04x19 - Grace Period

Episode transcripts for the TV show, "NCIS". Aired: September 2003 to present.*
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The cases of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
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04x19 - Grace Period

Post by bunniefuu »

MUSIC IN:

EXT. PARK BENCH - DAY

NELSON: How do you eat that crap?

HALL: Easy. Like this.

(SFX: NELSON LAUGHS)

HALL: An anonymous caller was supposed to meet us here three hours ago, Boss. I say we call it.

CASSIDY: (V.O./FILTERED) I would love to, but...

CUT TO:

INT. CAR - PARKED

CASSIDY: (INTO RADIO) ... he claims he has information on a t*rror1st att*ck, so here we sit.

HALL: (V.O./FILTERED) Guy last Saturday...

CUT TO:

EXT. PARK BENCH - DAY

HALL: .... claimed his dog was a Taliban sympathizer.

NELSON: Why are we pulling this crap duty two weekends in a row anyway, Boss?

CUT TO:

INT. CAR - PARKED

CASSIDY: (INTO RADIO) You know, I'm wondering the same thing, Jim. I--

(SFX: CELL PHONE RINGS)

CASSIDY: (INTO RADIO) Hold on. Hold on. Stand by. This is him. (INTO PHONE) We're here. Where are you?

CALLER: (V.O./FILTERED) Close. Meet me at four zero eight Millstone Avenue. I will explain all inside.

CASSIDY: (INTO PHONE) I prefer the meeting on the street.

CALLER: (V.O./FILTERED) I do not. I'm a dead man if they see me talking to you!

CASSIDY: (INTO PHONE) Who?

CALLER: (V.O./FILTERED) The people no one can see. They are everywhere.

CUT TO:

EXT. PARK BENCH

HALL: Invisible folks. This should be fun.

CASSIDY: (V.O./FILTERED) Find them, guys.

NELSON: I think we just did.

CUT TO:

INT. CAR - DAY

CASSIDY: (INTO RADIO) Yeah, I got him.

CUT TO:

EXT. PARK BENCH

CASSIDY: (V.O./FILTERED) Sunglasses are a nice touch.

HALL: How do you want us to handle this?

CASSIDY: (V.O.) Pick him up.

CUT TO:

INT. CAR - PARKED

CASSIDY: I'll be right behind you.

HALL: (V.O./FILTERED) You got it.

CUT TO:

EXT. SIDEWALK - DAY

(MUSIC OVER ACTION/HALL AND NELSON WALK TO STORE FRONT)

(SFX: HUGE expl*si*n B.G.)

(MUSIC UP AND OUT)

(THEME MUSIC UP OVER OPENING TITLE/SCENES/ CREDITS AND OUT)

FADE IN:

EXT. BATTING CAGES - DAY

"GRACE PERIOD"

GIBBS: The secret is to keep your front shoulder in as long as possible. Both eyes stay level on the pitcher. Weight is back, and you track the ball... and you wait. It's all about concentration.

(SFX: GIBBS HITS BALLS)

MANN: Anyone ever tell you, you've got a cute butt?

(F/X: GIBBS SWINGS AND MISSES THE BALL)

(SFX: MANN LAUGHS)

MANN: I'm sorry. Did I just ruin your concentration, Jethro?

GIBBS: No. It was a lousy pitch.

MANN: It happens, but you still haven't answered my question.

GIBBS: Do you want me to teach you how to hit, or not?

MANN: Well, considering my C.O. just placed me in charge of our softball team, yeah. By all means, teach away.

GIBBS: This end here... it goes up.

MANN: I think I got that part.

GIBBS: All right. Inside of your feet shoulder-width apart. Slightly bend the knees. Hands together, knuckles lined up.

MANN: Do you teach everyone this way?

GIBBS: Yeah. Fast or slow?

MANN: Kind of depends on what mood I'm in.

GIBBS: Okay, fast it is.

(SFX: BALLS HIT THE FENCE)

GIBBS: You've got to swing to hit it.

MANN: I knew I was forgetting something.

(MUSIC OVER ACTION/MANN HITS MANY PITCHED BALLS)

MANN: Does this thing go any faster?

(SFX: CELL PHONE RINGS)

GIBBS: (INTO PHONE) Yeah, Gibbs.

MCGEE: (V.O./FILTERED) Boss, a b*mb just took out two of Cassidy's people.

GIBBS: (INTO PHONE) Yeah, I'll be right there. (TO MANN) I've got to go, Hol'.

MANN: Hey, what happened to our spending an entire weekend together?!

GIBBS: I just lost two NCIS agents.

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

INT. SQUAD ROOM - DAY

ZIVA: Do you know them, McGee?

MCGEE: Jim Nelson and I went to FLETC together. I was at his wedding two months ago.

TONY: This better not be another recall drill. I had floor seats for the Wizards this afternoon.

ZIVA: It's Agent Cassidy's team out of the Pentagon, Tony.

MCGEE: They were att*cked.

TONY: Is she okay?

MCGEE: She survived.

ZIVA: Her men weren't as lucky.

TONY: Well, what the hell happened?

GIBBS: That's what we're going to find out, Dinozzo. Grab your gear. (SHOUTS) Grab your gear!

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

INT. RETAIL STORE - DAY

ZIVA: Flags of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. What type of a store was this?

GIBBS: McGee's working on it, Ziva.

DUCKY: Their deaths were almost immediate, if that's any consolation, Jethro.

