Breakneck


 
 
 
 
 Table of Contents
 
 Also by
 Title Page
 
 Copyright Page
 Dedication
 Epigraph
 PROLOGUE
 CHAPTER 1
 CHAPTER 2
 CHAPTER 3
 CHAPTER 4
 CHAPTER 5
 CHAPTER 6
 CHAPTER 7
 CHAPTER 8
 CHAPTER 9
 CHAPTER 10
 CHAPTER 11
 CHAPTER 12
 CHAPTER 13
 CHAPTER 14
 CHAPTER 15
 CHAPTER 16
 CHAPTER 17
 CHAPTER 18
 CHAPTER 19
 CHAPTER 20
 CHAPTER 21
 CHAPTER 22
 CHAPTER 23
 CHAPTER 24
 CHAPTER 25
 CHAPTER 26
 CHAPTER 27
 CHAPTER 28
 CHAPTER 29
 CHAPTER 30
 CHAPTER 31
 CHAPTER 32
 CHAPTER 33
 CHAPTER 34
 CHAPTER 35
 CHAPTER 36
 CHAPTER 37
 CHAPTER 38
 CHAPTER 39
 CHAPTER 40
 CHAPTER 41
 CHAPTER 42
 CHAPTER 43
 CHAPTER 44
 CHAPTER 45
 CHAPTER 46
 CHAPTER 47
 CHAPTER 48
 CHAPTER 49
 CHAPTER 50
 CHAPTER 51
 CHAPTER 52
 CHAPTER 53
 CHAPTER 54
 CHAPTER 55
 CHAPTER 56
 CHAPTER 57
 CHAPTER 58
 CHAPTER 59
 CHAPTER 60
 CHAPTER 61
 CHAPTER 62
 CHAPTER 63
 CHAPTER 64
 CHAPTER 65
 CHAPTER 66
 CHAPTER 67
 CHAPTER 68
 CHAPTER 69
 CHAPTER 70
 CHAPTER 71
 Grumpy’s Dessert Beans
 Ritz Cracker Fried Halibut
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
 
 
 
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
 For me at least, writing is a solitary endeavor—finding me cloistered away with my favorite Blackwing 602 pencils and notepad or pecking away on the computer. I need quiet and time for creative boredom to set in. 
 Even so, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have enjoyed the help and collaboration of many talented people over the decades I’ve been doing this. 
 As I write this, my wife and I are driving down the Alaska Highway through the startlingly bright fall colors of Canada’s Yukon Territory. This is a journey of thousands of miles, so we have time to talk plot, as we often do. I pitch a scenario I’ve been mulling, then she comes back with some cool counterpoint or plot twist. These are some of my favorite moments in the process. 
 Arliss Cutter and Lola Teariki are deputy US marshals, and I lean heavily on my time with the United States Marshals Service. I’ve been retired for a decade, and still, not a day goes by that I don’t miss the people and the mission. Being a deputy US marshal was, in my estimation, the best job in the world, and it is my hope that the pages of these Cutter stories reflect what a tremendous group of people carry that circle-star badge. 
 Friends from Anchorage Police Department, Alaska State Troopers, Village Public Safety Officers, Fairbanks PD, Air Force Pararescue, and countless other agencies have helped me out with my former job as a deputy and continue to do so as I work my way through these Alaska stories. 
 The team of researchers and contacts has grown over the years, and, to my good fortune, continues to do so. 
 Ty Cunningham, jujitsu master, tracking mentor, Marshals Service partner, and friend of three decades, walks through virtually every fight and tracking scene I write, offering insight and ideas. 
 Joe Huston of Bear Mountain Air is a heck of a bush pilot. I’ve seen a significant portion of the state out the window of his Cessna 185—including the remote set of Alaska Railroad tracks and stretch of river that appear in this book. 
 Dear friends, Rob and Michelle Heun of High Lake Lodge offer one of the most peaceful places in Alaska (or anywhere) to get away from it all and write . . . or just be. 
 Brian Weed, of Juneau’s Hidden History, is a wealth of knowledge and, after helping me explore miles of underground mine tunnels for Bone Rattle, continues to be a valuable resource about all things Alaska in subsequent books. 
 Brian Krosschell has taught school all over bush Alaska, knows the people and the waterways, and, in addition to being a friend, never seems to tire of showing me around and answering my endless questions. 
 Mike and Lori and the rest of the gang at Northern Knives in Anchorage continue to give me a place talk all things bladed—for research and just to decompress. And, of course, Jericho Quinn and Arliss Cutter both carry 3 Dog Knives. 
 Anyone who knows me at all knows that my wife and I are frequent visitors to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. Dear friends, Bill, Amber, Jaret, Peter, Jolene, Mii, Rod, Lilly, and countless others help define what makes Lola Teariki who she is. 
 I took several trips on the Alaska Railroad while researching this book—north to Fairbanks in summer and winter, and, of course, out to Spencer Glacier and Grandview, where this book is set. Alaska Railroad personnel were beyond helpful on each and every trip, helping me turn a kernel of an idea “I want to set an adventure on a train in some remote place in Alaska” into a story. David Graboski, Lauren Wynn, and Daniel Fretwell were great resources during those trips. Andrew Lyon went out of his way to provide me with maps of routes and sketches of train layout. I am grateful to them all. 
 Speaking of teams, by the time this book comes out, Robin Rue of Writers House Literary Agency will have been my agent for twenty years. She and her assistant, Beth Miller, have mentored my wife and I through the ups and downs of publishing, and we are forever grateful to them. 
 Gary Goldstein has been my editor at Kensington for almost as long as Robin has been my agent. We’ve become good friends over the years, and I count myself fortunate to have him and all the folks at Kensington in my corner. 
 My three kids and their spouses, who have all grown into stellar adults, offer endless insights into the world and their generation that I frequently miss. 
 My grandkids provide terrific inspiration for Arliss’s nephews—as anyone who follows me on social media can plainly see. 
 Above all, the most important member of this team is my bride, Victoria. She reads everything I write,