Tony is at his desk, staring at his phone, waiting for a call. When it comes in, it turns out to be McGee playing around with him; Tony glares at McGee. Gibbs arrives. "Gear up!" and off they go to the Dry Ice Man.

Tony is taking pictures and being Typical Tony, is annoying one of the army guys at the same time. He also discretely takes a photo of the security access password for the building. Ducky and Palmer arrive on the scene (late as usual) and when they open Dry Ice Man's box Ducky and Gibbs reminisce about a past case before leaving. McGee arrives in a black van but instead of parking next to the NCIS truck and Ducky's ME van at the entrance to the facility…he pulls up unnoticed and parks around the corner. As McGee moves from the driver's seat to the back of the van, we see it's filled with surveillance equipment. Gibbs shows up a few seconds later and McGee uses the pictures Tony took of the password to hack into the facility's computers.

Later that night, outside the facility, Ziva and Tony emerge from the shadows and using the stolen password break into the building. Directed where to go by McGee who now has a map and video footage of the building – it's classic Mission Impossible, NCIS-style, complete with looping security tape showing all is well. Unfortunately, the looping tape eventually sets off an alarm. Ziva and DiNozzo make a run for it but guards appear from everywhere; they're trapped.

Scene change: Three Days Earlier.

Gibbs is pacing around as Palmer and Ducky talk shop, typical ME-speak. Palmer excuses himself "Ducky wanted privacy". He's then called up to Director Vance's office where he is told that the Secretary of the Navy wants to beef up security so they don't have anymore breaches, "like Agent Langer".

Scene change: Abby's lab.

Abby is busy working away when someone walks into her door. From the other side we hear McGee exclaim "Abby!" Abby quickly shuts down almost all of her computers while claiming that she's in the shower. She opens the door for McGee who is there to collect two boxes of evidence. McGee is curious as to what she's working on but Abby denies working on anything, however, she is quickly shutting down yet another computer when someone else walks into her door. We hear Tony call out: "Abby!" as he, too, walks into the locked door. He and McGee then proceed to the evidence garage with Abby closing the door behind them.

In the evidence garage are three chairs, a table and a whiteboard; McGee claims to have college flashbacks. Gibbs walks in and hands each of them identical files before writing "domino" on the board, then underlining it.

McGee starts to explain that it's a Navy thing but stumbles over his description, and Ziva finishes our lesson on "domino" (which is the US plan in response to an attack on Israel). Gibbs tells McGee to study up on it, then tells the team that SecNav wants them to break into the highly guarded building we saw in the first chapter. He claims it's for a security test and adds that even the guards who are guarding the building don't know their security is about to be tested.

Scene change: The Bullpen.

Ziva, McGee and Tony are crowded around Tony's desk, eating a pizza, and discussing what would be the best way to break into the building. As they're discussing options Agent Lee comes up and tries to take a slice of pizza. Tony will only let her have a slice if she can come up with a way for them to "hypothetically" break into a top security facility. Agent Lee mentions "Ziva's brother", and Ziva is quick to correct her with "half-brother". The team remembers Ari's body bag strategy, and with it being a good idea Agent Lee is allowed a slice of pizza. As she reaches into the box, Tony tells her "small piece".

Back at the evidence garage, the team is telling Gibbs of their plan, with their emergency exit being a sewer line. They ask Gibbs if they should ask Ducky for a body, but Gibbs tells them to just take it. (Gibbs Rule #18: It's better to seek forgiveness than ask permission.) McGee suggests using a fire alarm because the doors would automatically open but Gibbs says it has to be discrete. He also tells them that nobody gets hurt in this "test".

Scene (& Time) Change: Present Time.

The alarm has gone off and Tony and Ziva are running. McGee's security feed fills with "snow", then the computers freeze and shut down. Tony and Ziva are ambushed by soldiers but instead of giving in quietly per Gibbs' orders Ziva fights back. Seeing this Tony backs up his team mate and the two go down fighting. As one of the guards hits Tony with the butt of his rifle, Ziva kicks a female soldier into a door, but there's too many guards and as they overwhelm her, the female soldier she kicked comes back and punches her in the face.

Ziva wakes up with a bloody nose. She's being interrogated (threatened?) by a stranger holding a cigar cutter (remind anyone of Darkman's opening scene between Durant and Black? Ouchx10). When Ziva demands to see Tony, the man tells her that she and Agent DiNozzo will soon be reunited again, and sure enough, Tony appears with quite the beat up face. Typical Tony is trying to make light of the situation, talking about playing poker and drinking, but Ziva cuts him off and asks who the man was. DiNozzo hands her a coin that says "75th Secretary of the Navy" on it. Oops.

Our brave heroes are soon freed and we next see Gibbs, Director Vance and the now identified Secretary of the Navy speaking in Vance's office. They talk and talk and talk some more, and finally conclude that while Tony and Ziva didn't set off an alarm, they still got caught, meaning there's still a security breach in NCIS.

Finally (once more for laughs) it's Palmer's turn to walk into Abby's door. "ABBY!!!" Palmer is trying to hide from Ducky who is after him because he lost the dead body which turned up at the crime scene (dry ice man). Ducky is not happy from being kept out of the loop and neither is DiNozzo. While Ducky sulks in front of Gibbs, DiNozzo goes one level up and starts badmouthing whoever formulated the whole plot of manipulating them, thinking that it was Director Vance. Gibbs surprises both of them by saying it was his idea from the beginning. Gibbs once again goes to Vance and this time they openly discuss about Agent Lee being the bad guy or gal, and how they can catch her along with her handler. Back at the bullpen, Agent Lee is once more trying to overhear information as the team discuss her involvement in the killing of Langer.

Director Vance then runs a security check on every operative in every department, including Abby, who was still hiding behind her locked door. Using a device to allegedly detect high levels of a substance that would have rubbed off on anyone associated with the Domino case, surprisingly it is Abby who comes under suspicion.

Abby is taken to the interrogation room, accompanied by McGee, who is extremely worried and concerned about her. McGee cannot understand how Abby could have been the traitor, considering it would mean losing her lab and losing Gibbs' trust – and she loves both more than that. Director Vance comes in before they have finalized as to who will interrogate her. Abby stops the play acting and reveals to McGee that she is not the traitor, far from it. In fact she has been working on the case from the very beginning (another example of Abby being truly Gibbs favourite?) McGee does not care…he's just overjoyed that Abby is not the traitor and jumps in to kiss her on the cheek.

Their plan works and the real traitor, Agent Lee, is suitably deceived. Director Vance tricks Lee into believing that she is above suspicion and despite the security lockdown, allows Lee to leave the building in search of a legal operative. Once she is outside, Lee goes to a designated paper stack (newspaper box in America) and makes a secret signal, all the while being watched by Vance through binoculars, who gives the green signal to Gibbs and the team; Agent Lee is picked up and brought back in to NCIS.

Lee claims that she is being blackmailed and forced to carry out her traitorous actions. She says her daughter has been kidnapped by them and shows Gibbs a picture of her daughter. Vance comes in and advises Gibbs that there is no mention of a daughter in her file, but there is mention of a sister.

The team is discussing how much trouble Lee is in, who despite being a traitor is now walking towards the elevator. All is revealed when Lee gets into her car and we see Gibbs hiding in the backseat.

• Vance is getting closer to Gibbs.
• Vance is prepared to be explicit with Gibbs about the boundaries of who issues orders to whom: and Vance ain't taking orders. He is the boss. (the boss of "Boss")
• The Secretary for the Navy stated that Vance's job was to clean up the mess from the previous Director. Jenny clearly did NOT cover herself with glory by dying for the cause.
• Tony becoming more confident and standing up to Gibbs about feeling used.
• Tony resenting not being told secrets is a perfect role reversal of when he refused to disclose the Jeanne secret to Gibbs.
• There was lots of tension between Tony and Ziva, including one moment in the elevator where Ziva hinted her true feelings for Tony. And Tony, with a one track mind, was not thinking of Ziva but the case.
• McGee's concern for Abby when she's the ''suspect'' – so sweet! And telling… perhaps?

• Everyone trying to see Abby hurts their face when they find the door to her lab locked. McGee first, then Tony and finally Palmer.
• When a soldier asks Tony how much clearance he has, Tony comes back with "About 6 foot 1 and a half."
• Tony asking the soldier what they are hiding in the facility," What do you have in there aliens, big foot, ark of the covenant?" Soldier does not answer. Tony, Ziva and McGee look at each other, Tony says, "That only leaves one thing. Tony, Ziva and McGee answer in unison: "A unicorn".
• When McGee says to the Marine Guard "I gotta ask you this. Did you order a dead body?" Priceless...
• When Gibbs is loitering in autopsy, Ducky asks him what he is doing. Putting on his watch Gibbs replies "Killing time", to which Ducky responds, "Would you like me to perform an autopsy on your watch?"
• It's not funny but it's sweet: When McGee kisses Abby on the cheek
• McGee tells Palmer, "Sorry your girlfriend turned out to be a Cylon."

• Tony, while stalling to collect intel on building giving everyone code names from the movies Convoy and Smokey and the Bandit. He calls Dr. Mallard, Rubber Ducky, Ziva Widow Woman, Gibbs is Snowman, Jimmy Palmer Love Machine, calls himself the Bandit and then calls McGee, Spider Mike. And the soldier he refers to as Deckard from Blade Runner.
• At the time the show aired, Battlestar Galactica fans were trying to guess who the final 5 Cylons were. McGee references this when he says to Palmer, "Sorry your girlfriend turned out to be a Cylon."
• We see the Secretary of the Navy again later in this season.

• Brian Dietzen (Jimmy Palmer)
• Liza Lapira (NCIS Agent Michelle Lee)
• Jude Ciccolella (Sec Nav. Phillip Davenport)

• Rich McDonald (Naval Secretary Robert Deckard)
• Julian Berlin (Didi)

• Jesse Stern

• James Whitmore Jr.

Ziva and Tony go with Director Shepard to attend the funeral of former NCIS Agent William Decker. Decker's death was ruled natural causes; he died of a heart attack. As Jenny is signing the guest book, she hears a man ask for Mr. Oshimida. Jenny stops, takes out her compact and views the man from her mirror. As the man leaves, she follows him taking pictures of him from her camera phone. She is only able to get back and side views of him. Jenny returns to Tony and Ziva and dismisses them, giving them the rest of the trip off. She tells them she's just going to do paperwork. Jenny takes the car and as Tony turns to ditch Ziva, she's already walked away so he runs to catch up.

McGee steps off the elevator in the squad room and has a puzzled look on his face. He walks towards his desk and sees Abby sitting at Ziva's desk. He looks and Ducky is sitting at Tony's desk. He sits down and Abby flicks open a knife, acting like Ziva. Ducky pretends he's Tony. As they pick on McGee, Palmer rounds the corner and heads to Gibbs' desk with a cup of coffee in his hands. They finally admit there is a bug sweep going on and they had to leave. Gibbs walks in as Ducky is making a Tony-type crack about him. McGee hands Gibbs a big envelope that Fornell had left for him. Gibbs takes the envelope and leaves. Ducky heads back to autopsy thanking "probie" for sharing the space.

Jenny pulls into a cheesy motel parking lot and gets out of the car. She is met by former NCIS Agent Mike Franks. After much reluctance, she tells him she thinks Decker was murdered and she believes she's next. She tells him about a special op she and Decker had been on with another agent 10 years prior. They were there to infiltrate a Russian spy ring. She tells him that there was one word the three of them knew if their identities were compromised. She tells him she heard that word at the funeral and tells him about the man asking for Mr. Oshimida. Oshimida was the code they used if anything went bad. Franks asks Jenny who the third agent was, who she is protecting. Jenny says "Gibbs." Franks asks where to sign on.

Gibbs walks down to his basement with the envelope from Fornell in hand. He puts the envelope down and opens it to reveal the contents are from The Frog investigation. He goes through the contents of the file.

Tony shows up in his funky Hawaiian shirt and takes photos of the ladies. He sees Ziva lying there in her bikini and takes pictures of her. She is reading a book, while sunbathing. He teases her about not leaving the hotel when they have time off. She worries that they are supposed to be on security detail and feels guilty so she wants to remain at the hotel. Tony references the movie "Against All Odds" and wants to go cruising. Ziva says he doesn't have a car and he tells her he does. Out front they hop into a nice red mustang with white racing stripes. They head out cruising in L.A.

Jenny and Franks break into Decker's house looking for a clue. Jenny knows he left a clue behind to help her. As she discovers his laptop, they hear a noise coming from a closet. They advance and open the closet door, revealing Decker's 22 year old girlfriend, Sasha, crouching on the floor crying. They assure here they are no there to harm her and that they believe Decker didn't die of natural causes. Jenny realizes Sasha knows this as well. Sasha tells them that Decker told her if anything happened to her, she was to give something to someone. Jenny offers to pass along the message. Sasha takes down a book and removes a bookmark with Jenny's name on it. Not revealing that that's her, Jenny assures Sasha they'll make sure the Director gets it. On the back of the bookmark is the name, address and a key to a diner. Sasha reveals Decker had bought it was going to fix it up the following month. She says Decker left an insurance policy there for Jenny. Jenny encourages Sasha to go and be with family ASAP and gives Sasha the keys to her rental car. Sasha takes the keys and leaves. Jenny says she didn't reveal who she was so Sasha would be safe as the less she knew the better. Franks starts to ask Jenny how it's going to go down and she replies, "Just the way you like it, no paperwork."

