NCIS s22e05 Episode Script

1
four, seventeen,
nine, six.
Perfect.
Patient appears in good health.
Pleasant and alert.
So, this about par for the course?
I don't know if I'd describe
my father as "pleasant."
I think it's against Navy regs.
Watch it, son.
Yes, sir.
Yeah. This is this is normal.
And what about his memory?
Last time, you said
he was starting to forget things.
Sometimes he has trouble
recognizing people he knows.
And last week,
he got lost driving home from the store.
I didn't get lost.
They were doing construction
on Crescent.
Dad, you know Crescent's
been closed for years now.
I'm fine.
(BEEPS)
Indication of potential early MCI.
Okay, Captain Butler.
Let's see how the body's holding up.
One more time, those numbers,
what were they?
(SPEAKING FINNISH)
Dad?
(SPEAKING FINNISH)
Dad, what's-what's going on?
Dad?
(SPEAKING FINNISH)
Captain Butler,
can you tell me where you are?
(SPEAKING FINNISH)
What language is that?
I don't know.
He only speaks English.
- Ah
- Dad!
(SPEAKING FINNISH)
♪
Morning.
Yo.
What are you looking at?
(CLEARS THROAT) Nothing.
You know they monitor our
online activity, right?
And what are you trying to say?
Never mind. None of my business.
Thank you.
Hey, Tim.
When you applied for that
Deputy Director job,
you had to sell yourself, right?
Yeah, I kind of had to, you know,
talk myself up as part of the process.
Why, are you applying for a new job?
Not exactly.
This is much more embarrassing.
(COMPUTER CHIRPS)
MCGEE: You're on MateQuest?
It was Jimmy's idea. He thought
that I should turn my wingman account
into a full-on dating profile.
But I think it's broken because
(WOLF WHISTLE SOUND EFFECT)
- I've had no matches.
- Yeah, no wonder.
You got all pictures
on your profile, no words.
You think this needs words?
It does if you don't want people
to think you're a bot.
Torres need help clearing
his browser history again?
Oh, my God, one time.
I was doing research.
Sure.
What's the excuse now?
Nick's on the Quest.
- MateQuest?
- MCGEE: Mm-hmm.
Plasma, please.
Oh, come on. We are at work.
(PURRING SOUND EFFECT)
KNIGHT: Whose dog is that?
(ELEVATOR CHIMES)
People love dogs.
Did you get those professionally taken?
No, I did
Morning, everyone.
Morning.
Good to see
you're putting yourself
out there, Torres.
Hey, check it out.
I found this Scottish
ex-pat who makes the best "scahns"
- this side of the Atlantic.
- Mmm.
Oh, you mean "scones"?
The correct Scottish
pronunciation is "scoons."
(PHONES CHIME)
"Developing hostage situation
at Liberty Naval Hospital."
And then he grabbed me.
Thank God the nurses
were able to talk him down.
Must have been a little unnerving.
Well, memory patients
can get pretty agitated.
Stuff like this happens
more than you'd expect.
Can you have Dr. Carr cover my 10:30?
- Mm-hmm.
- Thank you.
KNIGHT: Captain Butler,
can you tell us what you were saying?
The doctor said it wasn't English.
But I don't speak any other languages.
Do I?
Dad, what the hell is going on?
Has that ever happened before?
What, the losing memories
or taking hostages
and speaking in tongues?
No, this is a first.
They said I attacked someone.
Is everyone okay?
You scared some people.
Luckily, nobody got hurt.
Good.
I'm not surprised he can't remember.
Dementia patients sometimes
time-shift back into old memories.
Coming out of them can be like, uh,
waking up from a dream.
What about speaking other languages?
Does that surprise you?
I've heard of cases where
patients spontaneously
develop a a foreign accent,
but never a new language.
(BUTLER SPEAKING FINNISH)
According to the translator on my phone,
it's Finnish.
Bunch of numbers,
but not the ones from the memory test.
I have no idea what they mean.
