NCIS (2003–…): Season 4, Episode 8 - Once a Hero - full transcript

[CELLO PLAYING]

TONY: Ow!
- We're not here to eat.

We're here to protect the director.

Ziva, this is probably the most secure
building in the whole country right now.

CIA, DSS, ATF, FBI,
the whole alphabet's here.

Not to mention state troopers,
Metro cops and NCIS' finest:

Me.

And you.

But me is hungry.

These are public servants like us.

- This is free food.
- Some are defence contractors.

Beltway bandits who make a career
of stealing from the public trough.

- Politicians.
- You ever seen a skinny politician?

Too late.
Our guest of honour has just arrived.

MAN 1: Ladies and gentlemen,
the retiring secretary of defence

of the United States of America.

I'm gonna get something to eat.

Director!

MAN 2:
Down here.

[CHATTERING]

TONY:
Exactly 37 minutes.

MAN 1: Yeah, that'll do.
MAN 2: Now, what did he say?

Morning, Gibbs, McGee.

- Director Shepard.
- Our gatecrasher was a Marine.

Sergeant Brian Wright.

The hotel was in lockdown
and he wasn't a registered guest.

He took a dive
from up there somewhere.

SECDEF staff are worried that it was
an attempt on the life of their boss.

Are we worried?

If it was an assassination attempt,
he's a lousy assassin.

He used his body as a weapon
and missed by 75 feet.

Ducky's doing preliminaries.
I've got Tony liaising

between Metro
and hotel management.

And we have a witness.
Andy Nelson.

Ziva's with him.
He's an aide to a congressman.

Nelson claims he was attacked
by the deceased on the sixth floor,

- just before the incident.
GIBBS: Do you believe him?

He works for a politician.
What do you think?

I'm officially handing over.
I've got my own fires to put out.

This happened in our back yard.
It's making a lot of people nervous.

I'd appreciate a quick result
on this one.

The question is,
did he jump or was he pushed?

Guess that's what we're here
to find out.

Go.

Enough. It's okay.

ZIVA: Mr. Nelson has been explaining
how he got injured.

He just came at me.

He hit me, I fell down
and he ran away.

- Did you see him fall?
- | just got out of there.

l was down in the lobby to report it
when he fell.

Why were you on the sixth floor?

l was delivering a briefing paper
to a defence contractor

in one of the suites.

Norforce Systems.

l was walking towards the elevator.

You seen him before?

Every day.

Congressman Getz.

Well, not the deceased,
just sad souls like him.

- The homeless.
- Unconfirmed.

And a war veteran,
or we'd be talking to Metro Police

and not NCIS, Agent...?

Special Agent Gibbs.
And he was a Marine.

We need to do more to help the ones
who come back broken.

Yes, you do.

Let's get that x-rayed, Andy.

Unless Agent Gibbs
has more questions

about this unfortunate incident.

ZIVA:
Did I just miss something?

The congressman thinks our Marine
was crazy and jumped.

GIBBS: DiNozzo?
- Boss?

- Stop eating the evidence.
- Right, boss.

GIBBS:
Got preliminaries?

| find the ones who fall
are the saddest.

Such a long last moment
to contemplate one's end.

And no chance
to change one's mind.

Well, the injuries are consistent
with a fall.

But scraped knuckles,
possibly in a fight

before he went over the edge.

Missing a shoe, no wallet, although
he had some dollars in his pocket.

And a begging note asking for help.

The only real surprise is this.

Bronze Star, for valour.

GIBBS:
And a Purple Heart.

And two Marine stars.

That means he was wounded
three times in battle.

I can't tell you why he died,
but I can perhaps tell you how he lived.

The man was a hero.

[PHONE RINGS]

- Yeah, Gibbs.
McGEE: Hey, boss.

Looks like this is where he launched.

Shoe must have come off

- when he went over the side.
- Okay.

Nelson said he was back downstairs
when Wright fell.

The question is,
what was Sergeant Wright doing?

Deciding whether to jump.

- Photographs?
- Got it.

GIBBS:
DiNozzo.

The stairs.

Maybe the congressman was right.

Maybe Sergeant Wright
was crazy and jumped.

Or the director was right.
Politicians lie.

McGEE: And we will need a copy
of his medical records.