Abby has been sent the photos from Jenny. She is working on them but because she has no "front" view of either of the two people Jenny caught photos of (the driver and the man from the funeral), she's at a loss. She turns and begins talking to "Tony" and "Ziva." She has taken janitor buckets with mops, turned the mops upside down and pasted Tony and Ziva's faces on each mop. She says it's to fill the void because they aren't there in person. She explains this to McGee when he walks in and sees her talking to the "mops." McGee brings Abby a Caf-Pow but starts to retreat with it when she won't tell him what she's working on. Abby finally gives in and gets her caffeine fix. When he realizes they can't find out who the two identified people are from the photo, McGee comes up with an idea. He takes the time the photos were taken and pings cell phone calls made from that area as the mystery man was in the process of making a call when Jenny took his photo. Just as they figure out who it is, Jenny calls. Abby tells her the man's name is Viggo Drantyev and they realize that his name is a burn alias. The man didn't exist prior to 3 days before and stopped existing that morning. The Director orders Abby to erase the file and the search. Abby complies as she looks at McGee.

Stuck in traffic, Tony and Ziva bicker. He turns up the radio, she turns it down. She has a funny feeling about leaving the Director and can't shake it. Tony is all about orders and hands Ziva his phone and tells her to call Jenny. She dials the Director's number and puts it on speaker phone. When Jenny answers, Ziva shoves the phone in front of Tony's face, forcing him to talk. Jenny reveals nothing of what's going on and chastises them for bugging her and not enjoying the time off. Before she hangs up, they hear Franks in the background revealing information to the Director. As Tony closes his phone, he says it's probably a roll in the hay. Ziva believes something is going on. Tony teases that she doesn't know about sex so she wouldn't understand. Ziva laughs and says she could tell him stories. He begs her to share and she agrees but only if he calls the L.A.P.D. and asks them to run a trace on the GPS on the Director's rental. Tony agrees.

Gibbs walks into autopsy and stops. Palmer is on the ground performing CPR on a blow-up doll. Gibbs asks him "New girlfriend?" He gives Ducky a look so Ducky excuses Palmer. Gibbs inquires about La Grenouille's autopsy and they both agree it was clear cut, he died from the gun shot wound. Gibbs leaves as Ducky yells out that some things are better left alone. Gibbs goes up to Abby's lab and hands her a photo from the bullet pulled out of La Grenouille's body. She pulls it up on her screen and after some geek chat, she shows him a flaw in the bullet. There are two lines in it that she tells him are from a flaw in the gun that fired it. Gibbs grabs the photo and leaves.

Jenny and Mike Franks show up at the diner. Of course, it's a bit run down in the middle of nowhere. They go in and look around for evidence or the "insurance policy" but have no luck. Franks asks what he's supposed to be looking for and Jenny mentions numbers, photos, etc. Franks points to the wall and tells her there are plenty of photos around. Jenny looks closely at them and realizes the dates on them are wrong. She remembers back to their operation and they had used a code with numbers on photos for messages. She pulls down the photos and writes down the numbers. Franks gets ready to go and Jenny tells him she's not leaving, it's going to end there. He pulls out a gun and tells her she'll need an unregistered gun as he hands it to her. He sits down to wait with her.

Tony and Ziva get the location of the Director's car. They drive to the Santa Monica pier and find nobody in the car and no sign of the Director. As Tony begins to pull out he stops and backs up as they see police cruisers. They exit the car and go down to the crime scene. There they discover a very dead Sasha. After a debate, Ziva calls Jenny back up. She informs Jenny that Sasha is dead, that she had been thrown off the pier at the beach. Jenny claims she's okay and still reveals nothing. Ziva and Tony head to the car and argue about what to do. They finally call McGee to see what he says. McGee teases them but finally agrees to look up the last location of Jenny's cell phone and gives it to them. They head out without telling Gibbs what is going on.

In his basement, Gibbs sits down with the files on La Grenouille's death. He pours himself a drink as he looks at the photo of the bullet. He remembers the scene where he handed Jenny her gun and then the clip. He remembers Jenny handing him back the clip with bullets later in the squad room. After a quick swallow of his drink, he looks down at the clip and removes a bullet from it. He picks up a magnifying glass and discovers the same two identical marks on the bullet as the one that killed La Grenouille. He picks up the phone to call Jenny.

Tony and Ziva pull into a gas station, bickering, as a black SUV pulls out. The mustang was on empty and Ziva thought they would make it. Tony knew they wouldn't so they stopped for gas. She jokes about holding his nozzle when he tells her to make herself useful. She goes in to get a map, directions, donuts and a blue Gatorade for Tony. Once back on the road, Tony thinks they are lost, stops the car, gets out and screams. He gets back in and they head towards the diner.

At the Diner, Jenny and Franks have a heart-to-heart talk about love-life regrets. Jenny admits her regret was Gibbs. She admits she is the one who pushed Gibbs away after the Paris operation because he didn't fit into her five year plan. Franks makes a remark about it not being too late and with tears in her eyes, Jenny subtly reveals she's in love with Gibbs without saying it. Franks finally asks if Gibbs knows she's sick. She tells him it's nothing bad but he reveals he searched her car, purse and cell phone so he knows the truth. She finally admits Gibbs doesn't know.

Jenny walks around and finds some very dusty tea and offers to make some. Franks says he has to go to the 'head' so he'll go out and gets some fresh water. While he's out back, the black SUV pulls up in front of the Diner.

Four heavily armed men step out and head towards the diner. One goes in the back, one in the side and two in the front. Shots are fired over and over, no screams or shouts are heard as everything goes quiet.

Tony and Ziva pull up to the diner and see the black SUV and remember it from the gas station. As they head towards the diner, they see bullet holes in the door and broken glass. Ziva asks if he still thinks the Director is off having a quickie. They draw their weapons and quietly enter the diner. They immediately spot several of the dead gunmen with bullet wounds to their heads. As Ziva walks around the diner, she sees the Director's reflection in a pool of blood. She calls Tony over and they both look at the Director's blood covered arm. Tony leans down and checks her pulse and finds nothing. The Director's cell phone rings and Tony picks it up; it's Gibbs calling. Tony answers it.

Gibbs is hauling down the highway in a sedan. Over the phone, he tells Tony to stay put until he arrives. A few minutes later he arrives at the crime scene. Tony and Ziva are hauling boxes out of the diner. They both see Gibbs and sadly stare at him. Gibbs starts to yell at them for not staying put when Vance walks out of the diner. Vance says it's his crime scene. Gibbs walks inside and Vance tells him the bodies were removed the day before. Gibbs walks around and stops at the tag labelled "Shepard" and stares at the pool of blood around it. Vance walks up alongside him and apologizes. Vance re-enacts the scene to Gibbs, telling him Jenny was standing in the middle of the room. He tells him she got all four of them but took numerous bullet shots before she fell. He tells Gibbs that Ducky will be overseeing the autopsies on all five victims. He says he is heading back to oversee "his" investigation and tells Gibbs, Tony and Ziva to remain behind to follow up on the fifth shooter. They discovered another vehicle had been there along with another shooter. Vance leaves and Gibbs orders Tony and Ziva to investigate Vance's investigation.

Gibbs drives down the road and pulls over at a gas station. Someone pulls up on the other side and Gibbs says, "You're late." Mike Franks says he got there as fast as he could. They go inside the diner and chat. Franks fills Gibbs in on how he got involved and what Jenny knew. Gibbs wants to know where Franks was when Jenny was gunned down. Franks tells him he was out back filling up a pitcher when they arrived. Franks shot the man entering the back of the building and polished off two more with gunshot wounds to the head. Jenny had shot them but Franks wanted to make sure they were dead. Franks told Gibbs about the insurance policy Decker had. He then tells Gibbs that Jenny died protecting him. Franks gives Gibbs the numbers he and Jenny got off the photographs. He also mentions the code name, which tipped Jenny off. When Franks pushes him about loose ends, Gibbs says there were none from the Paris operation. Gibbs admits there were three members for three kills. Gibbs and Decker killed their targets and believed that Jenny killed hers.

Tony calls McGee and then sends him photos of the tyre marks left by the vehicle that left the crime scene. Tony tells him nothing else. Abby stands in front of him pacing worrying that something is wrong. McGee assures her all is fine when Ducky walks in. Ducky tells her everything is fine as well just when his cell phone rings. Ducky sees it's Gibbs. He answers it and Gibbs tells him Jenny is dead and the bodies are on their way to Ducky. Ducky hangs up and breaks the news to a devastated Abby and a shocked McGee.

In her lab, Abby can't focus. McGee is trying to get her to focus so they can track down the tyre marks, the car, etc. Abby wants to know why Tony and Ziva weren't protecting the Director. McGee wonders the same thing when Tony calls. Tony puts pressure on McGee and is short with him. After he hangs up, Tony paces as Ziva looks at him. She tells him it's not McGee's fault. Tony is wracked with guilt over leaving the Director without security.

At his desk, McGee has tracked down the make, model and identity of the vehicle. He has called the rental company and they were emailing him the identification of the man who rented the car. Gibbs calls him just as Mike Franks photo shows up on the screen. Gibbs tells him to erase the file, so McGee does. Gibbs gives McGee the numbers that Jenny found and asks McGee to see if he can find out what they mean. As he hangs up, Vance pokes his head over McGee's shoulder. McGee lies to him and tells him he didn't have a hit yet on the vehicle. Vance tells him to search for another hour and then go home. When Vance walks away, McGee releases a heavy sigh.

While doing a search on the numbers Gibbs gave him, McGee downloads the photos Tony sent him to go through. He's also going through security tapes from LAX Airport to find Viggo's arrival, etc. McGee looks at the photos and sees the ones of Ziva in her bikini and comments on them aloud. Vance walks up behind him. McGee quickly switches screens, shares a little information with Vance before Vance leaves.

Gibbs arrives and heads to autopsy. Ducky and Palmer have just begun to process the five bodies. Ducky stands alongside the Director's body when Gibbs walks in. Gibbs puts his hand on where the Director's face is. Ducky says some kind words but then informs Gibbs Jenny was dying. Ducky says Jenny's death was quick and painless and probably the better way to go rather than how she would have. Gibbs reaches for the zipper and begins to pull it down. He changes his mind, rez-ips it and leaves before looking.

Tony and Ziva return to the squad room looking down and beaten. McGee makes a remark about them soaking up the sun. Tony takes the offensive and walks towards McGee, taunting him. He takes off his jacket and tosses it on the floor. Ziva walks up and stands beside Tony. McGee says it wasn't their fault and Ziva thanks him. His phone rings and it's Gibbs asking them to come down to Abby's lab.

Abby has taken delivery of the clothing, cell phones, weapons, etc. from the crime scene. Barely able to hold it together, she starts taking the bloody clothing out of the bag. She sees the Director's shirt and loses it. She walks into Gibbs' embrace as he comforts her. Abby says the Director was a great dresser and she never got to tell her.She starts to compliment Gibbs on his clothing style, which gets her a smile. McGee, Tony and Ziva walk in and she compliments them. Just as they start to have a round table discussion, Vance walks in. He leaves with Gibbs hot on his heels. Vance wants to know what Gibbs knows but Gibbs isn't sharing. Vance remarks that they just lost one team member, they could lose more.

Back in the squad room, McGee gets a hit on Viggo in the LAX Security tapes. After some scrutiny, they discover a blonde woman entering the same cab as Viggo. McGee puts the woman's photo up on the screen. When Vance asks if anyone knows her, they all say no. He turns to Gibbs, but finds Gibbs has disappeared. Vance orders McGee to call Gibbs so McGee does. Gibbs cell phone is sitting on his desk ringing. Vance than becomes agitated and orders McGee to find out what the series of numbers mean and Tony and Ziva to work on facial recognition for the blonde woman.

Tony and Ziva head to Abby's lab, where Tony is very short with the already sensitive Abby. She looks confused when Tony storms out but Ziva tells her to just work on the facial recognition. Scene shifts to Ziva walking into a dark autopsy room when Tony turns on a light in the corner and says "Surprised it took you so long". He is drinking Ducky's scotch and pulls a second glass out of a desk drawer for Ziva, handing her the bottle. Z: "You're crying over spilled…milk" T: "It's not milk I spilled" T: "She died alone" Z: "We are all alone" T: "I just mean that she never got married, never had any children, never even heard her talk about it…Paris…that's when it must have happened" Z: "The two of them alone, in another world T: "Putting their lives in each other's hands, every day Z: "Not to mention the long nights" T: "It was inevitable" Z: "Nothing is inevitable".

They are able to track down the woman's identity. She is Natasha Lencov and up until 1999, she didn't exist. In 1999 she surfaced on the grid and is successful in the import/export business. Vance goes to Abby's lab and they discover Viggo's phone is missing. Vance knows Natasha will call Gibbs as opposed to Gibbs finding her.

McGee gets a hit on the numbers Gibbs gave him. They belong to an old case file of Decker's. When Vance asks him to pull up the records, McGee informs him that that particular year, 1985 wasn't yet put on computer. They head across the street to the archives to get the files. Once there, the man hands over the file box and Vance finds a phone book in it. Turns out Franks had been there an hour before and removed the information with the "insurance policy" Decker had left. However, back in the squad room, they discover her true identity of Natasha is a woman named Svetlana who has ties to a Russian operative/spy. The man had been killed 9 or 10 years prior.

Gibbs enters Jenny's townhouse. He sits at her desk and rifles through the papers piled on it. He finds a letter addressed to him but it only says "Dear Jethro." He puts Viggo's bloody cell phone on the desk. As he sits there pouring himself a drink, the phone rings and the caller ID is blocked. He answers it and it's Vance. Vance reads him the riot act and as they are talking Gibbs gets another call and it's Natasha. Gibbs answers the phone in Russian. He cuts to the chase and tells Natasha he has what she wants.

Vance has McGee do a trace on Viggo's cell phone and they realize Gibbs is at Jenny's townhouse. Vance orders McGee to erase the file and tells the rest of the team to stay put as he runs out. Ziva, Tony and McGee wonder what they should be doing.