My best guess is
that the cognitive test
triggered something from his past.
Anything in our captain's
service records
that would tell us
where he learned to speak Finnish?
Uh, checking now.
I'm not seeing
any deployments to Finland.
What about the numbers?
Um
Hmm. That's odd.
Can I use that?
Oh, sure.
What was that?
I don't know,
but I get the feeling that someone
doesn't want us
looking into Captain Butler.
That's got to be the
first time in history
a Google search knocked out power
to an entire city block.
We got an explanation yet?
Kasie is still working on it.
Yeah, and whoever took out the power
is still blocking
Captain Butler's service record.
So, we don't know what
makes this guy so important.
Torres and I are pulling
everything that we can find
on the captain from public sources.
- PARKER: Uh
- Oh, okay.
(WOLF WHISTLE SOUND EFFECT)
I'm not sure that's
what we're looking for.
Yes. No, no, no. I was
Sorry, I was just, uh
(WHISTLE)
Okay. Captain Thomas Butler.
He served in both
Vietnam and Desert Storm.
He won a pair of bronze stars,
and was advanced every
time he was up for promotion.
This guy's a straight-out rock star.
He would have made
admiral if he hadn't retired.
According to that, he spent a year
in the SECNAV's office at the Pentagon.
That's what landed him back in D.C.
It would also give him access
to classified information.
If he's now suffering from dementia
KNIGHT: He's a possible security risk.
He could be leaking sensitive intel.
You know, like maybe those numbers
that shut down the hospital,
whatever they mean.
Let's find out.
Maybe the captain is lucid enough
to answer a few more questions.
Torres and I will head back
to the hospital and ask him.
Okay, try it now.
Half of these ports are still burnt out
from when Torres and Parker
blew out the power. There.
Did that make it work?
Ooh. Those would make some pretty cool
Christmas decorations.
(SHARP INHALE) If it didn't
put off enough heat
to melt the North Pole.
- Hmm, very cool.
- Kubernetes.
Kuber-what-ees?
Turns out your search at the hospital
set off a digital trip wire
that knocked their system offline.
That's what took out the power.
Well, a Kubernetes cluster
is fault tolerant, so
that wouldn't happen here.
Mmm. I still don't know what that means.
It means that I'm gonna use these
little babies to set off
the trip wire again,
and when the bad guys
try to shut us down,
the whole cluster will just
bounce their evilness right back at 'em.
Nice. You start it up yet, or
Already working.
MCGEE: You mind if I borrow these?
Later on, I want to download
a bunch of dating profiles,
do an analysis of the
most popular matches.
Is that for Torres?
Well, I'm not at liberty to say.
Oh, I get it.
Took me a while to finally get
the whole world of online dating, too.
Yeah. Think he's used to something
a little more analog, you know?
Hang on.
Something's happening.
Ooh. Set off the trip wire, or
Looks like it.
Okay, the cluster has
the incoming attack.
Bouncing it back.
And kaboom.
Who did we hit?
You launched a cyberattack
against the CIA.
(DOOR CLOSES)
Are you trying to start
an interagency war?
Officer Conrad, my people
were completely justified
in their actions.
Your digital trip wire
was obstructing an NCIS investigation.
We were looking for Captain
Butler's service records.
You took out power
to an entire military hospital.
It was an unintended side effect.
Intended or not, it's a crime.
You're not even supposed
to be operating on U.S. soil.
Know what? How about we just drop it.
We'll let the attack on our servers go,
you can drop your
investigation into Butler.
Not gonna happen.
Butler's declining mental state
has the potential to expose
classified information.
NCIS will not close the case
until we decide
what kind of threat
he poses to national security.
Come on,
he's obviously important.
Not only do you set up
some kind of cyber trap
to stop anyone from
digging into his background,
but then you show up here, in person,
telling us not to look at him?
(SCOFFS)
Admit it. He's one of your spies.
Well, that is not something
I can discuss in an unsecure location.
Not a problem.
You were saying?