ZIVA: You're disgusting.
How can you eat that?

You see, Ziva, the human body
is a finely tuned engine.

None more finely tuned than mine.

Even the best engine needs oil.

GIBBS:
DiNozzo.

Boss?

Anything from the hotel registry?

Seven hundred and two names,
none of them Sergeant Wright.

- Ziva, the congressman's aide.
- Single, no criminal record.

He worked for the congressman
for the past seven years

and according to Norforce Systems,

a briefing paper
from the congressman's office

was delivered to their suite,
but they can't put a time on it.

McGEE: Boss, ljust got off the phone
with Wright's doctor in Bethesda.

Wright did two tours in Iraq.

He was wounded three times.
Last time was the worst.

His Humvee was hit by an IED.
Suffered shrapnel wounds to the head.

He's been on medical leave
for four months,

but according to the hospital records,

he's missed his last three
weekly appointments.

- No one noticed?
- Said he fell through the cracks.

- Family?
- Divorced. No kids.

His doctor said he stayed with friends
at hostels. Sometimes on the street.

- What kind of doctor?
McGEE: Psychiatrist.

ZIVA: Treated for?
- Depression.

TONY:
Some way to treat a war hero.

I thought Marines
looked after their own.

ZIVA: How does a homeless man
get past the security agents,

local cops, hotel staff,
into a locked-down building?

Well, maybe he was already there.

GIBBS:
Luis Romero.

ROMERO:
Yeah.

Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS.

- Is this about the jumper?
- So you saw him jump?

No.

- But you saw him.
- No.

Corporal Luis Romero,
United States Marine Corps.

One tour, Afghanistan.
Honourable discharge 18 months ago.

Since then,
hotel maintenance supervisor.

So I'm a former Marine.

- Lot of guys are.
- Not at this hotel.

We look after our own,
don't we, Luis?

All right. We served in the same unit
three years ago.

- He didn't have a place to sleep.
McGEE: So where did you put him?

ROMERO: We always got
a couple rooms for maintenance.

- Didn't see any harm.
- How long had he been here?

Couple times a week
for the last month.

Didn't cause any trouble.
Semper fi, you know?

Show us the room.

Wait at the door, please.

- Anyone else been in here?
- No, just him.

WOMAN [OVER RADIO]:
Luis, Luis.

Yeah.

[WOMAN SPEAKING IN SPANISH
OVER RADIO]

Um, something's happened.

[SPEAKING IN SPANISH]

I understand, chief, but we believe
the two cases are linked.

MAN [OVER PHONE]:
Does NC/S have any proof?

JEN: No, not yet.
We're still collecting evidence.

They'll send us a report?

- Yes, absolutely.
- Okay.

And if anything changes,
we will hand over everything we have.

So if you can 't tie them together,
you'll turn it over to my people?

That's right. And cause of death
hasn't been determined yet either.

- Fair enough. Let me know.
- Thank you, chief.

- I will.
- Thank you.

- You get all that, Jethro?
- Got it.

- Metro Police will wanna see results.
- Add them to the list.

It's a long list.
And it's getting longer.

Working on it.

ZIVA:
There's something on her cheek.

Looks like saliva.

Kiss and kill.

Well, no bag. Maybe the killer took it.

- Maybe she just didn't have a bag.
- Every woman has a bag.

- Do l have a bag, McGee?
- No, but you're not a--

Well, I mean, you're a woman.
You're just-- You're not a--

Not a normal...

You're right. Every woman
does not have a bag.

GIBBS: How old?
- No ID, no pocketbook.

And no bag, either.

The room was booked to Michael Lo.

- Sounds Asian.
TONY: Single occupancy.

- Room was paid for, cash in advance.
- Sounds fake.

They're gonna review the security
tapes and send us what they got.

McGEE:
Boss?

Mr. Romero...recognise this?

It's a keycard
I gave Sergeant Wright.

It's a master key.
It opens up every room in the hotel.

ZIVA:
You okay?

- Never better.
- You look run over.

The term is rundown.

I do?

Maybe you need servicing.

Clearly, we're still having problems

with the idiosyncrasies
of the English language.

The "finely tuned engine,"
I think you called it.

You should see a doctor.

[PHONE RINGING]

Hello?

