NCIS s23e06 Episode Script

1
ANNOUNCER: ZNN breaking news.
He's not breathing.
Get the doc up here, stat!
I got the mayor breathing down my neck
and you two are out there
blowing up half the city.
Doc! That scientist is the key to
stopping that flesh-eating virus.
Dying is not an option.
I promise you, we're not zipping
up any body bags today, sir,
or my name isn't
Dr. Pimmy Jalmer.
MCGEE: "As Dr. Jalmer
worked "to revive his patient,
"using a locally harvested
bee pollen remedy,
the KC3000 enters with terrifying news."
KASIE (ROBOTIC VOICE):
I have terrifying news.
Special Agent Rick Soares has
contracted the flesh-eating virus.
I am sorry.
God help us.
Thanks so much.
I just knew Agent Soares
wasn't really dead.
But I did not see the kidney
transplant from that Icelandic archer.
Well, that's why they call it a twist.
That's why they call me
your number one fan.
Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
No, really. I-I'm your number one fan.
(LAUGHS)
Hi. Who, uh, can I make this guy out
♪
MCGEE: Right there that's creepy.
And you have no idea
how this got in your book?
- No clue.
- We should dust it for prints.
Eh, already tried that.
Only prints on it are mine. I'm, uh,
hoping I can make a handwriting match
from some of this old fan mail here.
TORRES: "I know what you did."
- What exactly did you do?
- I have no idea,
but the IP address here redirects
to the promotional website
for my first book.
- Ah, well.
- There you go.
- Mm-hmm.
- There what goes?
Well, they're accusing you
of copying your older books.
Okay. Explain.
Well, you know how in your first book,
you had "L.J. Tibbs."
Tibbs, Gibbs.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
Yeah, that was a coincidence.
TORRES: Okay, is, uh
Agent Rick Soares a coincidence?
Soares, Torres?
You pitched me Soares.
I pitched you a badass Miami detective.
This guy's wearing a cardigan.
And who pitched Agent Knightshade?
And why is she always
sharpening a knife?
And what's up with this little gem?
Whoa. Looking good, McGee.
You should wear one of those
to your meeting today.
- What meeting?
- Your publicist called.
Accidentally got routed to my voicemail.
I guess you've got
an interview with some big
muckety-muck book critic today?
Today?
After the beating
I just got from these two,
paperwork actually sounds
like a lot of fun, so
Paperwork can wait. We got a case.
And we are going to get a special guest
today at the crime scene.
KNIGHT: There's our special guest.
We'll make an agent out of you yet.
Uh, pass. I just wanted to see
how the other half lives.
Mm, well, the other half
is really smelly
- right now.
- Mm-hmm.
(SNIFFS) Oh, this is nothing.
You guys want to smell something
really, really bad?
Not particularly, no.
Yeah, I guess that makes sense.
Uh, C.A.P I'm guessing
that stands for "captain."
Yeah, that's all we got
until you get in there.
Chop, chop.
So, apparently, the dumpster hadn't
been emptied in over three weeks.
Uh, it's been cold.
Body could've been in there for a while.
Torres is out talking
to the neighbors now.
Uh, so far, no one's seen anything.
Well, they're seeing it all now.
Taking a lot of pictures.
MCGEE: I know her.
You got to be kidding me.
- Are you following me?
- No. (CHUCKLES)
You sure? Because it seems
like you're following me.
I-I only listen to
the police band for my podcast.
I have a podcast. A-And when
I heard "Navy captain,"
I thought there was a chance
y-you might show up.
Is this you?
Did you write this?
"I know what you did"?
- No.
- You're sure?
Your eyes are your best feature.
I would never scratch them out.
Also, you're scary when you get mad.
But also, kind of hot-scary?
Forget about it. I'm sorry.
Oh, forgotten. (CHUCKLES)
I'm your number one fan, remember?
And if you really are sorry, I
have an idea
how you could make it up to me.
PARKER: Is that something we do now?
'Cause that's a new one.
Uh
- We got a new one back here, too.
- Okay. Good?
