Northern Lights: A Due South Novel

Chapter 1: The Highway at the End of the World

Constable Elizabeth Fraser reached the crash site shortly before 3 p.m. Dark grey clouds lurked on the horizon. A light wind from the west moved across the deep snow which blanketed the road.

The Top of the World Highway connected Dawson City, Yukon to Tok, Alaska. The northernmost international highway on the continent cut a scar through the wilderness as it climbed over mountain ridges and clung to the sides of valleys. With no settlements of any size between Dawson and the border, the highway was closed in winter. It wasn't patrolled or ploughed. The stunted trees that grew at 64 degrees north, just south of the Arctic circle, provided little shelter against the howling winds and brutal storms. There were no other roads, no fences, and not even a trapper's cabin in sight. Only a desperate fool would drive west from Dawson City in February. Yet their suspect had.

Though her face was bare and her hood down, Elizabeth didn't wince when she stepped out of her truck onto the packed snow. Her tall, lean frame and broad shoulders were visible even through her navy blue parka. A narrow nose and strong jaw suggested sternness, but her long lashes and blue eyes could have charmed any Klondike gold miner. At the nape of her neck, a dark brown braid emerged from her muskrat hat. It was already attracting frost.

A large white and grey wolf leaped from the truck to stand beside Elizabeth. Montgomery had a lean, shaggy body, and yellow irises with large, black pupils that stared down her prey—until she licked their face. Together, the pair approached the RCMP cruiser parked just above the crash site. Only when it became apparent that she had no intention of getting inside the warm vehicle did the two officers inside emerge.

"Oh my god, it's Fraser and the wolf," said Constable Sarah Mah as she opened the door. The wind caught Sarah's words as Elizabeth approached, carrying them straight to her ear. Sarah's eye roll was more subtle, but Elizabeth could spot a polar bear on an ice floe in a blizzard. In fact, that skill had saved her life once.

Constable George Carmack tightened the hood on his parka and pulled down the flaps on his hat. Carmack was a new recruit from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and hadn't yet adjusted to northern winters. He swayed from side to side, stamping his feet, and stuck his mittens under his armpit. When Montgomery brushed his leg, he stiffened, then followed Elizabeth down the hill.

The suspect's red SUV had crashed at the bottom of a slope, where the narrow highway curved sharply to the left. Judging by the tracks, he had missed the turn, slid off the road and slammed into the mountainside. The front of the SUV had crumpled. The trunk was open and empty.

"Where did the suspect go?" Elizabeth's voice was formal and her intonation flat. She stood as though she had a ruler taped to her spine.

Constable Mah pointed at a set of footprints leading off the highway to the west.

"And you didn't pursue?"

Constable Mah crossed her arms and sighed. "He was out of sight when we got here. We were waiting for backup. Tell me you brought the snowmobiles. Or a helicopter." Sarah scanned the sky hopefully.

"It's too cold. The snowmobiles wouldn't start. Dawson's trying to warm them up, but it'll take time."

"So what's the point of you, then?" Mah asked.

Elizabeth knelt by the suspect's footprints as Montgomery, who had been sniffing the tracks, licked the snow. She took a handful of the dry, powdery snow and put it in her mouth. The bitter cold stung her tongue, but once it warmed, she tasted salt.

Constable Mah groaned, while Constable Carmack shook his head in confusion.

"I'm going after him." Elizabeth removed her outer mittens, produced a pair of binoculars from her pocket, and trained them on the horizon. Every movement sounded like sandpaper on wood. In a Yukon winter, you could hear a whisper a kilometre away.