Disney at Dawn

“She dreamed about this place,” Amanda said. “No question about it.”

Willa pushed her way to a closer view of the screen.

Maybeck said, “Are we just going to watch TV all day? Let’s do something.”

Willa pointed. “Zoom in on this.”

“On what?” Philby said.

“Just do it,” Willa persisted.

Philby used the AnimalCam’s joystick to aim the camera where she pointed: a section where the wall met the dirt.

“Zoom in,” she directed.

It wasn’t dirt, as it turned out. Slowly a geometric shape became apparent: a wooden hatch with grass growing around its edges.

“That couldn’t be what I think it is,” Maybeck said.

“It’s a trapdoor!” Amanda declared.

“A trapdoor in a tiger yard,” Maybeck said. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“She’s in there,” Amanda said. She looked to Fi

“Philby?” Fi

“You’re going to think I’m crazy.”

“Try me,” Fi

“Let’s say you’re the person ru

“How ‘bout trying the gate?” Maybeck asked.

“There is no gate. Not in the lower yard, only in the upper yard. We know from what Wayne told us that all the animals are accounted for each evening. They’re kept in barns and pens backstage. I’m thinking they probably move a couple tigers into this upper yard in the morning—then they open the hatch. It leads to a short tu

“Brilliant,” said Willa.

“I don’t mean to play devil’s advocate,” said Maybeck, who thrived on playing devil’s advocate, “but if they let them in in the morning, then don’t they let them out in the evening? So if Jez is down there, which personally I don’t believe, doesn’t that mean…?” He didn’t finish his thought.

“That if she’s still down there at closing, then the tiger gets her for di

Willa gasped.

“How could she have gotten down there in the first place?” Maybeck questioned.

“She could have crossed the sava

“One thing,” Philby said, “supporting this theory…if I were rigging the sound for the Park, the wires would follow the path. It might make sense to have a junction box down in the tu

“No matter what,” Fi

“A tu

“But there’s something else to think about,” Fi

“So she could just as easily be hiding someplace on the M,” Maybeck said, pleased to have some evidence to support his view.

Amanda shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. She played that song over and over. She has to be under the C.”

“Then what’s the M about?” Maybeck asked.

“Well, for one thing,” Willa said, “it’s your initial.”

Maybeck looked as if he might stick his tongue out at her, but he resisted.

“In the diary there’s a blob of ink on the lower right stem of the M,” Philby pointed out. “That could be a mistake, or it could mean something. And I might add that everything in the diary so far has meant something.”

“Agreed?” Fi

“So look where it is,” Philby said.

“Dinoland.” Philby looked around at the others. “Do any of you ever come to this Park?” he inquired sarcastically. “Dinoland is ridiculously boring except for one attraction.”

“That research thing—Dr. Grant Seeker,” Willa said.

“Dinosaur. Remember anything special about it?”

“Only that it was really cool,” Willa answered.

“Not cool—well, yes, it’s cool—but it’s also cold. And it’s computer controlled. Majorly computer controlled. There have to be some serious computers ru

“The second server,” Fi

“As good a place as any.”

“Listen to you!” Maybeck sniped. “We don’t know any of this for sure!”

“No…” Philby said. “But there might be a way we could find out. If I can get back on VMK, and Wayne gets me into the control center, I may be able to track network bandwidth usage.”

“Speak English,” Maybeck snapped.

“Think about it: if we go after Jez, how is Maleficent going to come after us?”

“With birds,” Maybeck said.

“And monkeys,” Willa added.

“And lions,” said Fi

“And DHIs of all of the above,” Philby said. “The more DHIs she uses, the more bandwidth usage on the network. What I’m saying is this: we want her to come after us with everything she’s got, because when she does, I can probably locate the second server. And if I do, then maybe I can cut it off the network. That would take all the DHIs of animals out of the equation.”

“So we split up,” Fi

“Oh, yeah, like that’s going to happen,” snipped Maybeck.

“Philby said the tu

“There are still a few sketches in the diary that we haven’t run into,” Amanda reminded everyone. “We shouldn’t forget about them. There’s the hairy gorilla and the owl on the branch. There’s the elephant and the hunchback guy who looks sort of Indian.”

“Everyone will stay alert for those,” Fi

“Alert?” Maybeck said. “I’m half asleep on my feet.”

“No sleeping!” Philby warned. “Willa and I messed up things by getting caught. We’re both sorry and appreciate everything you did for us. But the Park is closing soon: six o’clock. And that means the animals will all be moved backstage, including the tigers. If there is a tu

But apparently Maybeck felt obliged to. “Then she becomes kitty chow.”

51

CHARLENE INSISTED THAT she could slip over the wall of the upper tiger yard with no one the wiser.

“I don’t think so,” said Fi

“I can stay close to the wall, like I did at the bat enclosure,” Charlene said. “No one’ll see me, and that includes the tigers.”

“Tigers are fast,” Amanda reminded her. “Very fast. And they can jump, let’s not forget.”

Charlene nodded. “But also lazy. I’ll be on the opposite wall. If the tiger moves or shows any interest, you can warn me. I can vault the wall in a nanosecond. It’s not as if it’s going to get me.”