- In a national forest near Washington, DC, a young couple find the body of a Navy lieutenant commander in his dress-blue uniform; Gibbs and company investigate; on a rock nearby Tony finds a single word written in the victim's blood. The Metro PD finds the victim's abandoned car in Washington. Ducky finds that the shooter used ammunition of an unusual type, Gibbs and McGee talk with a specialty publisher, and Tony and Ziva find the body of an FBI agent, so Fornell enters the picture. The publisher leaves the country, then Gibbs and Fornell speak with the author of a mysterious book, who tells them about the contents. Tony, McGee, and Ziva arrive at a self-store room in time to see two stars and a couple of helpers get blown up; the admiral recovers well enough to go home, and he gives Gibbs and Fornell a lead; they pursue it, but Abby says to hold the phone, then she directs them to the real killer, and they nail him.—DocRushing
- A couple find the body of a Navy lieutenant commander; Gibbs and company investigate; a rock nearby bears a word written in his blood. Tony and Ziva find the body of an FBI agent. Abby steers Gibbs and Fornell to the killer, whom they nail.—DocRushing
- A couple goes on a drive in the forest. The wife pulls over to take a picture of a deer. When they get out they see a body in the grass.
At the office, Tony goes through Gibbs' mail. He thinks he sees the same wedding invitation that was on his desk last week.
Tony asks Ziva about her boyfriend Ray, they ask McGee about his gamer babe and there are insinuations about Tony's shower time.
Gibbs comes to announce the body of the week: A dead Lt. Commander.
Gibbs sees the wedding invitation on his desk and immediately pitches it in the recycle bin.
The victim is Commander Casey with the Defense Intelligence Agency. He was shot around 11 p.m. Ziva finds a blood trail. It leads to writing in blood on a rock: "Birdsong."
Gibbs talks in MTAC with an admiral who says "birdsong" means nothing to him.
In the morgue, Duckie tells Gibbs that Casey was shot with disintegrating copper rounds.
Upstairs, the team tries to dig into Patrick Casey's life but a lot of it is classified. A waiter from the restaurant that Casey's car was outside says he was there with a woman, but it was platonic. They shook hands after.
McGee finds references to a manuscript on DIA servers called "Operation Birdsong" from Capital Crossroads Press, a publishing house run by Madeline DuMont.
Tony steps into the women's shower fully clothed -- to read the wedding invitation sent to Gibbs. Ziva asks if Tony has seen Agent Barrett. Tony wonders why Ziva would ask in the shower (where he and Barrett supposedly hooked up).
McGee and Gibbs meet with Madeline DuMont. She tells them DIA confiscated her manuscript for "Operation Birdsong." She mentions they sent Admiral Hindley to get it. It's about corruption and weapons sales. She says the author is anonymous.
She points out that to force her to disclose the author they'd need to take the manuscript to court -- and they don't have it.
They show her a photo of dead Casey. She says he was one of two people sent an advance copy at the author's request.
Ziva and Tony go visit the other person, Agent Elizabeth Archer. The front door to her house is open when they get there. She's dead inside.
Later, Agent Fornell of the FBI is on the scene. He explains Archer was an expert in foreign intelligence stings. She was strangled with the same rope that was used to bind Casey's hands. But there are no defensive wounds, which Duckie finds odd. Fornell says she was loaned out to the DIA for covert ops last year. She looks like the waiter's description of the woman who ate with Casey. Her husband Derrick is a paramedic.
Fornell asks Gibbs if he got an invitation to Diane's wedding. Tony goes bug-eyed then walks away. Gibbs says he got three. McGee finds ash in the fire.
Fornell points out to Gibbs that with Diane married there's no more alimony.
Later, they talk to Derrick Archer, who doesn't really know what she did. He remembers "Operation Birdsong" on his wife's bedside table the last few days.
At work, Fornell remembers Diane's wedding day. Gibbs scoffs and Fornell insists he must have a good memory of her. "She caught her finger in a car door once," Gibbs says.
They bring the charred book remains to Abby.
She ran the ammo through the weapon's database but found nothing -- which means it's a prototype. The Flint was developed by Praeger on a DOD contract. The rest of the records were classified by the DIA.
Upstairs, McGee reports that DuMont feared for her life and just hopped a plane to Argentina. McGee calls her again for the author's name.
Gibbs and Fornell meet with First Lt. Sam Keeler, the author. Gibbs asks who he's hiding from. He says he's been staying with friends. They show him the victims' photos.
Keeler tells them he, Casey and Archer worked an anti-terrorism task force in Cypress. They took terrorists down by staging sales of black market weapons, a prototype the DOD rejected. The Flint. He says he still has an original on his computer hard drive in a storage locker.
Tony, Ziva and McGee go to the storage locker, arguing over whether Diane was wife two or three. They round the corner and see the admiral and two marines opening the locker. As they open the door, it explodes out at them.
Back at NCIS, Gibbs tells Keeler three DIA agents are in the hospital. Gibbs asks Keeler why he was discharged from the Marines early.
Keeler says the op was a waste of resources. 500 Flint rifles went missing. He was the fall guy. Casey later sent him field reports that said insurgents were using those weapons. The superior chalked it up to accidents happening.
In the lab, Abby and McGee work on the computer fragments. The manuscript backs up what Keeler said. They found a pattern Keeler didn't see. In the past year, almost all the weapon's trafficking has been picked up by a dealer named Jinn, who no one has ever seen.
Tony finds a manuscript fragment that mentions someone clearing their throat as pressure mounts.
Gibbs and Fornell go to see Admiral Hindley. He got a text sending him to the storage locker last night.
He says he can tell them where "she" is.
Cut to Alexis Ross, a college girl in interrogation. Fornell and Gibbs confront her with the name of the hitman she paid to bomb the admiral. They found names and routing numbers for terrorists on her computer. She's Jinn. She sighs and doesn't take Gibbs seriously. She says she's been studying for days.
Abby comes in and announces Ross was an arms dealer and did bomb the admiral but she didn't kill Archer and Casey -- she only got the manuscript yesterday.
Back at NCIS, Gibbs tells Keeler he read his book and noticed the dedication page: "For E.A. with love and thanks for the happiest days of my life." He admits to his affair with Elizabeth Archer. He's wearing the necklace he gave her that she gave back.
Abby calls Gibbs down to report she found muscle relaxor in Archer's blood, which is why she couldn't fight back. It has so many side effects that it's only used in emergency medicine.
Fornell and Gibbs visit Derrick Archer, the paramedic. His partner admits Archer told him to take a few hours the night of his wife's murder. They point out he could have seen the dedication page in the book on her nightstand.
He says he confronted her, but she denied it. He followed her to her dinner with Casey and drew the wrong conclusion. They tell him he killed the wrong guy.
The night of Diane's rehearsal dinner the team waits to see if he'll go.
Cut to Gibbs woodworking in his basement. Fornell comes for him in a tux, then decides he doesn't want to go either. The new guy is with Homeland Security.
Gibbs announces pizza is on the way. The doorbell rings and Fornell goes to get it. Fornell announces he just gave away the bride. Gibbs tells him he has a beautiful daughter.
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