ONE OPTION TOO MANY
Verena did her morning toilet, through the half-opened window of the
bathroom window she heard birds chirping. The sun dazzled her, it
looked like a warm May day. It cheered her up, made her forget for
a moment a restless night for a moment. She had hardly slept,
Driven by thoughts and doubts. She had good reasons for her
suspicion that her husband was cheating on her. However, she had no
way of knowing that she was completely wrong.
In her past, just about everything had gone wrong that could have.
When she was two years old, her glorious father had the idea to rob
a bank. Under the heavy influence of drugs, he was quickly caught,
received a long prison sentence. 6 years ago Verena received a
message that her father had died of an overdose.
How this was possible, she never got a satisfactory answer.
Otherwise her childhood had been good. She married a nice man,
with whom she got along very well. The fact that he was also a bank
director had certain advantages. Like having her own beautiful family
home on the outskirts of town, annual vacations abroad, no money
worries, what more could one want.
And above all, their 5-year-old daughter Tina. Her pride and joy. Tina was
a bit difficult right now, wanted to assert her head everywhere. She
was very lively, Verena had to run after her all the time, but she didn’t take
it too seriously. developed so well.
Everything was almost too good to be true. Telling someone like that
would sound corny.
She closed the shutters of the kitchen window, as the sun glared in more
and more. Upstairs she heard Tina pattering around, she’ll be down soon,
then it’s over with the morning rest.
In February, they spent a week in their vacation apartment in the prealps.
Every day intensive skiing, with parties, fine dinners.
They had a great week. For Tina they had hired a nanny.
A Norwegian student spent the week with them.
The apartment was big enough. Frida, as she was called, was placed with
them through an office of the local university. She was great, and
totally infatuated with Tina. She took loving care of her.
It was a fantastic week, Verena and Dieter spent a lot of time together.
in every respect it worked out well with them. Verena could not have
been happier.
The dark clouds started to gather after her return.
Dieter began to behave strangely.
On the very first day of work, he called her around dusk. He had to stay
at the office for an important customer. She wanted to believe him,
but when he sneaked into bed after midnight, the doubts came again. She
pretended herself asleep. In the morning he was out early. Don’t wait for
me tonight, it will be late again. Quickly he drank a coffee, and
he was gone. She was close to crying.
Dieter had arrived at the bank, sat down at his desk, and checked his
open trading positions. He quickly realized that everything had gotten
much worse.
For an Italian trading company, he had bought foreign exchange calls on
the dollar against Japanese yen.
The option had only a few days left. The dollar had not gone up as
expected up, but down sharply. He was about to lose all the
premiums on the option. At the moment the loss was about 5 million
dollars.
(To explain, currency options give the buyer the right to purchase a certain
currency, at a specified expiration date and at a predetermined
exchange rate (strike). The validity period is limited by the expiration date.
For the right, the buyer of the option pays an option premium to the
seller. If the exchange rate of the foreign exchange does not reach the strike by
the expiration date, the option expires worthless).
Towards evening, he received a call from one of the heads of the
trading company. Dieter suspected that this company was doing other
business than just normal trading. The customer was checked internally,
and found to be good. A high trading limit was implemented.
Dieter had informed the manager about the loss incurred. This did not go
into more detail at first.
With the phone call, the manager announced that he would be available for lunch
at a restaurant near Dieter’s place, he expected him there, announced the
place and time, and hung up.
Dieter swallowed, he looked around the office, there was no one
around, From a drawer he took a bottle of whiskey, poured himself a big
glass and emptied it in no time.
He was afraid that these people would not accept the loss so easily.
He looked again at the current prices, but nothing had improved.
He decided to go home early and devote himself to his family.
He couldn’t change anything here anyway.
At home, Verena was surprised when he showed up so unexpectedly. “Did
something happen,” she asked?
Dieter mentioned a customer who had postponed a meeting until
tomorrow, so he was free earlier today. Verena was happy about that. At
dinner, he asked her about her mother. “How is she, when did you
you visited her last time, why don’t you go again, she will be happy for
sure.
