NCIS (2003–…): Season 16, Episode 17 - Silent Service - full transcript
Seven minutes. Is this right?
Aye, sir.
Seven minutes.Unacceptable.
This is a military ship,
not a homecoming dance.
Captain.
Report.
The staff is locked
and we're holding steady.
When do the SEALs get back
from their dive?
They still have another
15 minutes, Captain.
This is Weapons Officer Hardy.
Go.
As soon as they return,
I want to run another
missile drill test.
It shouldn't take
seven minutes to...
Captain.
Got a problem at
the escape trunk.
XO, you have the conn.
Come on, Mike, stay with me.
What the hell
happened out there?
I don't know.
Doctor's on his way. Sit-rep.
It was a routine dive, sir.
Doesn't look routine.
I went out first. Got about
20 yards and looked back.
White was just floating there.
By the time I got back
to him, he was...
Sir...
He's gone.
USSMemphis, this is Seahawk One.
We are coming on your position.
They really need
to make these doorways bigger.
Hey, where's Gibbs?
Talking to the CO.
Now it's time for
you to talk to me.
Who do we have here?
Well, Petty Officer
Robert White.
And I hope he's a fast talker.
Yeah, me, too.
I have a whole list full
of events planned
for Dr. Mallard's last day.
If you want to see him
before he leaves,
let's make this quick, okay?
Hey. You doing okay?
Yeah. Just not a big fan
of being underwater these days,
you know, so...
That's right.
And now you're basically trapped
on a big, giant
underwater coffin.
Not helping.
Look, we are gonna be fine,
all right?
This baby is indestructible.
And if anything were
to go wrong with the boat,
Bishop, good news,
we'd be dead before you know it.
Okay. So it's times like these
I'm really gonna miss Ducky.
Yeah, tell me about it.
Rather you tell me
about our petty officer.
Okay.
Finished BUDS six months ago.
His SEAL team was hitching a
ride for a training exercise
and this was his first trip
out on a Virginia-class.
Sadly, his last. Cause of death?
The frothing around the nose and
the cyanosis suggest drowning.
Along with the ocean
he was dragged out of.
But I'll have to take him back
for an autopsy just to confirm.
Okay, Palmer,
get the body back to NCIS.
Bishop...
Go with him? Interviews.
Okay.
How does a U.S. Navy SEAL
drown during a routine dive?
That's a good question.
All right, Jimmy's on his
way back with the body.
Gibbs and Bishop
are staying on the sub.
Man, Bishop ain't
gonna like that.
Yeah. Nor do I. It means I won't
be able to say good-bye to them.
McGee, gingerbread latte,
extra whipped cream.
Enjoy. Thank ya.
Does Gibbs suspect foul play?
Does he ever not? Good point.
Well, at least you'll be able
to spend a few more hours
with Jimmy before you leave.
We're really gonna miss you
around here, Duck.
I still can't believe
it's your last day.
I prefer to think of it
as the first day
of the rest of my life.
What happens on the second day?
Stay tuned.
Well, I know exactly what
I'm gonna do when I retire.
Buy a beach bar. Surf all day,
and margaritas till sun-up.
Man, I can definitely
get behind that.
You surf, Nick?
I was talking about
the margaritas.
But, honestly, I,
I've never really thought
about retirement.
Well, that definitely sounds
like a surfer's mentality.
Nick, you gotta get on that.
I mean, I've been saving
for my retirement
since I was 14 years old.
Yeah, but you also have issues.
And that's my cue to leave.
I was never a big fan
of The Odd Couple.
Hey, you do know
that you need money
to live on once you
stop working, right?
Look, man,
I-I've been saving, okay?
But I-I'm saving
like a normal person.
Like, a little bit here
and there, you know?
I haven't been saving
since I was potty-trained.
But just out of curiosity,
what-what do you guys think?
How... how much
you think is, is enough?
Well, it depends on your plans.
I mean,
maybe you want to travel,
or, do a vacation home.
Either way, you're gonna need
a lot of money.
Do you think...
Do you think this is enough?
Dear. That bad?
How have you saved
that much cash?
Or perhaps that good?
Wha... I don't have anywhere
near that amount.
Well, while I wait
for Dr. Palmer's return,
I think I'll go see Kasie.
Okay. Y-You got to tell me.
Where'd you get all that dough?
Man, I was undercover
for a bunch of years.
I never had to spend
my own money.
So I just kept
stacking it up, baby.
So you're saying I'm good?
Yeah, you're good.
Yeah.
The question is, am I?
It was a by-the-book dive.
This shouldn't have happened.
How well did you know
Petty Officer White?
He'd only been
on board a few days.
But I could already tell
he was a bit cocky.
You know how SEALs are.
Cocky enough to make
someone want to kill him?
You NCIS guys
always go straight to that.
Well, it's kind of our job.
You just said
it shouldn't have happened.
Except it did,
and we're not ready
to rule anything out. All I meant was,
White was
a highly trained diver,
so something must've gone wrong.
Like maybe with the equipment.
Okay. Aside from White,
who had access to his dive gear?
His dive partner.
And... me.
So, you and White get along?
You guys are barking up
the wrong tree, okay?
I don't have any beef with...
What's that? It's the dive alarm.
Dive! Dive!
What? They're not supposed
to dive with us on board.
Not unless
it's an emergency, no.
Okay. That's just great.
Alert! Alert! Opening all vents.
Well, whatever it is,
we're going down fast.
Gibbs...
Bishop...
- It's fine.
- Kay.
Everything's gonna be fine.
Chief of the Watch on the 1MC,
alert bays three and six
to stand by for further orders.
Aye, sir.
Captain.
I thought NCIS
left with the body.
No. We're still here.
Well, you two are gonna
have to sit tight, then.
What's going on?
We've been given
emergency dive orders,
told to wait
for further instruction.
We need to get word to NCIS.
That's a hard no.
Orders include radio silence.
But... Until we hear otherwise,
nothing is going out.
Well, don't worry. We'll
get you two off the Memphis
and back in your cubicles
as soon as we can.
We're not getting off.
We have an investigation
to finish.
The reason you haven't
finished it already?
Captain, you have an unexplained
death on your boat.
I'd like to think
you'd be a little more curious
about what happened.
You got a lot of stones
to stand on my bridge
and insinuate I don't care
about what happens to my crew.
All due respect,
a Navy SEAL died
on a routine training exercise
and no one can explain why.
We'll have full access
to your crew,
and we'll start with Petty
Officer White's diving buddy.
Agent Gibbs, I understand
that you have a job to do.
We do. And the full authority
to do it.
But let me make myself
perfectly clear.
If either of you
interfere with the
operations of this boat,
I will fire you out
of that torpedo tube myself.
I wish you luck with that.
Sorry I'm so busy, Dr. Mallard.
The timing on this
couldn't have been worse.Dr. Palmer...
I know, I know I said
I'd stop apologizing.
Well, then, stop.
I-It's just that I had
a-a speech planned,
and there was a-a slide show
in Kasie's lab...
And cookies. Yeah, well,
this three-page letter
and all these parting gifts,
it's more than sufficient.
And I'm leaving NCIS,
not the planet.
Freaking out here, okay? Tim,
you're gonna be fine, man.
Yeah, not compared to you.
You got no kids and
a small fortune.
I've got two kids and a wife.
I'm gonna be working
for the rest of my life.
Well, the good news is,
you love your job, right?
I've always loved mine.
Well, no offense, Ducky,
but if I'm still working
when I'm your age...
I'm not gonna finish
that sentence.
Ducky, you look fantastic.
Good move. All right, well,
since the rest of us
haven't retired yet,
can we get back to the dead guy?
Now, that's your cue,
Dr. Palmer.
I hear the,
Cyber Division
barbershop quartet
is bidding me a farewell
with a rendition
of "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye."
Damn, he loves Cole Porter,
and I just saw
a box set on sale.
Focus. Dead guy. Cause of death.
Right. O-Our petty officer
drowned. No doubt about it.
Aside from the water
in the lungs,
there's also signs
of subcutaneous emphysema.
That's what happens when the air
gets trapped in the tissue here.
Any idea how that happened?
