Previously:

Meanwhile Gibbs decided that they had wasted enough time and took out his spare keys to quickly unlock the door. "Let's try it this way."

Giving him a curious look, Tony was about to ask how Gibbs had gotten the key, when the sight he beheld forced him to stop dead in his tracks.

Drawing out their guns, Gibbs slowly pushed the door further open.

The view that presented itself to them, just from the sight of the hall and the living room just beyond, was frightening. The coat-rack, once standing beside the front door, now lay across the narrow hall and had torn a piece of wallpaper out of the opposite wall. Jackets which were normally hanging on the rack were scattered across the floor now.

The mirror, attached over the black and white dresser, was showing one enormous flaw, starting point a fist-round circle.
But what scared the agents much more than the destroyed furniture was the amount of blood present. It distributed itself on the base of the mirror, over the dresser, down to the ground. Leaving traces not only on the bright parquet, but also on the clothes lying there.
The pictures on the wall now hung askew, some of them had made it to the ground. Their glass fronts shattered into a hundred thousand pieces.
And as if the blood at the mirror and ground would not be enough, you could see it also on the walls. What looked like hand prints at the beginning transformed into smeared strips that lead deeper into the apartment.

Exchanging concerned glances, Gibbs and Tony slowly made their way into the apartment. With shaking hands Tony stopped at the first door to the left, which held a small guest room. Gun ready, he slowly pushed it open to rush into the room moments later. Looking around and finding it and the adjoining bathroom empty and strangely untouched, he mouthed a "Clear!" to Gibbs, who was waiting outside the room, watching the rest of the apartment for any signs of an intruder still being there.

With Tony rejoining Gibbs in the hall, they slowly continued their way. Stopping again for Gibbs to open another door to the right, only to find out that it was a small closet.
Nodding to Tony, they finally reached the main living area.
Gibbs motioned for Tony to go right, past the knocked over dining table and the partially destroyed chairs, in order to look around the kitchen more closely as Gibbs walked along to the left, going slowly to the couch area. Both having their guns at the ready.

As Tony looked around the kitchen, he noted shards of broken dishes along with the now familiar drops of blood on the floor. He softly sighed and took one final look around but made the mistake of looking into one of the pots on the stove as well. "Ugh! Gross.. Abby would have a field day with those maggots," Tony exclaimed.
Wondering what the hell had happened to make Ziva's apartment look like this and where his partner might be, he walked over to Gibbs, who knelt next to the broken coffee table, examining a sliced couch cushion.

As he got closer Tony noticed the sheets of paper lying under the pillow. While mostly written in a foreign language, which Tony thought must be Hebrew, he then saw a paper : "Notice of Cancellation of Apartment 132" sticking out.

"Boss?"

Catching the confused and worried eyes of his agent, Gibbs shook his head indicating that they would worry about the files later and nodded to the last two doors in the back of the room.

First going to the left, they found another bathroom. Though it didn't hold any sign of destruction, drops of blood were visible on the tiles.

"DiNozzo, watch the other door," Gibbs ordered, as the bathroom was connected to the other room, which they had yet to check out.

Bracing himself Gibbs pulled the door to the final room open. About to shout "NCIS Federal Agent" he stopped routed to the spot when he saw the unmoving lump on the bed.

"DiNozzo!"

TBC...

A/N: I've been told I'm cruel leaving it like that.. Personally I go crazy every time an author leaves his/her story with a cliffhanger.. You too? (grins sheepish)

Comment of the day: "Freaking Germans and your outrageously long sentences! Almost as bad as the British, I swear!" from my lovely AE Beta^^

Also thx for all reviews, story alerts, fav. settings =) You guys made my day ^-^

Next chapter will be longer !! Promise =)