At his suggestion that she could go tomorrow, her alarm bells rang again.
She got up without saying a word and went to her room. Dieter no longer
understood nothing more. He followed her. She lay on the bed and cried
bitterly.
“What’s wrong?” He grabbed her by the shoulder, and turned her to face
him.
“What’s wrong?” he didn’t understand.
“Why don’t you go to her,” Verena then cried. “That’s what you want.
That’s why you want to send me away to my mother.”
Dieter was completely confused. He had not expected anything like this.
“No, no, you’re quite wrong,” Dieter affirmed. “It’s not that at all.”
“Then what is it,” she wanted to know.
Dieter then, “come sit down, I’ll tell you everything”.
He told her about his professional problems and the last thing he was
thinking at the moment was to cheat on her.
Her face brightened visibly, she leaned against him happily.
She then wanted to know more. “Can’t you solve the problem at the bank
somehow*, she asked.
Dieter didn’t know the answer to that. He informed her about tomorrow’s
lunch with a manager of this Italian trading company. He had
not a good feeling about this company. From the beginning he had
suspected that it could be a front company of the Mafia.
However, the bank’s internal investigations did not reveal anything of the
kind. brought anything like that to light. Nevertheless, I don’t trust them,
and that’s why I’d like you to go with Tina to your mother’s for a few days.
Startled, she asked whether there was any danger, not only for her and
Tina, but also for him. He did not know, and dismissed it as a purely
cautionary measure. Secretly, however, he was already very worried.
The next morning at the bank, Weber came into his office. For Dieter
an unsympathetic type, he had never liked him. He managed
customer funds in very large amounts. He let everyone know how
important he was for the bank.
Well, he said, as one hears, you are in deep shit. I wouldn’t want to be in
your shoes. He seemed to enjoy it. And he was gone. Dieter ignored him
At noon he met with the man from the Italian trading company.
He made quite a nice impression. They dined, had a glass of wine,
Then he got down to business.
“Listen carefully,” he began. “You have lost the equivalent of five million
dollars for us. We’re not going to accept that. You will recover the money
for us. How is up to you. You have two weeks to do so.”
“How am I supposed to do that,” Dieter asked? The answer was, “come up
with something, you are the banker. Or do you want your your wife and
your little daughter in danger, Tina I think her name is.
Surely you don’t want that, do you”?
He stood up, two weeks, or there will be consequences! Then he left
the restaurant without further comment.
Dieter stayed in the restaurant for a while, thoughtfully, then paid the bill.
With a phone call to his office, he reported to be, with an
important customer for the afternoon. Then he made his way home.
Verena, of course, was surprised that he was home so early. “Are you ok?
Yes, yes,” he replied, “I think I have a little fever, and I’m going to lie down.
Verena immediately procured a thermometer from the bathroom and
Went upstairs to use it.
He was sitting on the bed, a large notepad with a thick pen with him.
On it was written in big black letters:
Watch out, we’re being bugged, don’t speak anything more incriminating.
She nodded. “Ah, she said, our telephone had a malfunction, yesterday a
a mechanic came and fixed it”. No fever, she said, mybe you are tired.
.
She suggested that he get some sleep. Afterwards he would would surely
feel better. He agreed, she brought an extra warm blanket for him,
darkened, and then left the room.
Dieter then began to write under his blanket with a flashlight. It was as
follows: Verena, please keep Tina at home tomorrow, call the
kindergarten, and sign her out with a slight fever. I go to work tomorrow as
usual, and will be home around six in the evening. in the evening. I’ll park
a borrowed car behind the house.
Go out back at this hour, take Tina with you, and then go to our
forest cabin, don’t talk to anyone about it.
The next day, Dieter went to work as usual, somehow making it through
the day. somehow. In the hallway he again met the obnoxious
Weber. He just grinned disparagingly and walked on without a word.
In the evening Dieter came home. Tina came to meet him. “Daddy, look
look, I have a little fever.” He put his hand on her forehead.
