A quick matrix search would show that the comlink is listed to a person named Alfie Brown. With the creative avatar name of AB-2023. He is fond of cooking, seem to have a hot temper and is quite a player as his social profile is filled with pictures of him and young models. The man is in his fifties -which may mean that 2023 is the birth year? but that would make him over fifty. An unusual age for lowlife scum, with nasty gambling habits.

We are looking for Alfie Brown, he's probably here under some psuedonym. We are trying to help him recover his meal ticket so he can pay off his debts.

Nyx smiled to the troll, halfway raising her hands "Here, you have it. As you can see, we are not here to cause any trouble. Just let us in to see that person, and we'll be out of your hair quickly. Like I said earlier, it really is business related...the good kind... of business related, so you have nothing to fear. Alright?"

The troll shrugged - "Well, just be quick with it, and be quiet. I do not want to get in trouble."

The next problem is that you are talking about a large six stories high office building, where the colinke you traced is on one of these floors. You would need to work a little bit to get to the right person.

"Of course." Nyx nodded "Thank you."

Once they're out of hearing range, she said to the other two "I got us in, but as for finding the right room, you'll have to do it yourselves..."

I find a decent picture of the guy from his mefeed and display it in AR for the troll.

Hey Omae you know this cat or where we should start looking?

The troll seemed to be confused, doubtful of what he was doing. "I cannot disclose the activity of patrons he said... now be gone before I lose my job." ... He clearly said Patron, which raised the question what kind of delight would mr. AB was looking for in a place like that. It was also clear that asking more questions would negate the magical influence that got them in.

"Let's go inside and have a look then. Thanks." Kynos nodded at the troll and casually strolled past him into the building, keeping his eyes peeled for anyone looking like the agent.

The building is composed of six levels of open space that appear like a gym. Pristine built men and women are training, sleeping and eating in the same open space. None of them pays you any attention and it feels like they are not even there, they all wear tight blue clothes with a different yellow number on their backs. The other floors are not much changed, your man is not there.

The fifth floor is a brothel of some sort, it is still an open space but drywalls were erected to give patrons some visual privacy. A hostess in tight leather clothes watches you enter with glazed eyes and approach you. She is there with you but feels a bit distanced. "What is it you truly desire patrons?" she asks, and in a queue, an about a dozen men and women in stereotypic common fantasy like clothing enter the room.

Kynos answered in his usual way:
"Same as everyone else really: Getting paid for the bulldrek I have to put up with. Have you seen this guy? We need to talk with him."

The women replied surprised... "that man is not part of the clockers. Strange few people have guests in here... I'll go see if he is free to meet you. " Alife Brown's room is empty and rushly ditched, the room still contains some personal items, including the comlink you traced and some clothes.

The women replied surprised... "that man is not part of the clockers. Strange few people have guests in here... I'll go see if he is free to meet you. " Alife Brown's room is empty and rushly ditched, the room still contains some personal items, including the comlink you traced and some clothes.

"Shit, seems like he doesn't want to talk..." Kynos picked up the commlink and looked around for an exit were the man could have run to.

Nyx cocked her head to the side "Someone is running." She pointed in the direction from which the sounds come "That way."

Going after the noise you see a person, barely see, running in the fireexit stairs. Running is a bit simplistic, the man is an athlete and he sort of slide over the stairs, and then jumps to the ground - in a way that almost seems artful.

Nyx hesitated. She had no way to catch up to the runner. She could try to order him to stop but odds were that it would draw a lot more attention than it was worth if it succeeded.
She glanced at Kynos instead. She hoped he would be able to catch the runner…and feared that he would just stop him, in a bullet in the leg kind of way. Certainly efficient, but that wouldn't make them any friends around here… So on second thought… Maybe it would be better if she acted…

I ping the guy on AR and pull up a map if he has any electronics. I try to circle around and cut him off, passing along the info to the team.

The pointer was all Kynos needed to go from stationary to running full pull towards the exit. While he did so, he fished in his pockets for his rappelling gloves. 100m of microwire were wrapped around them and Kynos got both ready. The guy might be athletic, but he probably wasn't prepared to rappel down beside the stairs. Just as well, since that was a pretty dangerous way to go down.

