The guard reached the towering enclosure they hid behind.
“Ah-ha!” the guard said.
She tried to squeeze herself between the two enclosures. Finn and Philby had slipped through; judging by the sounds she was making, she was not a perfect fit.
“Joyce, what’s your twenty?” a male voice said over her radio. “Fresh coffee when you’re ready.”
The woman guard stood there, basically stuck between the two metal enclosures. She was maybe two feet from Philby. Her hand shot out from the gap, and nearly touched him as she tried to get to her radio. After a second try, she backed out into the main part of the room.
“Pour me a cup. I’m on my way. Tell Base that Data Operations is clear. They can send their guy over.”
* * *
The “guy” was not a guy at all, but a woman from Maintenance who arrived from the Studios in less than fifteen minutes. Philby had Finn hold the phone while he watched the image from the webcam. A pair of delicate hands appeared in frame and typed in a sixteen-digit string alphanumeric password. Philby knew what to watch for: he had Finn study the first eight finger motions, while he took the second set. Philby had sketched out a keyboard on a piece of notepaper; he marked the finger movements with Xs and numbered them.
The technician spent another twenty minutes putting the server through its paces—a full virus scan and a reboot. Apparently satisfied that there’d been no breach, she slid the keyboard back in its tray and left the server room.
“What now?” Finn asked.
“Now,” Philby answered, waving the piece of notepaper, “I do my magic and you and Maybeck get to sleep. We’re back in business.”
* * *
Maybeck sneaked out from under the cardboard boxes. The two guys had been told Base was “good.” They finally left.
His hand hovered over the STOP button.
Then he thought to send Philby a text.
want me to stop it?
Tucked in behind the plywood wall, he waited. And waited. When no text came back, he decided the reception was bad. He had to make a decision. Too much time had passed since the system had been restarted. By now, Finn and Philby had either been blown out of the system or were safe.
But his job was to keep the trash system down. He could stop it again, hide amid the boxes, and see what happened.
He hit STOP.
* * *
As Philby and Finn left Data Operations, Philby noticed that the overhead rumble stopped.
“Maybeck,” he said.
“About time!” Finn said.
The two boys hurried back and reentered the trash system. They moved incredibly quickly this time, knowing exactly where they were going. Reaching the vertical pipe through which they’d entered, Philby knocked three times. The lid opened and Maybeck reached down a hand.
“Hurry!” he said into the dark.
He helped Philby up, then Finn.
“Oh, man!” Maybeck said. “You guys reek like diaper poo.”
“Nice to see you, too,” Finn said.
Minutes later, they were attracting unwanted attention on their way out. But thankfully, the state of their smell kept the curious at bay. They cut a wide swath as they walked out of the employee gate at the front of the Park.
Finn caught sight of the time and called his mother. The arrangement had been for them to be picked up in Downtown Disney, but they were already late. He was going to have to risk the truth, or something close to it.
“Good grief!” she said as they piled into the car, Maybeck riding shotgun, Finn and Philby relegated to the back. “You two look disgusting.”
“We went Dumpster diving,” Finn said.
“You what?!”
“I threw my wallet away by accident,” Philby said. “It was on this food tray, and I just dumped it in there by mistake, and by the time I realized it they’d already emptied the trash—”
“So they went Dumpster diving,” Maybeck said.
“And we found it,” Finn said.
“In the Magic Kingdom,” she said. “What happened to Downtown Disney?”
“Our plans changed.”
“You aren’t allowed in the Magic Kingdom without permission.” His mom didn’t miss much.
“Something came up,” Finn said.
An ominous silence overcame the car’s interior. His mother was clearly considering how far to push her son with the other boys in the car. “Well, at least it has a happy ending,” she said, letting Finn off the hook. For now.
She rolled down the window. “Can I just say, you stink?” She burst out laughing, as did the boys, though their laughter was faked.
Then she went through the typical mom stuff: “Did you have a good time?” “Did you see any friends?” “How much money did you spend?” It was like she was reading from the same script anytime Finn did anything with his friends.