NCIS Los Angeles s10e23 Episode Script
The Guardian
1 I'm at the culvert where PV-71 dropped last night.
There's no sign of her.
I'm gonna go have a look see.
TEDDY (over radio): Just be careful.
The campers reported the cat was acting highly aggressive last night.
Copy that.
Teddy, you getting anything? My GPS is totally dead out here.
Teddy? (radio static) (garbled radio transmission) I've got prints.
(chuckles) Its got to be 71.
Holy moly, she's gotten big.
These tracks seem to be about five inches wide and at least five inches long.
I'd say she's about a buck 50 by now.
Whoo.
(GPS beeping) (rustling nearby) (bird flutters away) TEDDY (over radio): Vanessa.
Vanessa, you copy? Janeese has a signal on 71 up on Sempress Ridge.
Vanessa, you there? (panting) NCIS: LA 10x23 The Guardian  (whistling)  Hey.
I, uh, thought you were taking a few days off.
- I did.
- No, you didn't.
Well, it felt like I did.
Where is everybody? Uh, Sam is giving a deposition, Kensi is at a Women in Law Enforcement seminar, and Deeks and Rogers are at IHOP.
According to Deeks, a waffle stack is cheaper than therapy.
Hmm.
What about Hetty and Nell? Per usual, I have no idea where Hetty is, and Nell is still at home dealing with some mom issues.
- How's she holding up? - Still hanging in there.
Nell, too, I guess.
(chuckles) How are you? Okay.
It'd be nice to have something new to keep my mind busy.
Do we have anything? Not really.
What's that? Um, the, uh, Forest Service found a badly burned body in a flood control culvert in Soledad Canyon.
Uh, Sheriff's Department then found a-a medical serial number on a artificial knee joint that may identify the deceased as, uh, let's see, Ellie Sims, yeah, former Marine cryptologist, currently working as a landscaper.
She still serves in the National Guard and was part of a DEA task force, uh, until she went off the grid six weeks ago.
The Guard listed her as U.
A.
and declared her a deserter 553.
Absentee wanted by the armed forces.
They suspected foul play? No, uh, she was estranged from her husband, dealing with some personal issues.
Local law enforcement never got anywhere.
It'll take a few days for a DNA analysis to confirm her identity 100%, though.
All right, well, I may take a drive out there anyways, take a look.
Cool.
You, uh, want some company? Maybe next time.
- Cool.
- Okay.
(sighs) You know what, why not? Let me get my weapon.
On second thought Uh, don't need a weapon.
Just kidding.
You know, who needs that when I got these.
Yeah.
Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
(bell dings) Somebody killed this woman and went to a lot of trouble to cover it up.
Why, 'cause she was burned? Yeah, that and the ligatures on her wrists, she was bound.
It appears that her skull was bashed in.
She was then burned, chopped up, and brought here to be buried.
My guess is the only reason we found her is 'cause of the rain.
Flash floods crested the riverbed and washed away her makeshift grave.
(clears throat) You good with all this? Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
It's just so violent.
She was somebody's friend, somebody's daughter.
Why would you ever do that to somebody else? How could you? I don't know.
Why don't you bring the team up to speed.
Have Kensi and Deeks meet with the family, maybe Sam can call the DEA task force liaison, talk to them before we get back.
- Yeah.
Copy that.
KENSI: I was pleasantly surprised about the amount of men at the event today.
Really? That's great.
Yeah.
- I will go next time.
- Really? Had my, uh, breakfast with Rogers.
(laughs) Oh, yeah.
When did that become a thing? It's not a thing.
Just two men breaking up a waffle, like Lady and the Tramp.
- With Rogers? - Yeah, he's like my Yoda.
I'm sure he would like you to refrain from calling him that.
- Why? Yoda's cool.
- Is he though? I mean (imitating Yoda): Judge me by my size, do you? - (laughing): Is that Gollum? - Oh, my God.
How dare you.
What? The only difference is, like, the ears and one sounds like Grover.
- Divorce.
I want a divorce.
- (gasps) Hello? Calvin Sims? Yeah? Hi, I'm Special Agent Kensi Blye, NCIS.
My partner, Detective Marty Deeks, LAPD.
I already spoke to the police.
Um, we understand that, and we are sorry for your loss.
I lost my wife months ago, only now she's dead.
Mind if we ask you a few questions? You want a drink? No.
Thank you, though.
We had good times.
Met in the Corps, fell in love.
We got out and started a life together, but Ellie had a difficult time adapting back to civilian life.
How so? She missed feeling like she was doing something important.
PTSD, maybe the rush, I don't know.
It was probably a lot of things.
She was a stud over there.
- Over where? - Afghanistan.
She was a signals expert and spoke three Middle Eastern languages, so she was always in the thick of it, front line and everywhere the teams went.
(chuckles) I used to tell her that she was my bodyguard.
And as a civilian? She tried a few different things after she came back, but she hated being inside.
She even slept on our balcony, while we were together.
She ended up taking a job with a landscaping company.
Did she, did she ever seek help? Yeah, but she bailed early on.
She found it hard to take advice from anybody who hadn't served in-country.
She preferred to self-medicate.
What's that look like? Drugs, alcohol? All of the above.
You never reported her missing.
Sure, I did.
Twice.
She eventually turned up.
I got tired of being the boy who cried wolf.
I thought she'd hit rock bottom at some point and we'd get to start over or she'd kill herself.
I didn't know how to help her.
You know if she had any enemies? Only the ones inside her.
Thank you.
Sorry.
The cartels' operational skills have become increasingly sophisticated.
They've embraced technology, including advanced encryption.
And that's why Staff Sergeant Ellie Sims was with your task force? Exactly.
Her skills were being used to break coded texts, e-mails, phone calls, anything we intercepted.
Was she ever in the field? No.
All her work was done after the fact.
Ellie was, um, she was really talented.
But she was also kept far away from any of the actual operations, so I'm not sure what we did with her could have anything to do with what happened to her.
Agent Del Campo.
It's been a while.
Yeah, tell me about it.
Cartels have been keeping me busy south of the border.
I am really sad that I missed Kensi and Deeks' wedding.
Although, you know, I did see some video of, uh are we calling it Sam's dance moves? - Right? (Talia laughs) Yeah, okay.
Talia's running Ellie Sims' task force.
- You're kidding.
- I wish I could help you guys.
Look, we'll keep our eyes open, but I don't think we have anything.
We appreciate it.
All right, gentlemen.
Good luck.
Say hi to everybody for me.
- All right, don't be a stranger.
- Hmm.
I distinctly remember you agreeing to, uh, relax until next week.
I am relaxed.
You're very damaged.
NELL: Oh.
Hey, Callen.
I, uh didn't expect to see you.
I thought you were taking some time off? - See? Even the kids are worried.
- (groans) Mm-hmm.
Nell, do you have anything for us? Yeah, the preliminary autopsy report suggests that the deceased's teeth and fingertips were removed.
She also showed signs of ligature wounds and electrical burns prior to being dismembered and buried.
She may have been tortured.
That's before someone went to all the trouble of ensuring the body had no forensic evidence.
This is a professional job.
Yeah.
Anybody can be murdered, but Ellie was professionally tortured and killed.
Well, Calvin Sims was a Marine.
Do you think he was exposed to advanced interrogation techniques? - Oh, I doubt it.
- He seemed pretty broken up about it.
- Why? Because she's dead or because we found where he dumped the body? - Whoa.
What? He could have tortured her as revenge for an affair or try to get her to admit to an illicit tryst.
- Remind me never to have an affair.
- Okay.
Hey, by the way, never have an affair.
- You want to know why? - Because you would torture me? - No, because I'd cry.
- Oh.
It would break my heart into, like, a thousand pieces and I'd curl up into the fetal position for, like, ever.
- Leave it to you to make a horrible moment into something romantic.
That's what love sounds like.
(laughs) - Guys, I hate to interrupt.
