NCIS began with Tim and Ellie going through the remains of the bus that was bombed when Brad Simek killed himself. They are both feeling guilty about not getting there in time and Ellie mentions that things could have been worse. Outside, Gibbs and Tony talk about what to do to move the case forward and catch the recruiter before Gibbs goes to see Ducky. His colleague noticed a burn pattern on Brad’s arm that he thinks could have been a tattoo. Gibbs is distracted, though, when he sees a young boy looking at him. However, before he can go over to him, the kid runs off.
Back in the NCIS building, Dorneget is standing outside of MTAC when Tim and Tony come up to him. They tease him about being nervous about going into MTAC for the first time, which can be daunting. Dorneget tells them he is just getting into character for his alter ago that works well under pressure. Tim jokes that he could be Sasha Fierce and Beyonce but Dorneget claims he thought of himself as Clark Kent and Superman before telling them he is Gilroy Libbs. He goes into MTAC easily.
Inside, Dorneget, Vance, Gibbs, and Tim talk to foreign dignitaries about the case. They discover a group known as The Calling is using cyber techniques to recruit children into terrorism. There is a man named Matthew Rousseau in France they are trying to find who is believed to be part of the group since he runs communication with the terror cell there. The team also finds out that they are looking for S-mines on the black market.
Gibbs and Abby talk about the case and she tells him about S-mines, which are deadly and can’t be easily found. She tells him that they would need a “scary friend” who knows where to get them and Gibbs has one himself. He goes to talk to Agah Bayar, the DIA agent he has dealt with in the past. He asks for help finding information on the S-mines and who is looking for them. Bayar agrees to help and asks which of them is making a deal with the devil.
Ducky, Gibbs, and Abby are in Ducky’s lab, where Ducky and Abby are jamming to Abby’s music. Eventually, Ducky tells Gibbs the markings on Brad’s body are not a tattoo, but something written in permanent marker. He found they matched a man named Randall White, who was part of the group attempting to assassinate the Imam from several episodes prior. Just like Simek, they also had weapons that were printed off of a 3-D printer. The terror cell that recruited White and his two accomplices is connected to The Calling. They can’t talk to Kyle Nasry since he is dead so they decide to bring in Sarah Goode.
Vance tells Dorneget and Tim they have been selected to be part of a think tank in Cairo, Egypt to work on finding Michael Rousseau. Dorneget is very excited and when Gibbs comes in, he goes to shake his hand, but ends up knocking some pens over from Vance’s desk. Dorneget then leaves and Tim follows so they can get ready to go. Gibbs learns from Vance that DIA heard about the deal he made with Agah and shut it down.
Sarah Goode is in interrogation with Ellie and Tony. She willingly gives them some information, including that they are looking for Sadiq Samar, who is on the list of user names that they show her. He had broken off of the cell she had been a part of in Syria to join The Calling. She is willing to do what she can to stop them. After she identifies him, Goode tells them to make sure to “end him.”
Tony, Gibbs, and Ellie track down Samir based on a building he had put money down for under an alias. They leave to investigate the building and inside, they find a bayonet that could have been their murder weapon that killed Ensign Wilt. When they arrive, Gibbs finds the boy from earlier hiding and holding a gun. He slowly walks toward him and is able to take the gun from the kid. Ellie puts flex cuffs on the kid’s wrists.
Gibbs talks to the kid in the interview room while a social worker watches. However, the kid refuses to talk to him. Eventually, Gibbs leaves and finds out the kid, Luke Harris, was born to Iraqi parents before he was put up for adoption. Tony and Ellie read from a script Abby gave them to report findings she found on Luke’s laptop that she is unable to give Gibbs herself. They tell Gibbs there were numerous chat rooms being used since Samar would vacate one and use another, making sure to delete the old one. They find out from the chat that Luke found out about the bus bombing afterwards, which is why he went there.
Later, Abby talks to Gibbs about someone she knows who works with historical documents and found out the building that Samar bought had a bunker that could be used for storage. She makes it clear she wants to go when she pulls out Poppy, her parasol that she uses whenever she leaves the building.
Tim and Dorneget go to Cairo and meet up with one of the dignitaries they spoke to in MTAC. Their first meeting with Interpol is an hour from then. They find out that Michael Rousseau was captured and he needs an escort back to the United States since he faces bombing charges. Tim volunteers to go talk to him while Dorneget stays behind at the hotel for the Interpol meeting.
