Sorry it took so long to get this out. I think the writing part of my brain is in summer mode. Thanks so much for all the supportive comments you've been giving me. Can't tell you how much I appreciate them.

xxxxx

The helicopter landed without incident and the team members shared apprehensive looks as they wondered what was going to happen next. Burke unbuckled himself from his seat and directed the men closest to the door to disembark. "Get up and move in single file to the doorway," he said, glaring at the team. "No funny business or you know what'll happen."

The team got to their feet and silently did as they had been ordered, none of them speaking a word. When they got to the ground they looked around in dismay. Wherever they were, it could best be described as being out in the middle of nowhere. At least that was the way it appeared. There was a group of about a dozen tents set up and that was about it. At least that was all that they could see. They stood there and waited in uneasy silence.

Burke went over to the helicopter and yelled in through the open doorway "Everyone's on the ground, boss!"

Moments later, a man, who must have been sitting in the cockpit with the pilot, or perhaps he was the pilot, got off of the helicopter and came over to the captives, a smile on his face. He was an older man, tall and fit-appearing with short grey hair and a hard look about him. "Agent Callen," he said, standing in front of the team leader, still smiling. "At last, we meet again."

Callen frowned as he stared back at the man blankly, not having any clue as to who he was.

"You don't remember me?" the man asked. "Well, I guess I'm not surprised. You were only about 15 when we met and I think it was only twice. You've changed quite a bit as well. I have seen many pictures, but still, it's always good to meet one's prey in person."

Prey? Callen didn't visibly respond to the word, but hearing it made him even more apprehensive. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at the man, trying to place him and then, there was a look of recognition as he finally remembered.

"You do remember." The man nodded, seemingly pleased by this development. "Good, good. I was hoping you would."

Callen opened his mouth to speak but then looked at Burke and quickly closed it again, not wanting any of his teammates to suffer from his lapse.

"Please, speak," the man said, chuckling. "You have my permission. No one will be hurt because of it."

"You were a friend of Hetty's. Bartholomew Richards… I remember you being at her house."

"Exactly, but please, I go by Bart now. Bartholomew is far too formal, especially when you've been where I have been for the last 32 years."

"You only came by those two times…"

"Once again, you're correct. I went by many more times before your arrival, but yes, only twice after Henrietta took you in. She was exceedingly fond of you. At the time, it touched my heart, but then later…not so much."

"So this is about me?" Callen asked, looking confused.

"No, no," the man said, shaking his head. "Not really about you, well indirectly it is now, I suppose. This is about Henrietta and the fact that she threw many years of friendship up in my face. She betrayed me, Agent Callen, and now, she has to pay."

Callen nodded slowly. "Okay…I get that you want me for some twisted revenge plot against Hetty, but I don't get why you took my team too."

"Thanks to Henrietta, I've been in prison for a very long time. She obviously never told you what happened to me."

Callen shook his head. In all honestly, he'd never really thought about him after those two visits. There certainly wouldn't have been any reason for Hetty to share Bart's fate. Callen had known very little about her job activities back then.

"Let's just say we had opposing views on the question of arms dealing and she proved to be a much less loyal friend than I ever expected."

Callen smirked. "So, I'm guessing you've been in prison for the last 32 years?"

"Yes, and all those years being cooped up like that gave me lots of time to plan. I had lots and lots of money stashed away and Henrietta was none the wiser. I also had men I trusted who kept me abreast of her goings on. I could have compromised you and your team years ago, but it wouldn't have carried the same kind of satisfaction that this will have."

"And what exactly is this?" Callen asked.

"A game of sorts," Bart replied with a thin-lipped smile. "I need a challenge and Henrietta needs to pay. By the time this is over with…she'll realize that turning her back on me and putting me behind bars was the biggest mistake she ever made."

The word's chilled Callen to his core. He looked over at his team and from the expressions on their faces, he could see that they also had been affected by the ominous tone of Bart's voice. It was very obvious that this wasn't just an idle threat. This man and his little army needed to be taken very seriously.

"But before I explain further, I think some dinner is in order, after which I will give you all the details you need for our hunt which will start promptly tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. "

"We're going hunting?" Deeks could no longer keep quiet. This guy was a nut job for sure.

Bart turned to face Deeks. "Detective Deeks…I don't recall giving anyone but Agent Callen permission to speak."

Deeks moved so that he was in front of Kensi in an attempt to protect her from further harm. "Sorry," he muttered, not sounding sorry at all.

"Pretty sure we're the ones being hunted in this little scenario, Deeks," Callen said, trying to draw Bart's attention back onto himself.

Bart turned back to Callen, with a smile as he nodded. "Very good. Yes, you and your team are the prey in this hunt, and I anticipate it to be a wonderful challenge. I'm very much looking forward to it. Sometimes, while in prison, I used to take the lives of inmates in various ways, just to see if I could get away with it. I always did…no one ever caught on. It was maddeningly simple. I'm hoping the four of you will prove to be much more stimulating. But for now, this will be your home until tomorrow." He pointed towards a tent. "I'm going to have you uncuffed, but any attempt to escape…well, let's just say it won't be successful and you'll be very, very sorry. You'd be better served to wait for the rules of the game as you will at least have a fighting chance, albeit a small one, to escape unharmed."