Whoever this guy is, he's down two ears.
"Down"?
Yeah.
They're missing.
That's a new one.
Hey, Jimmy.
I heard through the grapevine
you got something even better
than missing ears.
Does the grapevine have an ID yet?
I like to know the person's first
name before I remove their liver.
Meet Captain Seth Myers.
No relation.
- Oh.
- He was assigned to NAS Pax River.
JIMMY: Oh, this file is
- very brief.
- You mean blank.
We noticed. It's not even
like it's even classified.
It's just empty. Which is weird.
Do you want more weird?
I live for weird.
In addition to Captain Myers'
ears being removed,
he was, also, apparently, uh
jack-o'-lanterned.
Am I supposed to know what that
Right. Jack-o'-lantern.
Also, he's missing several fingers
and has burn marks
over most of his body here.
If I didn't know any better,
I'd say he was tortured.
Tortured for what?
Maybe has something to do with
his job at Pax River, whatever that is.
Well, he had to report to someone.
Just have to find out who.
Uh
There's actually something else
I'd like to talk to you about,
Special Agent Parker,
but since I chickened out,
I'm just gonna stand here for a
few seconds like a complete idiot.
(GROANS)
Yeah, Captain Myers
is assigned to my team.
There's not much to tell you.
Smells like soup.
Laughs too loud.
Is he in some kind of trouble?
What exactly does your team do?
Don't you have Myers' file?
Yeah, you-you were just holding it.
All that has is his service photo.
Yeah, we were hoping that
you could maybe tell us why.
Um, I'm sorry,
could you please remove the
Sorry, I've got a VR meeting
soon I can't miss.
It's been one fire after another
since Myers took emergency leave.
- When did he leave?
- (BEEPING)
Oh, hold that thought. Duty calls.
Hey, everyone. Sorry I'm late.
Oh, actually, I'm on time, so whoever
isn't here is late.
(LAUGHS)
Hello?
Hello? Oh, crap.
Um, I think there's
something wrong with your Wi-Fi.
Captain Myers is dead.
Okay?
What happened?
You tell me. Starting with
what Myers did for you
and why he took that emergency leave.
Now I feel bad about
the soup comment. Um
I'm the liaison between the Navy
and a group of MIT nerds.
Okay, what do you liaise?
We're trying to cheaply retrofit
old aircraft to be flown remotely.
Okay, it's 2025. You can-you can
just say "drones," so
Cheap drones.
We're hoping to give a second life
to decommissioned aircraft
with off-the-shelf parts.
- Myers was our lead engineer.
- Until he took leave.
Yeah, he said he had a family emergency.
I approved it myself.
I put it in his file, which was
normal two weeks ago, by the way.
Well, somebody must have changed it.
I don't see how.
Our security is pretty tight.
The Russians, Chinese
they would kill to get our tech stack.
Maybe they did.
We think that Captain Myers
was tortured before he was killed.
Course he was.
What is that supposed to mean?
It means there's no way in hell
Seth would have given up
any classified information.
The guy was a total Boy Scout.
But if the Russians did manage to get
anything useful out of him
then every old plane they have
is gonna find its way
to the Ukraine front.
And they have a lot of old planes.
Yeah, I got to take photos
at the crime scene
and everything.
No, I can't send them to you.
No, I didn't tell Agent Torres
you got a crush on him.
Okay, got to go. Uh, duty calls.
Love you, Mama.
Thanksgiving must be
interesting at your house.
Ha, ha! You have no idea.
That more of our victim's blood?
Oh, no, this is just my cover
for coming down here.
- We need to talk.
- Look, dude,
I know you think
I ate your glazed donut,
- but I would never
- Uh, remember the original notes
from the autopsy of Parker's mom?
- I finally tracked them down.
- What'd they say?
Well, I won't get them till
tomorrow, but I really think
we should tell Parker what we're doing.
Why? If the discrepancy on the report
is just a clerical error,
no point upsetting him.
Upsetting who?
Upsetting lots of people
who are gonna be very upset
about lots of upsetting things.