- Hey.
No, please, what do you got? So, I've been checking into Ellie's reports from the DEA task force and it looks like she flagged several encrypted texts that she believed to be communications between ISIS operatives coming out of Syria.
Out of Syria to where? To here.
- To the United States.
- What? And they didn't have anything to do with the cartels? No.
So, initially, the texts were detected by computer, probably due to the sophisticated nature of the encryption itself, but she recognized that the codes were the same ones used by ISIS.
The reports didn't go to the FBI or Homeland Security? No, and on top of that, none of Ellie's findings have been included in any e-mail correspondence between her and the DEA task force.
Okay, well, if it had nothing to do with the cartels, then it would have been classified and she wouldn't have sent it to him.
So who else is in her chain of command? She had a supervisor, a Sergeant First Class Michael Baird, but again, there was no mention of any ISIS texts in his e-mails.
Okay, so, a respected cryptologist finds ISIS communications into the U.
S.
and there is no paper trail except for the report she wrote? That doesn't make any sense.
Until now, ISIS has had no footprint in this country.
This information would light up law enforcement and intelligence like a Christmas tree.
I want to talk to her supervisor.
That is SFC Michael Baird, he's a foreman at a lumberyard in Northridge.
I'm guessing the addresses are already On your phones.
Thank you.
Tell, uh, Callen and Sam we'll meet them there.
KENSI: Great work.
- Yeah.
Thanks.
Michael Baird.
Detective Marty Deeks, LAPD.
Hi, Special Agent Kensi Blye, NCIS.
Is this about Staff Sergeant Ellie Sims? - Yes, it is.
- Heard they found her.
How well did you know her? A little bit; I worked border patrol a few days a month for a year and a half, until we were pulled to work a DEA task force.
- And you supervised her? - I was a liaison between the task force and National Guard.
We worked surveillance, ran down license plates, made I.
D.
s from photographs, transcribed wire taps.
And she decoded encrypted communications? Yeah.
It was very specialized work.
We understand that Ellie might have found encrypted text messages she believed were communication from ISIS out of Syria into the United States.
Yeah.
At least, she thought she did.
What does that mean? Look (sighs) We were all trying to protect her.
- There were issues.
- Like? Coming home can be real tough.
We're not here to attack her character.
She had a lot of problems.
Alcohol, drugs heard her marriage was in trouble.
I'm sorry, what does this have to do with these communications? She claimed ISIS was operating in the United States.
Really? And you thought she made that up? She was in pain.
Angry.
(over comm): The Marine in her was looking for a fight.
Even without a war.
Yeah.
We call it "punching ghosts.
" It was all made up.
You didn't want to look into it anyway? Of course I wanted to look into it.
When I asked to see the decoded texts, she got angry, like I didn't trust her.
An hour later, I apologized, told her I was on her side.
And then she sent the text? She told me to forget it.
She made a mistake and there was nothing there.
You believed her? I didn't know.
So I went to the computer to check the text myself.
If there was anything, I was gonna send it to another cryptologist but they were missing.
Gone.
I don't know, I think she deleted them.
I (exhales sharply) It just makes me sick.
When I heard she was dead, I prayed I hadn't shamed her into killing herself.
KENSI: Do you know of anybody who would have wanted to hurt Ellie? BAIRD: Ellie, no.
No way.
Why? Was this not a suicide? We're still in the early phases of the investigation.
ISIS is having trouble in Syria.
I can't imagine they're trying to make inroads here.
Well, the ISIS brides are coming back into the U.
S.
but it could be just communication between them.
Nothing nefarious, just family stuff.
Or using them as operatives? Either way, we need to find out.
Eric, you still online? I am.
SAM: We need Homeland, FBI and NSA records on any communication from known ISIS operatives coming into the U.
S.
- On it.
And, Eric, if there are any, we need to see the content.
Just in case she wasn't crazy.
Copy that.
Drinking, self-medicating Seems pretty common.
Yeah, but making up intelligence is a bigger leap off the reality cliff.
Hmm.
What, you think Baird was lying? Seemed legit to me.
- Could just be a good liar.
- Hmm.
Even if she got herself into trouble, got herself killed, it doesn't explain why she was tortured.
Tortured or enhanced interrogation? Now, that would point to the military.
This hit was professional.
Guys, SFC Baird is on the move.
DEEKS: You know, he was pretty upset.
Maybe he's decided to take the rest of the day off.
Or you spooked him.
SAM: We'll follow him.
See where he goes.
(engine starts) KENSI: See you back at the ranch.
Eric, is this Baird's house? ERIC: Uh, yeah.
He's married to Olivia Baird.
- No kids.
CALLEN: This guy have any disciplinary incidents in the military? Um, no.
Clean record.
High evaluation marks.
I'd love to get another run at this guy.
Let's go for a run.
(doorbell rings) - Hello? - Hi.
NCIS Special Agent Callen.
Special Agent Sam Hanna.
Oh.
What's this about? We actually want to talk to your husband.
Nothing bad.
We just need to ask him a few questions about somebody he worked with at the National Guard.
Oh, well, he's not here.
He's at work.
Oh, his-his truck's here.
I We watched him walk inside.
I'm sorry, I was in the back doing laundry.
I must not have heard him.
Do you mind if we come in? Sure.
(door closes) - Back door.
- Excuse me.
What are you doing? Michael Baird.
Agents Hanna and Callen.
You spoke to one of our colleagues earlier? (grunts) No one could have survived that.
Thank you.
How's Baird's wife doing? KENSI: She's pretty shell-shocked.
She's inside with LAPD right now.
So, the bomb went off seconds after Baird entered the shed? CALLEN: Bomb squad said there was a prewired explosive device already in place.
Huh.
Did he detonate it himself, or was it on a remote? That's what we need to find out.
CALLEN: Talk to his wife.
If Baird did kill Staff Sergeant Sims, she may know something that could help us.
- Copy that.
- Got it.
So sorry for your loss, Mrs.
Baird.
Thank you.
Please, call me Olivia.
Olivia, do you have any idea why there were explosives in your work shed? No.
And I can't think of anyone who would want to harm Michael.
Do you have leads? You think somebody killed your husband? He was blown up at our home.
Yes, I'd say it's pretty cut-and-dry that someone murdered him.
Uh, I-I'm sorry to tell you this, Olivia, but, um, we haven't found any evidence of a remote detonation.
I-I don't know what that means.
KENSI: It basically means that, as of now, it seems that Michael detonated the bomb himself.
My husband didn't kill himself.
I understand that this is hard No, Michael didn't kill himself.
You have to find out who did this.
Looks like the bomb was centered right here.
Yeah.
I don't see any signs of a remote detonator or a cell phone trigger.
Well, if it wasn't triggered by somebody else, Baird may have constructed this whole setup himself.
It could've been a trap.
Forensics might find evidence of a trip wire.
Maybe.
But if Baird did kill Staff Sergeant Ellie Sims, this could've been his exit plan.
Or he needed to destroy something in here with the bomb.
Lot of scenarios.
Check this out.
Looks like a piece of a det cord spool.
Can't buy these without a permit.
Baird didn't have an explosives permit.
It would've come up.
Then we need to figure out how he got his hands on this.
So the det cord was reported stolen from an underwater mining company in Santa Barbara almost a year ago, and Skip Mattson quit that same company three months after the theft.
But he has no criminal record? Uh, no, but he and SFC Michael Baird exchanged a phone call last month.
It's not a lot.
But it's something.
These guys are careful.
Yeah.
I'll keep digging.
- Never hurts to ask.
- Yeah.
SAM: Skip Mattson.
We're federal agents Hey Any time, G.
Just checking out the decor! CALLEN: You see signs of anyone else in the house? I was too busy getting shot at.
CALLEN: Clear.
Clear.
Hey.
You recognize this? Yeah, that's Naval Base Point Loma.
