Hollow World (8 page)
“Excuse me, sir. Are you Detective Walker?” asked a disembodied voice.
Slowly, Charlie opened his eyes to see two burly men in brightly colored pastel polo shirts and pressed khakis standing before him, hands clasped behind their backs. They had close-cropped hair and ramrod-straight postures. Ex-military, Charlie guessed. On their chests, they wore Disney Cast Member name tags. Straining, Charlie read their names: Brody from Aurora, Illinois and Brent from Las Cruces, New Mexico. Instinctively, Charlie straightened up in his seat. If these two characters didn’t scream ‘Disney Security,’ nothing did. This was not good.
“Yes, I am. Call me Charlie. What can I do for you gentlemen?” he asked, trying to act as casual as his fried nerves would allow.
“We just have a few routine questions to ask about a recent incident involving a bus,” said Brody, evidently the man who had spoken first. “There are some liability issues, and we’d just like to clear everything up and make sure your stay here is as safe and enjoyable as possible.”
“No worries, guys. Everything was fine. It was just a popped tire. Not a big deal,” Charlie tried to explain, hoping to get rid of these two but knowing he wouldn’t.
“If you’ll just come with us, detective, we’ll handle everything. I promise we won’t take up too much of your time,” said Brent with an ice-cold smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
Charlie had no choice but to comply. Maybe he could talk his way out of the situation quickly. It seemed like they just wanted him to sign some papers releasing the company from any liability. He was sure that this was standard operating procedure for situations like this and Cathy must have told the men where Charlie was headed, along with his physical description.
Reluctantly, Charlie nodded and stood, prepared to follow the men to whatever office they had secreted away in the massive resort. To his confusion, the men on either side of him didn’t make their way deeper into the building; they walked him toward the exit, heading for the parking lot.
“Don’t you guys have some sort of office in the building itself?” Charlie asked, not having much knowledge of the inner workings of Disney Security past knowing they were always nearby, but often never spotted.
“The resort has its own security,” Brody informed him. “Unfortunately, the incident occurred on the roads, which fall under the jurisdiction of the transportation authority. In cases like these, we have to handle everything at the main security hub. Don’t worry detective, after we sign a few papers and ask a few questions, we’ll take you back to your room at the Caribbean Beach.”
Main security hub?
Charlie thought.
Does Disney even have one of those? That sounds like something from a bad sci-fi movie.
As false as it sounded, Charlie had no choice but to follow the men. Any noncompliance on his part would only make finding the girls much harder. With a resigned sigh, Charlie allowed himself to be led into the parking lot where he was ushered into a late-model black Cadillac. Again, this didn’t seem on the level. Charlie was not convinced that Disney would give two run-of-the-mill security people a sixty-thousand-dollar car with which to carry out their daily operations.
Charlie had a chance to look around the vehicle during the drive. He was seated next to Kinney in the back of the sedan, with the other security agent in the driver’s seat. From his seat, Charlie could spy no paraphernalia relevant to those in the security profession. There was no on-board radio or computer. No clipboard with the day’s routine. Not even the stereotypical items were present: flashlights, medical kits, handcuffs, pens—nothing at all. If Charlie hadn’t known better, he would swear that he was in a civilian vehicle. The situation grew even more suspicious when neither man acknowledged him a single time throughout the drive. He decided to break the bizarre silence.
“So where’s this main security hub?” he asked. “I didn’t know there was such a place on property.”
“Oh, it’s just up here a’ ways,” replied Brent with an air of nonchalance.
Brent shifted in his seat and revealed a previously unseen bulge underneath his shirt, on his right hip. Charlie mentally kicked himself for not spotting it earlier. The agent clearly carried a concealed firearm, which seemed peculiar to Charlie. He had always assumed Disney had a top-notch security force, armed and ready to handle any emergency scenarios, but this man’s dress, civilian vehicle and lack of information on their destination all culminated in Charlie completely distrusting these two men. These were not Disney Security agents; logic and reason told Charlie that these men were, without a doubt, agents of his anonymous adversary.
Deciding he had no choice but to see where this took him, he leaned back in silence for the next few minutes. His thoughts involuntarily turned to Meghan and the girls. Meghan was tough; she always had been—and so were the girls—but no amount of bravado can prepare a person for something as terrible as this. He could only hope that they weren’t being mistreated and that this mystery man would keep his end of the deal and release them unharmed, if and when Charlie succeeded. Charlie cared very little for his own wellbeing. He would sacrifice himself for his family without hesitation—and he was fully prepared to do so now, if it meant that they would be safe. Knowing this, he could no longer hold in his suspicions.
“We’re not going to any security hub, are we?” Charlie asked.
Hesitating, the two men glanced at each other in the mirror to see if the other had any idea of how to reply to this astute detective.
“Come on, guys,” he continued, having noticed the silent exchange. “Do you think you fooled me? You don’t work for Disney. Name tags like those can be bought on eBay for under ten bucks. I’m not an idiot. I do this for living. What the hell is really going on?”
“Uh…we…” stammered Masters, at a loss for how to handle this situation. He had clearly not expected the tables to be turned. The two men visibly struggled to find a way to bail themselves out.
