How long do we have to wait for the inquiry into Ilan Bodnar's death?
Richard Parsons. I'm the independent counsel.
Adam Eshel.
Did you sleep with him?
Go to hell!
Interview's over! You told him to go to hell.
I went to Israel to bury my father.
It was a moment of weakness.
Boss, we had it wrong.
Parsons isn't after Ziva or Vance.
Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, you've manipulated evidence and you've obstructed justice.
Do you take full responsibility for the actions of your team?
What do you think?
Nothing out here worth catching.
Too much sun.
You know, the clouds bring the tricky ones to the surface.
They're smart that way.
Sure you're talking about fish?
Talking about all sorts of bottom-feeders.
Yeah, well... never been much for catch and release.
You and me both.
But there's some folks don't understand that.
Some of the big ones would rather die fighting than get caught.
There's something.
There's a lot of fight left in this one.
Give me a hand, will you?
Geez. Think you got 'em there, Mike?
Something on your mind, Gibbs?
Fishing.
Sounds like fun.
I'm more of a woodworking guy, myself.
Like to build things with my hands.
I knew that would get your attention.
It's been almost a week.
Coming in here, keeping your mouth shut. It's nice to hear you say something.
I got one question: all of this... why now?
Because enough is enough.
You've been pushing legal boundaries and sweeping things under rugs for 20 years.
My division of the DOD is like Internal Affairs.
You think we didn't notice?
Your actions have been inappropriate.
And your actions are my responsibility now.
The deaths of Eli David and Jackie Vance, they opened doors to an investigation and I'm happy that it did.
You're happy, huh?
I believe in upholding the law, Gibbs.
And I am tired of watching you break it.
No reason to make this harder than it has to be.
Step up.
Take responsibility.
I'll leave your people alone.
All I want is the truth.
You weren't there.
NCIS Season 10 Episode 24 Damned If You Do
Any news, you'll be the first to know.
SECNAV hitting dead ends?
He just spoke to the IG.
They're giving Parsons carte blanche.
Little creep.
He's like the bastard grandson of J. Edgar Hoover.
Must have files on everybody.
Does he have something on you?
I won't dignify that with an answer.
People are afraid of him, Tom. I'd like to know why.
The most dangerous person in Washington is the one who knows who you really are.
Well, I'm a widower who needed closure.
You were playing with fire, Leon.
God knows I told you and your team to stay away from Bodnar.
Well, my wife was telling me different.
Look, Tom, if this is a witch hunt, if Parsons' goal is to hurt this agency, then why am I not the one that's taking the hit?
You said it yourself: you're a victim.
Parsons recognizes the political fallout of going after a man who's lost everything because of his agent's poor judgment.
So he's gunning for the next best thing.
To an investigator like Parsons, Gibbs is a hell of a trophy.
You know, you talk a good game, but you got nothing.
How far back do you want to go?
Director Shepard, or all the way to... NIS?
What do you call that?
I call that desperation.
Yours or mine?
You want more? Don't answer that.
Wait until your lawyer's present.
I don't have one.
Sure you do.
They just texted me that he's on his way up.
Sorry I'm late, gentlemen.
Gibbs, you can stop talking now.
I never started.
Agent Chegwidden.
As in the Judge Advocate General?
Ah, that was a long time ago.
Uniform barely fits these days.
I'm private sector now. You have any tea? I'd like some tea.
You'll be defending Special Agent Gibbs?
If he'll have me. Our paths crossed back in the day.
Got a little catching up to do.
I didn't call you, Admiral.
No, Director Vance did.
Pulling out the big g*ns, I see.
Well, let the games begin.
A man's career is in balance, and you think it's a game.
For what it's worth, I don't like losing, never have.
Where's my cup of tea, son?
Nice to see you again, gunny.
In case you're interested, Agent McGee files all his naked anime pictures under "N".
Who are they?
DCIS. Records are being subpoenaed.
