So, based on the photos, this is the spot.
Uh, I'm just trying to, uh...
Hello?
Okay, I just want to find a spot that I can watch without being seen.
Whoa.
That was crazy.
Must have been some kind of nocturnal cat, maybe.
But we are still... Ah!
♪ Boom, boom, boom, boom ♪
♪ Bang, bang, bang, bang ♪
♪ Boom, boom, boom, boom ♪
♪ How, how, how, how ♪
♪ Hey, hey ♪
♪ You gotta come on. ♪
You look like you got here real early.
Uh, no.
I stayed up really late.
I was up all night going through the files Winchester gave me on Deputy Director Van Cleef.
Did you read his grade school transcripts, too?
I might as well have.
He dumped every file on every mission that Van Cleef has worked on for the past seven years.
This... this is every mission he ever led personally, including when I worked with him.
Way to go, Winchester. Yeah.
I guess after saving both his life and his career taking down that DIA mole, he was feeling generous.
Read your file yet?
You know, after all these years, I don't know.
I just... I couldn't.
You'll read it when you're ready.
Yeah.
Anyway, I did go through the other operations, though.
Find a pattern of behavior?
It's the way he handled disciplinary actions.
He cited 15 senior female field agents for things like breaches of protocol, poor judgment.
They all had otherwise clean records.
Any male agents?
Three. But... they had all been previously disciplined by other supervisors.
Hmm.
I'm beginning to think, unconsciously or not, Van Cleef has a problem with female field agents.
You really think it was unconscious?
I'm being kind. Mm.
Well, you really did dig into the pattern.
Let's look into promotions, demotions, firings.
And let's see if there's any gender-based trends in the areas, too.
Look, Tammy, you don't have to. Are you kidding?
If this is what's really...
I'm kicking a hornet's nest.
If this pattern really does exist, then that's a nest that needs kicking, and I'm all in.
I'm sure Pride will be, too.
Pride already went to bat for me with Van Cleef.
I don't want him sticking his neck out again.
Okay.
Dwayne. Linda, what... what are you doing here?
It's nice to see you, too.
Sorry. I just, I just wasn't expecting...
What, your ex-wife showing up without calling or texting?
Exactly. Well, it's the big planning of the wedding weekend. I just thought that that would start, you know, on-on the weekend.
Well, it is.
But Laurel, I mean, she's... we only have two days.
There's venues and there's flowers and there's catering, and so I just came a little early.
Right. Well... welcome.
Uh, can I get you a coffee?
Or breakfast, or...? No, no, I'm good.
I actually just came in for an awkward hello.
And then go and make my rounds.
Well, mission accomplished.
All right, I admit it.
I mean, I knew you bought the place.
But I just kind of wanted to see it for myself and tell you that I'm really glad that it's finally yours.
Thank you.
How's everything in, uh, in Houston?
It's good.
Ted and I celebrated our fourth anniversary.
Wow. Congratulations.
How are you and Rita? We're great.
Hmm.
Let me just make you something to eat before you have to rush out.
No, no, I'm not gonna put you out. Let me get this.
You're not putting me... out at all.
Okay?
Um, it's, it's a case.
Yeah. It-It's okay. I-I-I have a lot to get done, so...
It was great to see you.
Morning. What've we got?
Victim was Lieutenant Daniel Sloan.
Naval microbiologist.
Looks like the body was dragged out of the water and mauled by some kind of wild animal.
How long was it in the water? A few hours.
Probably went in somewhere upstream. Time of death?
I'm putting it somewhere around six to ten hours ago.
Middle of the night.
What the hell was he doing out here?
Good question.
The local sheriffs are still canvassing the area, but no sign of any vehicle or witnesses for that matter.
So it could've been dumped.
These waters aren't a bad place to dump a body.
Another day or so, alligators could've disposed of the corpse. You thinking foul play?
Can't rule it out.
We'll see when we get to the morgue.
Okay.
Let's start digging into Lieutenant Sloan's life.