Um
Yes, Thomas Butler was
a intelligence operative.
See? How hard was that?
But not for us.
During the Cold War, Butler was
an asset of the Soviet Union.
He was a spy for the other side?
He was recruited
by a Finnish trade attaché.
CIA caught on to the arrangement
in the early 1970s.
Then how the hell was he
assigned to the Pentagon in the '80s?
You have to understand the value
of letting the Soviets believe
they had a high-level mole.
We had our eyes on him the entire time.
Still do.
You're telling me that
Butler still doesn't know
that the CIA's onto him?
That's correct.
Once the USSR was gone, he
was a man without a country.
He started living his American
cover, retired from the Navy.
At that point, he was
no longer an active risk,
so we just kept him under surveillance.
Never know when a guy
like that's gonna come in handy.
I think we're done here.
You can unlock the door.
You let a Russian spy enter
the E-Ring at the Pentagon
and then
you let him retire?
(LOCK CLICKS)
Intelligence is
a long game, Agent Parker.
You capture an enemy pawn,
you don't advertise it.
You let 'em know as little as possible
and manipulate the leak to
control the flow of information.
CIA has this under control.
Captain Butler's not a threat.
(PHONE RINGS)
Yeah, Knight. Go ahead.
We've got a problem.
Butler's gone and the orderly
who was assigned to his room is dead.
Dead? As in
(SIGHS) Looks like Butler
killed him, stole his keys
and then escaped.
Well, Officer Conrad,
seems like your pawn
is still very much a threat.
Poor guy. One minute,
he's passing out pudding
and changing bedpans,
the next minute, he's here.
Are we sure Butler's the killer?
I mean, an old man in his seventies?
Well, if you believe the CIA,
- he's a Russian agent in his seventies.
- Mm.
Question is, did he know
what he was doing?
Oh, he knew what he was doing. I mean,
clean break of the hyoid here.
This kill was both
precise and efficient.
I was thinking more
about his state of mind.
Right. Uh, Butler's
medical file did indicate
a neurodegenerative disease.
It's possible he wasn't
in his right state of mind.
So, on one hand,
Butler may be a sleeper agent
who accidentally outed himself
this morning and is on the run.
And on the other hand,
he could be a scared
and confused old man, with his dementia
blurring the lines
between past and present.
Unfortunately, this victim can't
tell us one way or the other.
Well, in any case, Butler's dangerous.
We need to find him fast.
So, do we put out a BOLO
or a Silver Alert?
If you had warned us that
Butler was a foreign agent,
we could've put him in
isolation in the hospital.
Instead, we got a dead orderly
and Butler's in the wind.
It's only because you spooked him.
My agents were doing their jobs.
You guys were the ones
that made all the noise
at the hospital when your booby
trap knocked out the power.
We were simply monitoring
the Web for any searches related
to an old code Butler used to use.
If you already knew
where Captain Butler was,
why shut down the power?
Unless, uh, you didn't
actually know that Butler was your spy.
Officer Conrad?
CIA has long been aware
they had a deep-cover
Russian spy in their midst.
Since the '70s.
But they didn't know his identity.
Until McGee's search.
It was the numbers that
tipped you off, right?
Best we can tell now,
Butler is that agent.
And you felt the need
to lie to us because?
We had to be absolutely sure it was him.
And you didn't want to admit
that you had a foreign agent
right under your nose and
you missed it.
You know anybody who likes
to admit their shortcomings?
Well, in this case, it sounds like
your shortcomings are lethal.
Your CIA buddies have
any idea where he's headed?
Likely trying to flee the country.
Look, if Butler gets away,
we lose any chance we have
to find out if his Russian
spy network is still intact.
Then maybe we shouldn't
be standing around.
Correct.
(DOOR OPENS)
My father is a spy for the Russians?
How is that possible?
Apparently it happened
before you were born.
So, first he spends my entire
childhood on deployment.
And now you're telling me
he's a traitor?
That's just that's just great.
Danny, we need to figure out
where your father's headed.
