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verge of passing out, someone ripped
her off of me. Espinoza slapped her upside the head and probably
would have done the same to me, if she had found any spot that
wasn’t already red or blue. Instead, she just shook her head.
    “God damn it. I always knew you were
sneaking around behind my back, but never expected you’d play such
teenage games.”
    “Boss, he-”
    “Shut up, Daniella! Maybe this is a blessing
in disguise. You’re growing too powerful operating independently.”
Espinoza stepped out of the shack and glared at her maintenance
chief trying lamely to look innocent. “Now I have an excuse to take
you out of the field. You’re confined to base until I feel you’ve
learned a lesson. That little empire you’ve built is gone. One of
my lieutenants will take over scavenging operations.”
    Espinoza turned her back and chewed out
Jessy. From Daniella’s white-hot rage, you’d expect to hear a war
whoop. Instead, she just quietly caved the nose in of the boss’s
bodyguard. A hidden revolver grew out of her hand as she drew a
bead on Espinoza’s back. To this day, I still don’t know what came
over me. I like to think I was making a strategic choice and siding
with the devil I knew rather than a new one. To be perfectly
honest, maybe I was just pissed off about getting my ass handed to
me.
    Either way, I leapt out of bed and ripped a
fire extinguisher from the wall. While Espinoza’s other two
compatriots froze in quiet indecision as the most popular woman in
camp took aim at the boss, I slammed the heavy canister into the
back of her head. Daniella got off a wild, but far-off shot as she
crumbled.
    Espinoza spun like a top, that ubiquitous
.50 caliber pistol of hers out and ready. She blasted three quick
holes in Daniella’s chest without saying a word. I collapsed to the
floor, suddenly feeling even more like a naked idiot. The boss,
naturally, was cool as ice.
    “She wouldn’t have tried something like this
if she couldn’t count on support. Seize the three girls that came
in with her from the field. Go now, before they realize what’s
happening.” She looked the maintenance team over, her eyes halting
on Rachel’s deadpan stare. “One idiot and a bunch of disloyal
cunts. That’s what I’ve got to work with.”
    Jessy turned ghost white. “Boss, no! We’re
on your side. You know that!”
    “We’ll find out soon enough. For now, take
this,” she kicked Daniella’s corpse, “down the road a few miles and
dump it. She doesn’t deserve a burial in the camp.”
    Espinoza’s tone softened just a tad when she
stepped closer to me. By her standards, that meant she was
practically purring at me. “John, out of all these bitches, you’re
the only one I can count on. I never took you as the type for
romantic gestures.” She brushed her hand over my hair and whispered
in my ear. “You might just make me switch teams. Once this loyalty
purge is over with, we’re going to explore this a bit more.” I
practically fainted when she gave me a peck on the cheek.
    For her part, Rachel wouldn’t talk or even
look at me the rest of the day.
     

 
Payback
     
    That night I only had one appointment. A
sweet young girl who’d been kissing the boss’s ass for the chance
to get pregnant. Not looking forward to that visit. Five minutes of
sex and then all night I’d have to listen to her drone endlessly on
about the family she lost in The Fall. Oh, I’m not that callous,
but every one of us has a similar story. We make it through the
pain by focusing on the future. In my depressed state, it took a
second to realize the girl rushing into my arms when I answered the
door was Rachel.
    “Baby! Holy God.” Lust and terror sparred
across her face. You could tell she’d been crying, but she hushed
me. “I know the risk and I don’t care. If this is the only we can
be together, then I’ll take what I can get.”
    “Rach, I want you too. More than you can
ever know, but my, uh, client will be here