That is
the million-dollar question.
I have a buck 50 answer.
You two.
Answer your phones much?
I must have missed it. Sorry about that.
Gibbs always answers.
If that technology hater can manage to...
What's up?
One ring. Just saying.
I was examining the counterlung
on Petty Officer White's
scuba gear.
That's the oxygen tank,
for the aqua layperson.
It was clearly tampered with.
Any chance that the petty
officer might done it himself?
Like, accidentally?
Not a chance. The diaphragm
on the gas-check valve...
A buck 50 part, by the way...
Was deliberately pulled out.
Well, that makes this a...
Murder, my dear Palmer.
You looking for something,
Petty Officer Harper?
White's drowning
had me spooked, so I decided
to take a second look at the
entire SEAL team's equipment.
What did you find?
Everyone's equipment
was in perfect working order.
No.
Not everyone's.
I just tried our sat phone
to see if I could get a signal.
No, no. We're too deep.Yeah.
But Kasie sent a message,
just before we lost contact.
White's overpressure valve
was tampered with.
Tampered with?
By who?
You tell us.
Besides White,
you and Master Diver Ross
were the only one who had access.
Not true.
Privacy's out the window
once we deploy.
Almost anyone
could have gotten to our gear.
Well, not everyone was cited
for disorderly conduct.
You had a fight with White
about a week ago? Yeah.
And the week before that,
and the week before that.
You're not helping
your case here. He's got a mouth.
I'm a hothead.
We fight and then make up
and move on.
You've got brothers?
It's like that.
So, what was the fight about?
All hands, report to stations
for missile readiness test.
I got to go.
Yeah. We'll walk with you.
Petty Officer Harper.
You can tell us now, here,
or in the brig.
White thought
that Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man
could beat up
Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man.
And I didn't.
Wow. Important stuff.
It passes the time.
You know,
White actually told me yesterday
he wanted to show me something.
I didn't think
nothing much of it,
but now... Yeah?
What? No clue.
But he wanted to meet
in his quarters,
so I'm guessing
it's got to still be there.
All hands report to stations
for missile readiness test.
I really got to go.
They're both wrong.
Tom Holland's Spider-Man wins,
hands down.
"And no amount of gratitude
"could ever repay..." No.
"Convey our appreciation
"to Dr. Mallard
"for his decades
of service."
So instead,
we are going to give him
the lamest speech ever written.
Well, that beats a gold watch.
Agent Torres, Agent McGee.
How can I help you? McGEE
Well, Director,
we're not sure if
you heard about...
Petty Officer White. I did.
I presume you told Gibbs
he's got a murder on his hands.
Well, that's why we're here.
We tried calling him, but no
one's answering the sat phone.
And you need my authorization
to contact
the submarine directly.
Sir, already tried that.
Also not answering. We think
they may have already dove.
No, that can't be.
NCIS is required to be updated
on all dive orders
while our agents
are on board. I...
Director? Yeah?
The Pentagon is on at MTAC.
They say it's urgent.
Undersecretary Leo.
How can I help you?
I understand some of your agents
were investigating
a death on the USS Memphis.
Which has since been upgraded
to murder, but yes.
Have you heard
from those agents recently? I'm told
we just lost contact, actually.
What's going on?
A total disaster, that's what.
Jennifer, where are my agents?
I wish I could tell you that,
Leon.
Five hours ago, the USS Memphis
dove to stealth depths
and has been radio silent
ever since.
Under whose orders?
Not ours.
I want to be clear here.
Are you telling me
the United States government
lost contact
with a nuclear submarine
with two of my agents on board?
Director, that is exactly
what I'm telling you.
The USS Memphis
was last seen right here.
The Navy's conducting a search
of the area,
but that sub could be
almost anywhere by now.
We have no idea who's
feeding them orders.
So, what can we do?
Complete the investigation
into Petty Officer White's
death.
Right. It's not lost
on anyone at DoD
that White's murder coincided
with the disappearance
of the Memphis.
You think both are connected?
Well, you need to operate
on that assumption.
Solving
Petty Officer White's murder
could help determine what's
going on with the Memphis.
- Right.
- I thought motor pool
was gonna take you out
on a karaoke night.
Until Jethro
and Eleanor are safe,
Gloria Gaynor can wait.
Okay, then.
Agent McGee, I believe you are
the senior field agent. Please.
Okay.
Sloane, Ducky, I need you
to run profiles on
the entire crew of the Memphis.
On it.
On it. Torres, Petty Officer White.
Bank statements,
cell records, credit cards.
Got it.
Bring it, McGee.
I'm here to help.
Director, you think you could
twist some arms at the Pentagon
and get Kasie the
telemetry on the Memphis
before it went missing?
Twisting arms is my specialty.
I'm on it.
Books, magazine,
toothbrush.
I mean, if White was hiding
something here, it's gone.
Keep looking.
Whoa. Gibbs?
What was that?
Just an underwater current.
I'm sure everything is fine.
No, Gibbs,
everything is not fine.
We-we are stuck below the water
for who knows how long
on a ship that refuses to let us
speak to the surface.
Bishop, I'm sure it's just
a routine mission, okay?
My gosh. You do not
believe that for a second.
Come on. The death, the
dive order, and now a murder?
Don't tell me you don't think
something is up.
You just don't want me to panic.
How am I doing?
Well, I'm starting to panic.
What? That book.
Cover's all worn,
but the pages look brand-new.
That's not Moby-Dick.
It's an electrical
manual for the galley.
What was White doing with that?
Not the question.
Why was he hiding it?
Well, still no word
from Gibbs or Bishop.
Torres say you've got something,
and I hope it's more
than a tweaked neck.
Yeah, Nick tells no lies.
Courtesy of some arm-twisting
by Director Vance,
the Pentagon was kind enough
to give me
all the telemetry info
they had on the Memphis
since it left port.
You found something? Maybe.
But it's kind of technical.
See this?
That's part of
an E.L.F. transmission,
sent just after Gibbs and Bishop
boarded the sub.
E.L.F. stands for...
Extremely Low Frequency.Right.
Right. And to limit
transmission errors,
it uses something called...
Reed-Solomon error correction.
Which uses...
Linear block-code to maximize
that correction.
I like briefing just you.
Yeah, but it looks like
that block
is repeating itself
too many times.
See, if you weren't
paying attention,
you'd think it was
just noise in the sequence.
But I think it's some kind
of coded message.
What's it say?
No idea.
Who's it to? Not exactly sure
of that either,
but I think this section
is a targeted IP address.
And if I'm not just
seeing what I want to see,
it belongs to...
a very non-military
storage facility
in rural West Virginia.
A military sub would not be
sending messages
to a non-military site.
So maybe I'm
barking up the wrong tree...
You got an address?
Thank you.
Tell Willie-Dee
I said "What's up!?"
I'm sorry, Agent Gibbs,
I can't allow you
to break radio silence.
We need to talk
to our people. And you will.
Just give any message you have
to Weapons Officer Hardy.
He'll make sure it gets sent
the moment I give
the stand-down order.
Moment's now. You had a
murder on your boat.
Which means you now have
a killer on your boat, too.
And we've ordered COB Shaw
to be at your disposal.
That's not good enough. I
don't have time for this!
This is a ship of war,
and we have our orders.
New orders, in fact,
that just came in.
And I need to go carry them out.
Don't take it personally.
He does understand
that everyone on board
is now a suspect, right?
Of course he understands.
He's not acting like it.
He's just on edge with
the new orders. We all are.
What are the new orders?
That's classified.
Navy regulations grant us access
in these circumstances, so...
Well, actually,
that was a matter
of some debate on the bridge.
What are the orders?
Unless you want to add
obstruction of justice charges
to this investigation.
The Pentagon told us to prep
all of our defenses.
That's all I'm willing to say.
Now if you'll excuse me...
Prep all of our defenses?
What does that mean?
It means this submarine
is preparing for war.
With who?
- Attention.
- Alert one, alert one!
Man battle stations for
weapons systems readiness test.
War? What in the hell
is going on up there
that would involve
a nuclear submarine? Hey. Hey, hey, hey.
You know what?
I-I'm not really a
politico kind of guy.
