diff --git a/fasttask/README.md b/fasttask/README.md
index f5628e19056..5f61af01e1a 100644
--- a/fasttask/README.md
+++ b/fasttask/README.md
@@ -13,5 +13,7 @@ FastTask is a Flyte plugin to execute tasks quickly using a persistent, external
     export FLYTE_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=minio
     export FLYTE_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=miniostorage
     export FLYTE_AWS_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:30084
+
+    ./target/debug/worker bridge --queue-id=bar --fast-register-dir-override /tmp/fasttask-test
 ## build fast task worker image
     docker build -t hamersaw/fasttask:<tag> -f Dockerfile .
diff --git a/fasttask/plugin/service.go b/fasttask/plugin/service.go
index 261e5fca9be..656850bbad3 100644
--- a/fasttask/plugin/service.go
+++ b/fasttask/plugin/service.go
@@ -275,14 +275,15 @@ func (f *FastTaskService) Cleanup(ctx context.Context, taskID, queueID, workerID
 	f.queuesLock.RLock()
 	defer f.queuesLock.RUnlock()
 
-	queue := f.queues[queueID]
-	queue.lock.RLock()
-	defer queue.lock.RUnlock()
-
-	if worker, exists := queue.workers[workerID]; exists {
-		worker.responseChan <- &pb.HeartbeatResponse{
-			TaskId:    taskID,
-			Operation: pb.HeartbeatResponse_DELETE,
+	if queue, exists := f.queues[queueID]; exists {
+		queue.lock.RLock()
+		defer queue.lock.RUnlock()
+
+		if worker, exists := queue.workers[workerID]; exists {
+			worker.responseChan <- &pb.HeartbeatResponse{
+				TaskId:    taskID,
+				Operation: pb.HeartbeatResponse_DELETE,
+			}
 		}
 	}