Kynos quickly decends down the stairs, and as he does he can see the man running north, up the street, he dashes toward a large gas station that seems to become some homless camp, derelict and abandoned.

Kynos kept pace with the man - barely and mainly thanks to his long legs. He knew he had little chance to keep up that pace.
So he did what he did best, mustering what breath he could spare to call out to the man:
"We only want to talk, but if you keep up this shit we'll hunt you down. We've got your astral smell, you can't hide!"

@Kynos. The man continues to run - doubtfully even hears your words, you'll need his attention to reason with him, and you need the air to keep up the sprinting pace. AB runs very fast, and seems to almost glide above the snowy surface, leaving very little marks behind him. The gas station, which for some reason AB seems desperate to arrive into is only a short distance now.

Nyx exchanged a glance with Irris and sighed. It would probably be better if they followed. This place wasn't going anywhere and who knew where Kynos was being led to…
She turned around, and walking fast, starting to head into the direction in which both men disappeared.

Kynos saw no chance to catch the man - he just didn't have the training to move his titanium laced bones at such speeds through ankle deep snow.
While running he drew his gun, came to a stop to aim carefully and shoot at the man's shin to make him go down.
"You might be faster than me, but you ain't faster than my 12 little friends."

The agent somehow noticed the shot before Kynos pulled the trigger and he jumped up in the air rolling and turning surprising the cybered elf and gracefully evading the shot. Once at the gas station, the last thing you see of the man is disappearing behind one of the gas pumps to the astonishment of the homlesses that camped there that barely change their stance due to the unnatural speed of it all.

<<Bad news, that agent seems to be the other kind of agent and a ki-adept too. He went into the old gas station, probably has a vehicle stashed there. I'm following him.>>
Kynos moved onward, but with a bit more care so that he could evade should the guy try to run him over - or arm himself and start shooting at him.

Kynos, no car seem to be leaving the gas station. Either the man continued running, perhaps he entered the small shop - or perhaps he dropped to a nearby sewer access. Your investigativive mind seeks for evidence to favor one direction over the other.

Kynos kept walking towards the gas station, stashing his gun again - the guy was just a bit too fast for his taste.
This called for a bit more subtlety.
Reaching the shop, he took a look inside, again ready to dodge if necessary.

At first glance, the shop is a pawn shop with an old looking man tending to it. There is a little bell on the door - though something does not agree with that impression. There is a distinct smell of cinnamon, perhaps some incense - but you would not expect it from a pawn shop in this side of town. As you enter the old man, leaves a book he was reading (an actual physical book) and clumsly moves towards the counter. "Depositing or withdrawing...?" He asks.

"Leave the shotgun under the counter, I have no quarrel with you. I'm looking for a guy by the name of Alfie Brown, a bit shorter than me, athletic, quite in a hurry. Did you see him come in?"
Kynos replied while keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of danger.
<<I lost Alfie at the gas station, try to fan out and see if you can spot him. It's a slim chance, but I have his commlink, so we might get some info from there, once Irris does her thing with it.>>

The man chuckles "Please, there is no shotgun here. I know better than that" He then glances at Kynos and seems a bit distracted or detached. "So you are looking for someone... I can help with that. Do you have anything that belongs to that person?"

"You a spell slinger? Maybe later. The guy is still around here somewhere, I can't wait for you to call some spirit or do a ritual."
Kynos declined to mention the commlink. Neither did he trust the man, nor did he want to pay needlessly for magic services.

The old man chuckled "No... nothing like that, but I can... " He pauses and seemed a bit pensive "Let's call it guess... I guess better than most as long as I have a personal item. You seem to be in a hurry so perhaps another time." He places a business card on the counter, in case Kynos is interested in one.

Still wary of a trap, Kynos takes the card, half expecting it to explode just like the flyer last year.
When that doesn't happen he goes outside and tries to find tracks or clues of some sort.

