last time.”
“Kiran, I want to trust you,” he admitted apologetically. “These last few days have gotten pretty mixed up. Things are happening faster than I can figure them out.”
She stiffened and her body language became defensive. They stood facing each other, not speaking. Hawk felt his stomach sink, leaving him queasy. Confrontation didn’t usually bother him, but this time it did. He understood why. His attraction to Kiran threw him off balance, and he wasn’t thinking as clearly as he normally might. The situation had become more urgent, and if Al Gann was right, the danger was real. Farren had warned him on the DVD to trust no one. Common sense told him not to trust Kiran. A few days ago she had been no one to Hawk; he hadn’t even known she existed.
“I understand, Hawk,” she said softly. Tears welled up and rimmed the bottom of her eyes. “Good luck.”
He watched as she turned and left him standing there. She moved toward the door they had just walked through. Grasping the handle, she was about to push through, taking her back into Adventureland.
“Wait!” Hawk called. “I need your help.”
Kiran paused with her back toward him. The preacher waited for what seemed like an eternity as she slowly turned back to face him. As she raised her head, Hawk saw her jaw tighten.
She shook her head slowly shook from side to side. “No, I’m done.”
“Please.” Hawk surprised himself as he said it. A few moments ago he wasn’t sure he trusted her, but his options as he saw them were limited and the situation was desperat
e. Risk, although a quickly calculated one, dictated what he now heard his own voice saying. “Maybe if I can figure this out I can find Juliette and Farren. They’re my friends. Actually they’re my family. Please help me.”
Kiran stared at Hawk, revealing no emotion. Her eyes took him in as if trying to determine whether she could now trust him. The steely gaze placed an invisible barrier between them. Hawk dared not breach that barrier. He didn’t know if he had hurt her or made her angry. Perhaps both, but his rising fear made him willing to embrace any source of assistance. If he was making a bad decision, then he would deal with the consequences later.
“Kiran, I’m stuck,” Hawk heard himself continue. “I have a clue that I can’t figure out, I’ve got the meanest security guard of the company showing up everywhere I go, and I feel like I’m running out of time. I didn’t mean to make you angry. I’m sorry. I just don’t know what to do.”
She spoke almost inaudibly.
“Excuse me? I didn’t hear you.”
“I said”—she raised her volume—“you didn’t make me angry. You hurt me, that’s my fault, my mistake.” She blinked rapidly, and other than the glisten of tears, her face drained of all emotion. “What’s your next clue?”
Hawk was once again caught off guard by the quick shift.
“Do you want my help or not?” Kiran repeated. “What is your next clue?”
Hawk cleared his throat. “My Pal Mickey gave me the clue. ‘You’re doing terrific. Now we have to travel through time. When you find the fort at the monument you’ll know where to go.’ Shep and I were trying to figure it out so I went to the Carousel of Progress.”
“That makes sense.” Kiran brushed a finger across her damp cheek. “Of all the attractions here, that one is a journey through time. I take it there was nothing to find.”
“No, I didn’t see anything that jumped out at me.” Except Sandy. “And the fort at the monument doesn’t fit at all, at least not at the Carousel.”
“Did you have any other ideas you were chasing?”
“No, that was it. Right after I left the Carousel is when I got word about Juliette, and then Reginald showed up.”
“So when I found you moving into Liberty Square, you were just trying to get away from Mr. Cambridge?”
“Right.” He wondered if she realized she’d called Reginald by his formal name.
“Liberty Square is moving back in time,” she offered.
“Could it be that simple? Then what about the fort and the monument part of the clue?”
“I don’t know.” She paced away.
“You know, Hawk, you might have been onto something moving into Liberty Square.”
“How’s that?”
“Liberty Square is definitely designed to be a step back into history.” Suddenly her eyes widened in excitement. “You were headed in the right direction!”
“I was?”
“Yes,” she motioned for him to follow her. Taking off her name tag and gesturing for him to do the same she said, “Let me show you, but keep your eyes open, we need to be careful.”
“Where are we going?”
“Back out on the streets into Liberty Square!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
* * *
Day Six
Evening
LIBERTY SQUARE IS WHERE a “new nation is waiting to be born. Thirteen separate colonies have banded together to declare their independence from the bonds of tyranny. It is a time when silversmiths put away their tools and march to the drums of a revolution, a time when gentlemen planters leave their farms to become generals, a time where tradesmen leave the safety of home to become heroes.” This is the sign on the entrance to Liberty Square as you cross the bridge. It is a recreation of a place where the ideas of freedom were forged by the Founding Fathers of America. The stories of history that inspired this land were filled with adventure, danger, and great excitement as dreams came to life.
Now as Hawk entered Liberty Square the feeling of danger overwhelmed any excitement and adventure he might have felt. This was the very area that Kiran had rescued him from a short time ago.
Weaving seamlessly through the people, Kiran led Hawk toward the front porch of a gift shop between the Haunted Mansion and the Columbia Harbor House.