Hey.
You got a sec?
Well, if this is about that fancy bottle of whiskey you loaned me, I'll buy you a new one. It's not about that.
It's about Deputy Director Van Cleef.
You were right.
He was responsible for my demotion as team leader.
And there is a history there. That you don't have to explain.
I don't need to know. It's not my business.
No, it's okay, I want to.
Here's the thing, I've been trying to locate people... women... who have had similar experiences to mine, to talk to.
You want to t*nk his DOD appointment?
I want to make sure all the relevant information is out there.
I never took you for the David and Goliath type.
Neither did I but... here I am.
What do you need?
You said that you worked with someone at Pearl Harbor who had a run-in with Van Cleef?
Look, I think the name of that woman is Emily Landau.
And I've been trying to get ahold of her, but she doesn't work for NCIS anymore.
You know what? Never mind.
I can find her, if that's what you want.
If she's open to talking to you, I can connect you.
But if she's not, I won't.
You're protective of her. I get it.
Van Cleef is a powerful man with powerful friends.
He could hurt her and he can hurt you.
You, too. Yeah, but...
I hate a bully.
And I love a fight.
I couldn't believe it when I heard he was dead.
I'm sorry. Thanks.
It's all anyone can talk about.
Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt him?
Dan? Are you kidding?
He was a great guy.
What was he working on here?
We've been optimizing the diagnosis and prevention kits for infectious diseases in different areas.
Any idea what he was doing out in the bayou in the middle of the night?
Everybody could tell you that.
He was hunting monsters.
Dan's hobby was myth-busting.
Seriously?
Yeah, he believed there was a scientific explanation for everything.
He was gonna do a podcast about it. You know what, uh, what creature he was out there chasing, or...?
Dan had heard something about some nocturnal swamp creature, I forget what it's called.
The, uh, the tougaloo?
Rougarou! It's the bayou werewolf.
That's awesome. Wow.
What a great idea for a podcast.
I've got some theories myself that I've been working on... nothing...
Dan saw a bunch of photos online a couple weeks ago. Supposedly sightings of the whatchamacallit.
Rougarou. He talked about it all the time.
He went out there to see for himself.
Maybe it... maybe it's real after all?
No. Maybe.
I think I would've liked Lieutenant Sloan.
Really?
Yeah, he was a scientist with a soft spot for urban legends.
You know? What's not to like?
I know we're not supposed to think that way.
It's never wrong to acknowledge the humanity of the victims we encounter.
Well, what happened to him? Bruising of the back of the neck, petechial hemorrhaging in the eyes.
He was strangled? I am ruling it as a homicide, but the cause of death is drowning.
He had significant water in his lungs.
So the k*ller held his head underwater until he drowned.
That's consistent with my findings.
Well, what about these maulings?
The lack of bleeding suggests the injuries were inflicted postmortem.
Any idea what caused them?
This part you're gonna like.
I found what appears to be animal hair in the wounds.
I'm sending it to the lab for analysis.
Hair? You know, uh, rougarou's got hair.
And it, uh, supposedly it-it suffocates its victims before it eats them.
So...
I'm not saying that there's a bayou werewolf out there.
Okay?
A guy can dream, right?
Emily Landau's phone number.
You talked to her? She's willing to talk?
She's willing to listen.
Now, she lives in Virginia.
You can videoconference her before the end of the day, as long as the connection is secure.
Today? The sooner the better.
Before she gets cold feet.
Look, if you're gonna do this, you need to do it before Van Cleef's confirmation hearing.
Or it's pointless.
You're right.
Thank you.
_
Thank you so much for coming down here.
So this is, uh, what Laurel's got her heart set on?
Yeah, I, um...
She was on lunch, I FaceTimed her, and she flipped over it.
And since we're both breaking our piggy banks for this, I just wanted to make sure that you saw it before I made the deposit.
Okay. It's pricey.
But you have to admit, it's really lovely.
This is for one night? Yeah.
Laurel loves it?
Yes.
