I walked into the dark entrance of the parking deck, hoping that wherever I met the research agent at inside would be better illuminated than the front gates, which, incidentally, were closed. The admittance lights for both lanes of the entrance were glowing a steady red, which only increased the eeriness of the moment. I straddled and climbed over the lowered admittance arms, heading deeper into the building.

"Down here," a man beckoned to me from the recesses of a stairwell about 10 yards away. "On the lower level, away from the street." It was hard to make out any details of his face, as the brim of his hat obscured most of his face with darkness.

I trusted that their intentions weren’t malevolent and followed his lead down the stairs. If he wanted to hurt me, he’d probably had more than enough opportunity to do so. He had, after all, tracked me down and offered the leads to Synchro in the first place.

He waited near the wall on the next floor down, a few feet away from the foot of the stairs.

"I don't have long," he began. "What do you want to know?"