Home of Undersea Rescue Command and Submarine Squadron 11.
You don't think he wanted to blow up a submarine? I sure as hell hope not.
Beale, get an emergency warrant.
I need you to check out this guy's PC.
ERIC: Copy that.
Nell, what do you got? Well, it looks like SFC Michael Baird may have been aligned with ISIS sympathizers.
The person he got the stolen explosives from? Yes, Skip Mattson.
Apparently, he stole them from a former employer.
Uh, Callen, Sam and Eric are at his place now, and apparently, it looks like Mattson was deep down the ISIS rabbit hole.
So we got an ISIS sympathizer tied to the killing of a National Guardsman? Well, this just got real.
Hmm.
You think Baird's wife would know anything about this? I think that's a question we should ask her.
- Good work.
- Thanks.
So can you pull contacts and Web browser history No.
What do you mean, no? Uh, I mean, none of that stuff is on here.
Mattson was using this as a dedicated gaming PC, which I guess is kind of impressive, but, uh, kind of overkill; there's plenty of memory and storage on here Is this thing gonna give us anything on Mattson? Yeah.
It'll tell you that he's into fantasy.
Well, historic, grounded fantasy.
He was playing, uh, Viking War Blood.
Scratch that.
He was addicted to Viking War Blood.
A game.
- Well, technically - It's an MMOG.
- MMORPG.
CALLEN: A what? A massively multiplayer online game.
Aiden was into this, all right? I bought him one.
- Huh.
- Anyway, Mattson was playing this every night with his team.
Okay, so, can you I.
D.
his teammates he played with? Usernames, that'll be easy, but, uh, real I.
D.
s, that'll take some time.
Well, how about his teammates' locations? Do you know where they were playing this from? Yeah, hold on.
If I can log in to his ISP, uh That's odd.
He was only playing with two other teammates.
Okay, what's odd about that? How many people should he have been playing with? For Viking War Blood? Like, a dozen at least.
Huh.
Guys, check out their IP addresses.
SAM: Those are Naval addresses.
What base? (computer beeps) It's not a base, it's the USS Allegiance.
So we have an ISIS sympathizer who may have been planning an attack on a submarine base that is now in constant contact with two people aboard the largest aircraft carrier in our fleet? SAM: If they are planning an attack on the Allegiance, it'll make the attack on the USS Cole look insignificant.
Contact SECNAV.
We need to issue a Navy-wide alert.
Mm-hmm.
Scratch that.
We need to alert all the armed forces.
There's a chance that other branches of military could have been compromised as well.
Oh, my God.
This is really bad.
We're gonna fix it before it gets worse.
ERIC: We've sent you an encrypted file with everything we have up to this point, and we will, uh, continue to keep you updated with anything we find.
Likewise, from my end.
SAM: Intelligence Analyst Nell Jones, Special Agent Callen, this is Brian Lee, Special Agent Afloat.
He's aboard the USS Allegiance in the Persian Gulf.
Wish we were meeting under different circumstances.
CALLEN: No doubt.
We've brought Agent Lee up to speed on everything we know so far.
Have you had any incidents on board that would corroborate our findings? Possibly.
I'm still trying to digest all this.
I will have to review several incidents in the light of this new information.
Truth is, with a few exceptions, I've got over 5,000 potential suspects on this ship.
And due to the potential danger and urgency, I'm gonna need some help.
Agent Callen and I have made arrangements and we should be at your disposal in less than 24 hours.
I appreciate that.
CALLEN: In the interim, you'll have the cooperation of this entire office and all its personnel.
Thank you.
Safe travels, gentlemen.
Thank you.
Okay.
So you guys are gonna have to hold the fort down with Kensi and Deeks until we return.
And what about Point Loma? They're on full alert.
Hopefully, the threat has been eliminated with Mattson.
Yeah, and that's all the more reason for you guys to find out everybody else that Mattson's been in contact with.
- Don't worry.
We're on it.
- Yeah? Steel Beach, here we come.
All right, Major, thank you so much for your time.
I appreciate it.
Bye.
- Baird had an airtight alibi.
- What? Yeah, he was at Fort Irwin doing his annual two weeks' training with the Guard when Staff Sergeant Ellie Sims disappeared.
- So he couldn't have killed her? - No.
SAM: Well, why would Baird blow himself up if he didn't kill Sims? Doesn't mean he wasn't a part of the plot.
Could have been destroying evidence.
It seems a little extreme.
That's why they're called extremists.
The bottom line is, if Baird didn't murder Ellie Sims, her killer's still out there.
Killer and torturer.
Yeah, we can go after the husband again.
I don't think he's right for this.
He seemed really devastated about her death.
Baird wasn't working alone.
Hell, he could have two coconspirators on one of our nuclear-powered carriers.
Who knows how many more are out there? I know this isn't the best time to break up the team, but No, no, no.
We got this.
The safety of that warship is more important.
(grunts) Good luck.
KENSI: Yeah, you, too.
Bye.
Yo.
Can I drive your Hellcat? - Nope.
- Come on.
I'll treat her like a spoiled baby.
- Don't even think about it.
- Okay, thanks.
I will.
- No, you're not.
- Am.
- Not.
- Am.
Not.
Am not.
ERIC: So Ellie Sims stumbles upon an encrypted ISIS communication, which curiously disappears right before she does.
(phone rings) Hello? All right, she's tortured and murdered while her supervisor, who she informed of the mysterious encryption, is out of town.
Now, he has an alibi, and yet, he still blows himself up and destroys a bunch of evidence in the process.
What did he not want us to find? What sort of complications? No, I know I'm not a doctor.
Neither are you, but you're the one up there with them, so that's why I'm asking what did the doctor say? Uh, I'm not getting angry.
Sydney.
(sighs) Come on.
Sydney, just stop crying.
Is Dad there with you? Can-can you just have him call me? Yes, thank you.
Nope.
I'm not angry.
All right, bye.
Oh, my God, she makes me so angry! What's going on? She went up to visit my mom and essentially found her unresponsive and had to call 911.
Oh, my God.
What's wrong? I don't know, because she doesn't know.
She says "complications," like that tells me anything.
Go.
Go? Go-go where? I can't leave.
Yes, you can and you need to.
No, Eric, I'm not about to abandon my post.
You're not abandoning your post, you're you're going to be with your mom when she needs you the most.
We've got this.
Oh, yeah, look around, Blondie.
You're on your own.
Look, I'll bring in some help.
Will you just go? Like who? Fatima's on assignment.
What are you gonna do, call Fang? No.
I've got this, all right? Hetty would insist you leave.
So would Callen and Sam.
Don't make me tell on you.
I just, I don't like leaving you here alone.
You're not.
Go.
Fine.
I love you.
I love you, too.
I'll call you with my flight info as soon as I book something.
Yeah.
- Come on, come on.
- What do you got? I got nothing.
Her cell's going straight to voice mail.
She's probably staying with friends or family.
All right, well, then I am texting Eric to see if he can locate her phone.
'Cause something about this is hinky.
Ugh.
Don't say that.
You don't think it's hinky? I don't think you should say "hinky" because that sounds very "juvi.
" (chuckles) Welcome to married life.
(chuckles) I get it.
You don't think it's a little bit weird that we found no plans to attack civilian targets? Military targets are more symbolic.
- Really? - Yeah.
Absolutely.
Let me just play the devil's advocate here.
Oh, my gosh, here we go.
Go ahead, Judge Judy.
Would you not admit that it's more difficult to hit a military target than a civilian one? - For the most part.
- Would you also admit that this terrorist organization has suffered some massive setbacks recently? Yes, of course.
And yet, by some sort of dark magic, they suddenly have resources in this country? I'm sorry, do you have a point, or should I get myself a sandwich? 'Cause I'm getting hungry.
Wow.
Sandwich joke.
Noted.
I'm just saying they're barely surviving in their own territory.
Which is why they probably have sympathizers here.
Maybe.