Did he have any friends?
Anyone from his past
who might have spoken another language?
What, like Finnish?
Don't you think
I would have told you guys that?
I'm sorry. It's just a lot to take in.
Seems like everything I knew
about my father is a lie.
You don't have to apologize.
I've been there.
Is there a place
that he would have gone?
Anybody that he trusts?
Maybe somebody from his Navy days.
(SIGHS) You know,
I really don't know
about my dad's time in the Navy.
Did he keep anything that
might help fill in the blanks?
Souvenirs? Photos?
All the stuff is in boxes.
When Mom died,
I moved in to take care of him.
So I put most of his stuff
in the garage.
Do you mind if we take a look?
Sure. Yeah. Whatever.
Just don't tell me what you find.
Yeah. This reminds me of
my dad's office growing up.
Nothing but Navy stuff in there.
Not a single family photo.
TORRES: It feels like,
uh, Captain Butler
was in a club with both of our dads.
At least our, uh, fathers
worked for the good guys, huh?
I don't know, man.
Sometimes I wish my dad
had been a criminal.
That way, I would just hate him
and not feel like he chose another life
over my sister and me.
Wow.
Oh, I'm trying this new,
uh, sensitive guy thing
for my online dating.
Or you could just be the sensitive guy
that we all know that you are.
Oh, hey, what do I know?
I'm just the superstar
who cracked a code
the CIA didn't even know existed.
I found these fortunes
and a copy of War and Peace
in Captain Butler's boxes.
"A closed mouth gathers no feet."
Shouldn't these be called
platitude cookies?
I mean, aren't fortunes
supposed to tell the future?
That's because
it's not about the fortunes.
It's about the lucky numbers.
They're a book code.
The numbers refer to a page in the book
and then a word on the page.
Each fortune cookie is a coded message.
"Meet under east bridge."
"Weapon plans Tuesday."
That's how the Russians
sent Butler his instructions.
Unfortunately, everything
here is decades old.
And there's no indication
that Captain Butler opened
any of these boxes for years.
So nothing to, uh,
tell us where he's headed.
What about the numbers at the hospital?
That another code or
If they are,
War and Peace isn't the cipher.
All I got was gibberish.
We need to find the right book.
(PHONE CHIMES)
Unless we find Butler first.
His ID was just used
at the Navy Archives.
That's five minutes from here.
Wow. For somebody on the run,
he's not gone very far.
- I'll keep you posted.
- All right, thanks.
Butler's gone. (SIGHS)
According to the guard,
he swiped his access card
at an unmanned gate
and then used the machine room
to get into the building.
He disabled the security inside
and accessed a secure vault
full of classified documents.
What'd he take?
Still trying to figure that out.
(SIGHS) Well, I guess we can
rule out "scared and confused."
He'd have to be at the top
of his game to pull this off.
He's not running.
He's on a mission.
One more time for Mother Russia.
Butler timed the break-in to coincide
with the guards' shift change?
He was in and out in 71 seconds.
- How efficient.
- Yeah.
- How Soviet.
- VANCE: Yes.
Thank you. I'll let you know.
That was Archive security.
Turns out
Captain Butler stole a classified file
called Project Laurel.
Oh. Damn it.
Would you care to enlighten us?
Like you said,
it's classified.
It's like pulling teeth with you.
Officer Conrad,
your director assured me
that we would have
your complete cooperation.
Look,
I'm not authorized to tell you
what's in that file.
All I can say is that if it gets out,
it will get people killed.
We need that file.
It's a matter of national security.
And if Butler gets in the way,
he needs to be stopped.
Using any means necessary.
What are we, a CIA cleaning crew?
KNIGHT: Yeah. If they expect
us to kill him, they could at least
- tell us what's in the file.
- Look,
we need to focus on
things we can control.
Like finding Butler.
This guy's not so easy to follow.
KNIGHT: We tried using traffic cams,
but he doubled back
several times and then
disappeared into a crowd.
