Before Zoe knew it, the week was almost up. By Friday, she had averaged 1000 credits a day by averaging three runs a day to and from Jersey or Staten Island. Evidently those markets were underserved by most courier outfits, though there were a few that regularly serviced those areas. Those groups also didn’t mind Zoe moving in on their turf, which she thought was nice. Zoe repaid that kindness by buying lunch for a few of those outfits’ couriers she met. If nothing else, she figured being in the good graces of her fellow couriers would be a good thing, so felt the credits were well spent.

Zoe remembered what she had told Newt Monday while out for a run after completing her courier runs for the day and decided to invite her, Vee, and Terr to dinner after running into Vee and Terr Wednesday and Thursday respectively. She figured she would invite them over for a BBQ and explain things then.

“Or I just drop a bombshell on them by going to Cartier’s office Monday morning to quit and tell them I’ve started doing my own thing then,” Zoe mused. She grinned since that option appealed to her the most, but she had made promises and she wanted to keep her word. So, she decided to call those three.

“Hey Zoe,” Vee said in greeting. “Are you out running?”

“Yep,” Zoe replied.

“Are we on a party line or something?” Vee jokingly asked.

“Conference call,” Newt answered making Vee smile. “And hey you two.”

“Don’t forget me,” Terr rumbled.

“We could never do that big guy,” Newt replied.

“That’s good. See that you don’t,” Terr said which prompted a few minutes of joking.

“So, what’s with the call?” Vee asked Zoe.

“Just wanted to invite you three over to a BBQ tonight and have a chat,” Zoe said. “I’d love to show you traditional pulled or chopped pork BBQ, but there isn’t a place in this city that I’ve seen that does it right.”

“Just the thought of pork makes me sick,” Vee grumbled before making fake barfing sounds.

“You eat bacon, which is pork,” Newt cheerfully pointed out.

“Hush you. Bacon is different,” Vee replied, making the rest of them laugh.

“So, since pork is off the menu, what do you have in mind?” Terr asked. “Burgers and hotdogs?”

“Ok, now I’m going to be sick,” Newt said. “Hotdogs are disgusting.”

“And shouldn’t ever be eaten,” Zoe added.

“And people think I’m a savage,” Terr complained. “Hotdogs are awesome.”

“We’ll take your word for it,” Vee replied.

“I was actually thinking about steak or chicken,” Zoe said returning to Terr’s question and moving the conversation away from hotdogs. She shuddered at the thought of them.

“How about both?” the big orc asked. “I’m recovering from a virus in my frame and just getting out of surgery. I could use the protein.”

“Are you alright?” Zoe asked. “And how did you get so sick that you needed surgery?”

“He got a Frame virus,” Newt said.

“Evidently one of his runs this week had an infected data packet,” Vee added. “Not sure how the virus got from Terr’s secure storage to his frame though.”

“Doc Brown found it quickly and said it was an older virus that pops up every few years when someone thinks they can take advantage of a courier. Henri is filing a complaint on my behalf,” Terr said.

“Well, that’s good,” Zoe said. “What about the surgery?”

“Oh. That is just me taking some extra precaution. I got a Shielded Array installed today so I no longer need to use wired connections for data transfer,” Terr smugly answered. “It cost 3000 credits but is worth it.”

“I’m considering getting an Array myself now,” Vee said. Newt voiced her agreement as well. “Though, it’ll be a couple of weeks before Newt or me can afford to get one.”

“Zoe, you should probably look into getting a Shielded Array too,” Newt said.

“I’ll think about it and talk to Claire if I decide to get one,” Zoe replied. “But how do they help with protecting you from viruses?”

“The encryption allows you to do deeper scans of the data before you accept it than a wired connection does,” Terr answered.

“Oh. I can see the logic in wanting that,” Zoe replied. “So, do you guys accept my invite?”

“Sure,” Newt said.

“Yup,” Vee replied.

“Going to have both chicken and steak?” Terr asked.

“Yeah, I’ll get both,” Zoe replied smiling at the orc.

“Wait. How can you afford to pay for this?” Vee asked.

“We’ll talk about that tonight,” Zoe replied smiling at the other woman.

“Can I bring Kerri?” Terr asked.

“Sure,” Zoe answered shrugging her shoulders.

“What about Cee, Henri, and TK?” Newt asked.

“I’d rather not inform them about this,” Zoe quickly replied.

“Ah. So, this talk has something to do with us seeing you out and about instead of being sick in bed,” Vee said.

“Yep,” Zoe replied not seeing the reason to deny that statement. She pulled up the bid site and started searching for Saturday runs just to see what was there.

“Alright. We’ll see you tonight then,” Newt said. The others said their goodbyes and ended the call.

Zoe watched as a run from SoHo to Greenwich, Connecticut popped up. The job was delivering an invitation and cloth sample to two high level corporate executives on Saturday for some high-end boutique. For some reason, Henri had always given them weekends off. Considering there weren’t a lot of jobs available, that might be why. Zoe put in a bid for 750 credits, which undercut a couple other bids by 50 to 100 credits, just to see if she could win it. Taking a couple hours out of a Saturday to work wasn’t a bad thing especially if it paid well.

Zoe smiled as a notice arrived stating she had won the Saturday job while she headed down W 79th St heading toward an upscale market near Central Park that had a good meat department and an actual butcher. Zoe decided to buy the nicest cuts of steak she could find to celebrate.