Chapter 92: The Zurich Algorithm

 

Zurich, Switzerland. Bahnhofstrasse. The Von Stroheim Private Bank. 9:00 AM.

The bank didn't look like a bank. It looked like a neoclassic museum. No tellers, no ATMs. Only marble floors and silence. This was where warlords, dictators, and the Syndicate kept their "Rainy Day" funds.

In the penthouse office, Baroness Ingrid Von Stroheim sipped an espresso. She was seventy, elegant, and cold as the Alps. She watched the news of General Ryker’s arrest on her tablet. "Amateurs," she scoffed. "Soldiers and media clowns. They make noise. Money... money is silent."

She pressed a button on her desk. "Initialize Protocol: Laundromat." "Move all Syndicate assets to the offshore accounts in the Caymans. Encrypt the trail with the Quantum Ledger."

"Yes, Baroness," her AI assistant replied. "Transfer volume: $50 Billion. Estimated time: 10 minutes."

The Baroness smiled. Once the money moved, it would be untraceable. Sebastian Sterling could scream all he wanted, but he couldn't touch a ghost.

---

[The Connection]

A Safehouse overlooking Lake Zurich.

Sebastian sat in front of a bank of servers cooling with liquid nitrogen. "She's moving the money," Sebastian said, his eyes glued to the data stream. "Just as we predicted. The Ryker arrest spooked her."

"Can we stop it?" Harper asked. She was dressed in a chic ski outfit, acting as the lookout on the balcony.

"Not from here," Sebastian typed furiously. "Her firewall is quantum-grade. I can't break it." "But He can."

He opened a secure, encrypted channel. Destination: Tokyo. Fuchu Prison. Cell Block 9.

[ CONNECTING TO: ZERO... ] [ ACCESS GRANTED. ]

A text window popped up on the screen. No video. Just green text.

ZERO: You're late, Sterling. SEBASTIAN: Had to deal with a General. Are you ready? ZERO: My father's code protecting that bank? It's insulting. Give me the backdoor.

"Who is Zero?" Jack asked, cleaning his gun (again).

"Kenji Nakamura," Sebastian explained. "The estranged son of Takeshi Nakamura (Syndicate Target #4). His father framed him for cyber-terrorism to steal his code." "Kenji hates the Syndicate more than I do."

---

[The Physical Hack]

"Zero can't hack the bank unless we bridge the air-gap," Sebastian stood up. "The bank's internal server is offline. We need to physically plant a Tap on the fiber optic line."

"Where is the line?" Harper asked.

"Under the street," Sebastian pointed to the blueprint. "In the cooling tunnels." "It's -20 degrees down there. And it's guarded by pressure sensors."

"Sounds like my kind of party," Jack grabbed his gear. "Let's go play plumber."

---

[The Tunnels]

Beneath the Bank.

Jack and Sebastian waded through icy water in the sewer maintenance tunnel. Jack placed a small EMP jammer on the wall. Hummm. "Sensors disabled for 30 seconds. Go."

Sebastian climbed up the ladder to the junction box. He wasn't wearing an exoskeleton. His hands were shaking from the cold (and the residual nerve damage). He had to splice a fiber optic cable thinner than a human hair.

"Ten seconds, Sebastian!" Jack whispered.

Sebastian held his breath. He used a micro-laser welder. Click. The tap was in. A green light blinked.

"Zero," Sebastian whispered into his comms. "You're in."

---

[The Heist]

Tokyo (Virtual). Zurich (Virtual).

Inside the digital realm, a war began. The Baroness's AI (The Guardian) detected the intrusion immediately. [ THREAT DETECTED. LOCKING ACCOUNTS. ]

But Zero was faster. His code didn't attack the firewall. It seduced it. It mimicked the Baroness's own biometric signature. [ BIOMETRIC CONFIRMED. WELCOME, BARONESS. ]

ZERO: I'm in the ledger. The transfer is at 40%. SEBASTIAN: Don't stop it. Redirect it.

ZERO: Where to? Your account?

Sebastian looked at the screen. Fifty billion dollars. It could rebuild Sterling Corp. It could buy him an army. But he remembered Catherine. He remembered the people who died in the oil rig experiments.

SEBASTIAN: No. Send it to the victims. SEBASTIAN: Amnesty International. The Red Cross. Refugee funds. And... a special payout to the pension fund of the workers laid off by Hale Media. SEBASTIAN: Drain it all.

ZERO: With pleasure.

---

[The Collapse]

The Baroness's Office.

The Baroness watched the progress bar. [ TRANSFER COMPLETE. ]

She sighed in relief. "Excellent."

Then, her phone buzzed. A notification from the Swiss National Bank. [ ALERT: SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY. ]

Then another. From the Cayman Islands. [ ALERT: ACCOUNT BALANCE ZERO. ]

"What?" The Baroness stood up. "Computer! Report!"

The AI voice responded, but it sounded... different. Mocking. "Transaction successful, Ingrid. The orphans thank you for your generous donation."

"No!" The Baroness screamed. "Reverse it! Reverse it!"

"Error: Encryption Key Deleted." "Goodbye."

The screen went black. Then, a single image appeared. A Lion. (The Sterling Logo).

The Baroness collapsed into her chair. Fifty billion. Gone. It wasn't just her money. It was the Russian mafia's money. The Cartel's money. The Yakuza's money. Her phone started ringing. She knew who it was. She didn't answer. She opened her desk drawer and took out a small, pearl-handled pistol. She knew the rules of the game. Failure was not an option.

---

[The Price]

The Safehouse.

"It's done," Sebastian watched the news reports. "Historical anonymous donation floods global charities..."

"We broke the bank," Jack laughed, opening a bottle of Swiss wine.

"But we made a promise," Sebastian looked at the screen.

ZERO: I did my part. Now do yours. ZERO: Get me out of this hellhole. ZERO: My father knows I did this. He will send the cleaners to my cell tonight.

Sebastian typed back. SEBASTIAN: Hold on, Kenji. We are coming.

He turned to Harper and Jack. "Pack your bags." "We're going to Tokyo."

"Target #4?" Harper asked.

"Takeshi Nakamura," Sebastian nodded. "The Tech Giant. The man who builds the Syndicate's surveillance state." "And the man who locked up his own son."

"How do we get into a Japanese super-max prison?" Jack asked.

Sebastian looked at the Shadow Drive. "We don't break in." "We break the city." "We are going to turn Tokyo into a blackout."

(End of Chapter 92)