NCIS (2003–…): Season 18, Episode 15 - Blown Away - full transcript

Previously on NCIS

I have no choice
but to suspend you.

Indefinitely.

You look like
real people.

I'm Marcie, by the way.

GIBBS:I don't like
being ambushed.

I come bearing gifts.
A peace offering.

Why?
What I am most proud of

is my investigative work,

which is about
exposing the truth.

And I know you know something
about the truth.

And I want to be the one
to write about it.

What a surprise. What
are you doing here?

I could ask you
the same question.

I'm working on a thing
and I would really appreciate

your opinion.

Hoping you'll
give it a read.

[whimpering]

I swear! I'll do it!

[whimpers]
No, you won't, Toby.

You're gonna be cool.

No one is getting hurt today,
okay?

Then tell your men outside
to leave!
Toby.

I can't do that.

Do I look like the boss?

Have you seen my paycheck?
I'm serious!

It's been 47 and a half minutes.
I say we bust in there already.

Of course you'd say that.
Cut the chatter. We don't

move in till we
hear from Knight.

[screams]
Look, Toby, Toby.

We've been at this
for almost an hour.

I'm tired, you're tired.

I know poor Tina is tired,
aren't you, babe?

[whimpers] Uh-huh.

So why don't you just
put the gun down?
TOBY: Why?

So you can trick me
with your government lies?!

Can I at least get Tina
some water?

Hell, I could use some water.
I... Is that okay?

Yeah?

You do the grocery shopping,
Tina?

[shakily]
Uh-huh.

Does he know?

Know what?
What are you two talking about?

Because if it's good news...

now might be the time
to tell him.

I was gonna tell him tonight...

Tell me what?!

Toby!
[Tina gasps]

She's pregnant.

You mean to tell me
that I'm gonna be a dad?

Get her out of here!

Target secure.
Sending out the hostage.

Coming in from the back!

Go. [whimpers] Toby didn't
mean nothing.

[sobbing]

Don't hurt him!

[screams]

[screaming]

♪

[indistinct chatter]

Damn.
I know.

[Bishop sighs]

Hey, Jimmy.
How you holding up?

You dread days like this.

You know, when it's
some of your own.

So far they've recovered the
bodies of Agents Vargas and Ono.

And, of course,
the-the suspect.

Still looking for Agents
Knight and, uh, Madden.

Any chance...?

Bishop, based on the condition
of these bodies, I...

No one could have survived that.

DALTON: Damn it,
grab your gear and go in

through the crawl space
if you have to.

I want the rest of
my agents found. Go, go.

Excuse us, Special
Agent Dalton.

Yeah?
Agents McGee and Torres.

Oh, uh, Gibbs's boys, right?

Yeah, we're-we're sorry
for your loss here.

Thank you.
Mind if we ask

how all this started?

NCIS was called
to serve a warrant.

The guy-- suspect was
considered high-risk,

so the job was assigned
to my REACT team.

We entered the house,
but the guy took a hostage.

Per protocol,
we pulled back

and one agent stayed inside.

Your negotiator.

Agent Knight.
Yeah.

She took a risk in there
and it worked.

The, uh, hostage was freed
and the suspect surrendered.

So what went wrong?

[sighs]

That's what
you need to find out.

Excuse me. Hey!

Hey, can I get
some more guys in here?

Did you guys know the agents?
TORRES: I saw Madden

and Vargas a-around a few times.

Say "hi" to in the break room.

You?

Yeah, same.
What about you, Bishop?

I didn't know any of them.

Feel kind of badly
about that now.

Uniform blast radius.

Definitely a lone device.

But how did it go off?

Well, no signs
of the detonator.

It must have been destroyed
in the blast.

Like everything else
in this place.

Gonna take forever to process.

[shushing]

[faint metallic tapping]

Do you hear that?

[tapping continues]

What is that?

That's Morse code.

It's SOS.

Uh, guys,
there's someone in here!

McGEE:
It's Agent Knight.

BISHOP:
She's alive.

McGEE: All right, let's get the
paramedics in here now!

Uh, yeah.
I understand, sir.

Yeah, thank you
for keeping us posted.

Any update on Agent Knight?
Yeah.

Uh, Vance said she suffered
a severe concussion.

But they expect her
to make a full recovery.

Well, that's a miracle.
BISHOP: Yeah.