Gibbs puts his gun on the desk and walks over to the bookcase. Without turning around, he says, "Hello Natasha. or should I say Svetlana." It is revealed the Jenny had been sent to kill Svetlana during the Paris operation and never did. It had taken Svetlana years to find out who had killed her beloved and it pointed her to Gibbs. Gibbs admits he had indeed killed the man she'd been involved with. He asks her if Jenny couldn't pull the trigger to kill her, would she be able to kill him. Just as she cocks the hammer on her revolver back, a shot rings out and she falls to the floor. Mike Franks is standing in the doorway with a weapon in hand. When he comes into the room, he nudges towards Gibbs' gun and asks if he'd planned on going for it. Franks says Gibbs will have a lot of explaining to do when Svetlana's body is found. Gibbs says they won't find it.

Gibbs and Franks are walking down a street when fire trucks zoom by. Gibbs watches them head around a corner towards the fire. Just then, a car door opens and Vance steps out. He approaches and confronts Gibbs and Franks. He asks Franks where the file is and Franks says he'll give it to him, in his will. He laughs and walks off. As Franks stands down the road lighting a cigarette, Gibbs watches the television screen through a shop window. Back in the office, Ziva, McGee and Tony watch the same newsflash. They are showing the fire at the home of Director Jenny Shepard.

Back in the squad room, the team steps off the elevator all dressed in formal NCIS black attire. They just came from Jenny's funeral. They look to the television screen as the reporter claims Jenny died in her home due to an explosion from a gas leak. The reporter announces that Vance was named the new Director of NCIS. Gibbs looks up and sees Vance heading towards his office.

Vance pulls out a file on himself and removes a sheet of paper and shreds it (you can see a screen-grab of the page by clicking link at top of this page). He puts the file back and locks the cabinet. He then takes the Director's photo of her father off the desk and puts it away.

He asks Cynthia to call up McGee, DiNozzo, David and Gibbs. All four walk into his office and only Gibbs will look him in the eye. Vance has tossed three files on his desk. Vance informs Ziva that the agreement with the Mossad office for the liaison has been terminated – she is to return home immediately. He tells McGee that he is being transferred to the Cyber Crimes unit. He then informs DiNozzo that he is being transferred to the USS Ronald Reagan and his flight leaves the next morning.

He hands the three file folders to Gibbs and says "Meet your new team."
(Wiki members now convulse, go into shock, ponder the mental health of the series writers and otherwise over-react)

• Gibbs is godfather to Mike Franks' granddaughter ("Go back to Mexico. Give my goddaughter a hug for me.")
• Gibbs says that the way he got Jenny to become able to kill was by teaching her "to accept". By implication, this is Gibbs' analysis of what makes a person like himself, like Jenny, able to kill others and not let it get to them.
• Franks' liking for operating outside the box is so well known that both Jenny (whom Franks didn't know when she first phoned him in Mexico) and Vance take it as granted.
• Tony's reaction to guilt is to close in on himself and to be self-accusatory and to think that everyone else is thinking badly of him.
• Although she argued repeatedly that she and Tony should be providing protection for Jenny, Ziva does not give any indication that she blames Tony for what happened.
• McGee is already calling Vance "boss".
• Vance is more computer-savvy than McGee on cyber encryption.
• Vance regards the toothpick as a badge of honour.
• Franks is religious enough to have had his granddaughter baptised as a Christian, even though the mother is Muslim….
• Abby cannot bring herself to praise McGee's dress sense, even in the most extreme emotional state where she manages to praise Gibbs' dress sense. But she does give him a hug, but only after thinking about it quite hard.
• Franks does not normally apologise. Gibbs does not expect him to apologise for not saving Jenny. Franks then does say that he is sorry.
• Gibbs does not like to actually hear words of sympathy: when people start to say it, he cuts them off with "I know" or "It wasn't your fault". Gibbs truly likes to let things that 'go without saying' be left unsaid.
• Jenny regrets giving up Gibbs to pursue her five year plan.
• We finally find out what mission Gibbs and Jenny were on in Paris when they became lovers: it was an assassination mission. Gibbs and Decker killed their targets, but Jenny couldn't bring herself to kill hers. N.B. Are we sure Decker wasn't the one target who survived? That was my impression.

• Tony is seen stopping the car in the middle of the desert, gets out, and screams. He turns around and gets back into the car. Turning to Ziva he calmly asks, "So, 'Turn right at the big cactus?'" Ziva just as calmly says, "That's what he said."
• Abby doing CPR on Bert, who farts with each compression.And Bert represents the chest of Tony, whose picture is attached to a broom handle, to keep Abby company whilst he is in California.
• Tony rents a car red Mustang with white stripes.What a car.
• Ducky and Abby and Palmer role play Tony, Ziva and Gibbs. But when Gibbs actually turns up, Palmer takes fright and takes off.
• Abby gives compliments on everyone's clothes including Gibbs (which provokes a smile from him) but she flounders when faced with McGee's sartorial choices. So she just hugs him instead.
• Ducky calls McGee "Probie" says "He is right behind me, isn't he." Ducky was really acting like DiNozzo.

• The page that Dir Vance removed from his file: can anyone read it? (Approximate Text of the page here)
• Although they mention twice that the Director was dying, they never reveal what exactly is wrong with her. We do know that she would not have had a quick death, that it would be long and painful and that it would involve loss of motor skills which implicates a neuro-degenerative disorder. No wonder she was willing to do that last stand at the OK Corral.
• Gibbs obtains the file for Le Granouille in this episode. As he slices it open in the basement, we see it has a Bureau File Number of 8675309, which is a reference to the 80's hit "Jenny" by Tommy Tutone. This is the same FBI file that Jethro was trying to get from Agent Fornell in a prior episode.
• In the season 6 DVD feature on the starting story arc, Shane Brennan says that the death of Michelle Lee in "Dagger" was originally planned to be that of Jenny in "Judgement Day".

Guest Starring:

• Brian Dietzen (Jimmy Palmer)
• Muse Watson (Mike Franks)
• Rocky Carroll (NCIS Asst. Director Leon Vance)

• Betsy Rue (Sasha Gordon)
• Oleg Taktarov (Viggo Drantyev)
• Jeff Witzke (Attendant)
• Terrence Hardy (George)
• Wyatt Smith (Frankie)
• Reginald James (LAPD Det. Monroe)
• Marc Vahanian (William Decker)
• Oleg Taktarov (Viggo Drantyev)
• Kathleen Gati (Natasha Lenkov)
• Sheila E. Frazier (ZNN Reporter Debra Green)
• Mike Muscat (File Clerk)

• Part 1 Steven D. Binder and David J. North
• Part 2 Steven D. Binder, David J. North and Christopher J. Waild

• Tom Wright

At the NCIS pit, Tony gets off the elevator finishing a phone call on his cell. He sees Ziva and McGee playing a game of scrabble. McGee informs him it's a lesson to help Ziva with her English. McGee points out he is beating her by 50 points and then says she'll have a hard time using the letter "Q" to make a word. Ziva accuses him of cheating. McGee claims he didn't cheat, he simply counted the tiles on the board and came up with it through process of elimination. Ziva outsmarts him and makes the word "Qi" twice on the board, scoring 62 points and beating McGee. McGee challenges her win when Gibbs rounds the corner. McGee hurriedly shoves the game and tiles in Ziva's desk drawer. He tries to say he wasn't playing but teaching Ziva and they all tease him about losing.

The NCIS team shows up to process the crime scene. Gibbs chats with the foreman and one of the construction workers. He is told the dead man is not part of the construction crew. Upon the third floor, McGee's fear of heights is pretty obvious as he holds on tightly when he has to go near the edge. Tony teases McGee about it and jokingly gooses McGee with one of the crime scene numbers (#3 to be exact). Ziva removes the dead man's wallet to reveal his name (last name is Baxter). They finish taking photos, processing the scene and Ducky announces that the time of death was 4AM. McGee, Tony and Ziva head back down to the ground while Ducky and Palmer remain with the body.

Ducky heads down to fetch the gurney, leaving Palmer to remove the body from the roof of the elevator. When he does, a passport falls out of the man's back pocket. Palmer retrieves the passport and looks at it. He realizes the photo is of the dead man but the name is different. The name on the passport is Milo Suskavcevic. Ducky calls out to Palmer from below. Palmer drops the passport next to the body and goes to the edge to see what Ducky wants. Ducky teases Palmer about parking to close to the building so Ducky can't get the gurney out. When Palmer returns to the body, the passport is gone. He hears a noise and sees a figure moving to his right. He calls out thinking it's McGee. He follows the figure and calls out for Ziva but nobody answers. Palmer hears Ducky call the elevator down but rather than return to the body, keeps looking for the person he saw. The figure moves runs out from behind some pallets and Palmer yells and chases him. The man jumps over the side and as Palmer goes to follow, the man pulls out a gun and shoots at Palmer. Ducky hears the shots and runs towards them. He finds Palmer face down on the ground.

Back at NCIS, Palmer is uninjured but frightened. Gibbs and Vance chat and Vance heads in to interview Palmer. Palmer is flustered and cannot recall anything. When Vance asks him to describe the man, Palmer says the man had beady eyes and look "reptilian." Vance sighs and says "So we're looking for a beady eyed reptile with a big gun?" Vance asks Palmer how many feet they were from each other but Palmer is unable to answer. Palmer begins to draw it out to "triangulate" the crime scene to determine the footage. Vance stops him and sends him home, but orders him to see Abby in the morning.

Tony and Ziva head out to Baxter's address, which is a trailer park. Upon arrival, Tony jokes that they must have missed the twister. The camera pans to an empty lot because someone drove the camper away after Baxter was found dead.

Palmer tries to work with Abby on a computer generated sketch. Abby calls the final sketch "Dr. Jekyll." She erases it and attempts to try again. He feels frustrated with his inability to recall anything and the fact that he didn't stop the guy. Abby tells him he is baby Gibbs, which pleases Palmer.

Gibbs gets updates from the team. They are able to determine that someone made a phone call from the man's phone 4 minutes after Baxter's time of death. Initial reports don't reveal much other than Baxter has no criminal record, hadn't filed tax returns in 10 years. Gibbs points out a 5 foot gallon of a chemical that does not belong on a construction site. He tells Tony to get on it.

Gibbs heads down to autopsy and Ducky reveals the man did not die from the blow to his head. Baxter had been hit in the head and fell on top of the elevator. He lay there and died from the injuries and blood in his lungs. Gibbs realizes the man was alive long enough to have made the last phone call from his cell phone himself. Ducky detected a white substance that Baster had been breathing in. He tells Gibbs he sent the substance up to Abby to analyze.

McGee prints out a lot of color copies of different passports. Once again, Palmer is unable to provide much in the way of details. All he can tell McGee is that it was blue. Palmer feels frustrated and asks McGee if Palmer should have been able to stop the gunman before he got away. McGee politely tells Palmer that he is an experienced NCIS agent so he's the wrong person to ask. This seems to make Palmer feel a little bit better. Palmer wants to try anything to remember so McGee brings him to Abby's lab. Here, Abby tries hypnosis. She gets Palmer to go under and starts to ask him about the passport. Palmer smiles and says he sees brown leather and describes the brand and shoe size. Abby yells at him and tells him to put Ziva's boot down. She tries again and says her name to Palmer. Palmer smiles and describes Abby's boots, brand and shoe size (10). Abby yells at him to pull him out of it. Frustrated, McGee goes to leave as Abby blows out the candles she lit to help Palmer relax. Palmer begs them to try again. The second go round looks to be helpful as Palmer describes a man's face in great detail. Abby and McGee are excited as they come up with a composite sketch. Abby brings Palmer around and shows him the sketch. Palmer says "two shots." When McGee and Abby look at him, he informs them he described the man who makes his coffee in the mornings.

When Abby runs a test on the white substance Ducky sent her, they realize it was something that was in the building. Gibbs realizes the only way Baxter could have inhaled it was by drilling. The team heads to the construction site to see where Baxter had drilled. They discover Baxter had been drilling in the structure beams. They use some high-tech equipment to look through the concrete and discover skeletal remains in one of the support beams.

Abby does more research and calls Gibbs down. She shows him that she was able to match the marks on Baxter's head wound to one of the construction tools. She shows Gibbs an animated demonstration. She also tells him she found traces of copper on the man. Gibbs is pleased and kisses her cheek on the way out.

The team brings back the construction foreman that they had initially interviewed. The man confesses that he was selling the copper for $4 a pound. He had gone back in the wee hours of he morning to get some copper. He was spotted by Baxter, who came after him. He hit him in the head with his cutting tool in self-defense and Baxter fell onto the top of the elevator. The foreman left the scene but not before washing off his tool. As he didn't use bleach, they find traces of Baxter's blood on it. When Palmer goes into the observation room, he informs them that while the man may have killed Baxter, it's not the same man who shot at him.

Palmer is struggling with not remembering the details. He is sitting at a laptop with an email started to his mother telling her "It has been a rough week." Gibbs walks up behind him and startles him. Palmer asks Gibbs how he works through the fear. Gibbs said you don't, it's just what you do with it. Gibbs suggests Palmer hold off on sending the email until later, Gibbs figures Palmer will have something to share then. Gibbs leaves as Palmer discards the email and shuts down his laptop.

Palmer heads up to the office and only Ziva is there. He asks her how someone like him should have handled the situation with the shooter. Ziva demonstrates to him. She hands Palmer a stapler and tells him to pretend to be the shooter. When Palmer aims the "stapler", Ziva pins his head down to her desk and disarms him. When they do it again, Ziva pins him yet again. Ziva jokes and says he should not have chased the man. Palmer notices the scrabble letters in Ziva's open desk drawer. He sees the letters "M" and "I" together and realizes he knows the name on the passport. He brings the scrabble letters to Gibbs and with Ziva's help, they determine the man's name was Milo Suskavcevic.

