- In Washington, DC, near the Capitol a van accidentally hits and critically injures a pedestrian, who proves to be The Cooler, a wanted contract assassin, whose next target appears to be a Navy lieutenant commander; Gibbs and company investigate the target, LCdr. Geoffrey Brett, and his circumstances, including the threat. The Cooler briefly regains consciousness in a hospital, then dies before an NCIS agent reaches him. Ziva acts as Brett's protective escort, but he ditches her. Tony and McGee meet a CPA, then she dies. The three musketeers gather pieces of evidence and, with Gibbs, put them together; Brett says that he needs a lawyer. Meanwhile Abby volunteers to become an organ donor, learns more about herself, visits a pet-rescue center, meets someone whom she admires, examines her own feelings, and has a serious chat with Gibbs.—DocRushing
- An accidental traffic fatality in Washington, DC, leads to a death threat against a Navy lieutenant commander; while Gibbs and company investigate, they find the reason for the threat and for another death. Meanwhile Abby learns and thinks.—DocRushing
- A reporter interviews people about a $14 billion appropriation for a new class of aircraft carrier. One woman says she'd have to ask her husband (seriously?), and so the reporter tries to ask a man nearby with a camera. He turns skittish and runs away into the street right into the path of an oncoming van. He's pancaked. The camera pans down, and we see he had a gun.
At the office, Abby is excited - she just got matched to give a kidney to an 18-year-old she doesn't know. Detective Sportelli arrives to brag to Gibbs that he caught The Cooler, the hitman suspected in at least six contract killings. He's Paul Arliss and hes been living quietly in suburbia. He's the one who got hit by the van. He lived. Ballistics tied the weapon he was carrying to four killings. They found notes and photos in his car parked nearby. His next target was going to be a naval Lt. Commander named Jeffrey Brett, a Top Gun pilot. He got shot down on a mission over Iraq and survived for two weeks eating bugs until he was rescued. He has one daughter and is currently assigned as a legislative fellow to the House Armed Services committee.
Gibbs and Ziva visit him and he can't think of anyone who would want him dead. He doesn't want to go into protective custody and miss the vote on the aircraft carriers, then he looks at Ziva and reconsiders.
Abby visits Duckie after meeting with the transplant coordinator. There were two people who volunteered to donate, her and her brother. But not the one she knows about. They were a 99.99% DNA match. She and her little brother Luka are both totally surprised. Both of her parents are dead, so she can't ask them.
McGee and Tony go to the hospital to visit The Cooler. Tony thinks he has the inside track and wants to talk to him, but they arrive and Sportelli tells them he's dead.
McGee looks up Arliss, who was salesman of the year for a manufacturing company. He has found no connection between Brett and the hitman.
Ziva accompanies Brett on the capitol. A guy named Nick comes up to talk to Brett, but reaches into his pocket and catches Ziva's attention, so she grabs his arm and pins him. Brett explains he's just a lobbyist, and he wants to meet with him later.
At Arliss's house, Tony paces off the inside and outside of the garage and finds a few feet missing. It's hollow behind the tool rack. They find the way to open it and find bunch of rifles and a laptop inside. Sportelli lets them take the computer.
In the lab, Abby calls her old aunt as McGee works on the laptop. Abby's aunt barely remembers her.
The day before Arliss was hit by the truck, he got a $25,000 wire transfer from the account of George Kaplan.
Brett comes in to NCIS, talking to his 8-year-old daughter, Tilly, who he mentions has special needs. Brett doesn't recognize the name Kaplan. He calls his ex-wife to suggest she take their daughter out of town.
Tony, Gibbs and McGee visit Kaplan's tiny low-rent apartment. There are no clothes in the apartment and no food in the fridge. The landlady hasn't seen him since he rented the apartment. His business manager sends a check every month.
Ziva and Brett leave the Capitol; he holds the door open for her and ushers her through. He shuts the door behind her, locking her out. He waves good bye.
Back at the office, Ziva knows Brett has to be back at work for an 11 a.m. conference call. They find no license for George Kaplan, but Tony finds his business manager is Drew Turner and there's $1.1 million in his brokerage account. McGee searches the Internet and finds Kaplan filed state and federal tax returns, prepared by Turner.