Uh, We think, uh, uh, you'll be
upset by what, uh, Kasie found.
What did Kasie find?
Hmm. You should show him.
I will pull it up.
(TYPING)
Your computer's not on.
Uh, well, no, 'cause I'm
- just warming up my fingers.
- Ah.
Ooh, they're warm. That was fast.
So, what I found
was on our victim's laptop.
Service logs show
he downloaded massive amounts
of classified documents from work
right before he went missing.
That's no bueno.
More like grande uh-oh.
He then transferred the files
to a portable network drive
like this one.
He wasn't tortured for classified info.
He's the one that stole it.
We need to find that drive.
Well, thank you again for
meeting with me, Mr. Gemcity.
Or should I say Agent McGee?
Whichever you want.
It's just, uh, it's a pseudonym,
not a secret identity.
(PHONE TRILLING)
One second.
Um, is there anything else?
I actually
got to get back to the office.
I only have one more question.
Yes, I talk to my characters
when I write.
That's true, that's true.
Sometimes I can't get them
to leave me alone.
- (CHUCKLES)
- What do you say to the charges
that your readership is shrinking,
people fold laundry to your audiobooks
and while Deep Six works for
die-hard fans,
it's not winning any awards.
Felt more like three questions.
Well, you know, I think it's just about
creating rich characters
that represent a universal part
of the human psyche.
You know, you've got Professor Parkman,
he's the brains.
Agent Soares, the heart.
- Knightshade, of course
- The brawn.
Exactly.
So you've basically ripped off
Wizard of Oz. Can I quote you?
I didn't say that. You did.
So I did.
Well, thanks again.
I know your time is valuable. To some.
FRANCES: That was rough.
Want me to slash his tires?
Just kidding.
What are you doing here?
Wait, you are following me.
Okay, this time I was, but
it's because I have a request.
What? What? No, what are you doing?
- Why are you sitting?
- I'm about to do my podcast
about moonlighting authors,
and seeing you at the crime scene
you'd be perfect.
Okay, I appreciate your enthusiasm,
but I am busy with work.
(SIGHS) Work, work, work. I
I really wish you could just
write full-time.
Well, I can't.
But do you wish you could?
You need to leave me alone
and stop following me.
Okay? For real.
♪
FRANCES (ECHOING):
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
Such a page-turner.
I'm your number one fan.
Number one fan.
(GROANING SOFTLY)
(SIGHS)
♪
VANCE: Hey.
Hey.
Director?
Shake it off, rookie!
"Professor Parkman gazed
into Agent Knightshade's eyes,
"which glittered like obsidian stars.
"'My dear Knightshade, ' he purred,
"as he straightened his elbow patches,
'you're far too dangerous
for my syllabus.'"
Hey, I'm sorry I said no
to your podcast,
- but
- My what?
Are you talking about that crazy fan
who was bothering you at the diner?
You're not a crazy fan?
No.
Well, I'm
I'm chained to a bed.
Clearly, I've been drugged and
you're reading my book.
Got to admit, that's screaming
"crazy fan" to me.
Sorry.
I'm not a fan at all, actually.
I think your characters are forced
and your plotting is unrealistic.
So
you don't want me
to write something for you?
No.
Oh, God, you want me
to read something you wrote?
Getting colder.
Okay, then what is it? What
Why am I here?
Let's just say
I'm after something else.
Someone is definitely after
those classified documents besides us.
This is our victim's house.
The entire place was trashed.
Our captain's killers must be
looking for that hard drive, too.
And his car was missing.
Well, they probably didn't want
to toss it out in the street.
Well, I doubt Myers
kept that drive in the trunk.
Which means his killers
haven't found it yet.
So all we have to do is find it first.
And then just wait
for the bad guys to show up.
Keep me posted.
Oh, and, uh, please tell Agent McGee
that I hope the kids feel better.
Kids?
What, something wrong
with Morgan and Johnny?
Didn't McGee text you, too?
No.
Wait, I got this yesterday.
"Kids sick,
working from home tomorrow."
