Page 142 of Their Property
“Mynerd,” Evalyn corrected playfully. “A lot of records were computerized and kept on cloud storage before the Collapse, so he’s been working on accessing those,” she explained.
“Sounds like a project,” I observed.
“It is.” Russ rubbed his eyes and sighed. “I’ll be lucky if I get through ten percent of all the data locked up in the now-defunct cloud systems in my lifetime.” He perked up, beaming at us. “It’s fun though. Like a digital treasure hunt.”
Evalyn kissed his cheek and stepped out from under his arm. “Why don’t you boys catch up while I help Kyrie find what she needs?”
“Sure, hon.” He flashed another grin at me. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too.” I followed Evalyn down a side corridor lined with thousands of hardcover texts. “He seems really sweet,” I said when we were alone.
“He is.” She scanned book spines, lips pulling in a small, private smile. “Until you get on his bad side.”
“I know a few like that.”
She pulled a few volumes, all about constitutions and penal codes in the last three hundred years, and placed them on a small rolling cart she pulled alongside us.
We had lapsed into a companionable silence after wandering through the stacks for a while, when I decided to broach the biggest issue weighing on my mind. “Can I ask you something?”
Evalyn took a moment to answer, her voice tinged with caution. “Of course you can.”
“Do you trust Gerard?”
“Yes,” she said quickly, the word clipped and firm. “He served in the US military with Talon, the Chasing Death president. He may not be a club member, but he is family to them. And he brought my sister and I back together. I owe him a lot.”
“I’m glad he’s a man of integrity, and I’m really happy for you and Anita. But do you think he’ll be a good governor?”
“Politics is not my strong suit.” She smiled coyly. “That seems to be your arena, Miss Vance.”
“We’ve talked extensively about our platform and plans for the territory. I understand his vision and his goals, but I don’t know. I keep feeling like he’s hiding something.” Maybe expressing my doubts to this woman, of all people, wasn’t the wisest move, but my guys already knew my feelings. I needed an outside perspective, and Evalyn seemed like a bit of a kindred spirit.
“He probably is.”
I rocked back on my heels. “Well, that wasn’t the answer I expected.”
“Gerard is clever. And he’s sneaky. He’s very careful about what he says and who he says things to.” She chuckled to herself. “Talon always says he would have been great in Chasing Death, except that they expect full transparency, and Gerard has too many secrets.”
“Well, that honestly worries me. If he’s keeping some big secret about his plans for the territory, that affects me. If I’m going to be his lieutenant governor, I need to be kept in the loop.”
“I’m sure he’ll tell you what his plan is when he feels the timing is right.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“Kyrie.” Evalyn stopped pushing her cart and turned to look at me squarely. “I understand your worry. We’re in vastly uncertain times right now, and you’re about to be responsible for the welfare of thousands of people. People that Gerard saved. He wouldn’t have planned that uprising only to push people back in the dirt again.”
“I believe that, but I still don’t know—”
“None of us know anything. For all we know, the new territory could fall because of things completely out of Gerard’s control.”
“But if he doesn’t tell me things, I won’t be able to help him.” It felt like I was talking in circles, and I couldn’t hide the frustration in my voice.
Evalyn placed a hand on my arm. “He’s not plotting something nefarious behind your back, I can promise you that much.”
“I have kind of come around to realize that he doesn’t have bad intentions. But the fact that he’s so secretive still makes me uneasy.”
Her hand around my arm squeezed. “Give him the time to tell you on his own. Have a little faith.”
I peered at her, really trying to read the expression on her face. “Doyouknow what he’s up to?”
