Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary-Chapter 90 Dealing with Jasmine’s Situation

Along the way to Jasmine’s apartment, Avery kept a careful watch around them, while Kasandra’s ears were periodically adjusting and twitching as she listened for pursuers.

When the building they were headed to came into sight, her feline ears perked up and angled backwards. It was clear that she had finally picked up on something.

"Did you find something?" Avery asked.

"Yeah. It took a while to be sure, but four individuals have been keeping in step with us since we left the Mercenary Association. It’s unlikely that we’re just going the same direction. Whenever we speed up or slow down, their pace always changes to match ours."

Jasmine looked genuinely impressed by Kasandra’s hearing ability, but a moment later the dread she had been feeling since she realized people were following her started to come back.

Instinctively, her right hand slid towards the laser pistol resting on her hip.

Yet before she could grab it, Avery took her hand and said in a soothing voice, "There’s nothing to worry about. Kasandra and I are with you now. We’ll just continue up to your room, and hopefully nothing happens."

Thanks to Avery, Jasmine was able to calm down.

She felt the tension inside of her slowly relaxing, and she did not even realize that Avery was still holding her hand until they were right in front of the apartment complex she had been living in since she resigned.

In a bit of a fluster, she pulled her hand away, and to hide her embarrassment, she hastily entered her passcode and registered Avery and Kasandra as her guests.

’The security here isn’t quite as good as where my parents live, but it’s not bad. Only people with an access code should be able to get in. Which means that the people stalking Jasmine must have rented a room in this building just to get to her.’

Avery was almost tempted to wait in the front lobby and keep an eye out for anyone that entered after them.

However, he figured that this would likely only make Jasmine more uneasy. She would be worried about him and having less security around.

With the shrug of his shoulders, Avery stayed with his two companions, and they ascended to the building’s twenty-second floor where Jasmine’s room was located.

They then walked all the way to the end of a hall and Jasmine opened up the door to her room.

Inside was a simple studio, similar to what Avery used to live in before he found the Dauntless.

"Grab whatever you want to take with you. We won’t be coming back here again." Avery said as Jasmine stood there in a stupor.

This would be the end of the life he had been living for the last seven years. Nevertheless, she had picked up everything and abandoned her old life once before. She would be able to do it again.

Once she got to it, Jasmine quickly began stuffing bags with clothing, blankets, small plush toys she had since she was a child, and other personal items.

"They’ve just come up the stairs. Only three of them this time, but I’m certain that they’re part of the group that has been following us." Kasandra whispered into Avery’s ear.

He had been leaning against the doorway into Jasmine’s room and keeping an eye on her, but now he glanced out into the hallway in the direction Kasandra had indicated.

Since there were cameras and weapons detectors all throughout the building, Avery doubt that the people after Jasmine would do anything overt, but that didn’t mean that they were not a threat.

’If they’ve been ordered to kill her, then they might get desperate if they realize she is about to slip out of their grasp. I’d probably try poisoning her food or water if possible, or if necessary, walk by and pretend to bump into her to apply a poison that can be absorbed through the skin.’ Avery thought.

There were all manner of nasty methods people had come up with to kill each other, and Avery did not put it past those stalking Jasmine to employ one of them.

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Not wanting to stay on the defensive, Avery walked down the hall towards where the three individuals were waiting.

He figured that they must be in possession of some means of keeping track of them, so he went slowly at first and stopped for a few moments just before reaching the point he figured he would spook them.

Then he broke out into a sprint and pulled his terminal out.

When he reached the stairwell, he found two men and one woman attempting to act nonchalant. As if they were simply normal residents descending the stairs.

Of course, hardly anyone would walk up or down more than twenty flights unless there was an emergency, or they were trying to get some exercise in.

"Gotcha." Avery said, taking a picture of their faces with his terminal’s camera.

This elicited stunned reactions from the three of them. Being seen was fine if they were not figured out, but there were plenty of ways to identify someone with an image of their face.

’They tried to remain collected, but the normal response to what I just did would have been confusion. It’s plain to see that they understood why I just took that picture of them.’ Avery thought with a smirk.

The more hotheaded of the two men grew visibly angry and started to reach towards a weapon obviously concealed in his jacket, but the other two with him stopped him before he could do something supremely stupid.

"If you three don’t want any trouble, then gather up your other companion and scram. I assume that they are waiting in the lobby in case we slipped past you somehow. Should I ever see you following me or any of my crew members again, I’ll do everything I can to make your lives a living hell. Of course, if you want to meet us out in space, I’ll be happy to blow you away with my ship."

Frustrated expressions on their faces, the three individuals Avery had just threatened turned around and started rushing down the stairs. They were supposed to do their job unnoticed. Now that they had been found out, there was nothing else they could realistically do but run away with their tails tucked between their legs.

"Whew. I was afraid for a moment that I was about to get into a shootout with them." Avery muttered with a relived sigh.

Fortunately, he had managed to end things about as peacefully as possible. And when he returned to Jasmine’s room, she was still packing up her things and had not noticed his momentary absence.

Avery was glad that she had not seen him leave and grown worried. Still, he felt that since the opportunity had presented itself, he might as well get rid of the group that had been stalking them.

"That was fast. I’m assuming you didn’t kill all of them?"

"Obviously. Doing something like that really would get me on the wrong side of the law. I just scared and blackmailed them a little." Avery said, showing the picture he had taken to Kasandra.

She nodded in understanding. For spies, having their identities revealed to their targets was an absolute failure. Unless they did something drastic to kill Avery, Kasandra, and Jasmine, their only option was to retreat.

"Only one of them looked impulsive enough to do something like that. The other two were calmer, so I don’t think we’ll need to worry about them any longer."

Of course, the two of them would still stay alert, but the chances of something occurring had greatly diminished. It was doubtful that Jasmine was a target worth going to extreme measures for.

"I’ve finished packing. You don’t think this is too much, do you?" Jasmine asked bashfully, looking at the six large bags she had packed.

"It’ll be a bit of a tight fit for now, but once we remodel your room, I’m sure there will be enough space. If not, you can store some of your stuff in the cargo hold."

Avery then hoisted two of the bags over his shoulders and grabbed another two under his arms to carry them for her.

"Um, won’t it be difficult to fight if the people after me make some sort of move?" Jasmine asked.

"I wouldn’t worry about them any longer. While you were packing, I convinced them to leave us alone."

Jasmine was confused for a moment, but when Kasarda smiled and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, the reality of the situation started to sink in.

"Thank you. I don’t know how I’ll be able to repay you for all the help you’ve given me."

"Well, just do your job aboard my ship to the best of your ability. You got into this mess because you helped me out, so it’s only right that I return the favor. Now let’s go. It’s about time that the two of you picked designs for your rooms so that we can make them more comfortable. I’d feel bad if you both had to keep sleeping in those cramped military style bunks."

With Jasmine’s possessions collected, the three of them made their way back to the Dauntless.

Along the way, both Avery and Kasandra kept on guard for the group that had been following them.

It seemed that they took Avery’s warning to heart though and were nowhere to be found. At the very least, they would not be stalking Jasmine any longer.