“Indeed, a little hot,” he commented. Verena then informed him,
that she had an extraordinary appointment with her pediatrician at seven
o’clock. and she would take her then. “Well, be brave Tina,” Dieter cuddled
her tightly.
“I’m going to change now, and I’ll be back around seven o’clock, I’m going
to go a round of jogging. When you get back, go straight to sleep, I’ll
take some money with me and maybe go for a drink later.” He said
goodbye loudly.
Verena nodded in understanding.
In the afternoon, Dieter had borrowed a small car from a mechanic friend
and parked it near her house in a side street.
He gave Verena the car keys and a small sketch of where the car was.
located.
But now it was time to go for a run. It would be dark soon.
He ran through a small forest, on the way he turned off abruptly, and
and hid in a dense bush. There he waited for minutes motionless, until he
was sure that no one had followed him. Then he went on.
He jogged for several kilometers, through field and meadow paths, behind
the rows of houses. He stopped in front of a half-ruined shack, took a note
from his inside pocket. He had written everything down.
Behind the shack, in almost total darkness, he felt for a key under a flower
box. This opened a back door, which surprisingly, did not make any noise.
He pulled a small flashlight with a darkened shade out of his side pocket,
and was able to find his way around. On one
wall hung an old telephone with dialing. It looked dilapidated and dirty.
The dial, however, worked without any problems. According to his note, he
entered an eight-digit code in the dim light of his small lamp.
Using one finger to enter the numbers on the dial reminded him of the old
days. reminded him of earlier times. According to the note, he hung up the
receiver and a soft click sounded.
Next to the old-fashioned machine was a cabinet that looked just as old
dirty and with wormholes.
After the click, however, the closet door opened automatically. He entered
the closet and closed the door.
Another click, and behind him, on the inside of the closet, another door
opened. It was an entrance to an elevator. He entered it closed
automatically behind him, and before he knew it, it was going rapidly
downwards. After a few seconds it stopped, the door opened by
itself.
Through a small concrete corridor, he arrived in front of a solid entrance.
At eye level was a face scanner. He stood in front of it, the door
opened, and he entered.
He was greeted warmly!
Kazimir, his real name according to his own account, embraced him stormily. Well as far as that was possible with his belly girth.
“Kazi”, as Dieter called him since his youth, “it’s so nice to see you, it’s
been a while, I’m sorry, but I’m very busy with work and family.
Kazi waved him off, “It’s okay,” he said, “I understand, I’m very active
myself at the moment.
From a fully automatic machine he immediately conjured up two
espressos, and they sat together and enjoyed the aroma.
Their history together went back a long way, Kazi was orphaned at an
early age. passed around in homes. Not that he was not taken care of
there.
He was quickly noticed for his above-average intelligence and
and perceptive faculty. A social worker well known to Dieter began to
intensively with Kazi. At the age of fourteen he managed to
to send the boy to a computer science course, but no one would
wanted to pay the costs. He had passed the entrance exam
without any problems.
One day, during a time out in the café, with Ken, the social worker, this
was presented to him. He then asked how much the costs would be.
Dieter had received his first annual bonus at the bank shortly before.
He quickly understood that this was roughly the equivalent of the training.
He then asked Ken if he could meet Kazimir in person.
Ken promised to arrange something as soon as possible.
In the meantime, Verena had gone with Tina to the forest hut. This was
very well furnished. She cooked something and soon it was bedtime for
the little one.
She read her a story, and then told her already that tomorrow they would
go to Aunt Elsa. There she would surely be much better, and she could
play with Sonja. Elsa was Verena’s sister, Sonja was her daughter, was a
year older than Tina, and the little girl was was totally infatuated with her.
The two could play together for hours. Tina was happy and soon fell
asleep. Verena was fully aware of the seriousness of her situation. She
had taken precautions for emergencies in the in the forest hut. She
checked everything for functionality and then went to sleep.
The next morning, after breakfast, they drove to her sister’s
house.
Dieter sat with Kazi, they talked about old times.
He looked around. The large room was full crammed with equipment.
