CSATA, black room, five o'clock. The director slid across a diplomatic passport: Kom, Cameroonian investor in rare earths, mandated by Yaoundé for a refining agreement in Shenzhen. Nadia would hold Cafe Kom, encrypted relay via the quantum channel from Novosibirsk.

"Nadia, if line drop, you know say na Meridian dey listen."

She nodded, professional to the bone.

Bao'an Airport, three o'clock. Humid heat, white neon. On the VIP tarmac, a woman waited for him. Black silk, leather notebook filled with her annotated articles. Mei Lin Zhao, chief engineer, Tsinghua alumna.

"Doctor Kom. I've been reading you for ten years."

VIP lounge, cold marble. Kom pulled out a Kymie capsule, set it in front of her. Mei Lin smiled without surprise.

"Cameroonian patent twenty seventeen, low-temperature extraction. Cited page one hundred fourteen of my thesis."

"Madam Zhao, if you sabi my capsule already, then this meeting no be coincidence."

She slid an access card across the marble. Photo of Kom, Cafe Kom terrace, taken three days ago. Ping An Tower, sixty-fourth floor.

"They're waiting for you," she whispered. "But me, I was waiting for you differently."

Want to know what a woman who read a man ten years before meeting him is waiting for? Messenger, we're going up to sixty-four together. ☕