Chapter 296 THE OPEN GRAVE
Chapter 296 THE OPEN GRAVE
POV: Zuri
The cemetery is empty when we arrive.
Too empty.
I know this place.
I remember standing here when I was sixteen.
I remember believing my mother was inside that grave.
Now the stone is cracked.
The ground has been disturbed.
And the grave is open.
Amani reaches for my hand.
I don't move.
I can't.
Because someone has already been inside.
Ghost and Rex search the cemetery for signs of whoever opened the grave.
They find fresh tire tracks.
Two sets of footprints.
One person entered through the main gate.
Another came from behind the cemetery wall.
Marco immediately recognizes the second trail.
He says it belongs to someone who knew the Silver Wolf routes.
Zuri asks:
“How do you know?”
Marco doesn't answer immediately.
That hesitation makes Zuri suspicious.
They examine the grave.
Her mother's coffin has been opened.
But the body is still there.
Nothing appears to have been taken from the coffin.
Instead, something was removed from beneath it.
A small metal compartment.
Zuri remembers her mother mentioning a hiding place beneath the grave.
But she doesn't remember what was hidden there.
Amani asks Marco if he knew about it.
Marco finally admits:
Their mother had a second hiding place.
He never knew exactly what she kept there.
Zuri notices the Silver Wolf symbol carved into the inside of the coffin.
The same symbol appeared in the tunnel.
The same symbol appeared at the safehouse.
And the same symbol was connected to the documents they found earlier.
Beneath it is a date.
The date of her mother's supposed death.
Zuri realizes the date may not represent her death.
It may represent the beginning of something.
Touching the symbol triggers another memory.
Her mother is alive.
Zuri is younger.
They're standing in this cemetery.
Her mother kneels beside her and says:
“If they ever tell you I died, don't believe them.”
Zuri remembers being confused.
Then her mother gives her something.
A small silver key.
The same key from her earlier memories.
But this time Zuri remembers where she put it.
She hid it inside a toy she kept in her childhood bedroom.
Zuri turns on Marco.
“You knew she came here.”
Marco admits he did.
But he didn't know about the key.
He tells Zuri that after their mother disappeared, Antonio ordered the entire cemetery searched.
Marco secretly returned afterward.
He found evidence that someone had been meeting their mother there.
Someone from the Silver Wolf network.
Zuri asks:
“Who?”
Marco says:
“I never saw his face.”
Then he adds:
“But I found his name.”
Before he can say it, a gunshot tears through the cemetery.
The team takes cover.
The shooter isn't targeting Zuri.
They're targeting the grave.
Another bullet hits the coffin.
Amani orders everyone down.
Ghost tracks the direction of the shot.
The shooter escapes before they can reach him.
Rex finds something left behind.
A silver wolf pin.
But this one is different.
There's a tiny number engraved on the back.
07.
Marco recognizes it.
His expression changes.
“That wasn't a Silver Wolf member.”
Zuri asks:
“Then what was it?”
Marco looks at her.
“A Cleaner.”
Zuri realizes the people who erased her memories may still be watching her.
She asks Amani:
“What if they never stopped?”
Amani answers:
“Then they made one mistake.”
“What?”
“They came back for you.”
His eyes harden.
“And now they have to get through us.”
Zuri takes his hand.
This time, she isn't afraid of what comes next.
She wants the truth.
Marco finally tells Zuri the name he found years ago.
Dr. Elias Voss.
Zuri's heart drops.
But Marco adds:
“Voss wasn't the only one.”
He points toward the open grave.
“There was another person involved.”
“Who?”
Marco looks at the date carved into the coffin.
Then he says:
“Your mother.”
Zuri stares at him.
“She helped them?”
Marco shakes his head.
“No.”
He looks toward the darkness beyond the cemetery.
“She helped build the plan that was supposed to save you.”