It could be anything.
Yeah, or it could be nothing.
Never stopped anybody before. Gibbs,
something about this just...
Feels wrong. All wrong.
In a Rule 39 kind of way.
"No such thing as coincidence."
Yeah, it should probably
be higher up the list.
This all started
after White's murder.
The radio silence,
the new order.
And was it me or did the
Captain seem just like... No.
A little too unconcerned
about a murder on his boat?
No. No, it's not you. Maybe
he didn't believe us?
Why didn't you tell him about
the book White was hiding?
Maybe he would've taken us
a little bit more seriously.
It's like you said,
everybody's a suspect.
What's our next move? Same as before.
Petty Officer White. Okay.
If the murder was related
to the new order,
then we need to
connect the dots.
Where do we start?
Are you hungry?
Kasie, wait, slow down.
Okay...
Okay. Got it.
I'll let him know.
She find something?
Still no word from the sub.
But she said she was able
to decode
a little more of its, um...
E.L.F. telemetry transmission?
Yeah. That. And then she said
she was able to pull
the sub-note part?
The subnet port?
See, that's why
you should have taken the call.
Just skip to the end.
Okay, the transmission
was sent to a router
in Unit 356
at the storage place.
See? Was that so hard?
You know,
when you look this good,
yes, yes, it is.
And McGee, I'm a little
distracted right now.
I just hope they're okay.
Bishop didn't really want
to go down
to the sub in the first place.
She's with Gibbs.
She'll be fine.
Come on. You don't know that.
Well, we can't think about it.
We got to... got to focus
on the case, you know?
But, hey,
think about that giant nest egg
you got waiting for you.
Come on, man.
I was just messing with you.
Sorry about that.
It's fine.
Look, I chose a family.
They're expensive. But
you, on the other hand,
have the freedom to do whatever
you want with your money.
Actually, not really, man.
Maybe I want to spend it
on a family one day.
Yo, heads up.
What is that address
we're looking for again?
It's the one with the
fire trucks in front of it?
And a fire chief
who looks a little too
much like Mr. Rogers.
Am I right?
Sorry, boys.
Gonna have to ask
you to turn around.
Got a fire in one of
those storage units.
Special Agents McGee and Torres.
We actually need to get into
one of those storage units.
Well,
I hope it's not Unit 356.
Looks like the fire
was deliberate.
Of course it was.
You recognize that book?
Yeah, I know what this is.
It's the manual
for the electrical
subsystems in our galley.
We found this
in Petty Officer White's bunk.
Any idea how it got there?
Let's try this again.
Is having this manual
part of White's duties?
No.Where is it normally kept?
Here. In your galley?
You see where
we're going with this?
Look, I don't know
anything, okay?
And I got a lot
of mouths to feed.
You do know that we're
investigating a murder, right?
Which means
we're looking for a murderer.
Well, wait a minute. Not even a second.
Okay, look,
White came to me and asked
if he could have the manual
for the electrical subsystems.
So I gave it to him, okay?
He's a diver,
not an electrician. You didn't think
the request was strange?
It was strange as hell!
I have no idea why he wanted it.
But I'm just the cook. Wasn't
my place to ask questions.
So, why couldn't you just
have told us that before?
I was ordered not to. By who?
After White took the manual,
I reported it to the COB.
She told me not to tell anyone.
When was this? Day before White was killed.
Now, if you'll excuse me,
I got to get back to work.
Well, I think it's time we
talk to the chief of the boat.
Jack.
How are the,
crew profiles coming along?
Almost done.
But Ducky and I weren't able
to find anything amiss.
The Navy doesn't
let just anyone serve
on a nuclear sub. They have
the most stringent vetting
process on the entire planet.
And we're grateful for that.
I got something else
here for you.
Walter Miller. Who is he?
He's the owner
of the storage unit
that burnt to the ground.
He was a genius
computer science professor.
Two years ago,
he cancelled his credit cards,
sold his home, and
he went full hermit.
Used to go to work in a suit,
and now
he's living off the grid and
receiving coded messages
from a nuclear sub.
And I heard you
recovered a hard drive,
too, right? What's left of it.
Kasie's working on it.
Wait. What is this? It's
from Miller's blog.
Homeland just sent it over.
Wow.
Yikes.
Yowzer. Listen to this.
"The United States has
been far too lenient
"since the end of the Cold War.
"We need to launch
a preemptive war against
our enemies
before it's too late"?
So, yeah, I-I'd say... Yowzer.
This guy should not be talking
to anyone on a nuclear sub.
We need to find him, like, now.
Agent Gibbs. Excuse me.
I'm expected on the bridge.
It can wait.
Not a good time. No.
No, it's not.
This way.
Alert one. Alert one.
Rig for silent running.Hey. Out.
Where'd you find that?
In a dead man's chest.
Next question.
Why'd you order your cook
to keep quiet about it?
It's a personal matter.
Your CO said we would have
your full cooperation.
Why was White asking
about this book?
I'm the one who told him
to get it, okay?
Why? MAN Alert one.
Alert one. Man battle stations.
Ready torpedoes. This
really isn't a good time.
Then stop wasting it.
Two days ago, I walked in on.
Weapons Officer Hardy in
the kitchen, fiddling with
an electrical sub-panel. He said
he was doing a routine check.
Torpedo guys don't fiddle
with electrical sub-panels.
Not normally,
no. So I wanted to know
what was behind that panel.
But I didn't want to draw
too much attention to it, so...
So you asked White
to get the book for you.
A day later, he's dead.
You didn't think that
we should know about all this?
Quite frankly, no.
I've known you for 15 minutes.
I've known Justin Hardy
for 15 years.
He's got nothing to do with
Petty Officer White's death.
That's not your call. We need to speak
to your captain.
No, you don't! I don't know
what happened to White,
but whatever it was,
Hardy's not involved.
I've gone to war with him.
I was there when
his entire family
was killed in a car crash.
We have been to hell and back,
and I've never once questioned
his dedication to the uniform.
Now, if you'll excuse me, this
boat is about to go into battle,
I'm needed on the bridge,
and we simply cannot afford
your distractions! Orlando?
These two are to be confined
until further notice.
Have you made any headway
finding this Walter Miller?
We have teams out
looking for him as we speak.
I've been reading an old blog
post where he talks extensively
about the hills of
northern Virginia.
My hunch is he's there.
I don't need to tell you
that time is of the essence.
Have there been any
new developments?
About 20 minutes ago,
the USS Memphispinged one
of our deep sea microphones.
Fantastic. It's a nightmare.
The Memphiswas headed
in the direction
of the Russian fleet
in the North Sea.
That's great.
And she's still ignoring orders
to surface.
We think we know why.
She's not getting them!
Undersecretary Leo,
this is Kasie Hines,
our forensic scientist.
Can you explain that?
I was able to
partially reconstruct
a burned hard drive that
belonged to Walter Miller.
We found the
blueprints for a device
we believe was designed to block
the Navy's transmissions. And allow Miller
to feed the Memphis
his own orders.
And he was somehow able to
install this device on our sub?
Yes, that's our working theory.
That's almost impossible.
He doesn't have
that kind of access.
Unless he had help. Can
you bypass this device?
No. Our only chance is
to find Miller's
transmitter and shut it down.
Director Vance, my people will
continue to do everything we can
to make contact
with the USS Memphis,
but you need
to find Walter Miller
before that boat gets
within firing range
of the Russian fleet.
They have done nothing
to provoke us
and won't take kindly
to a provocation on our side.
And may God help you.
Because if you don't,
we will have no choice
but to sink the USS Memphis.
Let us out!
He's not gonna open it.
He's got his orders.
It's locked up pretty tight.
Hey, any way to open
this from the inside?
Yeah. Blowtorch.
Yeah, well, I should've
brought mine from home.
What are you looking for?
A blowtorch.
So, Gibbs,
the COB said that we were
getting ready to go to battle?
Yeah. Yeah, I heard that.
Yeah. Okay, so with who?
Well, Bishop, you're the
analyst. You tell me.
It's got to be the Russians,
right? I mean,
they're the ones
who have been trying
to destabilize us for years, but
for it to spill
into open hostilities? I-I...
