<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline">Bert Walder – The Retired Lawyer</span></div><br/>Los Angeles, California<br/>The Abandoned Warehouse<br/>6:46 p.m.<br/><br/>Bert Walder adjusted his navy blue tie for the third time. Something wasn’t right with the knot. It felt tighter than it used to and wouldn’t stay straight no matter how hard he tried. With a growl, he took it off completely and shoved it into the pocket of his grey jacket. He didn’t need a goddamn tie. He was a professional with or without it.<br/><br/>Glancing again in the car window he had been using as a mirror, Bert studied the old man who stared back. The old man with tired eyes and a shirt bulging over a stomach born from weeks of nothing to do. It occurred to him that maybe he had been out of the game too long, lost his old tricks, the magic which made him a success. Nowadays, he couldn’t even tie a goddamn tie.<br/>Bert shrugged it off and started walking towards the warehouse. He was just nervous. Mr. Silverman’s death had come as a surprise to him. He’d thought he would never hear from the Agency again. Without Mr. Silverman, there was no Agency. At least, that’s what he had thought.<br/><br/>But there was another Silverman he had forgotten about.<br/><br/>When he entered the room, he stopped for a second. Behind the desk sat Alexandra Silverman, wearing the same hat her father always wore back in the days when he was running things. She even had the same determined look in her eyes, the one he had seen in Mr Silverman’s so many times. It was like seeing a ghost.<br/><br/>Tommy and Evelyn stood on either side of her, the first two to arrive.<br/><br/>"Well, what do the stars say? Who offed the old man?" Evelyn said as he stepped in through the door. She already had her claws out and aimed at Tommy. Bert rolled his eyes. She wasn’t the only one who had trouble with Tommy’s gift, but Bert still respected the man. His dress sense was as sharp as his mind, two things Bert could appreciate.<br/><br/>“Glad to know you’re keeping it professional, Evelyn,” Bert said, placing his briefcase on the floor. “And I could smell your breath from the other side of the city, maybe you should lay off the scotch.”<br/><br/>With a nod to Tommy and Alexandra, he sat down in the chair, relieved that he could finally rest his legs again.