Gibbs walks into Abby's lab. She is sitting drinking a Caf-Pow with a bowl of popcorn. She is watching a scan for a match on a face. Gibbs pulls up a chair and grabs the bowl of popcorn and watches with her. Abby explains that she was able to take the concrete mold of the skeletal remains and come up with a sketch of what he really looked like. While she's chatting away, she gets a hit on her search. The man is identified by an injury claim, 12 years earlier. The skeletal remains belong to the real Baxter.

Gibbs has the team dig up more information on Baxter. It turns out 12 years earlier Baxter had been injured in a construction accident, sued and was awarded $2.1 million to be paid out over 20 years. Milo had come to the United States, killed Baxter and assumed his identity. He had buried Baxter in one of the support beams of the building as it was being constructed 10 years earlier. With the building undergoing retrofitting, Milo was afraid he'd be found out so he had gone to find the body and pour acid into the beam. This chemical, as we learned, would remove all DNA traces of the victim, allowing Milo to continue his charade. Upon further search, McGee turned up that Milo had come to the US with his brother. He did a search and found the brother was living in yet another trailer park. He pulls the address up on the screen while Gibbs, Ziva and Tony grab their weapons. They begin to head out to find the brother and Palmer tries to follow. Gibbs tells him to stay put, Palmer can see the man when they bring him in.

Gibbs, Ziva, McGee and Tony storm the trailer. They find they'd just missed Milo's brother. A small black car pulls up and idles nearby. In the car sits Palmer, watching the team search the trailer. He is startled when Gibbs pounds on his window, demanding to know what Palmer is doing there. Gibbs orders Palmer to remain in the car and returns to the trailer. A few moments pass when a truck pulls up and stops on the other side. Palmer turns and realizes it's the man who shot at him. The man is watching his trailer and sees Ziva inside searching. The man starts his truck back up and begins to take off. Palmer realizes the man is going to get away so he puts his car and gear and speeds towards the truck. Palmer ends up crashing into the truck to head the man off. As Palmer looks up from the crash, the man looks out his truck window and recognizes Palmer. He reaches for his gun and aims it at Palmer when Gibbs yells for him to put his gun down. Ziva and Tony disarm the man, get him out of the truck and cuff him. Gibbs walks over to Palmer's car and yells at him, demanding to know what he thought he was doing. Palmer simply states that he did not get out of the car. With a slight grin, Gibbs hands Palmer a tissue for his bloody nose and tells him "Now you have something to write home about." Palmer puts the tissue to his nose and grins.

• Palmer is braver than he thought, and less brave than he would like to be.
• He is close to his mother (he writes to her to tell her about his week, via email)
• We also discover Palmer's mother's name is Eunice from the E-mail heading
• He looks good in a suit!
• Palmer truly thinks a medical scientist without a gun ought to have been able to capture and disarm a gunman: until he gets Ziva to show him how it is done.

• A hypnotized Palmer reveals his shoe fetish.

• This episode was previously titled "Demolition."
• Ziva' shoe size is 7. (US shoe sizing)
• Abby's shoe size is 10. (US shoe sizing)
• Palmer has a shoe fetish.
• Palmer gets two shots of espresso every morning from a vendor who looks like mafiosi.

Guest Starring:

• Brian Dietzen (Jimmy Palmer)

• Rocky Carroll (NCIS Asst.Director Leon Vance)
• Frank John Hughes (Enis Watley)
• Christopher Darga (Skip Harris)
• Adam O'Byrne (Mike Norman)
• Tyler Jacob Moore (Richie Rose)
• Scott Checansky (Milo Suskavcevic)

• Alfonso H. Moreno
• Reed Steiner
• Jesse Stern

• Dennis Smith

As the car turns onto the next street we see a parked brown maintenance van. DiNozzo is inside. He tells Gibbs that they have left and Gibbs tells him to get inside. We then see Gibbs and McGee in a sedan and they are tracking the GPS in Ziva's car. DiNozzo sneaks into the mans house. It cuts to Ziva smiling and asking the man where they are going on their mystery date. He says "It woudn't be a mystery if I told you Gina" (We now know she is working undercover.) He asks her about leaving the bar early the night before. She says her husband was calling from Fallujah (Iraq). She asks what he did when she left, and he says he just went home and went to bed. She asks if she should get on the expressway. He says no. She says " I like a man who keeps secrets."

Cut to Gibbs and McGee. They are trailing Ziva by two blocks. Gibbs speeds up to close the gap. Cut to Tony. He is in the house. He has gone in to plant bugs. He sees the dead woman on the floor. He calls Gibbs. He tells him they don't need the bugs, the have Hoffman's latest victim; number five. Gibbs asks about her finger and Tony tells him that her ring finger has been removed. Gibbs hands McGee the phone and tells him to call Ziva and give her the distress code, they are going to take Hoffman down. Ziva answers her phone and McGee says "Bernard?" She realizes the signal and says "No, sorry, wrong number". She hangs up and sits the phone down. She tells him that if he isn't going to say where they are going, that she needs a ladies room. ( Probably so they can arrest him.) Hoffman picks up the phone and checks the call. He asks "Who's Gibbs?" She says it's a wrong number. He says it's second on her speed dial. She says he's an ex-boyfriend and asks for her phone. He hands the phone back and pulls out a revolver and says "Drive."

Major points:

• Ziva is attacked by the man she in undercover dating. He nearly shoots/stabs her. Ziva recovers his gun when he drops it and shoots him multiple times in the chest. His dead body falls on top her. His open, blank eyes then seem to haunt her the rest of the episode.
• Ziva is troubled by what happened. She lashes out to Tony every time he offers to cheer her up. Such as when he tries to muss her hair and invites her out for a drink.
• Gibbs reaches out to Ziva and seems to help her a little.
• Ziva goes to the bar where the killer frequented and meets Michael. They go home together, assuming have sex. Ziva tells him this is not like her at all.
• Ziva is angered that the team thinks Michael is the killer's accomplice. But she obviously had doubts herself and gives them her gun to lift a print off of when Michael touched it. (After Ziva pulled it on him when he woke her up after sleeping together. She tells him she is Mossad).
• Michael had a girlfriend named Devon who is feared to be the sixth victim.
• Turns out it is the husband of the 4th victim who is the second killer. But he only killed his wife.
• Ziva finds Devon for Michael and gives him Devon's number. Ziva finally does not look like crap. Ziva leaves the bar and Michael is seen calling Devon.

In this Episode Ziva seems out of character. After all she is a trained assassin and it's not like she has formed an emotional attachment to this guy, as she was working undercover to catch him. Her moodiness & seemingly sad demeanor are not Ziva's strong in control exterior. And this train of thought was anti-climactic as her feelings were never resolved and it was never revealed exactly why she felt the way she did about killing this man.

And then there was the ending where Ziva gave Michael Devon's phone number. And he just allowed her to just walk away. I was hoping him to say I decided there are better things than her and wad the paper up throw it down and then plant a big sloppy one on Ziva.

It wasn't so much that Ziva formed an attachment to the man she was targeting, but how close she came to dying because she had waited too long to react and take control.

• Ziva is badly shaken by her close brush with death and spends some time doubting her judgment.
• Tony expresses concern for Ziva, and gets jealous of Michael Locke.
• At a certain point of the episode, Ziva is standing in Autopsy, looking at Hoffman's body the same way Kate did in Heart Break, after she shot an innocent civilian.

• Tony reaches over to Ziva's hair. Ziva slaps him away.
• Tony: "I was just going to tussel your hair. Sometimes it makes you smile."
• Tony sings to Ziva "Come to me, My love…"
• Abby on her rollerblades during entire episode

• The song playing at the end, when Ziva gives Michael Devon's phone number is "Where I Stood" by Australian artist Missy Higgins.
• At the beginning of the episode, when McGee and Gibbs are following in the car, McGee says "They just turned west", it shows his computer and the image is correct. But when he says "Alright, the car's stopped, two blocks ahead", the image on his computer is backwards, or mirrored.

Guest Starring:

• Brian Dietzen (Jimmy Palmer)

• Steve Kazee (Michael Locke)
• Nick Chinlund (Detective Steve Rosetti)
• Scott Holroyd (Navy PO Kevin Massey)
• Michael Hagerty (Andy Hoffman)
• Ella Thomas (Heidi)
• Mia Lee (Newscaster)

• George Schenck
• Frank Cardea

• James Whitmore Jr.

• Tony is getting very serious with Jeanne seeing as they are looking at houses.

• When Abby, McGee, and Ziva were working on the taxi in the workshop, each started talking about their 'first time'. Abs says hers was in a taxi – front and back seat; whereas Ziva said her was an armoured vehicle, to which McGee and Abs replied in unison "Of course."
• Gibbs and Jenny on the phone.
• Gibbs and Cynthia arguing.
• Abby to McGee in her lab : "They're questioning MY ballistics !?"

• Maybe "Joey Kelly" is a homage to John C. Kelley, one of the NCIS writers and Co-Executive Producer.
• There is some rumour if "Hollywood Special Agent Grisham" could be a hint to "Gil Grissom" in 'CSI: Las Vegas' or if it is one to bestselling-author John Grisham.
• Gibbs talks about the date October 10, 2000: "Two days before the terrorist attack on USS Cole.

Guest Starring:

• Armand Assante (La Grenouille)
• David Dayan Fisher (Trent Kort)
• Scottie Thompson (Jeanne Benoit)
• Stephanie Mello (NCIS Tech Cynthia Sumner)
• Brian Dietzen (Jimmy Palmer)

• Celestin Cornielle (Marine Cpl. Keener)
• Michelle Wolff (Marine Sgt. Maria Sanchez)
• Gary Morgan (Mario Vincetti)
• Aleksandra Kaniak (Russian Nurse)
• Corie Vicker (NCIS Special Agent Lynn Davis)
• Vladimir Skomarovsky (Colonel-General Dimitri Borov)
• Sima Kostov (Darya Borov)
• Marcy Harriell (Nurse Carly Marcano)
• Brian George (Dr. Ameen Temani)
• Sandra Hess (Regine Smidt)
• Michael Patrick McGill (Joey Kelly)

• Shane Brennan
• Donald P. Bellisario

• Terrence O'Hara

After the credits, we see McGee and Ziva discussing something on the computer; they are talking about McGee getting a dog; there is banter about which breed and also some horse metaphors; McGee says it might help Tony get a girlfriend and he should 'get back on the horse.' Tony says he does not need advice on this subject from McGee.
Gibbs comes in and says he votes for an Australian Shepherd Dog 'because they are working dogs.' At this point he tells them about Ducky's discovery. Ducky tells them there was no autopsy, so the mercury was not detected. The County Police had gone for the obvious answer; that he was a homeless drifter who had got drunk and died in his sleep. Ducky tells them there are signs he had been in prison. He wonders who the original ME had been; Palmer has not found him. When they do catch up with him, it turns out to be an attractive female ME, Jordan Hampton. Ducky is very charming to her (therefore!). The body passed through her morgue 9 days previously.

Gibbs and Tony are in a bar / crab shack asking if anyone knew the deceased. The (pretty) waitress remembers him, but doesn't know his name.But maybe she is too interested in the questioners and should be questioned herself (they do not pursue it). Outside, Ziva stops a well-dressed woman who knows the deceased, Marvin Hinton. She turns out to be an FBI agent and Hinton to be working for the FBI. Hinton was a career felon, but when they picked him up on a tip, he had no record of all this; his previous ID had been erased and he claimed someone had been in touch to offer the service. Sothe FBI were watching Hinton (and paying him) because his identity had been erased and they wanted to find the Eraser. The Eraser is the real target; they were hoping to catch him when he provided the new ID to Hinton. The FBI agent is sad – it is her first field job. When the Eraser failed to make contact the surveillance was pulled.

The FBI agent shows the team where they used to meet, in an apartment, and they find blood and mercury. It was indeed at the crab shack where the Eraser first made contact. Abby analyses the mercury, it is old-fashioned industrial grade.The tattoos are mysteriously confusing (tattoo equivalent of scribbling over things); there are hair samples from six women.All Hinton's contacts are women, as Tony is shown the pictures, he and the agent, Courteney, start flirting; Ziva puts an end to it by telling her she has food from the team's takeaway in her teeth.

Hinton was killed by a mercury injection in the brain; a strange MO that befits someone very hygienic and controlling, as Ziva sees the FBI agent being. So Ziva thinks it could be the FBI agent who is the baddie, seeing Hinton as standing in the way of her career. She goes through the agent's bag in the hope of finding some hair samples, but the brush is clean. Tony likes Courteney a lot, says McGee. Ziva thinks Gibbs doesn't.

Gibbs and Fornell are chatting. Gibbs asks whether Fornell is FBI or Homeland Security. After talking about the inefficiencies of e-mail, GIbbs asks Fornell whether Courteney is any good. Fornell hasn't heard of Hinton's death- the e-mail went to his spam box. He is worried. Fornell has a suspect, Kamal Konkani; was Hinton being used as a test? The NCIS angle is served by the Eraser being suspected of creating identities for terrorists; they would be undetectable at passport control when they enter the USA. But for a week there has been no surveillance. Kamal operates in a very low-tech way, maybe he killed Hinton to cover his tracks.

In MTAC Fornell briefs everyone (including Jenny); Kamal has helped a lot of terrorist attacks in Europe; Tony remarks there are a lot of Ks in his name 'Ks are funny – Courteney Krieger.' At the end of the meeting we hear Fornell bawling out his officer (Courteney). Ziva is pleased; she claims she does not like cleaning up after other people.But is the real reason that Ziva has feelings for Tony? She criticises him (to his face) for being attracted to Courteney.

