- The body of a UA Marine, last aboard a ship with Ziva, turns up in a shrimping net in the Indian Ocean. Vance flags Ziva's application while he questions her. Mossad and more bodies appear. Ziva and Abby tell all. Gibbs puts Ziva to work.
- In the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania, a shrimping boat catches the body, mostly skeletal, of a Marine, SSgt. Daniel Cryer, who deserted in Kandahar six months before; he was last seen while boarding Damocles, the Jordanian freighter, supposedly lost at sea in a storm, which Ziva also rode en route to Somalia. Vance suspends Ziva's application while he questions her. Abby provides the position of the missing ship; a salvage crew finds the wreckage plus 18 more bodies, apparently executed before the sinking; all 18 wind up in Ducky's workshop. A Mossad officer, Malachi Ben-Gidon, shows up to "rescue" Ziva from the NCIS; he offers to tell Vance what happened aboard the ship. Mal says that Ziva shot Cryer; Ziva says that Mal did so; Abby and the evidence also say that Mal did so. Gibbs throws out Mal; as Gibbs asks, Ziva tells the rest of the story. Vance deals with a phone call, then Gibbs gives Ziva a paper, calls her a name, and tells her to get to work.—DocRushing
- Two guys wrangle a fishing net on a trawler. Their foray into shrimp fishing in the Indian Ocean is not going well. It worsens when they cut open something caught in their net and a bag of soggy bones and a dog tag tumbles out.
In the office, Tony gives McGee grief about coming up on his deadline for paperwork. McGee was delayed by a computer virus. Ziva is still waiting for the vetting of her NCIS application. They work out a trade.
McGee will hack into NCIS to see the status of her application if she finishes McGee's paperwork (and also Tony's because McGee lost a bet to him over who could disable the virus the fastest).
Gibbs and Vance sit in MTAC to conference with Special Agent Dunham in Tanzania. He tells them the victim is staff sergeant Daniel Cryer. He deserted six months back and they had a tip he was spotted recently in Jordan. They had word Cryer was selling connections. Supposedly he boarded a freighter bound for east Africa.
Vance guesses the name: The Damocles. The one that sunk with Ziva on it. The sinking would explain why Cryer was dead, but not why he was wrapped in plastic. They decide to question the survivor of that wreck that they happen to know. They'll go with good cop, bad cop.
McGee hacks into NCIS and finds that Ziva has been rejected. Vance arrives, telling Ziva they have a problem.
McGee looks into Cryer as Gibbs watches the surveillance of Vance meeting with Ziva. He says there were inconsistencies in her psychological profile. He wants her to talk about her time in captivity.
McGee tries to figure out how Tony got rid of a virus on his computer and finds nothing.
Cryer specialized in counter intelligence until he disappeared. The Damocles was a few hundred miles off course when it sank 100 miles off the coast of Tanzania.
McGee checks on Abby, who's watching weather patterns of tropical storms. She's watching the one that sunk the Damocles. But Cryer's body was found far from it and not in the direction the storm went. Abby thinks the ship was never anywhere near the storm. They don't like what that implies about Ziva.
They think they can backtrack the weather pattern to the ship's actual resting place.
Duckie picks over the sea creatures found with Cryer's body. Their growth rate shows he's been dead 16 weeks - of a gunshot wound to the head. But they can't find the bullet.
Vance goes over the series of events they've heard about the sinking of the Damocles. Ziva doesn't correct him. He asks her how Cryer died.
McGee tells Gibbs that salvage crews found the Damocles - with 18 bodies in storage. The whole crew was executed.
Gibbs and Duckie watch Ziva pace in interrogation. Gibbs calls making Ziva sweat it out "tough love."
Vance goes in to talk to Ziva, who asks if she's being charged with a crime. He wants to clear up the record, and reminds her there is such a thing as a crime of omission. He asks her again about the Damocles.
Cut to Aqaba, Jordan.
Cryer chats up the captain in port. Cryer puts a bag on the table and says he has some friends who need a ride. One of them is Ziva. She talks with the captain, saying she needs a ride to Somalia, and his discretion. He welcomes them aboard.
Later, on the ship, the men with Ziva go to eat. One stays to talk to Ziva, reminding her they need the crew's trust. He tells her the Americans left her, but her family never has. She looks at a picture taped to the wall of her and her brother Ari as kids.
At chow time, they watch the crew.
Cryer walks the ship. He opens a door and finds a cache of weapons. One of the bad guys finds him and holds a gun to his head, asking why he's going to Somalia. Cryer says he doesn't know.
Ziva finds them and says it's true that Cryer doesn't know why they're going to Somalia, and Cryer works for her. She sells the lie by making out with Cryer. After the bad guy goes, she chastises Cryer for jeopardizing the mission by snooping.