Tony and Ellie are investigating the bunker as Abby asks them what was going on. They go inside a secret room where they find evidence of a test bombing, complete with shrapnel and mannequins ripped apart. Eventually, they find a ripped up diagram Samar had made and it looks like it was used for bombs. He was trying to figure out how to connect them, but are now wondering where they are.
Gibbs goes to talk to Luke’s adoptive parents. They reveal that their son had been a normal, happy kid, but then something happened and he changed. Kids at school had apparently given him a hard time when they found out he was originally from Iraq. Luke’s mother asks Gibbs to bring her son back as Gibbs holds a baseball glove that belonged to Luke.
Gibbs is at his house with Luke, who is barely touching his food. He gets Luke to put his milk away before telling him a story about his daughter, Kelly. She had once taken his favorite pocket knife without asking and carved her initials in his cabinet. When the knife was lost, he scolded her just like any parent would. Luke is only barely listening before he tries to run out. He tells Gibbs to just end his life because he is “nothing.”
Vance, Gibbs, and Tony are talking about the bombs Samar had put together. There were eight total and two were detonated using a trip wire in the bunker and another six are missing but linked to wifi so they can easily go off. They need Luke to talk about Samar. In order to get Agah’s help, Gibbs has a plan to blackmail him.
Tony and Ellie talk to Agah, who is only interested in talking to Ellie. They ask for his help, but blackmail him by attempting to use his mother. Bayar is angry and tells them that he would have helped without blackmail and that babies should never be used for wars.
Ducky gives Gibbs a psychological profile of Luke based on what he has found out about the boy. While Luke has those dark thoughts in his head, there is still some of his old self in him. Ducky tells Gibbs one of the things The Calling does is make their targets disown those who love them. Luke had started a suicide note, but then couldn’t finish it.
Gibbs takes the unfinished note to Luke and tells him to finish it so they can show his parents. However, Luke doesn’t want to because deep down, he loves his parents. Eventually, he asks Gibbs to take him home and says he will talk about Samar.
Down in the lab, Abby and Ellie talk as they watch a chat room by Samar. Abby learns Samar had told Luke to stay in the bunker where he was found, likely so he could kill the team. They find out that the chat room is talking about Luke and how he was a traitor. They are planning to show him what happens to traitors.
Gibbs arrives at the parents’ house, only to find the door open. He orders Luke to stay in the car and goes inside. He makes the discovery that both the mother and father are dead. Before he can do anything, Luke comes in and screams when he sees his parents are dead.
Tim is in the middle of interrogating Matthew, who doesn’t say much and tells Tim he is not asking the right questions since he is focusing on the United States. But when he begins talking about the fact that Tim is missing their big party at the hotel, Tim reaches the horrifying conclusion that the bomb is at the party. He calls for a phone and immediately contacts Dorneget.
As he listens to Tim talking about the bombs, Dorneget looks stunned before he begins an evacuation. He rushes people along and then once the place is mostly empty, he notices a red trip wire line near one of the steps. He looks up and sees a man looking at him before walking away. Before he can do anything else, another man accidentally walks across the red line, causing six bombs to come out into the air. Dorneget whirls around in shock just as the bombs explode, causing him to fall to the ground with wounds on his face.
In the squad room, Tony and Ellie are trying to get information on Dorneget while Gibbs impatiently waits. For now, they know Dorneget was rushed to the hospital. But within a few minutes, Ellie gets the news that Dorneget has passed away. Gibbs is upset, as he wants to find out who is running this operation. They decide to set up a meeting with Bayar.
Tony talks to Bayar, who won’t give information until Ellie joins them. When she arrives and they begin talking, where Bayar informs them that other attacks are being orchestrated, a car speeds by and someone begins shooting, wounding Bayar.
Vance and Gibbs talk about Dorneget. Gibbs is distracted when he sees a pen on the floor, which Dorneget had dropped the last time he saw the man. SecNav confirmed to Vance that Dorneget saved lives and would have wanted Gibbs to be informed. Dorneget’s mother won’t arrive in time to see his body home, so Gibbs says the team will go.
The team arrives at the airstrip to welcome Dorneget’s body home. Tim walks off the plane and stands beside Abby. As the casket is being taken to the hearse, Gibbs sees visions of agents they have lost before, including Paula Cassidy, Kate Todd, Mike Franks, Dorneget, Jenny Shepard, and Christopher Pacci. A car pulls up and a woman walks out. She touches Ned’s casket before Vance introduces her as CIA officer Joanne Teague, Dorneget’s mother. She tells them they need to find the killers who murdered her son.
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