Whatever it is,
I'll take it.

She say anything
about what happened?

No, not yet. And doctors
are still running tests.

So we don't know how
the bomb went off.

And we can't talk to the
only person who can tell us.

Well, let's start
with what we do know.

Petty Officer Second Class
Toby Withers.

Wanted for stealing weapons
from Naval Station Norfolk.

REACT agents went to serve
the arrest warrant,

and Withers took a hostage.

But the hostage was released
and Withers surrendered.

Until 90 seconds later
when the bomb went boom.

McGEE:
Question is why.

Sure, this guy was
facing prison time.

Yeah, but enough to blow himself
to kingdom come?

Unless it wasn't about him.
When I was working undercover,

I saw this guy
selling bootleg DVDs.

Then he jumped off a
ten-story building.

It made absolutely no sense.

But then we found heroin

in the DVD cases.

You think our bomber
might be up to something bigger

than stolen weapons.

Yeah, we need to get the
case notes and speak

to the agent in charge.

Dalton.
The guy barking orders, uh,

at the crime scene.

Reminds me of someone.

MARCIE:
Hello?

Hey! I'm down here.

Oh. Thanks for agreeing
to sit-- Whoa.

That's a boat.

You have a boat
in your basement?

Where else am I gonna put it?

[scoffs]

You wanted to meet?

Yeah. Um...

Oh, first, um,

I read about
the fallen NCIS agents.

And I-I wanted to offer
my sincere condolences.

Thanks.

Sure.

I also, um, wanted to check on

the file that I...

...that, um, I gave you.

Did you read it?
Yeah.

Well, what did you think?

Feel free to use words.

This was a murder case that
happened about a year ago.

Any thoughts about that?

I mean, you are
a detective.

Suspended, but...

Police got the guy.

What?
They got the guy.

No. I think they got
the wrong guy.

Did you not--
did you... [sighs]

Did you not see
this photograph?

This is the guy
they think did it.

Except this guy was in Arlington

when the murder was in Westlawn,
four miles away.

Four and a half.
Okay.

So how could this guy

travel four and a half miles
in 20 minutes, on foot,

with 1.5 milligrams of
methamphetamine in his system?

It's not my case.

It could be.
[scoffs]

The cops have put this thing
to bed and moved on.

So that means the killer
is still out there.

I want you to help me find him.

Why?

Well, I thought we established
that truth and justice,

uh, are how you roll.

We're not talking about me.

Oh. Okay.

I knew the murder victim.
Hannah.

She was, she was
my childhood best friend.

We lived four houses away
from each other.

So, if you're wondering if this
is personal for me, it is.

But I know

that there is more
to this case.

And I'm pretty sure you do, too.

[door opens, closes]

Thanks for coming up here.

It's the last place on the
Navy Yard where I can smoke.

Well, thanks for
taking the time.

Of course.
You know,

I'm going over and over it
again in my head,

trying to figure out
how this happened to my team.

Did you talk
to Knight yet?

They're not allowing visitors
right now.

They wouldn't let me
see her, either.

I recruited her, you know.

Straight out of FLETC.

Promised her the job would
never get boring.

What can you tell us
about Petty Officer Withers?

Real piece of work.

The guy was bragging
to his bunkmates

about stealing weapons for
some backwoods militia group.

Aka white supremacists.
Bingo.

They encourage their members
to enlist

in order to gain tactical skills
and experience.

And stealing weapons.

His CO confronted Withers,
he went totally off grid.

Took us three weeks to find him.

How did you find him?
Got a tip

on the NCIS hotline
saying he was shacked up

with an old girlfriend.

Does this tip have
a, have a name?

Anonymous.

But agents surveilled the house

and verified it was legit.

Was there anything to suggest
that Withers or his group

were maybe into something else?

Yeah, like,
something bigger than guns?

Meaning did we know he was
gonna set off a damn bomb?

Of course
we didn't.

'Cause if we did,
I never would've sent Knight,

or any of my agents,
into that house.

Hey, Kase, I got your text.
Why are we meeting down here?

Bomb parts.

Uh, wouldn't that
be in your lab?

If only wishing made it so.

This is our bomber,
Petty Officer Withers.

And these are the bomb parts
melted to his flesh.

Oof. Uh, okay.

What happened? Was he wearing
the bomb when it went off?

