It was 4pm Washington time when the Chief received the phone call that the small jet carrying Max and the doctor never reached Hamburg. The Chief intently listen while all the details where relayed to him. 99 was sitting next to him waited nervously for the Chief to fill her in on what was going on. Suddenly his fist hit the top of his desk, 99 jumped at his outburst but said nothing. The Chief stood up and began pacing the room.

"It's taken us months to get this plan into effect and now KAOS has Doctor Mendelschmitt," he growled, not realizing 99 was more concerned with the whereabouts of Max than the doctor.

"What about Max? " whispered 99, breaking him out of his train of thought. The Chief stopped in his tracks and looked up. He saw the look of despair on 99's face and felt his heart sink within his chest.

"I'm sorry, 99." he muttered bowing his head.

"Chief, what's happened to Max?" she whimpered softly

The Chief sat next to 99 and spoke to her in a calm tone, "That was our CONTROL agency in Germany on the other line. They informed me that the last radio contact they had with the plane was 40 minutes before they were to land."

99's hand went to her mouth as tears started to form in her eyes.

" KAOS got one of their agents got on that plane to impersonate the co- pilot. They found the real co-pilot's body in the pilot's locker room hidden in a closet. Their guess is that the agent and the doctor bailed out of the plane but not before he probably killed Max and the pilot. They estimate the plane went down somewhere between Hamburg and Erfurt."

"Have they been able to find the any sign of the plane?"

"No, not yet. There is 275 miles of rough terrain that they have to search." he sadly reported.

"Maybe the plane made it to."

The Chief cut her off, "99, the plane never made it to Hamburg. I'm sorry but I'm thinking realistically about this situation. If that KAOS agent didn't kill Max then the crash probably did."

99 looked the Chief straight in the eye, "I won't believe it till I get proof. I'm asking you for permission to go and join that search party"

The Chief knew this would be 99's reaction, she wouldn't accept the inevitable until the plane and the bodies were found.

"It could take weeks to find that plane, with such a large area to cover." he informed her.

"Chief, please. I know in my heart that Max is still alive. You have to let me go. Please." 99 begged.

He saw something in her eyes that wouldn't let him say no.

Against his better judgement the Chief reached for the phone, "Larrabee, book two airline tickets for Germany leaving first thing tomorrow morning." The Chief looked compassionately at 99. "Agent 99 and myself."

"Chief." 99 said giving a grateful sigh of relief as her arms wrapped around his neck.

The Chief shook his head, "As crazy as it sounds, if anyone could survive what's just happened, my money would have to be on Max."

*****************************************

Max awoke slowly. Opening his eyes, he looked around the crumpled interior of the small plane. The early morning light was seeping into the interior, illuminating the disaster inside. His mind raced, struggling to make some sense of the world around him. "My head...." Max moaned weakly. A trail of dried blood caked the side of his head. Reaching up to feel the damage, a medium size gash covered the side of his forehead. His mind was heavy and dull as he began to take in his surroundings. The whole cabin was oddly bent and twisted with several other tears and openings. He groaned and pushed himself off of the console, instantly wishing he hadn't. His right shoulder was on fire with pain from the bullet lodged deep inside. Beside him was the pilot's body. Max reached over to feel for a pulse, and sighed sadly when no sign of life was evident.

Releasing his seat belt, Max crawled upward to the aisle avoiding the sharp edges of twisted metal. An opening, where the side of the plane had been ripped off and discarded, made an escape out of the plane.

Once outside, Max collapsed against a tree and slid down to the ground. He took a deep breath as he slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. His eyes scanned what was left the plane. It was in ruins. The engine was smoldering, and most of it was crushed, although some of the cabin area was still intact. He tried desperately hard to remember anything that had occurred before he'd woken up in the plane but the only result was to make his head ache abominably. He couldn't remember how he got here, let alone who he was. Reaching to his back pocket, Max felt for his wallet. It was missing and from the looks of things could be anywhere in the debris. Max started to shiver and was hurting plus he was weak due to the blood loss from his shoulder. He knew if he were to survive, he'd have to make his way out of the forest. Max surveyed the area. Up slope were mountains and a path that was cleared from the aircraft crashing through the tall trees. He turned his head and looked down slope past the plane. In the distance he could see the end of the tree line. His judgement for distant was disoriented, what could be just a few hundred yards might be 20 miles away. If he stayed put and hoped for a rescue, it might take days. He needed medical attention and if he waited he might be dead before they did rescue him. Max made the decision to make his way out, hoping it would lead to a road or highway were someone would find him.

After an hour of slowly moving through bushes, over rocks and steep embankments, Max made his way out into a clearing of the forest and spotted a small narrow road separating it from the rest of the forest. By this time Max was so weak he didn't think he'd make it. "Just a little further.keep.going." he moaned to himself. Stumbling along, consciousness began to abandon him and the world dissolved before his very eyes. He collapsed and rolled slightly down the grassy knoll coming to a stop in a ditch.

Not long after Max collapsed, a young woman in a horse driven cart came by. If it weren't for a shiny object reflecting from the tall grass catching her eye, she would have driven right past. Pulling over, she stood up in the cart to get a better look at what was shimmering from the grass. Cautiously she approached to find a figure lying in the tall grass. The shiny object was Max's watchband reflecting off the sun's rays. Staying her distance, she spoke something to him in German. Not getting any response, she moved a little closer. A quiet moan came from where Max was lying and almost immediately, she noticed the large cut on the side of Max's head. His wound had opened up and fresh blood came streaming down his face. His shirt was also covered in blood from the bullet still lodged within his shoulder.

She looked around the area, the road was rarely traveled by cars, used mostly by farmers. She wondered where he came from and how he ended up in the middle of nowhere. She thought he might have been mugged and then left for dead but whatever happened, he was badly in need medical attention. Running back to the cart, she directed the horse into the grassy area up to where Max was lying. For a small woman she developed a great deal of strength from working on a farm and carefully lifted Max into the back of the cart. Her farm was a few miles down the road where she could tend to his wounds.

To Be Continued.