The New Girl

Fausto darted his eyes toward the girl arranging her gear on the floor. In hushed tones he asked, "Why'd Vince bring her on?"

Ozone shrugged. "Seems capable enough. I guess we'll find out for sure tonight."

"That's not what I meant."

"It was also a favor to his sister. She's a friend of Sara's."

Fausto rolled his eyes and indicated with a jerk of his chin that Ozone should follow him. Once they were far enough away in the cavernous old warehouse, he said, "Come on, you know what I'm talking about. Gitana."

"What about her?"

"She's going to be pissed Vince brought another girl here, no matter how demure she's acting."

"Just because she's a girl doesn't mean Vince plans to sleep with her."

Fausto grinned. "Right. Like he hasn't had something going on with every girl he's ever brought into this gang? Tell me another. This one will be lucky if Gitana doesn't cut her throat in her sleep."

Ozone gave a sly smile. "I have a feeling she can look out for herself."

"Around someone as volatile as Gitana? I'm telling you, she's worse than she ever was; hot one minute, cold the next, getting offended over every little thing..."

"It's not really our problem, is it?" Ozone shoved his hands in his pockets. "I mean, Vince makes the rules, and if he wants this new girl on our team, then that's how it'll be."

Fausto sighed and leaned against the wall. "Yeah. I just wish I understood how he thinks. He's really smart when it comes to negotiating deals for us, like the other night where we got thirty percent on a lousy marijuana handoff. But when it comes to women..."

"Some guys are just like that, man."

"And what does it mean for us? We're the ones that have to live with the chaos."

"It's not like you don't have options," Ozone reminded him.

"What, you mean join someone else?" Fausto fixed him with a look. "I worked for three other groups before I met up with Vince. He's the only guy I know who doesn't cut a guy's share just because he feels like being a jerk."

"So quit complaining about the girl, then." Ozone gave a little twitch of his shoulders and headed back toward the main sleeping area. "Besides, I don't get the feeling she'll be here long."

Fausto tagged after him. "But in the meantime..."

Ozone grinned. "Yeah. Cat fight. Can't say the boss doesn't provide us with entertainment."