I don't believe it could get
this bad this quickly.
Maybe it hasn't.
You think
the attack orders are fake?
I think the guy who
fires the torpedoes
is now a murder suspect.
So, we need the captain
to verify his orders.
What's this for?
You are right.
We are locked up tight.
But the air isn't.
Okay, we need to cover
all of Northern Virginia fast.
Go in teams of two,
spiral search pattern.
Gas stations, supply stores.
Someone must have seen this guy.
State police are
setting up checkpoints.
I got BOLOs out across
the entire state.
I hope we're not wrong. What if
Miller isn't in Virginia at all?
He is. How do you know?
It's what I do. We got to start somewhere.
We can't search
the entire country.
We might not have to.
Tell them what you told me.
Yes, we were going
over an old cold case
where the culprit is a hermit,
not unlike Walter Miller.
Even though the
defining trait of a hermit is a,
a desire for solitude... They usually
stay in contact with
at least one person.
Sorry, Ducky.
So we dug deeper
into Miller's background
and found out
that he has an aunt that
he used to live with as a kid!
Right. Aunt Jessie.
Who lives in a retirement home
at a V.A. in Maryland.
And take a look
at Aunt Jessie's phone records.
See there?
The first of every month,
she gets a call.
From a camping supply store
pay phone.
Who uses a pay phone anymore?
A hermit without a cell phone
in the hills
of northern Virginia.
Nice.
Alert one. Alert one.
Final systems check.
Prepare for incoming.
Yeah. I'm kind of sorry
about that.
The bridge is that way.
Let's go.
All right, the store owner
was able to identify Miller.
He drew us a map to the cabin.
Just go to the end
of the road here.
All right, let Vance
know we're close.
That's got to be Miller's cabin.
You know, something about
this place feels familiar.
Hey, you think that Gibbs
would ever end up like a...
Like a crazy hermit?
No. Gibbs wouldn't have
all these radio towers.
I don't know, man.
I think he would.
Pentagon officials
are refusing to comment
on the rumors that a nuclear
submarine has gone missing,
though our sources
are telling us otherwise.
In truth, the geopolitical...
Don't even think about it.NCIS.
Hands in the air.
Turn around. Turn around!
Looks like he's bouncing
his signal
off one of our satellites.
You're too late.
And you're a weird,
creepy hermit.
In my hand are a set of orders
to fire upon the Russian fleet,
who are, at this moment,
preparing to launch
a preemptive strike against
multiple targets in the U.S.
We'll be within range
in the next four minutes.
XO, please confirm.
I confirm.
May God help us all.
Chief of the Watch,
flood tubes one and two. Aye, sir.
Weapons conn...
fire on my order.
Aye, sir.
Captain, we need to talk.
What the hell
are you doing here?
We are in the middle
of a torpedo launch.
And we have reason to believe those
launch orders may be invalid.
They've been authenticated.
Now get off my bridge.
We're not going anywhere. Then
I'll have you thrown off.
Try.
McGee,
what are you waiting for?
Send the stand-down order.
I'm-I'm not sure how.
The orders have to be
properly formatted
or the system won't take 'em,
okay?
I-I don't remember whether
the hash goes before the bang
or even how many splats
to use. Tim,
you have to figure this out.
I've never done anything
like this before, okay?
It's not like
I can just call in a lifeline.
I said off my bridge.
Are you gonna tell him?
Or am I?
Tell me what?
Straussy, hey, it's Tim.
Listen, are you still working
on that hyperrealistic
sub simulation game?
Your weapons officer
needs to be relieved from duty.
Excuse me? And your orders
reauthenticated
by somebody else.
He's a suspect
in our murder investigation.
This is ridiculous.
Chief of the Boat,
escort these two off the bridge.
XO, belay that order.
Conn-sonar,
90 seconds from target.
Agent Gibbs, do you have proof
my weapons officer
was involved in White's murder?
You need to verify your orders.
And give away our position?
Millions of lives are at stake.
I know what's at stake.
Do you have proof?
Is there anything
you'd like to add?
No, sir. Then get these two
the hell off my bridge
and lock them in the brig.
Federal agents.
Drop the weapon! Drop it!
You're under arrest.
Agent Gibbs... Step away
from the station, now.
Drop your weapon!
The USSMemphis
is about to cross
the red line, Leon.
We can't wait. Ma'am,
our people have found Miller.
The chairman of the joint chiefs
just gave the strike order.
I wanted you to hear it from me
before it happened.
Look... ma'am, we need more time.
You have less than a minute.
We are at war!
Our orders have been
authenticated.
Agent Gibbs, drop your weapon!
Step away from your station.
The Russians are fueling
their weapons now.
Shaw, shoot him! You will spend
the rest of your life
in federal prison... You did
something to this boat,
you killed White. If you
do not drop that weapon!
What did you do? Alert one, alert one.
Incoming message.
Captain,
we have a properly
formatted incoming message.
COB Shaw, lower your sidearm.
What? No! We need to launch.
Get your hands up!
We've been ordered to stand down
and surface at once.
15 degrees up bubble.
Prepare to surface.
We need to launch! If we do not
launch, we are going to die!
Maybe not today,
but soon enough!
We have to launch!
Agent Gibbs, will
you kindly escort.
Petty Officer Hardy
off the bridge?
Kindly.
Bishop.
Got it.
The order go through? Went through.
Surfacing now.
All right.
I guess World War III
is gonna have to wait.
Listen to me. We have to launch.
We have to launch.
Blah, blah, blah, creepy hermit.
Straussy, hey.
Thanks for the info, man.
Yep, writing a book about a sub.
How'd you guess?
So what was that weapons guy
doing in the kitchen?
Well, he was installing a device
in an electrical conduit
that fed into the
antenna room next door.
And that's what blocked
the Navy's signals?
Yep, and only allowed Miller's
transmissions to go through.
What about Petty Officer White?
Once he asked
for that kitchen manual,
there was only a matter of time
before the device was
discovered, so...
Bye-bye, Petty Officer White.
Agent Bishop.
I'm glad to have you back.
Not as glad as I am to be back.
You know, for a second, we
thought we almost lost you guys.
Okay, so, we're...
we're gonna be late.
That's right.
What? Late? Late for what?
What? Hello?
You guys...
It's fascinating.
The psychology of these two men
could not be more different.
Yet they landed
in the same place.
World peace through world war.
Well, they're certainly
not the only ones
to follow the rabbit
down the hole.
My guess is, after
Hardy's family was killed,
he came unglued looking
for meaning in his life
and started talking
to the wrong people.
He met Miller in a chat room
two years ago.
You know, the Internet will be
the death of us all.
I can't imagine you're going to
struggle for the meaning of life
post-retirement.Hardly.
I have so many projects planned,
I don't know where to start.
Well, I think you're doing
just fine so far.
Director. In fact, the chairman
of the joint chiefs wanted me
to thank you personally
for saving our butts.
Well, it was a team effort.
But we couldn't have done it
without you.
And you're an invaluable
member of that team.
Why do I get the feeling
I'm being set up?
I have no idea what you're
talking about, Doctor.
But we should keep walking.
This way.
If this is a surprise party,
you know I would rather
shave my eyeballs.
Dr. Mallard, you're a living,
breathing encyclopedia
of the entire history of NCIS.
This place is what
it is because of you, Duck.
And this case showed us
just how valuable
your wealth of knowledge can be.
I-I appreciate the compliments,
gentlemen, but I need a change.
Yeah, you do. Yeah, and so do we.
Excuse me.
This way, please.
Dr. Mallard, I, um,
assume that you are aware
that FBI and CIA have
agency historians,
whose purpose is to insure
that the collective knowledge
of those institutions live on
for future generations.
Yeah, of course.
But,
what has that to do with me?
"Donald Mallard,."
Historian"?
Now, if you need
some time to think...
Can I come and go as I please?
Why, yes.
Does it come
with a badge and gun?
No.
No.
So it's,
paid, part-time work.
Well, now,
I suppose this is not the time
to discuss contractual details.
Is that a yes?
It sounded like a yes.
Well...
if you insist.
That's a yes.
All right.