But if you're struggling to hang on, and you need a big win to champion your cause and rally support, why would you run the risk of failure just for the sake of symbolism? Right? Even if they were successful, even if they sank the USS Cole with everybody on board, it still wouldn't have the same impact as the World Trade Center.
Because civilians can emotionally detach themselves from it because it's a military target.
- That is true.
- All right, we also know that they had explosives, right? Mm-hmm.
And if Staff Sergeant Ellie Sims hadn't been assigned to the DEA's cartel task force, they wouldn't even be on our radar right now.
Which means they could have been out there for weeks, for months, for years.
Which begs the question to be asked, Kensi, what are they waiting for? Well, they could be waiting to put somebody on one of our carriers.
- Exactly.
But that doesn't happen overnight.
Which means they're playing the long game, which takes, what? It takes time, it takes money.
These guys are incredibly well organized, extremely sophisticated, to the place where they have infiltrated two different branches of our armed service.
Maybe more.
You know what, I'm starting to think that this is an espionage operation and not a terror cell.
See, now that's what I'm saying.
Yeah, I think you're right.
I think this is some serious hink.
(phone rings) One moment on that one.
Beale, did you find her? Uh, yeah, no joy.
It's either turned off or the battery's dead.
The last time she used it was several hours ago.
Before her husband was killed.
Whoa.
What do we have here? Holy crap burgers.
- Holy crap burgers? - Wha-What's going on, Eric? Volkoff.
Volkoff, as in Pavel? As in, died in Cuba? Well, he may be dead now, but he was using a sat phone in Cuba and exchanged a call with Olivia Baird before we even knew he was in this part of the world.
Holy crap burgers.
And there's your hink.
I know.
It's-it's "hinky.
" It's-it's an adjective.
It's not a noun.
Deeks, I think we just stumbled upon a Russian state-sanctioned operation.
Oh, my God.
(indistinct chatter) Welcome aboard, gentlemen.
Follow me.
Keep your heads low.
MAN (over P.
A.
): All hands deck, clear spot four.
Spot four for recovery.
621.
All hands deck, clear for recovery.
621.
Check it out.
(indistinct announcement over P.
A.
) Nice landing.
Thank you.
NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna.
Special Agent Callen.
Captain Harmon Rabb.
Welcome aboard, gentlemen.
This way.
MAN (over P.
A.
): Captain United States Navy arriving.
(indistinct announcement over P.
A.
) What's going on, Captain? We're searching for a missing crew member.
Man overboard? We hope not, but we've initiated a search of the area we've covered since he was last seen just in case.
Is Special Agent Afloat Brian Lee involved with the search? Unfortunately, Special Agent Lee is the crew member we're looking for.
Oh.
(laughs) God, they're just so adorable at this age.
- Maybe we should adopt him.
- Mm.
I mean, he's housebroken.
Yeah, I'm assuming so.
(quietly): Eric? Beale? - Eric? - Yup.
So, hey, um, hey.
I was just just running some scenarios through the old think tank.
You know, kind of helps if I eliminate any and all visual stimuli.
(clears throat) - Okay.
ERIC: Mm-hmm.
Did you sleep here last night? Uh, s um, sleep? No.
Uh, stay yeah.
There's a 12-hour time difference between here and the gulf where Callen and Sam are, so, their day-- my night.
Right.
Listen, you should go home, get some sleep, and we can figure this out with Nell.
That would be great, but she went home to San Francisco last night.
Oh, no.
What happened? Uh, some complications with her mom.
Sorry.
Uh, we read Callen and Sam's sitrep on the way in.
Do we have any more information on missing Agent Afloat Lee? We don't.
(clears throat) It's been 24 hours, guys.
The water's warm, so if he went overboard, he could still be alive.
Yeah, maybe.
What about Olivia Baird? Did you locate her? Not yet.
KENSI: What about anything on the connection between Olivia Baird and Volkoff? No more phone calls.
At least not on her personal cell.
If there were further communications, it was on another phone or by some other means.
And you're sure that call came from Volkoff? - Absolutely.
- She's got to be an illegal.
What else you got, Beale? Break it down.
All right.
(clears throat) Olivia Baird.
She was born in Canada.
Her maiden name was Langdon.
She came here when she was 11.
Now, her parents changed their last name from Langdon to Baird when they became U.
S.
citizens in '94.
I'm still waiting for the Canadian authorities to verify her credentials and her parents'.
That's weird for a family to change their last name unless it's something like "Tallywhacker.
" Unless somebody's looking for you.
Well, hold on a second.
So you're telling me that the wife's maiden name's the same as the husband's? Here's where it gets interesting.
He took her surname when they got married, and changed his first name.
He was born Mairbek Anzarov, in, uh, Kurla-Yurt.
It's right outside Grozny.
It was considered Russia when he was born there in '85, and now it's Chechnya.
The deeper we dig, the uglier it gets.
Keep digging into both of them and bring Sam and Callen up to speed.
What does Olivia Baird do for a living? Um, she's a producer.
Well, that sounds like a fancy pants.
- - What has she produced? Nothing that I can find.
But Rogers pushed through a FISA warrant so maybe you can find something.
We'll see.
SAM: So, no red flags in his correspondence? Nothing in his open cases, either.
Maybe there's a way to get Eric in the system.
We could be missing something.
Or some hidden files or something.
Mm-hmm.
(knocking) Captain.
How you gentlemen making out? Ugh.
We haven't found anything useful yet.
Well, I'm not sure you will.
We haven't had any real problems since we deployed, and we run a tight ship.
With all due respect, Captain, your Special Agent Afloat is missing, and you have at least two people on this ship that have been in contact with an ISIS sympathizer.
The safety and security of this vessel and her crew are my number one responsibility, Agent Callen.
Now, if there was a threat on board this ship, Agent Lee never brought it to my attention.
He probably didn't know about it.
We think they're using an online gaming platform to communicate.
That could be a way for Eric in.
You're right.
Our chief technical officer.
Well, you let me know whatever you need.
I want answers, Agents.
If there is a legitimate threat on board this vessel, we need to identify and eliminate it fast.
Aye aye, Captain.
All right.
Old habits.
MAN (over P.
A.
): XO contact the bridge.
XO contact the bridge.
This is the XO.
Is he alive? Well, let me know.
I'll meet the recovery team at the hospital.
Search team thinks they've found Agent Lee in the ocean.
(indistinct announcement over P.
A.
) Hey, you.
Just uh, checking in on, uh, what's happening here.
You got an update for me? Stop talking.
(sighs) Should I go get a sandwich? It's not so fun being on the receiving end of the sandwich joke, is it? - Whatever.
- All right.
Move out of the way.
I'm going old school.
Look out, lady bird.
Coming in hot.
Hee-yah! Oh, my God! I think you need a new school.
Walk it off.
Ah, I think I just dislocated my shoulder.
Oh.
Uh-oh.
Looks like Olivia Baird went out of business.
Aah.
Oh, she knew we were onto her.
Chances of finding something here are slim to none.
So what now? Well, we could talk to other tenants in the building, see if they know anything, or we could head back to her house, although I'm pretty sure she has that cleaned out, too.
Ooh! I don't know why, but it feels like we're striking out.
No, no, no.
It's only the bottom of the third.
Sam and Callen yet to bat.
You okay? (yells) Oh You all right? - How dare you.
- Oh, I'm sorry.
(indistinct announcement over P.
A.
) Where is he? Commander, NCIS Agents Callen and Hanna.
This is our medical officer, Commander Quinn.
He was one of yours? Yes, ma'am.
He drowned? I can't say anything for certain without an autopsy, but there's a good chance he was dead before he hit the water.
From what? He was stabbed six times.
These two punctured his lungs.
These two severed his renal arteries.
He received two more to his groin.
One missed, but the other severed his femoral.
So he bled to death.
Most likely.
If he bled out, you would have found signs during your search.