What could these old files possibly have to do with anything?
That was Gibbs.
He's ordering us to lay low and back off.
I think he's making a mistake.
Doesn't mean we have to listen.
Start digging, McDirty Laundry.
Get a look at Parsons' personal life.
Career. Friends.
Enemies. Frenemies.
Everybody's got something to hide.
I hate unnecessary g*ng v*olence as much as the next girl, but sometimes... there's no alternative.
Eat my lead, Richard.
Well done, Miss Sciuto. That is some extraordinarily impressive gunplay.
Regular Abby Oakley.
Do you want to take a sh*t? It's totally gratifying.
I think we'll pass, under the circumstances.
You are certainly in better spirits than I expected.
I am in horrible spirits.
Just creating a game where I can take out this dancing, vile loser is my way of channeling my Parsonian venom.
He's trying to take down my Gibbs.
He's a little piece of filthy, disgusting...
Many years ago, I completed my U.S. medical examiner training in an office in Foggy Bottom, in a dreadful lab in a complex more commonly referred to as Watergate.
Yes, the proverbial walls have ears, Abby.
We'd all be better served if you keep your animosity visual.
Do you think the DOD is listening?
Remember when Tony bugged Parsons?
We appear to be pawns in a game of tit-for-tat.
I just discovered this device clinging to the underside of one of my desk drawers.
So we must proceed with caution.
The word is mum.
Yeah, mum.
Judge Maddox, I spent the past week trying to get Special Agent Gibbs to cooperate.
He was unwilling, so I scheduled a pre-arraignment.
And now I've rescheduled it.
The defendant just got himself an attorney.
He deserves a chance to solidify his position.
One day, Your Honor.
By law, he gets one day after charges have been filed to collect his thoughts.
But you still haven't filed one single formal charge.
Because I gave him ample opportunities to admit that he and his coworkers had broken the law.
You want a confession.
I want the truth.
The truth is, this man has dedicated his life to putting his life on the line. That's hard to criticize.
You zig when you should have zagged, Agent Gibbs?
No, ma'am.
Maybe you're barking up the wrong tree, Richard.
I've got to pick up my grandson's birthday cake.
A.J., I don't know if your client thinks that he can b*at the house or not, but I should remind you that I'm a pretty good poker player myself.
Based on what I've read so far, we're gonna sit down in 48 hours and probably arrest Special Agent Gibbs.
That's how long you have to put your hand together.
I suggest you make it a damn good one.
48 hours, Your Honor. We'll be there.
And, happy birthday to your grandson.
Cozy.
We are in here because Dr. Mallard found a wiretap.
Question is, is it IG-sanctioned?
You guys, I just found this one in the towel dispenser in the ladies' room.
'Cause-'cause the men's room was-was being cleaned.
I don't normally go in the ladies' room.
It smells nicer.
How do we know there's no bug in the elevator?
Don't worry about it.
I've been up top, Hannibal Lecter style, she's clean.
Well then allow me to speak freely.
I wish it didn't take a crisis for us to have this time, like, all close together.
And so I'm gonna vote for biweekly elevator meetings.
All right, matter at hand, Ms. Sciuto.
I can assure you that everything Parsons is doing is legitimate, but our main course of action now is to stop the bleeding.
Does anybody know anything else that could increase the thr*at to Agent Gibbs during this investigation?
Files, photographs, documents?
What about all the stuff at Gibbs' house?
You sure there was nothing here worth taking?
Still works.
Gibbs, you okay?
This place has been pulverized.
You think?
Who is he?
Vance sent me a lawyer.
What about Rule 13?
Never heard of it.
Wait a second. I know you.
I used to hang around the Navy Yard some.
Oh, it'll come to me.
We need to find you a safe place to stay... a hotel, someplace we can talk openly.
I know a place.
You built this, Boss?
Well, most of it.
You little doomsday prepper.
Very Abe Lincoln.
Or very Gibbs.
