Hey guys sorry I've been away for a while, had a bit of writer's block, and every fic I wrote seemed to be cancelled out by new episodes lol. So I figure if I take a pot shot at the season finale, I will get to finish it in time. Haven't seen Shabbat Shalom or Shiva but I think I've seen all the important bits and I just feel that Ilan is gonna be back for the season finale cliff-hanger, so this is how I think it may go down. Please review, tell me if you want me to continue, thanks in advance guys, much love xxx
Tony had been woken in the middle of the night by his gut. He had a seriously bad feeling, being around Gibbs for so long had meant that he had developed an overly acute gut feeling of his own and it was telling him that something was already or was about to be very wrong. He had tried to get back to sleep, tossing and turning trying to get comfortable, shut off his brain but nothing worked, not even a classic movie marathon on cable.
He hoped that his gut feeling was nothing, just a phantom but he had an inkling that he would find out by the end of the day.
It was Friday, the case the team had been working on had been brought to a conclusion late the previous night so Tony knew that the day would be filled with the joys of form filling and paperwork, nothing about that should be hinky though.
By the time he reached the office he was on his fifth cup of coffee and should have been buzzing however he still found it impossible to stifle a yawn as he trudged into the bullpen, dropping his bag next to his desk and slouching heavily into his chair.
"Rough night Tony?" McGee asked as he entered the bullpen from the direction of Abby's lab, coffees in hand.
"Kind of McGee," Tony replied, dragging himself upright to study McGee more closely. "You're very chirpy this morning!"
"I finally beat my high score on…"
"Oh no, please don't tell me I'm tired enough already," Tony sighed, interrupting McGee mid flow, noticing as he rolled his eyes that the other two desks in the bullpen were empty. "Where are Gibbs and Ziva?"
"Gibbs is in MTAC," McGee replied, placing a coffee on Tony's desk, then returning to his own, "Vance called him in early, some kind of emergency conference."
"And Ziva?" Tony asked again, trying to wake himself up by merely inhaling the caffeine fumes.
"Dunno Tony, her bag's not here so I guess she hasn't come in yet?"
"Hmmm," Tony pondered, squinting at his watch, "that would mean she's late, and Ziva's never late."
"I'm sure she will have a good reason," McGee speculated, switching his monitor back on and getting out the various forms he needed to fill in.
"Hmmmm, maybe," Tony pondered again, "so do you know what's going on in MTAC?"
"Not a clue, just that Gibbs has been in there for hours with Vance, so I'm guessing nothing good."
"I guess we will find out soon," Tony spun round in his chair as he saw Gibbs exiting MTAC out of the corner of his eye.
"DiNozzo, McGee," Gibbs shouted as he made his way down the stairs, "either of you heard from Ziva today?"
"Oh no," Tony muttered as his gut feeling started to kick in again.
"No Boss not since last night," McGee answered first, the concern evident in his voice.
"What about you DiNozzo?" Tony felt Gibbs' piercing blue eyes on him.
"No, me either," Tony replied, "Why, what's wrong?"
"Ilan Bodnar is what's wrong," Gibbs shouted, taking his gun and his badge from his drawer.
Tony's heart sank as that name fell from Gibbs' lips, his gut feeling now explained, and his very being filled with dread. Gibbs' voice was now being drowned out by the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears; he picked up his phone and began rapidly dialling Ziva's number.
"Dammit," he cursed as it went straight to voicemail.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs snapped him back to reality, "there's no point it's switched off, we need to get to her apartment, now!"
"Yes Boss," Tony conceded, his five coffees suddenly all kicking in at once as he grabbed his gear and joined Gibbs and McGee in the elevator.
"Is Bodnar back in the US?" McGee asked as the elevator made its descent.
"It appears so," Gibbs seethed, "it also appears that he has brought a couple of ex-Mossad mercenaries with him and that Mossad knew all about it!"
"What the hell!?" Tony spluttered, "How could they think that we wouldn't need to know an important bit of information like that!"
"It seems they thought that they could handle it," Gibbs replied, as they exited the elevator and made their way towards a car, "they have operatives here too to try and stop him."
"Stop him from what?" McGee asked, almost not wanting to hear the answer.
"Killing Ziva," Gibbs replied, opening the driver's door and getting in, leaving McGee and Tony to just look at each other over the roof of the car.
"You two getting in or what," Gibbs shouted out of the window, bringing them both back to earth, making them both jump in the car and Gibbs screech out of the lot.
Gibbs explained on the drive to Ziva's apartment that Bodnar still held some kind of blood lust for Ziva, killing her father hadn't been enough in his eyes he wanted her dead too, finish off the David family line that he had seemingly fought so hard to be part of.
Tony sat in silence all the way, his mind filling with thousands of scenarios, none of them pleasant, half listening to Gibbs and McGee, half lost in his own mind. McGee was on his laptop trying everything he could to find out some useful information but having no luck whatsoever. Ziva's phone being switched off meant he couldn't locate her current location, only that she had been at home when it had last been used.
The last activity had been her message to Tony, late the previous night, telling him off for stealing the last piece of brownie that Abby had baked her, leaving the empty crumby box in the bottom of her bag for her to find when she got home.
He opened his phone and flicked through to her message, she had ended it by telling him that he was buying lunch the next day to make up for the theft, and a winking smiley face as she bade him good night. He thumbed the screen, hoping that it wasn't the last communication they would ever have.
As they pulled into Ziva's street they could see her car still parked up out front as Gibbs swung in behind it. Piling out of the car they made their way up to Ziva's apartment in silence, every sense heightened in case they were walking into a trap.
Listening at Ziva's door they couldn't hear any movement inside but Tony noticed a blood spatter at the bottom of the door.
"Boss," he whispered, indicating to the blood.
Gibbs took a deep breath as he tried the handle, finding it to be unlocked. He signalled a three countdown to his agents, and on one they burst into the apartment guns drawn. Moving silently through they cleared each room and re-gathered in the living room.
All the rooms were relatively tidy except for the living room and kitchen where there were broken items and furniture knocked over, and several patches of blood.
"Looks like she put up a fight," McGee observed, noticing a hole in the wall that looked head shaped, but much taller than Ziva.
"Not enough of one," Gibbs glared, pointing to a neat pile on the island in the kitchen, it contained Ziva's badge and her gun, her ID, her phone, a lock of hair, and smeared across the surface was a streak of blood.
Tony went over to pick the things up but Gibbs stopped him in his tracks, "crime scene DiNozzo, we gotta process those see if we can get any prints off."
"Sorry Boss," Tony apologised, "will grab our gear."
Gibbs patted him on the shoulder, "We'll find her Tony, I promise."
"Hope so Boss," Tony replied, walking towards the door, "before it's too late."