Let's do it.
Okay. I'm gonna pull the trigger.
Yeah.
You know, I'm starting to feel like this whole wedding thing is really real.
I've actually been thinking about that all day.
Our little girl, walking around with that stuffed pig every day?
Part of me was hoping that Laurel was gonna call and say, "Cancel everything".
Yeah, wouldn't that be nice?
Are we awful?
Probably.
But it's just so sudden.
I mean, she's marrying a cop. That's a huge mistake.
You're kidding, right?
Look, David's a great guy.
I'm sure he's a great guy, but he's a great guy with a badge.
I mean, why are you hoping that they're gonna call it off?
I just felt like they're just going too fast.
But I got no problem with his career.
Of course not.
I mean, it means you get the last word.
What's that mean?
Laurel is marrying a cop.
Just like Dad. I mean, come on.
Laurel has made her peace with what it means to live with a cop.
As a daughter. Not a wife.
Do you really want her waiting, worrying for the rest of her life?
Wasn't always that bad, Linda.
Really?
Thanks for feeling that for me.
That's not what I meant.
I meant that there were good times, too.
Of course there were.
But the bad times landed on my shoulders.
Because it wasn't a problem for you.
Linda, come on. You know what?
You were off being a hero, you were saving the city.
But you're right.
It was not the job. It was never the job.
Because you treated it like a calling, not a career.
Why is it a crime to love my work?
It's not.
But the way you do it, there's not any room for anything else.
And no matter how much I loved you, God, it-it would've been easier having a mistress.
All those broken people, I couldn't compete with them.
You're the one who left.
You're the one who broke up the family, not me.
I might've left last, but you were the first one to leave.
Don't do that. We both agreed.
We both agreed that we needed time apart.
I am not talking about the separation, Dwayne.
When you came home, you promised to be present.
To work at it.
But I did. I was.
For Laurel.
You were a great dad.
I would never deny you that.
But you were not there for me.
Pride.
The SAC?
Fine. But I'm in the middle of something right now.
I'll get there when I get there.
Just go. No. No.
I want to finish this.
We're finished, Dwayne.
I really don't want to fight with you anymore.
I'm done.
I found the photos Sloan found online of the swamp thing.
It's called the rougarou. Do the photos actually show it?
What? No. Not even close, 'cause it's not a real thing.
Yeah, I... You know that I know that. I don't know why...
Why is everyone treating me like I don't know that?
'Cause you still kind of hope, and it's pathetic.
_
I mean, that's not exactly proof positive.
Must have intrigued him.
Any info on who posted the photos online?
I.P. address belongs to a Cajun Creatures Swamp Tour.
Hmm.
Sure, I remember this guy. Nice young man.
He took the tour once or twice.
He was, uh, interested in the rougarou.
A lot of people who come on our tours believe in that foolishness.
Well, I don't know if I'd call it foolishness.
Just because we run a swamp tour doesn't mean we're morons.
Oh, sure, but I'm just saying that, you know, there's probably a lot of very smart people out there who keep an open mind about this kind of thing. Of course.
It's not our place to judge.
Well, you do more than that, right? You fuel interest in it?
Not following.
The photos online.
We traced the I.P. address back to you.
Oh, those. W...
Well, they're good for business.
Oh? So you get customers based on photos of dead animals with scratched-up carcasses?
Yeah, I guess so. Imagine if there was an escalation from dead animal to dead human.
att*cked by a rougarou. Mm-hmm.
What are you suggesting? You think we k*lled him?
That's not... We would never do something like that. Never.
Well, what would you do if you found a body?
If I found a body?
Say that again. Say "I've found a body".
What? He's the one who called 911.
Vincent, is that true?
Oh, what if I did find it?
Uh, calling 911 was the decent thing to do.
You didn't think to mention that up front?
I didn't k*ll him. Well, then, what were you gonna...
You were gonna post photos of the mauled body online, you were gonna blame it on the rougarou.
I took some pictures, but I didn't post 'em. I realized it wasn't...