That verbatim?
Is there a problem?
The kids are with Delilah
visiting Grandma.
A thousand miles away.
(GRUNTS SOFTLY)
That's water, in case you're thirsty.
And this is in case you need to
Look, what I need
is to know why I'm here.
And water.
(GROANS)
(GROANS)
Careful.
The drug I slipped into your coffee
has a really long half-life.
Who the hell are you?
- You might be feeling a little
- Oh.
I'm gonna be sick.
- ..nauseated.
- (GROANS)
(RETCHING)
You might also have a slight concussion.
I had to winch you
up the stairs by your feet.
(RETCHES)
I'll get you some Tums.
(COUGHING)
- (GROANS)
- (CLANGING)
(GROANS SOFTLY)
- (DOOR CLOSES)
- (PANTING)
That's okay, buddy. Let it out.
Thanks, but I got this, okay?
Hey, I know it's a lot.
But you can always
count on your best bud,
Agent Soares, to have your back.
Look, just Would you go away, okay?
I'm-I'm not workshopping a scene here.
I'm I was kidnapped.
I know. And you did not deserve that.
- (SIGHS)
- Between that and the concussion,
you know, it's not surprising
why you're having a moment.
Poor guy, right?
- Okay?
- (SNIFFLES)
You want to talk it out?
I don't need to talk.
I need to find a way out of this attic.
(SIGHS)
You think you can pick that lock?
Yes. You know what?
Um
See if you can find, like, a, um
a safety pin, okay? Or, like, a
You know what, no, no, I got it. I
We also need to figure out
what this woman wants from you.
But I already have an idea.
Oh, yeah?
L.J. Tibbs' Rule 39.
Coincidences do not exist.
Soares, that's not helping.
Well, you were working
a stolen documents case
when you were grabbed.
She has to be after that hard drive.
Actually, that's a good guess.
She must think you know where it is.
Well, I don't.
I would keep that to yourself.
Because even if your kidnapper's
not a crazy fan
Well, she's crazy enough to drug
and kidnap a federal agent.
So what do you think she'll do
when she finds out that you
don't know where the drive is?
Yeah, Director. It's McGee's car.
We traced his last text right to it.
All right, I'll keep you posted.
Doesn't look like it broke down.
Yeah, McGee doesn't miss an oil change.
Or leave his car overnight.
Well, unless he's going to
a midnight Star Wars premiere.
Uh-oh.
McGee's cell phone.
Where the hell is he?
He left with a woman.
The waitress was looking out the window
and she saw McGee
just sitting in the car.
And then a woman drove up,
helped McGee out of the car,
and then they left together.
Helped him out? What does that mean?
She said that McGee looked drunk.
On a Tuesday afternoon?
Maybe the book interview
didn't go so well
and he wanted to throw a couple back?
Then got in his car? No way.
Well, what's the alternative
somebody drugged him?
Well, that would explain
why McGee would let
some strange woman drive off with him.
She could have sent that text to Vance.
Bought herself some time to get away.
All right, clock's ticking.
We got to move.
I'll call Delilah.
I'll put out a BOLO.
I got a make and a partial print
from the waitress.
Wait, this is the car
that McGee left in?
I put out a BOLO on this yesterday.
That's Captain Myers' car.
His killer has it.
Well, the killer
just used it to grab McGee.
Hey, hey, hey.
Nobody gets it the first time.
(QUIETLY):
I know how to pick a lock, okay?
Thank you.
I once picked a lock
after being blinded by a skunk.
Yeah, that was
a pretty badly written chapter.
You know there's a faster way to escape.
Get the key.
Okay, and how do I do that?
Ask nicely?
Break your captor's neck and take them.
That's your solution?
Murder?
Self-defense.
The woman is dangerous.
If she's after those classified docs,
then she's probably the one
who killed that captain.
Yeah, I know.
(GROANS)
- We've all seen how this movie ends.
- TORRES: Oh, boy.
It's only a matter of time
before she hobbles you.
Why would you say that?
You don't use the word "hobble"
with a writer.
