Cynthia had her crew moving fast. Kage watched as they unpacked gear, wiped up the blood, and wrapped the two bodies like they had done it a hundred times before.
Cynthia popped open her laptop, hooked it to Ratter's and Cruz's phones, and started pulling data. She was scrubbing everything that tied back to John B and Kage.
"It seems you're lucky," Cynthia said, eyes on the screen. "Both of them didn't tell Braddock about John B. Otherwise, this would be a lot harder to clean up."
Kage nodded. John B was still off to the side, staring at nothing, mumbling the same word under his breath."Redfield… Redfield…"
An idea clicked. Kage turned to him. "What if Redfield isn't a place. What if it's a person?"
John B, JJ, Kiara, Pope, and Sarah all looked at him, confused.
Kage kept going. "Think about it. If your dad hid something big, he wouldn't stash it in some obvious spot. It'd be something only he—and maybe you—would clock. Something personal."
John B frowned, trying to drag something up. "I don't know any place called Redfield, man."
Kage grabbed his custom phone off the table. It looked like a sheet of glass wrapped in a black ring, its tiny screen glowing with a white tag that read Connected.
He lifted it. "E.V.E, search 'Redfield' in anything tied to the Routledge family."A beat passed.
Then the AI's flat voice replied, "Match found. Olivia Redfield."
John B's eyes widened. "Redfield. Dude. I kept thinking it was a place, right? But it's not a place. It's a person."
He bolted for his dad's study. The others followed as he yanked open drawers and flipped through worn papers until he found the old family tree. His finger dragged down the page and stopped on a name: Olivia Redfield.
He jabbed it. "See? My great-great-grandmother. Olivia Redfield. That was her maiden name. If Redfield's a name, then where she's buried… that's gotta be the key."
They were at the graveyard a short time later, pushing through vines and brush until a stone building loomed out of the dark.The word Redfield was carved over the mausoleum door.
"Like my brother said," John B told them, sweeping his flashlight over the faded letters. "It's not a place. It's a person."
JJ let out a low whistle and smirked. "Voi-effing-là."
John B's voice softened. "Olivia Redfield. My great-great-grandmother. That was her maiden name."
They stood there for a second, quiet, all of them feeling how big this moment was.In front of the mausoleum, John B stepped up to the granite door and waved them in.
"Help me with this. Come on."JJ rolled his eyes, but moved. "All right, all right."
John B and Pope grabbed the edges of the stone. John counted, "One, two, three…"
Kie and Sarah yelled together, "Go!"They heaved. The door barely shifted.Pope's face twisted with effort. "Are you even pushing?"
"Yeah, I'm pushing!" John snapped back, just as annoyed.
"Come on!" Pope grunted.JJ and Kage jumped in, shoulders to the stone. With all five of them, the door scraped an inch or two, grinding on something inside, then stopped.
Kage felt the resistance and backed off, hiding how easily he could have forced it. Not here. Not in front of them.
Pope staggered away, hands on his knees, breathing hard. "This thing weighs, like, a ton. It's not moving."
Kage leaned in and checked the gap they'd made. "Something's blocking it from the inside."
JJ wiped his palms on his pants. His eyes were bright. "We didn't come all the way out here to quit at the door. We got this."As he said it, a faint hiss slipped out of a crack near the base of the mausoleum.
Pope froze. "What was that?"
A dark snake slid out of the hole, scales catching what little light there was.
"Whoa!" Pope yelped, stumbling back.
Sarah screamed and jumped toward Kage on instinct. He caught her, steady and calm. A second later, she realized what she'd done and stepped away, face flushed.
"Is it venomous?" she asked quickly.
Kage nodded."Highly."
JJ pointed at it, voice climbing. "That's a moccasin. A cottonmouth."
Then he grinned. "Ye olde Dr. Cottonmouth. Death in tall grass," he added, barking at the snake like a dog.
Kie groaned. "JJ, shut up. I'm serious."Pope dragged at JJ's arm. "You're gonna wake the dead, man."
"Everybody knows snakes are scared of dogs," JJ shot back. "I'm just doing my part."
John B rolled his eyes and stepped forward, but JJ stuck an arm out in front of him.
"Wait, hold up," JJ said.
Kie frowned. "What now?"
JJ swept a hand at the ground around them. "If there's one snake, there's probably, like, twelve. All around us."
Pope blanched. "I'm sorry—what?"
JJ nodded, suddenly all serious. "Yep. Hiding in the grass. Waiting to strike."
Kie and Sarah edged closer together. Kie muttered, "Stop, dude. You're freaking me out."
JJ barked again. Sarah flinched.
"JJ, stop barking at the snakes!" John B snapped.
JJ just grinned. "I'm just making sure the coast is clear, John."
Kage cut in, voice level. "He's not wrong. One usually means more. Watch where you step."
Kiara crossed her arms. "Okay, so… how do we get in?"
Kage smirked, eyeing a narrow opening near the top. "I got this."
He jumped, caught the ledge with easy grip, then swung his legs up and slid feet-first through a tight gap at the side of the mausoleum.He disappeared inside. For a second, no one spoke.
Then his voice echoed from the dark, edged with surprise. "Whoa…"
They traded looks.
"Kage?" Sarah called.
JJ cupped his hands around his mouth. "What'd you find, Spider-Man?"