Unless someone cleaned it up.
Captain, you've got a killer on your ship.
There's no sign of her.
I'm gonna go have a look see.
TEDDY (over radio): Just be careful.
The campers reported the cat was acting highly aggressive last night.
Copy that.
Teddy, you getting anything? My GPS is totally dead out here.
Teddy? (radio static) (garbled radio transmission) I've got prints.
(chuckles) Its got to be 71.
Holy moly, she's gotten big.
These tracks seem to be about five inches wide and at least five inches long.
I'd say she's about a buck 50 by now.
Whoo.
(GPS beeping) (rustling nearby) (bird flutters away) TEDDY (over radio): Vanessa.
Vanessa, you copy? Janeese has a signal on 71 up on Sempress Ridge.
Vanessa, you there? (panting) NCIS: LA 10x23 The Guardian  (whistling)  Hey.
I, uh, thought you were taking a few days off.
- I did.
- No, you didn't.
Well, it felt like I did.
Where is everybody? Uh, Sam is giving a deposition, Kensi is at a Women in Law Enforcement seminar, and Deeks and Rogers are at IHOP.
According to Deeks, a waffle stack is cheaper than therapy.
Hmm.
What about Hetty and Nell? Per usual, I have no idea where Hetty is, and Nell is still at home dealing with some mom issues.
- How's she holding up? - Still hanging in there.
Nell, too, I guess.
(chuckles) How are you? Okay.
It'd be nice to have something new to keep my mind busy.
Do we have anything? Not really.
What's that? Um, the, uh, Forest Service found a badly burned body in a flood control culvert in Soledad Canyon.
Uh, Sheriff's Department then found a-a medical serial number on a artificial knee joint that may identify the deceased as, uh, let's see, Ellie Sims, yeah, former Marine cryptologist, currently working as a landscaper.
She still serves in the National Guard and was part of a DEA task force, uh, until she went off the grid six weeks ago.
The Guard listed her as U.
A.
and declared her a deserter 553.
Absentee wanted by the armed forces.
They suspected foul play? No, uh, she was estranged from her husband, dealing with some personal issues.
Local law enforcement never got anywhere.
It'll take a few days for a DNA analysis to confirm her identity 100%, though.
All right, well, I may take a drive out there anyways, take a look.
Cool.
You, uh, want some company? Maybe next time.
- Cool.
- Okay.
(sighs) You know what, why not? Let me get my weapon.
On second thought Uh, don't need a weapon.
Just kidding.
You know, who needs that when I got these.
Yeah.
Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
(bell dings) Somebody killed this woman and went to a lot of trouble to cover it up.
Why, 'cause she was burned? Yeah, that and the ligatures on her wrists, she was bound.
It appears that her skull was bashed in.
She was then burned, chopped up, and brought here to be buried.
My guess is the only reason we found her is 'cause of the rain.
Flash floods crested the riverbed and washed away her makeshift grave.
(clears throat) You good with all this? Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
It's just so violent.
She was somebody's friend, somebody's daughter.
Why would you ever do that to somebody else? How could you? I don't know.
Why don't you bring the team up to speed.
Have Kensi and Deeks meet with the family, maybe Sam can call the DEA task force liaison, talk to them before we get back.
- Yeah.
Copy that.
KENSI: I was pleasantly surprised about the amount of men at the event today.
Really? That's great.
Yeah.
- I will go next time.
- Really? Had my, uh, breakfast with Rogers.
(laughs) Oh, yeah.
When did that become a thing? It's not a thing.
Just two men breaking up a waffle, like Lady and the Tramp.
- With Rogers? - Yeah, he's like my Yoda.
I'm sure he would like you to refrain from calling him that.
- Why? Yoda's cool.
- Is he though? I mean (imitating Yoda): Judge me by my size, do you? - (laughing): Is that Gollum? - Oh, my God.
How dare you.
What? The only difference is, like, the ears and one sounds like Grover.
- Divorce.
I want a divorce.
- (gasps) Hello? Calvin Sims? Yeah? Hi, I'm Special Agent Kensi Blye, NCIS.
My partner, Detective Marty Deeks, LAPD.
I already spoke to the police.
Um, we understand that, and we are sorry for your loss.
I lost my wife months ago, only now she's dead.
Mind if we ask you a few questions? You want a drink? No.
Thank you, though.
We had good times.
Met in the Corps, fell in love.
We got out and started a life together, but Ellie had a difficult time adapting back to civilian life.
How so? She missed feeling like she was doing something important.
PTSD, maybe the rush, I don't know.
It was probably a lot of things.
She was a stud over there.
- Over where? - Afghanistan.
She was a signals expert and spoke three Middle Eastern languages, so she was always in the thick of it, front line and everywhere the teams went.
(chuckles) I used to tell her that she was my bodyguard.
And as a civilian? She tried a few different things after she came back, but she hated being inside.
She even slept on our balcony, while we were together.
She ended up taking a job with a landscaping company.
Did she, did she ever seek help? Yeah, but she bailed early on.
She found it hard to take advice from anybody who hadn't served in-country.
She preferred to self-medicate.
What's that look like? Drugs, alcohol? All of the above.
You never reported her missing.
Sure, I did.
Twice.
She eventually turned up.
I got tired of being the boy who cried wolf.
I thought she'd hit rock bottom at some point and we'd get to start over or she'd kill herself.
I didn't know how to help her.
You know if she had any enemies? Only the ones inside her.
Thank you.
Sorry.
The cartels' operational skills have become increasingly sophisticated.
They've embraced technology, including advanced encryption.
And that's why Staff Sergeant Ellie Sims was with your task force? Exactly.
Her skills were being used to break coded texts, e-mails, phone calls, anything we intercepted.
Was she ever in the field? No.
All her work was done after the fact.
Ellie was, um, she was really talented.
But she was also kept far away from any of the actual operations, so I'm not sure what we did with her could have anything to do with what happened to her.
Agent Del Campo.
It's been a while.
Yeah, tell me about it.
Cartels have been keeping me busy south of the border.
I am really sad that I missed Kensi and Deeks' wedding.
Although, you know, I did see some video of, uh are we calling it Sam's dance moves? - Right? (Talia laughs) Yeah, okay.
Talia's running Ellie Sims' task force.
- You're kidding.
- I wish I could help you guys.
Look, we'll keep our eyes open, but I don't think we have anything.
We appreciate it.
All right, gentlemen.
Good luck.
Say hi to everybody for me.
- All right, don't be a stranger.
- Hmm.
I distinctly remember you agreeing to, uh, relax until next week.
I am relaxed.
You're very damaged.
NELL: Oh.
Hey, Callen.
I, uh didn't expect to see you.
I thought you were taking some time off? - See? Even the kids are worried.
- (groans) Mm-hmm.
Nell, do you have anything for us? Yeah, the preliminary autopsy report suggests that the deceased's teeth and fingertips were removed.
She also showed signs of ligature wounds and electrical burns prior to being dismembered and buried.
She may have been tortured.
That's before someone went to all the trouble of ensuring the body had no forensic evidence.
This is a professional job.
Yeah.
Anybody can be murdered, but Ellie was professionally tortured and killed.
Well, Calvin Sims was a Marine.
Do you think he was exposed to advanced interrogation techniques? - Oh, I doubt it.
- He seemed pretty broken up about it.
- Why? Because she's dead or because we found where he dumped the body? - Whoa.
What? He could have tortured her as revenge for an affair or try to get her to admit to an illicit tryst.
- Remind me never to have an affair.
- Okay.
Hey, by the way, never have an affair.
- You want to know why? - Because you would torture me? - No, because I'd cry.
- Oh.
It would break my heart into, like, a thousand pieces and I'd curl up into the fetal position for, like, ever.
- Leave it to you to make a horrible moment into something romantic.
That's what love sounds like.
(laughs) - Guys, I hate to interrupt.
- Hey.