GIBBS: No, it's not, Ducky.

DUCKY: No, it never is. All our agents' wounds appear to have been caused by shrapnel. Specifically, ball bearings and nails. The hallmark of a homemade device.

ZIVA: All emanating from this central point of the floor.

DUCKY: This man appears to literally have been at the heart of the expl*si*n.

TONY: He was sitting on the b*mb?

GIBBS: He was the b*mb, Dinozzo.

ZIVA: It's electrical wiring.

DUCKY: expl*sive amputation of legs, arms, and head.

TONY: A su1c1de bomber.

DUCKY: I don't suppose any of you have seen the head?

ZIVA: Still looking for it, Ducky. Judging by the holes in the ceiling, I may have to try the roof next.

TONY: Why blow yourself up in an empty store?

CASSIDY: It wasn't empty, Tony!

MCGEE: (b*at) She insisted on being part of the investigation. I talked to the landlord. He said he'd just rented this place to a non-profit group. He's pulling the paperwork, calling them now.

CASSIDY: (CRYING) It's my fault! It's my fault!

TONY: It's not your fault, Paula.

CASSIDY: (CRYING) You weren't here, Tony! I k*lled my team!

GIBBS: (OVERLAP) Cassidy, outside. Outside. Take it outside. Dinozzo, find me that missing head!

(GIBBS AND CASSIDY WALK O.S.)

TONY: Well, it's a drop ceiling. So I think it's probably wedged up there somewhere. Ziva, you're going head hunting.

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

INT. VAN - DAY

CASSIDY: (CRYING) I don't need a lecture right now, Gibbs. I really don't.

GIBBS: I'm just bringing you this.

CASSIDY: Thanks.

GIBBS: Tell me about the phone call to the tip line this morning.

CASSIDY: Anonymous. Just a guy saying he had info on a potential t*rror1st att*ck.

GIBBS: Did he name the target?

CASSIDY: No, but it was obvious it's us! Oh, I should have gone in with those guys.

GIBBS: Well, yeah. Then you'd be dead, too. It was an ambush. There's nothing you could have done.

CASSIDY: Would you feel the same way if it was your own team?

GIBBS: Yes, I would.

CASSIDY: I have a tough time believing that, Gibbs.

GIBBS: Yeah, well the difference, Paula, is I wouldn't stop to grieve until I put the bastards responsible for this in the ground. What about you?

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

INT. RETAIL SPACE - DAY

DUCKY: You knew him.

MCGEE: He was a good friend of mine. I hate seeing him like this. It's almost like...

DUCKY: It could have been you.

GIBBS: It almost was, McGee. We were supposed to work the hotline this weekend.

TONY: Boss, you're serious about that?

ABDUL: (SHOUTS) What happened here?!

GIBBS: Hang on! Hey! Calm down! Who are you?

ABDUL: We work here.

JAMAL: For the Muslim Coalition for Peace.

ABDUL: Yazeed, was he... was he in here?

JAMAL: We were supposed to help him paint this afternoon.

ZIVA: (V.O.) I found it!

ABDUL: (IN ARABIC) Allah, preserve us.

GIBBS: Do you recognize him?

JAMAL: Yazeed Fahad, our chapter president.

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM

CASSIDY: Whatever happened to Gibbs' rule about not putting two suspects in the same room?

TONY: More of a guideline.

ABDUL: (FILTERED) You are not listening to me, Agent Gibbs.

CUT TO:

INT. INTERROGATION ROOM

ABDUL: Yazeed Fahad was a man of peace!

JAMAL: He condemned su1c1de bombers as cowards, agents of evil.

ABDUL: And now you wish us to believe that he was one?

ZIVA: He was wearing the b*mb.

ABDUL: Then he was forced to put it on!

GIBBS: By who?

JAMAL: Timing was not a coincidence.

ABDUL: Yazeed organized a meeting with both Shia and Sunni religious leaders for this Friday.

JAMAL: Clerics and holy men from five different Arab countries will be in attendance.

ABDUL: All of them prepared to issue Fatwas condemning the sectarian v*olence in Iraq.

JAMAL: Their words could save thousands of lives.

ABDUL: How many will attend if they find the man who planned it was a su1c1de bomber?

GIBBS: Where were you this afternoon when your president was blowing himself up?

JAMAL: Lunch. Together.

ZIVA: Where?

ABDUL: We don't have to answer these questions. We're not criminals!

GIBBS: Well, I think you should both get a good lawyer.

ABDUL: But we did nothing to...

JAMAL:

JAMAL: Grace Street Diner. We were there between one and two-thirty. (TO ABDUL) They're only doing their jobs, Abdul.

(CONT.) When they do, they'll see that Yazeed was innocent.

CUT TO:

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM

CASSIDY: I'm going to go with you.

TONY: Gibbs wants you here, Paula.

CASSIDY: Why?

TONY: Ask him.

(DOOR OPENS/ CLOSES)

CUT TO:

INT. ABBY'S LAB - DAY

CALLER: (V.O./FILTERED) I cannot give you my name!

OPERATOR: (V.O.) Sir, we have standard procedures.

CALLER: (V.O./FILTERED) If you want to stop this att*ck, you will have an agent meet me!

(SFX: TAPE REWINDS)

ABBY: McGee? Is that you? How long have you been sitting there?

MCGEE: Not long.

ABBY: I'm really... sorry about Jim Nelson. I know you guys were really close.

MCGEE: I wouldn't have graduated from FLETC without his help.