Ignore her.
She stabs first
and asks questions never.
Okay, what you need to do
is you have to gain
- your kidnapper's trust.
- No.
You need to take her out.
You have the element of surprise.
Except I'm chained to the floor.
So unless you're hiding
a hacksaw somewhere in that
very tight bodysuit of yours,
just please be quiet
while I figure this out.
KATHY: Figure what out?
What's going on?
Who were you talking to?
Myself.
I think I know why you brought me here.
Good.
Saves us some time.
You're after those classified documents.
Go on.
Torturing the captain
didn't get you anywhere,
so you brought me here and
you think I can get 'em for you.
Interesting theory.
But it suffers from one
fatal plot hole.
Yeah? What's that?
I have no idea
what you're talking about.
Oops.
Should've killed her.
You don't like my writing.
You don't know anything
about stolen documents.
So what do you want from me?
I want you to find my son.
What do you mean, find your son?
He's missing.
Okay, so call the police.
I did. And the FBI.
Nobody would listen.
They said I was crazy.
Gee, I, uh, can't understand why.
Look, I know how crazy this looks.
I-I wanted to ask for your help,
but I couldn't risk you saying no.
I came to you
because my son said
you can solve anything.
He loves your books.
The one he preordered
showed up just last week.
That doesn't seem like a sign to you?
Okay, it's-it's just a book.
But everyone knows
you're also a real agent.
And a father.
Please. My son joined the Navy
because of you.
You are his last hope.
I'm running out of time.
All right, look
if I promise to hear you out,
will you let me go?
If you find my son,
I'll let you go.
Okay, what if I don't?
Please, just try.
That's all I'm asking.
Okay. Deal.
I'm in.
Now tell me everything.
Six weeks ago, Matthew left for
work and he never came home.
This is everything I've collected.
That's Matthew on the right.
TORRES: Look at the other guy.
That's Captain Myers.
Her son knew our victim.
Who's this man
standing next to your son?
Mm, that's Matthew's best friend.
They're besties, huh?
Want to bet they stole
that classified data together?
Hey, you-you need to tell her the truth.
Because honesty, right,
builds-builds trust.
No way.
Lie to her
or you're a dead man.
Did I mention I was running out of time?
Those classified documents
that I told you about
your son's best friend
is the one who stole 'em.
And I think your son
may be involved, too.
No.
Matthew is a good boy.
He would never do anything like that.
She's holding something back.
You sure?
- Absolutely.
- Absolutely.
Look, if you really want my help,
you got to be honest with me.
Honesty builds trust.
(WHISPERS): Yes.
KATHY: I found a hard
drive in my son's room
after he went missing.
That's the same drive used to
download those classified files.
We don't know what's on it.
Maybe you can figure it out.
My laptop is in read-only mode,
so you won't be able to contact anyone.
I already tried brute force,
hash collision
nothing worked.
Well, you know
your way around computers.
Question is, do you?
Okay, I'm in.
But don't have full access here.
I can only see the name
of the root folder.
Ruby.
Mean anything to you?
I think it's a code name.
For a woman, maybe.
I heard my son mention her.
Whatever's going on,
I think that woman
is at the center of it.
KNIGHT: Meet Frances Bates.
Thom E. Gemcity's number one fan.
And our number one suspect.
She was at the crime scene, right?
She was also at the diner.
The book critic ID'd her from a photo.
So, superfan was just a cover.
Probably trying
to stay close to the case.
Hoping we'd lead her
to the missing drive.
TORRES: (SIGHS) You
don't think she got impatient
and grabbed McGee
just to speed things up?
If it wasn't her,
bet she's involved somehow.
All right, let's get Miss Number One Fan
on the hot seat and find out.
(SIGHS)
It's like medieval torture.
How am I supposed to get
into an encrypted directory
without a cracking suite?
It's impossible.
In a world of infinite probabilities,
nothing is impossible.
Don't have time for this, Parkman.
That's "Professor Parkman" to you.
And time is an artificial construct,
courtesy of the ancient Sumerians.