No, please, what do you got? So, I've been checking into Ellie's reports from the DEA task force and it looks like she flagged several encrypted texts that she believed to be communications between ISIS operatives coming out of Syria.
Out of Syria to where? To here.
- To the United States.
- What? And they didn't have anything to do with the cartels? No.
So, initially, the texts were detected by computer, probably due to the sophisticated nature of the encryption itself, but she recognized that the codes were the same ones used by ISIS.
The reports didn't go to the FBI or Homeland Security? No, and on top of that, none of Ellie's findings have been included in any e-mail correspondence between her and the DEA task force.
Okay, well, if it had nothing to do with the cartels, then it would have been classified and she wouldn't have sent it to him.
So who else is in her chain of command? She had a supervisor, a Sergeant First Class Michael Baird, but again, there was no mention of any ISIS texts in his e-mails.
Okay, so, a respected cryptologist finds ISIS communications into the U.
S.
and there is no paper trail except for the report she wrote? That doesn't make any sense.
Until now, ISIS has had no footprint in this country.
This information would light up law enforcement and intelligence like a Christmas tree.
I want to talk to her supervisor.
That is SFC Michael Baird, he's a foreman at a lumberyard in Northridge.
I'm guessing the addresses are already On your phones.
Thank you.
Tell, uh, Callen and Sam we'll meet them there.
KENSI: Great work.
- Yeah.
Thanks.
Michael Baird.
Detective Marty Deeks, LAPD.
Hi, Special Agent Kensi Blye, NCIS.
Is this about Staff Sergeant Ellie Sims? - Yes, it is.
- Heard they found her.
How well did you know her? A little bit; I worked border patrol a few days a month for a year and a half, until we were pulled to work a DEA task force.
- And you supervised her? - I was a liaison between the task force and National Guard.
We worked surveillance, ran down license plates, made I.
D.
s from photographs, transcribed wire taps.
And she decoded encrypted communications? Yeah.
It was very specialized work.
We understand that Ellie might have found encrypted text messages she believed were communication from ISIS out of Syria into the United States.
Yeah.
At least, she thought she did.
What does that mean? Look (sighs) We were all trying to protect her.
- There were issues.
- Like? Coming home can be real tough.
We're not here to attack her character.
She had a lot of problems.
Alcohol, drugs heard her marriage was in trouble.
I'm sorry, what does this have to do with these communications? She claimed ISIS was operating in the United States.
Really? And you thought she made that up? She was in pain.
Angry.
(over comm): The Marine in her was looking for a fight.
Even without a war.
Yeah.
We call it "punching ghosts.
" It was all made up.
You didn't want to look into it anyway? Of course I wanted to look into it.
When I asked to see the decoded texts, she got angry, like I didn't trust her.
An hour later, I apologized, told her I was on her side.
And then she sent the text? She told me to forget it.
She made a mistake and there was nothing there.
You believed her? I didn't know.
So I went to the computer to check the text myself.
If there was anything, I was gonna send it to another cryptologist but they were missing.
Gone.
I don't know, I think she deleted them.
I (exhales sharply) It just makes me sick.
When I heard she was dead, I prayed I hadn't shamed her into killing herself.
KENSI: Do you know of anybody who would have wanted to hurt Ellie? BAIRD: Ellie, no.
No way.
Why? Was this not a suicide? We're still in the early phases of the investigation.
ISIS is having trouble in Syria.
I can't imagine they're trying to make inroads here.
Well, the ISIS brides are coming back into the U.
S.
but it could be just communication between them.
Nothing nefarious, just family stuff.
Or using them as operatives? Either way, we need to find out.
Eric, you still online? I am.
SAM: We need Homeland, FBI and NSA records on any communication from known ISIS operatives coming into the U.
S.
- On it.
And, Eric, if there are any, we need to see the content.
Just in case she wasn't crazy.
Copy that.
Drinking, self-medicating Seems pretty common.
Yeah, but making up intelligence is a bigger leap off the reality cliff.
Hmm.
What, you think Baird was lying? Seemed legit to me.
- Could just be a good liar.
- Hmm.
Even if she got herself into trouble, got herself killed, it doesn't explain why she was tortured.
Tortured or enhanced interrogation? Now, that would point to the military.
This hit was professional.
Guys, SFC Baird is on the move.
DEEKS: You know, he was pretty upset.
Maybe he's decided to take the rest of the day off.
Or you spooked him.
SAM: We'll follow him.
See where he goes.
(engine starts) KENSI: See you back at the ranch.
Eric, is this Baird's house? ERIC: Uh, yeah.
He's married to Olivia Baird.
- No kids.
CALLEN: This guy have any disciplinary incidents in the military? Um, no.
Clean record.
High evaluation marks.
I'd love to get another run at this guy.
Let's go for a run.
(doorbell rings) - Hello? - Hi.
NCIS Special Agent Callen.
Special Agent Sam Hanna.
Oh.
What's this about? We actually want to talk to your husband.
Nothing bad.
We just need to ask him a few questions about somebody he worked with at the National Guard.
Oh, well, he's not here.
He's at work.
Oh, his-his truck's here.
I We watched him walk inside.
I'm sorry, I was in the back doing laundry.
I must not have heard him.
Do you mind if we come in? Sure.
(door closes) - Back door.
- Excuse me.
What are you doing? Michael Baird.
Agents Hanna and Callen.
You spoke to one of our colleagues earlier? (grunts) No one could have survived that.
Thank you.
How's Baird's wife doing? KENSI: She's pretty shell-shocked.
She's inside with LAPD right now.
So, the bomb went off seconds after Baird entered the shed? CALLEN: Bomb squad said there was a prewired explosive device already in place.
Huh.
Did he detonate it himself, or was it on a remote? That's what we need to find out.
CALLEN: Talk to his wife.
If Baird did kill Staff Sergeant Sims, she may know something that could help us.
- Copy that.
- Got it.
So sorry for your loss, Mrs.
Baird.
Thank you.
Please, call me Olivia.
Olivia, do you have any idea why there were explosives in your work shed? No.
And I can't think of anyone who would want to harm Michael.
Do you have leads? You think somebody killed your husband? He was blown up at our home.
Yes, I'd say it's pretty cut-and-dry that someone murdered him.
Uh, I-I'm sorry to tell you this, Olivia, but, um, we haven't found any evidence of a remote detonation.
I-I don't know what that means.
KENSI: It basically means that, as of now, it seems that Michael detonated the bomb himself.
My husband didn't kill himself.
I understand that this is hard No, Michael didn't kill himself.
You have to find out who did this.
Looks like the bomb was centered right here.
Yeah.
I don't see any signs of a remote detonator or a cell phone trigger.
Well, if it wasn't triggered by somebody else, Baird may have constructed this whole setup himself.
It could've been a trap.
Forensics might find evidence of a trip wire.
Maybe.
But if Baird did kill Staff Sergeant Ellie Sims, this could've been his exit plan.
Or he needed to destroy something in here with the bomb.
Lot of scenarios.
Check this out.
Looks like a piece of a det cord spool.
Can't buy these without a permit.
Baird didn't have an explosives permit.
It would've come up.
Then we need to figure out how he got his hands on this.
So the det cord was reported stolen from an underwater mining company in Santa Barbara almost a year ago, and Skip Mattson quit that same company three months after the theft.
But he has no criminal record? Uh, no, but he and SFC Michael Baird exchanged a phone call last month.
It's not a lot.
But it's something.
These guys are careful.
Yeah.
I'll keep digging.
- Never hurts to ask.
- Yeah.
SAM: Skip Mattson.
We're federal agents Hey Any time, G.
Just checking out the decor! CALLEN: You see signs of anyone else in the house? I was too busy getting shot at.
CALLEN: Clear.
Clear.
Hey.
You recognize this? Yeah, that's Naval Base Point Loma.
Home of Undersea Rescue Command and Submarine Squadron 11.
