Sublevel 3 – Utility Access Corridor, a Few Minutes Earlier
The janitor's hand slid to his collar.
He pressed a hidden button near the embroidered ID badge and tilted his head slightly as the mic buzzed in his ear.
"Target is no longer in sublevel three," he murmured. "Repeat, visual on Pheneos lost. May have exited through auxiliary stairwell or activated a means of avoiding detection. No trail on surveillance. Floor motion sensors show anomaly—subject might have used an object with stealth sigils."
"Continue search?" came the reply, filtered and mechanical.
The janitor hesitated.
"No. Not without backup. Too many eyes down here, including some from competing assets. Risk of exposure."
"Copy. Report acknowledged. Standby for reassignment."
He tapped the comms again to end the transmission and resumed whistling softly as he pushed his cart, his mop handle now retracted into what suspiciously resembled a collapsible staff.