(SIGHS) Well, can the Sumerians help me
hack into this Ruby directory?
What you need is to shut down
that techno-gadget
and use some good old-fashioned
human deduction.
Wow, you are one-note sometimes.
Oh, maybe that critic was right. (SIGHS)
What do we know?
But you are good
at moving a story forward.
Yeah.
Yeah, let's do this.
Okay.
Missing son is
Lieutenant Matthew Sheldon.
Navy pilot.
Besties with the man
who stole the classified data.
Aka Captain Myers.
They got to be in it together, right?
Now, proximity breeds conspiracy.
Lenin and Trotsky. Bonnie and Clyde.
And now Myers and Sheldon.
But
how does this Ruby fit in?
Well, the mom thinks it's the code name
for the woman that took her son.
And the only lead we have
is the encrypted hard drive.
The way forward is clear.
You must break into this Ruby folder.
What do you think
I've been trying to do?
KASIE (ROBOTIC VOICE): Maybe I can help.
Down here.
Encryption is my specialty.
Oh. Okay.
Uh, you, too, huh?
Check the cipher for weak spots.
Yeah, I already did that. It's-it's
locked up tighter than Fort Knox.
Napoleon walked into Vienna
without firing a shot.
Locks are only as strong
as the people guarding them.
Yeah, except those locks
weren't 256-bit.
Dump the memory.
If the private key
was loaded before shutdown
It may still be there.
Yes. Okay.
All right.
Dumping memory.
Scanning now.
Yes.
Encryption key right there in plaintext.
KC3000, you are a genius.
So much for human deduction.
Ha-ha. Ha-ha.
Okay, I'm in.
The crown jewels. Stolen in silence.
Yeah. Crown jewels all right, but
I don't think Captain Myers
was stealing them.
I'm Agent Knight.
- This is Agent
- Soares.
Oh, my God.
Huge fan. (CHUCKLES)
I'm Special Agent Torres.
And most people are not
this excited to be in this room.
Sorry, I'm just geeking out.
I-I can't believe I'm in the real MCIS.
MCIS?
The Major Case Intelligence Service.
This is NCIS.
As in naval crimes.
Emphasis on "crimes."
Will Mr. Gemcity
Uh, I mean Agent McGee be joining us?
This is not a meet and greet.
Special Agent McGee has been kidnapped.
That's
that's terrible.
But you came to the right person
for help. (CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
Nobody knows him like I do.
So who do we think did it?
Wai Wait, me?
But I'm his biggest fan.
Or maybe you're pretending to be his fan
to stay close to the case.
Those stolen documents
how much do you think they're worth?
About ten mil.
- With the right contacts.
- Mm.
And you have the right contacts.
Your last job was
with a defense contractor.
Finding buyers was your specialty.
Hold on. W-Wait.
This is like a terrible plot
in a spy book.
Mm, yeah, not so fun
when it's real, huh?
Yeah, it's gonna be
even less fun when we charge you
with kidnapping and murder.
Murder?
Oh, my God.
What happened to his ears?
You tell us.
What? No.
I I-I'm not a killer.
I
I'm just a Deep Sixie.
A-a Gemcity fan.
Cut the act. Where's Agent McGee?
It's not an act.
I would never hurt Mr. Gemcity.
I love him.
In, like, a totally platonic,
"I love his brain" kind of way.
Why else would I run
the biggest Deep Six fan site
in the world?
And after how steamy his last book was,
I even wrote a 20-chapter fanfic
where Rick Soares and Agent
Knightshade fall madly in love.
What?
And people like that?
Everyone ships them.
I even coined their nickname,
SoarShade.
- Mm.
- Ew.
And for the record, I quit my job
so I could run my site
and do my podcast,
not commit treason.
In fact, I was hosting live
in that diner
when Mr. Gemcity was taken.
And I have 22 listeners
who can back that up.
I believe that's called
a dead end.
We're not killing anyone, are we?
Oh, you ignore her.
Slow and steady, right? Am I right?
Wins the race?
