Due North. Chapter 1.
Kate launched a decryption code on the newly hacked system and took a satisfying sip of coffee. She was beginning to feel a little tired, one of the numerous human body's weaknesses she has chosen to ignore. She just could not afford it! Being a youngest FBI Cybercrime division agent, Kate had no time for self-pity. She knew very well, she was the only person in Chicago, possibly the whole States, who could bring those cyber villains to justice. Not that she was arrogant about her high IQ! She took it as a fact. Like the brown colour of her hair or the blue colour of her eyes – a part of who she really was. And at least at that point she was happy about it.
Kate decided to double-check if the system was not a honeypot, and got back to speed-hitting the keyboard, disregarding everything and everyone else around. No wonder she has failed to notice the boss entering her office.
"Miss Metcalf, can you explain to me why did our department spend the amount of energy enough to light a small town? All in one weekend! And why are security telling me that my best agent hasn't left the building in three days?" asked the boss angrily.
"Moustache… Sir," answered Kate, continuing to type.
"Moustache?!" asked the boss incredulously. He was beginning to question Kate's sanity. After all, many great minds went bananas at some point of their lives, but Kate was stable, or so it seemed.
"Yes, Sir! Moustache some joker had attached to the Queen's portrait on the Queen's University website," Kate hated explaining things, but that was her boss, so she had no way about it. "But he won't be laughing long. I have located him and informed the local police. They are arresting him as we speak," she added with unhidden satisfaction.
"Never heard of that university. Where is it?" asked the boss.
"Kingston," answered Kate.
"Kingston?! As in Canada?!"
"That would be correct, Sir," said Kate. She knew, of course, the boss would mind spending FBI resources on non-USA crimes, but she wanted to hear him say out loud that some crimes are less important than others. Not that she disrespected him or anything. After all, he was just one of those unfortunate people with an average IQ.
The boss decided to explain Kate once and for all, that no matter how smart and resourceful she was, she could not keep undermining his authority like that, or else… But right after he opened his mouth to tell the speech, his smartphone beeped, announcing an important message. He quickly looked at it and the words stuck in his throat. "It's your mother!" he mumbled. Kate's phone rang, but she figured out what had happened even before she answered.
Victoria Metcalf. That was Kate's mother's name. And that was usually enough for her to find out everything about any person, but not her mother. That woman was full of secrets. Never talked about her past or Kate's dad. Secretly Kate was hoping her mum would tell her the story of her birth one day, but obviously it was not going to happen. Died in a car accident, they said. Not that they were very close, but she was the only family Kate had.
Standing by her mother's grave, listening to a priest's soothing mumbling, Kate couldn't help thinking she was left alone in this world. Of course, there was Jack, her co-worker, who for some reason followed her around even here at the funeral. But Jack was no family. If only she had taken time to talk to her mother about her dad…
Jack drove Kate to her mum's apartment to go through her things. Nice guy. A little bit too nice, in a way that usually made Kate extra grumpy. But not today. Today Kate was almost thankful someone cared. Almost…
"Would you like to talk?" asked Jack in his usual calm voice, while Kate was trying to figure out where to start.
"Talk about what?" asked Kate.
"I don't know. Your feelings, for example," said Jack.
"No, I'm good. You can go now," Kate answered, a little less friendly than she wanted.
Jack sighed and was about to leave the apartment when Kate stopped him.
"Jack," she wanted to say something nice, but the only thing that came up was, "If I ever want to talk about my feelings, shoot me with a big gun!"
Jack smiled and left.
Kate decided she should start with sorting mum's things: the ones she wanted to keep and the ones she would give to charity. But first things first: she had to look through the documents to find any unpaid bills and maybe a testament.
After one extremely boring hour of reading ads and letters, Kate was almost ready to go home, but then she came across a locked desk drawer. Once again, she felt sorry she had sent Jack away, as she was not familiar with lockpicking techniques unless it was an electronic lock. All things considered, Kate decided to use a brute force attack on the poor drawer. The drawer resisted for a while, but then gave up, revealing numerous hand-written diaries. It took Kate one second to recognise her mum's handwriting. The diaries went back 25 years ago to the date Kate was born. Kate opened the first one with her hands trembling for some reason she could not comprehend. The diary said "Dear B., I am so sorry things turned out this way. I wish you had taken that train with me. I wish you could meet our daughter. She's a miracle! She has your eyes blue as the northern sky. I hope one day I have the guts to tell her about her dad, the bravest mounted policeman in the Northwest Territories, killed in the line of duty by an American cop."