Mm, uh, no.

If that were the case, his body
would be in tiny pieces.

Instead of tiny pieces
being in his body.

See, what happened
was the bomb went off

and sent white-hot
bomb parts flying

across the room and
when they hit his body,

they instantly fused with
his dermis and his spine.

So, how does it help our case?

Well, it can help and hurt.

Upon closer inspection--

mostly done by Jimmy--

I noticed the bomb parts
were made by a 3D printer.

Clever.

Ah, too clever.

We're talking
about 3D printers

on sale at Best Buy for $99.

Anybody can make these parts.

Mm, guessing
that's the "hurt" part.

Yeah. There's no way
to track who made it.

How was it detonated?

That's the part that can help.

This is what's left of a
long-range RFID receiver.

This bomb was detonated
by a cell phone app.

There is an app for everything.

Hello?

Where's Agent Knight?

I don't know.
They said she was here.

[knocks on door]
Agent Knight?

KNIGHT:
Need a little private time.
Come back later.

Oh, okay, uh,
we'll just wait in the hall.

Wait.

NCIS?

Uh, yeah, Agents
Bishop and Torres.

Is everything all right?

Thank God.

I thought you
were the nurse.

Have you been
cleared to go home?

Not going home.
I'm going to NCIS.

My team is dead
and I need to know why.

That's actually
why we're here.

We have a few questions
about what happened.

Cool.
We can talk in the car.

Kind of in the middle
of a prison break here.

H-- uh...

Nurse Janeway.

This is not what you think.

Mm-hmm.

This time.

JANEWAY:
Get back in bed.

Don't make me say it twice.

[scoffs]

And you two are on my list now.

Great.

[clears throat]

The doctor said
you have five minutes.

That's it.

Well, Agents Bishop, Torres,

looks like
we're talking in here.

We think we know
how the explosive was detonated.

Well, that was quick.

Well, we need your confirmation.
We think Petty Officer Withers

used a cell phone app.

Did you see him
using a phone or...

Wait. You think Toby set it off?

Is that a problem?

[grunts]
For a couple of reasons.

First of all,
Toby hated cell phones.

He kept going on about
how the government

uses them to brainwash people.

And second, he was handcuffed
by three REACT agents

when the bomb detonated.

Are you sure about that?

Look, I know I hit my head

and things are still
a little fuzzy.

But I know what I saw.

Toby didn't set off
a damn thing.

Well, if he didn't detonate
that bomb, who did?

I was hoping you'd tell me.

So, Toby didn't
detonate the bomb?

Not according to Knight.

She said he didn't have a phone
or the opportunity to use one.

I don't understand. Was
someone else in the house?

No, which is why Knight thinks
it was triggered remotely.

So if Toby wasn't the bomber...

He was the target.
So we're thinking the
killer called the tip line

to have REACT do the dirty work.

But when they found out
Toby was being taken alive,

they went to plan B.

Remote trigger,
the place goes up.

McGEE:
Whoever wanted Toby dead
wanted it bad.

Lot of work for one guy.

Hey.

Hi.

How's it going?

Mm...

Give me the rundown.

Oh, I got cleared
to leave the hospital.

I swear.

Can I use that desk?

Ooh...
Uh...

Sorry, Agent Knight?

Uh, just call me Jessica.

Or Jess. Or Knight.
Or whatever you want.

Okay, I-I think
there's been a mistake here.

Oof. You ever get that thing
where your sock

is all weird
inside of your shoe?

I got dressed so quick
at the hospital.

I just spoke
with the director.

He said that you were
taking time off.

See, that's what
he told me to do.

That's not what I'm doing.

Oh, come on.

If any one of you
lost any one of you,

would you just go home
and cry on your couch?

I'm actually pretty good
at this.

And you have a spare desk here.

Oh, yeah,
so this is not a spare.

This is, um...

It's complicated.

McGEE:
Yeah, we appreciate
the offer,

but we really need to talk
to Director Vance first.

BISHOP:
Uh,

that bat, that's not for people.

Uh, mm-mm.

It's complicated.

Okay.

Give me 72 hours.

If I don't help you
produce results,

I'll go cry on my couch.

Tell you what, I'll give you
24 hours, but that's it.

72 hours, the use of this desk
and all your resources.

McGEE:
24 hours,

resources, no desk.