Hi.

Yeah.

No, it's not a bad time.

This afternoon would be great.

Well, I will see you then.

Okay, bye.

Two cell phones, huh?

Uh, one for each ear.

No, it's a spare.
This one has sort of been on the fritz.

That's another word you probably
don't know the meaning of.

- Act up?
- I'm impressed.

All right.

I'm heading out.

To go to see the doctor
about being run-over.

Down.

Don't forget "fritz."

Oh!

ABBY: Fingerprints solve ten times
more cases than DNA.

Did you know that, McGee?

Yeah, I told you.

- You did?
- Yeah.

You did.

You gotta love fingerprints.
Especially this one from the keycard.

Pristine index
with an almost-perfect whorl.

And three--
I mean, count them. Three, McGee.

--equally spaced deltas.
It's a work of art.

Then we have the short and curlies.

The hair. There's no follicle
and no DNA.

So I'm checking it for drug history.

If it is Sergeant Wright's, considering
his extensive medical records,

this should read
like a drugstore inventory.

And if it doesn't, he ain't our man.

- What price valour?
- Eighteen bucks. For real.

I looked it up on eBay.
Bronze Star, 18 bucks.

No wonder he got depressed
and started living on the streets.

And begging.
One minute you're a hero,

- the next you're a--
- Suspect.

But don't give up on him yet, McGee.

Nope.

Where's Gibbs?

What am I looking at?

- Nothing.
- Nothing?

- Nothing's good, right?
- Oh, yeah. Nothing is very good.

If this was Wright's hair,

it would be like looking
into a window of his drug history.

- But all this shows is--
GIBBS: Unknown trace elements.

Too minute to be picked up
by the mass spec equipment.

So it's probably not Wright's.

McGEE:
But we can't be sure they're not there

unless we get a better microscope.

We're talking nanoparticles here,
Gibbs.

- We need a--
- An infrared microspectroscopy unit.

It's the only thing that gets down
to the nano-level.

- Okay, get one.
- They cost about a hundred grand.

- Yeah, so?
JEN: So it's not in the budget.

- Maybe next year.
- She needs one now.

Sorry.

I could haggle.

My Uncle Horace,
he was a great haggler.

They used to call him
Horace the Haggler.

Or I could borrow one.

I'll try and borrow one then.

[COMPUTER BEEPS]

It's the fingerprint from the keycard.

McGEE: Oh, that's not good.
It puts him in the dead girl's room.

- Sorry, Jethro.
- Find out who owns that.

Come on.

JEN: Don't start. Do you know
how many people

- want money from me?
GIBBS: Did I say anything?

How are you gonna get loaned
an infrared microspectroscopy unit?

Good question, McGee.

Good question.

JEANNE: I love window shopping.
How about you?

Oh, yeah. Me too.

Only when I'm with you.

Cold?

- It's invigorating.
- Chilly?

- Freezing.
- Oh, poor Tony.

I dragged you out here
to go window shopping.

Next time maybe you should choose.

- Hot tub.
- I know something else we can do

to stay warm.

- Really?
- Mm.

- I wonder what that could be.
MAN: One cappuccino, one latte.

- Coffee?
- Mm. Dancing.

MAN:
Thank you.

Dancing.
Dancing would make you warm.

Then tonight we dance.

Tonight.

Don't tell me you have to work.

Tonight dancing, tomorrow work.

JEANNE: You don't seem too happy
about that.

- I'm worried.
- Worried about what?

Well, we're going dancing tonight
and I haven't got a thing to wear.

Has anyone ever told you
you're an idiot?

Yeah, my boss, all the time.

[CHATTERING]

- Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me.
MAN: Sorry.

Yes.

Just leave it on the table.

That's notjuice.

Well, the coffee bean
comes from the coffee cherry.

So that's technically a fruit.

So the case could be made
that coffee is more fruit than bean.

It's coffee juice. Caf—Pow!

- Cat-Pow?
ABBY: Yeah.

Two words,
hyphenated in the middle.

Can I help you with something?

l was hoping to get a demonstration of
your infrared microspectroscopy unit.

You don't work here.

Like this place would hire me?

Sorry. I'll set up a sample.

No, no. l have one.

I brought my own.

See, Iwork for NCIS in DC.