“Sit here and try to look inconspicuous.” She pointed toward a corner of the porch.
They sat and she slid up next to him. With her hand linked inside his arm they tried to look like other park guests. Tilting her head toward his shoulder she spoke in soft tones.
“The Imagineers designed Liberty Square so the geography reflects a chronological transition through this area into Frontierland. I am thinking that might be your travel through time.”
“Okay.” The excitement in her voice gave him the sense she was about to impart important information. “Go on.”
“So there’s a detail of the park Grayson Hawkes doesn’t know?” she teased. “See the Haunted Mansion?” She pointed back toward the attraction.
“It’s designed after a home from the 1700s in the New York Hudson River Valley area. That’s where it starts. Then look here at the Columbia Harbor House; all of this area reflects what Boston might have looked like.” She waved her hand toward the buildings right in front of them. “These were intended to be from the mid-1700s.”
She pulled Hawk to his feet with her arm still locked in his, and they moved toward the Hall of Presidents. In an upstairs window on the side of the building two lanterns were glowing.
“Do you remember anything about the Revolution?” Kiran asked.
“Lanterns in the window.” Hawk thought back. “Sure, one if by land, two if by sea—the midnight ride of Paul Revere.”
“Exactly. Now see the number on the top of the Hall of Presidents is 1787.”
“That represents Philadelphia in 1787?”
“The idea was to allow the buildings, the architecture, and some of the design to provide a transition over the years from the 1700s and follow the push of exploration west. The Constitution was signed in 1787 as well.”
Arm in arm, they walked from Liberty Square toward Frontierland. The journey with the Rivers of America on their right carried them past a building patterned after a structure style of St. Louis in the mid-1800s. Passing it Kiran reminded Hawk in her best tour guide spiel that St. Louis is known as the “Gateway to the West.” The next buildings illustrated Kiran’s narrative as she explained that Grizzly Hall, the home of the Country Bear Jamboree, was patterned after a mid-1800s building found in the Colorado Rockies. She also pointed out the 1876 on the Hardware and General Store as they walked making their way west. Pecos Bill Tall Tales Inn and Cafe is housed in a Saloon bearing 1878. Moving off to their right at the Town Hall, they pressed toward the only thing out of place in the trek west. The Splash Mountain attraction fit into the era, but would have been a detour south instead of west. The Imagineers believed strongly that the best fit for the attraction was in the Frontierland design.
“So we have managed to travel through time,” she reminded Hawk as they stood in front of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, having successfully strolled through the streets of Frontierland.
“I never knew any of that before,” Hawk replied, genuinely impressed. “But if we’ve traveled through time, what is the fort at the monument?”
“I haven’t figured that out,” she replied. “There is no fort here.”
“What is the monument?”
“It’s right here.”
“Here?” Hawk looked around to see what he was missing. “I’m not seeing it.”
Once again her tour continued. She walked Hawk past the entrance to Big Thunder Mountain and up the incline to the exit lines that allowed passengers to leave from both sides of the mine train. They stopped at a photo spot looking over the Rivers of America on their right and the mountains of Big Thunder directly in front of them. Stepping away from Hawk and turning to face him, she spread her arms wide.
“I give you M
onument Valley,” she said triumphantly.
Hawk looked across the brilliant design of the Big Thunder Mountain. In the evening it was lit, allowing the riders to have a much more exciting experience racing across the tracks at night.
They were no closer to helping Juliette or finding Rales, and the frustration of that was starting to make his head hurt. “I don’t get it.”
“Big Thunder Mountain is patterned after Monument Valley in California. The way the master design of the park is laid out, we have now traveled from the 1700s in New York to the late 1800s in Monument Valley, California. We have gone across the country and traveled through time.”
“It makes sense.” Hawk knew he never would have figured this clue out on his own. “I needed a tour guide to get me here.”
“But your tour guide doesn’t know what the fort and the monument are. As you can see, there is no fort here.”
Hawk scanned the area surrounding him. There was nothing he could see that looked like a fort. Still he was convinced that Kiran’s intuition had been correct. Her knowledge of Walt Disney World had managed to keep him on track. In this case she had found the track. His own best efforts had put him on a ride in Tomorrowland.
“It has to be here.” Hawk continued to look around.
“I got you here.” She drummed her finger on the rail. “But I have no clue what you’re going to do now.”
Hawk decided to explore. He wandered back down the path they had come up on, then meandered up the exit path of the attraction itself. Moving into the attraction backward he was met by a group of enthusiastic riders who had just gotten off the ride. He paused, waiting for them to move past. As soon as the path was clear he continued his search. A wooden crate lay to the side of the path, and he paused and crouched to get a closer look at it. He heard Kiran’s familiar footsteps close behind him, and she stopped at his side. He looked at her and smiled, pointing to the writing on the crate: Ft. Dixon Depot.
“The fort at the monument,” he said with satisfaction.