48, resources, desk.

48, resources, no desk.

Done.

[phone rings]

Be right down, Kase.

I will go with you,

being how I have nowhere
to sit.

Uh, hey, the bat?

Oh.

Oh. Oh, that's Gibbs's desk

Mm.

I'm so sorry.

It's all good.

50 bucks says she wasn't
cleared to leave the hospital.

Hey, Kase.
You know Agent Knight here.

Jess. Oh, thank God you're okay.

And I am so sorry for your loss.

Thanks, Kase.

Knight is going to be joining us

on our investigation.

Of course she is.
What else would she do?

Go home and cry on her couch?

Yeah, uh, what-what
do we got here?

Well, I'm trying to
figure out the cell app

that set off the bomb.

Using the REACT gear?

Yep. REACT is part
of a pilot program.

They're testing a
line of body armor.

Using LED lights,

an X-2R solar charger,

CO2 detectors. Nice.

And a built-in receiver
that detects

nearby radio frequencies.

McGEE: Any chance it can tell
us what cellular signals

were in the room
when the bomb went off?

It could,
if the data wasn't encoded

in a propriety software

only accessible
by the manufacturer.

Kessler Gear Systems?

Talk to them, get the tech
manual for the device,

maybe that'll get us somewhere.

Nice. Thanks, Kase.

Knight, you coming?

I only have 48 hours.

Reading manuals
isn't my thing.

Making new friends, huh?

Old one.

MPD, retired.
Hmm.

He brought you a present?

So did you.

Well, I thought you might
be missing it.

The bat, that is.

What?

[chuckles]

You tell me, Bishop.

You called for a meet.

What's on your mind?

[exhales]
Um...

you heard about the REACT team.

Mm-hmm.
So what do you think?

I'm trying not to.Y
ou know, Agent Knight,

she, uh, she lost everyone,
her whole team.

Just like that, gone.

Makes you think,

was it worth it?

Think you'd have to ask her.

No, Gibbs, I'm...

I'm asking you.

Was it worth it?

Doing what you did,

getting suspended, was...

was it worth it?

Some things, Bishop,
they have a cost.

You still got to get it done.

Was it worth losing... us?

I don't know.

I don't know.

I got to tell you, Mr. Kessler,
when your company

offered to send someone over
to decode the smart armor,

I was expecting one of
your techies, not the CEO.

[chuckles] I'm still a techie
at heart, Agent McGee.

I started Kessler Gear Systems
on a workbench in my basement.

It's my baby.

Plus, I owe NCIS a lot.

Because of the pilot program?
Thanks to feedback

from REACT, we're about to close
a government contract

on a whole new line of armor.

Congrats.

And you're welcome.
[both chuckle]

He, don't worry.
Part of the deal is making sure

that, from here on out,
we provide NCIS

with as much gear
and tech support as they need.

Nice.

It looks like
the data packet is intact.

Yep. Our body armor
only picked up one RFID signal

at the time of the explosion.

Oh. Really?
One, that's it?

What else do you need?

Well, it's not like you can
tell me the device ID

of the phone
that sent the signal.

Want to bet?
Wait, seriously?

Well, this is fantastic.
Now we can now ping the phone

to get the location.

That's it?

According to McGee's ping,

the phone that set off
the bomb is inside that RV.

I'm only getting heat
signatures from a microwave

and mini-fridge.

No explosive devices.

What about people?

Only one. Asleep on the couch.

Yeah, well, backup
should be here soon.

It's funny.

Huh?

Well, I just thought
that two trained agents

against one sleeping RV owner
were pretty good odds.

They are.

So.... let's move in.

See? That's why we
should never be partners.

Why not?
Because you can't have
two attack dogs.

Someone's got to hold the leash.

But we do have the
element of surprise.
Mm-hmm.

And if we wait, I mean,
he could wake up and run.

Or worse.
Or worse.

Oh, she's a bad influence.
[chuckles]

All right, you take the
back, I'll take the front.

Park ranger!

We need you need
to move your vehicle!

Back was all clear.
What about the guy on the couch?

He wasn't sleeping.

Saw him through the window.

Same window I crawled through.

His body was still warm enough
to give us a thermal reading.

Can't be dead long.

Yeah, whoever did it
was in a hurry.

Hey, did you know this dead guy?