Um...
your office still needs work.
Yes, it does.
Captioning sponsored by.
Aye, sir.
Seven minutes.Unacceptable.
This is a military ship,
not a homecoming dance.
Captain.
Report.
The staff is locked
and we're holding steady.
When do the SEALs get back
from their dive?
They still have another
15 minutes, Captain.
This is Weapons Officer Hardy.
Go.
As soon as they return,
I want to run another
missile drill test.
It shouldn't take
seven minutes to...
Captain.
Got a problem at
the escape trunk.
XO, you have the conn.
Come on, Mike, stay with me.
What the hell
happened out there?
I don't know.
Doctor's on his way. Sit-rep.
It was a routine dive, sir.
Doesn't look routine.
I went out first. Got about
20 yards and looked back.
White was just floating there.
By the time I got back
to him, he was...
Sir...
He's gone.
USSMemphis, this is Seahawk One.
We are coming on your position.
They really need
to make these doorways bigger.
Hey, where's Gibbs?
Talking to the CO.
Now it's time for
you to talk to me.
Who do we have here?
Well, Petty Officer
Robert White.
And I hope he's a fast talker.
Yeah, me, too.
I have a whole list full
of events planned
for Dr. Mallard's last day.
If you want to see him
before he leaves,
let's make this quick, okay?
Hey. You doing okay?
Yeah. Just not a big fan
of being underwater these days,
you know, so...
That's right.
And now you're basically trapped
on a big, giant
underwater coffin.
Not helping.
Look, we are gonna be fine,
all right?
This baby is indestructible.
And if anything were
to go wrong with the boat,
Bishop, good news,
we'd be dead before you know it.
Okay. So it's times like these
I'm really gonna miss Ducky.
Yeah, tell me about it.
Rather you tell me
about our petty officer.
Okay.
Finished BUDS six months ago.
His SEAL team was hitching a
ride for a training exercise
and this was his first trip
out on a Virginia-class.
Sadly, his last. Cause of death?
The frothing around the nose and
the cyanosis suggest drowning.
Along with the ocean
he was dragged out of.
But I'll have to take him back
for an autopsy just to confirm.
Okay, Palmer,
get the body back to NCIS.
Bishop...
Go with him? Interviews.
Okay.
How does a U.S. Navy SEAL
drown during a routine dive?
That's a good question.
All right, Jimmy's on his
way back with the body.
Gibbs and Bishop
are staying on the sub.
Man, Bishop ain't
gonna like that.
Yeah. Nor do I. It means I won't
be able to say good-bye to them.
McGee, gingerbread latte,
extra whipped cream.
Enjoy. Thank ya.
Does Gibbs suspect foul play?
Does he ever not? Good point.
Well, at least you'll be able
to spend a few more hours
with Jimmy before you leave.
We're really gonna miss you
around here, Duck.
I still can't believe
it's your last day.
I prefer to think of it
as the first day
of the rest of my life.
What happens on the second day?
Stay tuned.
Well, I know exactly what
I'm gonna do when I retire.
Buy a beach bar. Surf all day,
and margaritas till sun-up.
Man, I can definitely
get behind that.
You surf, Nick?
I was talking about
the margaritas.
But, honestly, I,
I've never really thought
about retirement.
Well, that definitely sounds
like a surfer's mentality.
Nick, you gotta get on that.
I mean, I've been saving
for my retirement
since I was 14 years old.
Yeah, but you also have issues.
And that's my cue to leave.
I was never a big fan
of The Odd Couple.
Hey, you do know
that you need money
to live on once you
stop working, right?
Look, man,
I-I've been saving, okay?
But I-I'm saving
like a normal person.
Like, a little bit here
and there, you know?
I haven't been saving
since I was potty-trained.
But just out of curiosity,
what-what do you guys think?
How... how much
you think is, is enough?
Well, it depends on your plans.
I mean,
maybe you want to travel,
or, do a vacation home.
Either way, you're gonna need
a lot of money.
Do you think...
Do you think this is enough?
Dear. That bad?
How have you saved
that much cash?
Or perhaps that good?
Wha... I don't have anywhere
near that amount.
Well, while I wait
for Dr. Palmer's return,
I think I'll go see Kasie.
Okay. Y-You got to tell me.
Where'd you get all that dough?
Man, I was undercover
for a bunch of years.
I never had to spend
my own money.
So I just kept
stacking it up, baby.
So you're saying I'm good?
Yeah, you're good.
Yeah.
The question is, am I?
It was a by-the-book dive.
This shouldn't have happened.
How well did you know
Petty Officer White?
He'd only been
on board a few days.
But I could already tell
he was a bit cocky.
You know how SEALs are.
Cocky enough to make
someone want to kill him?
You NCIS guys
always go straight to that.
Well, it's kind of our job.
You just said
it shouldn't have happened.
Except it did,
and we're not ready
to rule anything out. All I meant was,
White was
a highly trained diver,
so something must've gone wrong.
Like maybe with the equipment.
Okay. Aside from White,
who had access to his dive gear?
His dive partner.
And... me.
So, you and White get along?
You guys are barking up
the wrong tree, okay?
I don't have any beef with...
What's that? It's the dive alarm.
Dive! Dive!
What? They're not supposed
to dive with us on board.
Not unless
it's an emergency, no.
Okay. That's just great.
Alert! Alert! Opening all vents.
Well, whatever it is,
we're going down fast.
Gibbs...
Bishop...
- It's fine.
- Kay.
Everything's gonna be fine.
Chief of the Watch on the 1MC,
alert bays three and six
to stand by for further orders.
Aye, sir.
Captain.
I thought NCIS
left with the body.
No. We're still here.
Well, you two are gonna
have to sit tight, then.
What's going on?
We've been given
emergency dive orders,
told to wait
for further instruction.
We need to get word to NCIS.
That's a hard no.
Orders include radio silence.
But... Until we hear otherwise,
nothing is going out.
Well, don't worry. We'll
get you two off the Memphis
and back in your cubicles
as soon as we can.
We're not getting off.
We have an investigation
to finish.
The reason you haven't
finished it already?
Captain, you have an unexplained
death on your boat.
I'd like to think
you'd be a little more curious
about what happened.
You got a lot of stones
to stand on my bridge
and insinuate I don't care
about what happens to my crew.
All due respect,
a Navy SEAL died
on a routine training exercise
and no one can explain why.
We'll have full access
to your crew,
and we'll start with Petty
Officer White's diving buddy.
Agent Gibbs, I understand
that you have a job to do.
We do. And the full authority
to do it.
But let me make myself
perfectly clear.
If either of you
interfere with the
operations of this boat,
I will fire you out
of that torpedo tube myself.
I wish you luck with that.
Sorry I'm so busy, Dr. Mallard.
The timing on this
couldn't have been worse.Dr. Palmer...
I know, I know I said
I'd stop apologizing.
Well, then, stop.
I-It's just that I had
a-a speech planned,
and there was a-a slide show
in Kasie's lab...
And cookies. Yeah, well,
this three-page letter
and all these parting gifts,
it's more than sufficient.
And I'm leaving NCIS,
not the planet.
Freaking out here, okay? Tim,
you're gonna be fine, man.
Yeah, not compared to you.
You got no kids and
a small fortune.
I've got two kids and a wife.
I'm gonna be working
for the rest of my life.
Well, the good news is,
you love your job, right?
I've always loved mine.
Well, no offense, Ducky,
but if I'm still working
when I'm your age...
I'm not gonna finish
that sentence.
Ducky, you look fantastic.
Good move. All right, well,
since the rest of us
haven't retired yet,
can we get back to the dead guy?
Now, that's your cue,
Dr. Palmer.
I hear the,
Cyber Division
barbershop quartet
is bidding me a farewell
with a rendition
of "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye."
Damn, he loves Cole Porter,
and I just saw
a box set on sale.
Focus. Dead guy. Cause of death.
Right. O-Our petty officer
drowned. No doubt about it.
Aside from the water
in the lungs,
there's also signs
of subcutaneous emphysema.
That's what happens when the air
gets trapped in the tissue here.
Any idea how that happened?
That is
the million-dollar question.
I have a buck 50 answer.