Kazi explained to him that he ran the servers for different
organizations, and that he could make a good living from it. Only
he was mostly in this room, only going out to buy drinks and junk food.
Too much of it and too little exercise had made him quite round.
Dieter had contributed to individual devices, he had supported him during
his training wherever he could.
Kazi looked at him. “So, I see something is bothering you, tell me
everything.
Whatever I can do for you, I’ll do it,” he had become very serious. Dieter
took his word for it.
He then began to explain his problems. Kazi listened attentively,
taking notes. He wanted to have all the details, from the bank, and simply
everything that was known about the customer.
Kazi understood that Dieter had to get the five million or his life, and that
of his family, was in danger.
They drank another cup of coffee together. Kazi then handed Dieter
a rather old-fashioned telephone, one that could be opened and closed.
and flip it shut. But it had a prepaid card in it. Call me with it if you think of
anything else, it’s not registered.
Come by tomorrow evening at the same time, make sure you’re safe on
the way.
Way, I’ll figure out a solution. Please also bring the entire daily schedule
from your bank, e.g., when do you have meetings, who goes to lunch at
what time, who is in the office in the morning at what time, and who
leaves at what time in the evening, just everything that somehow works.
Dieter nodded and hugged him. Kazi looked so happy. “Finally I can do
something for you.
I’ve been waiting for this for so long, I’ll do everything, really everything, to
straighten this out for you”.
After Verena had taken Tina to her sister’s, she drove back and parked the
small car behind the house in a side street. Through the back door, she
then entered the kitchen, where she immediately turned on the coffee
machine, and began to handle objects. She prepared breakfast. Dieter
came into the kitchen. “How is Tina doing?” he asked. Verena said she’d
better leave her at home today. now she was still asleep, and didn’t want
to wake her up.
As soon as she is better, they will probably go together to her mother’s for
a few days.
Wait, I’ll call her right away, Verena was already on the phone. The mother
was delighted to meet them.
Verena then to Dieter. “The phone has been making strange noises ever
since that mechanic was here, it seems to me that he couldn’t fix it
properly either. buy a new one today, the thing is already a few years old.
At the front of the center is this big electronic store.
Let them advise you there. Verena nodded in agreement. “Yes, I’ll do that
today.” Dieter set off to work.
When he arrived at the bank, he meticulously noted everything down.
Arrival times of the employees. Details, including time and
participants present at the morning meeting. He wrote down everything
that could be of any importance.
In the evening, Dieter put on his jogging suit again. Verena told him that
she had bought a new phone, and that it was now working
perfectly. He went on his way. Like the night before
hiding in the bushes, and through other tortuous paths to Kazi.
with the already familiar procedure.
Kazi not only managed servers of several companies, he also had
secret hacking orders. He was supposed to hack the client’s
and if necessary, draw attention to weak points.
vulnerabilities. He was very successful with this. He was paid generously
for each case he uncovered. He had never used anything
to his own advantage for his own benefit.
That had changed today. He got surprisingly fast into the inner
system of Dieter’s bank. Security didn’t seem to be too important there, or
there were incompetent people working in the IT area.
(IT=Information Technology).
He then told Dieter that he had systematically gone through the
transactions of the portfolio managers of the last two months, and found
Irregulaties.
A certain Weber had regularly transferred 50,000 Euros to an offshore
numbered account.
Kazi had also been able to gain access to this bank in the Caribbean,
found that this amount in each case was immediately exchanged for
cryptocurrency. Afterwards the trail was lost, of course. Since Weber is
responsible for a customer relationship with hundreds of of millions, with
a lot of turnover, these payments never caught noticed.
“That’s how we do it,” Kazi looked at Dieter questioningly. He didn’t
understand right away. Kazi continued, “We wait for a good moment and
transfer the five million dollars, and immediately convert it to
Cryptocurrency.
Dieter was a bit confused. But how is that going to work, he asked.
Kazi immediately. “The day after tomorrow is another day when the Weber
will transfer the 50,000 transfers. After he does that, I’ll hack in, and
transfer an additional five million dollars in the same way.