His face doesn't ring a bell.

Why?

TORRES:
Because he knew you.

This guy wasn't trying
to blow Toby up.

No.

He was after your whole team.

Petty Officer Withers'
murder was a head-fake.

He was never the target.

Somebody planted a bomb, then
called in an anonymous tip.

You know
what happened next.

My team was the real
target all along.

Who did the aiming?
We know who planted the bomb.

Richie Soren,
ex-felon.

Convicted for everything
from check forging

to armed robbery. Lovely guy.

We found a closet
full of bomb-making materials.

Also a wire transfer
for 20 grand.

Do the math.

He was a gun-for-hire.
KNIGHT: Hired, then fired.

We're thinking the mad bomber's
boss was cleaning up loose ends.

Any idea who that boss might be?

Kasie is, uh, back-tracing
the transfer now.

But it's gonna take some time.

I've been racking my brain
trying to figure out

who REACT pissed off enough
to want us dead.

And?

[exhales]
Long list.

Agent Knight, I'm gonna
recommend protective custody.

If the killer's goal was
to take out the REACT agents--

I'm not going into hiding.

Agent Knight...

Let's not do this.

I can take care of myself.

And I need to know
what happened to my team.

Or...

we can argue about it
for the next ten minutes?

Okay.

Just watch your back.

MARCIE:
I appreciate you coming
to my side of town.

I rent this space from
the furniture store downstairs.

But the best part is
there is the greatest

little café next door,
and it's fantast--

Oh! Oh, no, no, no.

No. Shoes off.

What?

Shoes off! I'm serious.

I'm...

Oh, God.

This board is where,
where I keep all

of my information
on Hannah's murder.

I wasn't expecting
to hear from you so soon

after our conversation
in the basement.

On the phone
you said

you found something new?

Red duct tape? What does
this have to do with...

It was on her mouth,
her wrists and her ankles.

She-she was bound?

She was hog-tied.

[gasps]

Sorry.

Where did you get this?

I mean, I-I haven't seen this.

The police.
It wasn't in their files.

They kept it out.

Probably to throw
off the press and...

eliminate copycats.

Um, was this, um...

hog-tying done before...

Beaten to death with a hammer?
Oh.

And her body was dumped?

Yeah.

You okay?

[exhales]

Wait a minute.

I've seen this before.

But not about Hannah.

I did an article

quite a while ago

on the rising crime

in the suburbs.
I remember

this red duct tape thing
from another case.

Make yourself useful.

Ah, here it is!

Here it is. I knew
I was right about this tape.

Brian Stafford.
Found dead seven months ago

in a small town
in upstate New York.

Bound with red duct tape

and bludgeoned to death.

With a hammer?
Yep.

Huh.

Would you maybe like a napkin?

Uh...

No.

I'm good.

So... we have
my friend, Hannah,

in Virginia.

Brian Stafford from New York.

Both bound in red tape.

And both bludgeoned
to death with a hammer.

I don't think
this is a coincidence.

No such thing.

What, did you find
something else?

Someoneelse.

Laura Blankenship found

dead in the Outer Banks.

But this doesn't say
anything about red tape.

Yeah, but look
at the wound pattern.

That's a hammer.

Yeah, would you
look at that?

So now there are three.

Unless I'm mistaken, this is
starting to look like a...

Serial killer.
Yeah.

I'm sorry.

I didn't realize.
I-I can come back later.

No...

I've had my fill.

[sighs]

Back in the box.

I don't mean to pry.

But, uh...

"the box"?

You know what I do, Jimmy.

I do, yeah. I can't imagine
how difficult it must be.

Having so many lives depend
on what you say next.

Which is why you need
to find a way to manage it.

How do you?

I've walked into hell more times
than you can count.

A bomber about
to blow up a preschool.

A father threatening to slit
his own kid's throat.

And it is my job

to imagine a happy ending
and then to make it happen.

And the only way that you
can do that is to take

every fear...

every pain and just...

Just put it in the box.

And then
when it's over,

only then can you risk...

feeling anything.

I mean, that doesn't sound...

healthy at all.

[both laugh]

Sorry, it-it doesn't.

Never said it was healthy.

Just... just necessary.

And to be honest, I think that's

why I'm still alive
and they're not.

What happened in that house?

I-I might not have

a-a knife or...

a bomb, but...

you can talk to me.