There is no visual trail, but there is a broken sewer like pipe nearby - but unlike what you'd expect it smells of cinnamon. Given the fact that you stopped seeing him completely - he might have entered that pipe.

I glance around outside realizing I wasn't able to cut him off after all. When I see Kynos' Pan I jog to the scene and send him a message.

Right outside. I have eyes on the street let me know if you need backup.

Kynos received the message and trudged back to Irris: "Good to see you. Here, his link. The guy inside the station seems to be some kind adept or mage. Offered me to look for the guy but needs a personal item. I'm willing to try that, but I'd like you to copy all his files beforehand. Seeing that this guy isn't just a down on his luck third rate talent agent as was implied, I'd caution you to look for traps and bombs on his link too. Leaving it behind could have been a deliberate act."

@Irris - hacking the comlink is a piece of cake, inside you find some personal files, plenty of selfies and some texts to Casa. The thing that gets your attention is that the oldest files are few weeks old, there is nothing before that. Specifically, the earliest entry is a plane ticket from Denver to Seattle. The latest is some communication with a contact named 'Love' about a transfer to Salish Shide Council tonight.

I will read carefully the texts to Casa and the info about the transfer and this person "love"

@irris It appears that Casa approached AB about settling a gambling debt after purchasing his debt. Since AB (as expected by Casa) did not have the money to settle the debt, Casa suggested the representation of Rita. He seemed to be under the assumption that some big contract was around the corner.

Love - seems to be a coyote, apparently, AB plans to leave the country without stamping his passport. They are scheduled to meet at midnight in a remote farm at the outskirts of Seattle.

I will, of course, share this information.

Kynos nodded: "Alright, there are two options what's going on here:
1) This guy is indeed Alfie and we had the good fortune to find him before he could grab his link and vanish
2) This guy is someone looking out for Alfie and has planted the link with this information.

Can you try to get a contact number for this Love guy? Meanwhile I'll take the old man up on his offer to use magic to find the guy - provided you have secured all relevant information form the link."

"Love?" Nyx shook her head "What kind of dumbass name is that?" She grimaced slightly, pensive "I'm afraid I don't know anyone in the coyote community. Not anywhere around here anyway. In any case, should everything else fail, we know where he'll be tonight. Not ideal, but better than nothing."

I look over the com link for any call history for love and get the com number and hand the link over to Kynos.

Nothing new with call history to Love, the man is very brief no small talk. Location, payment and date scheduling that is all.

The old man, in his Cinnamon flavored store examines the comlink and then universally connects to it with a briefcase sized device. His hands move around chaotically, as if he is manipulating AR displays that are invisible to you. "He is not very far from here, and I know where the guy would be tonight. He is wants to get out of here, I sense great fear."

Kynos tapped his foot impatiently on the floor: "All fine and dandy - we got that much just by reading his mail. Can you give me an address where I can speak to the fragger?"

The man said "I do not know where he is right now, sorry to disappoint you. He seems pensive and then adds "The man you seek and myself share a certain condition. Most of the people in Clockwork do, the candy man takes care of our condition, but each pays with a different currency."

"Yeah, yeah, you all are BTL junkies, I get it. No skin of my nose. On the contrary, I got some useful chips for emergencies myself, although personally, I prefer them without the automatic burnout mod. Beats me why not more people use that option.

Anyway, would you mind telling me how I can get in contact with the candy man? I'm pretty sure your fellow junky wouldn't have left here without some pick me ups for the road."
Kynos replied with his usual joviality.

"Yeah, yeah, you all are BTL junkies, I get it. No skin of my nose. On the contrary, I got some useful chips for emergencies myself, although personally, I prefer them without the automatic burnout mod. Beats me why not more people use that option.

Anyway, would you mind telling me how I can get in contact with the candy man? I'm pretty sure your fellow junky wouldn't have left here without some pick me ups for the road."
Kynos replied with his usual joviality.

"Not only BTL, there are other drugs too... A clocker would not run away from you, same as you would not run-away from a trid monster, they do do not see this world as real. Your man is hooked on something else entirely."