Each member of the team was then uncuffed and they were shepherded into the tent with four armed guards standing outside of it, making it very obvious that they were not going to be given an opportunity to escape.

xxxxx

"Do you think we're allowed to talk?" Sam whispered once they were alone inside the tent.

"I guess we'll find out," Callen said.

"This guy's crazy, Callen," Deeks said. "Was Hetty really friends with him?"

Callen shrugged. "I don't know, Deeks," he admitted. "I was a kid. I didn't really pay any mind to the people who came and went. It wasn't like he paid much attention to me."

"You obviously made some kind of impression, G," Sam observed. "He sure didn't forget you."

"I just think he remembered Hetty took in a kid. I doubt it was me personally. I'm just sorry he honed in on the three of you though. He's pretty pissed at Hetty, that's for sure." Callen looked over at Kensi who hadn't said anything. "Kens…are you alright?" he asked. "I'm really sorry you got punched because of me."

Kensi nodded and forced a faint smile. "I'm fine, Callen. Don't worry."

"How about you?" Sam asked his partner. "That guy hit you pretty hard."

"I'm good, Sam," Callen said with a smirk. "You've hit me harder than that before."

"Well, I seriously hope that's not the case, G," Sam said, his eyes filled with guilt and sadness.

"Come on, Sam. It was a joke," Callen said, already regretting his lame attempt to lighten the mood. There was nothing funny about any of this. "I'm alright. We have a lot more serious things to worry about right now."

"Speaking of which, do we have a plan?" Deeks asked, his blue eyes looking very worried.

Callen and Sam exchanged a troubled glance which didn't give Deeks much encouragement. "We need to wait to see what exactly this hunt is," Sam said.

"I think it's pretty self explanatory, isn't it?" asked Deeks. "He's going to send us out into the wilderness and then come after us with his team of goons."

"There's an old short story like this, about a hunt," Callen said. "The Most Dangerous Game." I read it in school.

"Yeah, I read it too," Deeks stated. "I just didn't choose to act out parts of the plot after reading it."

"That guy had hounds," Sam said, as he recalled the story. "Scary stuff. Hope this guy doesn't have them."

"The guy in the story didn't have a small army backing him up though," Callen commented.

"You all read this story?" Kensi asked. "I never did."

"If I remember correctly, the guy in that book gave his target a knife. I wonder if he'll let us have weapons," Callen mused.

"He will if he's going to be fair about it," Sam said. "I just don't know if he's going to be all that concerned with giving us a fair shot."

"I doubt it," Deeks said glumly.

"This whole thing is making my stomach sick," Kensi said in dismay. "He…he's going to just hunt us down like animals?"

"Come here, baby," Deeks said. Kensi went to him and he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly against his chest as he stroked her hair.

"I'm scared, Deeks," Kensi whispered softly, but loud enough for them all to hear her.

"I know you are," Deeks said quietly. "I am too."

xxxxx

About a half hour later, Burke came into the tent. "Dinner," he growled nastily at them. "Get your asses out there now. If it was up to me, you wouldn't get a damned thing to eat, but Bart is a humanitarian."

Callen and the others all exchanged glances, but none of them spoke, unsure if the no talking rule was back in effect now that they were out of the tent.

"Come, come and eat!" Bart bellowed gleefully, gesturing them over to where some picnic tables had been set up. The four team members looked at each other uneasily before they sat down at the table with Bart. Food was immediately brought over to them by a man wearing a chef's uniform. He served grilled chicken, potatoes and vegetables. At first, none of them attempted to touch the food. "It would be wise to eat while you can. Who knows when you'll get the chance for a hot meal again. You should fuel up. You're going to need all your energy."

Callen glanced at Sam and then took a forkful of chicken and put it into his mouth. Sam, Kensi and Deeks then started to eat as well.

"So, Agent Callen," Bart asked. "I'm curious. Do you think you need your team for this hunt?"

Callen looked back at Bart warily. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"It's a simple question. Do you need them or would you be better served undertaking it alone?"

"What if I said I didn't need them?" Callen asked, ignoring Sam's whispered "G" in a cautionary tone. "You'd set them free?"

Bart chuckled in amusement. "Oh you don't get to know the answer to that, Agent Callen. "Perhaps I would set them free, but then again, perhaps not. It's not an answer you're going to get."

"Well then, yes, I need my team," Callen said as Sam breathed a sigh of relief beside him. For all he knew, Bart would kill Sam, Kensi and Deeks if he said he didn't need them. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to let them go.

"Too bad," Bart said with a shrug as he began to eat his own dinner. "A one on one challenge might have proven interesting, but my men and I are up for the challenge of your team."

"So care to share the details of this so-called hunt?" Callen asked.

"All in good time," Bart stated. "Eat your meal. It's entirely possible this could be your last supper. Carlos is a very good chef. I suggest you enjoy it. We'll talk afterwards."

Callen sighed softly as he went back to his dinner. Given the situation, he wasn't particularly hungry, but he knew that Bart's words were true. They needed to eat in order to have as much energy as possible to deal with whatever this madman had orchestrated for them.