After that I log into the system of the offshore bank and buy the
cryptocurrency. The trail is lost, it can no longer be traced any more. For
everything, I will interpose different networks, delete all my own traces.
Probably the transfer will be discovered only during the next audit.
Everything will point to this Weber, after all, he has been cheating his
customers for a long time.I have no qualms about that.
“And if you get caught anyway and go to jail,” Dieter still hesitated.
Kazi brushed aside the objection, “Didn’t I say I’d do anything for you?
for you, everything. That’s what I meant.
Dieter agreed.
The day after next, Dieter went to the bank at about eight o’clock in the
morning. but did not yet switch on his system. He went to get a
coffee in the break area, where some people were already present.
He then deliberately spilled the coffee all over his
pants.
He cursed loudly. He cleaned himself up in a makeshift manner.
Crap, now crap, now he had to go home to put on new pants.
A manager from another department then offered him a spare pair of
pants, he had just picked them up from the cleaners, and they were about
the same body size. Dieter accepted with thanks.
The fact that everyone could hear it, Dieter loudly, typical and exactly on a
thirteenth of the month, that can only happen to me. The day begins
well. Everybody got that.
He then went back to his workplace. In the afternoon he received a text
message on his cell phone. The text: Everything is fine.
When he arrived at Kazi’s in the evening, with the caution he had already
practiced, the access data for the cryptocurrency balance.
No one has noticed anything, it will be fine, Kazi said. The best thing to do
call this leader tomorrow and give him these data.
No sooner said than done, a day later he met with him for lunch, gave him
the details, and asked him to come for another lunch. He should write a
mail for it, with the word “palletti” in it. This would be the hidden
that everything was okay again.
The manager agreed.
In fact, Dieter received a corresponding mail already one day later.
They should meet again for lunch. A restaurant was suggested.
Dieter agreed.
After a fine meal, with a good glass of wine, the leader suggested that we
go for a walk in the forest. The weather seemed ideal for it, Dieter agreed.
After they had walked quite far, the leader then stopped.
To Dieter’s great surprise, he had a pistol with a silencer in his hand.
He did not understand. But I did everything, he stammered. What
is this now.
The leader “yes, you even managed it very well, how, no one could
understand, for my boss the matter is done.
Your family will not be bothered anymore. The account at your bank will
continued.”
“But then why the gun?” asked Dieter anxiously.
He never leaves witnesses, that was his recipe for success, was the
answer. It was nothing personal. With the pistol, he pointed Dieter toward
a small ravine. He would shoot him now and then push him into a crevice.
no one would ever discover him.
He raised the pistol to eye level and took aim. Dieter froze, waiting for him
to finish.
A loud “plop” sounded, he looked down at himself, from then on there was
nothing.
After straight ahead, he saw how the leader sank to the ground. His chest
was ripped open, blood spurted out of him. He must have been hit by a
hollow point bullet, the injury looked so bad.
A hooded figure dressed in black came running toward him.
“Quick, we have to get him out of here,” it shouted. He knew the voice
after all. It was Verena, taking off her mask. “Help me, we’ll throw him into
the crevice.” Dieter was shocked and no longer understood anything.
But mechanically he helped, and quickly the body disappeared through the
crevice.
Verena wiped away all traces of blood, sprayed an ammonia mixture from
a can against the animals. After all traces were removed, she took him by
the arm. They walked quite far away, and then they sat down on a tree
stump and Verena told him everything.
Before they met, she had served in the military for almost two years.
during which she had been trained as a sniper.
After the end of her service, she was assigned to the reserve, with the
condition of secrecy. No one knew about it, not even her mother.
The weapon, a sniper rifle with a telescopic sight and a silencer
was given to her, including ammunition. A few cartridges she had
subsequently reworked herself. In case there might be danger for her or
her family could exist.
“I followed you from the restaurant, I also learned that in the military,
You didn’t notice anything.
I couldn’t just let him shoot you.”
She started to cry. Dieter took her head between his hands, looked at her
and just said:
“Thank you!”
My Kyushu 