In the lab, Abby has the old notes written by Kamal 12 years ago; it turns out that though they are in code, there are smudges off the cash register of an Indian restaurant. They follow this line – would he not carry on eating takeaway food from his 'home' cuisine?

Courteney asks Ziva for advice. Ziva reluctantly is nice to her, tells her mistakes are inevitable and in those cases all one can do is get back on the horse (the expression she learned at the start of the episode.) Courteney said she used to be a show-jumper; Ziva lets slip her father bred Arab horses; the two kind of bond and Courteney says: 'Do we hug now?' Ziva is still not convinced.

There are 15 Indian restaurants near where Kamal lives/ lived, but only one is within walking distance, and they know Kamal does not travel. This is the Punjab Tandoori restaurant. In order to be low-key (and for comic effect!) Tony and Courteney get a table for two undercover, but of course equipped with hidden mikes and cameras (Courteney's in her pendant.) The first photo is of someone who seems to be legally on the Immigration register. Courteney is genuinely nervous, but also because she has not dated in a while; Tony says it is the same for him, and the following priceless sequence happens:

Tony: Just pretend you like me.
Courteney: It's not that hard to pretend. (takes his hand in both of hers)
Tony: You have really soft hands

At this point Ziva shouts at him in his earpiece, he jumps and the water is knocked over his trousers. On the way to the toilet, although he misses snapping the delivery boy, he manages to photo a piece of paper with a number of delivery addresses, and when the waiter looks at him strangely, he asks for the food 'to go.' The third address turns out to be registered to Hinton's alias, Frederick le Clair. We see Gibbs and Fornell trailing the delivery boy there. He drops off the Indian food, and then as he turns, Ziva comes out of an unmarked van and bundles him inside, where Courteney and Tony are already waiting.

Fornell breaks down the door and he, Gibbs and Ziva enter the apartment; it's empty but clearly Kamal's. Cut to them standing outside with the delivery boy and asking him how Kamal is going to eat his takeaway if he is not there. The delivery boy says it's a standing order, every day paid 2 weeks in advance; he did see the customer once, and he identifies HINTON from the photo. So were Hinton and Kamal the same person? The Eraser didn't murder Hinton, the Eraser WAS Hinton?

So now they interrogate the delivery boy, Robert Graves. Is the bad guy or is he just a courier? He is clearly a clever young man, who is studying electrical engineering.

Hinton was playing the FBI, he was Kamal all along, honing his skills in prison, and using himself as a test. So why let himself be caught in the first place? Now (first Courteney) suggests this: instead of Kamal killing his client Hinton, maybe a client killed Kamal once his own past had indeed been erased. Not his, hers, says Courteney, flourishing the photos of Hinton's contacts; one of them was a client. However, if her past has been erased, how can they know anything about her? Ziva points out her modus operandi is known to them. In this case, it would be nothing to do with terrorism.

Down in autopsy, Jordan appears; Palmer is surprised, and even more so when she picks up a scalped, but when Ducky appears she suggests excising the tattoo and that this might atone for her earlier incompetence.

Now Ziva and Courteney (we are very conscious they are working as a team) track down a case of a dead man from 3 years ago in Idaho; his death seemed innocent, but when a well was dug near where he was buried the water was contaminated with mercury and this was traced to a leak from his casket. The widow turns out to be…….

the waitress from the crab shack.

So they interrogate her and she tells them Kamal knew everything about her; no wonder as he made her new ID. Fornell compliments Courteney and releases the delivery boy. Jenny tells the others that a terrorist has been found in a marine raid with a flawless fake US passport and the others in the cell have got away. So the terrorists are untraceable and on the way. But no! Ducky appears to elucidate the tattoo. Once the blue pigment has been removed, there is a tattoo of a tiger's head beneath, done by a famous Boston tattooist and datable to a particular few days. Days when Kamal was known to be in London. So what is going on?

Now the team realises the delivery boy has fooled them. Like the dread Pirate Roberts in the Princess Bride (Tony's reference), the name Kamal sells the identities but is held by different people. Is it possible Hinton was one of the Kamals, trained Robert Graves, who killed him and wanted NCIS and the FBI to think Hinton was Kamal?

Cut to Courteney dropping Robert off. and wishing him well. They are both outside the car. Ziva's phone rings- she is in the driver's seat, we see. Gibbs tells her not to drop him off. Robert realises and snatches Courteney's gun. He fires twice at Ziva, who fortunately comes out of the car very low and the bullets miss. Courteney bashes Robert's head against the car, subdues him and retrieves her weapon. Can we hug NOW? asks Courteney and this time Ziva smiles.

Now Gibbs and Fornell interrogate Robert properly. First they explain the story; there IS a real Kamal, who DID train Robert. But somehow Robert did not hide his own tracks easily enough, so Hinton realised who he was. Because Hinton would have led the FBI to Robert, Robert killed him; Robert framed Shannon (the waitress) for the Hinton murder because he knew her MO; she had been a client, after all, indeed his first one. Robert remains scornful, particularly of Kamal being a dinosaur and not being able to use a computer, but using the pretext of his shooting at Ziva, Gibbs and Fornell easily frighten Robert into giving up his client list and Kamal's identity.

Final scene is in MTAC. Gibbs, Tony and Ziva watching a surveillance video; the picture is slow to come up, but when it does, an old (Caucasian) man is arrested by Courteney and other FBI agents. When we see her, Ziva asks Tony if he got her number; he says no, but Ziva says she did, because Courteney wants lessons in learning how to fight!

BUT….fans of GI Joe will recognise all the names of the guest characters in this episode. So maybe there are many GI Joe jokes in this. Very little Abby in this episode.

• McGee wants to have a dog, a companion who will greet him and show him affection when he returns home. Ziva suggests the pitbull, Tony believes a cocker spaniel is more McGee, while Gibbs recommends a Australian shepherd.
• Ducky does not like people who do incomplete job – be it a M.E. leaving a body unchecked or a assistant not biding his demands.

• Best is conversation in the squad room where Ziva is helping McGee choose a dog. Each is naming the breeds they prefer. Gibbs prefers Australian Shepherds. "They're workin' dogs". The team sits down and starts working. They get call about Ducky holding a corpse that NCIS doesn't have jurisdiction to hold, and team starts to get up to go to Ducky's lab. Gibbs just barks "Sit". They sit. Then he says "Stay." They just look at him. He walks away and grins to himself and says, sotto voice, "Roll over."
• Fornell goes mad at his agent who emailed the report on the dead suspect instead of actually telling her boss (Fornell). He says "I don't give a flying crap what the book says…"
• Ducky fumes on his way to the M.E who did not properly check the body of the murdered man and lets Gibbs know that he would not go easy on whoever it was. However on meeting the doctor , it turns up that its a lady doctor and Ducky seems to be somewhat charmed by her. While leaving , Gibbs makes fun of Ducky by saying, "that was quite an shouting you gave her"
• We finally realize why Abby is so "Abby" "Of course, mercury is toxic. So you shouldn't let kids break open thermometers and play with it." —Abby "Speaking from personal experience, Abs?" —Gibbs "Actually explains a lot"—McGee.
• At the end: Gibbs, Tony and Ziva in MTAC, watching Courtney and Fornell arrest the Eraser. Ziva asks Tony if he got her number, and Tony says, "Who, Courtney? Nahh." Ziva smiles like a cat and says, "I did…"(pauses, still grinning), "She wants to learn how to fight." Effortlessly steals a piece of Tony's popcorn. Gibbs' face when he leans to look at the pair of them and…phoomph.

• The team investigates the murder of a man that doesn't exist. His death was originally ruled natural causes. Ducky discovers that "John Doe" has been killed instead of just died. It soon turns out he was involved in shady business: identity erasing and such.
• Ziva bonds with a woman after initial awkwardness. The woman is an FBI agent who works for Fornell.
• Real-life NCIS Director Thomas A. Betro made a cameo appearance on this episode of "NCIS." (See photo of him with Mark Harmon below.)
  This is the second appearance of a real-life NCIS Director on the Set after David Brant has his one on "3×09 Frame-Up".
• Torri Higginson, "Dr. Elizabeth Weir" from Stargate SG1 (introduced in Season and Leader of the Atlantis expedition on Stargate: Atlantis. She played that (recurring) role in 64 episodes until Season 4, episode 11 and the last time in Season 5 episode 5.
• Dorian Brown ("FBI Special Agent Courtney Krieger") plays the role of "Katie" in the new ABC Serie "Roommates".
• The website McGee is using to find a dog, www.petfinder.com, is an actual website operated by Discovery Communications, dedicated to finding homes for animals in need of adoption.

• Brian Dietzen (Jimmy Palmer),
• Joe Spano (Senior FBI Agent T.C. Fornell)

• Dorian Brown (FBI Special Agent Courtney Krieger)
• Torri Higginson (Dr. Jordan Hampton)
• Nikita Ager (Shannon O'Hara)
• Joe Egender (Robert Graves)
• Emerson Brooks (Navy Lt. Carl Greer)

• Jesse Stern

• Tom Wright

The story unfolds that the Lt realizes that he has been exposed to radiation. He recently returned from Brazil on an inspection tour with two colleagues, a man and a woman. His radiation tag – that should register exposure to excessive radiation, – does not show exposure yet he is ill. He is sent to Bethesda Navy Hospital to their radiation unit (considered the last stop on the way to the cemetery, by those in the radiation industry).

Tony tries to help Ziva remember who the man is: they check all possible places where their paths could have crossed, but they have never been in the same place at the same time, according to the Lt's passport. Gibbs is suspicious of the man until they prove the guy innocent. Ziva is assigned to guard the man at the hospital and keep trying to recall where they met.

The rest of the team interview and surveil the other team members who were in Brazil with the man. The older guy and Lt Roy went to the pistol range together, so footage is pulled from the security cameras there. The owner, a woman of voluptuous appetites, scares Tony but a radiation check of the area finds no evidence against the place. Attention turns to the older inspector but, when interviewed, he too ends up ill.

Abby and Ducky do their science work. McGee had been required to be checked out because Lt Roy coughed on him. In an act of truly awesome Abby vindictiveness, dressed as sweet innocence, Abby cuts a serious hole in McGee's precious Armani jacket, having sworn she would not dirty it. On returning it, she sweetly says she didn't dirty it, she merely cut it. The patch missing is larger than McGee's hand. McGee has had to hang around in an office, naked, whilst Abby processes his clothes, until he borrows hospital scrubs from Ducky and goes back to the squad room in his medical outfit, prompting Tony to ask Ziva "What does McGee look like?" Ziva answers "A male nurse" to which Tony retorts, with a smirk, "Aqua smurf".

The big puzzle is how did the Lt Roy get poisoned? It appears it did not happen on the job, or the other inspectors would also be poisoned. So he was targeted. What did he eat? Nothing poisonous or others would be ill too. Turns out it was in his cigars. But they only work that out after Roy has been sneaking out of the hospital ward to the gardens to smoke and continue poisoning himself. We found out by further review of CCTV footage that the older investigator became slightly ill because Roy smoked a cigar after they had done their pistol range practice and the old guy inhaled the smoke. (This also showed that he did not poison the cigar, because he would know not to be around when Roy smoked them…). Indeed, the older guy was a good friend of Roy's, to the point of being a confidante.

Ziva and Roy's conversations have revealed, eventually, the solution to the "how do I know you?" puzzle: they realized that they saw each other each morning when jogging around the park. Roy did his run of 8 miles every day and, even when falling ill, only reduced his speed marginally. (A meter in his shoe recorded his running data.) Gibbs observes that the data tells him much about the man: that he would have made a good marine (which is a high compliment, as we know). She noticed him because he was so fast when he passed her. He confesses that he always put a little something extra in his pace in order to impress her and that he would look back at her to admire her technique – her nice, firm technique.

Ziva has been falling for the man more and more whilst he is in hospital, but she knows he is dying. The doctors could not work out how his radiation levels were going up instead of down. Eventually even Roy realises that he needs to make his Will (a service provided by Agent Lee, graduate of Harvard Law School and who kindly says she hopes that the Will will not have to be used for a very long time: elegantly put and one of the few times that Agent Lee is seen as a serious, rather than comic, character). He leaves his estate to his sister . He says that he would like Ziva to meet his family.

On inspecting Roy's desk, Tony had found a picture of a woman: he had warned Ziva of another woman in the man's life. Ziva followed up on Tony's interrogations and learns that the woman is Roy's sister. Tony and Ziva have a tragi-comic scene by the vending machine in the waiting area at the hospital: Tony swears at a recalcitrant vending machine so Ziva advises Tony on how to hit it to make it work. Tony observes that you know you have been in a place too long when you know how the candy machine works. They sit, side-by-side and have a heart-to-heart, Ziva identifying the "other woman" and Tony telling Ziva that there is no shame in falling for the dying guy. Ziva, angrily, asks what is she supposed to consider it? "Life-affirming?" Tony, at this point, is demonstrating the emotional maturity hard-won from the relationship with Jeanne.

However, once Tony finds out that Roy is not two-timing, he partially restores his madcap credibility and lends a hand in distracting the doctor so that Ziva and Roy get time alone in the garden to talk. Roy has interrupted the Tony-Ziva heart-to-heart by stumbling from his room to request a pretty girl to take him to the garden. The doctor chances upon them and orders him back to bed. Tony's distraction device is to bend over, moaning, groaning and calling for the doctor's help..he pretends that he has radiation sickness: the doctor falls for it hook, line and sinker, forgets Roy and starts asking questions about bowel movements which Tony answers (wow, he really is a good friend to Ziva). Ziva and Roy, watching in appreciative amusement, sneak away….

