The Game

Though showing surprise at his sudden transformation, the man quickly replied, recalling all that he knew:

"He's a relatively new hire; just about a year since he joined us. His record is clean, dating back to twenty-plus years of hunter experience, even his thoughts gave us nothing to worry about. We've found little dirt on him, but that isn't unusual, actually, some saw it as too little, as if his record was altered, some parts deleted. Most hunters have a truckload of dirt on them after all."

Emir stayed still for a while, appearing to be lost in thought, his gears turning.

'...Deleted?'

With a nod, he turned to the man and asked:

"Do you have his ID? I want to talk to him."

"Oh, you don't know? ...He's dead."

'...Dead?'

Emir's eyes widened as he inwardly repeated what the man had just said, and the gears inside his mind shifted once more, hinting at a possibility that he NEEDED to be false. 

"When?!"