Storming the Kingdom (28 page)

“Well, I suppose that makes sense.” Ollie smiled at Hawk. “I had to tell you those stories so you could understand the important thing you need to hear.”

“I’m listening.” Hawk lowered his voice and leaned forward in his chair.

“In 1958, right here off the coast of Florida, the United States was in a tough spot. The Soviet Union had stunned the world by launching Sputnik into space and taking a huge lead in the space race. Wernher von Braun was given the green light to figure out how to get an American satellite into orbit, and just three months later, he did just that. He was able to convert a Redstone rocket and get it ready to launch a satellite into orbit. But…let’s just say that on that night, there were a number of things that happened.”

“A number of things?” Hawk repeated. “What things?”

“You have to remember that the world in 1958 wasn’t as connected as it is today. When they launched Explorer 1, the number of satellite-tracking stations were few and far between. So after the spacecraft disappeared over the horizon from Cape Canaveral that evening, there was essentially no way for von Braun to track it, to know if his satellite had been successfully placed in orbit by the rocket he designed. He just had to wait until Explorer 1 had almost completely circled the entire world. There were a series of special radio receivers set up in the deserts just north of San Diego, California. If those receivers could pick up signals from Explorer 1, then they would know they had been successful.”

“That would have been tense.”

“I imagine it was.” Ollie chuckled softly. “The California signal, for the very carefully planned, preciously mapped out Explorer 1 trajectory around Earth was expected at about 12:30 a.m. on February 1, 1958. Slightly over an hour and a half after Explorer’s launch from Florida, the moment of truth arrived. It came and went…and they heard…nothing. Then came 12:31, 12:32…and still they heard nothing. Because of the way they calculated satellite orbits, when 12:33 came and there was still no signal, the entire team came to the conclusion that something had gone horribly wrong.”

“But it was only three minutes late, and this had never been done.”

“True.” Ollie nodded. “And that is what many people were thinking. Except for the ones like von Braun, who knew how it was supposed to have worked. They continued to wait, and by 12:41 a.m., it was all but certain. They were sure the rocket had simply burnt up and never made it into orbit.”

“But if I’m remembering correctly”—Hawk waved his hand—“and I know nothing of the history of this story, but I don’t ever recall hearing that Explorer 1 burnt up.”

“You’re right, that’s because it didn’t.”

“You just said.”

“Let me finish my story.” Ollie got up and paced the room. “Then, at 12:42 a.m., it showed up. Within the next thirty seconds, all four California stations picked up Explorer 1’s signals. The United States was in orbit…finally. The Space Race was back on. Explorer 1 had just been late.”

“But…why?” Hawk asked.

“Ah, that is the million-dollar question, now isn’t it?” Ollie stopped pacing. “Most concluded it was just late. After all, we had never done anything like this before. So while the United States celebrated this success—and it
was
a success—
why
it was late was explained away by saying that there had been some miscalculations, and this was such a new science that it was tough to figure out. But in the end, it had all worked.”

“Somehow, I think you might know why it was late.” Hawk was completely absorbed in the story Ollie was telling. He wiped away a bead of sweat that he felt run down the side of his face. “And that
why
is the point the of the story, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is.”

“OK, you are killing me here.” Kiran shook her head. “You storytellers are all the same. Get to the point.”

Both men sighed. Ollie picked up the tale again. “Officially, they had made a slight error in their calculations. When you do the math on that slight error, you get six hundred additional feet per second. That’s just over four hundred miles per hour, and you gain an additional six hundred miles in height of the orbit.”

“That’s impressive, but where did it come from? The additional speed and height,” Hawk asked, finally seeing the questions Ollie had been driving at. “Are you saying that von Braun figured out some type of antigravity propulsion system? A way to go faster, higher, that somehow is based on how…well, I don’t even know what I’m asking.” Hawk shrugged.

