Disclaimers disclaimed.

Chapter XIV - Alive


It had been a long grueling morning of trying to track down any leads on the whereabouts of Marko Johanson and Adolf Benjamin. Even with the real identity of Lucifer, the team was no further along with finding any new information than they had been when the case first started. It was frustrating to say the least.

Torres and Bishop returned to the squad room from going out to check another empty warehouse after finding nothing. Bishop sat on the floor behind her desk to try to go over all the files she had again to gain some new insight. Torres, on the other hand, walked up to McGee's desk and cleared his throat.

"You want something Torres", the seasoned team lead asked without looking away from his computer.

"Yeah, I want to go to lunch", he said impatiently.

"Did you find anything at that warehouse?" McGee's head still faced the computer screen.

"Obviously no", a clear attitude could be heard in his response. He knew the next thing McGee would say but he waited for him to speak anyway.

McGee looked up at him, "well then it looks like you're working through lunch until you find something."

Torres rolled his eyes, "with all do respect..."

"You know when people start a sentence with 'with all do respect' it's an indicator that they really aren't intending to be respectful in the statement that will follow", Tony interrupted as he entered the bullpen. "But please, continue, I'd love to hear what you have to say Torres."

The younger agent just sighed and turned to walk to his desk, "never mind."

"Bishop", Tony called causing the senior filed agent to stand from her position on the floor.

"Yes Sir?"

He walked over to her and handed her a posted note with an address on it and a 100 dollar bill. "You and Torres go check this place out", he paused and looked at Torres, "then go have lunch, on me."

Bishop smiled then nodded, "We will and thank you."

"No problem", Tony smirked as they left and Torres said nothing.

McGee shook his head, "that guy is getting worse by the day. It's starting to bother me. I feel like he's more harm than good on this case."

"Yeah", Tony agreed, "I've been contemplating switching him to another team until all this is over."

"I'm sure that's what he wants", McGee's annoyance was evident.

"That's exactly why I haven't done it. Won't give him the satisfaction just because he's pouting around like a baby."

McGee chuckled, "make him suffer through it just like we are."

"My thoughts exactly." Just then, Tali's phone started ringing from inside Tony's pocket. He pulled it out and showed McGee the caller ID: 'UNKNOWN'

Taking a deep breath, he nodded at McGee to get ready to trace the call. When McGee gave him the thumbs up, Tony answered the call on speaker, "Hello?"

"Director Dinozzo?"

Much to their surprise, the voice did not sound like Lucifer's. The accent was thick and the person sounded like he was in severe distress. Immediately, Tony knew who it was. "Officer Amadi?"

"Yes Sir", the young man's breathing was labored as he coughed and sighed in obvious pain.

"Officer, are you okay? Where is Tali? Is she okay? Do you know where he is holding you? How did you get to a phone?" Tony unintentionally ran off the questions quickly and paused himself to take a breath and slow down, "What is going on?"

"Sir, he gave me the phone to call you. I have no idea where I am but I'm pretty badly injured. I can't walk and they left me here, Sir. He said they were relocating. They packed up and took Tali's body with them."

Tony's eyes glazed over with fear, "what do you mean they took Tali's body? Is my daughter alive Officer?"

Hunter tried to compose himself before continuing. "This morning, Sir, I heard her screaming in another cell. Then I heard a gunshot. It got quiet, then I saw them carrying a body past my cell. Lucifer told me many things. I don't know what's truth and what's a lie. Please, Director, you have to get me out of here."

Suddenly a ding rang out from McGee's computer. He look up at Tony and nodded.

"Officer Amadi, we have your location. I'm calling my people to come get you now then I'll call your father to ..."

"No", Hunter shouted into the phone in a panic. "My father can't know you've found me. As I said Sir, Lucifer told me a lot of things. I need to debrief you first before we involve my father."

Tony was almost certainly confused as an eerie feeling crept up his spine. "Officer Amadi", he spoke as sternly as possible, "is your father involved in this?"

The young man paused to find his words then spoke honestly, "I'm not sure if he is or not. But I know this is a matter of national security Sir. Please, just come get me." With that, the call ended.

Tony looked at the phone then back at McGee. "Call the extraction team then gear up. I'm going to get me and Ziva's gear from my office then I'll grab Ziva from MTAC to catch her up" He spoke as if he was on autopilot. It was a clear defense mechanism to try to block out the horrible things that flashed through his mind about Tali. He shook his head, "Wait for us downstairs, and we'll go together. Tell Bishop and Torres to meet us back here. You, Ziva, and I will process the scene ourselves."

"Okay", was all McGee said as he tried to block out his own negative thoughts about Tali's fate.

Tony headed towards the stairs and thought about what Hunter had said about is father. He stopped halfway up the steps and called to McGee, "and call Bethesda to get a medical team over here asap to treat Officer Amadi here. Explain the situation and tell them to be discreet about this, I don't want to risk taking him to a hospital and his father finding out. I need him debriefed first. Let everyone know that Director Amadi, nor his wife, are to be contacted on this until I give the greenlight."