Has that road always been here?
There was no road. Not until I cleared it.
No plumbing, no electricity, no address.
I think it's lovely, in a rustic, sort of unfinished way.
Full of splinters.
The cell phones have been off since we left, and GPS, too.
Nothing traceable.
I'm not hiding, DiNozzo.
Nothing to hide from.
Then why play Jeremiah Johnson?
'Cause we have things to talk about, and the less Parsons is privy to, the better.
That's possum scat.
Are you enjoying nature?
I just don't like nature when it's all over my shoes.
The possums were here first.
Everybody inside. Let's go.
Thermals will show the cars are still hot.
Helo could be unrelated.
I'm not taking the chance.
I am not a fugitive.
Not yet.
I don't know about this menu, Boss.
I'm not sure Ziva's ready for the full-on Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles experience.
I don't know how you can think of eating at a time like this.
All right, this is what I have on Parsons.
After his dad bought him an Ivy League law degree, he clerked for a couple of big wigs at the Justice Department.
Then he spent a few years at a Philadelphia law firm before relocating to DC.
Where he worked his way up the independent counsel ladder of DOD.
More like he weaseled his way up.
Word on the street is he, kissed the appropriate rings.
And now he's out to make his mark by taking NCIS down.
Yeah, look, this is not all just smoke and mirrors here.
He genuinely believes there's legal boundaries that can't be crossed.
But we have done nothing wrong.
That's your word against his.
He's convinced he's doing the right thing.
Our actions were justified.
Save it for the jury.
Quiet.
This place is hard to find.
Good.
Come on, McGee, join the party.
Pull up a stump.
I can't, Boss. We're late.
We got a dead Navy SEAL in Virginia.
I'm not going.
Not now.
Tell that to the victim's family.
Ziva, go on.
Go. Do the work.
Hey, Tim, where's the victim?
Right here.
Overnight delivery left him on the front porch.
Little guy?
Not exactly.
Wife's a flight attendant...
Emily McBride.
She just got back from a three-day trip and found this waiting for her on her front step.
Label says it was shipped from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Can you help me with the trunk?
Kevin Spacey.
You know him?
No. Kevin Spacey... he did the same thing to Gwyneth Paltrow at the end of the movie Seven.
Meet Navy SEAL Lieutenant Chad McBride.
I better call Ducky.
I'd learned over the years... not to worry when Chad had a mission.
Or at least to try not to.
Where was your husband going?
He couldn't say.
I'm not sure even he knew.
So you hadn't spoken recently.
Not since he left.
Almost two weeks ago.
Chad was... a terrific husband, a dedicated officer.
I can't imagine... what he went through.
Why would someone do this?
Ducky and Palmer?
I already gave them a heads-up.
On the plus side, it makes for a much shorter protocol list than a whole body.
Which is, I'm sure, a tremendous comfort to the lieutenant.
I'm... sorry. I meant no disrespect.
Allow me to forgive you on his behalf, Mr. Palmer.
You were merely trying to make lemonade with lemons.
The protocol may be shorter, but the human head still offers an abundance of clues.
Eyelash, ear and nasal hairs.
They do a remarkable job of collecting data.
And that, I suspect, will give us a great deal of information on the lieutenant's whereabouts at the time of his death.
It is certainly a... unique and different autopsy.
Variety is the spice of life, Mr. Palmer.
Shaking things up keeps us alert and on our toes.
Speaking of shaking things up, Breena and I, we're... having a baby.
My dear Jimmy.
Well, such... such news shouldn't be delivered as an aside.
How long have you known? When is the baby due?
Oh wait, oh wait, no, no, no, it's...
Breena's not due due.
We're on a waiting list.
We decided to adopt. We figure there are so many unwanted kids out there that we'd adopt first.
Bravo, Mr. Palmer!
Such a decision is admirable and positively thrilling.
This guy's pinned at 11.
Break out our protective gear, Mr. Palmer, and suit up immediately.
