- Two Marine officers return from Afghanistan after an ambush; one night one of them dies in a fistfight in an alley in Washington, DC; Gibbs and company investigate. The gang see a familiar face but do not yet find the person. [Continued.]
- Two Marine officers (a captain and a first lieutenant, close friends since childhood) have returned from Afghanistan after an ambush on their outfit; one night during a fistfight in an alley in Washington, DC, Michael, the lieutenant, dies; Gibbs and company investigate; they find and talk with Joe, the captain, who appears to have become shell-shocked. The gang learn that Joe received an honorable medical discharge eight months ago. Abby reconstructs the fight, and she finds an inconsistency; Gibbs talks again with Joe, who becomes confused and agitated. McGee and Abby identify the puncher, Kersey, who gives Gibbs a different account of the fight; Gibbs and Tony again find Joe, who says that he needs help; Gibbs helps him to get help. Then McGee shows a familiar face among a group of native rebels about the time of the ambush. Gibbs, Tony, and Ziva visit the suspect's home, where they find evidence; Gibbs tells the others to find him. [To be continued.]—DocRushing
- Two men run from five or six hooded men. The men catch up to both of them and, after being beaten, Joe watches as his friend Torres is dragged away into the night.
Tony comes in, delirious from his loud neighbors, who kept him up until 5 a.m. He accidentally took McGee's bag home last night and vice versa. He found his old Instamatic camera and is hoping Abby can develop the film. McGee also found Tony's old shag haircut boarding school picture.
Gibbs comes in with the body of the week, a dead Marine downtown. The scene is under a freeway overpass, he's First Lt. Michael Torres. Duckie says it looks like he was beaten to death around 2 to 3 a.m.
They get a call of a young white male with blood on his clothes breaking into Torres' apartment.
They go there and find Captain Joe Westcott going through Torres' things, hoping to get him back. They break the news to him and take him back to interrogation.
Torres and Westcott have known each other since they were kids and served together in Afghanistan for several tours. Westcott was discharged for medical reasons, nerve damage from an explosion that killed four Marines, eight months ago. They wonder why he didn't call 911.
Westcott tells Gibbs there were five or six attackers that followed them from a convenience store. He confesses to Gibbs that he ran when he saw Torres being dragged away. He saw one of the attackers. Westcott seems to zone out for a minute and Gibbs snaps him out of it.
In the morgue, Duckie explains they found no evidence Torres fought back. He died from his head hitting concrete. They have DNA from one of the attackers.
Upstairs, credit card receipts confirm Westcott's story. There's bad surveillance footage of the alley with "ghosts" on the tape from it being re-recorded over many times.
Tony comes in, they ID'd a man who left the convenience store after them, Joe Mathis. He was at the convenience store last night and has a record. Westcott doesn't recognize him, but has a finished sketch from the artist of another attacker.
Gibbs meets with Torres' fiancée Andrea. She mentions how excited he was that Westcott was in town visiting, he was worried about him.
Tony and Ziva go to Joe Mathis' house. He has scratches on his face. When Tony tells him to come with them, he sucker punches Tony. Tony slugs him and draws his gun.
In the interview room, Mathis admits he left the convenience store right after Torres and Westcott, but didn't follow them. He says he was at High Points, a strip club, all night. His girlfriend scratched him.
Tony calls the club and confirms Mathis was there from 2 to 6 a.m. His DNA doesn't match the sample they have.
Gibbs wants them to look into the Marines Torres served with. Gibbs surprises Tony by suggesting they don't need to take another look at Westcott.
Joe Westcott's brother Sgt. Evan Westcott comes to NCIS to see his brother. Joe said Evan was overseas, but he's on leave. Evan thinks his brother was just confused. He doesn't want to give Gibbs much information and leaves after Gibbs asks about their dad. Gibbs tells Evan what hotel Joe is at.
Down in the lab, Abby has recreated the attack based on multiple attackers and the 10 distinct wounds they found. But based on her measurements she only found two types of impressions, front and back. Two attackers. McGee hasn't been able to find multiple attackers on the tape. They wonder if Joe was lying.