But we don't have anything that
can get down to the nanogram level,

which I need to figure out what the hell
is going on with my sample.

You don't mind that I said "hell,"
do you?

- Hell, no.
- Oh, good. I mean, some people do.

And then you get into the whole

hell-and-death-and-dying
mortality thing.

It freaks them out.
Can you help me?

- If you wanna leave it with me--
- No, no. I can't.

Chain of evidence.
I have to do it with you.

Not with you, but alongside you.
l have to be with you.

I have to be with you while you do it.
While you test it.

I normally like to know who it is
I'm working with.

- Marty Pearson.
- Abby Sciuto.

MARTY: Nanograms, eh?
- Yes.

Pesky little nanograms.

- Is that a--?
- Yes, it is.

Cool.

Wright, Sergeant Brian.
Records, medical.

Oh, splendid.

I'm a little post-autopsy.

- Mr. Palmer will sign it.
LEE: Sure.

DUCKY: We must get you down here
more often, Agent Lee.

There's always room
for another bright young mind.

Not that there's anything wrong
with the Legal Department.

It's an essential cog in the engine,
so to speak.

It can't be much fun
for a hands-on type like you.

GIBBS:
You think?

- Done?
- Done indeed.

Intrigue, mystery,
and a surprise or two.

Yes, I've estimated our victim's age
at about 14.

Death was due to strangulation.
She had bleeding in her throat

and the hyoid bone was fractured.

There's some bruising on the sternum
that has me a bit puzzled.

Possibly post-mortem.

- Conscious?
- Well, superficial scratching

and antemortem bruising suggest
that she put up a struggle of sorts.

But toxicology indicates that
she was drugged, and for some time.

- Hours?
- Well, possibly days.

There are traces of sedatives
and Rohypnol,

the drug of choice for date rapists.

And before you ask the question,
yes, she was.

But he must have worn a condom.

The really good news
is that I've identified her.

- By name?
- No, by country. She's Chinese.

Yes, you're less than impressed.

But what if I told you
that four weeks ago

she was working on the family farm
in a coastal region of southern China?

In Fujian province, to be precise.

Well, now you have my attention,
doctor.

It was her extremities
that gave her away.

The Chinese dentistry
is quite distinctive.

Her dental work is very new,
five or maybe six weeks ago.

And her feet are calloused.

That indicates
that she was a farm worker.

We also found traces of chromium six
in her digestive tract.

It's a by—product of chlorate.

Causes cancer
and respiratory problems.

Guess where the biggest
chlorate chemical factory is in Asia?

- Fujian province.
- Well, there you have it.

The body as road map.

- Anything else?
- Yes.

Her likely killer,
Sergeant Brian Wright.

We had a positive DNA match
from the saliva we swabbed from her.

I'm afraid our hero
is more than a little tarnished.

McGEE:
How does a homeless guy,

staying illegally in a hotel,
order room service?

This wouldn't be a trick question,
would it?

McGEE:
No.

He calls room service.

Room service, hi.

This is the homeless guy
staying illegally in Room 607.

Yes, the room shut for maintenance.
I'd like to order some breakfast.

That was definitely a trick question.

McGEE:
So give me a tricky answer.

Somebody brought it to him.

Not very tricky.

Gotta talk to Ducky.

What is with everybody today?

Hallway Camera D.

The title needs work. Who's in it?

Hopefully, the Asian guy
who booked the room.

- Looks like the doctor kept you...
TONY: Busy waiting room.

Lot of sleeping sickness
going around.

Or lack-of—sleeping sickness.

GIBBS: Ducky thinks our victim
is a Chinese national,

probably in the country less
than a few weeks.

Well, her fingerprints drew a negative
on the Immigration database,

so she's here illegally.

Smuggled in.
Maybe for the sex trade.

Asian, cute, underage.

It's a gold mine.

Pimp pays cash,
sets her up in a room

during a nice big convention,
feeds her clients.

Then one of them kills her.

Sergeant Wright
doesn't fit that profile.

Wright didn't need to pay to get
into the room. He had a magic key.

He saw an opportunity. He took it.

Perhaps because of his mental state,
he lost control.

Then aftenrvards, regret,
and he took his own life.

- Fits the facts, boss.
- Only the facts we know, DiNozzo.