You two.
Answer your phones much?
I must have missed it. Sorry about that.
Gibbs always answers.
If that technology hater can manage to...
What's up?
One ring. Just saying.
I was examining the counterlung
on Petty Officer White's
scuba gear.
That's the oxygen tank,
for the aqua layperson.
It was clearly tampered with.
Any chance that the petty
officer might done it himself?
Like, accidentally?
Not a chance. The diaphragm
on the gas-check valve...
A buck 50 part, by the way...
Was deliberately pulled out.
Well, that makes this a...
Murder, my dear Palmer.
You looking for something,
Petty Officer Harper?
White's drowning
had me spooked, so I decided
to take a second look at the
entire SEAL team's equipment.
What did you find?
Everyone's equipment
was in perfect working order.
No.
Not everyone's.
I just tried our sat phone
to see if I could get a signal.
No, no. We're too deep.Yeah.
But Kasie sent a message,
just before we lost contact.
White's overpressure valve
was tampered with.
Tampered with?
By who?
You tell us.
Besides White,
you and Master Diver Ross
were the only one who had access.
Not true.
Privacy's out the window
once we deploy.
Almost anyone
could have gotten to our gear.
Well, not everyone was cited
for disorderly conduct.
You had a fight with White
about a week ago? Yeah.
And the week before that,
and the week before that.
You're not helping
your case here. He's got a mouth.
I'm a hothead.
We fight and then make up
and move on.
You've got brothers?
It's like that.
So, what was the fight about?
All hands, report to stations
for missile readiness test.
I got to go.
Yeah. We'll walk with you.
Petty Officer Harper.
You can tell us now, here,
or in the brig.
White thought
that Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man
could beat up
Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man.
And I didn't.
Wow. Important stuff.
It passes the time.
You know,
White actually told me yesterday
he wanted to show me something.
I didn't think
nothing much of it,
but now... Yeah?
What? No clue.
But he wanted to meet
in his quarters,
so I'm guessing
it's got to still be there.
All hands report to stations
for missile readiness test.
I really got to go.
They're both wrong.
Tom Holland's Spider-Man wins,
hands down.
"And no amount of gratitude
"could ever repay..." No.
"Convey our appreciation
"to Dr. Mallard
"for his decades
of service."
So instead,
we are going to give him
the lamest speech ever written.
Well, that beats a gold watch.
Agent Torres, Agent McGee.
How can I help you? McGEE
Well, Director,
we're not sure if
you heard about...
Petty Officer White. I did.
I presume you told Gibbs
he's got a murder on his hands.
Well, that's why we're here.
We tried calling him, but no
one's answering the sat phone.
And you need my authorization
to contact
the submarine directly.
Sir, already tried that.
Also not answering. We think
they may have already dove.
No, that can't be.
NCIS is required to be updated
on all dive orders
while our agents
are on board. I...
Director? Yeah?
The Pentagon is on at MTAC.
They say it's urgent.
Undersecretary Leo.
How can I help you?
I understand some of your agents
were investigating
a death on the USS Memphis.
Which has since been upgraded
to murder, but yes.
Have you heard
from those agents recently? I'm told
we just lost contact, actually.
What's going on?
A total disaster, that's what.
Jennifer, where are my agents?
I wish I could tell you that,
Leon.
Five hours ago, the USS Memphis
dove to stealth depths
and has been radio silent
ever since.
Under whose orders?
Not ours.
I want to be clear here.
Are you telling me
the United States government
lost contact
with a nuclear submarine
with two of my agents on board?
Director, that is exactly
what I'm telling you.
The USS Memphis
was last seen right here.
The Navy's conducting a search
of the area,
but that sub could be
almost anywhere by now.
We have no idea who's
feeding them orders.
So, what can we do?
Complete the investigation
into Petty Officer White's
death.
Right. It's not lost
on anyone at DoD
that White's murder coincided
with the disappearance
of the Memphis.
You think both are connected?
Well, you need to operate
on that assumption.
Solving
Petty Officer White's murder
could help determine what's
going on with the Memphis.
- Right.
- I thought motor pool
was gonna take you out
on a karaoke night.
Until Jethro
and Eleanor are safe,
Gloria Gaynor can wait.
Okay, then.
Agent McGee, I believe you are
the senior field agent. Please.
Okay.
Sloane, Ducky, I need you
to run profiles on
the entire crew of the Memphis.
On it.
On it. Torres, Petty Officer White.
Bank statements,
cell records, credit cards.
Got it.
Bring it, McGee.
I'm here to help.
Director, you think you could
twist some arms at the Pentagon
and get Kasie the
telemetry on the Memphis
before it went missing?
Twisting arms is my specialty.
I'm on it.
Books, magazine,
toothbrush.
I mean, if White was hiding
something here, it's gone.
Keep looking.
Whoa. Gibbs?
What was that?
Just an underwater current.
I'm sure everything is fine.
No, Gibbs,
everything is not fine.
We-we are stuck below the water
for who knows how long
on a ship that refuses to let us
speak to the surface.
Bishop, I'm sure it's just
a routine mission, okay?
My gosh. You do not
believe that for a second.
Come on. The death, the
dive order, and now a murder?
Don't tell me you don't think
something is up.
You just don't want me to panic.
How am I doing?
Well, I'm starting to panic.
What? That book.
Cover's all worn,
but the pages look brand-new.
That's not Moby-Dick.
It's an electrical
manual for the galley.
What was White doing with that?
Not the question.
Why was he hiding it?
Well, still no word
from Gibbs or Bishop.
Torres say you've got something,
and I hope it's more
than a tweaked neck.
Yeah, Nick tells no lies.
Courtesy of some arm-twisting
by Director Vance,
the Pentagon was kind enough
to give me
all the telemetry info
they had on the Memphis
since it left port.
You found something? Maybe.
But it's kind of technical.
See this?
That's part of
an E.L.F. transmission,
sent just after Gibbs and Bishop
boarded the sub.
E.L.F. stands for...
Extremely Low Frequency.Right.
Right. And to limit
transmission errors,
it uses something called...
Reed-Solomon error correction.
Which uses...
Linear block-code to maximize
that correction.
I like briefing just you.
Yeah, but it looks like
that block
is repeating itself
too many times.
See, if you weren't
paying attention,
you'd think it was
just noise in the sequence.
But I think it's some kind
of coded message.
What's it say?
No idea.
Who's it to? Not exactly sure
of that either,
but I think this section
is a targeted IP address.
And if I'm not just
seeing what I want to see,
it belongs to...
a very non-military
storage facility
in rural West Virginia.
A military sub would not be
sending messages
to a non-military site.
So maybe I'm
barking up the wrong tree...
You got an address?
Thank you.
Tell Willie-Dee
I said "What's up!?"
I'm sorry, Agent Gibbs,
I can't allow you
to break radio silence.
We need to talk
to our people. And you will.
Just give any message you have
to Weapons Officer Hardy.
He'll make sure it gets sent
the moment I give
the stand-down order.
Moment's now. You had a
murder on your boat.
Which means you now have
a killer on your boat, too.
And we've ordered COB Shaw
to be at your disposal.
That's not good enough. I
don't have time for this!
This is a ship of war,
and we have our orders.
New orders, in fact,
that just came in.
And I need to go carry them out.
Don't take it personally.
He does understand
that everyone on board
is now a suspect, right?
Of course he understands.
He's not acting like it.
He's just on edge with
the new orders. We all are.
What are the new orders?
That's classified.
Navy regulations grant us access
in these circumstances, so...
Well, actually,
that was a matter
of some debate on the bridge.
What are the orders?
Unless you want to add
obstruction of justice charges
to this investigation.
The Pentagon told us to prep
all of our defenses.
That's all I'm willing to say.
Now if you'll excuse me...
Prep all of our defenses?
What does that mean?
It means this submarine
is preparing for war.
With who?
- Attention.
- Alert one, alert one!
Man battle stations for
weapons systems readiness test.
War? What in the hell
is going on up there
that would involve
a nuclear submarine? Hey. Hey, hey, hey.
You know what?
I-I'm not really a
politico kind of guy.
It could be anything.
Yeah, or it could be nothing.