ABBY: Then we would have never met.

MCGEE: Or maybe he'd still be alive. We were supposed to take the weekend shift. Those bodies downstairs should be us.

ABBY: Timothy, don't even think things like that, okay? Everything happens for a reason.

(ABBY HUGS MCGEE)

GIBBS: I'm not even going to ask.

ABBY: Um, technically that was a squatting hug, or a "squg," if you will. But I digress.

GIBBS: Yeah, big time.

MCGEE: I have some paperwork to do.

GIBBS: What have we got?

ABBY: I analyzed and compared the two tip-line calls, the one from this morning and the one that Agent Cassidy got on site. Same caller both times, and I'm assuming that it's this guy. Yazeed Fahad.

CASSIDY: Can you tell us something that we don't know, Abby?

ABBY: Ah okay, how about this. He was in the Navy, and he was honorably discharged in two thousand four.

CASSIDY: Our su1c1de bomber was a sailor?

DUCKY: (V.O./FILTERED) I wouldn't be too quick to rush to judgment on that, (ON CAMERA/FILTERED) Agent Cassidy. Jethro, could you come down here? (V.O./FILTERED) There's something you really must see.

CUT TO:

INT. AUTOPSY LAB - DAY

DUCKY: It appears we have a bit of a mystery. I'm not entirely certain how our guest d*ed.

GIBBS: Well, it's kind of obvious, Duck.

DUCKY: Yes, if I base the results solely on the damage to his body. Fortunately we have this miraculously preserved head. And the rate of decay of his brain tissue doesn't even come close to the time of the expl*si*n.

CASSIDY: I saw that guy walk through the door, Ducky.

DUCKY: Well, Agent Cassidy, I don't see how that's possible. Our su1c1de bomber was dead at least one day before his b*mb went off.

(MUSIC UP AND OUT)

MUSIC IN:

INT. SHEPARD'S OFFICE - NIGHT

(DOOR CLOSES)

GIBBS: Are you okay?

SHEPARD: I just got off the phone with Amy, Special Agent James Nelson's bride of two months. Correction. Widow. Now I have to call Tom and Mary Hall. I don't like making these calls, Jethro.

GIBBS: No C.O. does, Jen.

SHEPARD: I know, but...

GIBBS: What?

SHEPARD: This isn't Iraq or Afghanistan. My people are not supposed to be k*lled by su1c1de bombers here.

GIBBS: No, but they were, Director. And it'll happen again if you stand around here feeling sorry for yourself.

SHEPARD: I am not feeling sorry for myself, Jethro. I'm feeling sorry for the agents and their families. But you're right. I have a call to make and you have a t*rror1st to k*ll - (b*at) catch.

GIBBS: By the way, Ducky says the bomber was dead at least a day before he blew himself up. You might want to give that some thought.

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

INT. SQUAD ROOM - DAY

ZIVA: Swabbed his apartment. Not a trace of expl*sives. He was a former sailor. President of the Muslim Society for Promoting Peace. Tony checked out his friends. Their alibi holds up. They were at a restaurant when...

CASSIDY: (OVERLAP) You going to make a point soon?

ZIVA: Yes. Who did you see entering the building yesterday, Cassidy?

CASSIDY: I'm not convinced that it wasn't this guy. I mean, how do we know that Ducky didn't make a mistake?

ZIVA: Tony?

TONY: Because Ducky doesn't make mistakes, Paula.

ZIVA: Which means that what you saw yesterday was, by definition, mistaken.

CASSIDY: Look, even if he did die the day before, it doesn't mean he wasn't involved. Right... Tony?

TONY: She does have a valid point, Ziva.

CASSIDY: And we don't even know what his cause of death is. I mean, for all we know he could have committed su1c1de.

ZIVA: A su1c1de bomber who commits su1c1de before his bombing? I mean, (SHOUTS) that doesn't make any sense!

TONY: No, it doesn't! But it does raise an interesting point. Imagine, if you will, ladies, an assisted su1c1de of a su1c1de bomber who suicided before his su1c1de bombing. It's kind of like how many chucks would a woodchuck chuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

GIBBS: Dinozzo! What the hell is wrong with you?

TONY: I am just trying to lighten the mood of the room a little bit, Boss.

GIBBS: I got a better way. Leave. And take her with you.

ZIVA: That works for me.

CASSIDY: That works for me, too, David.

ZIVA: David.

GIBBS: Re-evaluate the crime scene. Do not come back until you figure out how the guy she saw got out before the expl*si*n! Are you getting soft on me, Officer David?

ZIVA: Look, I know what she's going through. Sometimes you need to find something or someone to focus your anger on. It's your only relief.

GIBBS: Of course, the drawback is, you know, that they tend to hate you for life.

ZIVA: If it helps her get through it, I can live with that.

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

EXT. URBAN STREET - DAY

CASSIDY: I don't know how you can work with her!

TONY: Well, I worked with you, didn't I?

CASSIDY: Funny. What do you think Gibbs would do if I slapped her?

TONY: I'm more worried about what she'd do. You know, Mossad assassin and all.

CASSIDY: You don't think I could take her? I took you, didn't I?

TONY: Ah, technically you did put me down, but I distinctly remember the floor was slippery that day.

CUT TO:

INT. RETAIL STORE - DAY

TONY: Okay, I'll do the left, you do the right.

CASSIDY: Okay.

TONY: Are you okay?