The investigation continues and our suspicion is directed at the female co-investigator. She knows where the next inspection will take place. That next-to-be-inspected nuclear facility is in the former soviet union: it has a vested interest in not letting Roy (who has done previous inspections there) seeing what has changed (for they are being Naughty (nuclear naughtiness deserves a Capital N, by the way). McGee tracks down bank payments to "her" and thus McGee and Gibbs race off to the IAEA offices, to find female investigator booking a plane trip to Europe. But they ask "where did she go?" and, after some frustrating, wrath-inducing stalling by the disgruntled investigator, they race to the car park to arrest…the secretary who does the travel arrangements for the trips (and thus knows where the inspections will be and can be bribed to interfere with them…). She just wanted Roy to not go on the next mission, so she put something in his cigars of the radioactive, deadly kind.

How did they find out it was her? After Roy fell ill, the entire office was required to be tested to see if they were ill. Gibbs had Ducky get those test results and look them over. The secretary, Holly, was the only person who had been taking the prophylactic medication to prevent being affected by the radioactive substance that she put in the cigars. Ducky spotted it after prompting from Gibbs to check for it….(they are SUCH a dynamic duo, that Batman and Ducky)

How did they catch her? Well, McGee and Gibbs were too late to stop her getting in the car and driving towards the exit of the office car park, but they weren't too late for Gibbs to race to the exit and be standing in front of the car, pointing a gun at the driver as she sped towards him. And he won the bluff: she stopped. And blabbed that she didn't mean to hurt anyone, etc etc as she is hauled from the car by McGee. Holly says she only meant to make Roy sick and is informed by the Gibbs stare that her actions have killed Roy. And, whilst handcuffing her, McGee rebukes Gibbs, saying that "she could have killed you, Boss" in an admonitory tone (i.e., McGee's heart was in his mouth as he watched the car heading towards Gibbs and Gibbs not moving). Gibbs just lets the rebuke slide past him.

So before Roy dies, Roy knows who his murderer is (ah, what a comfort that must be). But that is too late for him: the radiation has had its effect (and it is a brilliant warning against the evils of smoking cigars, although perhaps disproportionate in the punishment). Roy asks whether Ziva would have noticed that he wasn't running anymore. She says she thinks she would: she would miss his smile. (and the fluro orange beanie that he wore while running, which he fetchingly had to wear for the final scene, in the beautiful, green and quiet garden of the radiation unit…an Eden for the dying, complete with still water pond, and lovers' bench for sad farewell scenes in a gentle, fading, golden twilight sunshine…). Roy says that she would have forgotten him. Ziva says she would have but she will never forget him now. And puts her small hand inside his big hand, and that is the final shot: their hands intertwined.

• Ziva falls in love with Roy, demonstrating a more emotional side of herself as compared to her previous stoic behavior..
• Tony seems particularly concerned about the possibility that Ziva's feelings for Roy will lead to her getting hurt.

• When Tony pretends to be ill to distract the doctor's attention and let Ziva spend time with Roy.
• When McGee sees the damage inflicted by an insouciant Abby on his Armani jacket.
• Ziva putting the fluorescent beanie on Roy.
• The lust of the proprietor of the pistol range, for Tony (or any male), and Tony's fright at being confronted with a female version of himself.
• Ziva tells Roy to stop smiling.
• When Tony says you know you've been in a hospital for too long if you have figured out the vending machine
• When McGee and Ziva both go for the cup of coffee and Tony tells McGee he better let Ziva have it

• This is where Ziva gets her orange beanie.
• Sean Murray was sick during the filming of the episode, and found it difficult to film the last scene (imagine doing multiple takes of running when you have the flu!)
• Navy Lt. Roy Sanders was played by Matthew Marsden. The British actor was cast in movies like "Black Hawk Down" and "DOA". Mardsen is a singer as well, he made a solo-album called "Say who".
• Tony talks about a movie called "D.O.A.". He meant the one from 1950 with Edmond O'Brien.
  Matthew Marsden played 2006 in movie called "DOA – Dead or alive". This was the movie for the same-named video game "Dead or alive".
• In the black and white-movie "Dead on Arrival" directed by Rudolph Maté, Frank Bigelow was told he's been poisoned and has only a few days to live, tries to find out who killed him and why.
• Obviously, there is a similarity to his NCIS-episode. D.O.A. begins with this dialogue:
  Frank Bigelow: I want to report a murder.
  Homicide Captain: Sit down. Where was this murder committed?
  Frank Bigelow: San Francisco, last night.
  Homicide Captain: Who was murdered?
  Frank Bigelow: I was.
  This NCIS-episode begins with:
  Sanders: I want you to investigate a murder.
  Gibbs: Whose?
  Sanders: Mine

• Brian Dietzen (Jimmy Palmer)
• Liza Lapira (NCIS Special Agent Michelle Lee)

• Marc Vann (Mark Sadowski)
• Scott Klace (Dr. Timothy Hass)
• Kate Norby (Diane Russio)
• Erin Torpey (Holly Stegman)
• Diane Delano (Dee Dee Chesney)
• Matthew Mardsen (Navy Lt. Roy Sanders)

• Nell Scovel

• Colin Bucksey

In Autopsy: Ducky and Palmer examine the eyes. Gibbs walks in and asks what he has found so far. Ducky then asks where they came from and Gibbs says they were sent to a Petty Officer and the mailman put it in the wrong box. Ducky then says that the eyes were well preserved with the expertise of a surgeon.

In the Squadroom: Tony is sitting back in his seat and Kate thinks he's sleeping with his eyes open. He says he's meditating and Kate asks if it's about how much he drank the night before or if he's trying to remember a dates name. He says he doesn't kiss and tell, and McGee finds it hard to believe and says he knows more about Tony's sex life than his own. Tony then says that McGee doesn't have a sex life, and Kate says they should find out more about the package. Gibbs walks in and asks if anyone has anything for him and Kate mentions a donation firm. Gibbs then asks her if they are missing a pair of blue eyes and she says no. McGee then says that he contacted the post office and he's running the tracking number from the barcode. Gibbs then stands up and looks at Tony who is laying back in his chair. Tony then tells Gibbs the package was addressed to a Petty Officer on a 72 hour leave due back the next day. He also says he's a student at the Navy and Marine Corps Training Center and he's been living at that address since the year before and that nothing stands out except for a speeding ticket and he didn't pay his cable bill the week before. Gibbs then says glad that at least someone is working. Kate tells Gibbs that nobody had reported the eyes missing, and McGee says where the package was shipped from and Gibbs starts to head out. Kate asks Tony how he knew the info and he says to work smarter not harder. Tony then tells McGee to find out what ship the package was on and tells Kate to hurry up.

At the Apartment Complex: A woman tells the team that this isn't the first time the mailman put the mail in the wrong box, and that she once got a video of college girls flashing the week before. Kate asks the woman when the last time she saw the Petty Officer was, and the woman says a couple of days before. Tony then asks her what she can say about him and she says he quiet, he keeps to himself and he has a girlfriend. Gibbs then asks if him and his girlfriend live together and she says she can't tell and that she thinks he made her a key. She says it's a violation of the lease, but she looked the other way. Gibbs then asks her if they can look at the Petty Officers apartment. The woman was so shaken by the contents of the box that she says yes and then she notices that Gibbs isn't wearing a wedding ring and offers to watch that video of college girls with him. Tony then tells the woman that Gibbs is indeed single.

Inside the Petty Officer's Apartment: The team looks around and discovers that his girlfriend is dominating the apartment. Tony finds some evidence of him while Kate finds the girlfriend's clothes and questions her taste. The Petty Officer walks in and Gibbs introduces himself and explains why they are there. He says he's never been to where the package came from and he broke with his girlfriend the month earlier. He also says he doesn't know anything about eyes.

At the Apartment Complex: Kate mentions that their is open lipstick in the bathroom, and that the girlfriend is definitely living there. Gibbs then tells Kate and Tony to survey the Petty officer and starts walking when his cell phone rings. It's Abby and Ducky, Gibbs keeps walking while talking on the phone.

The Phone Call: Ducky starts talking, but then stops and tells Abby to go first and Abby tells Gibbs that the eyes are female. Ducky then says that the woman lost her eyes involuntarily. He then mentions that she was most likely poisoned and died of cardiac arrest.

In Abby's Lab: Ducky thinks that they lost the connection, Abby points out that Gibbs hung up. She then tells him he can finish telling his story to her.

In the Car: Kate looks out the windshield with binoculars and tells Tony to wake up. Tony is already awake, and Kate asks him to turn the heat up. Tony then says he can't because the exhaust will give away their position. Kate then says that she's really cold and Tony says they should press their bodies together with her naked and she says there is not enough liquor in the world for that. Kate then mentions she needs a vacation to a place warm with no cell reception and Tony mentions the tropics. Kate agrees and watches the Petty Officers window when the lights go out. They then hear gunshots and rush over to the apartment and clear the place weapons drawn and notice the girlfriend dead and a revolver on the floor.

In the Petty Officer's Apartment: Ducky examines the body and concludes the body is of a trans-sexual. He also concludes the weapon was held directly over the heart and that the death was instantaneous. Kate concludes that she was a woman trapped in a man's body and killing herself set her free.
(To Be Continued)

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• Eye for an eye - refers to the law of ta-lion, i.e. the system or legal principle of making the punishment correspond to the crime, usually in the form of retaliation.
• This is the the second of three times eyeballs are mentioned (separated from their owners) in an episode ("Forced Entry", 2×09 and "Sharif Returns", 4×13).
• The team, when they discover the body, immediately describe him as a 'transsexual'. The only information they have at that time is a man dressed as a woman, which strictly speaking is a 'transvestite'. They continue to mix up the two throughout. A transvestite just enjoys cross dressing. Many have no desire to change sex or have any gender dysphoria.

Guest Starring:

• Brian Dietzen (Jimmy Palmer)

• Carlos Lacamara (Joe Tabaraz)
• Madison Mason (Marine Lt. Colonel Bushnell)
• Mark Adair-Rios (Iggy Mejia)
• Cleo King (Della Robinson)
• Daniel Jay Shore (P.O. Benny Horlacher)
• Tania Raymonde (Anna Real)
• Virginia Reece (Allison Donovan)
• Kristin Proctor (1st Lt. Susan Ellsworth)
• Anthony Heald (Guyman Purcell)

• Steven Kane

• Dennis Smith

Opening credits roll.

The NCIS sedan pulls up and Gibbs gets out and goes over to the bus. Gibbs wants to make sure everything went okay. The driver pulls padding off of his throat and tells Gibbs it went perfectly. Gibbs wonders if White bought it. The driver and guard are in agreement, White definitely bought it. Just then Gibbs' cell phone rings. It is someone wanting to buy his used VW convertible. Gibbs tells them they have the wrong number and hangs up on them, yelling at Kate to come on. They're on the move.

Abby is draining the last of her Caf-Pow, waiting for Gibbs to call. Gibbs wants to know if Abby has a lock on Tony. "Are you honestly asking me that?" she asks Gibbs. "No, Abs, I called to flirt," Gibbs responds. Abby pulls up GPS maps on her screens and assures Gibbs she would not let Tony out in the world without keeping an eye on him. Gibbs tells Abby to go to video and Abby appears on camera. Gibbs does not have this information in his car. As he is telling Abby it is not working, Kate leans over and turns on the GPS monitor. The maps show up in the car. Gibbs tells Abby that he has Tony now. "You forgot to turn it on," Abby smirks.

"Put McGee on," Gibbs tells her. We see Abby walk away from the camera and around the corner to McGee. "He wants you," she tells him as she takes the headset off and puts it on McGee. "How'd he know I was here," McGee wonders. "Because he's Gibbs," is the only answer. Abby drags McGee back around the corner into the sight of the camera. Gibbs tells McGee that he's getting a lot of phone calls about a VW for sale. "A VW," McGee says with a quizzical look on his face. "It's a car," Gibbs explains. That wasn't it. McGee just didn't know that Gibbs owned a VW. "Do I seem like the kind of guy who would drive a squishy little car?" Gibbs voice indicates that the very thought of this offends him. McGee explains that it is probably a wrong number printed in an ad in the paper. "Do you think?" Gibbs snaps. "Fix it!" and Gibbs hangs up.

McGee has no idea how he can fix this problem. Abby tells him he can't so he is doomed and suggests he simply get back to the case.

McGee asks Abby where she finally ended up putting the GPS chip. Abby wanted to put it subdurally in Tony's neck, but Tony wouldn't go for it. McGee asks if she thought of using a suppository. Abby did, but Tony balked. Abby ended up putting it in Tony's shoe, a really boring implementation.

The scene shifts to a close-up of Tony's shoes running through brush. White falls to the ground and tells Tony he cannot keep going. Tony urges him to get back up and keep running. White shakes his head no but Tony tells him he just killed a guard and he is not getting caught for that. They need to get moving again. White tells Tony that if Tony kills him, Tony is going to have to drag him. Tony squats down next to White and introduces himself. He asks White if he's ever seen the movie The Defiant Ones. White is having an asthma attack and has not seen the movie. Tony describes the cast and the plot. White tells Tony he is not black. Tony tells him that Tony's grandmother was. Okay, White wants to know the rest of the movie. Tony explains more of the plot and gives White a real pep talk, convincing White to get up and get moving again. White stands up and takes one step and runs smack into a low-hanging tree bench. As Tony bends over to check on him, White groans.

Back in the squad room, McGee is sitting at his desk working when the new senior MTAC control officer comes looking for Gibbs. Gibbs is in the field and the deputy secretary of state is going to be on the phone in MTAC and she's going to want an update. Gibbs needs to be there. McGee calls Gibbs who answers his phone "I don't have a VW for sale." McGee switches to the video phone in the car and informs Gibbs he needs to come back for this phone call. "Handle it, McGee," Gibbs barks. McGee is taken aback by this. "You're the highest ranking member of our team in the office. Deal with it," Gibbs commands. McGee tries to explain to Gibbs why that isn't a good idea, but Gibbs simply hangs up on him.