Tony and McGee visit Drew Turner, who turns out to be a hot woman. She gets a call as they're waiting and assures her nervous client shell be there in about 10 minutes. She works out of her home. She says George is about 58, and she hasn't talked to him since last tax season. She says she'll meet them at NCIS after she meets with her client. Tony flirts shamelessly.
Gibbs and Ziva confront Brett, who says he ditched Ziva last night to meet a woman. He says he can take care of himself. Gibbs tells Ziva to follow him again.
Back in the lab, Abby searches male birth records for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. She hasn't run the prints from Kaplan's apartment yet and forgot to tell Tony and McGee that Drew Turner never showed up.
Tony confirms that the broker got the money transfer OK from Turner, which means she lied about not having spoken to Arliss recently.
They tracked a $500,000 withdrawal to a gambling website from Kaplan's brokerage account made before the other wire transfer. Turner is authorized to transfer on the account.
Tony and McGee return to her home office. She doesn't answer the door. Tony peers through the mail slot and sees why: she's hanging by her neck inside.
Down in the morgue, Duckie says the hanging was staged. She was choked to death. Upstairs, McGee wonders if there really is a Kaplan. Gibbs suggests McGee help distracted Abby look for her brother.
Ziva and Gibbs run the name Drew Turner by Lt. Cmdr. Brett, but he doesn't know it. He agrees to stay in protective custody.
Abby compares the Kaplan and Turner signatures on the brokerage account and is able to confirm they were made by two different people. Tony comes down, excited to announce the funds in the brokerage account came from the Broussard Bank in Geneva.
Nick the lobbyist busts in on Brett, worried they're about to lose a vote. Ziva excuses herself. Brett tells Nick about the threat, but says it'll go away in a few days.
Tony gives the rundown on George Kaplan's account, with four transfers totaling $1.4 million.
Abby comes up with three fingerprints from the brokerage account signature card: a clerk, Drew and Brett. More importantly, Brett's signature matches the George Kaplan signature. Now they wonder if he put a hit on himself and/or killed Drew Turner.
Tony finally has an epiphany that George Kaplan is the name of the guy who never existed in North by Northwest. They figure Drew Turner had to be in on setting up the fake account. Tony calls Ziva, and she listens in Brett's office as Tony tells her that Brett is Kaplan.
McGee got the name of the man whose DNA matches Abby's and Gibbs says he'll take care of it.
He brings it to Abby. His name is Kyle Davis. She wants to meet him. Gibbs offers to go, but she says she needs to go alone.
Gibbs gets the name of the company that wired the money to Brett/Kaplan, a military contractor, the same one who would benefit from the bill he's trying to get passed.
They find matching weekly credit card receipts to a bar, where Drew and Brett must have met. She laundered his kickbacks.
Abby visits the address McGee found; it's a pet rescue. Kyle looks just like her. He admires Abby's dog collar and says they have a pit bull terrier that has one just like it. He invites her to meet it.
Ziva escorts Brett to interrogation, where they find Nick the lobbyist finishing up with Tony and Gibbs.
Brett confesses, saying Drew had a gambling problem and was using George Kaplan's money to pay off her debts. He knew it was her as soon as they said Kaplan took out a hit on him since she's the only other one who knew the name.
He says he was putting the money away for his daughter's future needs. He asks for a lawyer.
There's a knock on Gibbs door late at night, interrupting his tea and reading. It's Abby. She says Kyle seems really nice but she didn't tell him, since he's giving a kidney the next day.
She couldn't reconcile her loving, wonderful parents ever giving up a child. But she realized they could have adopted a child: her.
She shows Gibbs her locket with a strand of her moms hair. She ran the DNA and it didn't match hers. She feels like Little Orphan Abby. Gibbs tells her her parents are still her parents. Family is more than just DNA. She wants to know why they didn't tell her she was adopted. Gibbs hugs her and says she doesn't have to do it alone, she has a family that will help her through it.
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