“Well, it does appear that something happened that night to break Newton’s Laws of Gravity.” Ollie rubbed his hands together as if there was something else he couldn’t wait to share. “History is a funny and quirky thing. Sometimes the things we ought to notice, we don’t notice. Von Braun knew that what happened wasn’t because of the rocket he built. He knew something amazing had taken place. Immediately following the events surrounding the launch of Explorer 1, von Braun began writing a series of letters to other scientists not associated with the project, looking for a solution in alternative physics that might explain what happened to Explorer 1.”

“Did he ever find the answers?” Hawk scooted to the edge of his chair.

“I have no idea.” Hawk noticed that Ollie shifted his gaze toward Kiran ever so slightly as he answered.

“What do you mean, you have no idea?” Hawk was stunned.

“I don’t know, no one knows…to this day. All of the work von Braun did after that helped get America into space, and eventually his work helped get them to the moon, but whatever happened that night with Explorer 1 was swept into the dust of history.” Ollie now found a chair at the control station and took a seat. “Conspiracy theorists have said that he figured out how to use antigravity propulsion. Some suggested he had tapped into some type of alien technology. And others said he had discovered a source of power and energy that would revolutionize the world, solve all of our energy problems . . .”

“And if it was a source of power, then it could also be used to design a weapon that in the wrong hands could be used for control, destruction, or worse.” The idea made Hawk feel ill.

“Yes, very often the things that could be the most helpful can become the most harmful,” Ollie said glumly.

The same could be said of Kiran. But she was here, and there was no getting away from her at present.

“But what does this have to do with Walt Disney?” Hawk was trying to put the pieces together.

“Well, you already know that Walt and Wernher were friends. Von Braun was brilliant. At one point, he was asked who he thought was a genius, and he replied, Walt Disney.” Ollie waited a moment. “When the reporter laughed at the rocket scientist’s answer, he was quickly corrected when von Braun informed him that he and Walt had been talking about the space program, and Walt had asked him questions so sophisticated that not even NASA had thought to ask them before.”

“So von Braun shared the secrets of Explorer 1 with Walt?” Hawk thought he was beginning to understand.

“Let’s put it this way. Walt was connected to many people. He was involved in so many things that movers and shakers from around the world came to him for assistance. Walt was invited to help Wernher von Braun in 1965, but it wasn’t just about putting men on the moon. They spent a lot of time talking together, their meetings were private, and well…”

Things were now making sense to Hawk. “Von Braun trusted Walt with the most important discovery he had ever made. He believed that because Walt was a genius and visionary, he would know what to do with it, one day, when the time was right.”

“Wernher von Braun had already seen how power could corrupt and what evil men would do with power. He trusted Walt to come up with a plan for the future.” Ollie shook his head. “When Walt died, the secrets von Braun gave Walt died with him.”

All of the things that Farren had told him, that George had told him, and that even Kiran had told him now pressed in around him. Like magnets suddenly attracting one another in a chain reaction, things all started to click. Hawk had been told time and time again that he was Walt’s plan for the future. He still didn’t know what secrets Walt had been given, but he was the one chosen to protect and keep them safe for the future. He sat back in his chair. He wasn’t sure he wanted the responsibility. It was one thing to run the entertainment empire Walt and Roy had made. This was something entirely different. This had far bigger implications.

He looked across the room at Kiran. She was smiling. It wasn’t a pleasant smile; it was a satisfied smile. Hawk now knew what she had been hinting at earlier. She wanted Walt’s secrets, and this particular secret was huge. It was big enough that others would be willing to kill to attain it; and because she was sitting here with him, she now knew what the potential of this secret could be, even though neither of them had any idea what Wernher von Braun might have shared with Walt. The information Kiran was able to gain just reinforced what she already believed, that it was important with the potential to be revolutionary. However, the trade-off had been that Hawk had a chance to catch up and learn more about how massive the scope of Walt’s secrets could be. Kiran already had some sense of this, but Hawk realized that Kiran had no concept of what the real value of the von Braun secret could really be. He didn’t either. Reassured that having Kiran with him had done minimal damage, he turned his thoughts back toward what Ollie had said.

