Chapter 5

He wasn't coming out without her. Joseph was dead set on that fact. It was all he could not to break down now, looking around at the scraps of steel which use to be her second home. He blamed himself. No artwork, nor any valuable, was worth her life. She was priceless, especially to him. If he could have only known, he would have insisted on going with her. Instead he let her get the best of him once more.

He often gave in to her, just because he loved her. It had nothing to do with the fact that she was his employer and Queen, for as Head of Security, he could overrule any decision she made on the grounds of it being a security threat to her. This time he let her have her way again, knowing she loved the exquisite paintings and artwork that were coming to the palace. She wanted him there to see to their safety, so he gave in. It had to be important to her to even consider going someplace without him, for she would bear the time without him as he would without her.

Joseph had searched the area with a fine tooth comb. He had found the remains of the two pilots, and Amanda, who had been aide to Clarisse for four years now. He silently said a prayer and covered her scolded body. She would be greatly missed at the palace. She had been known to be a little clumsy, but everyone loved her free spirit. Clarisse especially.

Clarisse. He turned 360 degrees slowly. There was something he was missing...something he could not put a finger on. She was on that plane...yet she was not here. He called several more times, listening to his own echo within the hills. Where...

There. Joseph again stared at where the plane had hit the treetops. The trees..torn and tattered...and surly they had tore at the plane as well. His mind dreamed up a dozen scenarios...all devastating to her. A surge of anger flowed through him, and he pounded a solitary evergreen. She had to be alive. He had to keep that in his mind.

He looked at the pieces of the plane. The cockpit was clearly all there, as well as both wings from what he could tell. The rest of the plane would be harder to piece together, except for the large side where he had found Shades, was clearly just debris. There had to be another major section.

The rear of the plane was missing. The rear...mostly cargo. But what would Clarisse be doing in that section, unless she was just thrown there? And where was it?

Joseph wiped his face with his hand, then his semi-dry shirt inside his jacket. He couldn't stand and wonder anymore. Right or wrong, he had to go search.

So Joseph headed the direction of where the plane came in. He knew it was a long shot, but she was out there somewhere. Alone, and very much needing him.

He couldn't much curse the rain anymore, it had helped them to find the remains of the plane. Yet now it beat at his face again fiercely, coming in at an angle with large, heavy droplets. More often than not, he shielded his eyes with a hand, and used the other to grip something, anything to steady himself on the slick ground beneath his feet.

His watch wasn't much use, for Joseph had not checked it until now. So he had no way of knowing how long they had been gone with Shades. He was quite certain that they were not out of the woods yet, and that only added to his stress level. He'd give anything for help now. He needed help to find her quickly. It had been him to refuse it though. Before the helicopter had even took off, he had ordered a gag on the whole situation. It wasn't help he refused, it was the media. They did not need to be in the way. They always managed to make matters far worse, and this, this was bad enough.

From what he could tell, the bottom of the plane had bounced up and down on the trees until it finally hit rock bottom on the upward slope of a hill. It was a mangled mess to try and hike through, and it took significantly longer, however Joseph was not giving up. He would not come out without her.

Her skin was still a pale blue as the rain pounded her face. She lay among the wreckage of a single piece of the tail of Genovia One. Her left leg was still slightly twisted outward, and her left arm disappeared under a wooden crate, now even heavier with the water it had soaked in. With her eyes closed she could have easily been dreaming of her head of security, though with the crash those dreams could have easily been knocked out of her.

Here had been another let down for him. Several times in the past hour his heart would race at the sight of a bright shining metal reflection ahead, only to tear at his heart and soul. The closer he would get, the smaller they would be, small and insignificant. Joseph stomped the metal with frustration and moved on, still intent on not leaving without her.

She was his life. If her life was over, then so was his. It was that simple. Shades had knew it, had read it many times in his friend's face. This time had been no different. Shades knew of the seriousness of the matter. The score would be either two or zero.

It was a rough trip, Joe had been right. It was taking all three of them to carry him out. The rain was nothing but a hindrance. Pain shot from the center of his back outward with every movement, and Shades soon released his frustrations on his saviors. He hadn't meant to, but it had to come out somehow. With all his might he wanted to be back there helping his friend search. With all his might he wanted to rewind time and prevent the whole incident. With all his might, he just wanted to wake up from this awful nightmare.

Another piece lie ahead. He had been let down too many times to get all worked up over the damn debris now. Joseph continually put one foot in front of the other with the same pace as he had hiked the last twenty minutes. He knew he hadn't got far, but it was getting him someplace. Hopefully closer to her.

His leg had been cut, and only the excessive bleeding stopped him momentarily. He threw his survival pack on the ground beside him, and fumbled inside to find a cloth he could use to tie it off for now. Sitting on a log, Joseph wrapped it securely around his knee twice and knotted it tightly. It would do. If he couldn't find her, it wouldn't matter.

Standing to move on, he picked up his pack and threw it over his shoulder once more. He held onto a wooden crate, obviously thrown free, as he stepped over the logs ahead of him. Another. And another. And still another. Crates of wood and plastics everywhere. Luggage.

Joseph dropped his bag and jumped from limb to limb, looking for anything, and everything. It was her luggage. Shade's leather bags. Cargo they had picked up on their excursions...it was everywhere. But where was she?

Just when he had given up all hope again, Joseph stood on the highest limb of a partially standing tree. He held fast and scoured the woods for anything. His hands were slipping, but he was able to hold long enough to gasp at the sight behind him. How could he have missed that?

The closer he got, Joseph realized how he had missed it. It was camouflaged better than the trees themselves. It was only from a high vantage point anyone could have seen it. The tail section of Genovia One.

He climbed over it, almost tripping at the sight before him. His coat tore on a steel rivet, but Joseph couldn't hear it. Nor did he care right now. His first and only priority was getting to her. The few steps he needed to take seemed to go in slow motion as he reached his beloved. Only he would have known for sure it was her. The conditions unfavorable, she didn't even look like the Queen she was. Yet Joseph knew his Clarisse. He would have known her even without seeing her face.