"Yeah, for sure, you need to get going. About reaching out to the Geistratten. Yes, I could put you in touch with them, but I don't have a direct access. So I'll do you one, and reach out to my contact - and call you if I got anything... But to be honest, it generally takes days before I get one of them to either call me or drop by here. I got the impression that, by then, this all mess will be resolved... One way or the other."
Valentin, at the same time, shares an ARO with the location of the "gear place": apparently it's a former restaurant nearby the wall of the SOX, in the north of Zweibrücken. The place was called
Brückenpfeiler. Matrix clearly states the place is closed, and there is no available pictures of it. Prago then asks the runners for a commlink to join him, in case he managed to get in touch with the Geistratten in time.
The runner heads back to their van, where Rex is casting all the spells in preparation of his astral trip. Once the van is moving, he jumps into the astral, trying to get his bearing, so he can fly to Metz.
Zweibrücken is next to the SOX, but the astral place here is still pretty clean. It is thus fairly easy to spot, on the horizon, the distorted and twisted part of the space associated with the SOX. Sadly, because he never went there, and neither to Metz, Rex can not just "beam over there", and he needs to fly at a relatively slow pace (astral-wise), to keep track of his position in relation to the physical plan. But he is quite good at doing so.
However, Rex is quickly stopped in his trip to the SOX. Indeed, he barely reached the border, that he spot astral form patrolling along the border. MET2000 is certainly taking no chance and does not either people to have an "astral peak", but also anything unwanted "coming out" of there. From where he astrally stands, there is at least two astral forms patrolling nearby. Rex flies along the zone border in both South and North direction, but can not find a less control spot. Wherever he goes, there is always at least two astral entities who can spot him crossing the border.
To make matter worth, MET2000 magical team apparently spent some time aligning the border to their magic user, and there is, on top of everything, a background count, diminishing Rex's ability.
About money: I'm not doing book-keeping, but I expect you guys to pay his due to Valentin. Assuming you do so, you add him as a next contact, with a Loyalty of 1 and Connection Rating of 2.
Some side note on Astral sneaking/perception - as a RAW are a bit lacking in this regards. My interpretation of being "sneaky" in the Astral, is that you use the same Sneak skills as in the physical world - with, of course, your astral agility. Being spot in the Astral, is following the same logic - ie Perception + Intuition. I used to (mis)use Assenssing for this, but nowdays I've limited Assessing at what it is for - reading aura and nothing else.
In the astral, any (magical) bonuses that applied to be sneaky - where it is Invisibility or Concealement, does also applies. Again, AFAIK, RAW is not clear on an invisible character being also invisible in the Astral, but I find that for game balance it is just make more sense. Being utterly visible on the astral, and invisible on the physical world, makes the spell useless, but also, bring no way to counter astral perception (short of background count).
Regarding background count associated to the wall, I'll spare you the assessing test, it's 2. Last rule point: whatever the astral form are they are going to teamwork their Perception test.
Side note: I'm not trying to block your character to go look for Bernie astrally, it's actually a pretty good idea. It's just that crossing the border of the SOX has to be hard. Part of the reason corps have secret facility there is for the astral protection it provides, due to the radiation, but also the investment made in setting up a "shared" perimeter. Also note that once the border crossed, you'll have to do a couple more "astral bearing" test before getting to Metz - and hopefully find Bernie.
Last item - I saw a spirit cast an Increased Reflexes on Rex, but I'm not sure the bonuses would applies to the Astral space - or is it clearly stated somewhere in a FAQ or RAW ? If not I would rule against it, stating that the spell is making your "physical body" faster, not your astral one - but if there is a RAW/FAQ that contredicts me, I'll allow it.
@Waywalker, to keep things going while Rex is in the Astral, let's deal with your activity at Brückenpfeiler in parallel, if you don't mind 
(I know that neither Rex, nor Waywalker are "good" in meat space, but let's abstract that, as this is not about rolling dice here.
In the meantime, Waywalker's van is parking nearby the Brückenpfeiler. The place used to look nice. A small "maisonette", with an old fashion looks, and with wood beams and red brick, so typical of the region. However, it's look closed, abandoned, and not taking care of for a while. Some bricks are missing, a lot of tags are covering the wall, and the outside part of the restaurant - the "Biergarten", is completely trashed. All the entrance looks firmly closed. If Prago had not said this was the place, Waywalker would have not suspected there was anything going there - expect maybe for a pack of ghouls or some squatters...