Classy?
I didn't k*ll him.
He's not a k*ller, he's just an idiot.
What aren't you telling us?
Nothing, I...
He came by one day last week.
He was wanting to know about the photos online, and he wanted to know where they were sh*t.
And I told him, couple miles upstream, and he said he was gonna check out that area.
I really appreciate this.
Quentin says you're good people.
But I don't have a lot of time.
I've got to get back to the office.
Okay, I'll get right to the point.
You left NCIS after an incident at your posting at Pearl Harbor.
Counterintelligence sting that went wrong?
I can't get into those details.
Okay, you don't have to.
You just have to confirm that Director Van Cleef demoted you.
He didn't. I resigned before he could.
Are you aware that Director Van Cleef is up for a promotion at DOD?
No. No, when?
As soon as he gets Senate confirmation.
He's gonna be Chief of Naval Operations.
Mommy?
Oh, hey, Zoey, honey, uh, Mommy's doing something for work here.
Have Amy fix you a snack, huh?
I'll be right there. Okay.
Uh, sorry about that.
No, no, no, it's okay. I, um...
I was reviewing your file from Pearl Harbor.
It looks like you were building a case against a hacker who broke into the base network, but you cut your key witness loose?
I made a judgment call.
I pulled a witness because her story kept changing.
Case fell apart.
Van Cleef claimed I was responsible for not vetting the witness properly and for possibly falsifying statements.
There was no point in fighting it, so I took early retirement.
Did you ever feel like Van Cleef treated you differently because you're a woman?
When I, uh, I left NCIS, I moved into the private sector as a security consultant.
My firm has multiple contracts with the government, most of which require DOD approval.
It's a good living.
Look, I know that coming forward is high-risk and low-reward.
I worry about my own career.
But I also know that if people like you and me don't come forward, nothing will ever change.
I have two daughters to support.
I have a daughter, too. And aren't you sick of it?
Watching your mediocre male colleagues just drift up the ladder with a slap on the back and an attaboy?
While people like you and me work twice as hard just to stay in the game, and still get demoted and disciplined?
Am I sick of swimming in a sea of white male privilege?
Of course I am.
If Deputy Director Van Cleef gets DOD, how will things ever change for our girls?
It took me a long time to get over what Van Cleef did to me.
I'm a single mom. I've made a good life for us.
I'm not just gonna throw that away.
I understand.
Do you?
Because I can't become another one of Van Cleef's casualties.
I'm not gonna end up like Maya Caldwell.
Who?
Maya. The one who d*ed.
Agent Pride.
Deputy Director Van Cleef.
I apologize for not doing this on the phone, but, as I'm sure you understand, certain things need to be handled face-to-face.
Of course. I didn't know you were in town.
I shouldn't be.
I should be in D.C. prepping for confirmation.
I heard about your promotion.
Congratulations. Thank you.
Chief of Naval Operations. Big deal.
I'll be a member of the Joint Chiefs, m*llitary advisor to the National Security Council.
Yes, sir, that's very prestigious.
I've been working toward a position like this for nearly four decades.
And yet you're here with me.
The only thing standing between me and my future is a Senate confirmation hearing.
And that was all but a formality until yesterday.
What happened yesterday?
Hannah Khoury.
Did you really think I wouldn't hear about what she's been doing?
She never accepted her demotion.
I'm not sure what you think...
I'm not speculating. I know.
I have eyes and ears everywhere at NCIS, and all the way up and down the chain of command at the DOD.
She's trying to find dirt on me.
And this never would've happened if she'd been put in her place like I wanted.
Honestly, sir, this is news to me.
Well, maybe she's playing you for a fool.
Or maybe you're in it together.
But it doesn't matter. She's reckless, emotional, and out of control.
Call her off, or hers won't be the only career that she ends.
Dwayne, I was just about to call you...
Lab results?
Animal hair found in the claw marks on the body was from a bobcat.
Sebastian was hoping for a rougarou.