Up in MTAC, McGee is chewing a large amount of antacids, in hopes of calming himself. Deputy Secretary of State Elliot appears on the screen and she does not look impressed by McGee. McGee explains that he is the senior agent in charge of the investigation in the office. Gibbs is in the field and unreachable. Elliot asks for the short version. McGee launches into a very long explanation, including video of the antiquities which have been stolen. "This is the short version?" Elliot asks. "Yes," McGee responds. "Shorter," Elliot tells him, "Faster. And let's skip the whole Sumerian period."

The bottom line is two civilians who were supposed to be packing the antiquities for shipment back to Iraq stole them instead. Jeffrey White is one of those civilians and he is "in custody, sort of." Elliot doesn't like the sound of that. Lane Danielson is the other thief. Lane is at large and in custody of the 87 stolen antiquities which are stored in a large shipping container. Elliot brings McGee back to the phrase "in custody, sort of." McGee does not answer, explaining more about the case. Elliot asks him again, looking less happy with each word she utters. McGee explains that they couldn't get White to talk, so they let him escape along with an undercover NCIS agent. "You let the one you had in custody escape?" Elliot asks incredulously. "With an undercover agent, yes, ma'am," McGee answers. Elliot severs the connection. McGee heaves a sigh of relief as the MTAC control officer just shakes his head.

Tony and White are trying to break their chains with a large rock. Tony is still comparing their situation to The Defiant Ones. White remarks that Tony does not speak like a criminal and wonders what Tony did. Tony explains that he did nothing. He is a pilot and was stopped by customs who found 4 kilos of cocaine on the plane. The cocaine belonged to the rich couple Tony was piloting for, but Tony ended up with 25 years to life. White is very sympathetic to Tony's story. Giving up on breaking the chains, Tony gets White up and they start moving again.

Gibbs and Kate are tracking Tony and White through the GPS in the car. As Tony and White start moving, Gibbs starts the car and follows.

Coming through some brush and down a slight hill, Tony spies a pickup truck in a clearing next to a small camper. They need to find out if anyone is home, but Tony views the pickup truck as their ticket out of here. Tony starts to move and White slips and drags them both down the hill. They land in a small stream at the base of the hill and White starts having hysterics. Tony calms him as they stand in the stream. White guesses that no one is home since they would have heard them. White then asks Tony if there was anything like this in The Defiant Ones. Tony admits there was, but that was in a river, not a stream. They are in no danger of drowning in two feet of water. White begins to suspect that Tony is not happy with him and doesn't understand what he did wrong. Tony doesn't feel surviving an encounter with a stream is a heroic accomplishment. White explains he has a phobia about drowning so to him it is. Then White notices that Tony appears cold.Tony says that's because his is cold. They get out of the stream and head towards the trailer to investigate.

Gibbs pulls the car over to the side of the road and informs Abby that they lost the signal. Abby agrees that she lost it as well; there must be a problem with the GPS. Gibbs looks just a little worried in the "phoof."

Tony and White have changed clothes but they remain chained together. Tony tries to convince White that he looks great in his "new" clothes. White doesn't see anything in the mirror that would inspire confidence. Tony suggests that there is nothing wrong with White that couldn't be fixed by pumping a little iron, getting a tan, contact lens, caps, and maybe a little plastic surgery. Tony finds the keys to the truck and tells White that it is their lucky day. "You know, you've only been with me 4 hours, Jeffrey. You realize how much your life has changed? "You're out of prison. You got new threads. And you're riding in a tricked-out GMC Sierra," Tony says as he claps sunglasses and a knit hat on White and starts the truck.

The truck pulls out onto the road and drives by the sedan. Gibbs reports to Abby that they have picked up the signal from the truck. They're back in business. "Cash, clothes, and the car. Everything Tony loves," Kate remarks. Gibbs just hopes that Tony isn't heading for Vegas.

As Tony drives, White complains that he is going too fast. Tony feels if he goes any slower, they will be driving backwards. Next White complains about the cuffs chafing his wrists. Tony offers to stop and buy lotion. White misses the sarcasm in that remark. Tony tells White that they are criminals on the run and criminals on the run do not stop for lotion. Tony suggests that they drive to Florida where Tony has someone who can help them. The problem is that the truck is probably lo-jacked and they cannot stay in it forever. White tells Tony that he has a friend nearby and they could go to him for help. White says they need to find a payphone. Tony grins at him and pushes a button on the side of the rear view mirror.

"On Star. How can we help you, Mr. Reynolds?" Tony would like to place a call. The camera pulls back and we see Abby lying on the desk talking into the phone in her best telephone operator voice. "I'd be happy to place that call for you. What is the number?" Tony asks the operator to hold on for a second and leans closer to White, asking him to give the number. Tony wants out of the cuffs.

We see out the windshield that the truck has been following a motorcycle. White suddenly yells WATCH OUT and grabs the wheel and turns it violently to one side. This sends the truck off the edge of the road and into a tree.

Abby informs Gibbs that it sounds like Tony was in an accident. Gibbs accelerates the car and tells her they're on it.

Back in the truck, Tony is trying to deflate the airbag. Tony calmly informs White that he was not going to hit the motorcycle, that he definitely saw it. White complains that he has a concussion. Tony tells him he didn't hit his head on anything. White points out the sticker which says that airbags can be fatal. "For children," Tony snaps. Tony tries to start the truck, but it doesn't turn over.

The motorcyclist comes running up to ask if they are okay. Tony quickly throws his coat over the chains linking White and Tony and tells him they are fine. The motorcyclist shakes a cell phone and tells them he's called 911. Tony immediately starts calling for Kate and tells the motorcyclist that Kate is his dog and she must have jumped out the window during the accident. Tony leans out the window and whistles for his dog. Then Tony tries to get out of the car, but stops, leaning back in pain, complaining about his leg. The motorcyclist offers to go and get the dog and starts to run off, stopping to ask what she looks like. "Uh, shih tzu," Tony tells him. He doesn't know what that is. "Long brown hair, kind of mangy," Tony tells him. The motorcyclist runs off to find the dog.

Tony and White get out of the truck and run quickly to the motorcycle. In the background we can hear the motorcyclist calling for the dog. Tony hops on the motorcycle and White gets on behind him. Tony tries to adjust the chain binding them together, but White just keeps moving it back. White clasps onto Tony and holds on for dear life as they speed away. The motorcyclist realizes what is happening too late.

Gibbs is speeding to the scene of the accident when the motorcyclist flags them down. He explains that his motorcycle was stolen and he needs help. It was stolen by two guys whose truck went off the road. He was helping them find their dog and they stole his motorcycle. Kate is surprised to hear that they had a dog. She is even more surprised to hear that the dog's name is Kate. Gibbs doesn't know what a Shih Tzu is. "It's a little annoying dog," Kate explains and then asks if there was a description of the dog. He repeats the description of long brown hair, kind of mangy, and Kate decides she's going to shoot Tony. Gibbs stays on task, asking how much gas was in the motorcycle. The tank was nearly empty. Gibbs and Kate get back in the car, leaving the motorcyclist standing there asking about his motorcycle. Gibbs assures him that they will find out. But what should he do? "Find the dog," Gibbs tells him and drives off.

On the motorcycle, Tony and White are fighting about the position of White's arm. Tony feels that White is choking him and tries to move it. White claims that his hand is numb and he cannot move it and puts it back every time Tony moves it. As they do this, the motorcycle tips slightly and White is sure he is going to fall off. He cannot ride without hugging Tony. Tony assures him he will not fall off and begs him to stop choking him. White just tightens his grip.

Abby is working on a video, trying to find something to work with. The video is from a security camera in the area where the antiquities were stolen. Abby realizes that one of the thieves has leaned against a dolly with a bare hand and she's got them now!

Meanwhile, White is on the pay phone, trying to explain to his friend how he got into the situation he is in. White is talking to Lane and warning him not to sell anything without him. The conversation does not end on a good note, as White slams the phone down. Tony manages to leave something in the return coin slot of the pay phone as they walk away. White tells Tony that Lane is not happy about Tony being with White. Tony reminds him that once the chain is cut, Tony will be history. White asks if Tony could fly White and Lane out of the country. Tony rattles off a bunch of difficulties and says it will be expensive. White assures him he'll have the money and that if Tony did that, Lane might like Tony. Tony doesn't need for Lane to like him. Tony suggests that White might want to come with Tony, once they've got the cuffs off. White says he can't leave Lane. They climb back on the motorcycle and White wants to drive. "No," Tony tells him. White complains that Tony didn't even think about it. Tony reminds White of the tree incident and tells him White shouldn't be driving machinery. All through this, they are doing the arm dance again, with White ending up with both arms tight around Tony's neck.

Kate is showing mug shots of Tony and White to the gas station attendant who hasn't seen either of them. Kate leaves her card just in case. As they walk back to the car, Kate tells Gibbs that she knows he's worried about Tony, she can tell. Gibbs tells her that he is worried about the job and Kate should not confuse the two. Gibbs' phone rings and he answers it with "I sold it!" and immediately hangs up.

Up in MTAC, Deputy Secretary of State Elliot is wondering where Gibbs is. McGee stammers out that he is still in the field. "Is he planning on coming back? Or am I doomed to speak to you for the duration of this investigation?" she wonders. McGee tells her Gibbs is searching for a missing agent. "The agent chained to Jeffrey White?" Elliot demands. McGee says yes and tries to explain, but Elliot cuts him off. "So you lost the agent who is chained to Jeffrey White?" she repeats. Yes. "Using the transitive property then that leads me to the conclusion that NCIS has lost Jeffrey White." Elliot is getting more and more combative. McGee tells her no, they haven't lost White. Elliot then assumes they have White in custody. The answer to that is no as well. McGee freezes up and stammers, unable to get an answer out. "Call me the minute you find them," Elliot tells him. "Or whenever your mouth begins to work again. Whichever comes first." Elliot hangs up on him again.

Abby is dusting the dolly for prints and she has found one. She lifts it from the dolly and starts the fingerprint match program running.

Tony and White pull up to a cabin on the motorcycle. Tony is beginning to lose patience with White, telling him that he will not continue this conversation and White should shut his pie hole. Lane comes out of the cabin and watches as Tony and White untangle themselves from the motorcycle. Lane does not look happy to see them. Nor does he respond to Tony's outstretched hand or any of his remarks. Lane does break the chains linking Tony and White. Lane questions whether Tony really killed a Federal Marshall or not, saying Tony doesn't look like a killer. Lane is also curious to know just exactly how much information White has given Tony about their situation. Tony assures Lane all White has said is that he wants Tony to fly them out of the country. Lane says that Jeffrey manipulates easily and accuses Tony of doing just that. Tony offers to leave but Lane tells him there's no need to rush off, unless Tony wants to. Unsure of a response here, Tony just laughs.

Abby has found a match for the fingerprint. McGee is surprised because they found no prior criminal records for White and Lane. Abby explains that's because this print belongs to Billy Collins and brings up a rap sheet for the man we've met as Lane Harrison. "Oh no," McGee looks concerned as he reads the rap sheet.

Gibbs comes back to the sedan with food and wakes Kate up. McGee calls him to tell him about Lane Harrison's alias, Billy Collins, and that Billy Collins is wanted for three murders in the Seattle area. Gibbs asks for the MO of the murders and Abby hesitates but tells after being prompted by Gibbs informs him that "he is a regular Mack the Knife, Gibbs. Their throats were cut from behind." Gibbs and Kate are both affected by this news.

Back at the cabin, Lane is showing Tony to his room. Lane offers Tony a bottle of whiskey, telling him it will help him sleep. Tony takes a swig and hands the bottle back to Lane. Lane takes the bottle and leaves the room, pausing in the hallway to lean up against the wall.

McGee is back up in MTAC filling Elliot in on the latest developments. "You put your agent with murderers." McGee tries to explain but Elliot continues talking. "And then you lost contact with your agent." Again, McGee tries to explain but Elliot rides right over him. "You still have no idea where in the world he is." McGee is making no headway with her as she continues "And you have no idea where the Iraqi antiquities are." McGee agrees to that. "No, you don't," Elliot concludes. "Not a clue," McGee echoes. "You ever worked for the Post Office, Agent McGee?" Elliot wonders. No, he has not. "You ever clean toilets at a federal campground?" Elliot asks. No, he has not. "If these antiquities are not found immediately, you will not even be able to get those two federal government jobs," Elliot threatens. "Am I clear?" and she hangs up on McGee again.

Kate and Gibbs have found the keys to the truck in the coin slot of the pay phone. "He's leaving bread crumbs," Kate tells Gibbs. Gibbs calls McGee who has to run to answer the phone on time. Gibbs gives McGee the pay phone number so McGee can pull the records on it and then compare the numbers to see if they can find any connection to White or Lane. McGee tells Gibbs that Elliot is calling and calling and threatening things. "Things? What kind of things?" Gibbs wants to know. "Not letting us clean toilets. Other jobs like that," McGee says somewhat disjointedly. "Hey, McGee, calm down," Gibbs tells him. "Okay," McGee takes a deep breath. "Sorry. I'm calm now." "Okay, I'm going to tell you how to handle this," Gibbs says. "The next time she calls, you give her two words from the bottom of your heart." "Two words," McGee repeats. "Stick it!" Gibbs says forcefully. "Stick it?" McGee says cautiously. "I, I' I'm not sure that," McGee stammers as Gibbs hangs up on him.

