Chapter 3 The Neutral Ground

The Neutral Ground

The private jet was a Gulfstream G650, a silent silver needle piercing the cloud layer over the English Channel. Inside, the cabin smelled of expensive leather and ozone. Elena sat across from Julian, her gaze fixed on the window, though there was nothing to see but a void of black and grey.

Julian's fingers danced across his laptop. He wasn't looking at the scenery; he was looking at the "Digital Architecture" of Zurich.

"Zurich isn't like London," Julian muttered, his eyes reflected in the screen's blue light. "In London, the surveillance is a blunt instrument-cameras on every corner. In Zurich, it's a scalpel. They track your spending, your transit pings, even the way your gait matches your ID profile. If you breathe too loudly near the Paradeplatz, a server somewhere flags your lung capacity."

Elena didn't turn around. "That's why we're not going to Paradeplatz. We're going to the *Lindenhof*."

"The old Roman fort?"

"The Vance family owns a secure data relay buried beneath the hill. It's an old bunker from the Cold War, repurposed for 'high-velocity' trading. If we can tap into that relay, we can inject the 'poison' into the city's central facial recognition node before the morning commute."

### The Descent

As the plane began its descent toward Zurich Airport, the cabin pressure shifted. Julian felt a familiar tightening in his chest. He was a creature of the dark web, a king of the invisible. Being physically present at the scene of the crime felt like walking onto a battlefield in a suit of paper.

"I pulled your father's file while you were sleeping," Julian said, turning his laptop toward her.

Elena finally looked. The screen showed a man with hair the color of industrial steel and eyes that looked like they had been calibrated in a lab. **Arthur Vance.** CEO of Vance International.

"He's not just looking for a 'patent,' Elena. There's a line item in the 2025 R&D budget under a project called *Lazarus*. It's a massive investment in CRISPR-based cellular regeneration. The kind of stuff that requires... specific genetic baselines."

Elena's face went pale. "He didn't want to find me because he missed me. He wants to harvest me."

"He wants his 'prototype' back," Julian said grimly.

### The Zurich Trap

The landing was smooth, but the atmosphere on the ground was anything but. As they walked through the private terminal, Julian's "Threat-Detection" software-a custom app on his phone-began to vibrate in his pocket.

*One pulse. Two pulses. Constant vibration.*

"We're being scanned," Julian whispered, not slowing his pace. "Passive RFID. Someone is checking our biometrics against the arrival list."

"Iron Gate?" Elena asked, her hand slipping into her coat, likely gripping the Glock.

"Worse," Julian said, glancing at a nondescript man in a grey suit standing by the exit. The man wasn't looking at them; he was looking at a tablet. "That's a State Security signature. Your father didn't just hire mercenaries. He's flagged you as a 'national security asset'."

They stepped out into the crisp, biting air of Zurich. A black Audi A8 was waiting. The driver didn't move.

"Don't get in," Julian said, grabbing Elena's arm.

"It's our contact," she insisted.

"No," Julian said, pointing at the side mirror of the Audi. There was a tiny, gold decal of a lion-the crest of the Vance family. "The contact was supposed to have a rental. That's a company car."

Before Elena could respond, the rear door of the Audi swung open. But nobody stepped out. Instead, a voice projected from the car's internal speakers-a voice that sounded like grinding stones.

"Elena. You were always a poor hider. And Mr. Vane, your 'deletion' services are no longer required. We've already found the files you were meant to erase."

Julian looked at his phone. The *Chronos* app, the future-predictor Elena had shown him, flickered back to life. It showed the Audi exploding in exactly thirty seconds.

But the prediction was wrong. The Audi wasn't going to explode. The ground beneath them was.

"Run!" Julian screamed, diving toward the concrete barrier of the parking garage just as the maintenance hatch behind them blew upward in a geyser of steam and sparks.

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