Technically, that's a misnomer.
Slow and steady almost never wins.
You know, for my muses,
you guys sure are not doing
a lot of musing.
Do you still need a muse?
I thought you figured out what
that document thief was up to.
I did.
I also figured out
where the missing son is.
Take a look at this.
So
what conclusions can we draw?
We need to kill the mother.
Oh, what's with you
and always the killing?
KNIGHT: Oh, you know, the yoozh.
Family was slaughtered.
Raised by assassins.
Blah, blah, blah.
Don't blah-blah-blah your backstory.
Come on, it's heartfelt.
She's not wrong, though.
The mother is not gonna like this.
Not gonna like what?
Oh, you've got my BLT.
Thanks.
You found something, didn't you?
Um
how often does the power
go out around here?
Never.
- (DOOR SLAMS IN DISTANCE)
- (GLASS BREAKS IN DISTANCE)
- That's got to be them.
- Who?
The bad guys.
Good guys don't cut the power.
They must have figured out
you have the hard drive.
You need to hide it. Hide it.
Hey, come here. Unlock me.
Your son's best friend was murdered
by whoever's in this house.
If you don't want to be next,
I suggest you unlock me. Come on.
- Come on.
- Okay.
(KATHY SHRIEKS)
KNIGHT: We listened to her podcast, and
that was an interesting alibi.
- At least we got rid of her.
- Barely.
I had to bribe her with enough
NCIS swag to open a gift shop.
Yeah, we also just
got rid of our best lead.
Good thing I've got another.
I was thinking McGee's
kidnapping has to be preplanned,
- right?
- Not really
a thing you do spur of the moment.
And how did the kidnapper know
McGee would be at the diner?
Is that a rhetorical question?
I just found a bug on McGee's phone.
Remember that creepy card
from McGee's book signing?
KNIGHT: The one with
the scratched-out eyes?
I think when he accessed
this IP address,
it installed the bug.
It wasn't a threat.
It was a trick.
A trick that gave the bad guy access
to McGee's entire calendar.
Can you trace it?
Not to the bad guy.
But I was able to trace
to one other site
the bad guy visited.
The biggest Deep Six
fan page in the world.
Whoever took McGee
accessed this site first.
Yeah. Probably doing a little research.
I can dig deeper, but I need
to know who runs the site
- in order to
- TORRES: Oh, we know who runs it.
McGee's number one fan.
I will go pick her up.
Again.
I'll go and get more swag.
Wake up!
Wake up! Where's the drive?
I didn't find it at Captain
Myers' house because it's here.
What's wrong with him?
It was just a flash grenade.
He had a concussion before.
And
I drugged him, too.
Look, I don't care
what you two were doing up here.
- I just want that drive.
- We don't have it.
The homing ping I got when you
plugged it in says otherwise.
Did you take my son?
Where is he?
One more word and it will be your last.
Or, what, you kill her
like you killed Captain Myers?
Saw the documents.
Myers wasn't selling 'em.
He was trying to blow the whistle.
Enough.
Your retrofitted planes
had a fatal flaw.
You killed Myers to keep him quiet.
Where is my son?
I said enough.
Give me the drive!
Now.
Quit stalling and rush him, kid.
What, so I can get shot?
You won't get shot
if you give me what I want.
Take the bullet.
We've taken 'em before.
You've taken
the pretend bullets, McGregor.
I've taken the real ones.
Who are you talking to?
- It's a long story.
- Shut up!
(GRUNTS) -Hey, what are you doing, man?
Come on!
Last time.
Come on, Timmy. Make your move.
The drive or I shoot!
Fight. Pretend it's that critic.
McGregor, enough. I got this.
(GRUNTING)
NCIS!
- Got him?
- Yep.
- You okay?
- Yeah.
As long as you don't start
sharpening a brisket knife.
How'd you guys find me?
FRANCES: They didn't.
I did.
When the woman who kidnapped you
visited my site,
she splurged on a platinum membership.
Ooh. I have a platinum membership?
Includes a limited edition
Gemcity coffee mug
and signed photograph. $39.99.
