Disney after Dark

“We?” Philby asked.

“You leave that to me, young man.” He looked between all six kids, for now Amanda was standing just behind Fi

A moment of hesitation settled over the kids. Then, one by one, they nodded. Even Charlene.

Wayne’s face brightened again. “Once you’ve got the plans and you’re topside,” he said,

“that’s when the chase begins. I’m afraid you may literally need to run for your lives. Maleficent is not likely to be a good loser. Fi

Fi

He didn’t feel good about this. She revealed nothing of what she might be thinking.

Fi

Wayne threw the bus door open, and the kids hurried out.

32

Inside the Magic Kingdom, the sun shone brightly. Fi

The six kids and Wayne passed into the park through a high wooden fence, with Thunder Mountain to their right. Past the ride and through another door marked for cast members, they entered a room with dull green walls. They saw an elevator door, scratched and in need of paint, with a single arrow pointing down. A large sign bolted to the cinderblock wallabove the adjacent set of descending stairs cautioned: CAST MEMBERS ONLY PLEASE.

“I’ll go first,” Wayne a

Fi

It isn’t safe.

They had to accomplish this before Maleficent regained all her powers. Though Fi

Wayne’s white head bobbed down the stairs, followed closely by Charlene and then Willa.

The boys heard a heavy door open and close. Then silence. Fi

Maybeck went first. He descended the stairs, suddenly consumed by shadow. Again, the sound of the door opening and falling shut.

That door swallowed his friends. He hoped he’d see them again.

Philby went next.

Fi

The Utilidor was physically much wider, much bigger—enormous, really!—than Fi

Actors dressed as nonhuman animated Disney characters, like Mickey and Mi

Belle and Snow White, Peter Pan, and Mulan. The walkarounds, they were called.

A small electric truck zoomed past, stacked high with cans of soda and bottled water. Fi

He followed a short distance behind Philby, who in turn followed Maybeck. The boys were now moving in the opposite direction from the girls.

Overhead, along the tu

Fi

The boys walked briskly for well over five minutes before finally coming to another tu

Maybeck followed the signs as Wayne had told him. This new tu

Offices and unidentified rooms lined the route. It was extremely busy down here, with people coming and going like worker bees. Fi

Philby and Maybeck slowed and pretended to read from a bulletin board.

“It’s just up ahead,” Maybeck said in a low voice. “The timing is critical because there’s a coffee break coming up. Wayne thinks our best shot at getting in there is during the coffee break.”

Fi

The boys approached the door and entered.

Inside they faced row after row of steel shelving, like bookshelves in a library, floor to ceiling.

Instead of books, the shelves were filled with thousands of tiny blinking lights, red, yellow and orange: rack-mounted computers.

It was chilly in here.

Maybeck hurried down the second-to-last row, saying softly, “Wayne’s point is that no one will notice Maleficent’s cold aura in a cold place like this. He said the servers are in a back room.”

Sure enough, they soon stood facing several steel doors, all unmarked.

Fi

Fi

“How do we do this?” Maybeck asked, now that he’d led them here.

“I don’t think we knock,” Philby said.

“Actually…maybe we do,” Fi

Maybeck nodded.

“How about the relay?” Fi

Maybeck nodded again.

“Drivers, start your engines,” Fi

“Knock, knock!” Fi

No answer. Seven minutes gone; eight minutes remaining.

“I’ve come to offer you a deal.”

Spines of ice crept up the edges of the closed door. Fi

He raised his voice. “We’re through. We’re done. Wayne—he’s an old guy who sent us here to steal something from you—but we’ve had a change of heart. We want to destroy the server. The computer that generates our DHIs. We don’t want to do this anymore.” Still nothing, though the ice on the door thickened. “We don’t know which server it is. We don’t know what to do. You help us — without hurting us—and we’ll give you the pens.”

The doorknob went white with frost. She was holding it from the other side.

“You’re thinking this is a trap,” Fi