A/N: Ok, so the last few chapters have been set in various hospital rooms for the most part. This one is back to the case...
Thanks goes to Trina109... she worked a crazy amount of hours in the last two days and still found time to beta this for me. I know I've said it before, but you rock!
"So tell me, Tony. Why are we doing this? Balboa's team has already been here."
Ziva was keeping a lookout while Tony picked the lock on Shapko's front door.
"Because, Ziva, this guy went after Gibbs' team. And when it comes to Gibbs' team, he doesn't trust anyone. Except us." He gave a faint 'aha' as the door came open. "I've still got it."
He waved for Ziva to precede him into the room.
"What, exactly, are we looking for?"
"Anything Balboa and his team missed."
They split up and began searching, clearing each room as they went. The apartment was small and sparsely furnished. Tony cleared the hallway, and then entered the lone bedroom.
"Hey Ziva."
She walked out of the bathroom and joined Tony. "Yes?"
"Does this room look small to you? I mean, smaller than it should?"
She surveyed the dimensions of the untidy space.
"Yes... Something is not quite right."
Tony started tapping on each wall of the room, looking for a hollow panel. He drew a blank on 3 walls, and then turned his attention to the built-in wardrobe along the wall opposite the bed. "Unless he's got really deep wardrobe space, my money is on there."
He yanked the door open. Pushing the hanging clothes out of the way, he began tapping. The very first panel he tried thunked hollowly. Pressing gently around the edges of the panel, he soon found the hidden latch. The panel swung forward in his hands. Taking the flashlight Ziva held out to him, he shone its beam into the space he'd revealed.
The walls of the hidden compartment were covered in photographs. Photos of Ducky, of Palmer, of Gibbs. Of Tony, and Ziva. And many, many, photos of McGee and Abby.
He pulled out his cell phone and hit speed dial.
"Boss? We found something..."
...
The sheer volume of photos was almost overwhelming, Ziva thought. It disturbed her that someone- a fellow agent- had been following them so closely. Looking at them, she could just about pinpoint when Shapko had started to concentrate his efforts on Abby and McGee. It appeared as if he had done so shortly after he'd realised they were a couple. After that, the photos started to make her feel...uncomfortable. He'd caught them in so many private moments, she felt like a voyeur just looking at them. And she knew that Abby and McGee would feel almost violated if they saw them. McGee especially was a very private person. So that the pictures didn't become a focal point for the sort of juvenile humour she knew the squad room was capable of, she was reviewing them on her computer, and not on the plasma. She could do that much to ensure Abby and McGee's privacy.
Tony was on the phone checking the BOLO on Agent Shapko when Gibbs returned from the hospital.
"Whatdya got, Ziva?"
"From the date stamps on the photographs we found at Shapko's apartment, it looks like he has been following us almost as long as he has been here, Gibbs. And it is obvious that he knew about Abby and McGee's relationship."
Gibbs gave her a long look, and then walked around to her side of the desk to look at the pictures on her screen. Inwardly she smiled. He was as reluctant as her to show the photos publicly.
"Agent Gibbs!"
The words, delivered in terse accents, came from partway up the stairs to the mezzanine. They looked up to see Director Vance watching them, his face set in uncompromising lines. He walked down the rest of the stairs towards them.
"You disobeyed a direct order, Agent Gibbs. You and your team were confined to Headquarters." His face softened. "How are they?"
"Ducky and Tony just have a few bruises. Abby's pretty sore, she'll be in the hospital a few more days."
"And Agent McGee?"
Gibbs tilted his head a little. "Touch and go. He's still in a coma."
Behind them, they heard Tony slam down his desk phone.
"Boss, got a hit on the BOLO. Metro PD think they've found Shapko."
Gibbs wheeled towards his desk, reaching for his badge and weapon.
"Where?"
"In an alley in Anacostia. Height and weight's right, but they haven't got a positive ID."
Gibbs cursed.
"Ziva, get Dr Hampton. See if Ducky is downstairs. Tony, gas the truck."
...
The alley was dank and strewn with rubbish.
The spreadeagled body of what they assumed was Shapko lay in the middle of the narrow space. While they'd wait for Ducky to give the official time of death, Tony could tell from the condition of the corpse that it hadn't been there long –despite the missing flesh of its face. He understood why Metro hadn't gotten a positive ID.
He couldn't bring himself to feel any sympathy for the fallen agent. Shapko had been a traitor. It was because of his actions that Tony had ended up in that cell. It was because of him that Abby was in the hospital. And it was because of him that McGee... He refused to let his mind complete that thought.
He waited for Ducky to finish checking the core temperature before kneeling to check the fingerprints. He wasn't as practised using the device as McGee was, and it took him a couple of tries to get the finger properly centred on the scanner.
"How long, Duck?"
"The body is completely cold, but the epidermis hasn't yet begun to break down. I'd say he hasn't been out here more than 24 to 36 hours."
"Cause of death?"
"Hard to say yet, Jethro. I'll know more when I get him back. However, these bite marks here, and here, tell us that it was too tempting a morsel for the local alley cat population." He and Dr Hampton began the process of shifting the body onto the gurney; they'd left Palmer back at Headquarters where he was still processing evidence.
The portable fingerprint scanner beeped. Tony looked at the small screen. Positive match; Agent Alexander Shapko.
"Is it him?"
Gibbs was standing beside him. Tony nodded. Gibbs was silent for a long moment, drinking from his ever present coffee cup.
"Good."