“And that’s that,” the clerk at the Civil Court of Kings County at 141 Livingston St in Brooklyn told Zoe after she confirmed delivery of the data Zoe had brought.

“I’m supposed to pick up some data to deliver to Walker and Associates’ office on Fort Hamilton Parkway,” Zoe said.

“A courier from Hayabasa Transportation has already taken that pickup,” the clerk replied shrugging her shoulders.

“Seriously?”

“They were here, and we wanted to get the documents out as quickly as possible. Maybe you should have been here sooner.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Zoe replied sarcastically before walking out of the clerk’s office. She was ticked off. Hayabasa Transportation had taken two dozen of her pickups in the last few days since she refused Haru Kimura’s challenge. She called Henri as she exited the courthouse.

“Yes Zoe?” Henri asked upon answering the call.

“Hayabasa Transportation got me again,” Zoe said. “This is getting ridiculous.”

“I agree,” Henri replied. “They have also been snatching runs from the others.”

“Is there any thing we can do about it?” Zoe asked.

“Be faster or race Haru,” Henri answered flatly.

“That’s not very helpful,” Zoe replied as she walked to her bike.

“No, but it’s the truth,” Henri said. “Haybasa is obviously making a point to take our runs to force you to accept Haru’s challenge.”

“True. It sucks though,” Zoe conceded.

“That it does,” Henri agreed. “But there is nothing I can do about it.”

“Why not?”

“You’ve benefited from being in the right place at the right time to pick up runs from other couriers,” Henri said. “They can claim they’re just doing the same, so it becomes he said/she said and as long as the deliveries are being made, the clients don’t care who does it.”

“Do you have any thing I can pick up?”

“Non. It’s a slow Monday. Bowery’s next party invitations won’t be ready for us until Friday,” Henri replied. “I’m clearing everyone’s schedules so we can spend the entire day delivering the invitations.”

“Just how many people are invited to this shindig?”

Henri laughed. “I do love how you show your country roots and slip in those odd, old words from time to time. To answer your question, Bowery has invited 200 people.”

“Geez. No wonder you’ve cleared the whole day,” Zoe replied ignoring the comment about her word choice and upbringing.

“Exactly. If something comes up, I’ll call you. Otherwise, enjoy the rest of the day off.”

“Thanks Henri,” Zoe replied before ending the call. She fired up her Triple Black and headed home.

*

Zoe activated her GT4’s self-drive and checked her accounts. Since the party she had made less than before since Hayabasa Transportation was snatching her pickups despite making more per run. She was fine for now and could go a couple of weeks before things started eating into her savings thanks to the scanner sales. Another 30 couriers had purchased the app, which gave Zoe 15000 overall. While not a nest egg, it was a decent amount to have and would keep her from having to risk the law or worse by slicing into more of the purity church’s accounts.

*

Zoe was fuming as she exited the New York Elevator Co’s offices and walked to where she had parked her bike. She had been scheduled to take some invoices from the repair service to the NYC Corporate Apartments building on West 51st Street, but one of Hayabasa Transportation’s couriers had already snatched the delivery.

“I’ll be glad to give you the data if you agree to race me,” a voice said. Zoe looked beside her bike and saw Haru Kimura leaning against his SRM-4. Zoe didn’t answer but just glared at the man. “Oh, don’t be that way. Glares do not suit you.”

“I’m not going to race you,” Zoe said. Thankfully, he wasn’t doing all this in a lame attempt to force her to have sex. “If you want my bike bad enough, just offer to buy it. Better yet, go buy a new one.”

“Knight isn’t making the Triple Black series anymore. The Triple Black was a limited production run,” Haru replied. That surprised Zoe. “Besides, buying isn’t as fun as winning.”

“Too bad,” Zoe replied mounting her bike. She was fighting herself to stay civil and not slice his system.

“I’ll also promise that Hayabasa Transportation will stop taking Cartier Transport’s pickups,” Haru replied giving Zoe a knowing look.

Zoe bit her lip considering his offer. “My bike isn’t that fast.”

“The GT4 has a top speed of 150 mph. My SRM-4’s top speed is 220 mph. We’ll race from Tramway Plaza to Queensboro Plaza Station in Queens. That’s a straight drive over the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge and I’ll give you a 45 second head start,” Haru said seeing that Zoe hadn’t outright refused.

“How can you promise that anyway?”

“I’ve used the bridge as a racetrack several times,” Haru replied.

“Not that. I meant about not snatching our jobs.”

“Oh. That’s easy. My stepfather owns Hayabasa Transportation and we’ve been ignoring some of our usual runs to put the squeeze on you.”

“Ass.”

Haru grinned. “I’ve been called worse. So, how about it?”

“Fine!” Zoe snapped letting her temper get the better of her. Her Allegro showed that the head start should be just enough to give her even odds. That was if her luck held.

*

Zoe ignored the warnings of excessive speed from the GT4 and checked her rearview cameras. Haru was already gaining on her. Zoe was halfway across the bridge and traffic was getting worse. She zipped in between two cars that blared their horns.

“Ha!” Zoe exclaimed to herself as Haru had to go left around a truck. She grinned and leaned further down to minimize wind drag. Traffic Cop blared a warning of a wreck ahead. Zoe focused ahead only to see that cars and trucks were spread out across the bridge. She hit the brakes as there was no clear path forward. This proved to be a mistake.

Zoe went flying over her GT4 as the bike went up on the front wheel. She tucked her head. The bike tipped and fell onto its right side. A garbage truck slammed into and ran over the bike as it hit the brakes. Zoe crashed back first into the back of a furniture delivery van and knew no more as the world faded to black.