Let him down gently.
One of those days?
Yeah. That's an understatement.
Just got my ass handed to me by Deputy Director Van Cleef.
What's he upset about?
I'm not quite sure yet.
He didn't tell you? I didn't ask.
Okay.
But I-I think it has something to do with Hannah.
But I haven't had a chance to ask her because she's busy doing whatever it is that's pissing Van Cleef off.
I'm sure she had a good reason.
And that's just one front I'm fighting.
Linda's in town to do some wedding planning for Laurel.
I take it it's not going well.
It was fine.
At first. Awkward but pleasant.
What happened?
20 years of baggage.
Sorry.
We both moved on.
We're both happy with the people we're with, but...
Sometimes when a wound hasn't properly healed, it doesn't take much to aggravate the injury.
She said I abandoned her for the people I was trying to save on the job.
Worst part is, she's not wrong.
That's me in a nutshell.
It takes a big man to admit something like that.
Oh, I-I didn't admit it to her.
Everything that's happened in my life...
...goes back to my mother, Red and Cassius.
Even the failure of my marriage.
Those are powerful insights.
Insights don't change the past.
I'm sorry I didn't come to you first, I'm sorry I kept you out of the loop. Don't apologize.
But just please tell me what's going on.
I don't know where to start.
How about the beginning?
You have a past with Van Cleef.
You wouldn't tell me about it before. But now...
Seven years ago, there was an att*ck on our naval base in Bahrain.
I was working counterterrorism.
We tied the att*ck to an !sis cell in Algeria.
I was sent to scoop them up, D.C. sent their man to supervise.
Van Cleef?
We clashed from the start.
He didn't want to use local resources.
Thought everyone was a double agent.
Wanted a clean mission.
But I was boots on the ground, I knew there was no such thing, so I set up a network of informants.
Only way to get intel.
Yeah, I cultivated one who was the real deal.
Young man named Farid.
He took some convincing.
His wife didn't want him to get involved.
The intelligence he provided led to the capture of the entire !sis cell.
But... Somehow his identity was leaked t-to the Algerian press.
The next day his face was all over the newspapers, the... television.
I guaranteed his safety.
He was beaten to death in his own home, in front of his wife and his children.
27 years old, just trying to do the right thing.
I didn't get to him in time.
How was his identity leaked?
Van Cleef accused me.
I did everything by protocol. I don't know how it could've been me.
I-I asked him to launch an investigation, but he wouldn't.
So all the blame landed on you.
Yeah, I was transferred and disciplined.
That's painful.
I'm sorry.
But that was a long time ago.
Why go after Van Cleef now?
Something that Carter said when we found out Van Cleef was going to DOD.
He said that there was another female agent who'd had a bad experience with Van Cleef.
That she got a raw deal, just like me.
Something just clicked.
I've been living with the guilt of Farid's death for so long.
I knew that Van Cleef had a problem with me.
I-I just never considered it could be more than that.
Who gave you access to Van Cleef's files?
Winchester. I tried to keep it quiet.
Van Cleef knows what you're doing.
I'm so sorry you got dragged into this.
You got nothing to apologize to me for.
But since I'm in, why don't you show me what you got?
NOPD found Daniel Sloan's car, exactly where the swamp tour dude said it would be.
Yeah, he was out there myth-busting.
There's another set of tire tracks.
Yeah, two cars went in, only one went out.
We get any more information on these tracks?
Nothing useful. But I did find a phone in Daniel Sloan's car.
And what did you learn?
He uses his birthday as his password.
And he seems to have a girlfriend.
Meet Stacy Ulrich.
Wait, how did we not know about her?
The texts only go back a few weeks.
Seems like a new relationship.
Sebastian, let's go talk to Stacy.
Yeah.
You definitely have the data to back up your claims.
He was disciplining female agents at almost five times the rate as male agents.
Yeah, and all of the women had otherwise clean records.
None of the men did.
What I don't have is human corroboration.
What can I do to help?