CASSIDY: It's just so dusty in here.

TONY: Paula, you don't have to do this.

CASSIDY: We both know that I do. When did you start being so caring?

TONY: I have always been caring. I come from a very caring family. The Dinozzos, in fact, are celebrated for their caringness.

CASSIDY: Right.

TONY: Maybe I wasn't as caring once as I am now.

CASSIDY: What brought that on? Or should I say "who?"

TONY: Well, you get older, you change.

CASSIDY: What's her name? Please tell me it's not Ziva.

TONY: It's not Ziva.

CASSIDY: Good.

TONY: Her name is Jeanne.

CASSIDY: Do you love her?

TONY: Yeah, I do, Paula.

CASSIDY: Wow. You really mean that. What's the problem?

TONY: (SIGHS) I can't tell her.

CASSIDY: Why can't you tell her, Tony? It's just three simple little words: I love you.

TONY: It's not so simple. We were on this climbing wall, and she made a little... bet. First one to the top gets to say "I love you."

CASSIDY: You lost on purpose.

TONY: No. I won.

CASSIDY: And you didn't say it? You know, Tony, it's a cliché, but it is true. Life is too short not to tell someone you love them if you do. (b*at) And you do.

CUT TO:

INT. ABBY'S LAB - DAY

ABBY: The NCIS tip line received two calls on Sunday. If Yazeed didn't make them, one wonders who did.

MCGEE: Whoever set up Cassidy's team, Abby.

ABBY: Yeah. It's a rhetorical question, McGee. Just... just work with me here. The NCIS phone logs show that both calls came from the same disposable cell phone.

GIBBS: Are you going to tell me who, Abby?

ABBY: Well, no, but a third call was received by the tip line on Friday, two days before. It's an exact voice match to the calls that came in on Sunday.

CALLER: (V.O./FILTERED) I must speak with an NCIS Special Agent.

OPERATOR: (V.O./FILTERED) What is this regarding, Sir?

CALLER: (V.O./FILTERED) About someone I work with, he is a...

OPERATOR(V.O./FILTERED) He's what, Sir?

CALLER: (V.O./FILTERED) I can't... I can't talk now. I'll call back.

ABBY: This one we can trace. It was logged from a company in Annandale, Virginia. Kertek Computing. They make software for disabled people.

MCGEE: That's where Yazeed works.

ABBY: Worked, McGee. Before he got himself all blowned up.

MCGEE: Boss, if we can get samples of their employees' voices, we can match it to our caller.

GIBBS: That's good work, Abby. Not bad yourself, Elf Lord.

CUT TO:

INT. OFFICE - DAY

SELOM: Yazeed is dead. You are sure of this?

ZIVA: Very.

SELOM: How did this happen?

GIBBS: Cause of death is still being determined.

SELOM: So you believe he was m*rder*d?

ZIVA: What makes you think that?

SELOM: Three Federal agents in my office may have something to do with it.

MCGEE: Mister Abu Selom, what did Yazeed do here at your company?

SELOM: He was an instructor. He taught several courses on how to best utilize our software.

GIBBS: We're going to need to speak to each one of your employees.

MCGEE: As well as check out Yazeed's office and any computers he had access to.

SELOM: Do you have a warrant?

GIBBS: I can get one soon enough.

SELOM: Maybe you won't need one if you just tell me why Yazeed is dead, Agent Gibbs.

GIBBS: Did you watch the news lately?

ZIVA: Yesterday, right around this time?

SELOM: The policemen who were k*lled by the su1c1de b*mb?

MCGEE: They weren't police officers. They were NCIS Special Agents.

GIBBS: That's us.

ZIVA: Yazeed Fahad - he was the bomber.

SELOM: Oh, no! No! (SIGHS) (b*at) You can talk to whoever you like.

CUT TO:

INT. RETAIL SPACE - DAY

TONY: Okay, let's try this a different way. How many seconds between our bad guy coming in here and the expl*si*n, Paula?

CASSIDY: Maybe ten, twelve seconds.

TONY: Not a lot of time for our bad guy to get out of here before this place was turned into the k*lling Field.

CASSIDY: It blew once my team closed the door.

TONY: So where did he go? There's no back door. There's no side rooms. I mean, how does a dirtbag just vanish into thin air?

CUT TO:

INT. OFFICE - DAY

(DOOR OPENS/ CLOSES)

ZIVA: Gibbs is almost done with the interviews. What about you?

MCGEE: Just finishing downloading all the folders Yazeed kept on the company servers. Any of them sound like the voice on the tip line?

ZIVA: Not to my ears. But Gibbs is recording them. They don't seem very pleased with us.

MCGEE: Gibbs tends to have that affect on people.

CUT TO:

INT. ABBY'S LAB - DAY

(SFX: TAPED VOICES B.G.)

ABBY: Sorry, guys. None of these voices match our caller. Are you sure this was every male employee?

ZIVA: All but one, Abby. Yazeed Fahad.

MCGEE: Who couldn't have made any calls because he was dead at the time.

ABBY: We don't have a voice sample of his anyway.

ZIVA: Yes, we do. This is one of his training DVDs.

(PASSAGE OF TIME)

ABBY: All right, are you guys ready to give this a sh*t?

GIBBS: Thirty minutes ago, Abs.

MCGEE: We had to compress the DVD audio to match the quality of the original phone calls to make an accurate--

GIBBS: Come on, McGee. Will you just do it?

MCGEE: I'm doing it.