Policeman! Her father was a police officer. Canadian, but still… Someone killed him up there in the north. Kate knew what she had to do: go due north and solve the mystery of her father's death.
"I request a transfer," Kate said as soon as she entered her boss's office.
"You request… what?" the boss was not expecting to see her today, right after her mother's funeral. Nor was he eager to deal with a grieving woman's life-changing nonsense.
"Transfer, Sir," Kate wanted to get over with formalities as soon as possible, but she suspected it won't be easy.
"Where do you want to go?" asked the boss.
"The Northwest Territories, Sir," answered Kate.
"Territories of what?"
"Canada, Sir."
"Canada?! I've heard enough of this country from you, miss Metcalf," the boss was beginning to feel irritated. "I can give you a day off, if you really need it, but I expect to see you in the office after tomorrow. Is that clear?"
"Perfectly, Sir," Kate hesitated. She knew what she had to say, she had it all planned, but still she was hoping there was another way. Apparently not.
"July 1," she blurted out.
"What about it?" the boss was considering calling security, or maybe Jack, he seemed to see eye-to-eye with this lunatic.
"Your conference in Wisconsin," reminded Kate.
"So?"
"Judging from your credit card report, you were never in Wisconsin. You were in Palm Springs, California, a very nice hotel, 5 stars, pleasant company of a young woman, who, according to the hotel's internal cameras, didn't look like your wife… Sir," Kate didn't feel comfortable blackmailing her boss like that, but on the other hand what alternative did she have?
"How dare you…" his face turned red, but very soon he realised there was no point yelling, she had got him. "What do you want from me?" he said with emerging desperation.
"I thought I made it clear – a transfer," Kate said as calmly as possible.
"You can go to hell, for all I care," he snapped.
"Thank you, Sir. You will receive my application shortly," said Kate and left before the boss could add anything.
Kate was in the middle of decrypting when Jack entered her office.
"When were you going to tell me, you were leaving?" asked Jack a little less calmly than usually.
"Figured, you'd find out yourself eventually."
"I thought we were friends," sighed Jack. Kate decided that was one of those awkward social intercourses she disliked so much, so she turned away and got back to decrypting, hoping the conversation was over. But Jack had no intentions of letting her go that easily.
"Where will you go?" asked Jack after a while.
"The Northwest Territories," answered Kate. Jack laughed sincerely.
"You are kidding, right?" he asked, but Kate looked serious enough.
"You know, it's freezing out there?" added Jack.
"Thanks for the tip. I'm leaving my bikini then," Kate laughed it off.
"I'm serious, Kate. What are you planning to do there?"
"Introduce the Innuits to the world of modern technologies," Kate kept joking.
"They might not even have internet there. Remember, when we were out of power for 6 hours, you almost went nuts. How are you planning to survive in that wilderness?"
"I'll bring a power bank," Kate said.
"You'll need much more than that!" Jack concluded.
"Ok, I'll bring two power banks!"
"Take me with you!" Jack decided the opportunity he had been waiting for so long finally presented itself. Northern Canada was not exactly the best place he imagined starting his romantic relationship with Kate, but that could have been his last chance.
"No," snapped Kate.
"Why not? You could use my help, whatever you project is," Jack suggested.
"It's personal!" said Kate decisively, making Jack see she was not changing her mind.
"Kate Metcalf, FBI Cybercrime division. I need access to your server room," said Kate quickly, showing her badge as soon as she entered the police station. The two young, mounted police officers reluctantly turned away from a stone-age TV, that was showing a strange Canadian show involving a stone and some brooms, and looked at Kate uncomprehendingly.
"Welcome to Canada, miss Metcalf! My name is constable Evans. And this is constable Cloutier. How can we help you?" they both stood up and smiled for so long, Kate thought there might be something wrong with their jaws.
"Server room," repeated Kate. The two police officers looked at each other for a moment, not knowing what to do.
"Perhaps you would like to wait for sergeant Fraser. He is in pursuit of a certain criminal whose offences don't need exploring at this juncture. But as soon as he succeeds, sergeant Fraser will be more than happy to help you locate your room," said constable Evans.
"Meanwhile, you are welcome to join us in watching the semi-final of Curling Championship-2022," added constable Cloutier.
