Ridley Pearson - Power Play

“Yes. I’m sure that was the intention. The power failed there for nearly ten minutes. But it’s all under control. The…Our guests are where they belong.”

“No,” Finn said, “they’re not. Do you have clearance? Can you get me into the prison?”

She stared at him.

“I need to see him. I need clearance.”

“That’s not going to happen,” she said. “No one sees him. You’ll have to tell me.”

“I’m not telling you. I’m sorry, but I can’t. I’ll only tell him. Face to face. No more video. No more tricks.”

“That’s impossible.”

“By seven this morning,” Finn said, “they’ll be gone. And it’ll be on you. Think about that.”

She did just that.

“What’s happened to you?” she said. “When we spoke earlier-”

“Everything you said at Epcot was true. You’ve been a tremendous help. An amazing help. I need you to help me one more time.”

“When did you get so all grown-up?” she asked.

“It’s been a different sort of night.”

“I guess.”

“And I’m tired,” he said apologetically.

“Amanda?”

“Is fine. She Returned, with the spell broken.” He waited only a matter of seconds. “I’ll try on my own, but they won’t listen to me.”

“You don’t even know where it is,” she said.

“And if I do, will that convince you?”

Her eyes went wide. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

“Good,” Finn said.

Less than a minute later, he marched back to the car and indicated for his mother to roll the passenger window down. “I’ll be with an adult,” he said. “She’s Wayne’s daughter.”

“I know, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. I know it’s late. I don’t expect you to understand but-”

“If your father finds out, you’ll be looking for a new mother.”

“I only have one mother.”

“That may change,” she said, although she glowed from his comment. “Your father will be at the breakfast table promptly at seven-thirty. You’d better be too, buddy boy, or I don’t know what.” Her eyes grew glassy. “I’m scared,” she said.

“Don’t be.”

“For you. Not for me.”

“I know, Mom.”

She rolled up the window, looked at him once more through the glass, and drove off.

Wanda drove Finn into the Animal Kingdom through the backstage vehicle Security entrance, where it took five minutes of phone calls to get Finn approved.

“I still can’t believe you knew about this,” she said from behind the driver’s wheel. The dashboard clock read 5:37 am. Finn felt wide awake.

“Philby has a different kind of magic,” he said. “Ones and zeros.”

He’d never been to this particular part of Animal Kingdom, a warehouse structure near the elephant cages.

“It was originally designed as a medical quarantine for western lowland gorillas. When a military coup denied our chance to obtain the animals, the facility went unused for nearly a decade. Then the problem arose. Some modifications were made to transform it into a high-security retention facility,” Wanda explained.

“A prison.”

“It has continued to be listed as an animal housing facility. You’ll forget you ever saw it.”

“Saw what?” he asked.

“That’s the spirit.”

She stood before a video camera and pushed a button. She then had to swipe an ID card, and place her index finger on a biosensor-the same kind they used at the Park entrances.

“My father has been housed here since the Fantasmic! threat. He’s viewed as too important-he knows too much, so he’s kind of a prisoner himself.”

A light turned green and the door unlocked. They entered. The hallway was blocked by a double set of security doors with glass two inches thick. They went through a security check as at an airport, and then down a flight of stairs. Another hallway. She pushed a doorbell, and a moment later the doorjamb buzzed, and she let them inside.

Wayne was sitting on a small couch. He looked older, reminding Finn of a lamp that had been repaired-much the same, but something different. The twinkle in his eyes remained, but his voice was dry and salty, like that of a man who didn’t speak much.

“Welcome,” he said. He motioned Finn into a chair facing him.

Finn saw through an open door to a bedroom. It was not an office, but an apartment; Wayne lived here. He seemed older and weaker. Finn felt a pang of sadness.

“Why?” Finn asked.

The man’s white eyebrows arched.

“Why here?” Finn said.

“The funny thing about the past,” Wayne said, “is it’s behind us. There’s nothing we can do that will change it. The future is much the same-out of reach. When you get to be my age you realize you have only right now. This moment. You are over there. I am here.

For how much longer, neither of us knows. Let’s not worry about me. Tell me what you want.”

“Who said I want anything?”

“We all want something.”

“What do you want?” Finn asked.

“To hear what you want,” the old man answered.

Finn sighed. There was no arguing with Wayne. Why had he tried?

“I’m listening,” Wayne said.

“Jess drew this place. I think she did…I need to see if it’s what she drew.” Finn unfolded his computer printout of Jess’s diary drawing. “Something is going to happen before morning.”

“It has been quite the eventful evening,” Wayne said. “I would doubt much more will happen before morning. They tried and they failed.”

“The blackout,” Finn said.

“Yes. Ingenious. We lost power like everyone else. Normally…well, there’s a system in place, but my understanding is that’s what they sabotaged. Quite brilliant, actually. But thankfully, it failed.”

“You know this because…?”

Wayne took hold of a television remote and worked the device. A flat-panel screen came alive, divided into four quadrants. Four jail cells. Two contained Maleficent and Chernabog. Two others were empty.

Finn gasped. Maleficent’s cell was identical to Jess’s drawing. He tapped the printout.

“You have to take me there,” Finn said.

“Have to?”

“Please take me there.”

Moments later, a guard led them through another series of electronic doors.

“They’ll admit us, Finn. But by rule, we won’t be allowed out until the shift change at seven am. You need to understand that before going in.”

“Seven am?” Finn said. He told Wayne about Cruella’s mention of the exact time. “It’s less than an hour.”

“Even so. We won’t be leaving.”

“I’m good,” Finn said.

They entered and were passed off to a burly guard with shoulders as wide as a doorway, and a nose that looked like it had been flattened by something unnatural. Two gates later, they were passed off to yet another guard, and now Finn recognized the jail cells from the video.

He and Wayne stopped in front of Maleficent’s cell. The prisoner slept peacefully.

Finn whispered to Wayne, “Please ask them to turn off the security cameras.”

Wayne said back, “Protocol dictates twenty-four-seven coverage.”

“They’re counting on that.”

Wayne viewed him curiously.

“Let me guess,” Finn said. “During the power failure, it was pitch-dark down here. I’m guessing a fire alarm during the blackout.” Wayne looked impressed; Finn knew he had scored. “Because that combination-power failure and fire-would mean the cells opened automatically for the prisoner’s safety.” Most of this had come from Philby’s extensive research following Finn’s proposal of a variation to Maybeck’s theory.

“There are measures in place,” Wayne said, not disagreeing. “That’s about all I’m allowed to tell you. Suffice it to say, not even a moth left this building at that time.”