In interrogation, she tells Vance he said his name was Daniel Shalev, but she knew he was a Marine named Cryer. She says he didn't fit in with the murders the thieves and that you can't trust a man whose loyalty has a price.
Back to the ship, where Ziva bolts awake to find Cryer standing over her bunk. She asks him who he is and he dodges the question. She calls him reckless as he steps closer to her, close enough to kiss. But they don't. She notices his dog tags.
Tony gets McGee to answer Gibbs' ringing phone, a continued payout on the bet McGee lost to do all Tony's work. A Mossad agent named Malachi Ben-Gidon is there for Gibbs.
In interrogation, Ziva tries to convince Vance that Cryer hadn't completely turned his back on the Marines.
Gibbs meets Ben-Gidon. He's the man who was on the Damocles with Ziva. He tells Gibbs he's there to take her home and accuses NCIS of holding her hostage.
Gibbs and Vance discuss the situation. Ben-Gidon says if Ziva discusses the mission she'll be breaking Israeli law.
Tony takes B-G to see Vance. B-G says Director David has ordered Ziva's release and NCIS has had ample time to debrief. Vance says he can't release Ziva until he knows what happened on the Damocles.
B-G says he'll tell Vance what happened but they have to let Ziva go.
Back to the ship, where they're two days away from land. B-G says the captain has been in touch with the terrorist Salim's courier and he's worried they're on to them. B-G reminds Ziva her father said any means necessary.
Ziva finds Cryer using a satellite phone.
In the lab, Abby examines the soggy sat phone.
Tony serves as Ziva's escort, but Duckie cuts him off in the morgue where he's working on the bodies of the Damocles' crew. Duckie tells her he's sick of the games they're playing upstairs and he wants to be her friend.
He sees she feels guilty about their deaths. She's only bothered by one: Cryer. He asks her what happened to him.
In interview, Ben-Gidon tells Vance that they learned they weren't the only ones monitoring outgoing transmissions.
Back on the ship, Ziva and Ben-Gidon are worrying they've been compromised when some of the crew start shooting. Ben-Gidon tells Vance their contingency plan was to "take everyone."
Ziva and Ben-Gidon stalk the ship, taking out crew as they encounter them. Ziva draws on the captain, but hesitates. Cryer comes from around the corner and shoots him.
In the morgue, Ziva tells Duckie to keep his distance. The ones who get too close end up dead, she says.
Vance and Gibbs discuss. Vance says if Ziva knew Cryer was a Marine and killed him, as B-G implied, she's done at NCIS. Gibbs suggests asking Ben-Gidon. His turn to play bad cop.
They put Ziva and Ben-Gidon together and he tells her to say nothing, he's handling it. She says she has nothing to say to him.
Duckie reports on the crews' causes of death, multiple gun shot wounds. They have three slugs from the kind of gun that killed Cryer, but they're smooshed. Which means they missed. Which means it wasn't Ziva.
Gibbs sits Ben-Gidon in his seat, hurting his broken clavicle. Gibbs tells Ziva that Ben-Gidon accused her of killing Cryer.
Back to the ship, where Ziva and Cryer have drawn on each other, but both are saying they don't want to shoot the other. Ziva asks if he betrayed them. He asks what would stop him from pulling the trigger if he had. Then four shots ring out and Cryer falls dead. We see Ben-Gidon shooting from above with a bad arm.
In interview, Gibbs says those were Ben-Gidon's misses in the wall. He asks Ben-Gidon if this is how his boss operates, sending him to burn Ziva. Ziva asks Ben-Gidon if he's following orders. Gibbs tells her her father is dirty. He sends Ben-Gidon away, with a message to Eli David to stay away from Ziva.
Watching, Vance orders the camera turned off.
Gibbs sits to talk with Ziva. He tells her they're not done. He asks what happened once they landed. She says her father wanted the mission carried out at any cost.
Gibbs tells her not to bury her pain.
In Mogadishu, Somalia, Ben-Gidon gets orders from Eli David to follow Salim. Ben-Gidon is wounded, so Ziva goes alone.
Ziva tells Gibbs she killed Salim's courier and fought her way through his camp defenses. She was close to killing him but was caught.
Gibbs tells her her father raised her to be a ruthless, soulless killer. Ziva says she didn't mean to live through the mission. "You didn't, that part of you died out there," he says. She apologizes. He kisses her forehead.
Vance talks to Eli David, laying everything on Gibbs and reassuring him he's still his ally. He gets off the phone and Gibbs commends his performance. Vance gives him a piece of paper stamped "Approved."
McGee confronts Tony about the virus he got rid of, accusing him of also planting the virus. They quibble over who won the bet.
Gibbs comes in and gives Ziva her approval papers. "Get to work, probie."
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