ABBY: Okay, Yazeed's DVD audio is on the top and the caller's is on the bottom. We have eight key words from each sound track.

MCGEE: And if Ducky was right about Yazeed's time of death...

ABBY: This has been a whole lot of work for nothing. Okay...

VOICE: (FILTERED) And ... meet... people... invisible... listen... close... suspect... back.

MCGEE: That's an exact match. Yazeed made the phone calls.

ZIVA: But how is that possible?

ABBY: I never thought I'd say this, but Ducky was wrong.

GIBBS: Yazeed was still alive when Cassidy's team walked into that building.

(MUSIC UP AND OUT)

MUSIC IN:

INT. SQUAD ROOM - DAY

ZIVA: Evidence cannot tell you two completely contradictory things at the same time, McGee.

MCGEE: No, it can't. Except when it does.

ZIVA: It doesn't make any sense.

SHEPARD: Or perhaps you need a fresh pair of eyes. What do you have so far?

ZIVA: Yazeed Fahad, a former American sailor, called our tip line to warn of a pending t*rror1st att*ck. Yazeed said to meet here, a building with only one way of getting in and out.

MCGEE: Agents Hall and Nelson followed him into the building.

ZIVA: Both of them d*ed seconds later when Yazeed activated his su1c1de vest.

SHEPARD: According to Ducky, he had been dead for a day.

MCGEE: How can that be?

SHEPARD: Well, you can blow up a dead man, McGee.

ZIVA: True, but Abby has proof Yazeed was talking to Cassidy seconds before the expl*si*n.

SHEPARD: Someone mimicking his voice?

MCGEE: Audio forensics say it's an exact match.

SHEPARD: And there's no other way out of the building?

ZIVA: No. We covered every inch of it.

MCGEE: He's like Schrodinger's cat. Alive and dead at the same time. Existing in a superposition. It's quantum physics theory.

SHEPARD: When faced with a situation like this, the solution's obvious.

GIBBS: Well, one of them is wrong.

SHEPARD: I was going to use the term mistaken, but yes.

MCGEE: So we have to choose between Abby and Ducky?

ZIVA: I'd rather be McGee's cat.

SHEPARD: So which one are you leaning toward?

GIBBS: Neither. My money's on Dinozzo.

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

INT. RETAIL STORE - DAY

CASSIDY: I let you down. But I give you my word, I'm going to get this bastard.

TONY: Who are you talking to?

CASSIDY: No one. Me.

TONY: I've got the goodies. Cigar, paper towel, water, and a candy bar. That one's for you.

CASSIDY: I'd rather have the cigar.

TONY: Well, I need it. If there is a secret passageway in here, I'm finding it.

CASSIDY: How are you going to do that?

TONY:

TONY: Saw it in this old monster movie. This guy was trying to find his girlfriend in an evil scientist's castle. Now don't move too much! Or talk.

(CONT.) If there are any gaps in these walls, then the air pressure should suck some smoke through them.

CASSIDY: Dinozzo, we've check this wall. It's solid brick.

TONY: Did you ever hear of a secret passageway?

CASSIDY: Well, this wall shares with the building next to it. How could there be a passageway?

TONY: Okay, Paula, a secret door then.

CASSIDY: All right, we're running out of daylight. I'm going to be in the car.

TONY: Special Agent Cassidy, check this out.

(TONY BLOWS SMOKE ONTO THE WALL)

CASSIDY: Wow. I'm going to go get a pry bar from the trunk. I can't believe that.

TONY: Believe it.(CASSIDY WALKS O.S.)

(MUSIC OVER ACTION/TONY ATTEMPTS TO KNOCK OPEN THE DOOR)

TONY: All right, Dinozzo. It's time to get serious. You're messing with a Buckeye. You want it? I'll bring it. I'm from Ohio. One, two... ah!

(MUSIC OVER ACTION/TONY ATTEMPTS TO KNOCK OPEN THE BRICK DOOR)

TONY: Ah...

(SFX: WALL SLIDES OPEN)

CASSIDY: I thought I'd just check it from this side. This thing is cool! Are you okay?

TONY: It's an old college football injury. Wow.

(SFX: DOOR SLIDES CLOSED QUICKLY)

TONY: That did close kind of fast, didn't it?

CASSIDY: Well, it wouldn't be much of a secret door if it stayed open long now, would it? Tony, look. The guy that I saw was wearing mirrored shades this shape. He probably dropped them hauling ass from the expl*si*n.

TONY: Congratulations. You did see him. That means you're not crazy.

CASSIDY: Not yet at least.

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

INT. AUTOPSY LAB - DAY

(SFX: DOORS SLIDE OPEN/ CLOSED)

DUCKY: Ah, Mister Palmer. Did you manage to--

GIBBS: Did you want to see us, Duck?

DUCKY: Did you pass Mister Palmer on your way down here?

GIBBS: Nope.

DUCKY: I swear, every time I turn my back these days, that young man is running off somewhere.

GIBBS: Well, you should try smacking him in the back of the head. It did wonders for Dinozzo and McGee.

DUCKY: Well, I did. Mister Palmer seemed to enjoy it.

ZIVA: Ha ha. I'll remember that.

DUCKY:

DUCKY: I apologize for the delay in determining the exact cause of Yazeed's death, but the b*mb didn't leave us much to work with.

(CONT.) Thankfully his brain survived relatively unscathed. My first clue was the massive accumulation of lactic acid in its cells. This normally occurs when the brain is forced to obtain energy by anaerobic glycolysis.