Gibbs goes to talk to Joe and finds Evan waiting outside. Joe won't let him in, but he opens the door for Gibbs. Joe's room is a mess and he's been smoking, to the surprise of his brother. Joe asks what Evan is doing there, even though Joe's the one who called him. He covers up his notes when Gibbs tries to look at them. He's written "I J I" several times.
Gibbs tells him the evidence says there were two attackers. Joe gets defensive and starts yelling about his "friends" being dead. He throws Gibbs and Evan out, insisting that he knows what he saw.
Out in the hall, Evan doesn't understand what's wrong with his brother. Gibbs says Joe is confused, but Evan insists he's fine.
Duckie finds Gibbs down in the morgue with Torres' body. He thinks Joe is struggling with the truth. "I suspect that you know all too well the mask that the captain is wearing," Duckie says.
Gibbs wonders what Joe's notes with "I J I" could mean. He's worried this attack is bringing back memories of the past one where Westcott was wounded.
In the morning, Gibbs tells Tony and Ziva to find out what I-J-I means and to look into the original ambush. They can tell by his clothes that Gibbs never went home last night. They think he's getting too attached to the case because he sees something they don't.
Down in the lab, Abby also pulled an all-nighter and they have clear footage of the attack -- there was just one attacker and he matches Westcott's sketch. He's Randall Kersey, he has no military background.
Surveillance shows Torres and Westcott following Kersey. They also ID'd a substance from under Torres' fingernails: leather, like the jacket Westcott was wearing. They think Torres was holding him back.
Gibbs interview Kersey, a mild-mannered phone company worker. He ID's Westcott as the man who came after him, but says he didn't meant to hurt Torres. They followed him out of a convenience store and Westcott was yelling things that didn't make sense. Westcott attacked him as Torres tried to hold Westcott back. Torres was between them and getting punched from both sides.
Kersey says he pushed as hard as he could to get away and Torres hit the ground. Kersey says he panicked and ran.
He says Westcott came after him first and was crazy.
Back in the office, Ziva can't find Joe Westcott. Evan hasn't seen him. They get a call from the police that Westcott was spotted near the scene of Torres' death.
Gibbs and Tony head there and find Westcott carving "I J I" into a wooden door. He doesn't seem to hear them until Gibbs tells him his men need him. "You're not alone," Gibbs says.
Westcott drops his knife. "I think I need help," he says.
Gibbs shows Westcott the surveillance footage of him attacking Kersey. Gibbs is understanding and sympathetic, saying he had his "head scrambled" once. Westcott says he got confused and thought Kersey was part of the ambush that killed his friends in Afghanistan. He says he didn't know what was real and what wasn't and he was back in the ambush all over again, watching his friend get dragged away. Gibbs encourages him to face his fear.
Gibbs sits with Westcott and his brother as he meets with Dr. Pete to talk about PTSD. He's been having nightmares, insomnia and panic attacks for eight months. The doctor assures Joe he's not a burden. Evan apologizes for not helping him sooner. Their dad George joins them.
Ziva finds Tony being furtive in the break room. He got his camera developed and it has pictures of him as a young boy with his mom. He doesn't like to talk about her because it's too painful. She introduced him to movies. One picture is outside the last movie she ever took him to, "The Little Prince."
"That which is essential is invisible to the eye," Ziva says. "Ziva David, did you just quote a movie?" "No. I quoted a book that was made into a movie."
Back with the psychiatrist, George is not handling things well. He storms out. Dr. Pete encourages Westcott to call anytime. Westcott thanks Gibbs.
McGee makes plans for dinner later with Abby, passing on the all-dog talent show.
Tony gets the after action report on the ambush, the group responsible was the Ijia rebels, with strong ties to Hamas and Hezbollah. They pull up the surveillance footage of the group from satellite and zoom in on a group of men, including Randall Kersey.
Ziva, Gibbs and Tony head to his address on file. It's totally empty. In his storage shed, they find a piece of a building blueprint and equipment to build a bomb. They think he's planning something big.
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