- Any word from Abby?
- Not a peep.

I've got to get one of these babies.

Looks like trace elements
of aluminium hydroxide and formalin.

Aluminium hydroxide stimulates
the immune system

and formalin is a preservative.

It's also used to initiate antibody
formation in vaccines.

- Did I just say something funny?
- No.

No. It's just that we're having
this conversation about stuff

that usually makes people run
screaming from the room.

But we're talking about it
like it was last night's football game.

You don't like football, do you?

- No.
- Oh, good.

It's just nice that you understand
without having to go find a dictionary.

- So you said vaccines?
- I said vaccines.

That's gotta be it.
The vaccine for what?

Aluminium hydroxide
is used as an adjuvant

in hepatitis A and Lyme disease.

There's traces of chloride.

Not just any old chloride.

Benzethonium chloride.
It's a preservative.

Aluminium hydroxide, formalin,
and benzethonium chloride.

- I know that combination.
- How do you know that combination?

I don't know. It must have
come through my lab or something.

Only thing I can think of using
benzethonium chloride for

as a preservative is...

...anthrax vaccine.

Anthrax. Breathe in the spores
and you die.

You don't have an unhealthy
obsession with death, do you?

Oh, no, no. lt'sjust a hobby.

Anthrax vaccine.
That's why I knew it.

I got one, right here. Ow.

Pain memory response.

So good or bad for your Marine?

It's bad. It's very bad.

A lot of Marines were vaccinated
for anthrax after 9/11.

I have to make a phone call.

- Boss, hey.
- Sergeant Wright's autopsy report?

Yeah. I was checking something.

Something didn't fit. It's just a theory,
but it's about what Wright ate.

- What did he eat?
- Nothing.

Not since the night before.
I asked Ducky.

But the room-service tray on the bed
was half-finished.

Which raises another question.
How did he get room service

if he wasn't supposed to be in a room
in the first place?

Yeah, go on.

People leave trays
outside their doors.

I think that he found one
that was half-finished.

He took it back to his room.

Something must have happened
before he could eat it.

Wright's begging note.

Or somebody else's.

Hidden under a plate on the tray.
And he found it.

Must be why he went back
to the room.

Once a hero, always a hero.

[PHONE RINGING]

- McGee.
- McGee, it's Abby.

I need you to pull Wright's
medical records.

One second.

- Got it. What do you need?
- Check it for an anthrax vaccine.

Let's see.

- It's a negative.
- Yes.

McGee, it's not Wright's sample.

I'll tell him. Thank you.

Boss, the hair found
on the victim indicates

the killer had an anthrax vaccine.
Wright never had one.

MARTY:
Chalk another one up to science.

I could not have done it
without the IMS.

And you.

So who do | make the receipt out to?

Oh. Um...

Well, | feel really bad, Marty. And you
worked really hard on this. |, um...

Hm. Do you bowl?

Are you kidding me?
I am the Queen of the Alley.

They've got a bowling alley
downstairs.

In the hotel?

Right next to the indoor pool.

Or...we could do dinner.

Oh, no.

You're just afraid of getting
your butt kicked on the lanes.

You are on, lady.

I can't believe you bowl.

- Why not?
- It's just, it's such a coincidence.

Are you a three-quarter
or a full roller?

MARTY: Makes no difference to me.
I got a delicate touch.

[ABBY LAUGHS]

ZIVA: So the hair wasn't Wright's
but the saliva definitely was.

DNA match. He was kissing the girl.

There's more than one reason
to kiss a girl.

There is?

[PHONE RINGS]

- Autopsy.
- Got a question for you.

DUCKY:
I can't guarantee I got an answer.

The bruising on the girl's sternum.
Could it be from CPR?

Very possibly.

This is most probable
when you weigh all the other evidence.

It would explain how Wright's saliva
came to be on her.

I'll have to confirm that, of course.

But, yes, that could be your answer:
CPR.

Which means Wright wasn't trying
to kill her, he was trying to save her.

Let me know when you get
a confirmation.

So we're looking for someone
with an anthrax vaccine.

Instead of one suspect, we now have
half a million, all of them military.

- Maintenance guy?
McGEE: Fixing a leak in the kitchen.

