“That lying son of a biscuit eater! He didn’t pay to have anything developed,” Zoe muttered as checked the bid site Wednesday morning and discovered a link to download Traffic Cop. There were two versions of the daemon. The first one was an employee version that just gave real time traffic updates. This was the one she already had. The second version was designed for the courier license holder. Not only did it provide the traffic updates, but it instructed the police, drone, and camera networks to ignore the speeding courier.

Zoe deleted the employee version she received from Henri and installed the license holder one while messaging Abby about why the app would allow them to ignore traffic laws. The older courier responded a couple minutes later stating it was because so many of the elite wanted human couriers and the city government was ok with playing along as long as the couriers didn’t cause too many accidents.

Zoe considered messaging Henri that she quit but decided not to. Instead, she would work for herself and probably call out sick again next Monday as long as he didn’t message her that stating he didn’t have any jobs for her first. Zoe thought it was a little bit petty, but also wanted to see if Henri would keep stringing her along.

“Glad I wore my jacket and jeans,” Zoe muttered as she exited her houseboat and locked up. It was cooler than it had been since she had arrived in the city. She checked the weather forecast and discovered a cold front had pushed through overnight. It was currently 65 degrees, and the temperature wasn’t supposed to even get to 80 today. What made the weather even better, was a picture-perfect blue sky.

Zoe fired up her GT4 and put on her helmet and gloves. She slowly made her way down the dock thinking she might have to start parking her bike inside or at least in the marina’s parking garage as it turns colder. Soon enough, Zoe was at the Boat Basin’s entrance waiting for traffic to clear enough so she could get onto 79th St and then use it to get to NY-8A N.

*

Zoe smiled as she drove between two cars stuck in traffic. A car further ahead saw what she was doing and veered to the other lane in an attempt to stop her. She squeezed into the gap between that car and the one behind it and rode up onto the highway’s shoulder. The driver honked his horn. Zoe flipped him off and laughed before speeding up.

*

The casino’s doorman eyed Zoe as she walked up to the door. “New courier?”

“New to this run,” Zoe replied.

“Walk straight to the cage at the back. I’ll have the manager meet you there,” the doorman said.

“Thanks!” Zoe replied. He nodded and activated the door. “Uh, what’s the cage?”

“Never been in a casino before?” he asked. Zoe shook her head. “It’s where players get casino chips and where they can exchange those for credit chips or bank transfers. You can’t miss it.”

“Thanks again,” Zoe said before she strolled past him and into the casino.

*

The casino was loud and not just the noise level. Gaudy also sprung to mind as Zoe took in the place. “This place will give me a headache.”

Zoe shook her head and made her way to the cage. Once there, she knew why the enclosed counter was called a cage. It really was one. Bulletproof glass and steel bars covered the counter area. Plan steel walls enclosed the rest.

“Hi! How can I assist you,” the tall elven woman with supermodel looks at the counter asked Zoe. She was at least 5”10” tall. Zoe squashed the feelings of inadequacy that tried to surface. Nope! She wouldn’t let someone else’s looks get to her today even if she was extremely jealous of their height.

“I’m here to pick up some data,” Zoe replied flipping her new credentials to the woman. “The doorman said the manager would meet me here.”

“Just a moment please and I’ll message Mr Boudin,” the casino employee replied.

“That’s not necessary Mattie. I’m here,” a good-looking middle-aged man said as he entered the cage from a door in the back wall. He turned his attention to Zoe. “I’m Scott Boudin, and you’re Zoe Blanco?”

“Yes sir,” Zoe replied sending him her credentials as well.

“You didn’t have to send me another copy of your credentials. I got a copy from Mattie,” Mr Boudin said. “But thanks anyway.”

“Er, ok,” Zoe replied.

“You’re also a few minutes early,” the manager said.

“Traffic wasn’t too bad, and I wanted to be here on time,” Zoe said.

“That’s good. The other outfit that has been doing these runs for us lately do not show up on time. Hopefully your outfit will continue to honor time commitments,” Mr Boudin complained. He picked up a data cable. “Anyway, everything is ready. Are you sure you know where to go?”

“The Big Apple Bank in Building 14 at JFK,” Zoe said ignoring his complaints and choosing not to mention her outfit was just her. She also wasn’t sure she would want to keep doing these runs for the casino. He nodded his head and held the cable out to her.

*

Zoe exited Building 14 and made her way to Hangar 18. It should have been a five-minute drive, but she was stopped several times by security and gates where she had to keep showing her credentials. It ended up taking 20 minutes to get to the hangar. Thankfully, Portsmouth hadn’t set an exact start time for this run.

“You’re the courier?” A guard asked outside the hangar.

“Yep,” Zoe replied flipping him her credentials.

“Just a moment,” the guard said. “I’ll need to scan you for weapons including your backpack. Zoe frowned.

“I’m carrying a P750 in the small of my back as well as a pocketknife in my right pants pocket,” Zoe informed him.

“Slowly show them to me,” the guard said angling his rifle in her direction without pointing it at Zoe. She complied with his instructions. “The courier is clear.”

A moment later two guards exited the hangar and motioned for Zoe to join them. They escorted her into the hangar where she was met by a woman carrying a small metal case surrounded by four additional guards. These guards scanned Zoe before checking the contacts of her backpack. One of the guards was another woman who frisked Zoe. She tried not to flinch too much but failed.

“Ms. Blanco, I’m Miranda Hawkins and I apologize for the security measures,” the woman said once the guards were finished. “But they are necessary.”

“This is a first for me. I’ve never done a run with security like this before,” Zoe admitted. A couple of the guards grunted at that.

“Anyway, you’ll be carrying a vitally important piece of technology that must get to Katherine Collins at hangar 56 at Newark Liberty International Airport as soon as possible,” Miranda said.

“It’s about an hour and a half drive if traffic is good,” Zoe informed the corporate woman. “I’ll get there as quickly as I can.”

“If you can get this package there within an hour, Katherine is instructed to pay you a bonus in addition to the 1000 credits the job calls for,” Miranda said.

Zoe immediately felt something was not right with this job and that she might want to walk away. “Eh…”

“This isn’t anything dangerous, but it is vitally important technology that Portsmouth is depending on,” Miranda quickly assured Zoe.

“Then why…”

“All this security and why don’t we just transport the case ourselves?” Miranda asked. Zoe nodded. “Some of our rivals have tried to make a play for this and we’re hoping by using a courier in addition to other precautions we’ll be able to slip the case through a tightening net without a problem.”

“Ah,” Zoe said.

“We can give you a gun with more firepower than that toy you’re carrying,” one the guards offered as Zoe started prepping her daemons while another guard took the case from Miranda and placed it in Zoe’s backpack.

“No thanks. I like my P750 just fine,” Zoe replied.

“Good luck,” Miranda said as Zoe took her backpack back and put it on.

“Thanks!” Zoe replied. She muttered under her breath, "Hopefully I won’t need it."