Butler does undercover by the book.
He used cash to pay
for the Metro and then
a pay phone instead
of a cell to call a cab.
It's all stuff that we can't track.
He even sent the cab
in the wrong direction
just to throw us off.
It's vintage tradecraft,
executed to a T.
Just goes to show, even
with high-tech surveillance,
old-school still works.
TORRES: Maybe not.
McGee, you remember
that case last year
there were only eight
pay phones left in D.C.?
That's right.
If that's how Butler's communicating,
narrows down
our search area considerably.
KASIE: Actually,
we're down to six pay phones,
all within range of
surveillance for traffic cams.
I pulled footage from the last two days,
but it's a lot.
All right, you take the,
uh, three in northwest.
- I'll take the others.
- Mm.
(KEYS CLACKING)
(COMPUTER DINGS)
Whoa.
What is it?
Why would someone do that
to a public appliance?
Oh, yeah.
Nobody wants to see that.
Hey, wait, is that your guy?
Yeah. Yeah, that's Butler.
Okay, that's right across from the ATM.
Wonder who he's calling.
Pull up phone records?
How charmingly 2010. Uh, no need.
These cameras are all high-def.
BUTLER: Hey, pal.
Sorry I couldn't stick around
for the party.
I-I had some stuff
I had to get done for work.
How about we meet,
get something special?
(HANGS UP)
You're telling me he left that
on my home phone?
Right after he stole files
from the Navy Archives.
But maybe you already knew that.
- Why would I?
- Well, you tell us.
The CIA thinks the Russians
have a spy network.
Your dad calls and leaves what
sounds like a coded message.
Wait, wait.
You think I'm helping him?
We're open to other explanations.
Here's one.
Maybe he's trying to apologize.
'Cause that's the same
damn message he left
every time he missed one
of my baseball games as a kid
'cause he was too busy working.
This is not a missed baseball game.
I know.
It's treason.
It's gonna take way more
than ice cream to make up for.
Ice cream?
Yeah.
He said "something special."
He means dessert.
Maybe he wanted a double fudge sundae
before he went back to Russia.
Danny, if your dad did want
to meet, where would it be?
It was always the same
ice cream shop in LeDroit Park.
It's a long shot.
But right now it's the only shot we got.
If Butler shows, we have people
on every corner.
You really think a sleeper agent's
gonna stick his neck out
just to say goodbye to his son?
I don't know.
He's still a father, after all.
(PEPPY TUNE PLAYS)
By the way, I made a few more edits
to your MateQuest profile.
Yeah, I noticed.
The, uh, AI painting
of me as a centaur
nice touch.
Well, is it working?
'Cause it sounds like it's working.
Yeah, it's working.
Maybe too well.
(PURRS) Oh, this one is spicy.
Just your type.
Let me see.
MCGEE: Okay, target spotted.
Butler approaching from the west.
What do you know?
Danny was right.
We got eyes on.
MCGEE: Hold on.
Butler's up to something.
How do you want to handle this one?
I think we can take a 70-year-old.
Owie.
You know, you should really
let Jimmy take a look at that.
Yeah, I think you should really
mind your own business.
The guy just sucker punched me, man.
What am I supposed to do
beat up a senior citizen?
Who were you signaling?
Why would you grab him
before you confirmed
he had the file on him?
How are we supposed to confirm
the file if we don't grab him first?
You people are getting played
by an old man.
One. Seven.
Sixty-one. 11.
Fourteen. Three.
Would it help if I said it in Finnish?
It's a code, right?
Is Laurel the cipher?
Laurel is my insurance.
Everyone wants me dead.
That file is the only thing
keeping me alive.
Who is everyone?
Look, I'll talk.
But only to Sparrow.
You got to be kidding me.
Why? Who's Sparrow?
Sparrow was the code name
of a dirty CIA agent
from back in the day.
Sounds like they worked together.
How do we find this
Sparrow?
No idea.
But until you do,
I'm not saying another word.
That's gonna be a problem.
