Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS but character plots and teenage Tali is all mine.

Chapter III - Hunter Amadi

They had been alone now for what seemed like days even though it had only been three hours. Tali had ripped off the rest of her torn shirt sleeve to use as a makeshift gauze for the boy's head. He'd passed out shortly after their captor left, leaving a fearful Tali to sit in silence and imagine what horrible things would come once the man returned. She jolted a little as she heard the young man starting to wake back up. Her eyes darted across the room as he slowly tried to sit up. When he finally positioned himself against the wall, they locked eyes. Another moment of silence spread across the room as neither knew what to say.

Eventually, Tali was the first to speak, "Who are you?"

The boy took in a labored and painful breath then answered, "Hunter ... Hunter Amadi."

She quickly noticed his accent which provoked intrigue, "How did you get here?"

"I'm not sure. I can't remember really. One minute I was leaving the gym, and the next thing I knew I felt a sharp pain at the back of my head then I woke up here.

"How long have you been here?"

"I think it's been at least two days. I can't really say, between the beatings and passing out, I'm not exactly sure if it's been more or less."

His response caused Tali's mind to go into a panic. Two days? I can't survive that long. I'm going to die here. Tears began to stream down her face. I don't want to die.

Silence blanketed the room again. Minutes felt like hours and it was overwhelming. This time, Hunter broke the silence, "what's your name?"

"Tali Dinozzo", she spoke softly through her tears.

Dinozzo? Hunter started piecing something together in his head but remained quiet.

"Do you know what he wants", she asked even though she was afraid of the answer, but part of her felt like she needed to know.

Hunter looked down at his bruised hands trying to find the right words. She doesn't know about the meeting. Maybe I shouldn't tell her. After a few seconds, he looked back at her and decided to be honest, "I'm not completely sure, but I think it may have something to do with our fathers upcoming meeting at NCIS."

The answer took Tali by surprise. What? She started rubbing her head as the confusion was bringing on another headache. "How ... how do you know my father?"

"Your name is Tali Dinozzo, right? You are the daughter of NCIS Director Tony Dinozzo, aren't you?"

She shook her head 'yes'.

"Our fathers", he paused to shift his weight to his left side to try to get as comfortable as possible. Tali moved closer to help him situate himself. "Thanks". She nodded and gave a half hearted smile which told him to continue explaining. "Our fathers, they are supposed to be meeting to sign a deal."

"What kind of deal? And how do you know this?"

"The kind of deal that will bring your father's agency and my father's closer together. I know because I am part of the deal. I'd be shifting to working within NCIS."

"Wait", all this new information was throwing her for a loop. It only made her headache worse as she tried to understood. "How can you work within NCIS, you're like the same age as me."

"I'm actually two years and some change older. So I'm 19."

How does he know how old I am? She started getting nervous of his obvious knowledge of who she was and her not knowing him at all.

"When I turned 18, my father immediately put me on staff at SASS." The look on Tali's face told him she had no clue what he was talking about. "It's the South African Secret Service. Technically, I am too young to work for either agency, but with my father being director of SASS and with proof that I've been training my entire life to do such work, I was sworn in."

"So you're like a teenage spy?"

"You are doubtful of what I say", he stated as a matter of fact. "But it is the truth."

"My father would never let a teenager work with NCIS. He barely likes to talk about old cases in front of me and my little brother."

"Let me be clear", he groaned as a sharp pain ran across his forehead, "Your father isn't entirely on board with this deal but he has no other alternative given the matter of the situation."

"What situation?"

Hunter shook his head, "it's best you not know. For your sake and mine. All I can really say is that this guy seems to know exactly who we are, kidnapping us both is not a coincidence."

The key. Just then Tali remembered her first encounter with their captor, "he called me 'the key', do you know what that means?"

Hunter looked away from her and shook his head 'no'. This guy is going to use her to get it. He knew exactly what it meant but decided against scaring the already frightened young girl.

His lack of a response made her all the more curious. Something within her knew he was lying but she decided not to push. If he does know then maybe he wants to protect me. Or maybe he's just some weirdo creep lying about everything.

She reasoned with herself to just drop the topic entirely, and silence fell upon them again. It didn't stop her from thinking though, as she started studying his features and trying to find logic within to make sense of all he'd just said. It was going to be a long day. And as she took mental notes of all his visible injuries again, she felt fear creep up her spine once more. She knew her fate might rest on trusting this partially broken but yet somehow confident and focused young man. It made her worry since she still felt like she didn't know him at all as the lines between truth and fiction seemed to blur.

Who are you Hunter Amadi?