But they also hapened to catch some un-wanted atention... a pair of Kings, talking near the street corner.
"Hey look... aint that one of Cat's gang? Vhats her name.... Fixer? HEY, GIRL! Long time no see! Hows the boss?" the leather-clad greaser called out, a wide smile on his face.
During her preliminery scouting and information exkursions to Freeside, Catalina did take a number of her people along, diferent ones each time. And Fixer vas one of them. The girl scowled...
"Shit... I told you coming here thru the West entrance vas a bad idea, we shuld have circled around south to avoid the Kings' turf and entered by way of South entrance, next to Gun Runners' shop... too many people around that Catalina's dealed with. And my face is known too." she mutered in Jean-Marc's ear. But there vas no geting out of it now, the two gangers wer aproaching, stil smiling.
"Hows it going, Fixer? Taking your robot out for a walk? Bit of a long way from the camp tho... you escorting this batch of meat or something?" he asked, his voice a litle confused. It vasnt like Catalina, from vhat the Kings known, to send just one of her people, especialy not her mechanic, on a slave-peddling mission vith no backup.
"Ammm... yea. See, Cat sent me ahead vith these slaves, we got jumped by some Fiends on the way in, so she and the guys stayed behind to keep them busy and give me and the slaves time to get in here. No sense leting the merchandise get killed right? No caps for us... She and the rest of the guys wil be along soon I hope." Fixer rushed.
"Damn... nasty. Not often those psychos crawl this close to Freeside." the man drawled, then smiled... "Wel, no worrys, if they poke there face in here, the Kings wil blow it off. Want to wait at the School for your boss? And we can help you keep a eye on these slaves. That girl there, the tight one... I think the King may want a piece of that actualy. Pay you good caps too." he added, eyeing Maya.
"Wel, you'd... have to check with... the boss vhen she gets here. I... think she is ment for Gommorah, actualy." Fixer replyed, trying to keep inventing. The king just nodded.
"Makes sense... a piece of ass like that wuld go a long way to making there stable of whores that much more enticing. Stil, I bet the King can outbid them, if he maked Cat a offer... we'l see, right? Aniway, come on! You can relax at the crib, get a bite to eat, and watch the show! Some of our guys shuld be giving a King's performance, any time now!" he grinned, motioning Fixer and the rest to folow him.
From the way the other King taken up pozition behind the group, it looked more then a simple invitation. And there wer more Kings on the streets, watching. Fixer culdnt shake the feeling that her litle explanation didnt realy convince them.
"I cant wait!" she forced a smile at the talking King, then maked a show of ordering Sadist: "Ok, get them moving!" to vhich the robot replyed in the affirmative, and shoved Jean-Marc hard forvard.
***
By this time of corse, the situation at the camp vas unraveling. Saul, discovering that the slaves have escaped, including the grand prize, Maya, vas furious. Mostly at him-self, for leting it happen and not paying atention. But he vas also determined to get them back, before Catalina found out. He sent out his few remaining men at the camp in all directions, to scour the sands around the camp for tracks. Since no sandstorms wer going that week, they found them soon enogh, leading south-east tovard New vegas. Four set of tracks, one of them more round and flatened, and deeper... Sadist's metal paws.
"Fuck my life... if they get to the NCR, we'r fucked!" Saul growled, once he vas informed. He wasted no time in organizing a pursuit party; him and 4 other guys. This only left 2 slavers at the camp, watching the remaining slaves and keeping the camp safe, since Catalina's party also numbered a half-dozen people.
At twilight, about the same time as Jean-Marc and the rest reached Freeside, they moved out in pursuit. Not hindered by Sadist's akward slow movement, they maked about twice the speed.