You don't know where Sparrow is?
No, I do.
That's the problem.
Sparrow's been in the ground
since the Carter administration.
There's no way
Butler wouldn't know that.
Maybe he doesn't remember.
You know what, it's not just that.
Think about it.
The old-school spy tactics.
That weird phone call to his son.
What if that message
wasn't meant for grown-up Danny?
What if it was meant for Danny as a kid?
Hold on. You're saying
that Butler thinks it's the '70S?
And the only guy
he'll talk to has been dead
for almost 40 years.
He really thinks it's 1979?
Are you sure Butler isn't playing you?
What he's experiencing
is called time shifting.
It's not all that uncommon
in dementia patients.
As their short-term memory fades,
the brain uses their older,
long-term memories to fill the void.
Russian spy or not, it's got to be scary
to be in his shoes right now.
Scary for us, too, because
we're not getting that file back
unless Butler talks to his contact.
Brian Banaszak,
code name Sparrow.
Confirmed K.I.A. in West Berlin
on January 6, 1980.
Wow. He looks like you
but with bushy sideburns.
Unless we bring Butler back
to the future,
we're never gonna get our hands
on that file.
JIMMY: You have to be careful, though.
Butler's in a very fragile
mental state right now.
If you fracture his artificial reality,
he could forget everything that
happened while he was in it.
I hear you, Jimmy,
but we really don't have a choice.
Remember, stick to the facts.
You're trying to replace the
old memories he's living in
with something concrete
from the present.
With my Aunt Nora, we use
a ton of repetition.
And I'm just gently
waking him from a dream.
- Yeah.
- Hopefully this helps.
So, how often do you have to
do this with your aunt?
Uh, thankfully, not a lot.
I just hope Parker doesn't
get punched in the face.
Aunt Nora tended to wake up swinging.
(DOOR CLOSES)
Still no Sparrow?
PARKER: No.
But that's because
Sparrow is dead, Captain Butler.
In fact, you went to his funeral
over 40 years ago.
- Oh, yeah?
- Yeah.
And about ten years after that,
the Soviet Union collapsed.
The government that you worked for
is gone.
Any of this ring a bell?
No, but please continue.
It's very interesting.
You didn't notice many
pay phones in D.C., did you?
Well, you can never find
a pay phone when you need one.
That's because of this.
This is a mobile phone.
We all carry one.
Now, they didn't, uh
they didn't have these in 1979, right?
Actually, the mobile phone
was introduced in 1973.
Yeah, but, uh,
could it do this?
Now, that is a pretty cool trick.
The propellerheads
in tech make that up for you?
It's not a trick.
Look, I respect the attempt,
but I have done Futureman a dozen times.
I know the bit.
Futureman?
Spies do this routine
so often it has a name?
Yeah. Sometimes I think
I picked the wrong profession.
BUTLER: This one time,
there was this poor ensign
I had believing it was 1986.
We had flying cars,
and the Red Sox had won
the World Series.
It's not a bit, Captain Butler.
1979 is ancient history.
Since then,
the Berlin Wall came down.
The U.S. and Russia launched
a space station together.
The Sox have won four World Series.
And the DoD has created something
they call the Internet,
which is rapidly destroying
our society as we know it.
And yet, all you are showing me
is pictures of some kid.
This kid is your son.
And that's how old he was
when each of those things happened.
He's also the one
that's been taking care of you
the last ten years.
Come on. That's his son.
This has got to work.
Captain Butler, do you recognize Danny?
What the hell happened?
Didn't work.
Butler thinks the pictures of
Danny are some actor we hired.
TORRES: He's not giving us the file.
The longer that file's out there,
the more likely
it falls into the wrong hands.
Yeah. We should send Butler to Gitmo,
let the professionals get him
to tell us where it is.
We're not gonna torture
an old man in his seventies.
MCGEE: Though, apparently,
we have no problem
torturing me with the '70s.
(MCGEE SIGHS HEAVILY)
You really think Butler's
gonna buy me as Sparrow?