I don't know, this thing has taken on a life of its own.
There is one thing.
There's a woman that I heard about, a Maya Caldwell.
She was on a mission with Van Cleef out of Kuala Lumpur.
I don't remember that name.
It's not there.
I don't have access to the file. It's from ten years ago.
Winchester only gave me seven years' worth of files.
Well, what do you know about the mission?
Nothing. It was classified.
All I know is that Maya Caldwell d*ed in a car crash less than a year after her assignment with Van Cleef.
And that her family lives in Atlanta.
You think her death was somehow connected to Van Cleef?
Emily Landau sure does.
Hannah, look, I'm here to support you.
And I don't want to rush in and try to save the day.
I know you got this.
So you tell me, what do you want to do?
I need to know more about how Maya Caldwell d*ed.
Then let's go to Atlanta.
Okay.
NCIS.
Clear!
Clear.
She's not here.
What the hell's going on here?
_
We were so close growing up.
Sometimes it's hard to believe that it's been almost ten years since my sister d*ed.
She never met my husband, my kids.
I'm so sorry. Thank you.
She was an amazing person, but... you're not here to listen to me gush about Maya.
I'm interested in her time at NCIS.
Especially her last mission.
What do you know about it? Not much.
She was in Kuala Lumpur for about a year, and then home.
Did she tell you what she was working on?
She never talked about work.
And most of it was classified.
That was one of the hardest things, especially after she came home.
She couldn't talk about any of it.
Maya really needed to talk to someone.
Did she ever say anything about a supervisor named Van Cleef?
Ah, yeah.
That name I heard a lot.
Uh, nothing specific, but...
I could tell he'd done something to her.
Done something? He was the reason she left NCIS.
She said that? Yeah.
Whatever happened there, it was the beginning of the end for her.
What was her transition like to the private sector?
There wasn't one. She took some time off, tried to transition into teaching.
Teaching? She said teaching was all she could do.
She knew seven languages.
She didn't look for security positions?
With her background and experience, she should have had her pick of consulting jobs.
She just said she couldn't work in that field.
No one would hire her.
Van Cleef may have gotten her clearance revoked.
She never said that, but it explains a lot.
She kept saying that man ruined her future.
I think she was depressed.
I know she was self-medicating.
First alcohol, then pills.
Before, Maya was... she was a force of nature.
Confident, funny, generous.
Sounds like she was a great big sister.
Yeah, the best.
But when she came home, she was smaller, somehow.
She f-folded in on herself.
Van Cleef wasn't in Maya's car the night she wrapped it around that tree, but he might as well have been.
As far as I'm concerned, he's the reason she's dead.
Okay, thanks. Yep.
So, Carter, uh, found a neighbor who heard screaming and a loud male voice coming from Stacy's house.
Oh. How neighborly not to call the cops.
I guess Stacy was abducted from her house.
Listen, we need to rethink this.
Whoever abducted Stacy k*lled Daniel, too, so who are we looking for?
What's the motive?
Well, I mean, I'm-I'm just spitballing here, but maybe it's a-a romantic rival?
Well, that would explain k*lling Daniel and keeping Stacy alive.
If she is still alive.
I think she is, but who knows for how long.
I got something.
But it's dark. Let's hear it.
I was looking for any kind of online footprint that would include Daniel Sloan and Stacy Ulrich.
Now, aside from the dating app they met on, I found a site on the darknet that mentioned them both by name.
_
Well, who posted it?
Well, it's anonymous.
But it's a website where the participant can write their m*rder/r*pe/whatever fantasy.
He wrote a fantasy about having sex with Stacy in the aftermath of the m*rder of her previous boyfriend Daniel Sloan.
People write stuff like this online?
Of course, Sebastian. There's a lot of twisted crap out there.
They get off on having an audience.
They feel safely hidden behind firewalls.
This is a major firewall.
Okay. So maybe this is a-a stalker who thought that Daniel Sloan was his only obstacle to getting what he wanted? Right.
