“Breathe Zoe,” Zoe told herself. She slowed to a jog and focused on her breathing for a while. After calming herself, Zoe checked Rockford’s stock market app. Her last transaction had been investing one million credits into wheat futures. For a moment Zoe was tempted to empty the woman’s accounts and attempt to fly to Australia or some tropical island.

Those thoughts only lasted a couple of minutes though. Zoe knew that if she stole that much money, she would be hunted down and made an example of by Rockford’s corporate backers or fellow elites, if not both. Still, this was an opportunity to pay off her debt to Capone and setup a nice little nest egg for herself. Zoe picked up her pace again and pondered what she should do.

Zoe generally thought of herself as a good person but knew that others might disagree and that her upbringing had been a bit different than most peoples since she didn’t have a problem with stealing from the rich. She wasn’t sure what that said about herself that she was only worried about being too greedy and getting caught, instead of stealing from the wealthy woman in the first place. Deciding to not dwell on it, Zoe kept running and thinking of what she wanted to do.

As she neared the Azalea Pond, inspiration struck. Rockford had been happy about the wheat shortage, so Zoe decided she would cash out the woman’s wheat futures investments and give it to various food charities around the world doing some good for a change as well as taking a small part for herself. Taking 75K for herself would work and give Zoe that little nest egg she wanted after paying off the mob. She had paid Capone back 8000 credits so far, leaving her owing the mobster 42000 credits. The 33000 credits left would allow Zoe to pay Jimmy back the 10 grand he had given her as well as giving Zoe enough to live off for the rest of the year unless she did something stupid.

With her decision made, Zoe slowed to a jog once more and activated her Phantom as well as making sure Grave Robber, Cloak, and Illusion all had the maximum of profiles ready to go. She also upped her Archangel’s functions to their max and doublechecked that the multi-hop VPN she had gotten was still functioning correctly. Zoe slowed to a walk, took a deep breath, and focused on Mixed Reality.

A second later she zeroed Rockford’s wheat futures investment and transferred the million credits into a temporary offshore account. A few seconds later, Zoe started shoving her arms in different directions in front of her as she transferred funds to different charities in 25000 and 50000 credit amounts. Three of the 25K chunks went into six different bank accounts in three countries before hitting Zoe’s private account.

“That’s a weird looking arm exercise,” another runner said while passing her.

Zoe shook her head and flashed them a smile. “I know, but it’s work related.”

The runner nodded and kept going. Zoe returned to focusing on the transfers. A few seconds later, she heard Hounds baying in the distance.

“Oh crap! That was fast!” Zoe muttered to herself as she finished her transactions and started to jog again as the Hounds bayed once more. This time they were closer. Zoe started to run a moment later while having Illusion start shifting through profiles rapidly.

*

By the time Zoe ran to Bethesda Fountain, the Hounds had closed in on The Lake from the north, south, and east. Several Hounds had latched onto people whose profiles Illusion had used. Zoe ran a little faster. If she could make it to the edge of the park, she would hop the bus at Central Park West and West 69th St. Zoe sliced into the traffic camera network on a hunch.

Armed guards starting to enter the park from Central Park West. Some were on foot, and a few were in armored vehicles. A moment later, police sirens could be heard approaching the park as well.

“Frack me! Just who in the heck is Cynthia Rockford anyway?” Zoe asked herself. She changed direction and started running towards Skater’s Circle after a small group of runners. Perhaps she could go southwest and escape the net by using the bus stop at W 67th and Central Park West.

Zoe looked up as a Dragon roared as it flew overhead. “That’s not fair! Those things aren’t supposed to hunt individuals.”

Zoe started running faster.

*

Zoe stuck to the main path and slowed to a jog to keep from running into people. A lot of people had stopped what they were doing and were pointing up at the Dragon with most talking about the it as Zoe passed them.

“Dude! It’s a freaking Dragon!”

“I know man! It’s awesome.”

“I wonder what it’s looking for?”

“No idea, but whoever or whatever is screwed!”

Sadly, not all were paying attention to the Mixed Reality creature.

“Hey baby! Why don’t you join us?” a male voice cut shouted cutting through the surrounding chatter.

“We’ll teach you to skate!” a second added.

“I’m talking to you girl wearing the blue leggings,” the first said. Zoe kept going and ignoring them to the best of her ability. Archangel warned Zoe that the young man was coming toward her.

“Forget the girl. It’s the cops!” the second guy suddenly said as a cruiser appeared by the Volleyball courts Drinking Fountain. The two guys turned north and started toward Terrace Dr. She got off the path and started going more west.

Zoe had to slow to a fast walk as she entered the Sheep Meadow. The area was packed, and here too, about half the people were pointing up at the Dragon while others were asking what they were looking at. Another police cruiser drove into the Sheep Meadow from W 66th St. People started pointing at the police car.

Zoe started making copies of Phantom. The cruiser broadcast a message. “Remain calm and where you are. Your assistance is appreciated. We are searching for an individual and this will only take a few minutes of your time.”

Instead of having the intended effect the message had the opposite as a lot of people started going north, west, and east out of the Meadow. Those heading east, changed direction after seeing the cruiser in that direction. Zoe let herself be swept up with the crowd heading toward the Sheep Meadow Drinking Fountain and Tavern on the Green. The Dragon roared and the Hounds bayed as they closed in on Zoe’s location. People started to panic and run.

Zoe joined them in running and released her Phantom and its clones in every direction once she passed Tavern on the Green causing the MR creatures to scatter after them. She just missed the bus, so Zoe ran across Central Park West and started walking down W 67th Street. She hailed a cab and had it take her to DeWitt Clinton Park. She would make her way home from there.