NCIS tonight began with a flashback to the first episode with Sergei Mishnev, who was after Agent Gibbs. Back in the present, two cops are walking through the park when they spot a woman on a bench. She exhibits signs of strangulatuion and they think she is dead at first. However, she is still alive and begs them not to move her. Her badge identifies her as an employee for a Naval Research Laboratory.
McGee is reading a magazine about sex positions in the bedroom. He says no to many of the items and doesn’t believe Tony did them, especially number six. They stop talking about it as soon as Bishop walks in but she knows they are talking about sex. Bishop takes the magazine and says yes to many of the items on the list, and Tony is stunned when she says yes to number six. Gibbs takes the magazine and throws it in the trash before telling them about the attempted murder in the park. At first, they are led to believe the victim, Sofia Glazman, is alive.
However, upon arriving, they find out she isn’t actually alive, but the cops explain that she passed away while being loaded into transport. She apparently didn’t want to be moved and the cops explain they didn’t see the device. They don’t say much, but the team sees Ducky with two body bags. Upon walking over to him, they discover the woman was decapitated by a motorized garrote and there is even still a bone stuck inside.
Dr. Havana, a colleague of Sofia’s, talks about her work with Tony and McGee. She was working on a project with laser technology and McGee goes on about transport onto the moon. It turns out the two men have rival colleges. He mentions that the victim had a best friend named Nelly Benin, who was a professional rival in Russia
Abby is working with a dummy in her lab as she works on the motorized garrote. She found chemical residue on the garrote where it jammed. Someone was smoking cannabis while they made the garrote. DiNozzo calls and tells Gibbs that Vance wants to meet them at the Pentagon.
SECNAV called for all three of them to go to the Pentagon. Tony is going to guard the door while Vance and Gibbs go in. They meet in a bathroom where the Secretary reveals that an embassy has reached out with information. Meanwhile, Tony is waiting when a woman walks out of the bathroom. They both exchange flirtatious remarks. Then, Tony sees Counselor Pavlenko, who was involved with the helicopter accident investigation. He goes into the bathroom to speak with the SECNAV and Vance and Gibbs.
Counselor Plavenko reveals that the friend of Sofia, Nelly Benin, may be working with Sergei Mishnev and that one of her colleagues was found murdered in the same manner as Sofia. They want NCIS to help find Benin as long as it’s kept quiet. The FBI will be working with them. Outside, Tony flirts with the woman and then everyone walks out. It is then that Tony finds out the woman is FBI Special Agent Pendergast, who is working with them.
McGee, Ellie, and Tony are in MTAC and McGee is unsure why they are in there. Ellie tells them Pendergast used to be a Deputy Marshall before she became part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. McGee introduces herself and she reveals her name is Leia, much to Tony’s amusement. However, she hates the movie Star Wars and McGee and Ellie are surprised to learn she already met Tony.
Gibbs comes in and Pendergast briefs them on Benin, who she feels is their best suspect in the murders since she is suspected to have ties to a Russian terror group and is in the United States. However, the team hasn’t found anything to indicate that Benin is a murderer, since her only major offense was streaking during the Olympics. Leia tells them their orders are to hunt her, but Gibbs reminds her she’s a suspect, not prey.
In the lab, Abby quizzes Pendergast when she goes into her lab alone. She informs her that an e-mail was sent to their victim asking to meet her at a bar. Sofia was heading there when she was attacked and while the e-mail is a junk account, Abby found it originated in Moscow. Pendergast still thinks it could be Benin and Abby agrees, but still looks pretty unsure.
Tony tells the team he likes Pendergast and McGee asks if it’s because she winked. Ellie tells Tony she is using him for the case. McGee finds information on airport security and cameras show Benin stuck in the airport terminal while Sofia Glazman was being attacked. Tony still thinks she’s a suspect and Ellie says he sounds like Leia.
While Tony continues to balk at their efforts to look at a different suspect, Ellie shares a theory with Gibbs that she developed with McGee. They believe Benin could be running from the Russians and she is reaching out on Glazman’s cell, which has been ringing from the same bar where Glazman was heading. They go to the bar while Gibbs tells DiNozzo not to update the FBI.
The team arrives at the bar to see a bar mitzvah in progress. They see Benin at the bar. McGee walks over and carefully speaks to her, commenting on her drink of choice before telling her he can help. She has what looks to be a bomb in her purse but she doesn’t make any moves. Gibbs comes over and they show her their credentials and she reveals she is seeking asylum. They lead her away while an unknown woman follows them.
Meanwhile, Tony is showing Leia around the office. She notices the team isn’t there and realizes they must have found Nelly, but Tony continues to try and stall, badly.