I really should've done this earlier.
Now, hurry!
Forgive me for being so blunt, Lieutenant... but where the hell have you been?
You hear that?
I hear what?
Behind those trees.
Are you gonna tell me what we're looking for?
I'm looking for a woman with curves like a country road, and lips soft as velvet.
That's nice to know, Mike.
We're looking for a strip club.
See? You think too much.
Your whole career, you acted on instinct.
Listen to your gut.
Don't stop now. sh**t first, ask questions later.
And if I make a mistake?
Over the years, we do some things, some good, some bad.
Decisions that help one person and hurt another.
Damned if you do...
In the end, we make sacrifices, live with them.
Things happen sometimes that are out of our control.
She's dead.
My wife is dead, Gibbs.
Morning.
Got your coffee from that diner you go to.
Ready to talk whenever you are.
Morning.
We're both just doing our jobs.
The interesting thing here is, your job is to catch bad guys, and so is mine.
It's even harder to catch the ones I'm after, though, because they're like you.
They're good people, but they've made bad decisions.
I sympathize with you losing your father.
I can't imagine what that must have been like.
I know that Agent Gibbs is very important to you also.
But wouldn't it be terrible to watch both men fall?
I know you threw Bodnar off that ship, and I know that you k*lled your own brother Ari.
And yet there has been no punishment for either.
Like Gibbs, you just forget and you move on.
Until now.
It's only a matter of time.
Please.
Appreciate you reaching out, Captain. I'm sure your hands are full.
What can I do for you, Director?
A JSOC operative of yours, Lieutenant Chad McBride, showed up here last night.
At least part of him did.
How much have you ascertained about the lieutenant's mission?
Nothing.
We were informed by his wife that he was a Navy SEAL.
We got a sense of when he shipped out, but other than that, we're in the dark.
All I can tell you is that he was doing some top secret recon.
The less you know, the better.
Forgive me, Captain, but withholding information doesn't fly when a dead Navy SEAL shows up in my morgue hotter than Chernobyl.
Pardon?
You heard me. We have a radiation issue.
Keep the remains secure while I speak to my superiors.
I'll take care of the deceased as long as I get some answers.
No one... I repeat, no one... hears about this.
Am I making myself clear?
Need I remind you that we're on the same team?
Word travels fast, Director.
Be careful.
Your team is already under significant scrutiny.
No, no, no.
Abby, what's wrong?
I don't like this one bit.
Talk to us, Ms. Sciuto.
Major Mass Spec is coughing up results like-like hairballs.
Like the big sticky kind that stick in a kitty's throat for hours and then...
So I fed everything that Ducky and Jimmy gave me from Lieutenant McBride's remains into Major Mass Spec.
We know that he was shipped from Saudi Arabia and his nasal passages were lined with sand and other desert-related microorganisms.
You couple that with physical signs of extreme dehydration and...
He was held somewhere in the Middle East, probably tortured.
Right, but you can skip the "probably" part.
Lacerations to his head and neck indicate that he was beaten with a piece of wood or a stick of some sort.
The shards of wood are lodged inside the cuts.
I'm still working on its origin.
So whatever the lieutenant's mission was the people who k*lled him were overnighting us a message.
Where I come from, a radiated and tortured head in a box usually means "Back off".
Backing off is the last thing I intend to do.
Get me Tom Morrow now.
I have some new intel on Parsons.
This guy really is a natural politician.
Every professional move carefully planned and orchestrated right down to the people he praised in his law school dissertations.
Professional brown-noser.
That is another way to put it.
But it's made him some powerful friends.
Guy's knee-deep in secure files, like some kind of hoarder of classified information.
It's a smart hobby in this town.
He's even gotten his hands on some sensitive personal documents belonging to high-level types in the Justice Department.
Blackmail?
How did you get all this information?
How did you get past Parsons' firewall?
That's kind of personal.
Personal? Since when?