She tapped her finger on the table, slowly, methodically, as she thought through what they had just heard. Turning her gaze toward Hawk, she asked, “So, what do we do now?”

CHAPTER FORTY - FOUR

One Day Ago
8:00
A.M.

W
e do nothing.” Hawk cleared his throat. “We do nothing at all.” “What does that mean?” Kiran raised an eyebrow.

“It means that whatever von Braun told Walt was big, it was important, and it may be a discovery that changes everything. There was a reason von Braun chose not to tell the world, there was a reason Walt chose not to tell the world, and since I don’t know what the secret is, I don’t want to know what it is…I don’t want the responsibility.” Hawk stood to his feet. “People have died because others value a secret they don’t even know more than they value human life. I don’t think anyone should know it.”

“You know, you may be right.” Ollie bowed his head. “But others do want it, and they are going to keep looking until they find it. With or without you. And chances are, they will find it…and then, well, who knows what might happen?”

“And what will
I
do with it once I find it?” Hawk rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke.

“The right thing, “ Ollie stated flatly. “You will do whatever you think you should do, the best thing to do, the thing Walt would have done. Hawk, you were chosen by Walt to do what is right. You are the only one who can make the call as to what needs to be done with the secret.”

“But this isn’t the only secret Walt had, is it?” Hawk looked out the window toward the staging area for the attraction. “This is just one of them. There are others, and there will always be others. Walt kept them a secret because he was trying to protect the people he loved. Who knows how many secrets there are to discover?”

The room fell silent for a moment. Hawk had just said out loud one of the many thoughts rushing through his brain. If Walt had protected these secrets for the sake of the people important to him, because they were dangerous, or too much to comprehend, how in the world would Hawk ever know what to do with them? How could he protect them? He looked at Kiran, who was staring at him, her green eyes sparkling with excitement…and Ollie, who wrinkled his brow.

“You may be right, Hawk.” Ollie nodded. “But I can help you with only this one secret.”

“And you are going to find it,” Kiran hissed at him from across the room. “If you don’t, you will never see the third Imagineer, the one piece of your puzzle that you must have to make everything in your world make sense.”

Hawk glared at her. He felt his face flush with anger. He didn’t want her to find whatever Wernher von Braun had given to Walt for safekeeping. But he also knew she would keep the third Imagineer, whom he did desperately want to meet, at great risk if he didn’t keep looking. With resignation, he turned back toward Ollie Elsie.

“How do I find Walt’s secret?” Hawk asked the older gentleman.

“Hit the streets, find a man named David, but don’t become part of his business or you’ll never come back.” Ollie waited for Hawk to register what he had just said. It was meant to be vague; it was the next clue. Hawk’s internal processor turned the phrase over and over in his head.

“Got it.” Hawk stood and reached out his hand to shake hands with Ollie. The old man gripped his hand with force and strength that surprised Hawk. “Thanks, Ollie.”

“You’re welcome.” The elderly Elsie then cut his gaze toward Kiran and back to Hawk. “Good luck, you’re going to need it.”

“He doesn’t believe in luck,” Kiran threw out, the phrase dripping in sarcasm.

“You know, I can sense that.” Ollie still gripped Hawk’s hand. “You believe in something that is real, something that lasts, something you draw strength from… you have faith. You don’t need luck, do you?”

“No, I don’t.” Hawk smiled at the man. “I’ll come back and visit with you soon.”

“Do that.”

Hawk strode from the command center toward the exit of the attraction. Kiran was right on his heels. He walked fast on purpose, making her work to keep up. Leaving the attraction, they stepped into the gray, overcast morning. The wind was gusting in short bursts and then disappearing with a sudden stillness, a reminder that they were hours away from the arrival of Hurricane Ginger. By this time of the morning, the activity in Epcot should have been picking up as the park was prepared for guests. This day, Hawk saw only one cast member moving about, stepping inside the Electric Umbrella restaurant. Hawk and Kiran moved back beneath Spaceship Earth and headed toward the park exit.

