“Henri, my good friend, I would like to introduce you to Zoe Blanco. Zoe is a new courier that was discovered by a very good friend of mine,” Vincent said as he added Zoe to the call. “Zoe, this is my friend, Henri Cartier.”

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance Zoe,” Henri greeted Zoe. “May I call you Zoe?”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr Cartier,” Zoe replied. Henri was a skinny dark chocolate skinned man. “And yes, I’m fine with being called by my first name.”

“I take it you want me to give Zoe some work,” Henri said to Vincent. Henri had a French accent.

“I would appreciate you at least talking to her, yes,” Vincent replied. “What do you say, Zoe?”

“I would appreciate the work or at least an interview as well,” Zoe added.

“Vinny, I take it this good friend of yours is someone that would also appreciate me giving Zoe a chance?”

“Probably.”

“Alright. Zoe, my shop is located at 118 East 124th St in Harlem. You can’t miss us because we’re in the old post office building. Come on by and we’ll talk.”

“Thank you. My GPS shows I can be there in 30 minutes after leaving here.”

“You’re dressed in a leather jacket. That means you’re a motorcycle rider or a poser. If it’s the former, you’ll be here in less than 30 minutes or I’ll be disappointed,” Henri replied. “Vinny, I’ll talk to you later.”

“And he’s gone,” Vincent said as Henri hung up on them without another word. “Here is your fee.”

Zoe accepted the transfer. She might be able to afford lunch with that.

“Thanks.”

“You’d better take my answer to Nucky’s request and go. I’ll message Tony and let them know I’ve sent you to meet Henri,” Vincent said. Zoe nodded, took the letter, and stood after placing it in her backpack. She hoisted the back onto her shoulders. “If you make it in less than 30 minutes, Henri will probably start you tomorrow.”

“I better run then,” Zoe replied after checking the time. “Thanks again!”

*

Zoe’s GPS showed three routes to get to her destination. The first took the 9A north along the Hudson River and then east onto 125th St to E 124th St. The second route had her taking Lexington Ave north and then going west on 125th St to E 124th St. The third route had her taking the subway. Zoe dismissed it immediately.

She decided to take the 9A as she exited Vincent’s building. A couple of minutes later, Zoe found out she could run in her new boots. A couple more minutes and she was speeding away from the parking garage.

*

“Maybe I shouldn’t have gotten such an eye-catching bike,” Zoe muttered to herself as she passed another cop car weaving in and out of traffic. The cop flashed their lights and hit the siren. Instead of slowing down, Zoe gunned her GT4 and leaned further down onto the bike. She was grateful for her cloaking daemons. “Crap! My bike’s license tag will show me as the owner.”

Zoe set the bike’s self-drive to on and used her slice into the camera network to get into the police network. A minute or two later and Zoe had intercepted his request for her tags and erased it. A few more minutes and Zoe had written a simple command that would keep losing requests for her and her bike. She knew it wouldn’t be long before the police would find her handiwork though. Still, it would be enough for now. She carefully, but quickly exited the system as the police’s ICE started getting closer to where she worked.

“Woohoo!” Zoe screamed unladylike as she resumed driving her GT4 and weaving through traffic. Riding her Triple Black was a lot more fun than slicing and coding. Her parents would have an absolute fit if they could see her now.

*

“Hi. I’m Zoe Blanco and I’m here to see Henri Cartier,” Zoe told the young dark-skinned woman behind the front desk at Cartier Transport.

“Ah. Yes, if you’ll wait just a moment. He’s on a call,” the receptionist said. She had a French accent as well. Zoe noticed an engagement ring on her ring finger. “My name is Chloe Dupont, but most people just call me Cee.”

“Thanks. Congratulations by the way,” Zoe said gesturing at the ring.

“Thank you,” the woman replied. “Henri asked me to marry him after I broke my foot last week trying to jump three cars.”

Zoe’s eyes widened in surprise. “You tried to jump three cars?”

“Yes. I should have disengaged the safety protocols on my SR-600 before doing so, but I didn’t. Instead of pulling off the stunt, my bike put me down and broke my foot. I see that you ride too.”

“Yeah. I ride a GT4 Triple Black,” Zoe replied grinning at the other woman.

“Decided to go big from the jump?”

“I figured I might as well do things correctly from the start,” Zoe shrugged. “Besides, she is beautiful.”

Cee laughed. “Oh, I think we will get along quite well.”

“Is your bike in the shop?”

“Yes. Saito says it’ll be a week, which is fine since it’ll be two weeks for this cast to come off,” Cee answered and gestured to her foot.

“That sucks,” Zoe said. “If you don’t mind me asking, why don’t you upgrade your ride?”

“I plan to,” Cee replied. “I’m debating between Stefani’s SV12 and Saito’s SR-600. I prefer supersports over roadsters.”

“Tell me about this jump?” Zoe asked.

“It was a huge mistake,” a man’s voice said interrupting them. “Trying to jump three cars in our parking lot was…idiocy.”

“Don’t start Henri. We had all been drinking and it was a dare,” Cee said.

“Which makes it worse!”

“Did I complain when you wrecked your A110 racing?” Cee asked.

“Yes!” Henri replied. Zoe laughed. Henri glares at her.

“Sorry, but you two remind me of a cousin of mine and her husband.”

“She does have a point. We already act like an old married couple,” Chloe said.

“That’s because we’ve known each other since we were children,” Henri replied as his expression softened.

“What’s an A110?” Zoe suddenly asked.

“A French sportscar,” Henri answered.

“Henri totaled it, so he upgraded to the A220,” Cee said in a teasing tone of voice. Henri smiled sheepishly. “This is why I’ll get my new toy when I decide which I prefer.”

“True,” Henri agreed making the two women laugh. “So, Zoe. Let’s talk since you made it here in under 30 minutes.”

“You did not!” Chloe exclaimed. “Where did you come from again?”

“37th St in Manhattan,” Zoe answered.

“Henri…”

“What? It was a small test,” the man replied.

“How many cop cars did you pass?” Cee asked.

“Uh…let me check,” Zoe answered. “Oh…ten.”

Henri and Chloe laugh.

“That’ll be ten tickets,” Henri said once he stopped laughing.

“I hope not. I sliced the police network to intercept their tag requests,” Zoe admitted. The French couple laugh even harder.

“Yes Zoe, I believe we won’t just get along, but do so famously,” Cee said.

“Sit Zoe. Let’s talk,” Henri said a second later. “Cee helps me making all my business decisions including who to hire or contract with.”