- Chefs were tripping over him all day.
- Scratch Romero.

After 9/11, anthrax was sent
through the mail.

Most people at risk were vaccinated.

Pentagon officials, senators,
congressmen.

McGEE: Everybody at the reception.
- And people who open their mail.

Yes, I had an anthrax vaccination.

Along with most everyone on the Hill,
Agent Gibbs.

They were troubling times.

They still are.

After you delivered the briefing papers
to Norforce Systems, what did you do?

I walked down the hallway
toward the elevator

and that's where
Wright attacked me.

Norforce Systems' suite
was right next to the elevator.

Do you want to try this again?

- Do I need a lawyer?
- Only if you're feeling guilty.

You were walking towards the elevator.
You were not coming

from Norforce, you were coming
from a room down the hallway.

- No.
- Yes. A room where an underage girl

- was killed.
- And you think I'm responsible?

If you're not,

then you won't mind giving us
a hair sample.

The killer left a calling card
and we think your name is on it.

This is outrageous.

I was attacked by a violent,
unstable man.

If you're looking for a murderer, you
Should be looking at him and not me.

Are you refusing to voluntarily give us
a hair sample, Mr. Nelson?

If you are, we can get a court order.

I didn't kill anyone.

Boss?

Eight-seventeen.
They're all reacting to the same thing.

Wright dropping in for breakfast?

Nelson might have killed the girl, but
there's no way he killed Wright, boss.

[DOOR OPENS]

I want to make a phone call.

- Lawyer?
- Someone much more powerful.

Your boss?

Underage, illegal, dead.

You really think your boss
wants to talk to you?

Did you kill her before or after
you pushed Sergeant Wright?

I didn't kill her,
I didn't push Sergeant Wright.

l was on the ground floor
when he jumped.

He went to the room,

trying to save her.
You attacked him.

- No.
- You raped her.

You killed her.

You threw Sergeant Wright
off of the balcony.

I never saw Sergeant Wright!

Then how did he attack you?

She hit me with the lamp.
I was just trying...

Just trying to stop her.

I had to explain this somehow,
so I said Wright attacked me.

- Who took you up to her room?
- No one.

...I met him outside the hotel,
paid him,

and he gave me the keycard.

A regular client?
Different girls every time?

Different girls.

I ran into him downstairs
at the elevator.

And I told him she was dead.
He went up.

Name.

Name!

TONY:
Davey Chen Importing Company.

Kept himself pretty clean. Couple
of misdemeanours, no felonies.

Nothing to suggest he was involved
in the sex trade of underage girls.

Got enough to arrest him
for murder?

No physical evidence.
His word against Nelson's.

Let's go kick his door down
and find some evidence.

- We do that, Tony, we lose those girls.
- Could have lost them already.

Slave traders move their girls
all the time.

They could be on their way
to Vegas now. Or dead.

Send someone in undercover.

- I'll do it.
- No.

We need someone closer to home.

- DiNozzo.
TONY: Boss.

GIBBS: Get me $25,000.
- Check or plastic?

- Cash.
TONY: On it.

Mr. Palmer, where did you and--?

Oh, sorry, doctor.

Where did you and Agent Lee go?

I didn't go anywhere with Agent Lee.

| signed Sergeant Wright's
medical records and then she left.

Did she sprint out of here?

- Yeah, she was in a hurry.
- Well, evidently so were you.

When I looked up
from washing my hands,

both you and she had disappeared
and Agent Gibbs was standing here.

Where did you hurry off to?

The restroom.

And you've been in there
all this time?

I have a gastrointestinal challenge.

Oh...

Well, I believe there's a bottle
of subsalicylate--

I drank that.

What? All of it?

I didn't wanna spend the day
sitting in the restroom.

- That won't hurt me, will it?
- Well, no.

But you're gonna feel as if you've been
on bread and water for a week.

- Pardon?
- Well, the old naval punishment

of bread and water for a week
was not to punish

by depriving the Offending sailor
of food,

as much as to plug up
his gastrointestinal tract.

Oh, that is awful! |--

Mr. Palmer, I'm not deaf.

I'm sorry, doctor. It's just the thought
Of punishing someone that way

just sounds so uncivilized.

Did those doors just open and shut?

I don't think so, no.

Strange.

