Unlocking the Kingdom Read online

  The boat they were standing in lurched in the water, causing them to wobble. Looking forward, Hawk could see the boats in front of them were empty and had started to move. As the boat floated along the river, it would momentarily pause as boats further up the line were caught by the belt and pulled up and out of the water. On shore, Bill started walking alongside their boat.

  “So, the body is a piece of the attraction?”

  “I guess.” Hawk took a seat and plowed through the scenarios that would have taken place for the body to end up in the water. The grim reality he couldn’t think past was that no sequence of events allowed him to conclude it might have happened by accident. Pondering why someone would have done this deed caused him to plop into the seat, to stay on the boat for the rest of the ride. “Did we get everyone out?”

  “Yes, sir, and no one was hurt.”

  “Were they taken care of?”

  “Yes sir, we have been trying to make sure that every guest is satisfied as always.” Bill responded.

  “Give them each a pass, please.” Hawk instructed Bill.

  “They all are receiving Fastpasses.”

  “No, bypassing a line isn’t enough this time. I mean a one-day pass.” Hawk noticed the surprise on Bill’s face. Normally a Fastpass was given to visitors who needed compensation for unsatisfactory experiences. “I want each of our inconvenienced guests to get a free admission ticket to come back to the Magic Kingdom. Got it?”

  “I’ll take care of it.” Bill, still on foot, had reached a break in the set piece. The boat traveled under a bridge, which kept him from walking along with it any farther.

  “You’re very generous,” Reginald said as he took a seat next to Hawk, content to ride the rest of the way out of the attraction.

  “Why thank you, I try to be.” Hawk turned, his face growing serious. “I want to know what happened here, Reginald. I want to know why there’s an audio-animatronic figure floating beside our boats, I want to know why no one pulled the body out of the water until we arrived, and I want to know how it got there.”

  “You want me to close the attraction for the rest of the day?”

  “Yes.” He glanced over at the prisoners behind bars trying to convince the dog holding the key to come over to them so they could snatch it. He inhaled slowly and deeply, held his breath momentarily, and then exhaled, trying to blow away the tension clawing at him. “What I really want to know is how we lost control of the attraction. That can’t happen. It’s impossible. Yet this morning, for some reason, it did happen. Reginald, I want to know why.”

  “I seek to know things as well. I’m on it.”

  “Thanks. Get everyone that needs to be there in my office later to debrief this.”

  Their boat jerked for a few seconds as the belt drive system of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride lifted them into the unloading area of the attraction. The boat squeaked to a stop as they got up to exit. Hawk stepped out, water still dripping from his soaked clothing. Reginald stepped out of the boat then went around the exit barrier and stepped back in a row, gesturing for the ride attendant to make sure the boat stayed in place. Reaching down, he gripped the artificial woman by her arms and lifted her up. “I’ll also try to figure out where she came from.” He nodded toward Hawk. “Perhaps you should stop at the gift shop at the top of the ramp. Maybe you can purchase a beach towel with a pirate on it.”

  “I might just do that.” Hawk turned to head up the ramp. He hesitated and then turned back toward the boats. “Reginald, this little mess here doesn’t feel right. What do you think happened?”

  “What I think and what I know are very different right now, boss.” Reginald shook the animatronic figure slightly. “Let me see what I can find, then what I know will help us both think more clearly.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  * * *

  HAWK TOOK CAMBRIDGE’S ADVICE and picked up a towel in Caribbean Plaza. Walking past the black sail emblazoned with the Pirates of the Caribbean logo, he escaped from the crowded street into a deserted backstage area.

  His face had become more recognizable over the past few months, and it was getting extremely difficult for him to walk through a theme park unnoticed. In the last eighteen months, his influence had rippled throughout the company. In some circles it was believed that his leadership was second only to that of Walt Disney himself. Most days he didn’t mind and took the notoriety in stride. Right now was not one of those times. Drying off after taking his dip in the Caribbean waters, he decided to walk back to his apartment. Winding through the backstage area, he arrived on Caribbean Way and turned left. This road, unseen by guests, would take him behind the scenes and allow him to walk behind the Jungle Cruise and eventually behind the buildings in the Town Square. This maintenance road was traveled by work trucks, golf carts, and any other motorized vehicle needed to keep the Magic Kingdom operating efficiently.

