Chapter 82 - The Zurich Standoff
Sixteen hours later, a violent winter blizzard swept over Zurich, Switzerland. Snow fell in thick, blinding blankets over the cobblestone streets and cold stone banks of the financial district.
Inside the subterranean vault of the Paragon Bank—three floors beneath the frozen earth—the air was icy cold. High-tech server racks glowed with neon blue lights, processing billions of transactions per second.
Veronica Vance stood before the central mainframe console, a portable satellite terminal plugged into the server core. Her hands were shaking violently as she typed in a 32-character encryption key.
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"Come on... come on..." she muttered frantically, staring at the red digital timer counting down on the screen.
"It's over, Veronica," my voice echoed through the cold vault chamber.
Veronica whirled around.
Ethan and I walked down the central aisle between the server racks. I wore a heavy charcoal wool coat, my hands tucked into my pockets, looking completely calm. Behind us, Swiss Federal Police officers quietly sealed all vault exits.
"How did you get in here?!" Veronica screamed, backing into the mainframe, holding a small remote detonator in her trembling hand. "Stay back! I've rigged the server cooling tanks with thermite charges! If I press this, the entire vault burns, and the sixty billion dollars is destroyed forever!"
"Press it," Ethan said quietly, stepping forward without a single trace of fear in his eyes.
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Veronica blinked, confused. "What?"
"Press it, Veronica," I said softly, taking another step closer. "You think destroying that money hurts me? That money was built by my father, but it was never what made my life whole. You took my home, my clothes, and my title. But you couldn't take my husband, my children, or my integrity."
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