Never stopped anybody before. Gibbs,
something about this just...
Feels wrong. All wrong.
In a Rule 39 kind of way.
"No such thing as coincidence."
Yeah, it should probably
be higher up the list.
This all started
after White's murder.
The radio silence,
the new order.
And was it me or did the
Captain seem just like... No.
A little too unconcerned
about a murder on his boat?
No. No, it's not you. Maybe
he didn't believe us?
Why didn't you tell him about
the book White was hiding?
Maybe he would've taken us
a little bit more seriously.
It's like you said,
everybody's a suspect.
What's our next move? Same as before.
Petty Officer White. Okay.
If the murder was related
to the new order,
then we need to
connect the dots.
Where do we start?
Are you hungry?
Kasie, wait, slow down.
Okay...
Okay. Got it.
I'll let him know.
She find something?
Still no word from the sub.
But she said she was able
to decode
a little more of its, um...
E.L.F. telemetry transmission?
Yeah. That. And then she said
she was able to pull
the sub-note part?
The subnet port?
See, that's why
you should have taken the call.
Just skip to the end.
Okay, the transmission
was sent to a router
in Unit 356
at the storage place.
See? Was that so hard?
You know,
when you look this good,
yes, yes, it is.
And McGee, I'm a little
distracted right now.
I just hope they're okay.
Bishop didn't really want
to go down
to the sub in the first place.
She's with Gibbs.
She'll be fine.
Come on. You don't know that.
Well, we can't think about it.
We got to... got to focus
on the case, you know?
But, hey,
think about that giant nest egg
you got waiting for you.
Come on, man.
I was just messing with you.
Sorry about that.
It's fine.
Look, I chose a family.
They're expensive. But
you, on the other hand,
have the freedom to do whatever
you want with your money.
Actually, not really, man.
Maybe I want to spend it
on a family one day.
Yo, heads up.
What is that address
we're looking for again?
It's the one with the
fire trucks in front of it?
And a fire chief
who looks a little too
much like Mr. Rogers.
Am I right?
Sorry, boys.
Gonna have to ask
you to turn around.
Got a fire in one of
those storage units.
Special Agents McGee and Torres.
We actually need to get into
one of those storage units.
Well,
I hope it's not Unit 356.
Looks like the fire
was deliberate.
Of course it was.
You recognize that book?
Yeah, I know what this is.
It's the manual
for the electrical
subsystems in our galley.
We found this
in Petty Officer White's bunk.
Any idea how it got there?
Let's try this again.
Is having this manual
part of White's duties?
No.Where is it normally kept?
Here. In your galley?
You see where
we're going with this?
Look, I don't know
anything, okay?
And I got a lot
of mouths to feed.
You do know that we're
investigating a murder, right?
Which means
we're looking for a murderer.
Well, wait a minute. Not even a second.
Okay, look,
White came to me and asked
if he could have the manual
for the electrical subsystems.
So I gave it to him, okay?
He's a diver,
not an electrician. You didn't think
the request was strange?
It was strange as hell!
I have no idea why he wanted it.
But I'm just the cook. Wasn't
my place to ask questions.
So, why couldn't you just
have told us that before?
I was ordered not to. By who?
After White took the manual,
I reported it to the COB.
She told me not to tell anyone.
When was this? Day before White was killed.
Now, if you'll excuse me,
I got to get back to work.
Well, I think it's time we
talk to the chief of the boat.
Jack.
How are the,
crew profiles coming along?
Almost done.
But Ducky and I weren't able
to find anything amiss.
The Navy doesn't
let just anyone serve
on a nuclear sub. They have
the most stringent vetting
process on the entire planet.
And we're grateful for that.
I got something else
here for you.
Walter Miller. Who is he?
He's the owner
of the storage unit
that burnt to the ground.
He was a genius
computer science professor.
Two years ago,
he cancelled his credit cards,
sold his home, and
he went full hermit.
Used to go to work in a suit,
and now
he's living off the grid and
receiving coded messages
from a nuclear sub.
And I heard you
recovered a hard drive,
too, right? What's left of it.
Kasie's working on it.
Wait. What is this? It's
from Miller's blog.
Homeland just sent it over.
Wow.
Yikes.
Yowzer. Listen to this.
"The United States has
been far too lenient
"since the end of the Cold War.
"We need to launch
a preemptive war against
our enemies
before it's too late"?
So, yeah, I-I'd say... Yowzer.
This guy should not be talking
to anyone on a nuclear sub.
We need to find him, like, now.
Agent Gibbs. Excuse me.
I'm expected on the bridge.
It can wait.
Not a good time. No.
No, it's not.
This way.
Alert one. Alert one.
Rig for silent running.Hey. Out.
Where'd you find that?
In a dead man's chest.
Next question.
Why'd you order your cook
to keep quiet about it?
It's a personal matter.
Your CO said we would have
your full cooperation.
Why was White asking
about this book?
I'm the one who told him
to get it, okay?
Why? MAN Alert one.
Alert one. Man battle stations.
Ready torpedoes. This
really isn't a good time.
Then stop wasting it.
Two days ago, I walked in on.
Weapons Officer Hardy in
the kitchen, fiddling with
an electrical sub-panel. He said
he was doing a routine check.
Torpedo guys don't fiddle
with electrical sub-panels.
Not normally,
no. So I wanted to know
what was behind that panel.
But I didn't want to draw
too much attention to it, so...
So you asked White
to get the book for you.
A day later, he's dead.
You didn't think that
we should know about all this?
Quite frankly, no.
I've known you for 15 minutes.
I've known Justin Hardy
for 15 years.
He's got nothing to do with
Petty Officer White's death.
That's not your call. We need to speak
to your captain.
No, you don't! I don't know
what happened to White,
but whatever it was,
Hardy's not involved.
I've gone to war with him.
I was there when
his entire family
was killed in a car crash.
We have been to hell and back,
and I've never once questioned
his dedication to the uniform.
Now, if you'll excuse me, this
boat is about to go into battle,
I'm needed on the bridge,
and we simply cannot afford
your distractions! Orlando?
These two are to be confined
until further notice.
Have you made any headway
finding this Walter Miller?
We have teams out
looking for him as we speak.
I've been reading an old blog
post where he talks extensively
about the hills of
northern Virginia.
My hunch is he's there.
I don't need to tell you
that time is of the essence.
Have there been any
new developments?
About 20 minutes ago,
the USS Memphispinged one
of our deep sea microphones.
Fantastic. It's a nightmare.
The Memphiswas headed
in the direction
of the Russian fleet
in the North Sea.
That's great.
And she's still ignoring orders
to surface.
We think we know why.
She's not getting them!
Undersecretary Leo,
this is Kasie Hines,
our forensic scientist.
Can you explain that?
I was able to
partially reconstruct
a burned hard drive that
belonged to Walter Miller.
We found the
blueprints for a device
we believe was designed to block
the Navy's transmissions. And allow Miller
to feed the Memphis
his own orders.
And he was somehow able to
install this device on our sub?
Yes, that's our working theory.
That's almost impossible.
He doesn't have
that kind of access.
Unless he had help. Can
you bypass this device?
No. Our only chance is
to find Miller's
transmitter and shut it down.
Director Vance, my people will
continue to do everything we can
to make contact
with the USS Memphis,
but you need
to find Walter Miller
before that boat gets
within firing range
of the Russian fleet.
They have done nothing
to provoke us
and won't take kindly
to a provocation on our side.
And may God help you.
Because if you don't,
we will have no choice
but to sink the USS Memphis.
Let us out!
He's not gonna open it.
He's got his orders.
It's locked up pretty tight.
Hey, any way to open
this from the inside?
Yeah. Blowtorch.
Yeah, well, I should've
brought mine from home.
What are you looking for?
A blowtorch.
So, Gibbs,
the COB said that we were
getting ready to go to battle?
Yeah. Yeah, I heard that.
Yeah. Okay, so with who?
Well, Bishop, you're the
analyst. You tell me.
It's got to be the Russians,
right? I mean,
they're the ones
who have been trying
to destabilize us for years, but
for it to spill
into open hostilities? I-I...