  The pounding Florida sun was quickly drying his clothes with each step, while his mind was still saturated by what he had just seen. The image of the floating body both puzzled and troubled him as he walked. A white truck drove past, then slowed and came to a stop. Its backup lights warned him it was now coming in his direction again.

  The driver pulled back next to him and greeted him with a cheerful smile. “You’re Grayson Hawkes, right?”

  “Yes, I am.” Hawk stopped walking and turned to face the driver.

  “Great to meet you.” A hand reached out of the vehicle toward Hawk. “My name is Zeke Reitz, I work maintenance. Been here nearly twenty-five years now.”

  “Nice to meet you too.” Hawk accepted the hand offered and shook it. “Call me Hawk. I’ve been here about eighteen months.”

  “Oh, I know who you are, everybody knows who you are.” Zeke laughed. “You’re our new boss.”

  “Sorry I haven’t had the chance to meet you yet—it’s been pretty busy— but it’s good to get the chance to meet you now.”

  “You look like you’ve been swimming. You need a ride?”

  Hawk glanced down at his dripping clothes. “We had a little event happen in Pirates. I was checking it out and got wet.”

  “An event, huh?” Zeke scratched his chin and looked into the distance. “I guess you could say we had an event this morning in Tomorrowland that I helped clean up.”

  “What kind of an event?” Hawk leaned in but was interrupted by a low humming noise coming from his left.

  “Hawk!” Albert Shepherd waved as he erratically navigated a golf cart toward them. He was driving way too fast and didn’t leave enough room to stop. Hawk pressed up against the truck as the cart skidded to a stop less than a foot away. “I’m glad I found you. Why aren’t you answering your phone?”

  “My phone?” Hawk turned slightly, wedged in the narrow space between the truck and the cart. Fishing his phone out of his pocket, he saw the screen was dark, and he realized why. “I had it in my pocket when I jumped into the water.”

  “Well, that explains why you look the way you do.” Shep nodded apologetically to Zeke, then gestured for Hawk to get into the cart. “Sorry to interrupt you, but we have to go.”

  “Sure.” Hawk turned again in the tight space back to Zeke. “Zeke, this is Albert Shepherd. Shep, this is Zeke.” Hawk’s curiosity consumed him—why was Shep here looking for him?

  Both men nodded at each other as Hawk slipped out from between the two vehicles and strode around the front of the golf cart to the passenger seat. Stepping up on the edge of the cart, Hawk grabbed a hold of the top and looked over the roof toward Zeke.

  “You mentioned you had to clean up an event in Tomorrowland. What was it?” Hawk refocused on the conversation they’d had earlier. The morning had already thrown him one surprise; his fear was that he was about to hear another.

  “Yeah, well, you reminded me of it when you mentioned your event this morning.” Zeke’s hand again moved to stroke his chin. He stopped abruptly when Hawk impatiently starting drumming his fingers on the top of the cart. “It
was odd, really, harmless but odd . . . When they started running the Carousel of Progress this morning, they found someone.”

  “What?” Hawk’s stomach dropped like he was riding a roller coaster.

  “Not someone. I guess something would be a better description.” Zeke shook his head. “I’m not sure the best way to describe it, but there was a pirate sitting in one of the empty theaters of the attraction.”

  Shep turned his head toward Zeke. “Did you say a pirate?”

  “Yep, just sitting there, pretty as you please.” He shook his head. “Weren’t real, you know, one of our audio-animatronic figures, I guess . . . kinda scared the cast members working, though. I was on a crew to make sure nothing else was wrong. We got the pirate out of there so they could open for the day. Weird, huh?”

  “Yeah, weird . . .” Hawk felt Shep tap him on the arm from inside the cart.

  “We need to go, Hawk.” His voice had grown more urgent. Hawk noticed the change in tone and swallowed, only to find his throat had grown dry and tight.