You don't think he wanted to blow up a submarine? I sure as hell hope not.
Beale, get an emergency warrant.
I need you to check out this guy's PC.
ERIC: Copy that.
Nell, what do you got? Well, it looks like SFC Michael Baird may have been aligned with ISIS sympathizers.
The person he got the stolen explosives from? Yes, Skip Mattson.
Apparently, he stole them from a former employer.
Uh, Callen, Sam and Eric are at his place now, and apparently, it looks like Mattson was deep down the ISIS rabbit hole.
So we got an ISIS sympathizer tied to the killing of a National Guardsman? Well, this just got real.
Hmm.
You think Baird's wife would know anything about this? I think that's a question we should ask her.
- Good work.
- Thanks.
So can you pull contacts and Web browser history No.
What do you mean, no? Uh, I mean, none of that stuff is on here.
Mattson was using this as a dedicated gaming PC, which I guess is kind of impressive, but, uh, kind of overkill; there's plenty of memory and storage on here Is this thing gonna give us anything on Mattson? Yeah.
It'll tell you that he's into fantasy.
Well, historic, grounded fantasy.
He was playing, uh, Viking War Blood.
Scratch that.
He was addicted to Viking War Blood.
A game.
- Well, technically - It's an MMOG.
- MMORPG.
CALLEN: A what? A massively multiplayer online game.
Aiden was into this, all right? I bought him one.
- Huh.
- Anyway, Mattson was playing this every night with his team.
Okay, so, can you I.
D.
his teammates he played with? Usernames, that'll be easy, but, uh, real I.
D.
s, that'll take some time.
Well, how about his teammates' locations? Do you know where they were playing this from? Yeah, hold on.
If I can log in to his ISP, uh That's odd.
He was only playing with two other teammates.
Okay, what's odd about that? How many people should he have been playing with? For Viking War Blood? Like, a dozen at least.
Huh.
Guys, check out their IP addresses.
SAM: Those are Naval addresses.
What base? (computer beeps) It's not a base, it's the USS Allegiance.
So we have an ISIS sympathizer who may have been planning an attack on a submarine base that is now in constant contact with two people aboard the largest aircraft carrier in our fleet? SAM: If they are planning an attack on the Allegiance, it'll make the attack on the USS Cole look insignificant.
Contact SECNAV.
We need to issue a Navy-wide alert.
Mm-hmm.
Scratch that.
We need to alert all the armed forces.
There's a chance that other branches of military could have been compromised as well.
Oh, my God.
This is really bad.
We're gonna fix it before it gets worse.
ERIC: We've sent you an encrypted file with everything we have up to this point, and we will, uh, continue to keep you updated with anything we find.
Likewise, from my end.
SAM: Intelligence Analyst Nell Jones, Special Agent Callen, this is Brian Lee, Special Agent Afloat.
He's aboard the USS Allegiance in the Persian Gulf.
Wish we were meeting under different circumstances.
CALLEN: No doubt.
We've brought Agent Lee up to speed on everything we know so far.
Have you had any incidents on board that would corroborate our findings? Possibly.
I'm still trying to digest all this.
I will have to review several incidents in the light of this new information.
Truth is, with a few exceptions, I've got over 5,000 potential suspects on this ship.
And due to the potential danger and urgency, I'm gonna need some help.
Agent Callen and I have made arrangements and we should be at your disposal in less than 24 hours.
I appreciate that.
CALLEN: In the interim, you'll have the cooperation of this entire office and all its personnel.
Thank you.
Safe travels, gentlemen.
Thank you.
Okay.
So you guys are gonna have to hold the fort down with Kensi and Deeks until we return.
And what about Point Loma? They're on full alert.
Hopefully, the threat has been eliminated with Mattson.
Yeah, and that's all the more reason for you guys to find out everybody else that Mattson's been in contact with.
- Don't worry.
We're on it.
- Yeah? Steel Beach, here we come.
All right, Major, thank you so much for your time.
I appreciate it.
Bye.
- Baird had an airtight alibi.
- What? Yeah, he was at Fort Irwin doing his annual two weeks' training with the Guard when Staff Sergeant Ellie Sims disappeared.
- So he couldn't have killed her? - No.
SAM: Well, why would Baird blow himself up if he didn't kill Sims? Doesn't mean he wasn't a part of the plot.
Could have been destroying evidence.
It seems a little extreme.
That's why they're called extremists.
The bottom line is, if Baird didn't murder Ellie Sims, her killer's still out there.
Killer and torturer.
Yeah, we can go after the husband again.
I don't think he's right for this.
He seemed really devastated about her death.
Baird wasn't working alone.
Hell, he could have two coconspirators on one of our nuclear-powered carriers.
Who knows how many more are out there? I know this isn't the best time to break up the team, but No, no, no.
We got this.
The safety of that warship is more important.
(grunts) Good luck.
KENSI: Yeah, you, too.
Bye.
Yo.
Can I drive your Hellcat? - Nope.
- Come on.
I'll treat her like a spoiled baby.
- Don't even think about it.
- Okay, thanks.
I will.
- No, you're not.
- Am.
- Not.
- Am.
Not.
Am not.
ERIC: So Ellie Sims stumbles upon an encrypted ISIS communication, which curiously disappears right before she does.
(phone rings) Hello? All right, she's tortured and murdered while her supervisor, who she informed of the mysterious encryption, is out of town.
Now, he has an alibi, and yet, he still blows himself up and destroys a bunch of evidence in the process.
What did he not want us to find? What sort of complications? No, I know I'm not a doctor.
Neither are you, but you're the one up there with them, so that's why I'm asking what did the doctor say? Uh, I'm not getting angry.
Sydney.
(sighs) Come on.
Sydney, just stop crying.
Is Dad there with you? Can-can you just have him call me? Yes, thank you.
Nope.
I'm not angry.
All right, bye.
Oh, my God, she makes me so angry! What's going on? She went up to visit my mom and essentially found her unresponsive and had to call 911.
Oh, my God.
What's wrong? I don't know, because she doesn't know.
She says "complications," like that tells me anything.
Go.
Go? Go-go where? I can't leave.
Yes, you can and you need to.
No, Eric, I'm not about to abandon my post.
You're not abandoning your post, you're you're going to be with your mom when she needs you the most.
We've got this.
Oh, yeah, look around, Blondie.
You're on your own.
Look, I'll bring in some help.
Will you just go? Like who? Fatima's on assignment.
What are you gonna do, call Fang? No.
I've got this, all right? Hetty would insist you leave.
So would Callen and Sam.
Don't make me tell on you.
I just, I don't like leaving you here alone.
You're not.
Go.
Fine.
I love you.
I love you, too.
I'll call you with my flight info as soon as I book something.
Yeah.
- Come on, come on.
- What do you got? I got nothing.
Her cell's going straight to voice mail.
She's probably staying with friends or family.
All right, well, then I am texting Eric to see if he can locate her phone.
'Cause something about this is hinky.
Ugh.
Don't say that.
You don't think it's hinky? I don't think you should say "hinky" because that sounds very "juvi.
" (chuckles) Welcome to married life.
(chuckles) I get it.
You don't think it's a little bit weird that we found no plans to attack civilian targets? Military targets are more symbolic.
- Really? - Yeah.
Absolutely.
Let me just play the devil's advocate here.
Oh, my gosh, here we go.
Go ahead, Judge Judy.
Would you not admit that it's more difficult to hit a military target than a civilian one? - For the most part.
- Would you also admit that this terrorist organization has suffered some massive setbacks recently? Yes, of course.
And yet, by some sort of dark magic, they suddenly have resources in this country? I'm sorry, do you have a point, or should I get myself a sandwich? 'Cause I'm getting hungry.
Wow.
Sandwich joke.
Noted.
I'm just saying they're barely surviving in their own territory.
Which is why they probably have sympathizers here.
Maybe.
