The Yukon spring was slow to arrive, but Evan's momentum never cooled. Gold had flowed like a blessing from the frozen earth, crab boats were still being mended from their record hauls, and berry fields were finally being prepped for summer. With a growing crew and expanding operations, Evan took a moment to reflect not to rest, but to strike again.
His next move wouldn't involve shovels, nets, or soil.
It would be numbers.
Evan stepped out of a worn-out office building tucked between two vacant shops in Whitehorse. The windows were dusty, the paint flaking, and the nameplate read "Northern Star Securities," though the star had long since burned out.
"Bankrupt in '09. Former stock brokerage. Still has a valid license," Evan told Carter, who was waiting at the truck.
Carter raised a brow. "What are you gonna do, trade stocks out of a ghost office?"
Evan smirked. "No, I'm going to build the future out of it."
Sentry Finance was born that afternoon.
Evan kept things quiet. No media, no fanfare. He didn't want attention just results. He upgraded the tech, secured legal clearance through his lawyers, and gutted the inside. New servers. Backup generators. High-speed satellite internet, imported from a private firm. And a new director.
Able Novak.
Able was a local accountant with a sharp tongue and sharper balance sheets. His wardrobe hadn't changed since the 90s, but his math could slice glass.
"You don't strike me as a hedge fund guy," Able said at their first meeting.
"I'm not," Evan replied. "I'm a builder. I just know which bricks are going to explode in value."
Able tilted his head. "You mean grow."
Evan grinned. "No. Explode."
Evan gave him the budget in writing.
"Thirty-three million. Not a penny more. Comes from profits—gold, crabs, and berries. Doesn't touch the capital chain."
Able stared at the paper for a long moment. "That's... bold."
Evan's investment suggestions were bolder:
Apple- "There's a device coming soon—iPad. It'll change everything."
Microsoft- "Stable, powerful, expanding into the cloud. Slow burn but deep."
Amazon- "E-commerce will become the new foundation of retail."
Google- "Monopoly on information. Ads, search, Android—load up."
Bitcoin- "Yes, it's a fake coin. No, I'm not joking. Buy $250,000 worth, keep it offline, never speak of it again."
Able blinked. "That one's for fun, right?"
Evan shrugged. "That one's for legacy."
By early summer, the office hummed with quiet activity. Three data analysts ran reports. Evan's system, invisible to all, assisted in pattern recognition, flagging market movements before they made headlines. Evan never cheated he simply played at a level no one else could see.
The firm started small trades, reinvesting gains. Nothing flashy. No wild shorting. Just relentless, calculated buying of companies that the world would soon worship.
Carter visited one afternoon and nearly tripped on a fiber optic cable.
"I thought you were building farms and mines," he grunted.
"I still am," Evan replied. "This is just another mine. A digital one."
Able waved from the corner. "This mine smells like energy drinks and spreadsheets."
Evan laughed. "The gold's digital here but it'll spend the same."
As the chapter closed, Sentry Finance was quietly accumulating tens of thousands in returns, laying the groundwork for millions. Evan kept one screen on live market data and another on maps of Yukon bedrock.
One foot in the soil. One foot in the sky.
And both hands building empires.