Two and a half days later, Charlie was released from Osceola Regional Medical Center and, along with Meghan and the girls, driven by an Orange County sheriff’s deputy back to the Caribbean Beach Resort. He’d been treated for several injuries, receiving eighteen stitches for the gunshot wound on his torso, as well as having been diagnosed with three broken ribs. Due to his confrontation with Brody Kinney, he had to undergo surgery on his right hand to repair two broken metacarpals—requiring two plates and four screws.
Needless to say, Charlie Walker had been in better shape.
Throughout the duration that he’d been admitted, Meghan and the girls had stayed with him at all times. The staff had given the Walkers a room to themselves—Charlie hadn’t wanted to be away from his family again. The hospital was very accommodating, allowing the newly minted “national hero” almost anything he desired. Charlie, not one to take advantage, simply requested privacy from any visitors other than X-ray Team.
•••
Immediately following the ordeal at Bay Lake Tower, Victoria had the Walkers taken to the hospital while she stayed behind with her team. She needed to coordinate with the local authorities and make sure that Mason’s body was treated with the respect he deserved. The man had given his life in the line of duty and she was determined to see that he was recognized and respected.
The following day, Charlie had just woken up from his surgery when Victoria had come to see him. He was surprised to see her, and even more surprised to hear that she had stayed with Meghan and the girls while he was under, leaving only for a short while to handle various issues that had required her immediate attention. When she entered the room, Violet and Katie ran to give her a hug and, surprisingly, she and Meghan also embraced before she finally made her way to Charlie’s bedside.
“Looking good, detective,” she joked, gesturing toward his vast collection of bandages and the complex network of wires leading to various machines that blinked and beeped incessantly.
“Hey, thanks!” he shot back, a cheesy smile on his face and his words positively oozing sarcasm. After a moment, he continued in a more serious tone. “How are things out there, Vee?”
“Depends on how badly you want to be famous.”
“Um...not at all,” he replied.
“Then things are very bad,” she said, leaning back in her chair and stealing an unopened can of Sprite from his bedside table. Cracking open the can, she put her feet up on his bed and took a sip before continuing. “You’re really freaking famous.”
“Son of a bitch,” Charlie groaned.
“You’ve been there before, babe. It’s not that big of a deal,” Meghan reminded him as she sat down next to Victoria. At that point, the rest of X-ray Team showed up and, noticing that Charlie was occupied, sat down with Violet and Katie and listened to the two girls enthusiastically describe the pictures they’d been drawing. Charlie couldn’t help but notice that Meghan and the girls had really bonded with Victoria and her team during the short time they’d known each other. It made him happy that—
“Charles!” Victoria called, snapping her fingers a couple of times to pull him out of his daze. “You still with us, old man?”
“Yeah,” he laughed. “Sorry, zoned out for second, there. What were you saying?”
“I was saying that this isn’t anything like the time when you took out James.”
“No?”
“Nope—much bigger. You single-handedly stopped over a dozen of America’s most wanted terrorists—didn’t you hear?” Victoria winked.
“You didn’t!” Charlie breathed, already knowing that Victoria had gotten to the news outlets before they could find out what had really happened.
“I might have!” she said, taking another drink. “Public can’t know I was here—so maybe I put a wee little spin on the press. You had to be the hero, buddy.”
Charlie tried not to laugh. In the eyes of the media, Victoria had just transformed him from one of many people involved, to a one-man army that stopped a highly trained team of mercenaries by himself. It was absurd—he couldn’t help but laugh.
He instantly regretted his lack of control as his broken ribs and fresh stitches protested the action.
Victoria giggled and told him to calm down.
“How bad is it?” Charlie asked after he’d relaxed, resigned to the fact that there was nothing he could do about it.
“I’ll try to put it in perspective for you. You remember a few years back there was a guy on the news in Los Angeles—FBI agent or something—that found all those nuclear warheads in that unopened theme park? It was on the news for like a month straight after that,” she reminded him.
“Yeah, Jack something—right? That was huge.”
“Yep,” she stated, gazing at him expectantly and nodding her head slowly. She took another sip from her pilfered can and waited for the groggy detective to catch on.
“No!” he protested.
“Bigger.”
Whether from the shock of the news or from the lingering anesthetic—Charlie promptly passed out.
•••
Finally back on Disney property, Charlie felt exponentially better—his mood soared. Even after all the terrible things that had happened, it was still his favorite place on Earth and he was with the people he loved most. All were safe and everyone was happy. Meghan’s cut hadn’t needed stitches and her bruises had almost faded away entirely. Her right wrist, however, was adorned with a bright purple cast, which she didn’t seem to mind. Charlie found it curious that both he and his wife had injured their right hands striking the same man.