You read Butler's medical file.
He hasn't recognized anyone
that he's known for years.
So, all you got to do is look
close enough to the part.
You guys at NCIS are as
wacky as they say you are.
If you've got a better idea
besides Gitmo, I'm all ears.
We tried breaking through
Butler's delusion.
It didn't work.
Now we just got to lean into it.
If he wants the '70s,
we'll give him the '70s.
Sit still or this is gonna look absurd.
Barbara, don't you think
we're a little late for that?
I get paid to be an accountant.
I only do makeup for community theater
in my spare time, Agent McGee.
So you get what you get
and you don't get upset.
And we appreciate it so much.
Thank you for coming
down and helping us.
I owe you one.
No, you owe me two.
Specifically, two hours
of spreadsheet validation
up in Accounting.
That was our agreement.
You have a gift.
It should be put to work.
Y-Yes, ma'am.
And remember to mark
this spirit gum as discounted.
I got it on sale. It was 20 cents less
than my usual,
and it works just as well.
- Coming through.
- Oh. Oh.
- Oh. Aah!
- Oh, sorry. Sorry.
It's friggin' amateur hour around here.
Hey, hey, at least we're having fun.
Okay, this is everything that I
could find at the thrift store.
Don't forget to itemize
when you submit your receipts.
- What do you think?
- Do I have a choice?
No. No.
And, uh
Torres?
Not in this lifetime.
All right, let's go over this again.
We tell Butler
that we've arranged a meet
with Sparrow in one hour.
McGee, I want you in place
before he arrives.
You're gonna be waiting out in the open.
Feel like a sitting duck out here.
A duck with sideburns.
PARKER: Knight, you're on the bridge,
monitoring who's coming in and out.
You've got two
fitness enthusiasts inbound.
PARKER: Copy. We have eyes on 'em.
KNIGHT: Moving away from McGee.
All right, Torres will play
spotter from the shaggin' wagon.
You see anything strange, Nick,
let us know.
This entire thing is strange,
starting with, uh,
Disco McGee.
MCGEE: Ah, you're a funny guy, Nick.
(VEHICLE APPROACHES)
Here we go.
Butler's on site.
Okay, everybody, look alive.
Relax. Have some faith.
I'm not really a faith guy.
Excuse me, do you have the time?
Don't. Don't. That's a test.
Tell him your watch broke.
I'm sorry.
Seems my watch has stopped.
Told me you were dead.
Wishful thinking, probably.
He bought it.
See what'd I tell you? Have faith.
They're watching us.
And they may know
about my Russian friends.
You sure? How?
Must have a leak.
Tried to take me out at the hospital.
Clearly, you got away.
I did.
They killed one of the orderlies
who was trying to protect me.
Butler didn't kill the orderly.
You think it could be the
Russians trying to take him out
now that he's a loose cannon?
Not good.
We're in a world of hurt
if they're involved.
Stick to Laurel.
That's the priority.
Did you bring the package?
Am I an idiot?
Put it in the same drop as last time.
Any idea where that is?
No clue.
McGee, you're gonna have to get him
to tell us where "last time" is.
Everything all right?
Yeah.
Just, um
open to ideas.
About what?
Try telling him
the drop has been compromised.
Drop may have been compromised.
We need to retrieve
the package ourselves.
Compromised?
By who?
He's getting fidgety, McGee. Back off.
Start talking about
your Pet Rock or something.
No, do not back off. We need that file.
Can't go into detail.
Time is of the essence.
We need to get that file someplace safe.
No, no, no, no.
The whole thing is falling apart.
I told you gaslighting
this guy wasn't gonna work.
No, no, no, no. No, no.
Something's not right.
You're not Sparrow.
Captain. Wait. Captain, Captain, wait.
- (GUNSHOT)
- (GRUNTS)
McGee!
Go! Get Butler!
(EXHALES SOFTLY)
That's far enough.
You know,
for an old man, you really are
a pain in the ass.