Tony wakes up to see White sitting beside the bed staring at him. White tells him that they need to get out of there because Lane left. "Last night we fought. Over you," White tells Tony. Tony doesn't like the way that sounds. Lane wanted to get rid of Tony, but White stuck up for him. Tony is grateful and wants to know where Lane went. White explains the situation to Tony. White is about to make a lot of money, but he needs a partner. Lane and White stole some very valuable stuff. Tony says he figured that, but what was it? Drugs? Nope. It's really old stuff, like 100,000 years old stuff from Iraq. Tony explains that there were no people then, but White just knows it's really old stuff. And the stuff is worth $3 million to a Japanese collector. They get the money in 8 hours but they have to deliver the goods. Lane took off to sell the stuff out from under White so Tony and White have to get to the buyers before Lane does. Although Tony pushes to find the exact location of the stolen goods, all White will tell him is they are someplace safe. White pleads for Tony's help, telling him he can't face Lane alone. Tony agrees to join in with White.

Gibbs and Kate are waiting impatiently in the car. Kate breaks the silence and says "Let's break the pattern." What pattern, Gibbs wonders. "Dishonest, silence pattern," Kate tells him. She'll start. "I'm worried for Tony," Kate says. "There. I said it." Kate looks at Gibbs. Gibbs turns his head and looks at Kate, but says nothing. "I dropped my guard for two seconds, I got it, now I'm happy," Kate finishes. "That made you happy?" Gibbs asks. Yes, Kate says and smiles broadly at him. Gibbs looks away from her. Doesn't Gibbs want to be happy? Kate asks. "I am happy," he tells her. "You don't look happy," Kate responds. Just then Gibbs' phone rings. "We're done with this," Gibbs says as he answers his phone. "I thought we were," Kate agrees and looks away.

The phone call was from McGee. He has traced a call from the pay phone to a hunting cabin and is feeding the GPS coordinates to them via the car feed.

Back at the cabin, Tony and White are packing up. White is wondering how quickly Tony can get a plane for them. Tony explains they need to get to Florida where he knows someone who can get them a plane that will get them to at least Mexico. Tony sees a cell phone sitting on the table and manages to nab it while White is packing. White is happy that the two of them are working together now, he thinks they will make a good team. As they head outside, Tony realizes that Lane took the bike and left them the car. White throws his bag into the back and climbs into the driver's seat, Tony gets into the passenger seat.

White looks at the cabin with something approaching nostalgia. His father used to bring the family to a cabin like this. "Good times?" Tony asks. "He used to beat the crap out of me," White responds. "Your parents are supposed to help you, Tony, not hurt you. Your father hurt you?" "No, he was too drunk to hurt anyone," Tony answers. "I hate it here," White says. "Then let's get out of here," Tony tells him. "Make us some money!" White starts the car as they both agree it's time to make lots of money.

McGee marches into MTAC to talk with Deputy Secretary of State Elliot yet again. He stands firm as Elliot appears on the screen. "Either I speak to Agent Gibbs and get a full accounting of this investigation or I've been authorized to pull NCIS from the investigation and put under the FBI's jurisdiction," she tells McGee. "You're getting in the way," McGee responds. "Excuse me, Agent McGee?" Elliot is incredulous at this. "We're working very hard," McGee continues as the senior MTAC operator looks on in approval. "We have an undercover agent who is missing. He is risking his life and your constant interruptions are keeping me from doing my job." McGee states forcefully. "You lost your prisoners. You lost your agent," Elliot scoffs. McGee denies this. Elliot responds that is what he told her. "Look. The truth is that while Agent DiNozzo is lost, Jeffrey White is still with him. So Jeffrey White, technically, is with an NCIS agent and therefore, technically, is still in custody," McGee clarifies. "Well, you've clearly been empowered to tell me off," Elliot realizes. "Yes, ma'am," McGee agrees. "And what exactly did Agent Gibbs tell you to say to me?" Elliot wonders. With the MTAC operator watching, McGee gathers his courage and responds "He told me to tell you to <pause> stick it." Elliot leans over her desk threateningly and says "You're telling me to?" "Stick it," McGee finishes firmly. "Thank you Miss Deputy Secretary of State. Our conversation is now over." McGee rushes through this and the MTAC operator cuts off Elliot. McGee heaves a huge sigh of relief as the MTAC staff applaud his performance.

Gibbs and Kate arrive at the cabin only to discover Tony has gone. While they are searching the cabin, Gibbs' phone rings, but no one is there when he answers. Gibbs calls McGee and requests that he run the records of the land line at the cabin. McGee will do so, and he reports to Gibbs that he told off Elliot. "Yeah?" Gibbs says. "How did it work?" "Well, she submitted a formal complaint to the director," McGee reluctantly tells him. "McGee! Good job," Gibbs says and hangs up.

Kate has found a box filled with bloody rags. They begin their search of the cabin property and Gibbs finds the motorcycle covered with a tarp. Kate finds a hastily dug hole that contains Lane Harrison's body, throat slashed to the spine. Kate and Gibbs reach the same conclusion, Lane didn't kill those people in Seattle, Jeffrey White did. "Tony has no idea who he's with, Gibbs," Kate says. Gibbs covers his eyes with his hand.

The scene opens with a shot of Ducky's ME truck. Ducky is kneeling near Lane's corpse and explaining that there really wasn't much of a struggle involved. "By the look of things, he was experienced in this method of execution, Jethro," is Ducky's conclusion. "We think he's responsible for three other murders. Same MO," Kate informs Ducky. "And Tony's with the bastard?" Ducky's concern is palpable. "Is he aware?" "Probably not," Kate tells him. "We have to think Tony didn't know anything about this," Kate continues. "He would never have allowed it to happen." "Unless," Ducky begins and then falters, looking up at Gibbs. "We checked the rest of the area. No other bodies," Gibbs assures Ducky. Ducky looks down at the corpse. "Tony's still alive," Gibbs asserts.

Ducky finds a piece of paper in Lane's shirt pocket and carefully pulls it out, opens it, and reads "Lynchburg across from Wal-Mart. Mean anything?" Gibbs shakes his head no as he answers his phone. Again, no one is there. Gibbs hangs up and looks vastly annoyed as it rings again immediately. "I do not have a VW," he barks into the phone. It is McGee, reporting in on the land line calls. No local calls and the phone is a mechanically switched one, so tracing the long distance calls will take some time. Gibbs requests the location of all Wal-Marts in Lynchburg and McGee gets on it.

White stops the car and tells Tony they have time to get to the buyers. White climbs into the back seat and announces he's going to take a nap. Tony offers to drive for a while. "You think we ought to keep moving?" White asks. "I do," Tony replies and White starts to hand him the car keys. As Tony reaches for the keys, White draws them back and asks if Tony has his back. "You know it," Tony answers and White gives him the keys. As White gets comfortable in the back seat, we see him hide a very large knife under the seat. "You know, I feel like I've been running my whole life just to get to this moment. Finally doing something right," White says as Tony starts the car and pulls away from the curb.

McGee has found a Wal-Mart in Lynchburg with a storage facility across the street. Gibbs instructs McGee to call the local LEOs and to make sure that they understand that there is a federal agent working undercover.

At the Lynchburg storage facility the local LEOs are using bolt cutters and opening all of the storage containers. They do not find the antiquities.

McGee reports this to Gibbs who asks about the long distance records on the cabin. McGee says he's working on it, but Gibbs wants him to work faster. "It was a misdirect," Gibbs tells Kate. "He knew that we would search the body." "What do we do?" Kate wonders as Gibbs' phone rings again. And again no one is there. Gibbs looks at the display on his phone, puzzles for a second, and then realizes that Tony has been the one calling and hanging up. Gibbs calls McGee back who is flustered and tells Gibbs it has only been 10 seconds, he doesn't have anything yet. Gibbs wants McGee to trace the last call to Gibbs' cell phone and have Abby run a GPS location on it. "This isn't about the VW is it?" McGee asks. "No," Gibbs barks. "It's where DiNozzo is." McGee hangs up on Gibbs and springs into action.

Abby reports to Gibbs that it is Lane Harrison's cell phone. Gibbs climbs into the car, telling Abby to stay on the phone and guide them to the location. Gibbs is barely in the car when he floors it, prompting a slight squeal from Kate. "Are you all right?" Abby asks. "Gibbs is driving," is Kate's response. "I'm saying a prayer in many languages," Abby assures her.

Tony is driving down the highway when White suddenly appears behind him, asking how they're doing. "You scared the hell out of me," Tony tells him. "That's part of my charm," White responds. Tony chuckles. Tony surreptitiously dials Gibbs again.

Gibbs shows Kate the screen on his cell and they agree, it's Tony. Abby continues directing them.

White is directing Tony to the warehouse. Right then Lane's cell phone rings. Tony wonders what that is and White tells him it's in his bag, he thought it was turned off. Tony digs out the cell phone, holds it up, and says the battery is dying. White wants it turned off because they can trace a cell phone. Tony turns it off.

Abby has lost the signal.

Tony and White pull into a parking lot, next to a storage container. White rattles off the number, confirming that this is the right one. White is thinking about all the things he is going to do with this money. Tony is looking around for Lane. White wants to scuba dive. Tony reminds White that he cannot swim and that might be a problem. White comes up behind Tony and says that Tony could teach him to swim. Tony doesn't answer. Another car pulls up and flashes its lights at them. The buyer has arrived.

White is right behind Tony and pulls a gun on him. White then reminds Tony that Tony is going to watch his back, hands Tony the gun, and says he's going to get the cash. Tony breathes deeply, and makes sure the gun is loaded. White starts to get out of the car but Tony stops him. "I want you to listen to me, Jeffrey," Tony says. "I'm a federal agent." White laughs at this. "Good one, Tony," he says. "Naval Criminal Investigative Service," Tony says flatly, watching White in the rearview mirror. "Don't say that," White tells him. Tony wishes he didn't have to. White leans back into the seat.

Kate is on the phone with McGee insisting on the long distance numbers. McGee's fingers are flying on the keyboard, but he doesn't have them just yet. "Never lost an agent undercover, Kate," Gibbs informs her. "I am not about to let DiNozzo screw that up."

A Japanese man gets out of the other vehicle, carrying a briefcase. In the car, Tony is explaining to White that he will say that White drove them there to show him where things were. That White will have to testify against Lane, but White will get a deal. Tony tells White to sit tight, Tony will arrest the buyer, and then he'll call Gibbs and Gibbs will come and pick them up. White agrees to this, but he is reaching for the knife.

McGee has the phone calls. One call to a Dr. Haru Owagawa, a PhD in art history. Kate asks for a GPS location on the doctor's cell since he has to be the buyer. Abby's fingers fly, and she directs them to the storage facility. Gibbs turns the car and floors it again.

White is explaining to Tony how he knows Tony doesn't have any back-up. White deliberately dunked them in the stream and crashed the truck. Just to make sure there were no bugs. As White talks, he's bringing the knife up from the floor of the car. Tony realizes that there's a good reason why Lane isn't at the buy. White leans forward until he is right behind Tony. "You're having naughty thoughts, Tony," he says as he reaches forward and holds onto Tony's shoulder. "Just so you know, when I said no one ever treated me like you did, I meant that." "I know," Tony says softly. The knife comes up from behind the seat as White jerks Tony's head back.

Gibbs and Kate arrive at the scene just at this moment. Kate arrests the buyer as Gibbs advances on Lane's car. There is blood all over the windows in the car and Tony is slumped forward on the steering wheel. Gibbs come up alongside the car and sees White lying in the back seat, dead. Gibbs opens the driver's door and we see Tony staring down at the gun in his hands. Tony looks up at Gibbs and says "Really liked him." "Yeah. Yeah, I can see that," Gibbs responds.

• Tony's father was an alcoholic (if this wasn't part of his cover story). Also, he claims his grandmother was black.
• Tony actually did grow fond of Jeffrey White and tried to help him by offering a way for White to surrender and cut a deal.
• Ducky, unlike Gibbs, is not afraid to allow his concern for Tony to show.

• Kate's reaction when she found out Tony related her to a dog.
• McGee gets a round of applause for telling off the deputy secretary of state.
• Gibbs' various reactions to all the calls wanting to buy the VW.
• When Jeffrey White says "That's part of my charm" the way Tony always does when someone complains about something he did.
• Tony and White constantly fighting about their arm position while riding the motorcycle.
• Kate's yelp as Gibbs floors it and Abby assuring her she's praying in many languages.
• When Tony wakes up and see Jeffrey staring at him. When Jeffrey asks him what is wrong, he tells him he is not used to seeing a male's face that close to him when he wakes up.
• When McGee tells the Deputy Secretary of State that Gibbs tell her to stick it and then tells her that she is impeding their investigation with all of her interruptions, then hangs up on her.

• Tony's description of Kate as a Shih-tzu dog, (i.e. a small, annoying, yappy dog with long brown hair) to a motorcyclist as a clue for Gibbs and Kate. Kate took umbrage at the description.
• According to his "mugshot", Tony's undercover alias is Tony L. Di Fazio.
• There is a small error in the number of unsolved murders. When it is first discussed, there are three. When Kate and Gibbs find Lane Harrison's body, Kate says there are two others. But when Ducky arrives, Kate tells him there were three others.
• Don Davis, who plays the MTAC control officer, played General George Hammond on Stargate SG-1 for 7 seasons. He also played Scully's father on X-Files.

Guest Starring:

• Frank Whaley (Jeffery White)
• John Thaddeus (Lane Danielson)
• Annie Corley (Deputy Secretary of State Elliot)
• Miguel Perez (Federal Marshal Van Driver)
• Dan Warner (Federal Marshal)
• Don S. Davis (MTAC Control Officer)
• Jason Cristopher (Motorcycle Rider)
• Ken Strunk (Gas Station Owner)

• Frank Military

• Thomas J. Wright