  “Good to finally meet you, Zeke. Thanks for all you do.” Hawk’s voice was now tense too. He stepped down and slid into the cart, as Shep pressed the accelerator.

  Tires spinning briefly on asphalt, the golf cart lurched forward, pressing Hawk momentarily back into his seat. Leaving the maintenance truck behind, the two raced down Caribbean Way back toward Adventureland.

  Albert “Shep” Shepherd had indeed been a friend to Grayson Hawkes for a while. Shep filled a role for the Walt Disney Company created especially for him by Hawk himself. He was an Imagineer who worked on a variety of special projects, usually assigned by the CCA, which meant that Hawk saw his friend almost daily.

  “What’s going on?” Hawk reached up and grabbed the front bar for support as the cart skidded to a stop.

  “I’ve got something you need to see. Follow me.” Shep jumped from the cart and headed back toward the door that would carry them into Caribbean Plaza.

  For the second time today, Hawk found himself on a mad dash through the Magic Kingdom as he dodged strollers, guests, and scenery in Adventureland. Coming to a wide set of steps, the two men descended toward the entrance to the Jungle Cruise. Hawk noticed the wait time was fifty minutes, according to the sign, and people were jammed tightly into the queue area for the attraction. Bypassing the waiting lines by going through the exit, Hawk and Shep stepped onto an awaiting boat. The Bomokandi Bertha, one of the canopied launches usually packed with guests taking the jungle adventure, motored away from the dock with just Hawk, Shep, and the skipper on board.

  “Welcome aboard, Hawk.” The skipper nodded as he took the boat around the first bend of the attraction. “I’m Skipper Bobby, but when I’m not working, I’m Bobby Pike. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a great deal about you.”

  “Nice to meet you as well. Where are we going, Bobby?” Hawk tucked away yet another name in his mental file. Even after eighteen months, he’d met only a small fraction of the cast members; he intended to know them all by name, no matter how long it took. He stepped up next to the skipper as he spun the wheel on the boat.

  The Jungle Cruise propels guests down four different rivers on three different continents: the Amazon in South America, the Congo and the Nile in Africa, and the Mekong River in Southeast Asia. Each bend in the river offers a variety of audio-animatronic animals and jungle residents. The skipper provides the narrative and bombards the passengers with silly jokes and bad puns. The result is a classic attraction loved by guests of all ages. It was one of Hawk’s favorites, and he had ridden it many times. This private cruise through the winding rivers was different.

  Entering the Mekong River area of the attraction, Skipper Bobby slowed down and cut on a spotlight as he navigated into the ruins of an ancient Cambodian temple. Never taking his eyes off the water, Bobby began unpacking why they were there.

  “This morning, we were running a trip through the attraction like we always do, just to make sure everything was working and getting ready to bring our first tour of guests through. I found this.” Bobby pointed his light onto the water ahead of them, just past the Bengal tiger with the glowing green eyes.

  “Then I will assume this is not normal?” Hawk leaned forward as they grew closer and watched as the light traced the outline of something floating in the water.

  “Right, this makes no sense.” Bobby reduced the boat’s speed as they approached the object, which was blocking their path.

  Amazon Annie, another canopied launch, floated in the water in front of them. The spotlight illuminated the name on the top of the boat, and Hawk could see it was nearly identical to the one they were riding in. Bobby let the light drift to the back of the boat and held it in place so Hawk could see clearly, as the Bomokandi Bertha drifted to a stop right up next to the Amazon Annie. On the backseat of the boat sat a solitary pirate.

  “No way.” Hawk lunged to the side of the boat and jumped on board the Amazon Annie.

  “Careful sir,” Bobby cautioned, after Hawk had already made the transfer.

  Hawk stepped to the back of the boat and picked up the pirate figure. It was an audio-animatronic form, fully detailed, minus the electronics used to bring it to life. Hawk lifted it, spun it around, and studied it closely.

  “Now there’s something you don’t see every day.” Shep stepped to the side of his boat and looked across at Hawk.

  Hawk kept studying the pirate. “Bobby, is there any reason this boat should have been here?”