I know you.
Yeah, I'm sure you do.
You killed that man at the hospital.
Yeah, well, he got in the way.
Tough break.
But now it's just you and me.
And nobody to save you this time.
I'm not telling you
where those files are.
It's my insurance.
(LAUGHS) I don't care about the file.
You're the last one
who knows how to read it.
Once you're dead,
Laurel means nothing.
(COCKS PISTOL)
Looks like someone swapped your gun out.
- When did you sw
- TORRES: It wasn't him.
It was me.
When you bumped into me in the garage.
Still think it's amateur hour?
He said that?
Yeah, still the same
condescending jerk
you were almost 40 years ago.
You know what year it is.
Damn right I do.
I got the memo back at NCIS
from Agent Parker.
Try and keep up.
You know what I love?
Only now does
Mr. Secret Agent Man realize
he was the one being gaslit.
Oh, I wish I'd been there to see
the look on Conrad's face.
But when did Captain Butler
realize that it wasn't 1979?
In interrogation.
Kasie was right. It just, uh,
took a little repetition
and he handed over Laurel
and told his side of the story.
That Conrad was dirty.
Dirty as it gets.
It turns out that the Laurel file was a
laundry list of CIA crimes.
Conrad's name was all over it.
And when Conrad learned
that Captain Butler
was having memory issues
in the hospital, he got spooked,
tried to take Butler out.
But he ended up
killing that orderly instead.
Right in front of Butler.
But since no court was ever
gonna take the testimony
of a Russian spy, we, uh,
had a little costume party to try
to get Conrad to incriminate himself.
McGee's still wearing the outfit
if, uh, you want to come
down and see for yourself.
Oh, no, that's all right.
I had enough of the '70s
the first time around.
But about Captain Butler
being a Russian spy.
You might want to take a look at this.
Hey, go easy on your old man.
He's been through a lot.
Come on, man.
He lied to me. About everything.
Look, anger
is gonna hurt you
more than it hurts him.
Trust me. I know.
The man wasn't just
an absentee father, okay?
He was also a traitor.
Actually he wasn't.
CIA was telling the truth when they said
that your father was selling
secrets to the Russians.
But they left out
that he was working for us
the entire time.
I don't understand.
Those secrets that your father passed
to the Russians were disinformation,
designed to send them
on wild goose chases.
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
You're telling me
my father was a double agent?
According to the awards
in his classified file,
he was a highly-decorated double agent.
They say what he did
was instrumental
in helping end the Cold War.
That's cool as hell.
I know that doesn't make up
for the time that you missed.
Your father is a hero.
Thank you guys for one last op.
Made me feel young again,
just like the good old days.
Although Sparrow never had
sideburns like that.
(LAUGHS)
Hey, so I figured out why
Barbara's spirit gum,
uh, was such a bargain.
Rebranded superglue.
These guys are not coming off.
Well, lean into it,
because it looks good on you.
At ease.
Dad, I'm sorry.
I'm the one that needs to apologize
for all the games I missed,
just, uh, all the times
I wasn't there for you.
I don't know what happened
at that hospital.
Uh, one minute, I was
there, and then I was
I was lost, you know, in the past.
I couldn't get out.
And then they showed me pictures
of you.
The one thing I had in the world
I could hang on to.
You brought me back.
Want to go get some ice cream?
That'd be nice.
Thank you.
Thank you all.
- I'll walk you guys out.
- Yeah.
He's gonna look like
Starsky and Hutch for days.
(CHUCKLES) Look who's talking,
boogie nights.
I am keeping this.
And by the way, I think
that some of these clothes
will look really great
on your MateQuest profile.
Yeah, I deleted it. Just felt fake.
Felt like I was being undercover
in in my dating life.
So, I'll just
I'll just meet people
the old-fashioned way.
- Like, going out in the world?
- Hmm.
Well, you ever need a wingwoman,
you just let me know.
'Cause I have the perfect outfit.
Ooh, not a chance. You bring the crazy.