Kant 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, Jones looked up and waved hello, "Right on time! We were just talking about the cult."
"We?" Kant repeated, casting a suspicious glance at Hunter, who looked like he had been bitten by a snake upon seeing him.
"Yeah, Lazarus Blessing is more of a hassle than I thought," Jones noted. "Hunter 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 Hunter on this."
Jones spoke as if Kant 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 Hunter on the deal as well... Was the job dangerous, or was Jones still suspicious of Kant because of the disappearance of Gabriel's body?
"You know I work alone," Kant reminded.
"And I call the shots." Jones slung an arm over Kant'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 Hunter 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."
Kant suppressed an eyeroll. Who exactly was going to do the work? Certainly not Gabriel.
Subjectively, Kant didn't want to deal with Hunter. 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, Kant trusted Jones's judgment. 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 Gabriel.
With a delay, a realization struck the ghost. "Wait, what about me? If Hunter will follow, how will you bring my body along?"
Kant didn't reply to anyone, so Jones took his silence as a reluctant agreement, and dragged him and Hunter 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," Jones 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.
Gabriel's mouth opened as he peered at it dumbly. "My uncle?!"
There it was—the reason why Jones had involved Hunter. Now it made sense to Kant. He likely would never trust Kant to deal with any jobs related to Everett Holdings alone ever again.
"You'll have to infiltrate the Lazarus Blessing and become 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," Jones tapped the two briefcases propped against the wall.
"Who's the client?" Kant asked.
"Who, who..." Jones tapped Sam Byers' picture with a smirk. "Our frequent customer."
Kant raised an eyebrow. With the look on Jones'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 Kant for an explanation.
Kant silently hoped Gabriel 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.
Jones 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.