“Listen,” Charlie firmly commanded. “I know you’re working for the man who has my family. Let me tell you this: I’m not going to get you in trouble with your boss—you can still do whatever the hell it was he sent you to do—but you’re all complete idiots if you think you can fool me with such a ridiculously thin cover. Now tell me: why am I in this car?”
“Fine,” said Kinney. “I’ll level with you, Walker, since you’re so goddamned smart. I currently have in my possession a syringe that’s meant for you. We’re not here to hurt you: we’re just supposed to drug you and leave you in your hotel room until the boss is ready for you. Honestly.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” Charlie asked, with more bravery than he truly felt. “Get this over with and we can call it a night early. I’m not going to fight you. I just want my family back as soon as possible.”
Brody and Brent, the alliterative duo, exchanged glances again and shrugged. Finally, Masters casually executed a U-turn and began following the road signs pointing toward the Caribbean Beach Resort. Kinney held up the syringe and the glare from the headlights of the oncoming traffic glinted off the dark amber liquid within the barrel.
“We were supposed to do this at a temporary office the boss set up off-property, but I suppose it doesn’t really matter now, does it?” Brody asked, more to himself than to anyone else.
Charlie sighed and waited for the needle to pierce his skin. When it finally did, he barely felt the prick. Within seconds, his vision became a haze before failing him completely. As he lost consciousness, he heard his two captors laughing—congratulating each other on a job well done.
Meghan Walker awoke with a start. Looking around, she was caught off guard by the modern elegance of her surroundings. The first thing she noticed when her vision cleared was the massive, sectioned window that was directly in front of her, floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall. Twenty feet high and perhaps thirty feet wide, it afforded a breathtaking view of the Magic Kingdom with its legions of colored lights shining bright in the calm Floridian night. The suite she found herself in had the highest ceilings she’d ever seen in a hotel room, two stories high with the massive window spanning the entire distance. Recalling the websites Charlie frequented, she recognized this room as one of the Grand Villas at the Contemporary Resort’s Bay Lake Tower.
The view distracted her for quite some time, but eventually the surrealism of her surroundings gave way to the brutal reality of her situation. She remembered everything that had happened before she’d been drugged and taken. She remembered that horrible man cornering her in the aquarium. She remembered being told that she and her daughters were going to be abducted and that she
had no choice but to assist the kidnappers in doing so. She remembered Leroy’s words of warning:
Do exactly as I have instructed or your entire family will die.
She remembered the terrible and violent plan he had whispered in her ear—the plan to kill Charlie if she did anything other than exactly what she was told.
Fresh tears began to stream down her cheeks. They pattered onto the sofa on which she sat. She desperately wanted to put her arms around Violet and Katie—who were also bound but still asleep on either side of her—and pull them close, but her hands and feet were bound with what seemed like extremely thick plastic cable ties. She studied these restraints for a moment before a smooth, familiar voice startled her.
“Riot cuffs,” said a voice from off to her left. “Extremely effective.”
Meghan shot him a look of icy hatred.
“You,” she hissed. “I’m guessing that you don’t work for Disney, then?”
The young man smiled, “Very observant. The detective’s wife does a little detective work of her own. I like that.” He stood and approached her.
Standing in front of her, he began to stroke her cheek, gently wiping the tears away.
“The real name’s Jeremy,” he stated, with a predatory tinge in his voice. “And don’t you worry, as long as your husband does what he’s told, you’ll be just fine.”
Jeremy’s finger traced a teardrop down her face, her neck, and eventually her chest, where he slowly began to draw back the material of her thin tank top.
“Don’t you fucking touch me!” Meghan shouted, trying to shove the big man away from her with her bound hands, which elicited a laugh from him.
“Well, aren’t you a firecracker?” he laughed, but then his smile suddenly gave way to fiery rage. “You’d better watch yourself, bitch! Disrespect me again and I’ll—”
“Jeremy,” said a calm voice from behind them, and the big man quickly backed away from Meghan and straightened his posture.
“I didn’t expect you so early, sir,” Jeremy stated, fear evident in his words.
Meghan turned to see who had frightened this imposing man so thoroughly. Standing in the doorway was one of the most highly-manicured elderly men she had ever seen. He stood just south of six-foot tall, decently built and wearing a dark suit that was clearly tailored to fit him exactly. His perfectly tanned face was framed by a full head of flowing, silvery-gray hair—and not a single strand was out of place. His immaculately straight, fluorescent-white teeth were visible through the terrible grin that stretched across his features. There was something unnatural about this man; his eyes didn’t match the rest of his appearance, almost as if he was thousands of years old, his body maintained and kept alive only by the darkest sciences. The air that the man exuded instantly struck fear into Meghan, and she began to tremble uncontrollably.
“There has been a development,” he stated. “Get the car. We’re needed sooner than we thought.”
With one last hungry look at Meghan, Jeremy passed the elderly man and exited the suite.
“Mrs. Walker,” said the man, and she jumped. “Jeremy and I will be leaving for a short while. We’ve left scissors in the kitchen; feel free to remove those awful restraints from yourself and your daughters. Help yourselves to anything the villa has to offer. Feel free to do what you will—enjoy yourselves. You are not a captive here by any means. Should you choose to take your daughters and leave, you may do so with my blessing but there will be dire consequences. If all three of you are not here when we return, we will not pursue you but your husband will die.”
That said, he turned and left.
