Once the final deployment parameters were locked in, the men in the temporary command center immediately dispersed, moving out to assume their designated posts.
Jerrick rolled up the map of Whitecliffe Harbor and stepped out into the corridor.
He decided to make a sweep toward the dining sector.
Of course, he absolutely wasn't going just to see if the man she kept calling her 'darling patron' was trying to put his hands on her over breakfast.
It was merely because the dining hall sat directly along the primary transit route to the main cabin area. As the chief security officer for Specimen Fourteen, it was his professional duty to inspect the perimeter.
Jerrick rationalized his motives with an utterly expressionless face.
However, the moment he stepped out of the outer security corridor, his footsteps ground to a halt.
Leaning casually against the wall up ahead was a tall, lean figure.
The man was wearing his signature smiling mask, his arms crossed over his chest in a posture of complete, unapologetic laziness. Everything about him radiated an aura of reckless nonchalance.
There was no telling how long he had been waiting there.
Spotting Jerrick, the eyes visible behind the mask immediately crinkled into half- moons. "Captain Fenris!"
The greeting carried a musical, almost mocking lilt.
Jerrick narrowed his eyes slightly, his cold gaze washing over the man. "What do you want?"
"Oh, plenty of things." Jasper lazily pushed himself off the wall, his eyes curving even further. "I have a burning curiosity, and I was hoping Captain Fenris might do me the honor of satisfying it."
"An asset worth one hundred and thirty billion dollars, and yet Captain Fenris leaves a standard security squad to guard it, while simultaneously diverting his absolute best elites elsewhere."
He paused dramatically, a wicked grin evident in his voice. "I'm just so terribly curious—what exactly is more important than Specimen Fourteen?"
Jerrick's eyes darkened.
He had only finalized his personnel shifts moments ago. The only people who knew the full deployment were his core, fiercely loyal veterans.
Yet this Grinning Wraith had somehow mapped out his entire tactical reshuffle and even managed to assess the combat capabilities of the individual squads.
Most terrifying of all, Jerrick hadn't sensed the man approaching the command sector at all.
Even the elite perimeter guards hadn't picked up on his presence.
This Grinning Wraith... his situational awareness and stealth capabilities were leagues beyond those of a standard bounty hunter.
Jerrick had suspected the man was dangerous during their brief alliance yesterday. Now, it was glaringly obvious that Jasper was a lethal variable.
A flicker of deep scrutiny flashed through Jerrick's eyes, though his face remained perfectly stoic. "This is an internal security matter. It has nothing to do with you."
Jasper clicked his tongue. Rather than being deterred by the frosty dismissal, his smile only grew brighter. "Are you absolutely certain it's just standard security protocol?"
He sauntered over, closing the distance between them with a predatory grace, a smirk playing on bis lips. 4) assumed you transferred those men because you wanted to play white knight for Ms. Panacea."
Jerrick didn't even blink. "The Panacea is the sole medical consultant for Specimen Fourteen. If she is compromised, the asset could destabilize, which means my mission fails."
"My mercenary company does not fail missions."
It was a perfectly logical, bulletproof justification.
But Jasper was entirely unconvinced.
He let out a low, rumbling laugh, leaning in so close that his smiling mask was mere inches from
Jerrick's face. Those cunning eye locked onto him. "Is it really just
because she's a medical
consultant?"
"Because from where I'm standing, the way you were looking at her today didn't exactly scream 'professional partner.""
The sudden proximity cranked up the tension.
The upturned eyes behind the mask made the smiling visage look both ridiculous and deeply dangerous.
Without a flicker of emotion, Jerrick raised his hand, planted his palm flat against the center of the mask, and shoved the man backward. "Get the hell away from me."
Jasper yielded to the push, taking a smooth half-step back. He lazily adjusted his mask, his tone practically dripping with amusement. "Oh, come on, Captain Fenris. Don't be so cold."
"We had such a lovely time working together behind the auction stage yesterday. Like it or not, we're temporary allies in the same boat now."
He sighed with theatrical exaggerated flair. "Yesterday, you were looking at Ms. Panacea like she was a suspect. You were
evaluating her trying to figu net
out if
she was competent, if she was trustworthy, if she was worthy of being your partner."
"But today... oh, today was completely different."
He dragged out the syllables, his smile heavy with implication. "Today, the way you looked at her... how should I put it?"
He tapped his chin, pretending to think hard. "It was the look of a man who had just found a lost treasure—a treasure he wanted to lock away and keep under his eye twenty-four-seven."
Jerrick's gaze turned instantly lethal.
He had been absolutely certain his emotional control was flawless.
Even the subordinates who had bled beside him for years merely thought he was acting a bit strange around the medical consultant.
But this man had read him like an open book, piecing together his exact emotional
state from a few fleeting glances and micro-expressions.
That kind of observational skill went far beyond mere intuition.
To bypass his perimeter security, dissect his tactical deployments, and instantly profile his psychological state...
It was no wonder The Grinning Wraith sat at the apex of the international bounty hunter food chain.
Meeting that freezing, murderous glare, Jasper didn't show a shred of fear. Instead, he smiled even wider. "Did one single team-up really earn her that kind of VIP treatment, Captain?"
"I put in plenty of legwork yesterday too! Give me a little credit here, Captain Fenris. Don't make me feel like I busted my ass just to be completely outshined by a pretty face."
Jerrick's internal threat assessment of the man spiked, but he didn't let a single crack show in his armor. He merely fired back coldly, "Do you have a problem with that?"