  “No, sir. We account for each boat every night, and we never leave one adrift. Even if we did, it would never have a pirate on board. This is the Jungle Cruise—pirates belong next door.”

  “Right.” Hawk glanced toward Shep with a look that told him to remain quiet. “Will this boat run?”

  “It should.” Skipper Bobby moved the light toward the bow of the boat. “The keys are in it. Do you want to try to crank it up?”

  Hawk lowered the pirate back into the seat, stepped to the wheel, and turned the key. The Amazon Annie fired to life, and following a quick set of instructions from Bobby, Hawk had the boat in gear and moving. In just a few minutes, guests waiting in line to ride the Jungle Cruise craned their necks as the two boats come floating around the river bend toward the dock. The first was the Bomokandi Bertha, with Skipper Bobby and one passenger on board. The second was the Amazon Annie, with Skipper Grayson Hawkes and a pirate seated at the stern. Both launches pulled up to the dock, where cast members helped secure them. As Hawk stepped out of the boat, he carried the pirate figure and handed it to Shep.

  “Is there any reason we can’t go ahead and open the attraction?” Hawk looked toward the bulging line of guests waiting to board. Many of them were watching the activity in the disembarking area, taking pictures, and pointing to the unusual sight of staff manhandling an audio-animatronic pirate.

  “No, Hawk, everything else seemed to be fine and in working order.” Bobby followed Hawk’s gaze to the crowds staring at them.

  “Then let’s get the attraction open.” Hawk smiled and patted Bobby on the back. “Good call, letting me get a look at this. Thanks.”

  Hawk spun and motioned to Shep it was time to leave. The two friends began making their way out of the area. Hearing a rustling noise behind him, Hawk turned in time to see Shep hoisting the pirate figure over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry position. They ignored the stares of the curious onlookers and moved back toward the Pirates attraction so they could retrieve their golf cart. Hawk saw the large frame of Reginald moving toward them. Halting in front of the pirate’s ship sail, Cambridge raised an eyebrow as he inspected what Shep had slung over his shoulder.

  “Interesting.” Cambridge nodded toward the pirate figure.

  “You don’t know the half of it.” Hawk shook his head. “Are we still inspecting the Pirates attraction?”

  “Of course.” The security chief paused. “There is something I believe you will want to examine.”

  �
�Alright, show me.” Hawk moved back toward the entrance of Pirates of the Caribbean.

  “No.” Cambridge placed a firm hand on Hawk’s arm, stopping him. “Not here.”

  The Disney CCA tilted his head slightly as he waited for Cambridge to continue. Following the gaze of the security officer, Hawk turned to Shep.

  The pirate-toting Imagineer grinned and tilted his head toward his passenger. “If I’m going with you, I should probably do something with our friend here.”

  “That is probably the prudent thing to do,” Cambridge agreed.

  “Stash him in the golf cart.” Hawk pointed to the gate that hid the vehicle from the public area. Shep moved off through the gate to deposit the figure on the seat of the cart. As they waited, Hawk studied Cambridge’s face, trying to read what he wasn’t telling him. Hawk opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but paused when several men wearing Disney security uniforms joined them.

  “I asked them to help us get through the park with less distraction.” Cambridge spoke before Hawk could. “It would be better if you were not stopped by guests. We need to get there without being sidetracked.”

  “Where are we going?” Hawk asked, as Shep rejoined the group. He knew curiosity had Shep on the brink of blurting out some observation, but with a quick glance he once again silenced him.

  “Let me show you.” Cambridge moved to the front of their troupe and motioned for them to follow.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  * * *

  HAWK WALKED WITH THE SECURITY DETAIL through the passageway from Adventureland into Frontierland. Capturing the look of the Old West, it was heavily influenced by Walt Disney’s love for exploration and the quest to find new frontiers. Stepping off the raised wooden sidewalk and into the street, they pushed toward Liberty Square.

  Hawk was always amazed and fascinated by the detail inside the Disney theme parks. That attention to detail and the ability to notice things that others missed had proven to be an invaluable skill less than two years ago.