Page 15 of King's Reckoning
"Probably don't even know it," King agreed.
Elena's final words were direct. "The first piece is with Flash. He knew. He knew what might happen. That's why he made sure to be buried with his part of The Archive. Find it, and it will lead you to the others. But hurry. Once they realize you're looking, they'll stop at nothing to get there first."
The screen went dark, leaving them in deathly silence.
"She knew," King said finally. "Knew all along what would happen."
"She prepared me for it," Rowan said. "Every lesson, every skill she taught me. It was all for thismoment." She looked at her father. "But she wanted us both here. Together."
King studied her face, and Rowan imagined he was seeing her mother, with some of himself reflecting back. "Your mother was the smartest person I ever knew. If she thought we needed to work together on this..."
"Then that's what we'll do," Rowan finished.
They emerged from the basement to find the cabin's main room transformed into a temporary command center. Reed was coordinating with Darkness, setting up security perimeters. Barbara had three laptops running traces on the satellite phone. Ace was studying Elena's journal with intense concentration.
"We need to move Flash's grave," King announced. "Tonight. Before they realize what we're after."
Without missing a beat, Reed straightened. "I'll handle security."
"I'll need access to proper excavation equipment," Barbara added. "This needs to be done carefully."
"And I need to be there," Rowan said firmly. When King started to object, she added, "Mom's instructions were clear. Both of us need to be present."
King nodded slowly. "Together then." He turned to the assembled brothers. "Whatever's buried under our club, whatever Elenadiscovered…it's worth killing for. That makes it worth dying to protect. You all in?"
The response was unanimous. These were more than just club members, Rowan realized. They were family. Her family.
As they began plotting and planning the night’s mission, Reed pulled her aside. "You okay?" His voice was low, meant just for her.
Rowan thought about everything that had happened—finding her father, fighting alongside him, discovering her mother's legacy. "Ask me again tomorrow," she said honestly.
His hand found hers, squeezing briefly. "Tomorrow then."
She watched him walk away, already issuing orders for the night ahead. So much had changed in just a few days. She'd come looking for answers about her father, but she'd found so much more. Family, a purpose, maybe even something with Reed that she hadn't dared to hope for.
"Focus," she told herself firmly. There would be time for those thoughts later. Right now, they had a grave to dig up and secrets to uncover.
Her mother had prepared her for this moment. Now it was time to prove she was ready.
Midnight cast long shadows across the graveyard as Rowan watched Barbara direct the careful excavation of Flash's grave. The archaeology professor had insisted on proper techniques despite the urgency of their situation.
"We're not grave robbers," she'd said firmly, setting up precise grid markers around the plot. "We're preserving history—both the club's and whatever's buried deeper."
The professor's words carried extra weight, given what they'd learned about the club's grounds. Rowan studied the other graves surrounding them, wondering how many more held pieces of The Archive, how many brothers had carried secrets to their grave—literally.
Floodlights powered by portable generators cast harsh light over the scene, creating swaths of artificial day in the darkness. Reed had positioned brothers at strategic points around the perimeter, with Ace watching the north road, Darkness covering the main entrance, and newer memberspatrolling in pairs.
No one was taking chances after the day's events.
Rowan recognized some of the faces from her surveillance of the club—men who'd earned their patches through blood and loyalty. They moved with practiced efficiency, communicating through hand signals and meaningful looks. This wasn't their first midnight operation.
"Almost there," Barbara called softly, her voice carrying in the still night air. She was in the grave herself now, brushing dirt away from something metallic with small tools that gleamed in the floodlights. "The box is intact. And there's something odd about the soil around it. Different composition, like it was brought in from somewhere else."
Rowan felt King tense beside her. They hadn't spoken much since watching Elena's message, but his presence was oddly comforting. Like a piece of herself she hadn't known was missing had finally clicked into place. She caught him watching her sometimes, his expression a mix of wonder and regret.
"Ready?" she asked, pulling out Elena's journal. The leather was worn smooth from years of handling, pages dense with her mother's careful notes and cryptic diagrams.
King nodded, his expression unreadable in the artificial light. Together, they approached the grave's edge where Barbara had fully exposed a steel lock box, its surface still pristine, if not a littledirty, after decades underground. The preservation was remarkable, almost as if someone had known it would need to be retrieved one day.
