Sam finished her precheck, climbed into the cockpit, checked to be sure her bag was secured, and radioed the tower for permission to take off. She smiled as she waited her turn. Buying a plane with Jack was a huge commitment and she was still surprised he'd suggested it. The plane felt good on take off and flew well for the first twenty minutes of the trip.

Sam was enjoying the view when the plane jerked, and her left thigh erupted in pain. Sam forced herself to ignore the pain as she tried to keep the plane level. It was fighting her, and she was losing altitude quickly. Sam reached for the radio but found it was unresponsive. She scanned the forest for a landing site, but she didn't see a clearing, just trees and rocks.

The left side of her face was laying on something hard, she thought really needed a better pillow. Her face felt wet too. She hoped she didn't really drool that much. She gave herself another moment before opening her eyes and lifting her head. Her vision was blurry, and pain shot through her head and down her back as she moved. She closed her eyes and groaned before trying again, better prepared for the pain. A pine tree filled her field of vision. She looked around her, realizing she was in a plane but the plane was tilted sidewise and lying against a tree. She groaned again.

Daniel picked up the paperweight on Jack's desk. "Still can't believe you're going to Washington."

"Mmmmm." Jack was looking at his computer screen.

Daniel dropped the paperweight and Jack looked up. "Sorry." Daniel picked it up and put it back on Jack's desk.

"Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Lots, but nothing I could finish before Sam gets here." Daniel looked at his watch. "I thought she'd be here by now."

Jack glanced at the time on his computer screen. "Me too. Teal'c met her at the airport. I bet they stopped somewhere on the way here." Jack picked up his phone and dialed. "Hey Teal'c. Daniel and I are getting hungry. What are you and Sam doing?

"Colonel Carter has not yet arrived."

"She should have landed almost an hour ago."

"I am aware. I have been discussing this with the airport authorities, but I have not been given any satisfactory information yet."

"We're on our way." Jack hung up, grabbed his jacket, and walked out, with Daniel on his heels.

Sam's head was spinning and pounding, leaving her confused. She tried to look at her leg, to see why it hurt, but when she tried to bend forward she was stopped. She looked down at her chest and saw a four-point harness. She reached up and ran her hands over it, looking for a latch. She knew she knew how to undo it, but she couldn't figure it out. She took a slow breath and focused, which helped. She fell forward slightly as she released the harness.

She pushed on her door, but it was held closed by the tree. She scooted over to the passenger side, opened the door, and crawled out of the plane. She sat on the edge of the door opening and examined her leg. There was a large gash in her pants on the side of her calf. She lifted the leg of the pants up and saw a bloody wound. Her pants were wet with her blood. Now that she knew she was really injured her leg started hurting more. She pushed herself up and reached back into the plane. She pulled her bag and the emergency kit out of the back. She sat back down, opened the medical kit, and tended to the wound on her leg. She was packing the kit back up when she wiped her brow and found her sleeve was also bloody. Sam felt the side of her head and was surprised to find her hair was wet with blood. She felt around until she found a lump that was bleeding. She got out more gauze, cleaned off the wound, and wrapped her head.

"Teal'c?" Jack walked up behind Teal'c who was standing in the doorway of the airport administration office.

"They have been unable to locate Colonel Carter. Her last contact was over two hours ago, approximately fifteen minutes after leaving Nevada."

Jack ran his hand through his hair and took a slow deep breath. "Ok, I'll call the base and coordinate Air Force search teams." Jack paced while he was on the phone. It was after midnight before a call from a sheriff's office was put through to the airport control center saying a man had called and reported seeing a small plane go down on Edwards mountain.

"This is ridiculous. You have no idea where she is."

"Shut up."

"No, I'm tired of walking in circles and it's getting dark."

"We've got at least another thirty or forty-five minutes of good light."

"You still have no idea where she went."

The first man spun around and stared down his companion. "We've got tracks and blood spots. She had to have come through here."

Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c got a helicopter ride to the search base camp at the foot of the mountain. It was almost four in the morning by the time they arrived.

"Colonel, what have you found?"

"Based on eyewitness reports we narrowed down the probable crash site to the northeastern ridge." He pointed to the map. "We have a helo with heat sensors up now." He looked at his watch. "They should be back in ten to fifteen minutes."

Jack nodded. Daniel got coffee while they waited. Twenty minutes later a major approached the group and saluted.

"At ease. What did you find?"

"There are three groups of people on this side of the mountain. Two people and a fire down here close to the base of the mountain." He indicated the general location on the map as he spoke. "There are five people here and it looked like there were two heat sources. The third group included three people, two sitting near a fire and one about half a click away from the other two."

"No single people at all?"

"No sir."

"Any heat signatures at the probable crash site?"

"No sir, we flew over that area three times."

"Colonel Carter would not leave the sight of the crash."

Jack nodded his agreement with Teal'c, "Not unless she had to for some reason. Is this group," Jack pointed to the group of three, "the closest to the crash site?"

"Yes sir."

"Daniel, Teal'c, and I will head towards them at first light and if Colonel Carter isn't with them we'll move on and check out the crash site."

Colonel Meyers nodded. "I'll send a team to check out the other two camps."