So he shows up at her house, she's not smitten.
Nothing's going according to the fantasy.
He has to abduct her to get her to go wherever he wants her to go.
That would infuriate him, and if that's the case, he'd start to decompensate, meaning he'd become more delusional, more erratic, more violent.
I need that I.P. address, fast.
I'm looking for a back door.
I'm in.
I.P. address is an apartment leased to a Kevin McCabe.
That's the lab tech who worked with Daniel.
All right, send it to my GPS.
Federal agents!
Kevin McCabe, put your hands up.
Come on, Kevin, you don't want to do that.
Let her go.
I had to tie her up.
She wasn't being nice to me!
Because you're scaring her.
She's afraid of you.
If it wasn't for Dan, we could've been together.
I had to get rid of him.
But Stacy just needs some time.
Right, Stacy?
You just need a little time.
No...
See?
She wants it to work between the two of you.
She does?
Yeah.
Look at her face. She's not lying.
It's over. Okay?
Yeah.
You're gonna be okay. All right?
You lied to me.
Yeah. I did.
Not bad for a day's work.
Yeah. You know, you were really impressive up there.
Zoned right in on his pathology.
Saved two lives. Thanks.
Not too shabby yourself. Thank you.
Though I got to say this case has really just k*lled my interest in the rougarou.
Good.
What, are you taking joy in my shattered illusion?
No, I'm not taking joy in it.
I'm just happy you're ditching the idiocy.
Idiocy?
I call it like I see it, bro.
You know what, maybe I won't give it up.
Oh, here we go.
I mean, these creatures, mythical or not, they, uh... they make the world interesting.
So, basically, this case reinforced your pathetic fascination with a stupid swamp creature?
No, actually you did back there when...
Wait a minute.
What? I know what you just did.
You reverse-psychology'd me.
Oh, get out of here. No. Yeah.
You said something was stupid and pathetic to get my hackles up.
Because you knew how I was gonna react.
You're crazy. I did not.
Yeah, you did.
Hey, knock it off.
You know what, Tammy Gregorio? What?
You may have this prickly exterior, but I see your soft and creamy center.
You're disgusting.
It was not the right choice of words, I agree.
You want a creamy pop? What are you doing?
Why are you coming over here?
Leave me alone. I'm a federal agent!
How'd it go in Atlanta?
It was sad.
The sister couldn't help?
No.
None of the women who Van Cleef screwed over wanted to come forward, so...
I don't know. Maybe I'm in over my head.
Maybe I should just let it go.
I don't think so.
There's something I need to tell you about your mission in Algeria.
How'd you know about that?
I read the file.
Well, I don't need to read the file, I lived it. Fair enough.
But I did need to read it.
And I know about the informant who got exposed, his death.
And that Van Cleef submitted a report blaming you for the whole fiasco.
The thing is, he wrongly blamed you for it.
Well, it was complicated.
No, not really.
What did you find?
A photo of your informant was leaked to the Algerian press.
I tracked the photo down.
Why? 'Cause I wanted to figure out how it got leaked.
It was an official NCIS informant photo.
It was hacked from someone's phone.
They never figured out who, Van Cleef was sure it was mine.
Yeah, well, they didn't have Patton Plame on the payroll.
Don't tell me that you got Patton involved in this.
He wouldn't shut up until I agreed to let him help.
He dug into the metadata found in the JPEG image, tracked it back to the cell phone from where it was hacked.
It wasn't your phone, Hannah.
It was Van Cleef's.
Are you sure about this? Yeah.
He threw you under the bus to cover for his own security breach.
You can prove this? Yeah.
Patton and I will stand up behind whatever it is you want to do with this.
So... what's it gonna be?
I'm gonna go public.
I'm heading back to D.C. in two hours.
I need to know that you've got this Khouri mess under control.
Oh, it's taken care of, sir.
I hope you're not just placating me, Pride.
And that you understand the severity of the situation.
My Senate hearing is on the calendar for the end of the month.