“I wasn’t kidding you back there,” Kiran said. “You know the deal. If you want to see the Imagineer, then you get me to Walt’s secret.”

“I know you aren’t kidding.” Hawk pinched the bridge of his nose as he grimaced. “It just makes me sad to know that you are as evil as you are. You could have been so much more.”

Kiran grabbed Hawk by the arm and swung him around to face her. Stepping up and invading his personal space, she shot him a disgusted look. “Don’t you dare judge who am or what my motives are. I have given my life to being a cast member here at Walt Disney World, I have given my life to learning Disney history, and I have done all I could to preserve the dream that Walt started.”

“You have?”

“Yes, I have.” Kiran jabbed her finger at Hawk. “Long before you took over the kingdom by storm, I was here, doing what I could to protect and preserve all that Walt had created. I didn’t know what I was protecting, but I knew it was important. Then all of the sudden, you come bursting on the scene and are given everything.”

“So you think I was given something that should have been given to you? You think Farren should have given you the kingdom key?

“I didn’t know there was a kingdom key until you had one.” Kiran took a step back. “But you became the chosen one, and it ruined everything.”

“How did Farren’s choosing me ruin everything?” Hawk was completely taken aback by her accusations.

“Never mind.” Kiran turned away and headed toward the exit.

Hawk watched her stalk away. She was angry and had just vented to him. But she also had cracked the door of her character for a moment, and he had seen a hint of vulnerability and hurt. Yet, he didn’t understand where it was coming from, and it made no sense to him. There was so much more to her story. She had always been a mystery to him, and even more so now. Suddenly she stopped, turned back toward him, and marched back to where he was standing.

“Where are we going?” Apparently Kiran’s flash of anger had driven her as far as it could carry her. She still needed Hawk for their next move, just like he needed her to lead him to the third Imagineer.

Hawk almost laughed at her frustration. “ We need to find a ride.”

Exiting Epcot, they passed a security guard standing near the front gate. Hawk went over to him and explained he needed a vehicle. Moments later, Hawk sat behind the wheel of a white SUV marked with a Disney security logo on the side and fired up the engine. Kiran was seated next to him. She hadn’t said a word since their conversation inside the park. A roar of thunder rippled through the clouds in the sky, and the heavens opened up, dumping water in heavy globs all around them. The wipers tried to fight back the deluge but managed only to create disappearing streaks across the windshield of the car. Hawk placed the car into gear and slowly began to make his way out of the parking lot.

“Do you want to explain what you were talking about a few minutes ago?” Hawk asked. His tone was easy, almost pastoral.

“No, I think I said quite enough.” Kiran huffed. “Where are we going?”

“We’re hitting the streets, of course.” Hawk leaned forward over the steering wheel, trying to see through the rainstorm.

The driving was slow over the nearly deserted roadways inside Walt Disney World. The parks were shut down, guests were relocated or being entertained in safe venues, and the only people moving about were doing so because they had to be out. Hawk had been very out of touch with the impending storm they were now facing. The weather was just the early stages of the storm that would hit with full fury hours from now. He was confident that everything that could be done to make people safe had happened. It was a well-known fact that if you had to ride out a hurricane—or even worse, the aftermath of a hurricane—there was no better place to be than at Walt Disney World. The power rarely went out, and if it did, it was not for very long. The infrastructure of the resort was designed to face any type of storm, and the support systems built into their normal operations allowed them to be self-sustaining, quickly able to get things working quickly if needed, and to care for thousands and thousands of guests even if the greater Metro Orlando area was without power and water.