McGee nodded as Tony continued to to his office.


Palmer walked off the elevator to enter Abby's lab with pizza for Anthony as he'd been hanging out in the lab with them all day. He stepped into the lab cheerfully and announced, "here you go III, medium pizza with pepperoni, sausage, and extra cheese aka the Dinozzo Special!"

The young boy smiled as he took the box, "Thanks Uncle Jimmy! You're the best!"

"No problem my man!" Palmer's smile faded as Anthony took the pizza to the back of the lab and closed the door.

Abby noticed his sudden change in dimeanor. "What's wrong?"

"I ran into Tim gearing up with an extraction team in the garage. They found Hunter Amadi's location", he spoke while he looked towards the back of the lab. His face settled with worry.

"That's great, if they know where he is then they know where Tali is! We can bring them both home", Abby stated excitedly. When Palmer's face didn't change, she knew her excitement may have been premature. "Jimmy, they do know where Tali is too, right?"

Palmer shook his head and looked her, "According to Tim, the kidnappers have relocated and took Tali with them. They left Hunter behind because he's badly injured."

"Wait", Abby's head started spinning, "how do they know all this? Did Benjamin call again?"

"No, Hunter called Tony. He said they gave him the phone to call right before they left. He also said that they carried Tali out after he heard a gunshot. He doesn't know her condition."

They both looked through the glass towards where Anthony was happily eating his pizza and laughing at a movie. "Jimmy, this could be really bad." Tears welled up in her eyes, "what if Tali is ...", she couldn't bring herself to say it as Palmer pulled her into a hug and they both sent up silent prayers to any god who would listen.

Please let Tali be alive.


The ride to Hunter's location was long and quiet. Tony drove with one hand on the steering wheel and the other intertwined with Ziva's. His thumb rubbing the back of her hand gently as she stared blankly out the window.

McGee sat in the back seat, staring at his bestfriends hands laced together. God, they've been through enough already, don't you think? He felt like screaming and anger coursed through him. Not being able to find Tali had been horrible enough but now, with there actually being a confirmed possibility that she was dead, he felt worse. Not just because she was his bestfriends daughter, but also because she was his niece and he loved her just as much as his own kids. There was no doubt in his mind now that he needed to really up his game. They may not have been blood related but they were still his family. And for his family, he'd do anything. This bastard is going to pay. After we get Officer Amadi's report, I'm going to find Benjamin and skin him alive myself.

Not long after McGee's thought, they pulled up to an old run down looking abandoned warehouse. A caravan of NCIS armored trucks were already there waiting for them to arrive as they all got out the car.

The lead agent of the extraction unit walked over to them, "Director, the building looks empty except for one person. Thermal imaging shows someone on the ground on the west side of the building. We suspect that it's Officer Amadi. My men found tire tracks and a bomb shelter access door on that side as well. It is possible that more are inside though, something is altering our image scan on the east side."

"Probably some type of jammer placed inside that allows outgoing signals but not incoming", McGee posed. "Like how we secure our scifs at the Navy Yard. That's probably why we couldn't get a trace or read on them before."

"That's what we thought as well Agent McGee", the agent responded then turned his attention back to Tony. "I have three men already positioned on that roof over there", he pointed to the only other building in sight. "The rest of us are waiting for your order Director, how would you like us to proceed?"

Tony glanced at Ziva who gave him a look of approval that she was ready then back at his agents, "you and half of your men take the east side with Agent McGee. The other half of your men come with me and Agent Dinozzo. Sweep through quickly then meet us on the west side."

They all nodded and cautiously headed towards the building to take position. Once in place, Tony called over his mic, "everyone in position?"

"That's a copy Boss", McGee responded. "In position."

"On my count then. Three ... two ... one ... now!"

As Tony order, both teams entered the building from both entrances. A few men ran in first with Ziva and Tony following behind.

"Federal Agents", Ziva announced as they went through the long corridor. Every room was cleared except for one with a locked door. She nodded to Tony and he signaled for one of the men from the extraction unit to bust it open.

When the door opened, Ziva and Tony rushed the room and found Hunter barely conscious on the floor with his hands and feet tied by rope. Hunter was clutching the phone he'd used to call them with in his hands.

"I'm so sorry", was all the young man kept saying as they untied him.

"It's okay, Officer Amadi", Ziva said softly, "we're going to get you out of here. You're safe now."

"But Tali is ..." his head fell back and his body went limp as he passed out. Ziva looked up at Tony with tear stained cheeks and horror filled eyes as she held the young man.

Before Tony could form words, McGee walked into the room, "Boss, is he okay?"

"Yeah", Tony responded in a whisper without looking away from Ziva's gaze, "he just passed out. What did you find?"

"As suspected, we found a jammer in one of the rooms but that's it. Everything else looks like it's completely wiped clean. There's no trace that anyone except Officer Amadi was here." He looked at the poor state Hunter was in and couldn't help but to wonder how much worse Tali could have looked. He felt his anger rising again as he rubbed one of his temples. I'm definitely going to skin that bastard alive.