With a little convincing, Brisco and Bowler had agreed to stay the night in the small town of Ciudad Pasada. As its name suggested, the tiny settlement was the last this side of the Hualapai Mountains. The population barely hovered above thirty and the amenities were scarce. If Jessie was worried about being recognized in a town where any outsiders would certainly be scrutinized, she didn't make it obvious.
Before they made it to the town's only lodging, Jessie jumped down from the saddle after ordering Sancho to a stop in front of the sheriff's office to inspect the wanted posters nailed to a board propped beside the front door. With no light emanating from the tiny building, it was certain no one was inside, which gave Jessie ample time to inspect the faces plastering the board without being investigated as to why she was loitering outside the city jail.
After a few moments, Jessie grabbed the edge of one of the posters hanging near the center of the timber and gave it one quick tug, successfully freeing the paper from its nail. Brisco already had an idea to whom the wanted poster promised a handsome bounty for the outlaw's capture.
"I can always tell which towns you recently breezed through." Bowler growled as Jessie rejoined them. "There ain't a wanted poster with your face on it in sight."
"Well, if they used a decent sketch, I wouldn't be so upset about them." she announced, waving the wrinkled paper in the air. "I mean, come on. Look at how big my nose is in this picture." Jessie continued, holding up the poster as if to prove her point. "And there's no way my eyes are that far apart. I look like a fish in this." Bowler shook his head and followed his partner to the only hotel occupying the main drag, leaving Jessie where she stood as she carefully folded the newly acquired wanted poster in half and tucking it into her saddle bag.
Brisco and Bowler were already inside the two story hotel, collecting the keys to their respective rooms before Jessie finally joined them.
"So, where's my room?" she asked, shifting the weight if the saddlebag she had draped over her left shoulder.
"Our room is just up the stairs." Brisco corrected, not bothering to look up as he finished signing the hotel ledger.
"Oh, I don't think so." Jessie said as she leaned over her brother's shoulder, pretending to eye the names he etched into the book. Instead, she kept her focus on the set of keys given to Brisco by the portly hotel manager. Brisco gripped his tightly in his right hand as he wrote, but Bowler was foolish enough to tuck his into a pocket
"Oh, I think so." Brisco shot back, yanking the saddlebag from her grasp and laying it atop the nearly identical one he had draped over his shoulder as well. The move surprised her, if only momentarily, allowing Brisco time to gather distance from Jessie and make his way to the stairway unencumbered.
"Bowler?" Jessie asked sweetly, her eyes wide and her bottom lip pouted slightly as she grabbed Bowler's arm tightly.
"Get out of here." Bowler growled, shaking his arm free, not feeling her hand slip into his pocket and grab the room key.
"Gladly." Jessie grinned wickedly as she dangled the key from her fingertips and pulled her saddlebag from her brother's shoulder. Bowler patted his pocket, his eyes filled with confusion, then anger when he noticed the key in Jessie's grasp was really his.
"You little thief." Bowler hissed, taking a few threatening steps toward the smiling outlaw.
"Good night, fellas." Brisco put a hand out, stopping Bowler from advancing any further on Jessie as she bounded up the wooden stairs, throwing a smug look over her shoulder before slipping into her new room.
"You're the reason she's such a little smart ass." Bowler accused as he followed Brisco to their room, located next to Jessie.
"Me?" Brisco asked, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Yes, you. You let her get away with anything and everything."
"I do not."
"Oh, you do, too." Bowler argued, slamming the door shut behind him after warily surveying the tiny room, just barely big enough to fit a trussed bed, a wardrobe, and a cot set up crudely in the furthest corner.
"Says who?" Brisco shot back, tossing the well-worn saddle bag onto the plush bed, which received him a glare from his partner in return.
"Says everybody. And who says you get the big bed?"
"I say I do cause I paid for the room."
"C'mon, Brisco," Bowler began, the expression on his face nearly identical to Jessie's when she had begged him for his room key. "You see how little that bed is. And it's only for one night."
"You're right." Brisco agreed. "It's only for one night, so you shouldn't mind sleeping on it, now should you?" Bowler did his best to stare down the fellow bounty hunter, but he knew when he was beat. Dejected, Bowler tossed his belongings onto the cot and expelled a long, mournful sigh.
"You know I'm right, don't you?" Bowler asked as he unpacked his saddlebag.
"What?"
"About Jessie. You let her walk all over you."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jessie dumped the contents of her bag on her bed, without much care to where the items landed. She dug through the contents, pausing slightly when her hand rested on a small stack of paper, bound together with thick string. Atop the pile was the photograph that caused her to pause. She bit down on her lip as her fingers traced the edges of the picture, smiling softly when her gaze landed on George's face. A soft knock at the door pulled her attention away.
"What?" she called out, tucking the stack pf papers underneath her pillow. When she received no answer, she sighed and made her way to the door. "Brisco, what the hell do you want?" she muttered, pulling the door open quickly. Her blood froze when she noticed the person on the other side of the door was not her brother, nor Bowler for that matter.
"Howdy, County." the man sneered as she quickly noticed the rather large gun pointed directly at her. Jessie stumbled backward, kicking the door shut with her foot as she did so. The bullet smashed through the heavy wooden door, missing Jessie's head by mere centimeters. Jessie collapsed to the ground as another round entered the room, smashing into the far wall.
"Christ." she yelped when she reached up to lock the door and a bullet crashed through the door, just above her hand.
She pulled herself across the floor, away from the doorway, silently cursing everyone and everything that brought her to this point.
When the man behind the door finally entered her room, she recognized him immediately, her focus no longer on the gun solely.
"El Gato." she hissed, reaching in vain for the Colt she had briefly forgotten wasn't there.
"I come to collect the bounty on your head." the bounty hunter said, his voice thickly accented. "And since you're worth more dead than alive, I'm going to kill you."
"I don't think so." El Gato's eyes widened at the familiar voice, and the sound of the Colt being charged behind him. A cocky grin spread across Jessie's face.
"Brisco County Jr." El Gato said slowly, his surprise replaced by annoyance. "I'm not surprised you're here, too, but I feel I should tell you, I'm taking your sister in, whether you like it or not."
"I don't see how you're going to make that happen, El Gato. Because if you shoot her, I'm just going to shoot you."
"I'm willing to risk it for five thousand dollars, Chivato." Counting on the fact El Gato had no idea how close he actually was, Brisco used El Gato's attentiveness to Jessie to his advantage. As El Gato's finger squeezed the trigger, Brisco brought the butt of his pearl handled Colt down hard to the back of the shorter man's neck. The final round in El Gato's chamber fired, landing in the floor beside Jessie as the bounty hunter slumped to the floor.
"Why the hell didn't you do that in the first place, Brisco?" Jessie asked, her voice higher than normal and the fear she had felt still evident in her azure eyes.
"I didn't think it would have to come to that."
"'I didn't think it would have to come to that'." Jessie mimicked, scrambling to her feet. "I've always hated that son-of-a-bitch." she said quietly, glancing over El Gato's unconscious body.
"Grab your things. We're leaving." Brisco ordered as he re-holstered his weapon.
"What?"
"I said we're leaving. Only God knows how many more bounty hunters know you're here, and I'm sure you don't want to stick around to find out." Jessie paused, but only briefly, knowing Brisco was right.