But if you're struggling to hang on, and you need a big win to champion your cause and rally support, why would you run the risk of failure just for the sake of symbolism? Right? Even if they were successful, even if they sank the USS Cole with everybody on board, it still wouldn't have the same impact as the World Trade Center.
Because civilians can emotionally detach themselves from it because it's a military target.
- That is true.
- All right, we also know that they had explosives, right? Mm-hmm.
And if Staff Sergeant Ellie Sims hadn't been assigned to the DEA's cartel task force, they wouldn't even be on our radar right now.
Which means they could have been out there for weeks, for months, for years.
Which begs the question to be asked, Kensi, what are they waiting for? Well, they could be waiting to put somebody on one of our carriers.
- Exactly.
But that doesn't happen overnight.
Which means they're playing the long game, which takes, what? It takes time, it takes money.
These guys are incredibly well organized, extremely sophisticated, to the place where they have infiltrated two different branches of our armed service.
Maybe more.
You know what, I'm starting to think that this is an espionage operation and not a terror cell.
See, now that's what I'm saying.
Yeah, I think you're right.
I think this is some serious hink.
(phone rings) One moment on that one.
Beale, did you find her? Uh, yeah, no joy.
It's either turned off or the battery's dead.
The last time she used it was several hours ago.
Before her husband was killed.
Whoa.
What do we have here? Holy crap burgers.
- Holy crap burgers? - Wha-What's going on, Eric? Volkoff.
Volkoff, as in Pavel? As in, died in Cuba? Well, he may be dead now, but he was using a sat phone in Cuba and exchanged a call with Olivia Baird before we even knew he was in this part of the world.
Holy crap burgers.
And there's your hink.
I know.
It's-it's "hinky.
" It's-it's an adjective.
It's not a noun.
Deeks, I think we just stumbled upon a Russian state-sanctioned operation.
Oh, my God.
(indistinct chatter) Welcome aboard, gentlemen.
Follow me.
Keep your heads low.
MAN (over P.
A.
): All hands deck, clear spot four.
Spot four for recovery.
621.
All hands deck, clear for recovery.
621.
Check it out.
(indistinct announcement over P.
A.
) Nice landing.
Thank you.
NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna.
Special Agent Callen.
Captain Harmon Rabb.
Welcome aboard, gentlemen.
This way.
MAN (over P.
A.
): Captain United States Navy arriving.
(indistinct announcement over P.
A.
) What's going on, Captain? We're searching for a missing crew member.
Man overboard? We hope not, but we've initiated a search of the area we've covered since he was last seen just in case.
Is Special Agent Afloat Brian Lee involved with the search? Unfortunately, Special Agent Lee is the crew member we're looking for.
Oh.
(laughs) God, they're just so adorable at this age.
- Maybe we should adopt him.
- Mm.
I mean, he's housebroken.
Yeah, I'm assuming so.
(quietly): Eric? Beale? - Eric? - Yup.
So, hey, um, hey.
I was just just running some scenarios through the old think tank.
You know, kind of helps if I eliminate any and all visual stimuli.
(clears throat) - Okay.
ERIC: Mm-hmm.
Did you sleep here last night? Uh, s um, sleep? No.
Uh, stay yeah.
There's a 12-hour time difference between here and the gulf where Callen and Sam are, so, their day-- my night.
Right.
Listen, you should go home, get some sleep, and we can figure this out with Nell.
That would be great, but she went home to San Francisco last night.
Oh, no.
What happened? Uh, some complications with her mom.
Sorry.
Uh, we read Callen and Sam's sitrep on the way in.
Do we have any more information on missing Agent Afloat Lee? We don't.
(clears throat) It's been 24 hours, guys.
The water's warm, so if he went overboard, he could still be alive.
Yeah, maybe.
What about Olivia Baird? Did you locate her? Not yet.
KENSI: What about anything on the connection between Olivia Baird and Volkoff? No more phone calls.
At least not on her personal cell.
If there were further communications, it was on another phone or by some other means.
And you're sure that call came from Volkoff? - Absolutely.
- She's got to be an illegal.
What else you got, Beale? Break it down.
All right.
(clears throat) Olivia Baird.
She was born in Canada.
Her maiden name was Langdon.
She came here when she was 11.
Now, her parents changed their last name from Langdon to Baird when they became U.
S.
citizens in '94.
I'm still waiting for the Canadian authorities to verify her credentials and her parents'.
That's weird for a family to change their last name unless it's something like "Tallywhacker.
" Unless somebody's looking for you.
Well, hold on a second.
So you're telling me that the wife's maiden name's the same as the husband's? Here's where it gets interesting.
He took her surname when they got married, and changed his first name.
He was born Mairbek Anzarov, in, uh, Kurla-Yurt.
It's right outside Grozny.
It was considered Russia when he was born there in '85, and now it's Chechnya.
The deeper we dig, the uglier it gets.
Keep digging into both of them and bring Sam and Callen up to speed.
What does Olivia Baird do for a living? Um, she's a producer.
Well, that sounds like a fancy pants.
- - What has she produced? Nothing that I can find.
But Rogers pushed through a FISA warrant so maybe you can find something.
We'll see.
SAM: So, no red flags in his correspondence? Nothing in his open cases, either.
Maybe there's a way to get Eric in the system.
We could be missing something.
Or some hidden files or something.
Mm-hmm.
(knocking) Captain.
How you gentlemen making out? Ugh.
We haven't found anything useful yet.
Well, I'm not sure you will.
We haven't had any real problems since we deployed, and we run a tight ship.
With all due respect, Captain, your Special Agent Afloat is missing, and you have at least two people on this ship that have been in contact with an ISIS sympathizer.
The safety and security of this vessel and her crew are my number one responsibility, Agent Callen.
Now, if there was a threat on board this ship, Agent Lee never brought it to my attention.
He probably didn't know about it.
We think they're using an online gaming platform to communicate.
That could be a way for Eric in.
You're right.
Our chief technical officer.
Well, you let me know whatever you need.
I want answers, Agents.
If there is a legitimate threat on board this vessel, we need to identify and eliminate it fast.
Aye aye, Captain.
All right.
Old habits.
MAN (over P.
A.
): XO contact the bridge.
XO contact the bridge.
This is the XO.
Is he alive? Well, let me know.
I'll meet the recovery team at the hospital.
Search team thinks they've found Agent Lee in the ocean.
(indistinct announcement over P.
A.
) Hey, you.
Just uh, checking in on, uh, what's happening here.
You got an update for me? Stop talking.
(sighs) Should I go get a sandwich? It's not so fun being on the receiving end of the sandwich joke, is it? - Whatever.
- All right.
Move out of the way.
I'm going old school.
Look out, lady bird.
Coming in hot.
Hee-yah! Oh, my God! I think you need a new school.
Walk it off.
Ah, I think I just dislocated my shoulder.
Oh.
Uh-oh.
Looks like Olivia Baird went out of business.
Aah.
Oh, she knew we were onto her.
Chances of finding something here are slim to none.
So what now? Well, we could talk to other tenants in the building, see if they know anything, or we could head back to her house, although I'm pretty sure she has that cleaned out, too.
Ooh! I don't know why, but it feels like we're striking out.
No, no, no.
It's only the bottom of the third.
Sam and Callen yet to bat.
You okay? (yells) Oh You all right? - How dare you.
- Oh, I'm sorry.
(indistinct announcement over P.
A.
) Where is he? Commander, NCIS Agents Callen and Hanna.
This is our medical officer, Commander Quinn.
He was one of yours? Yes, ma'am.
He drowned? I can't say anything for certain without an autopsy, but there's a good chance he was dead before he hit the water.
From what? He was stabbed six times.
These two punctured his lungs.
These two severed his renal arteries.
He received two more to his groin.
One missed, but the other severed his femoral.
So he bled to death.
Most likely.
If he bled out, you would have found signs during your search.
Unless someone cleaned it up.
Captain, you've got a killer on your ship.