The Key To the Kingdom by Jeff Dixon Page B

bolted lock.
    “Actually there is a security camera inside this exhibit. Behind this door is the desk from Walt’s office in the late thirties and early forties. We used to have the special Academy Award that Walt had received for Snow White and the Seven Dwarf . sitting on the desk itself. That was the one with the large statue flanked by seven smaller ones. While that was on display this part of the exhibit was monitored closely. Now that piece of memorabilia is on display elsewhere, so the camera isn’t monitored anymore.” She paused as she turned the lock and prepared to open the door. “At least I hope it isn’t monitored anymore.”
    Kiran got on her hands and knees and managed to navigate her way through the door opening. Hawk watched with distracted amusement and admiration as she did so in a skirt which made the trek through the door even more difficult to accomplish with the appropriate degree of modesty. Seeing her straighten up and step out of the way through the opening, he heard her whisper.
    “Are you coming in here or not?”
    Crouching and then moving to his hands and knees, Hawk navigated the path through the door as Kiran had just done. Straightening up, he found himself standing inside a compact display with an old wooden desk as the focal point. Hanging on the back wall above the desk was a picture of Walt Disney receiving the Academy Award for Snow White . from Shirley Temple. The spotlights that illuminated the desk were intense and Hawk once againlooked out at the interior of One Man’s Dream from behind the glass of another display.
    “This was the desk Walt used in his office when Snow White . was created. If he went back to his office and sat behind his desk after his Florida trip to the Dwarfs’ Cottage, this would be the desk.” Kiran’s eyes sparkled. “This is what you came for. See if your key fits.”
    Hawk stepped to the back of the desk. This was what you could see from the tour of the exhibit. Kiran had been right. Hawk had walked past this every time he had been in the attraction. He had never paid as much attention to this desk or the history behind it as he had the other things in the exhibit. With his back against the glass separating the desk from the touch of the tourists, he reached down to the center drawer of the desk. He pulled it toward him. It did not open. Hawk looked up at Kiran, and without saying a word, confirmed for her that it was indeed locked. Standing to the side of the desk, she placed both hands on it and leaned forward to better see what Hawk was about to attempt.
    Hawk placed the key to the kingdom that Farren Rales had given him into the lock on the desk drawer. The old antique skeleton key slid into the lock without resistance. Now with the key firmly placed inside the lock, he exchanged a glance with Kiran. She nodded slightly, prodding Hawk to continue. He attempted to turn the key to the right and immediately felt resistance. It would not turn in that direction. He turned the key to the left and held his breath. A satisfying click and then another broke the silence as the lock opened, releasing the mechanism holding the drawer closed. Removing the key from the lock, Hawk hesitated, and for a moment, pondered the value of the key and wondered how Rales had managed to come into the possession of it. He slowly rewrapped it and placed it back into his pocket.
    Kiran whispered impatiently, “Are you going to open the drawer or not?”
    Tensing his arm, he gently flexed and pulled the drawer toward him. After a slight resistance, the drawer of Walt Disney’s desk slid open. Hawk stared with disbelief at what he saw inside.

C HAPTER T WELVE
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Day Four
Night
     
    H AWK AND K IRAN STOOD STARING at the contents of Walt Disney’s drawer. The elation he’d felt when the key actually unlocked the desk drawer was now surpassed by the confusion created by what the drawer contained.
    “Is that it?” Kiran inquired.
    Reaching into the desk drawer,