Kate sighed. This was not the first time men underestimated her intellect and the ability to handle police infrastructure with due diligence, but she felt frustrated every time. Anyway, she had made a long trip to this northern land and was not going to wait for some tribe elder to get the job done.
"I'm afraid I need to start working now, so if you could show me the direction, I will not waste your time anymore, constables," said Kate decisively. The constables hesitated.
"If you could explain what exactly you mean by "server room"," finally said constable Evans.
Jeez, maybe it's called differently in Canada. Kate didn't think the language barrier would be an issue, but she could handle it, couldn't she?
"It's where you keep all your data," explained Kate.
"Oh," smiled constable Evans, "Why didn't you say so in the first place? Go downstairs, along the corridor, press code "1867" on the red door, and you are there!"
"Thanks!" said Kate and walked away as quickly as possible.
"Holy motherboard!" said Kate to herself as soon as she entered the archive. The constables didn't lie. The giant room was really full of data, but in paper format! Not a single server or even home PC. Kate knew there were worse places to be in this world, she just couldn't name one at the moment.
The constables were still watching the "broom-show" when Kate came back. No more funny business, she needed access to the internet ASAP. According to the police station's current business continuity plan, there had to be at least one point of access in the station. Kate was determined to find it. But before she had time to ask the constables, the strangest thing happened.
The doors opened and a tall, grey-haired Canadian policeman with a big hat all covered in snow marched in, leaving wet footprints with his huge boots. He was lovingly carrying a small furry wounded animal (apparently a beaver). The policeman was followed by a thick-bearded man, whose hands were tied with white rope (looked like they hadn't heard about handcuffs here). The procession was completed by a wolf-looking dog.
"Medical assistance required," announced the policeman, and both constables stood up like soldiers. Constable Evans hurried to get a first aid kit, while constable Cloutier freed the desk. The bearded man sat down on a chair by the entrance, guarded by the dog.
"Quick, we are losing him!" shouted the policeman, gently putting the beaver on the desk. Constable Evans started bandaging animal's paws, while constable Cloutier was giving an animal mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The dog watched them with a stern look. Kate watched them with eyes as big as she ever had.
"Bleeding stopped, pulse steady, the patient is safe!" finally reported constable Evans and all three policemen happily shook hands.
"Another Canadian life saved. Good job, constables," said the grey-haired policeman, and both constables smiled. Then constable Evans noticed Kate standing aside in a state of shock.
"Sergeant Fraser, I beg forgiveness for failing to report the arrival of an FBI agent, miss Kate Metcalf!" reported constable Evans.
"At ease, constable," replied Fraser and approached Kate.
"Hello, miss Metcalf, welcome to Canada! My name is sergeant Benton Fraser, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, I first… that's not important, what is important… your last name sounds familiar. Are you by any chance related to a certain bank-robber?" asked Fraser.
"I'm not related to criminals!" Kate stated.
"Of course not! I didn't think you would be. Em... Is there anything I can do to help you, miss Metcalf?" asked Fraser.
"In fact, there is, sergeant! I need access to the internet, and I know for a fact you have at least one point of access. If you doubt my credentials, I can…"
"Say no more," interrupted Fraser. "Constable Evans, the American wire?"
"Behind the maple tree, sergeant," answered Evans.
"Thank you kindly, constable," replied Fraser, took a chair, stood up on it, so he could reach a painting of a maple tree, took the painting off the wall, revealing a wire tied with a red bow.
"I believe this is what you were looking for. As you can see, we are not using technology much here," explained Fraser, giving Kate the wire.
"It's OK," replied Kate, greedily grabbing the wire, like a starving person would grab a piece of bread.
"Is there anything else I can help you with, miss Metcalf? Perhaps a tour of the premises? You might find interest in unique Canadian flora and fauna," suggested Fraser.
"I've seen more than enough of that today," replied Kate, looking at the recovered beaver. "Besides, you surely have other things to do."
"I do?" asked Fraser. Kate looked at the bearded man, who hadn't moved a muscle so far.
"Oh, right you are! But I will be happy to help you with your case as soon as I finish reprimanding that animal-abuser," promised Fraser and left with the bearded-man and the dog.
While plugging the wire to her notebook, Kate couldn't help thinking that for some unknown reason those weird people with their ridiculous habits and their strange way of speaking somehow made her feel… like home.