“The girl’s profile shows she is one Luisa Smits from Long Island,” Dominik told his boss, Gennady. “Her image doesn’t match any of the Luisa Smits profiles though.”

“Then do an image search,” Gennady commanded.

“Right away….”

“What is it now?” Gennady asked.

“The network is down,” Dominik answered.

“What? Our network is never down.”

“It is now!” Dominik said.

“Our network is being taken down by a denial-of-service attack!” Kiril shouted as he ran over to the other two men.

“Who would dare attack the Bratva?” Gennady asked.

“Perhaps the courier has backers that we oppose,” Kiril said.

“We’ll found out once we have her,” Gennady replied. “You two join the others and find her!”

*

Zoe leapt onto the hood of a Laurent Incorporated car and ran down its length. She jumped from it onto another car as a man lunged at her ankles. Zoe had lost a lot of her pursers as she approached the Brighton Beach public parking lot thanks to the Flood daemon. Though some of the faster Bratva members still chased her.

Zoe ran into the nearby playground and dashed up a slide. The man closest to her slipped and fell down the slide. She jumped off the platform at the top and over a woman that had rushed in from Brightwater Ct. The woman reached for something in the small of her back as Zoe sliced her.

She then hit the woman with Shocker. 50000 volts coursed through the gang member knocking her back into the metal ladder. The current passed through the metal slide and hit the man that was using the bottom of it to get back to his feet. Both went down and didn’t get back up.

“Be careful, she has offensive daemons!” another woman shouted before launching an attack at Zoe.

Archangel returned the attack and hit the woman with Flamethrower while Zoe used Stinker and Dazzler on others. The woman Archangel hit started to slap at herself and scream. A few seconds later and she fainted.

Zoe wasn’t sure how high Flamethrower raised the heat on a person and she didn’t want to find out. That looked and sounded painful. Zoe activated her GT4’s auto drive feature and called the motorcycle to her as she ran up Brighton 1st Pl towards Brighton Beach Ave. Archangel screamed a warning and Zoe dropped to the ground as a shot pierced the early evening quiet.

“Don’t shoot her you fool!” someone shouted. Gennady wants her alive.”

“Sorry!” the man yelled.

Zoe was still on the ground and reached into her belly band taking out her P750. A trembling hand pointed at the man that said not to shoot her as he got closer. Zoe’s Allegro activated the smartgun’s targeting system and the crosshair in her vision turned green as it locked onto the man.

“You won’t shoot,” he taunted. “You’re shaking like a leaf.”

Zoe’s index finger caressed the trigger and the gun slightly jumped in her hand.

“Oof!” the man shouted grabbing at his chest. He looked down at his hand. No blood was on them as the P750 was loaded with tranquilizer rounds. “What?” he asked before falling to his knees and then onto his face.

“She shot Oleg!” the man holding the gun shouted. He fired another round. Zoe felt the wind of it’s passing as it barely missed her left ear.

He grabbed at his chest a second later as Zoe shot him, and he soon joined his comrade on sleeping on the ground. Zoe got to her feet and used both shaking hands to return the P750 to the belly band. She ran to her Triple Black, quickly put on the helmet, and gunned the bike west against traffic until she hit Ocean Parkway and took it north.

*

“Claire, what did you have me pick up?” Zoe shouted at Doc Brown as she hit Shore Parkway and set auto drive to take her to Doc Brown’s. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. She would take it until Hamilton Ave. Then she would turn onto Hicks St and take it to Claire’s clinic on Henry St. The building had been a pharmacy and soda shop once upon a time.

“Just some data and videos,” Claire answered. “Why? Is something wrong?”

“Is something wrong? The Bratva chased and shot at me!” Zoe shouted back. “I…I shot two of them.”

“Breathe Zoe. You need to calm down,” Claire replied. Zoe nodded. “Are you safe?”

“I’m o…on Shore Parkway,” Zoe answered after a moment.

“Ok. Do you want us to come and get you?” Claire asked. Zoe shook her head no. “Ok. Just breathe in through your nose and out your mouth. We’ll deal with the people you killed later.”

“D…di…didn’t ki…kill anyone,” Zoe said. She wasn’t stuttering so much as having trouble breathing. A moment later she continued, “us…used tranquilizer rounds.”

“You should pull over until you calm down,” Doc Brown said.

“Au…auto drive is on.”

“Alright. I still think you should stop someplace. Zane, Bill, and I will come get you and your bike,” Claire said. “I think you’re in shock.”

“Oh…ok,” Zoe replied. Archangel’s alarm screamed again, and Zoe swerved hard to the right. The back glass of the car in front of her exploded as a bullet hit it. Zoe screamed as a bullet hit her in the back.

“Zoe, what is it?” Claire shouted.

Zoe gunned her GT4 and started to swerve in and out of traffic. “Go…got sh…shot in…in the back.”

“I’m calling the police,” Claire replied. “Check your vitals.”

“They’re already chasing the Russians,” Zoe said clearly as adrenaline hit her again after she used the rear camera to see behind her. Zoe checked her health readouts. “The subdermal weave stopped the bullet.”

“Accept this request so I can check too,” Claire instructed. Zoe did. “Hmmm. That’ll bruise badly, but it’s better than the alternative. They must want you alive and are shooting normal rounds.”

Zoe didn’t say anything and increased her speed to the bike’s max of 140 mph. She continued to weave in and out of traffic. Soon enough the Russians were left in her dust.

“Zoe, where are you? Bill and I are on the way,” Zane said. Zoe hadn’t even realized that Claire had added him to the call. Zoe didn’t answer. “Come on Zoe. Answer me.”

“Approaching exit 24.”

“Good lord girl!” Zane exclaimed. “You need to slow down.”

“We’ll deal with the police,” Claire said. “Still, Zane is correct. You need to slow down.”

“I’ll slow down when I get to exit 26,” Zoe replied. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Zoe…”

“I’m hanging up. I’ll be there soon,” Zoe said and disconnected the call.