GIBBS: Yeah, naturally, Duck.

DUCKY: I had a series of CAT scans done to confirm my suspicions. These dark areas show the most brain damage, all areas associated with rapid and sudden loss of oxygen.

ZIVA: He was suffocated.

DUCKY: Yes.

GIBBS: Do you have enough left to tell me how?

DUCKY: Oh, yes. Yazeed was suffocated with a silicone based substance that was forced into his mouth and nose, allowed to harden, and then removed. Whoever did it was probably trying to make a mask of his face. Abby says it's latex.

ZIVA: Abby also says you're wrong.

DUCKY: So I've heard. Only I'm afraid it's the other way around. This man was dead long before his b*mb went off. I'd stake my career on it.

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

INT. ABBY'S LAB - DAY

TONY: You guys miss me today, Abs?

ABBY: Why? Where were you?

TONY: Never mind.

ABBY: Of course, I did, Tony!

(SFX: TONY GROANS)

ABBY: Sorry! Are you okay?

TONY: Cassidy hit me.

CASSIDY: If I'd punched him, Abby, he wouldn't be standing.

TONY: (GASPS) Oh!

ABBY: Never lie to a woman, Anthony DiNozzo.

TONY: What do we got, McGeekle?

MCGEE: Well, Ducky is still saying that Yazeed was dead when the b*mb went off, and Abby is saying he was alive.

TONY: What did Gibbs say?

GIBBS: Where the hell you been, Dinozzo?

TONY: Solving the mystery of the vanishing dirtbag, Boss.

GIBBS: Yeah, well it took you long enough.

CASSIDY: He found a secret passageway into the store next to it. It was actually quite impressive.

TONY: It turns out both places were part of a magic joke shop that closed down about twenty years ago.

ZIVA: So I was right. You didn't see Yazeed enter the building.

CASSIDY: Thank you for pointing that out... Officer David.

ZIVA: David!

TONY: But now we know we're looking for another man, and we're hoping... praying... you can pull a print off that.

ABBY: If there is a print, if there is a fiber, if there is a drop of dried sweat, I will find it.

GIBBS: Not bad.

TONY: Uh, Boss? I've got a question for you. That thing you said yesterday. We were really supposed to have the weekend duty Cassidy's team took?

GIBBS: Yep.

TONY: How did we get out of that?

GIBBS: I asked.(ELEVATOR DINGS/ DOORS OPEN)

TONY: So that really could have been us.

GIBBS: It could have been us every single damn day of the week. Sometimes it has been. You want to worry about something, worry about tomorrow.

(ELEVATOR DINGS/ DOORS SLIDE CLOSED)

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

INT. BASEMENT - DAY

MANN: Going off to w*r, Gunny?

GIBBS: Are you trying to get rid of me?

MANN: I haven't decided yet.

GIBBS: Well, while you're thinking about it, why don't we pound down some of that chow?

MANN: Spoken like a true Marine. I heard what happened. Maybe I can help --

GIBBS: You have chopsticks?

MANN: Anything else?

GIBBS: Soy sauce.

MANN: You're not going to talk about it, are you?

GIBBS: Nope.

MANN: Got it.

(MANN UNPACKS FOOD/LAUGHS)

GIBBS: I had a very good time at the batting cage.

MANN: Yeah, it was fun.

GIBBS: We should do that again sometime.

MANN: Yeah, we should. Too bad our schedules are polar opposite. Must be a CID/NCIS thing.

GIBBS: Well, somebody's got to keep the wolf away from the door.

MANN: That's why I've been thinking. I'm coming up on my twenty year mark next month.

GIBBS: Congratulations.

MANN: Yeah.

GIBBS: You're right in the zone for full-bird Colonel.

MANN: I'm thinking about retiring, Jethro. Settling down, you know, making some time for the people in my life. So what do you think?
CUT TO:

INT. SQUAD ROOM - DAY

ABBY: Where's Gibbs?

CASSIDY: We found him!

MCGEE: Who?

CASSIDY: That dirtbag who took my team into that slaughterhouse.

ABBY: Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! We got a fingerprint match off the piece of mirrored sunglass lens that Cassidy and Tony found.

ZIVA: Salmar Umar. We interviewed him yesterday at Kertek Computing.

ABBY: I've got two fulls, a right index, and a forefinger, and I've got a partial on the left thumb. I've also got his home address, and a couple of his uncles that lived in...

(ELEVATOR DINGS/ DOORS OPEN)

ABBY: .... be safe!(SFX: DOORS SLIDE CLOSED)

GIBBS: (V.O.) Low and slow...

CUT TO:

INT. OFFICE - DAY

GIBBS: ... McGee. Take the rear exit. And don't spook him. We take him alive. Find out if he's working with anybody else. I don't get an answer from you, Cassidy, I'll take your w*apon from you right now.

CASSIDY: (OVERLAP) Alive! Alive! I've got it. I've got it.

SELOM: Oh, Special Agent Gibbs. Has there been some development?

GIBBS: I need to ask your employees a few more questions.

SELOM: You already cost me a full day's work yesterday.

(MUSIC UP)

GIBBS: Damn it! (SHOUTS) NCIS!! Everybody get down!

ZIVA: (SHOUTS) On the floor! Now!

(MUSIC OVER GUNFIGHT)

(SFX: g*nf*re B.G.)