I left them.

When Petty Officer
Withers surrendered

and my team came in
to make the arrest,

I needed to get out
of that room fast.

You had to take a breath, right?

And now...

are you thinking
you should've died with them?

[inhales]

I left my team.

I know a thing or two
about survivor's guilt.

[low sobbing]

[sniffles]

And the question
that I've learned to ask?

How would he feel

about you surviving?

Wherever Agent Madden
is right now,

I think he'd be thrilled.

[chuckles softly]

[sniffles]

He, of all people, knew
how short life could be.

Why "of all people"?

His advanced lung disease.

Are you telling me
Eddie was sick?
Yes.

Based on his current condition,

he had less than a year to live.

He never said anything.

It would appear that you're not

the only one who's good
at compartmentalizing.

McGEE:
Think I got a lead.

Just came from
Agent Madden's house,

found something pretty
interesting in his garage.

Look at this.

BISHOP: Uh, that's
REACT's smart armor.

That's not very interesting.

How about now?

A ton of it,
stashed at his house.

Okay, so what do you think
he was doing with all that gear?

Worth a ton of money.

You think he was doing
some kind of side business?

Like maybe selling, uh,
stolen equipment on the DL?

No way Eddie was dirty.

It's just a theory.

Well, your theory's wrong.

McGEE:
Equipment's supposed to stay

in the NCIS armory.

And Eddie had authorization
to take it out.

He was the gear manager.

I understand...

Eddie was a good cop.

I'd bet my life on it.

In fact, I have, more than once.

KASIE:
After you told me about

all that missing gear,
I took the liberty

of tracking Agent Madden's
movements in our building,

to see if anything
flagged my weirdometer.

And it got flagged.

According to the system logs,
uh, Agent Madden swiped

his REACT key card at the NCIS
training facility four days ago.

So? He is a gym rat.

11:00 p.m. at night?
Night owl.

Take a look at the security
footage from the gym

at 11:00 p.m.

He ain't there.

Even though
his key card said he was.

That's weird.
[Knight sighs]

Try mildly irregular.

Those card readers
glitch all the time.

Yeah, you're right.

They glitch.
They're glitchers.

So to be sure,
I checked the actual data logs

to get secondary confirmation
of the swipe,

and according to the data logs,

Madden was someplace
else entirely

when he swiped his card.

Where was he?

At the armory.

McGEE: Walking out with a
quarter-million dollars'

worth of equipment.

Which he then tried to
cover up afterwards.

Not a good look.

She took that well.

TORRES:
So if Madden was stealing
gear from NCIS,

how did he end up dead?

Maybe he had a falling out
with a buyer.

Or a partner.

Sorry about the lab.
Won't happen again.

If Madden was dirty,
Madden was dirty.

I'm sorry, what did I miss?
I killed a stapler.

Oh, you know,
I've been there.

So what makes you think
that he had a partner?

KNIGHT:
He'd been taking calls
on the job.

Personal calls,
in the middle of the day.

At first I didn't think
anything about it, but now...

Maybe they were calls were to
a partner about the stolen gear?

And maybe that partner
got tired of going halfsies

and took Madden out.

We got to find
this partner.

BISHOP:
Yeah, which is why
I've been pulling up

GPS history from Madden's car.

So this is
from last week.

Damn. He's been all
over the place.

BISHOP: Yeah, Madden stopped
at three law offices

and two chemical laboratories.

It's not the kind of people who
usually buy stolen body armor.

So what was he doing?

He was trying to figure out
why the armor was killing him.

Madden had
advanced lung disease.

Turns out it was
idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Is that unusual?

Not if you're over 65
and you're a heavy smoker,

or if you happen to work
around toxic fumes.

I dove into his medical history.
Madden was a health nut.

His only issue was a minor

asthma condition
which he managed just fine

up until about a year ago,
when it got way worse.

Now, that coincides with...

The gear pilot program,

which started
exactly a year ago.

So you're saying
the armor made him sick?

I had Kasie run an analysis
on the materials.

Turns out the outer materials
had high levels of PBDE.

Pretend like
I'm not as smart as you.

Sorry, right, uh, it-it's
used in flame retardants,

or at least it was,
until 2004 when it was banned

because the off-gassing
was found to be so highly toxic.