I've seen this expression before.
McSnoop Dogg!
Are you getting jiggy with some highly classified DOD beauty?
You are. Am I right?
Her name is Delilah.
My, my, my, Delilah.
She specializes in Web and information security.
Of course she does. Beautiful Delilah.
Okay, that's enough.
We have to go tell Gibbs.
So proud of you.
Please don't do that ever again.
Where'd you learn to work like this?
I always worked. Didn't have a choice.
You know I'm gonna need more, right?
Yeah? More what?
Explanation.
You don't follow rules.
I got my own.
You take matters in your own hands.
You understand there's a domino effect here?
You take the lead agent down, the rest of the team falls.
My fault.
It's not that simple.
It should be.
Well, it's not.
According to IG records, your team isn't just sending people to jail, they're sending them to the morgue.
Yeah, sometimes.
Ari Haswari, Agent Michelle Lee, Paloma Reynosa, Harper Dearing...
There was no other choice.
There's always a choice.
The question is: "were their deaths absolutely necessary?"
Nothing I wouldn't do again.
Please tell me you're not gonna say that in court.
I won't be in court.
All those people in all those cities.
And somehow our troubles still find a way to matter.
Kindly come out from behind my desk.
We're a lot alike.
Are we?
We both believe in the law and what it's capable of.
Your take on me, on the other hand, is completely false.
I doubt that.
I don't think we should be having this conversation without a witness.
You don't want a witness. Not for this.
Talk.
In preparations for the indictment proceedings, I have been combing through a vast array of documents.
And?
And a certain file has gone missing.
Okay, I'll bite. Which one?
A little over two years ago, Ms. Sciuto was hired by the Mexican government to investigate a drug-related sh**ting.
The file, detailing her results, is nowhere to be found.
You wouldn't know where this file would be, do you?
I have no idea what file you're talking about.
My advice to you: stay above the muck.
Well, sometimes you have to ruin a good pair of shoes to do what's right.
Let me ask you something, Parsons.
You doing what's right?
We think we have enough.
Enough what?
Boss, these are Parsons' last five cases.
Each of them resulting in a sizeable promotion for him.
We know you told us not to dig, Boss, but... we were wondering:
"why is McGee's evil doppelganger getting all the good stuff in town?"
Because he's collecting damaging information about his more established DOD colleagues and using it against them.
Found dozens of sordid e-mails in an alias account.
Guy's a first-class blackmailer.
Which means we have enough.
Enough what?
Enough for Vance to present to the inspector general.
Enough to weaken Parsons.
I told you to stay out of it.
We play by Parsons' rules, it means we're admitting we did something wrong.
We wanted to help.
And now we have a paper trail.
Gibbs, you cannot do this alone. You have to let us help you.
It is not your job!
It is not about my job!
This about my family!
Nice tantrum, Ziva.
Oh, shut up!
Not now.
He's doing what he thinks is right.
I know what he's doing.
I know he's trying to protect me.
But I've always taken responsibility for my own actions, for my own mistakes.
And this is no different.
Look...
I'm sorry if I hurt you in all of this.
It was never intended.
I care too much about our... friendship.
I do not want it to be awkward between us.
Nothing's awkward between friends.
Sorry I'm late.
On the phone with JSOC.
Did Wayne tell you about the McBride case?
Wish we could have intercepted that package before the wife ever opened it.
NCIS would never have been called in.
What are you not telling me, Tom?
You can't be held responsible for what you don't know.
I'll find out one way or another.
There's a connection... between the death of that Navy SEAL and what's happening with your team.
What kind of connection?
The m*rder of Eli David opened a political can of worms that was much bigger than anyone expected.
Eli and Arash Kazmi wanted to forge a peace.
But Bodnar k*lling them opened the door.
Homeland and the CIA wait for chances like this to stir the pot.
Distract governments so that all sorts of recon can happen.
The CIA needed Iran to believe Mossad was responsible.