(MUSIC UP AND OUT)

MUSIC IN:

INT. OFFICE - DAY

ZIVA: We had no choice, Gibbs. If we had not acted, he would have sh*t someone.

GIBBS: We had a choice. I could have left her back at NCIS. He was carrying this. I want to know why.

MCGEE: Yep.

GIBBS: It's Arabic. Read it.

ZIVA: A covenant from Mecca, sponsored by the Muslim Coalition for Peace. The flyer for the conference on Friday. Do you think he was planning on attending?

SELOM: I doubt that, Officer David. Umar was quite vocal about his feeling toward Shiites. He used to argue quite a bit with Yazeed on how they were destroying Iraq.

GIBBS: Well, that would have been nice to have known that yesterday.

SELOM: People have a right to their own opinions, Agent Gibbs. His were usually ignorant and colored by his own prejudice. Still, I can't believe that he'd...

GIBBS: He would k*ll over them?!

VOICE: (ON TAPE) Apple... toast... bicycle...

MCGEE: Boss, you should see this.

VOICE: (ON TAPE) Big... giraffe... Yankee... white... Holland...

MCGEE: This is Umar's. It sounds a lot like Yazeed Fahad's voice.

GIBBS: Turn it up.

YAHEED: (ON TAPE) Holland... black... display... results... oriented... finger... fish...

CASSIDY: (OVERLAP) What the hell kind of program is that, McGee?

SELOM: V.S. Twelve. It's still in development. It's a vocal simulation. It allows disabled people who can't talk to converse in a natural-sounding voice.

MCGEE: It's like Stephen Hawking. You type and the computer says the words.

SELOM: Yes, but ours uses a three-D model of the vocal chords to resonate cavities in the head creating a lifelike sound. Umar was our main programmer.

ZIVA: Would explain how Yazeed was making phone calls from the dead, right?

SELOM: But I don't see how he could have done it. It would have required a CAT scan of Yazeed's throat and mouth.

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

INT. ABBY'S LAB - DAY

ABBY: For a t*rror1st whack job, Umar is an amazing programmer. Amazing enough to fool me! This recreates Yazeed's voice flawlessly.

YAZEED'S VOICE: Now you know why you found traces of latex in my throat and mouth, Abby.

ABBY: Why, yes. I do, Yazeed.

YAZEED'S VOICE: What about you, Tony? And I like your shirt, by the way. It's sexy.

TONY: Thanks. It's from the George Peppard collection. I... Abby.

YAZEED'S VOICE: Abby.

ABBY: Sorry.

MCGEE: Umar didn't need a CAT scan for Yazeed. He poured hot latex down his throat and cast a mold.

YAZEED'S VOICE: Ewww.

MCGEE: All he had to do was laser-scan it into his computer, input the results into the program.

ABBY: Mystery solved.

TONY: Umar was who you heard type-talking on the phone, Paula.

CASSIDY: The guy that I saw was not carrying a laptop and typing. I would have definitely noticed that.

GIBBS: Means he wasn't working alone.

YAZEED'S VOICE: Hey, Gibbs. Why no Caf-POW? I'll shut up now.

GIBBS: Your team was set up, but they weren't the target.

ZIVA: Yazeed was. They were trying to stop his Sunni-Shia peace conference.

CASSIDY: By turning him into a su1c1de bomber?

TONY: It almost worked, Paula.

ZIVA: But luckily for us, Yazeed lost his head... literally.

CASSIDY: Well, we don't know that it didn't work. At this point, who's going to show up to this thing?

GIBBS: Oh, you'd be surprised, Cassidy.

ZIVA: We're not the only ones who refuse to bow down to terrorism.

MCGEE: They're going ahead with the conference anyway?

ZIVA: Now that we've cleared Yazeed.

ABBY: But we only got one of them. What if somebody else tries to stop it?

ZIVA: We k*ll them, Abby.

TONY: We catch them. That's the preferred term.

CASSIDY: I like hers better.

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

INT. SHEPARD'S OFFICE

SHEPARD: If they're still any holdouts, I will personally call and offer reassurances that Yazeed Fahad was the victim of a t*rror1st bombing and not the perpetrator.(DOOR CLOSES)

JAMAL: I'm sure the reassurance from you will encourage people to attend, Director.

WALID: This incident has only strengthened our resolve.

GIBBS: And made your peace conference a major target.

WALID: All the more reason for us not to back down, Agent Gibbs.

GIBBS: That's why we're going to help.

SHEPARD: I have contacted the F.B.I., and Metro Police, and they've agreed to increase security at your conference. I will also be assigning agents for protection of the senior clerics that will be attending the event.

WALID: Bodyguards?

GIBBS: Where they go, we go.

WALID: Yazeed always spoke highly of his time in your Navy. Now I can see why.

JAMAL: We are in your debt.

SHEPARD: If your event lessens or ends the insurgency in Iraq, it is us who are in your debt, gentlemen.

JAMAL: Thank you for your support, Director.

WALID: Thank you.

CUT TO:

INT. SQUAD ROOM - DAY

ZIVA: Sheik Abu Talid Yusef, the senior Sunni Cleric in attendance. He's yours for the day, Tony. Sheik Ali Bashir, the senior Shia cleric is Cassidy's. And...the most senior cleric at the conference is Imam Abdul Al-Maliki...

GIBBS: He's mine. Ziva floats between all three, depending on the situation.

ZIVA: The quickest way to stop the conference is to target one of these men.