Ellie and Nelly are in the bathroom, where she tells Ellie she had no idea Sofia was dead. The unknown woman is sitting in the stall with a wire around her hands. Gibbs, impatiently waiting, walks in just as she walks out. She goes past him and as she does, he smells marijuana. He runs after her, but she sticks the wire around the door so he can’t go after.
Gibbs interrogates Nelly, where she reveals Mishnev had come to her a week previously with a job offer. She turned it down and she found out that her coworker, Mikhail, had received the same offer but then he was murdered. She begs for asylum, but Gibbs says she needs to finish her story so she won’t be a murder suspect. Nelly reveals she had turned to Sofia for help, not realizing that it would get her killed. Gibbs still believes she could be the killer and she wonders who would make him think that.
In Vance’s office, SECNAV is talking to Pavlenko. Vance comes in and they both accuse each other of lying, but the secretary knows Pavlenko gave her bad intel. He says the manhunt was put together just to be on the safe side and he wants to take her back to Russia, but they deny having her. He walks out and the SECNAV apologizes for taking Vance’s seat. He tells her not to worry then makes a phone call to find out how the Russians knew that NCIS had Benin.
Tony interrogates Leia and asks if she told the Russians about Nelly, but she claims she’s not the leak. She is baffled he is accusing her of treason and he brings up over $20,000 being placed into her account. Plus, she has been assigned to Russian emissaries in the past. Leia tells him she could kill him, and he sarcastically adds murder to the list before she reveals her father sends it. She goes to leave, saying they will be taking Nelly to Russia. Tony tells her that Nelly wasn’t running from Leia and that someone is still after her.
Gibbs and Vance take Nelly to the garage, where she pleads with them not to let them take her. Unfortunately, Vance can’t do anything about it. Leia gets into the driver’s side of the car and Vance guides Nelly in. As the car drives off, Ellie runs out to tell them they identified the killer. Her name is Renata Atal, who was wanted for multiple murder-for-hires with specialized weapons. McGee and Tony weren’t in the bullpen when she got the information so Gibbs tells her to call them with the information.
In the car, Leia tells Nelly she can’t help her but she gets why Nelly is upset. Leia looks out her rearview mirror and sees she’s being followed. She goes into a parking garage and gets a call from Tony, who has been following them with McGee, and the hit woman who was behind them as well. The hit woman drives around before spotting the car. However, no one is inside, so she drives away.
Tony and McGee pull up in front of her car and get out, pulling out their weapons. She puts her hands on the wheel as though she is surrendering, but then she grabs a motorized garrote and wraps it around her neck. McGee and Tony avert their eyes just as Nelly and Leia come walking up. Nelly asks how the woman knew about the transfer.
Nelly is angry about what is happening and that they still want to send her back to the Russians. Tony says they don’t know who tipped her off and Leia says it wasn’t her. Tony gets sarcastic until Gibbs quiets them down. Tony says the Russians want her back, but Nelly refuses to go. Leia says there are still no ties between Plavenko, Russian rogues or Mishnev. He decides to go down to see Ducky, who has the hit woman’s body. The director calls for him, but Gibbs ignores it and orders Pendergast to come with him.
Ducky is in autopsy talking to the body when Pendergast and Gibbs arrive. Ducky tells them she reeked of marijuana. He didn’t get anything about whom she worked for, only that she was likely Sofia’s murderer. Abby comes down and tells them she still needs time to connect Pavlenko and the hit woman. However, the SECNAV comes down and tells them there is no more time and the Russians want Nelly.
Gibbs meets Pavlenko in the garage and assures him he knows he’s lying, but Pavlenko still insists they are working the same side. Nelly is brought down and she is adamant about not going. When they are about to take her to the car, she grabs Leia’s gun and pulls it on Pavlenko. Gibbs attempts to talk her down, telling her in Russian they will get him. But just as he gets her calm, Leia pulls out a second gun and shoots her dead. DiNozzo asks what she just did and Pavlenko says he will tell Moscow the truth about her, but Gibbs is aghast.
Ellie and McGee are processing the scene, where Ellie is curious about the fact that Pavlenko wanted Nelly dead, but they can’t do anything. McGee brings up diplomatic immunity and the SECNAV comes down to ask Gibbs how Nelly could be shot. However, Gibbs walks over to the door of a truck and opens it to reveal Nelly alive and well with Ducky. They faked her death.
Tony is floored that Pendergast had blanks in her weapon. She reveals not telling Tony about the plan was her condition for going along with Gibbs’ plan. They exchange more flirting as Ellie and McGee watch. When she leaves, McGee reveals he’s surprised that Gibbs would leave him out of the loop. However, Tony says he didn’t and Ellie and McGee wonder why he fought with Leia. Apparently Tony likes a woman who fights back.
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