JUNE 22
CHAPTER 25
Festus Precious: LIFE IS BUT A GAMBLE
Manhattan didn't care who was dead.
It only cared about what still moved.
Crystal learned that in silence, walking beside Daniel through corridors that smelled like polished glass and controlled ambition. Everything in GEF Headquarters looked alive, but nothing felt alive. Even the air seemed filtered through intention.
Daniel broke the silence first.
"So… just to be clear," he said, adjusting his bag strap, "this Gustav you keep referencing—he's dead, right?"
Crystal didn't slow down.
"Long dead."
Daniel frowned.
"Then why is his name still everywhere?"
Crystal's answer came after a short pause.
"Because systems don't mourn leadership. They inherit it."
Daniel let out a low breath.
"That's a depressing way to look at business."
Crystal glanced at him briefly.
"It's a realistic way."
Ahead of them, Aurora walked slightly faster.
Like she already knew the route before it was given.
Her heels made soft, deliberate sounds against the floor—each step measured, each movement placed like she understood the rhythm of the building better than the building understood itself.
Daniel lowered his voice.
"She's always like this?"
Crystal didn't answer immediately.
Then:
"No."
Daniel looked at him.
"So what changed her?"
Crystal's eyes stayed forward.
"I don't think she changed," he said quietly. "I think she stopped pretending she was separate from it."
Daniel frowned.
"That doesn't sound like sales."
Crystal exhaled slightly.
"It never was."
Aurora stopped at the elevator bank.
The doors opened without her pressing anything.
Daniel noticed.
"…That's not normal," he muttered.
Crystal stepped in first.
"Nothing here is."
Aurora followed.
The doors closed.
And for a moment, the world shrank to reflections again.
Daniel leaned against the wall.
"So where exactly are we going?"
Aurora answered without looking at him.
"Midtown corridor."
Daniel tilted his head.
"That's not a location. That's a vague threat."
Aurora finally glanced at him.
"It's a distribution route."
Crystal corrected quietly.
"It's a funnel."
Daniel looked between them..
"…A funnel for what?"
Crystal didn't answer immediately.
Then:
"For movement that doesn't want visibility."
Silence settled again.
Daniel rubbed his face.
"I hate when you two talk like you're finishing each other's thoughts."
Crystal replied calmly:
"We're not."
A pause.
"We're just reading the same system."
The elevator chimed.
Mid-level exit.
Aurora stepped out first.
The city outside hit them like a sound returning after silence had been enforced.
Traffic.
Horn blasts.
People rushing like they were late for something they'd never agreed to.
Manhattan didn't look like chaos.
It looked like coordination that forgot its original purpose.
Daniel exhaled.
"Okay," he said, "this already feels like the kind of place where bad things are normal."
Crystal adjusted his sleeve.
"Bad things are normal," he replied. "They just change names depending on where they happen."
Aurora walked ahead without waiting for them to fully catch up.
"You're late," she said over her shoulder.
Daniel frowned.
"We're exactly on time."
Aurora smiled faintly.
"In this system, on time means you're already behind."
Crystal's eyes narrowed slightly.
"That's not logistics," he said.
Aurora replied softly:
"It is here."
They stopped at a black vehicle waiting at the curb.
No branding.
No visible markings.
Just presence.
Daniel hesitated.
"…We're getting into that?"
Crystal opened the door.
"Yes."
Daniel leaned closer.
"Bro, we are really just trusting random cars now?"
Crystal looked at him.
"We stopped being in control when we accepted the first assignment."
Daniel shook his head slowly.
"I miss when life was just bikes and bad decisions."
Crystal stepped in.
"This is still a bad decision."
A pause.
"Just better financed."
Inside the vehicle, silence returned.
Aurora sat opposite them.
Crystal looked out the window.
The city moved like it always did—indifferent, endless, self-sustaining.
Daniel broke the silence again.
"So explain something to me," he said, pointing lightly between Crystal and Aurora, "how does a sales department end up knowing about dead men and hidden routes?"
Aurora answered without hesitation.
"Because companies don't erase old systems when leadership dies."
Daniel frowned.
"They rebuild them?"
Crystal shook his head slightly.
"No," he said.
"They preserve them."
That word landed heavier than expected.
Daniel leaned back.
"…So Mendez is dead but his system is still alive."
Crystal nodded once.
"And someone is still feeding it."
Silence.
Aurora's eyes shifted slightly.
"That's what you're being introduced to."
Daniel looked at her.
"Introduction sounds too gentle."
Aurora met his gaze.
"It has to sound gentle. Otherwise people refuse to enter."
Crystal finally spoke again.
"Who runs it now?"
Aurora paused just slightly.
A fraction longer than necessary.
Then:
"No one officially."
Daniel frowned.
"That's not an answer."
Aurora corrected calmly:
"It's the truth."
Crystal looked at her.
"So it's fragmented."
Aurora nodded.
"Yes."
Crystal leaned back slightly.
"Which means competition."
Aurora didn't deny it.
Daniel looked between them again.
"…So we're basically entering a dead man's inheritance fight."
Crystal's voice was quiet.
"Exactly."
Daniel exhaled sharply.
"And you're still going forward?"
Crystal's answer came without delay.
"I didn't come here to observe stability."
The vehicle slowed.
Aurora glanced out.
"We're here."
Daniel looked outside.
Midtown didn't look dangerous.
It looked expensive.
And that was always worse.
Crystal stepped out first.
Daniel followed reluctantly.
Aurora stayed inside for a moment longer.
Before speaking softly:
"One more thing."
Crystal turned slightly.
Aurora's gaze held him.
"Don't assume the system you see is the full one."
Crystal replied:
"I never do."
A pause.
Then he added:
"That's why I'm still standing."
Aurora studied him for a second longer.
Then closed the door.
As the car pulled away, Daniel exhaled.
"…I don't like this," he said.
Crystal didn't look at him.
"I know."
Daniel pointed at the street ahead.
"So what now?"
Crystal adjusted his posture slightly.
Now his presence has changed.
Not louder.
Just more aligned.
"We walk into it," he said.
Daniel frowned.
"And then what?"
Crystal finally stepped forward.
"Then we find out what survived Mendez."
A pause.
Then quieter:
"And why does it still need feeding?"