The next day, Ein and the ghost made their way to Jolly Wings. The weather was dreary, with a biting wind and intermittent drizzle making the journey less than pleasant. Winter was approaching.
Upon entering the fried chicken restaurant, Avery looked up and waved hello, "Right on time! We were just talking about the cult."
"We?" Ein repeated, casting a suspicious glance at Dean, who looked like he had been bitten by a snake upon seeing him.
"Yeah, Lazarus Blessing is more of a hassle than I thought," Avery noted. "Dean went on a lookout. They have high security and their guys are aggressive with outsiders. Getting to Victor Hale will be risky, so you'll cooperate with Dean on this."
Avery spoke as if Ein had already agreed to take the deal. Then again, if he had planned to reject the deal, he wouldn't have bothered showing up at Jolly Wings. A text message would've sufficed.
However, to put Dean on the deal as well... Was the job dangerous, or was Avery still suspicious of Ein because of the disappearance of Adriel's body?
"You know I work alone," Ein reminded.
"And I call the shots." Avery slung an arm over Ein's shoulders with a smirk. "Lighten up! Think of it as a reminiscence of the good old days. You two have worked alongside plenty. What's one more job?"
The ghost stared at Dean with a sour look. "Aw, man. I don't want to work with him. Look at his face. He's like a human personification of a wet sock."
Ein suppressed an eyeroll. Who exactly was going to do the work? Certainly not Adriel.
Subjectively, Ein didn't want to deal with Dean. One talkative ghost on his heels was enough. He didn't need a snarky guy following him too. But at the end of the day, Ein trusted Avery's judgement. If he said the job was dangerous, then it must be.
For the sake of the job and the ghost, he couldn't refuse. Jobs weren't frequent, so it was unlikely for another deal to come along before thirteen days were up. In fact, it was lucky to get an offer so soon after the hit on Adriel.
With a delay, a realization struck the ghost. "Wait, what about me? If Dean will follow, how will you bring my body along?"
Ein didn't reply to anyone, so Avery took his silence as a reluctant agreement, and dragged him and Dean to the storage room with a satisfied look.
The choking lightbulb had been switched to a new one, casting a bright, steady light over the table.
"Here's the layout of the cult's base," Avery tapped one of the thin piles of papers, then pointed at the other. "And this is a list of people together working with Victor Hale."
The face on top of the list was a very familiar one.
Adriel's mouth opened as he peered at it dumbly. "My uncle?!"
There it was—the reason why Avery had involved Dean. Now it made sense to Ein. He likely would never trust Ein to deal with any jobs related to Byers Holdings alone ever again.
"You'll have to infiltrate the Lazarus Blessing and become the members of the cult, then find an opportunity to get closer to Victor Hale. The client already prepared the donations for you to offer to get in," Avery tapped the two briefcases propped against the wall.
"Who's the client?" Ein asked.
"Who, who..." Avery tapped Jefferson Byers' picture with a smirk. "Our frequent customer."
Ein raised an eyebrow. With the look on Avery's face, he wouldn't be surprised if the next time he came to Jolly Wings, there'd be a members-only system invented where the returning clients could collect stickers—every fifth kill is on the house!
"Frequent?" the ghost echoed, looking to Ein for an explanation.
Ein silently hoped Adriel wouldn't piece together that his uncle had once been there to order a hit on him.
After being ignored, the ghost paced around for a bit, then settled down with an expression that was torn between disappointment and disbelief.
Avery took a seat by the wall and leaned back, watching the two flip through the information individually. He seemed satisfied with his decision to send them to do the job together, not particularly concerned over their lack of enthusiasm.
As the evening approached, Ein and Dean had gone through the most important details and settled on the same page.
The ghost had been sitting on the floor for hours, leaning against one of the large bags of flour, his eyes rolling back out of boredom. Adriel didn't dare to complain this time, giving Ein space so he could focus.
Once they were done, Dean was the first to leave.
As Ein went through the information one last time to make sure everything was in order, he couldn't help but mutter, "I could've dealt with this alone."
"You'll be infiltrating a dangerous cult," Avery commented. "If you slip up and they lock you up, Dean will get you out, and vice versa."
It wasn't irrational, but Ein wasn't born yesterday. He wouldn't do something to make the cult members lock him up. And even if it happened, he could deal with dangerous situations by himself.
"You sure it's not because you suspect me of stealing the body?"
Avery chuckled and got up to stretch. "Nah. I'm doing this so my heart can rest easy," he said, tapping his chest. "Selfish reasons."
The ghost, silent until now, finally interjected, "Why can't Avery do it with you? Working with him would be better than doing it with Dean, at least."
After stretching, Avery sauntered out of the storage room, remarking, "Let me know when you're done going over it."
Clatter of dishes and upbeat chatter came from the dining area, growing in volume as the door opened and closed.
Ein waited for it to close fully before answering Adriel's question. "Avery avoids leaving Jolly Wings. This is his turf. Clients come to him, he delegates tasks to us. I imagine the only exception that would make him get involved in the action would be a deep grudge."
"Like what?" the ghost leaned closer inquisitively.
"If Dean or I died."
The door creaked open again, and Avery's head popped in. "Tonight's busy. Can you lend a hand in the kitchen?"
"From cold-blooded murder to frying chicken?" Adriel made an amused face. "You've got range."
Ein sighed, pushing the papers aside. "Coming."