The elevator hummed like a trapped insect all the way up the spine of the tower. 118 floors of glass and chrome, climbing through the storm-stained air into something too high to feel real. Iris watched the floor numbers tick up like a countdown. Her ears popped somewhere around floor eighty. By ninety the pressure in her chest had nothing to do with altitude.
When the doors slid open, Ozone was quiet. Too quiet for what was supposed to be the highest bar in the world. The typhoon had thinned the clientele down to a handful of expats pretending they hadn't nearly drowned in their serviced apartments last night. Waiters drifted between tables with half-charged smiles, their AR menus flickering with static. The glitch smelled faintly of incense and ozone, like a storm still lingering in the wires.
Iris didn't need to look far.
Wei was already there, tucked into a corner booth like the booth belonged to him. Jacket draped loose over his shoulders, a sword leaned against the seat as if it were just another walking stick. His hair was steel shot with white, his face lined in ways money didn't erase, but the tattoos beneath his skin gave him a shimmer of something both older and sharper. They pulsed just enough light to make him look half-alive, half-haunted.
Nobody sat within three tables of him.
Iris stepped out, boots scuffing on polished marble. She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets and let her eyes wander the empty space. Chrome pillars, glass walls, the city smeared in neon and stormlight far below. It felt like walking into an aquarium tank with the shark already circling.
When she reached the booth, she slid into the seat opposite without asking. "World's highest bar," she said, eyeing the untouched cup in front of him, "and you order tea. Let me guess: longjing, imported, ninety bucks a pot?"
Wei's lips twitched. Not a smile. More like a scar remembering how. "Local tieguanyin. I do not trust imports."
"Of course not," Iris said. "God forbid anyone poison you with pesticide instead of just stabbing you in the street."
He let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a cough, low in his chest. The tattoos along his wrist stirred faintly, a dragon curling to listen. "You are not afraid."
"I'm broke," Iris said, leaning back in the booth. "There's a difference."
For a moment neither spoke. Ozone's speakers pumped low ambient bass through the room, the kind that was supposed to make drinks taste more expensive. The windows hummed faintly with the pressure differential. Outside, the city still dripped from the storm, cranes stalled over half-flooded construction pits.
Finally Wei set both hands on the table, palms scarred and steady. "They tell me you are the fastest driver in Hong Kong."
"Fastest courier," Iris corrected. "Emphasis on courier. I deliver packages. I don't do guns, I don't do drugs, and I don't do favors that get me arrested."
Wei inclined his head as if she'd passed a test. "Good. The desperate ones say yes to anything. They die quickly."
Iris raised an eyebrow. "So what's this then? If it's not cutting throats or moving bricks, why drag me up here?"
He didn't answer right away. Instead he lifted the teacup, sipped, set it down again with the kind of slowness that made time bend toward him. When he finally spoke, his voice was gravel wrapped in silk.
"My daughter lands at Chek Lap Kok in one hour. I need her here, in this tower, before the sun breaks."
Iris blinked once, then barked a short laugh. "That's cute. Normal drive is ninety minutes on a clear night. You're asking me to shove it into thirty in post-typhoon gridlock. Try again. You'd need teleportation."
"The wards forbid it," Wei said calmly. "Corporations police the airspace. The feng shui of this island twists all shortcuts into traps. No planes. No portals. No tricks." His eyes fixed on her like weights. "I need a driver."
Iris drummed her fingers against the tabletop. A bead of condensation slid down the glass wall beside her, catching neon from the harbor below. One hour. Sunrise creeping closer by the minute. And Cho's voice still in her head: I owe you.
She swallowed a curse and leaned forward. "And what's in it for me? Aside from the chance to break every traffic law between here and Lantau?"
Wei didn't hesitate. "Money. Position. The Jade Hand has room for talent. Protection, if you want it. Few turn that down."
Iris studied him. The tattoos under his skin shimmered faintly, restless in the bar's dim light. He wasn't bluffing. He didn't need to. Men like him never did.
She could have said "no". Stand up and leave. And maybe, just maybe, she would go scott-free. But men like Wei never did anything just because they could. And repercussions of her refusal could bite her ass any time now.
And that was exactly why she smiled. A small, crooked thing, sharp enough to cut. She leaned back in her seat, hands spreading casually. "You know what? Keep your offers. This one will be a favour."
The words hung there. A lesser man might have argued, might have pressed. Wei only watched her in silence, eyes narrowing a fraction. The tattoos along his forearms shifted, koi tails flicking as if disturbed. Then he nodded once, slow, deliberate.
No thank you. No deal sealed. Just the understanding between predators: favors weren't free. A debt had just been written. And the price was hers to name.
"Faster than sunrise," she muttered. "Hell of a way to start a morning."
Out across the glass horizon, the first faint silver of pre-dawn brushed the sky. Iris caught it out of the corner of her eye and hissed between her teeth.
She leaned forward, elbows on the table. "Just so you remember—" her grin came quick, sharp, "—I don't drive town cars. I drive a bike. One hell of a dangerous tool to strap your daughter onto. You sure you're not worried?"
Wei's gaze didn't flicker. The ink under his skin glowed faintly, restless. "There are matters more pressing than comfort. She must be within the Ritz wards before dawn breaks. That is all that matters."
Iris studied him a beat longer, then sat back with a sharp exhale through her nose. "Faster than sunrise, on two wheels. Guess we'll see if your faith is justified."
Wei inclined his head once, slow as gravity. No smile. No blessing. Just acceptance.