The ancient banking hall beneath Zurich's Commission building stood suspended in time—nineteenth-century grandeur preserved beneath modern infrastructure like memory embedded in neural architecture. Marble columns rose toward vaulted ceilings where faded murals depicted financial prosperity with classical optimism the modern world had long abandoned. Alex entered through maintenance access Rodriguez's security deemed inefficient for enhanced surveillance, his footsteps echoing across polished stone that had witnessed centuries of wealth changing hands.
Twenty-eight minutes until convergence. Thirty-seven minutes until Commission security lockdown.
Without neural synchronization, Sonia's absence expanded through his consciousness with a physical intensity enhancement couldn't process—co
