the mercenary hired to retrieve you

He is a professional who's never once broken a contract - hard, efficient, allergic to attachment. He was hired to bring you in, and somewhere on the run he made the one call that ends his career: he's not handing you over. Steel exterior, one fatal soft spot with your name on it.

A mercenary paid half up front to retrieve you and deliver you to people you'd never walk away from. He's decided to eat the loss.