I don't believe it could get
this bad this quickly.
Maybe it hasn't.
You think
the attack orders are fake?
I think the guy who
fires the torpedoes
is now a murder suspect.
So, we need the captain
to verify his orders.
What's this for?
You are right.
We are locked up tight.
But the air isn't.
Okay, we need to cover
all of Northern Virginia fast.
Go in teams of two,
spiral search pattern.
Gas stations, supply stores.
Someone must have seen this guy.
State police are
setting up checkpoints.
I got BOLOs out across
the entire state.
I hope we're not wrong. What if
Miller isn't in Virginia at all?
He is. How do you know?
It's what I do. We got to start somewhere.
We can't search
the entire country.
We might not have to.
Tell them what you told me.
Yes, we were going
over an old cold case
where the culprit is a hermit,
not unlike Walter Miller.
Even though the
defining trait of a hermit is a,
a desire for solitude... They usually
stay in contact with
at least one person.
Sorry, Ducky.
So we dug deeper
into Miller's background
and found out
that he has an aunt that
he used to live with as a kid!
Right. Aunt Jessie.
Who lives in a retirement home
at a V.A. in Maryland.
And take a look
at Aunt Jessie's phone records.
See there?
The first of every month,
she gets a call.
From a camping supply store
pay phone.
Who uses a pay phone anymore?
A hermit without a cell phone
in the hills
of northern Virginia.
Nice.
Alert one. Alert one.
Final systems check.
Prepare for incoming.
Yeah. I'm kind of sorry
about that.
The bridge is that way.
Let's go.
All right, the store owner
was able to identify Miller.
He drew us a map to the cabin.
Just go to the end
of the road here.
All right, let Vance
know we're close.
That's got to be Miller's cabin.
You know, something about
this place feels familiar.
Hey, you think that Gibbs
would ever end up like a...
Like a crazy hermit?
No. Gibbs wouldn't have
all these radio towers.
I don't know, man.
I think he would.
Pentagon officials
are refusing to comment
on the rumors that a nuclear
submarine has gone missing,
though our sources
are telling us otherwise.
In truth, the geopolitical...
Don't even think about it.NCIS.
Hands in the air.
Turn around. Turn around!
Looks like he's bouncing
his signal
off one of our satellites.
You're too late.
And you're a weird,
creepy hermit.
In my hand are a set of orders
to fire upon the Russian fleet,
who are, at this moment,
preparing to launch
a preemptive strike against
multiple targets in the U.S.
We'll be within range
in the next four minutes.
XO, please confirm.
I confirm.
May God help us all.
Chief of the Watch,
flood tubes one and two. Aye, sir.
Weapons conn...
fire on my order.
Aye, sir.
Captain, we need to talk.
What the hell
are you doing here?
We are in the middle
of a torpedo launch.
And we have reason to believe those
launch orders may be invalid.
They've been authenticated.
Now get off my bridge.
We're not going anywhere. Then
I'll have you thrown off.
Try.
McGee,
what are you waiting for?
Send the stand-down order.
I'm-I'm not sure how.
The orders have to be
properly formatted
or the system won't take 'em,
okay?
I-I don't remember whether
the hash goes before the bang
or even how many splats
to use. Tim,
you have to figure this out.
I've never done anything
like this before, okay?
It's not like
I can just call in a lifeline.
I said off my bridge.
Are you gonna tell him?
Or am I?
Tell me what?
Straussy, hey, it's Tim.
Listen, are you still working
on that hyperrealistic
sub simulation game?
Your weapons officer
needs to be relieved from duty.
Excuse me? And your orders
reauthenticated
by somebody else.
He's a suspect
in our murder investigation.
This is ridiculous.
Chief of the Boat,
escort these two off the bridge.
XO, belay that order.
Conn-sonar,
90 seconds from target.
Agent Gibbs, do you have proof
my weapons officer
was involved in White's murder?
You need to verify your orders.
And give away our position?
Millions of lives are at stake.
I know what's at stake.
Do you have proof?
Is there anything
you'd like to add?
No, sir. Then get these two
the hell off my bridge
and lock them in the brig.
Federal agents.
Drop the weapon! Drop it!
You're under arrest.
Agent Gibbs... Step away
from the station, now.
Drop your weapon!
The USSMemphis
is about to cross
the red line, Leon.
We can't wait. Ma'am,
our people have found Miller.
The chairman of the joint chiefs
just gave the strike order.
I wanted you to hear it from me
before it happened.
Look... ma'am, we need more time.
You have less than a minute.
We are at war!
Our orders have been
authenticated.
Agent Gibbs, drop your weapon!
Step away from your station.
The Russians are fueling
their weapons now.
Shaw, shoot him! You will spend
the rest of your life
in federal prison... You did
something to this boat,
you killed White. If you
do not drop that weapon!
What did you do? Alert one, alert one.
Incoming message.
Captain,
we have a properly
formatted incoming message.
COB Shaw, lower your sidearm.
What? No! We need to launch.
Get your hands up!
We've been ordered to stand down
and surface at once.
15 degrees up bubble.
Prepare to surface.
We need to launch! If we do not
launch, we are going to die!
Maybe not today,
but soon enough!
We have to launch!
Agent Gibbs, will
you kindly escort.
Petty Officer Hardy
off the bridge?
Kindly.
Bishop.
Got it.
The order go through? Went through.
Surfacing now.
All right.
I guess World War III
is gonna have to wait.
Listen to me. We have to launch.
We have to launch.
Blah, blah, blah, creepy hermit.
Straussy, hey.
Thanks for the info, man.
Yep, writing a book about a sub.
How'd you guess?
So what was that weapons guy
doing in the kitchen?
Well, he was installing a device
in an electrical conduit
that fed into the
antenna room next door.
And that's what blocked
the Navy's signals?
Yep, and only allowed Miller's
transmissions to go through.
What about Petty Officer White?
Once he asked
for that kitchen manual,
there was only a matter of time
before the device was
discovered, so...
Bye-bye, Petty Officer White.
Agent Bishop.
I'm glad to have you back.
Not as glad as I am to be back.
You know, for a second, we
thought we almost lost you guys.
Okay, so, we're...
we're gonna be late.
That's right.
What? Late? Late for what?
What? Hello?
You guys...
It's fascinating.
The psychology of these two men
could not be more different.
Yet they landed
in the same place.
World peace through world war.
Well, they're certainly
not the only ones
to follow the rabbit
down the hole.
My guess is, after
Hardy's family was killed,
he came unglued looking
for meaning in his life
and started talking
to the wrong people.
He met Miller in a chat room
two years ago.
You know, the Internet will be
the death of us all.
I can't imagine you're going to
struggle for the meaning of life
post-retirement.Hardly.
I have so many projects planned,
I don't know where to start.
Well, I think you're doing
just fine so far.
Director. In fact, the chairman
of the joint chiefs wanted me
to thank you personally
for saving our butts.
Well, it was a team effort.
But we couldn't have done it
without you.
And you're an invaluable
member of that team.
Why do I get the feeling
I'm being set up?
I have no idea what you're
talking about, Doctor.
But we should keep walking.
This way.
If this is a surprise party,
you know I would rather
shave my eyeballs.
Dr. Mallard, you're a living,
breathing encyclopedia
of the entire history of NCIS.
This place is what
it is because of you, Duck.
And this case showed us
just how valuable
your wealth of knowledge can be.
I-I appreciate the compliments,
gentlemen, but I need a change.
Yeah, you do. Yeah, and so do we.
Excuse me.
This way, please.
Dr. Mallard, I, um,
assume that you are aware
that FBI and CIA have
agency historians,
whose purpose is to insure
that the collective knowledge
of those institutions live on
for future generations.
Yeah, of course.
But,
what has that to do with me?
"Donald Mallard,."
Historian"?
Now, if you need
some time to think...
Can I come and go as I please?
Why, yes.
Does it come
with a badge and gun?
No.
No.
So it's,
paid, part-time work.
Well, now,
I suppose this is not the time
to discuss contractual details.
Is that a yes?
It sounded like a yes.
Well...
if you insist.
That's a yes.
All right.
Um...
your office still needs work.
Yes, it does.
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