“He was wandering around the Evans’ house.”
“Need the couch tonight?” Philby knew Hugo couldn’t suffer his parents screaming fights all night.
“You mind?”
“Climb on in,” Philby said, making a gesture like a hotel doorman. Hugo passed him Elvis and followed through the window.
Philby felt a shiver, but blamed it on the night air.
“Sorry, I’ve got to be rude,” Philby said, shutting and locking the window, “but I’m jamming.” He pointed to his desk. “It’s late, so be as quiet as you can. Wouldn’t want to wake up my mom. Towel’s in the closet. I’ll catch you in the morning.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t stay.” Hugo’s voice had dropped an octave. He spoke softly, sounding hurt.
Philby, who was now a step closer to his desk, looked back at his friend, feeling sorry for him. “No, I didn’t mean that. I’ll be done in a couple minutes.”
“Is that Epcot?” Hugo said, stepping closer.
“That’s amazing you could recognize it,” Philby said. His screen was nothing but some lights, the shimmering water of the lake, and…the little ants had moved to the fountain plaza.
That has to be Finn and Maybeck. But there were way too many ants on the screen—if it was Finn, he and Maybeck weren’t alone.
“Can I play?” Hugo asked.
“Ah…it’s not exactly a game, and, ah…You know, if you don’t mind, I’m a little busy right now.”
“Oh, but I do mind,” Hugo said. “Don’t touch that keyboard.”
Philby spun around. With Hugo having been outside in the dark, he hadn’t gotten a good look at him, especially given that he’d been holding Elvis. The cat had won Philby’s attention—by design, Philby thought. Because Hugo’s eyes were a vivid green.
Hugo had brown eyes.
Philby couldn’t believe it! Hugo? Of all people! After all Philby’s family had given to the boy! He felt overcome with anger and disbelief.
He saw his terry cloth bathrobe and belt lying on his bed. The belt would work to tie Hugo up.
Philby charged.
Hugo knocked him out of the way and onto the bed. Where had that kind of strength come from? Philby did a somersault and sprang from his haunches, launching himself at the boy.
To his right, a burst of color erupted across his computer screen.
The signal.
* * *
The lake burst into flames, flooding the night sky and illuminating every pavilion in a wash of golden light. It reflected off the face of the Evil Queen. It danced in Cruella’s eyes.
Finn hopped to his knees and stood, leaning to reach across the tangle of rattlesnakes and touch Willa’s outstretched hand.
It was not only the water burning. A dozen towering torches surrounding the lake had also burst into flames. But the water effect, part of the IllumiNations show, was a spectacular sight: giant balls of orange flames boiling off the water’s surface and rising into the dark, looking like the surface of the sun.
The timing of the effect had been Maybeck’s job: to schedule the pyrotechnics that Professor Philby had discovered on the control booth’s computer when he and Finn had visited two nights earlier. More than a thousand different pieces of ordnance on water barges, and a half-dozen laser projectors mounted on top of pavilions, were all synchronized by the IllumiNations computer. Following their spotting Willa and the Queen on the Security video, Maybeck had scheduled the fire events, giving himself five minutes to leave the control room, climb down the Mayan Temple, and catch up to Finn. With it nearing one am and the scheduled manual Return, maybe the pyrotechnics would offer a needed distraction.
Given that it looked like all of Epcot was on fire, there was no way Philby could miss the signal.
Now all he had to do was remotely tell the DHI server to Return them.
* * *
Philby witnessed the wash of flames engulfing Epcot’s lake and stretched for the computer’s Return/Enter key.
But Hugo held him by the shoulders, struggling to get his arms around Philby’s chest and squeeze the wind out of him. Philby stumbled back, his fingers hitting the spacebar instead of the Return key.
He threw an elbow into Hugo’s stomach, and groaning, Hugo let go. Philby regained his balance…took a step toward his desk…and was tackled to the floor.
He went down hard, face-first. Philby rolled over and kicked out, catching Hugo in the face. But Hugo scrambled on top of Philby, pinning his shoulders and winding up with a balled fist. As Hugo drove the fist toward his face, Philby jerked his head. Hugo punched the floor. Philby’s hand found the wicker trash can; he raked it across Hugo’s face and the boy went off him.