Oh. So you traced her credit
card back to my location.
You are so quick.
Oh, today was the best day ever.
I helped rescue Thom E. Gemcity
and met all of his characters IRL.
Although Agent Torres
is nothing like Soares.
Talk about grumpy.
Actually, you know what,
Torres is a lot like Soares.
Deep down.
Guess you see the real him.
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
All right, I'm gonna hand you
off here. I got to get going
- to Interrogation, so
- Oh, I know.
You still have a killer
to put the screws to
and then figure out what to do
with that horrible kidnapper
whose son is missing.
You know what happened to him,
don't you?
Ooh
(CHUCKLING)
I'm his number one fan. (CHUCKLES)
So the retrofitting system
that Daniels was in charge of
didn't work?
Their prototype crashed last month.
Pilot on board was killed.
After the plane went down,
our captain found
a fatal flaw in the design.
And he was gonna blow the whistle.
Yep. But Daniels killed him.
Tortured and killed, I thought.
No torture.
Daniels was just trying to hide
the body's identity.
And what about the missing son?
We got any idea where he is?
Unfortunately, we do.
He was the pilot killed in the crash.
That woman didn't know
that her son had died?
Actually
she did.
It's called grief psychosis.
It can develop when someone
experiences something so terrible,
their mind refuses to accept it.
Nothing worse than losing a child.
It is hard for me
to even hear those words.
When her son died,
she spiraled.
They put her on meds,
which stabilized her.
Captain Myers
would come visit her daily.
Bring her groceries,
let her borrow his car.
Until he was killed.
She spiraled again.
Reality and delusion blurred together.
But her mind managed
to reconstruct a reality
where her son was still alive.
I remember now.
Ruby was the name of his plane.
I thought it was a woman.
Someone who'd taken him away from me.
Feel like I'm losing him all over again.
Remembering hurts.
But, you know what, it's better
than the alternative.
Now there's more I'd like to forget.
Like what I did to you.
You know, you were
just trying to save your son.
Most people would've shut down.
But I read your file.
You are a decorated
Navy intelligence officer.
When your world collapsed
and you thought your son was in danger,
you fought like hell to protect him.
In my book,
you're a hero.
A tragic hero.
Because my son didn't need protecting.
He was already gone.
Pilot error, they told me.
Plane crash was not your son's fault.
It was Daniels covering it up.
Doesn't make it hurt any less.
Well, maybe this will.
Matthew had a chance to eject
before his plane went down.
What?
Why didn't he?
'Cause the plane
was headed for a school.
Your son stayed with Ruby,
brought her down
where he knew he wouldn't hurt anyone.
Oh
Your son saved those children.
Of course he did.
(SNIFFLES)
Always putting others first.
He learned that
from those books of yours.
Matthew was a good boy.
He was a hero, too.
"Gemcity has veered
too far from his crime roots,
"focusing instead
on a new cast and tone.
It is a shadow of its former self."
Whatever happened
to journalistic integrity?
Yeah, this guy wouldn't know a good book
if it hit him in his stupid face.
Hope I'm not the stupid face.
Edison Eckhart.
His review of your book just dropped.
Yeah, and it's not the worst thing ever.
But also not
not the worst.
Well (SIGHS)
He smelled like soup.
Wait, what?
That's it?
You're not upset?
I don't really care
what this guy thinks.
Seriously, I write for my fans.
People like-like Kathy's son.
If I can inspire a guy like that,
well,
other people may fold laundry
to my audiobooks,
but I'm gonna consider that a win, too.
All hail Deep Sixies.
Take those sad eyes elsewhere.
I'm enjoying the win.
I don't have sad eyes.
No, actually, you look more terrified.
Something wrong?
Yeah. I finally got the original notes
from the autopsy on Parker's mom.
And?
And
it wasn't a clerical error, Kase.
His mother's injuries were
not consistent with a car crash.
I don't want to jump
to conclusions, but
No.
I think it's time we jump.
Something's not right.
And we can't keep this
from Parker any longer.