Bracken's eyes flew open as the sound of the 357 Magnum split the silent night. He woke abruptly, confused by the unexpected noise, unable at first to identify it's source. Then he realized—it came from the crash site. It was in the same general direction.

Damn! There are survivors and at least one is armed.

This complicated everything. No easy way now of taking supplies or commandeering the aircraft, if there was an armed survivor on board. It could even be a cop or an FBI agent, hot on his trail. Bracken laid back down again. There was nothing he could do about it now, except come up with a plan before daylight, before he started his search for the crash site.

At least the gunshot had confirmed his suspicion that they were close by. And he still had the element of surprise on his side.

Sunlight filtered through the trees, and early morning dew glistened on the grass and leaves. If this had not turned into 'the vacation from hell', Hutch would have enjoyed watching the sunrise. As it was, though, all he could think about was the throbbing pain in his broken leg, and how badly he needed to relieve himself. Any hopes Hutch had of turning this into a pleasant, relaxing trip to commune with nature and convert his partner into an avid outdoorsman, had gone down in flames just as surely as the Cessna had.

Starsky, now resting peacefully, had slept little after the mountain lion made his exit. Hutch knew his partner was exhausted from the events of the day before.

Was it really only yesterday?

In spite of his limited experience in wilderness survival, Starsky had rallied to the occasion and not only rescued Hutch and treated his injuries, but had found them shelter and food, then protected them from a dangerous predator.

Hutch looked over at Starsky as he slept, and knew he was fortunate to have such a man as his friend. He also knew that, Starsky would take whatever desperate measures needed to keep them alive. He was the one person Hutch could always count on.

He decided he could wait a little longer before trying to get out of the sleeping bag; let Starsky catch a few more minutes of shut-eye. Hutch felt pretty rotten knowing that because of his injuries, they were probably going to be stranded here until a search party could locate them. And right now, he wasn't even sure anyone knew they were missing.

Hutch lay quietly, waiting for Starsky to wake up. Gazing at the stand of pines nearest their campsite; he noticed a slight movement and flashes of white and tan moving among the trees. He eased himself up, then reached over, and gently prodded Starsky's shoulder. "Starsk!" Wake up!"

"Mmmm…. What? What?" Starsky bolted upright. "What?" Hutch tried not to laugh, but Starsky was a comical sight, with his hair standing out in every direction and his eyes blurry with sleep.

"Looks like we have more visitors." Hutch nodded toward the tree line.

Starsky scrambled out of his bedroll and grabbed the gun with his left hand while rubbing his eyes with the other. Prepared for the worst, he held his breath until the intruders came into sight. A graceful doe and her two small fawns foraged the undergrowth and bushes for fresh berries, oblivious of the two men watching them from a distance. Starsky slowly lowered the weapon.

"Now honestly, Starsky, don't they make you appreciate the beauty of nature?"

"Yeah. Sure, Hutch. And the most beautiful thing about 'em is, they don't have claws or fangs." Hutch rolled his eyes at Starsky, but silently conceded his partner had a point.

The two of them sat quietly, watching the agile female and her little ones until the doe sensed their presence and signaled the others to follow. They quickly retreated into the dense forest. By then, Starsky and Hutch were both wide-awake and ready to begin the day.

Hutch stumbled backwards as he tried to get to his feet.

"Whoa, hang on a minute there. Let me give you a hand." Starsky hurried to help him up. Once they were upright, he draped Hutch's arm across his shoulders, and helped him walk a short distance to a more private area. With only the crude, homemade splint, and no crutches to support him, it was soon apparent Hutch would not be able to walk even short distances without help.

"Just call when you're ready to come back," Starsky told him, then went back to the cave entrance, and waited. Within a few minutes, Hutch called out for his help.

"Well, that pretty much rules out our trying to hike out of here," Hutch said, once he was seated on top of the sleeping bag again.

"I told you, I can go for help."