The girls were overjoyed to be back in their beloved pirate suite. They jumped from bed to bed, screaming and giggling with delight. Avoiding his airborne children, Charlie sat down to enjoy the familiar smells of the room and the pleasant coolness of the air conditioning.
Holloway’s taunts about his vanity lingering in his mind, Charlie declined to speak to any reporters, instead allowing Victoria to take the reins. He was finally able to read the story that she had fed to the media outlets—and it was absolutely ridiculous. He almost couldn’t believe that they’d bought it. Apparently, a terrorist cell planned on targeting the parks for unknown reasons. Somehow, Charlie had discovered their plot before they could act and risked life and limb to prevent them, resulting in the deaths of fourteen mercenaries and only few injuries to himself. A lone Detroit detective foiled a grand terrorist scheme—it was absurd.
At the hospital, the detective in him forced him to ask Victoria how she planned to deal with the very real fact that a CIA agent had been killed in action and that rounds from six different firearms—instead of one—were being extracted from dead mercenaries by investigators. She’d simply told him: “The Company already handled the locals—and what the media doesn’t know won’t hurt ‘em.”
Deciding that it was far above his pay grade to understand the strange ways in which the Central Intelligence Agency worked, Charlie let the issue die. He had concerned himself with too many strange things in the past few days to care about something so trivial—especially since he had recently started looking for new ways to simplify his life. Relaxation seemed like a good place to begin.
As he’d suspected, representatives from Disney had spoken with Victoria and offered to extend the Walkers’ vacation package for as long as they’d like, free of charge, and to reimburse him for the time he’d already spent on property. They were eager to reward the man who had saved their park—but Charlie had only accepted a handful of extra days after a quick call to okay it with Pete. He still declined their offer for reimbursement, feeling it would be taking advantage of his situation.
Even so, Disney was Disney, and they were determined not to let his actions be forgotten. Victoria had shown him a picture on her phone, just hours after he’d humbly declined reimbursement. He had to squint to see the screen and at first he didn’t understand what he was seeing. Eventually, he recognized the familiar sight. He looked upon the Christmas scene of the Carousel of Progress. At first glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“See anything different?” Victoria asked, a knowing tone coloring her words.
“No, not yet. I don’t—wait. There,” he pointed to a spot next to the grandmother, just behind the presents on the floor. “Is that—?”
“A walker,” Victoria had finished his sentence for him, unable to hold back the smile on her face. “Clever bastards, aren’t they?”
Sure enough, peeking out from around the presents stood a toy AT-AT from Star Wars. Victoria was right—it was devilishly clever and it didn’t fail to put a smile on his face. The company truly was full of geniuses of the highest caliber, and this little nod to the man who had saved their park was absolutely incredible. He almost couldn’t contain his excitement that he had been immortalized—however anonymously—in one of his all-time favorite attractions. No amount of money could have meant as much as this gesture.
•••
The last day of their stay had finally come, and they’d boarded the Magical Express for their return trip to Orlando International Airport. X-ray Team had also come along on the massive bus since their flight home departed an hour after the Walkers’.
Charlie hooked an arm around Meghan, who had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder almost as soon as they’d sat down. Victoria sat in front of them with Violet and Katie, and the three chatted excitedly while watching the video that played on the screen above their heads; the girls telling Victoria about everything they’d done over the past few days. Victoria listened intently, laughed and smiled genuinely—even though she’d heard the stories several times.
Sitting across the aisle from Charlie, next to McCoy and behind Jen-Jen, Kalani casually leaned over and spoke softly to Charlie, so as not to wake Meghan.
“You can have her,” Kalani joked, motioning toward Victoria. “Looks like you could use a good babysitter, eh, braddah?”
Charlie laughed lightly. “Then who would keep you from falling out of helicopters?” he shot back.
“She told you about that?” Kalani winced.
“She did,” he admitted with a grin. “What’s next for X-ray?”
Kalani shrugged nonchalantly.
“We’ve been called in for debriefing at HQ. Probably going to catch hell for bombing those cars.”
“Was it all worth it—everything that you went through?” Charlie asked.
Kalani thought about the loss of Mason and it hurt him deeply—Mason had been one of his closest friends. He weighed this terrible loss against everything wonderful that had been gained. Kalani thoughtfully looked at Victoria, animatedly chatting and giggling with Charlie’s two adorable little girls. Then he gazed for a few moments at Meghan. The beautiful woman was still fast asleep with her head on Charlie’s shoulder; both husband and wife bathed in the golden glow of the late afternoon sunlight filtering in through the tinted windows. This loving, talented family of amazing individuals was safe, alive and happy—Mason had not given his life in vain.
“Yeah, braddah,” he said, settling back into his seat with a smile. He thought he might just rest his eyes for a while, as well.
“It was all worth it.”