Very strange.

TONY: It's just that she's never been
undercover, boss.

She's a highly trained
NCIS special agent.

She's more probie than even probie.

- She's got excellent backup.
- Me?

Ziva.

You are causing quite a stir
on the Hill.

Underage dead girls and congressional
aides make people nervous.

Good.

- Well, she looks the part, just like a...
ZIVA: Whore?

Courtesan.

Are you sure you're ready for this?

I saw the girl in autopsy.
Yeah, I'm ready.

Okay. McGee.

McGEE: Separate radio transmitter
and GPS built into the lining.

Pressure switch on the handle
turns it off if they sweep for bugs.

Turns it back on
when they're finished.

Chen's gonna be suspicious
of everyone.

Particularly if someone
like Agent Lee shows up.

We need something else, McGee.

Got just the thing.

- Hey, Jimmy.
- Hey.

- DiNozzo?
TONY: ln position, boss.

[IN CHINESE]

Target has entered the building.

GPS locked on.

JEN: MTAC standing by,
Agent Gibbs. It's your call.

We are in play.

LEE:
Excuse me.

We're closed.

Even for a cash customer,
Mr. Chen?

What do you want?

[IN CHINESE]

CHEN:
And who are you?

I don 't know you or your sister.

Maybe this will help you remember.

Lee's killed the transmission.
They're sweeping her for bugs.

She'll resume the transmission
when it's clear.

Stand by, Tony.
No contact in 30 seconds,

- we're going in.
TONY: Gotcha, boss.

McGEE:
Fifteen seconds.

Twenty seconds.

Twenty-five seconds.

Come on, Lee. Turn us back on.

LE E:
Twenty-five thousand dollars.

Another 25
when I get my sister back.

CHEN: And what makes you think
I have your Sister?

It must be another Davey Chen
I'm looking for.

What's her name?

She's 14 years old
from Fujian province.

I don't know what you call her,
but my family calls her Xiu Mei.

- You're a long way from home.
- So is she.

But I wasn't abducted
off my parents' farm.

Too old.

That's a lot Of money for the daughter
of a farmer.

| work in Shanghai,
I'm good at what I do.

American businessmen show
their appreciation.

DO we have a deal?

Come with me.

Game on.

McGEE:
We've lost the signal.

She turned it off?

Can't tell.

Who do you work for?

I'm here for my sister.

[LEE YELLS]

- Talk to me, McGee.
McGEE: Yeah, working on it, boss.

FBI?

Police?

You don't think I came alone,
do you?

You're alone now.

They can't hear you.

This room is protected against bugs.

- That's her backup camera.
JEN: There's interference.

They're in a screened room,
jamming the signal.

Gibbs, we've got a problem.

DiNozzo, cover the back door.
We're going in.

- Got it.
McGEE: She's moving.

Exiting a door.

GIBBS: Clear.
- Clear.

Clear.

DiNozzo, they're gone. Anything?

Nothing, boss.
They didn't come out this way.

We're only getting intermittent
video signals.

Aerial surveillance is negative.
They're definitely on the move.

Gibbs, check for a basement entrance.
They've gone underground.

What exactly are we looking for?

Trapdoor. Anything.

McGEE:
All right, we're getting picture back.

Maybe some kind of tunnel.

There.

Playing it back.

T-O-L-L-something.

Could be an I.

- Maybe a K.
- Toll...

Toll Bridge Trading. Women's shoes.

2570 Third Street, northwest.

Jethro, 2570 Third Street, northwest.

ZIVA:
Gibbs.

- Clear.
- Tony, go.

- Go. We got the tunnel.
- Okay. Two minutes, boss.

[IN CHINESE]

LEE:
What is this? A warehouse?

JEN:
He's shutting down his operation.

Where are the girls?

CHEN: Put her in the truck
along with the others.

Federal agents.

Freeze.

[BOTH GRUNTING]

Stay down.

Put the weapon down.

Nice work, probie.

They're in the truck.

G | B B8:
Unbelievable.

[SPEAKS IN CHINESE]

"The bum tried to be a hero."

Brian Wright. Sergeant Brian Wright.

Bronze Star. Purple Heart.

United States Marine Corps.

He was a hero.

ZIVA:
It's okay. Come on, guys.