"No offense, but you know that you don't have greatest sense of direction. Remember, you drive—I navigate. And you haven't spent much time in the woods. You're out of your element here, buddy."

Even though Starsky knew all that was true, he still felt a little defensive. He hated it when Hutch criticized him. "Oh yeah, well, I thought I was doin' pretty good out here. Granted I'm no Daniel Boone, like you, but so far we're still alive."

"Now don't get your nose out of joint. All I'm saying is, I don't want us to split up. Starsky, you may not realize it, but this forest covers over one and a half million acres. There are bears, mountain lions, coyotes, poisonous snakes, even herds of wild horses living here. I know, because I checked into this place thoroughly when you suggested we take this trip." Hutch paused, waiting to see Starsky's reaction to this information. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not thrilled at the prospect of having a run-in with any of the above by myself. One of the basics of survival is 'safety in numbers'. Besides, we only have one gun for protection. Which one of us keeps it? Have you thought about that?"

Hutch took Starsky's silence as a sign he was getting through to him. "Furthermore," he continued, "I hate it like hell, but I'd be literally helpless here without you. So why don't we sit down and try to figure out a plan?"

The fact that Hutch may be feeling a little insecure and afraid hadn't occurred to Starsky. He was so hell-bent and determined to get them out of this mess, he hadn't considered Hutch's perspective on the situation at all.

"Okay, pal—you're right. It's 'me & thee' time again. But right after breakfast, I'm gonna go back down to the airplane and find my gun. What do you think our next step should be?"

"To begin with, throw my duffel bag over here. I picked up a map of the Klamack National Forrest at the airport. Maybe we can get an idea of where we are. There are bound to be a number of ranger stations throughout the area. We need to determine if we're anywhere near one."

Starsky's face lit up with a typical Starsky grin. He felt better about things now than he had since the airplane went down. He knew together, he and Hutch would find a way out of here alive. Starsky tossed the bag to his partner and decided to gather some firewood. There was still a chill in the morning air, even though the sun was shining brightly. He was hopeful the wood had dried out a little since the rain stopped last night.

He began picking up twigs and branches that lay in abundance around the campsite.

Once Starsky had a small fire going, he went back to where Hutch sat on the sleeping bag with map spread out before him, trying to determine their location.

"How about some breakfast?"

"Sure, sounds good." Hutch looked up from the map. "I don't suppose you happen to have any granola bars in that sack of poison, do you?"

"As a matter of fact, Blondie, I threw a couple of 'em in just for you. I don't know how you can eat somethin' that tastes like it's made out of cardboard and tree bark, but here you go." With a smug expression, Starsky tossed two granolas bars to Hutch.

Always looking after me, aren't you, partner? Hutch thought to himself.

"We got’a find some water," Starsky said, tearing open a bag of Fritos. "I don't know about you, but I'm dyin' of thirst here."

"I don't wonder at it. Good grief, Starsk—Fritos for breakfast?"

"Someone else hogged all the granola bars" Starsky teased.

Hutch munched on the breakfast bar as he flipped open a brochure he took from the duffel bag. "Says here there are '152 miles worth of rivers, creeks and mountain lakes contained within the borders of the national forest'. Surely you can find us some drinking water not far from here."

"Mmm…I thought you said we shouldn't split up" Starsky said between bites. "Aren't you still worried I'll wander off and disappear from the face of the earth?"

Hutch reached into the emergency kit and pulled out a compass. "Not with this. You'll just need to make sure you don't go too far from camp and don't lose track of time. That's the best way to measure your distance."

Hutch passed the brochure to Starsky; "According to this, the park is divided into six major Ranger Stations. Even so, with over a million acres to cover, they'd have to be really spread out. Who knows, maybe we've lucked out and we're near one already."

"Nah, don't think so. Think about it. If we were near a ranger station, someone would have seen us go down yesterday and checked it out by now." Hutch knew Starsky was right. They should assume the worst and stick with their plan.

