Jimmy glared at the back of the Russians’ heads after watching the footage Zoe had sent him and reading her message. He forwarded the message and footage to Tony, Vincent, and Nucky. Then he prayed that his bosses would care enough to protect an asset even if they didn’t care about the person.

*

“Gennady, why are your men following the courier doing a run for me?” Nucky suddenly asked the Bratva boss a few minutes later. Just a moment before the two had been laughing at a joke.

“What do you mean, Riccardo?” Gennady asked suddenly aware that it had been hubris that allowed him to agree to meet Capone on his turf with so few men.

“Send him the footage,” Nucky instructed Tony. The underboss followed the order. “This courier owes me a lot of credits that I intend to collect either through her working for me or her paying off her debt.”

“I see. She is also someone that crossed our path a few months ago,” Gennady replied. He sent the footage from Yana’s that had been captured before the network went down to Capone and his two lieutenants before explaining about the bartender and possibly stolen data. “I would like to have a word with her.”

“Only the top couriers can afford the data scanning apps,” Vincent said. “I highly doubt this girl, who is a new courier, knew what she was given if she even had gotten any data from your bartender.”

“Perhaps,” the Bratva boss replied. He toyed with his empty shot glass for a moment. “Perhaps I could buy this courier or at least her debt too.”

“Oh?” Nucky said. Getting his money back was appealing. He noticed Jimmy stirring behind the Russians and saw the younger man’s right hand had drifted to his pistol. He messaged Tommy to stop Jimmy if he pulled his gun.

“Indeed. How much does she owe?” Nucky’s Russian counterpart replied.

“On second thought, I’d rather keep the debt and make sure the girl works off her debt personally,” Nucky said making it clear that he considered that she could work off her debt in other, very personal ways as well as paying back what she owed or making courier runs. He also sent Jimmy a message telling him to relax. “So, I must insist for the sake of our joint venture that you leave her alone until she has paid me back.”

“You would risk our arrangement over this courier and her debt to you?” Gennady asked. “We both stand to make a lot more money than this girl can possibly owe you once the Asians are out of the way.”

“That’s true,” Tony said. “But honor also plays an important part in the way we do business.”

“Then let me purchase the debt and your honor will be fulfilled,” Gennady said. The three Italians shook their heads in the negative.

“It’s not just about the deal we made with the courier,” Vincent replied. “It’s about honoring one’s words and family.”

“Family?” one of the other Russians asked.

“The courier is one of our men’s cousins,” Tony answered. “And this man is someone we have plans for.”

“Ah. I see,” Gennady replied. “In that case, I will call off my men. The courier will be safe until her debt to you is paid for the sake of our arrangement.”

*

Zoe breathed a sigh of relief as the Russians turned off. She wasn’t worried about being traced followed through the camera networks and read Jimmy’s message explaining what happened and sent him a thank you and invitation for dinner sometime. Zoe decided to head to Guns R Us and do some target practice. MR practice was nice, but she decided being hands on with her P750 was better for her since she hadn’t practiced with it as much as she should. From everything she had heard, the Bratva weren’t ones to honor their word.

*

“The courier reports your men have departed,” Vincent announced a few minutes later after Jimmy messaged him that Zoe said she wasn’t being followed any longer.

“That’s good,” Nucky said. “Now, let’s discuss which of the Yakuza’s holdings we’ll hit first.”

“That is business I have been looking forward to discussing,” Gennady replied. He knew Kiril would be using the camera networks to follow the girl even if they were no longer physically following her.

*

Zoe activated all her cloaking and disguise daemons. She sliced into the traffic networks and smiled as she ensured she had all but disappeared from them. She pulled into a parking spot near the gun store and shut off her bike.

Zoe took off her helmet and dismounted. She placed the helmet on the bike’s tank and activated the security system. Another smile lit up her face as she noticed a tiny angel perch on the seat. That was new since she had upgraded the bike’s security system and tied it into her Archangel. She walked into Guns R Us and greeted the manager.

“Hi Rob!”

“Hey Zoe. Long time no see,” the dwarf said. “Here to buy a new piece?”

“No. I just want to use the range,” Zoe replied.

“Right this way,” Rob said gesturing towards the range’s door.

*

“Gennady is going to be angry,” Pavel said. “How did the courier disappear from the camera networks?”

“I don’t know,” Kiril replied checking both the police drone network and the city’s traffic camera network again. “She must have some good daemons or know an excellent slicer.”