Are you telling me... that Bodnar didn't k*ll Kazmi?
I'm telling you we did it, Leon.
The CIA took out Kazmi that night so that Bodnar would end up being the fall guy.
Iran and Israel could duke it out while we focused on the real thr*at.
We're all so damn worried about Iran and North Korea, when the real thr*at is here on home soil.
It's a shell game, isn't it?
Keep people distracted.
Leon, you see why I wanted you to keep your distance?
The attorney, Parsons, did he know anything about this when he started this investigation?
Nothing.
But he saw an opportunity just like we did.
What about the Navy SEAL, Chad McBride?
It's not good, Leon.
I love what you've done with this place.
You gonna pour me some of that?
Nope.
There's nothing left.
Could've at least saved me the worm.
You know, I figured you'd come home... after you made up your mind.
No sense in hiding when all you're running from is the truth.
Nobody's running.
I'm not so sure.
Keeping yourself all walled up at that cabin.
It's a good place to think.
Maybe it's time to stop thinking and start doing.
Unless you're afraid of something.
You keep losing people.
Shannon, Kelly, yours truly.
Who's next?
You know what you should do.
Come clean.
Admit that there are good reasons you did the things you did.
All I ever wanted to be was a good Marine.
A good husband.
And you have.
This joker, Parsons, wants to fight.
What are you gonna do?
Fight.
Jethro cannot be expected to handle this on his own.
You're preaching to the symphony, Ducky.
Choir.
Leave her alone, Tony.
It's okay, McGee. I can handle him myself.
Yes, she can.
Since when did it become illegal to catch bad people and do good things?
I hate Parsons. I just want to kick him in his... delicate place.
Let her go, McKilljoy. It was just getting good.
I'm turning into some sort of sadistic scientific rabble rouser.
Rabble what?
Boss, what are you doing here?
I work here.
Damn right, he does.
Gibbs, I never saw this coming.
It's a little late now, Director.
They tell me Bodnar had nothing to do with Kazmi's death.
CIA.
Seems some folks have bigger fish to fry.
NCIS was just collateral damage.
Yeah, we'll bounce back. Skin's pretty thick.
Parsons isn't giving up.
He intends to make an example out of you.
Let him.
What you see is what you get.
Success, failure... all of it.
You want to fight?
Not by his rules.
Tom Morrow may have a solve.
We pull it off, this could all go away.
For all of us?
Clean slate.
What's the catch?
It might k*ll you.
So could bad clams.
We sure picked one hell of a career, didn't we, Gibbs?
Got to make a living, Leon.
We collect secrets over the years.
Hide behind them, depend on them, like aces up our sleeve.
We think we have to protect the people we love from the truth, but the truth isn't the poison.
It's the cure.
Best thing you can do is teach your kids not to be afraid.
We don't have to do this.
I think we do.
Gibbs would do the same for us.
McGee's right.
You may not like how this ends, Ziva.
I have never depended on happy endings.
You three have something to say?
We try to live a good life.
A clean life.
But secrets get in the way.
Sure, we can play dirty, use people's mistakes against them.
But put all those secrets behind us, and the honest man comes out on top.
What is this?
Where is he?
Good to see you, too, Richard.
Where is Agent Gibbs?
He's gone.
A special mission for JSOC, top priority.
That's not part of the deal. He can't just not show up.
The hell he can't.
I gave your client ample opportunity to take responsibility for his actions, and now I see that giving him a chance to step up was a waste of time.
Sit down, Parsons, and shut up.
I always liked that guy.
Your inspector general just postponed the investigation effective immediately.
This is crazy, all right?
I have got thousands of documents ready to indict Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
You should know that Gibbs' team handed in their resignations.
They took full responsibility for the accusations.
And you're going to let them cover for him?
Once Gibbs was cleared, we requested his immediate assistance.
Is Agent Gibbs so valuable that you would allow this to happen?
Do it.
Do it.