Part 12 — The Crack in Reality
The old quarry near Bad Bentheim lay silent and menacing under the thick fog of the winter night. The steep sandstone walls rose like giant, black teeth into the rainy air. At the bottom of the quarry, a deep, pitch-black basin of water had collected—the exact spot where Anna's car had been found eight years ago.
Two black sedans stood with their headlights shining brightly at the edge of the basin. The glare cut through the mist, illuminating the figure of a woman tied to a thick wooden post. Elena. Her face was pale, a cut bled on her temple, but her eyes burned with unyielding pride.
Standing before her were four armed men in heavy leather coats. At the head of the group stood a man in his late fifties with thinning grey hair, wearing a tailored suit under his coat. It was Dr. Heinrich Voss—the former chief surgeon of the Janus Project and once Viktor Kroll's right-hand man.
A soft crunching of gravel announced the arrival of visitors.
Out of the fog stepped two figures. Elias and Julian.
Elias wore a long, dark coat. He walked without any haste, his hands buried deep in his pockets. Julian followed a step behind him, carrying the open grey box in his hands.
Voss smiled—a broad, fake smile that revealed his gold teeth.
“Welcome home, Viktor,” Voss called out over the sound of the falling rain. “Or should I say Mr. Vermeer? I must admit, Anouk's little experiment kept you fresh for a remarkably long time.”
Elias stopped ten meters in front of the group. His gaze swept briefly to Elena, who gave a slight nod to signal she could hold out. Then he locked his eyes on Voss.
“Let the woman go, Heinrich,” Elias said in that deep, vibrating voice that Voss hadn't heard in thirty years. “You got what you wanted. I am here.”
Voss's smile faded slightly. He felt immediately that the man standing before him was no longer a broken accountant. The aura of Kroll was undeniable.
“Not so fast, old friend,” Voss said, clapping his hands softly. “We all want the same thing. The four billion in the Liechtenstein accounts. Julian told us you injected yourself with the serum. That means the access data is back inside your head.”
“It is inside my head,” Elias confirmed calmly. “And it will stay there until Elena is safe.”
“Do you really think you're in a position to negotiate?” Voss laughed. He pulled a small silver remote control from his pocket. “Beneath Elena's chair lies a charge of C4. One press of this button, and she gets blown into the quarry water along with the post. Give me the transaction numbers, Viktor! Now!”
Julian took a step forward. “Voss! Please! I brought you the box! Let's end this without bloodshed!”
“Shut your mouth, boy!” Voss hissed. “You are merely the bastard of an experiment! You have no say here whatsoever!”
Elias looked at Voss for a long moment. Then he did something no one expected. He began to laugh softly.
It wasn't a crazy laugh, but the cold, mocking chuckle of a grandmaster who has placed his opponent in checkmate five moves ahead.
“What's so funny?!” Voss snapped, his hand tightening around the remote control.
“You were always a terrible doctor, Heinrich,” Elias said, taking another step closer. “And an even worse strategist. Do you really believe Anouk built this box to hide the money?”
Voss narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“Anouk didn't build the box to secure the fortune,” Elias explained softly. “She built it as bait. For the day the greedy members of the syndicate would try to steal the inheritance.”
Elias pulled his right hand from his coat pocket. He held no gun. He held a small black control device with a glowing red switch.
“When I was injected with the serum, it didn't just bring back the memories of the accounts,” Elias said. “It also brought back the memory of what Anouk did before her death. She emptied the Liechtenstein accounts eight years ago.”
Voss turned pale. “What?! That's impossible!”
“The money no longer exists, Heinrich,” Elias continued smoothly. “Anouk transferred all four billion to a global trust fund for the victims of the syndicate. What remains on the servers in Liechtenstein isn't a fortune. It's a digital self-destruct virus. The moment someone attempts to log in with my old passwords, it wipes every account and secret identity across the entire global network.”
A shockwave ran through Voss's men. They looked around uncertainly. Their entire dream of unimaginable wealth fell to dust in a matter of seconds.
“You're lying!” Voss screamed, consumed by rage. “You're bluffing!”
“Try it then,” Elias said ice-cold. “But first, you should know what this control device in my hand does.”
Elias held up the black device.
“The explosives you prepared, Heinrich... Anouk wired this entire quarry with her own charges eight years ago. To erase all traces. If I flip this switch, the entire north wall of the quarry collapses. The water will swallow us all.”
Voss stared at Elias. He saw no fear in his former boss's eyes. He saw a man fully prepared to embrace death to put an end to the evil.
“You're crazy...”, Voss whispered. “You've gone completely insane...”
At that moment, Julian grabbed the heavy grey box and threw it with all his strength straight into Voss's face.
The heavy container struck Voss full on the bridge of his nose. The doctor screamed in pain, lost his balance, and dropped the remote control.
“Now, Elias!” Elena shouted.
Elias didn't hesitate. He charged forward, disarmed the first mercenary with a swift strike, and yanked the weapon from his hands. Gunshots shattered the night, flashes illuminating the fog as the final battle in the quarry erupted.