GIBBS: Well, we're not going to let that happen.

MCGEE: Boss, what about me?

GIBBS: Yeah, right. I almost forgot. Names of everyone attending. Run them down. Look for any links to t*rror1st groups.

MCGEE: Um... there looks to be over three hundred names here and the conference starts in less than six hours.

GIBBS: Yeah, well? Why are you still standing there, McGee?

MCGEE: Right.

ZIVA: We pick them up at their hotels one hour before?

GIBBS: No. A little change in plans. We pick them up now for a field trip. They want to hold a ceremony for Yazeed and Cassidy's team.

CASSIDY: What kind of ceremony?

GIBBS: Memorial.

TONY: Where?

GIBBS: Where they d*ed.

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

EXT. STREET - DAY

(SFX: CAR DRIVES PAST)

CUT TO:

INT. RETAIL SPACE - DAY

CASSIDY: Well, I've never been much for praying. But after this I'm...

TONY: Hall and Nelson were good men.

CASSIDY: They were the best. (SIGHS) I could have saved them.

TONY: Paula, that's not true.

CASSIDY: I could have turned down the weekend duty, Tony. There's just no way we should have had it two weeks in a row.

TONY: It was supposed to be us.

CASSIDY: Us what?

TONY: It was our team that was supposed to take it.

CASSIDY: (SIGHS) Oh. I mean, it doesn't matter. Nothing does. I was supposed to be in here. I know it. But... here I am.

(SFX: WALL SLIDES OPEN)

ZIVA: Ha! Very clever. This side is clear!

(SFX: WALLS SLIDES SHUT)

CASSIDY: I didn't think anything could make you jump, Officer David.

ZIVA: That was merely a reflex.

CASSIDY: In America, we call that jumping.

ZIVA: In Mossad, we call that the difference between life and death.

CASSIDY: I'm just ... I'm going to let Gibbs know that we're clear over there.

(CASSIDY WALKS O.S.)

ZIVA: Is something wrong?

TONY: That was supposed to be us.

ZIVA: But it wasn't.

TONY: No, not this time.

CUT TO:

INT. ABBY'S LAB - DAY

MCGEE: Abs, you wanted to see me?

ABBY: I really need your help with this, McGee.

MCGEE: Gibbs has me running down the names of over three hundred people attending a conference in--

ABBY: Now, McGee! Okay, we know that whoever was helping Umar was using that computer to recreate Yazeed's voice.

MCGEE: I know. I'm the one who found the program.

ABBY: So his fingerprints could be on this keyboard. But the problem is, so are everybody else's. Whoever typed on this thing... and they're all... they're all mashed on top of each other. Look!

MCGEE: So you're hand tracing them?

ABBY: I'm isolating the "J" and the "F" key because that's where you would park your fingers when you're waiting to type.

MCGEE: Okay, what do you need me to do?

ABBY: I just... I need you to look at this. I need you to check my work because I'm getting dizzy from starring at it for so long.

MCGEE: Okay.

CUT TO:

INT. RETAIL SPACE - DAY

TONY: Just how long is this supposed to take, Boss?

GIBBS: Longer than if you helped them set up, Dinozzo. When this thing starts, I want you out front, Ziva.

CASSIDY: What about me?

GIBBS: I didn't bring you here for security.

CASSIDY: Look, I know I screwed up at Kertek Computers.

GIBBS: Then say a prayer for your team, Cassidy. We'll take the heavy lifting on this one.

CUT TO:

INT. ABBY'S LAB - DAY

MCGEE: Purple one's definitely Umar. The other two are less defined. Probably going to take a while for...

(SFX: COMPUTER BEEP TONES)

ABBY: You were saying, McGee?

MCGEE: How did you get three potential matches so fast?

ABBY: Because these fingerprints were taken from the first crime scene. Looks like it was someone who was helping Yazeed paint the place.

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

INT. RETAIL SPACE - DAY

WALID: This was Yazeed's dream, to show the world that these t*rror1st groups do not speak for us. We thank you for making it a reality.

(SFX: CELL PHONE RINGS)

TONY: Well, at least something good is going to come from all of this.

GIBBS: (INTO PHONE) Yeah, Gibbs.

MCGEE: (V.O./FILTERED) Boss, either Abdul or Jamal is a match.

GIBBS: Hands on top of your head!

TONY: Boss?

GIBBS: It's one of them, Dinozzo. The prints found on Umar's laptop match the painting gear.

WALID: What laptop?

GIBBS: Where's Jamal Malik?

WALID: He was here a minute ago!

GIBBS: (INTO RADIO) Ziva! It's Malik! Find him!(SFX: DOOR SLIDES OPEN)

TONY: Behind you!

(MUSIC OVER SLOW MOTION ACTION)

(CASSIDY RUSHES TOWARD MALIK)

TONY: (SHOUTS) Paula!!

JAMAL: (SHOUTS IN ARABIC) Allahu Akkbar!

(SFX: HUGE b*mb BLAST SHATTERS THE ROOM)

(SFX: TONY HITS HIS HEAD AGAINST THE WALL)

MUSICAL BRIDGE TO:

INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT

(SFX: MUSIC B.G.)

(KNOCK ON DOOR)

(DOOR OPENS)

TONY: I love you, Jeanne.

(MUSIC OVER ACTION/TONY HUGS/KISSES JEANNE)

(MUSIC UP AND OUT)

(MUSIC UP OVER ENDING CREDITS AND OUT)
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