Interlude:

Simon Harris scowled as his SUV came to a stop in front of the nursing home. He quickly looked over the notes on his cell phone, wanting to refresh himself on what he already knew about the situation. There wasn’t much.

The dark-skinned man adjusted his uniform and then glanced into the rearview mirror to make sure he was presentable. His hair and beard were mostly grey, retaining little of their former black coloring, but it gave him an air of dignity and professionalism. Simon nodded in satisfaction since that was exactly the impression he wanted to give.

Seconds later, Simon stepped out of the SUV while his companions did the same and moved into position behind him. He didn’t spare a glance at them, looking instead at the nursing home and the local police who were gathered nearby.

One of the local officer’s told another, “Looks like the Men in Grey are here.”

Simon pretended that he hadn’t heard the familiar nickname for his organization. A lot of people called them the Men in Grey because of their grey uniforms, and while some of his fellow Wardens enjoyed the air of mystery that this nickname implied, he wasn’t one of them.

A plain clothed detective walked towards them with a grim expression. “I’m detective Reese. Thank you for arriving so quickly.”

“Agent Harris of the Wardens,” Simon introduced himself. “Tell me what you know.”

Reese gestured to the building in front of them. “Simple version is that three players went into the facility, looking for one of the residents. They killed two people in route, killed their target and one other resident, then departed well before we arrived.” He shook his head at that. “Now we have five bodies to deal with.”

“Five?” one of Simon’s companions asked. “I thought you said they killed four people.”

Simon glanced at Maya Ramirez, who had been his junior partner and trainee for nearly a year. She adjusted her glasses though never took her eyes off of Reese.

Reese looked at her and nodded. “They did. The extra body belongs to one of the players.”

That statement made Simon pause in surprise. That was…unexpected. He glanced at his associates, first Maya, then at his new trainee, Lewis McNichols. They both looked startled by that as well.

“Then perhaps,” Simon told the detective, “you should take us through so we can see for ourselves.”

“Of course,” Reese responded with a scowl. “This way.”

They went inside the nursing home and were immediately met with the sight of a bloody corpse. One look was enough to tell Simon that this man had been an employee rather than a resident, and that he’d been killed with either a sword or axe. He would need to look a bit closer to know for sure, but that would come later. For now, he wanted to focus on getting an overall picture of what had happened before digging into the details.

Reese briefly spoke about the first body, and how the man had been killed by the players as soon as they’d entered the building. When they moved down the hall, they found the second body, a resident who had simply gotten in their way. However, it wasn’t until they got to the cafeteria that things became especially interesting.

“Margaret Sullivan,” Reese announced as he pointed to the body of an old woman which was slumped over in a wheelchair. “She’s the one they were looking for.”

“I see,” Simon said, though his eyes were locked on the headless body that had obviously been the player.

“This one was Carl Upton,” Reese continued, pointing to the body of an old man whose neck was bent at an unnatural angle. “He was eating dinner with Sullivan when the players arrived.”

“But what happened to the player?” Maya asked as she bent over to examine the body. “It looks like some kind of magic attack.” She looked up to Reese and asked, “Did one of the other players kill him?”

“That would make sense,” Lewis commented. “But why?”

“No,” Reese corrected with a shake of his head and a wry smile. “It was him…” He pointed to the body of the old man. “Security footage shows Upton getting into a confrontation with the player, and somehow, he was able to get the player’s scepter away from him. Upton blasted the guy with his own weapon.”

“The old guy did this?” Lewis blurted out in surprise.

“That sounds hard to believe,” Maya added skeptically.

Simon remained silent at that, and instead, he moved over to examine the old man’s body. The man looked…familiar.

“Cameras caught the whole thing,” Reese explained, gesturing to security cameras on the ceiling. “It would have been entertaining to watch, if it hadn’t ended so tragically.” He shook his head sadly. “Of course, one of the other players killed him right afterward, but Upton went down fighting. He made sure his killer felt it.”

“Carl Upton,” Simon said slowly with a cold chill running down his spine. He knew that name.

“That name sounds familiar,” Maya commented with a thoughtful expression.

Simon stared at Upton’s face, then he hunched down beside the body and moved the sleeve back to reveal the arm. There, on the now exposed forearm was a tattoo, one that looked nearly identical to a tattoo that he himself had on his shoulder.

“Damn it, Carl,” Simon exclaimed angrily, momentarily forgetting about looking professional.

Maya was suddenly beside him, asking, “What is it?” Then she saw the tattoo and gasped. “He has a Warden tattoo…” She looked at Simon in surprise. “He was one of us?”

“Yeah,” Simon responded as he stood back up. “Carl was one of us. He was one of the old guard…one of the twelve founding Wardens. He was also the one who trained me back when I was a rookie.”

Lewis and Maya shared a look while Reese just watched with interest. None of them said a word, for which Simon was grateful.

“Show me the footage,” Simon told Reese, his voice cold and hard. “I want to see who killed my old mentor.”