Jess focuses, ear held to the door of a safe as she listens to the clicks of the dial, and lets out a sigh as she hears the much louder click of a cocked hammer behind her head.
"Weapons on the ground, hands up." Comes the voice of the gun's owner. She sighs again and turns her attention back to the safe.
"Thought we had us an arrangement, Billie." She whines, struggling to focus on the clicking and the conversation at the same time.
"We did, then the money got better." Says Billie. "C'mon now, weapons on the ground."
Jess fishes a revolver out of her holster and tosses it in the sand.
clickclickCLICK
She starts slowly turning the dial in reverse.
"All of 'em Jess, don't make this harder than it needs to be."
"You wanna grab the knife outta my boot be my guest, I'm in the middle of something."
"Jessie."
clickclickclickclickclickclickclick
"How much?"
"It don't matter to you."
"C'moooon. Don't be like that."
clickclickclickclickclickclickclick
"Three hundred dollars, alive."
"They gonna hang me?"
"Sounds like."
clickclickclickclickclickCLICK
She reverses direction again.
"I wouldn't let you hang, y'know. Not for three hundred."
"I ain't done nothin' worth hanging for."
"And I have?"
clickclickclickclickclickclickclick
"Not my call, Jessie."
"Billie-"
"Hands up, don't make me ask again."
clickclickclickclickclickclickclick
"What'll it take to say you never saw me?"
"I don't want your money, Jess."
"Didn't say nothin' about money." Jess says, a tight smile on her lips. "Got a bottle of whiskey and a camp by the river. Cot's big enough for two."
Billie sighs, and holsters her revolver.
"How'd you even get this thing out here in the middle of nowhere?"
"Fell off a train."
"Uh-huh. And you just happened upon it, didja?"
"Yuuuup."
"Can't keep letting me catch you like this, Jessie. One day the money will be too good, what you gonna do then huh?"
clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickCLICK
"I'unno." Jess says, opening the safe door and sweeping the contents into her satchel. She tosses an 8oz bar of gold to her would-be captor.
"Now what the hell am I meant to do with this, Jess?"
"Consider it an investment in my continued freedom. We riding together, or-"
"Hell no, I can't be seen with you."
"Aw." Jess pouts. "You'll hurt a girl's feelings, saying things like that."
"I bet. What river?"
"One up north. Camp's just by the bend."
"I'll meet you there once the sun's gone down."
"It's a date!"
"No it fucking ain't."