If Special Agent Khoury is within a hundred-mile radius of D.C. at that time...
Please go on. What will you do?
What the hell is she doing here?
Don't talk to him. You can talk to me.
What happens if I go anywhere near D.C.?
You arrange this?
You'll ruin my career?
Have my clearance revoked?
Frame me for a leak?
Damn it, Pride, I told you to rein this woman in.
This woman has a mind of her own.
I've already notified the Senate Armed Services committee that I'm going to testify at your confirmation hearing.
So I guess I will see you in D.C.
You'll be committing career su1c1de.
Both of you. No. We're doing the right thing.
It's you who's committing career su1c1de.
I know about Algeria.
I know that the leak that k*lled Farid Mokrani came from your phone, not mine.
And I can prove it. You'll look like a vindictive shrew.
I can show patterns of gender bias in missions that you led going back years.
Patterns in the way that you disciplined, demoted, and fired female agents.
You don't have access to that kind of intelligence.
Algeria, Seoul, Naples, Romania, Manila, Pearl Harbor.
Who have you been talking to?
It's all true, and I can prove it.
You think you're gonna come out of this clean?
Your record will be scrutinized.
Picked apart.
They'll crucify you. Maybe.
But maybe I'll be the one to open the floodgates, and they can't crucify all of us.
I'm willing to bet on myself. How about you?
What do you expect me to do? Resign.
Take a job in the private sector.
I blame you for this.
You are the fiercest field agent I have ever known.
I wish I was a fly on that wall, though.
True. I got to say I'm impressed.
I don't know, guys, I keep waiting for the director to call me and tell me I'm fired.
Oh, please, they can't fire you for speaking truth to power.
Actually, I'm pretty sure they do that all the time.
Yeah, well, not this time.
Just got off the phone with the director.
God.
No, it's all good.
Van Cleef submitted his resignation, effective immediately.
What? Because of what we did?
What you did.
You made yourself heard.
You gave other agents a voice.
Maybe this is just the beginning.
I can't believe it.
Thank you.
I was just along for the ride.
You did all the heavy lifting.
All of you.
Thank you so much.
I asked, and you guys were both there.
Oh, stop.
Let's not get all sappy now.
We've got too much to celebrate to be sitting in this kitchen, drinking.
Can we go to the bar, please?
You go ahead.
Laurel's coming in tonight. Okay.
I got some things I need to take care of before she gets here.
You made a difference.
Thanks.
All right, come on, let's go. What are we doing?
All right, I'm wiped. One drink but only if I'm buying.
No argument from me. Carter?
Mm...
Oh, come on. I'm not taking no for an answer.
Get your ass to the bar and let me buy you that thank-you cocktail.
Okay, okay, just this one time.
Wow. Please.
Dwayne.
Thank you for seeing me.
Um, I've been thinking about what you said.
No, I don't think we should go there.
I just want to say one thing.
You say one thing, then I say something back, and then we're... Linda, damn it.
Will you let me talk?
Please?
All I'm trying to say is...
I'm sorry. You were right.
I didn't expect that.
I've learned some things about myself recently, about my past, why I do some of the things that I do.
What you said about me needing to rescue people, be a hero... it's true.
But until you said it, I hadn't thought about how it had affected you.
You never needed me to rescue you.
No, I didn't.
I did the best that I knew how to do at the time.
It just wasn't enough.
Not for us.
Dwayne, I...
Thank you.
Okay.
Uh...
You want to grab a drink at the Carousel Bar, or you want...?
You know, maybe we, um... we just quit while we're ahead.
What are you doing here?
You think you're gonna win, don't you?
Gonna prove some kind of point. Right?
Look, honestly, you need to leave.
No matter how many of you crawl out of the woodwork to claw at me, it won't make any difference.
Because I've spent too many years working my way up the ladder.
I know you think you're a very important man, and I understand that.
But right now you're a trespasser on my property.
And you have two options.
You can leave, or I will call the cops and have them remove you.
Please choose the second option.