But I wore the armor, too.
My entire team did.

So how come Madden was
the only one who got sick?

For you and for others,
it would take years

of exposure to get sick.

But for someone
like Madden,

with a preexisting
asthma condition?

Putting this armor on
was like a ticking time bomb.

So Madden wasn't stealing
those boxes to sell them,

he was gathering evidence.

Which explains why he was
visiting labs and law offices.

He was building a case.

Against who?

Mr. Kessler, we appreciate you
coming in again,

We just have a, uh, few more
questions about your gear.

Of course.
Like I said, anything you need.

What do you want to know?

Well, how long have you known
that it could make you sick?

Wait a minute, I'm confused.

Really?

Seems pretty clear to me.

Your company
manufactured body armor

that contained
an illegal toxic chemical.

TORRES:
Cheaper to make.

But if it kills people,
so what, right?

McGEE:Agent Madden found
out about it.

And when he threatened
to expose you

on the heels of your
big government contract...

You killed him.

Oh, I'm sorry,
no, you,

you hired someone to kill him.

And so that no one ever found
out about the tainted gear,

you fixed the problem
in your new product line.

No more icky stuff.

[laughs] Is this supposed
to intimidate me?

'Cause if you want
to see intimidation,

wait until my lawyers get here.
Well, we'd like
to meet them.

We'll show them this.

Am I supposed to know

what that is?
Well, you should.

It's the wire transfer you paid

to Richie Soren
to blow up the house.

You remember him?
Ex-con,

lived in an RV?

It took us a little while,
but we traced the payment

back to an offshore account
owned by you.

See, you're not the only one
with cool gadgets.

Okay, yes,

Madden was going to expose me
and ruin everything,

but hiring the bomber
wasn't my idea.

Then whose idea was it?

Kessler?

He gave you up.

Told us everything.

Well, I suppose
if it had to end,

better it be with...
with you.

Tell me, when Madden first
came to you with his concerns

about the gear,
did you even contemplate

going to the higher-ups
and doing the right thing?

Or did you just go straight
to Kessler and cut a deal?

Keep Madden silent in exchange
for a nice, hefty paycheck.

No, Jess...The anonymous tip

that sent us to that house.

That was you,
wasn't it?

You sent us there to kill us.

The bomb was only meant
for Madden.

[exhales]
It-it was supposed

to go off when he was
in the house alone

going through final sweeps.

It w-- it was Soren.

Soren jumped the gun.

I never intended

to hurt you, ever,
or the others.

And that makes it okay?
I figured,

since Madden was dying anyway...

Tom, he was family.

They all were. Are you seriously
trying to justify this?

No.

[exhales]
I'm just talking.

[scoffs]

Well, the time for that is over.

Yeah.

Let's go.

Come on.

I suppose you're right, Jess.

What are you doing, Tom?

I'm saving you from filling out

a lot of paperwork.

I remember how much
you always hated that.

[traffic passing below]

[ragged inhale]

Aren't you gonna
try and stop me?

Use your tricks
to talk me out of it?

No.

[scoffs]

I've already
played my trick.

What?

Why do you think I'm
on this side of you?

I wanted the sun at your back
so you wouldn't see

the agent I have
coming up on your right.

[exhales]

[bell tolling]

VANCE:
And just as Agents Madden,
Ono and Vargas

have given their lives
in service to our country,

they also serve as a reminder

that wherever this life
takes us,

whether here or beyond,

we will forever be
brothers and sisters,

bound by the duty and honor

to which we are sworn.

McGEE:
Agent Knight.

McGee, I told you,
call me Jessica.

Or Jess. Or Knight or...

McGEE: Hey, um, listen,
I just wanted to,

I wanted to say thank you
for your help on the case.

KNIGHT: Oh, no,
I should be thanking you.

And hey, we did it
in under 48 hours.

Well, technically, it
was 49 and a half...

Ugh.
but who's counting?

You, apparently.
[chuckles]

[sighs] Well,

maybe I'm losing my touch.

May be a good time
to take a step back.

You? Slow down?

[laughs softly]
More like decompress.

Besides, going back
to the office now,

I'd feel like Annie.

Or Harry Potter.

How do you mean?

An orphan.

My family's gone.

I'm not sure
where I belong right now.

Well, Jess...

...that's the thing
about families.

Sometimes they grow.

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