Wind beat against the side of the SUV as he pulled through the entrance to Disney Hollywood Studios. This day there were no parking attendants or trams shuttling guests. Hawk decided to drive the SUV right up to the turnstiles where guests would normally enter, so he pulled under the covered main entrance area, slowed, stopped, and got out of the vehicle. The massive gates forbade anyone from entering. Hawk walked to the gate on the far right side of the entrance area, pulled out his kingdom key, and with a click, opened it so they could enter.

Once they stepped through the entrance into the Crossroads of the World, they were immediately pummeled by rain. Facing a brisk headwind, they began making their way down Hollywood Boulevard, which served as the main street of the studios. Hawk guided them down the street, keeping them close to the edge of the buildings. Occasionally they would step under the cover of an entrance to a shop to get a brief break from the rainstorm.

“Where are you taking me?” Kiran asked. She was soaked through and brushed back her hair, which clung to her face in wet strands.

“We’re doing what Ollie said, we’re hitting the streets.” Hawk reached into his back pocket and removed a red handkerchief. He handed it to Kiran to wipe the rain off her face. “If you’d like to wait for me here where it’s dry, I could come by and pick you up on the way back.”

“Sure you would.” She handed the handkerchief back to him.

“OK, suit yourself.” He tucked the red handkerchief into his left back pocket, letting a good amount of the fabric stick out, and stepped from underneath the porch back out into the rain.

The pair made their way through the deserted theme park and turned to their left in front of the Great Movie Ride. Hawk was playing a hunch and hoping he was right. If there really were people who could help him, he was going to need them to extract Kiran from his search. This walk was to see if anyone was out there. The more he had thought about it, the more he realized that his red handkerchief request for help might be linked to his MagicBand. Although Disney did not use them improperly, the technology was there to track people in the park through those bands. Hawk wasn’t wearing it, Kiran was, but they were together, so perhaps that was a way that Farren and George had set up to help him. Right now, he needed to have the freedom to solve the mystery—and he needed help.

Their rain-soaked walkway carried them down Commissary Lane, past the large dining area, and toward the corner where the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant and the Writer’s Stop are located. Near the end of the street, a man appeared. He stood waiting, facing the pair as they made their way toward him. The rain was blinding, and Hawk couldn’t make out who it might be standing in front of him. The man was not threatening them in any way; Hawk noticed from his shape that he was too big to be the dark-haired assassin. Kiran reached up and placed a hand on Hawk’s arm as they grew closer. Her fingers tensed around his arm as they finally got close enough for Hawk to recognize the man. It was Douglas Hall.

“Douglas, I’m glad you are OK.” Hawk blinked back the rain hitting his face.

“Glad to see you’re OK as well, sir.” Ignoring Kiran, Douglas smiled at Hawk. “Is everything under control here?”

“Yes, it is, actually.” Hawk nodded toward Kiran. “But since you’re here, I would appreciate it if you would accompany Ms. Roberts here back to the main gate. I have a security vehicle there, and I’ll join you in a few minutes. There’s something I need to find first.” Hawk took Kiran’s arm and handed her over to Douglas Hall.

“I wasn’t asking you,” Hall said to Hawk.

“Pardon?”

“He said, he wasn’t asking
you
.” Kiran’s face beamed with a huge smile. “He was asking me if everything was under control.” She wrapped her arms around Douglas and kissed him deeply as the rain fell over them. Both Kiran and Hall were smiling as they ended the kiss but held onto the embrace.

Hawk was momentarily stunned but quickly recovered as he realized that Kiran had been able to keep up with his whereabouts because Hall had been working with her. It didn’t answer all of his questions about how Kiran knew what she knew, but it did answer some of them.

“Why did you blow up my Mustang?” Hawk looked to Hall.

“I felt bad about that, but orders are orders.” Hall pulled Kiran closer to him.

She tilted her face up to the rain. “I wanted to remind you I was serious…and it gave me a chance to take something else from you that you loved.”

A flash of lighting illuminated the dull morning with an eerie glow. The three of them stood there, drenched, unwilling to give up their ground.