Seth Carter had just arrived at work and set his thermos bottle on the console when John Mcginness came up and clapped him on the back. "Good news, Seth."

"Good morning, John. What kind of news?"

"Well, actually it's good and it's bad. You know that distress call you thought you heard yesterday—turns out it's for real. You're right, a small plane is missing. Flew out of LA yesterday morning and never arrived at the ranger's station located on the Klamath River. No one has heard from them at any of the six ranger stations up there."

"And this is the good news?" Seth ran his fingers through his hair, a habit he had when he was worried or upset.

"Well, yeah—compared to what else I have to tell you. I don't know how familiar you are with that area, but it's pretty hard to find someone up there because of the size of that forest. Furthermore, the route they were flying takes them straight across two major wilderness areas, Trinity Alps, and Marble Mountain. The only inhabitants there are the wildlife."

"Where were they scheduled to fly into?"

"Flight plan said Yreka. They were to hook up there with a fishing party, lead by one of the local Indian guides. The fellow I spoke with at the airport said the guide waited an extra two hours on them, but they never flew in and there was no message to the control tower about the flight being cancelled."

"Oh, man…So we've probably got some fly-boy and a group—how many?"

"Two. Two fellas out of LA"

"…So we've got a pilot and probably two middle-aged, tie-wearing businessmen, who most likely have never been any closer to a forest than Griffith Park, down somewhere in a wilderness area. I'm waiting, John—what's the good news?"

"Well, I was thinking—if we verify his departure time; map the flight route, then check the records for the exact time you heard the may-day, we may be able to calculate about a 200 mile radius for search and rescue."

Seth exhaled a deep breath. "Talk about long shots…." The two men stood in silence for a few seconds, thinking about the odds of their being able to help these three unfortunates. " Why haven't we picked up anything from their transponder?"

"Maybe damaged when they crashed—maybe too much interference from the trees and mountains. I don't know. Once we narrow it down, the search and rescue can focus on one area; maybe they can use some sort of equipment to amplify any weak signals transmitting in that area."

Seth ran his fingers through his hair again, as he weighed their options. "Well, it's all we've got. Maybe it's enough to get NTSB's attention."

"Sure you're gonna be okay here by yourself?" Concern etched Starsky's face. What if something happened to Hutch while he was gone? What if he had complications from that lick on the head?

"Starsk, I've already told you three times, I'm fine. But I still think you should take the gun with you. You're more likely to need it than I am." Starsky's second search of the crash site had uncovered what was left of his missing duffel. The bag had burned in the crash; the heat warping the barrel of the Smith & Wesson so badly it would be of no use to anyone.

"Oh, terrific. You had to remind me again that I could be eaten alive by a bear or carted off by Bigfoot or somethin', didn't you?"

Hutch couldn't help but laugh. Starsky was making jokes, but Hutch knew him well enough to recognize there was a touch of real apprehension in his voice. "You'll be fine. The gun is just a precaution."

"And you think I'm gonna leave you here as bear bait? Get real. You can't even run for your life if somethin' decides to have you for a snack. The gun stays with you."

Hutch knew that tone. It clearly meant Starsky's mind was made up. No point in arguing.

"Sure you don't need me to help you over to the bushes again? I mean, I may be gone quite awhile."

"I'm sure. I'm gonna be fine. Now, have you got the canteens?"

"Check."

"Let's set our watches. I've got 11:36 a.m. Now, you're going to turn around and come back in an hour, agreed?"

"Check."

Starsky picked up the fishing cap and plopped it on Hutch's head. "Listen, Blondie, I really don't like leavin' you here alone when you can't even walk to the john. I wish there was another way."

"I know. Me too." Hutch pressed the compass in Starsky's hand then closed it into a firm handshake. "Be careful, partner." A moment of silent understanding passed between them.

Starsky turned to leave, calling back over his shoulder. "If any beautiful ladies show up, keep 'em entertained till I get back."

"Watch out for snakes!" was Hutch's parting shot.

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