NCIS (2003–…): Season 5, Episode 8 - Designated Target - full transcript
While a Navy rear admiral rides in a taxi, two motorcyclists, using silenced pistols, execute both men; Gibbs and company investigate. Ducky says that the target was the driver, who was a political refugee from Burundi. The gang solve it.
See? Shortcut through the park
will be working.
You just doubled your tip.
It's Kirkland.
No, my car broke down.
I had to take a cab.
I should be there in 20.
Have Bob start the presentation.
Yeah.
Use the laser pointer.
The GAO guys
are distracted by shiny things.
That will keep them busy.
Be there soon.
[DRIVER SPEAKS
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
Be passing us already.
What the hell? Come on, come on.
Go, go.
[GRUNTS, GUNSHOTS]
Oh, oh, oh!
[TYRES SCREECH]
[GUNSHOT]
No, no, no, it's not you. lt'sjust...
Well, you know,
these things run their course and...
Well, you, you must accept that--
Personal call, David?
Yes. Go away.
TONY:
Somebody being dumped?
Oh.
How do you tell someone
you no longer want to see them?
Easy.
Listen, dirtbag,
this is Ziva's husband.
l have your phone number now.
I can find your address.
If you ever try to contact her again,
I will reach down your throat,
grab your intestines,
rip them and drive over your head.
Lose this number or lose your life.
- You're welcome.
- That was Aunt Nettie from Tel Aviv.
She was trying to stop seeing
her 86-year-old mahjong partner.
Why didn't you stop me?
Too stunned.
Where do | send flowers?
If you communicate with her again,
I will kill you.
McGEE:
Is it always this bright in here?
Wait a second. I recognise that look.
You had sex,
and I'm guessing it was with a girl.
- No.
- No, it wasn't a girl?
McGEE:
No, it's none of your business.
If the probie was probing last night,
I demand details.
Actually, it was this morning.
And it wasn't sex. It was coffee.
And it was good.
The coffee or the sex?
It wasn't sex. I met a nice girl.
We're hitting it off. That's all.
Where'd you meet?
Moved into my building
a few days ago. Right across the hall.
Proximity. That's convenient.
Very. Mm-mm.
[PHONE RINGING]
Wow. McGee is getting some.
Get it out of our head, DiNozzo.
Gear up. We got a dead one.
You know, repeated head trauma
causes brain damage.
Explains a lot.
- Is this side of my head bigger?
- Yes, but so is the other side.
[ZIVA CHUCKLING]
[INDISTINCT
POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
TONY:
Bonnie and Clyde.
[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING]
ZlVA: Who and what? Heh.
TONY: The movie.
1967.
Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway.
It's a classic tale
of crime and punishment.
Focus on this crime scene,
DiNozzo.
Nine-millimetre cartridges.
It's not a robbery.
Cash box is still under the seat.
Credit cards are here too.
Rear Admiral Kenneth Kirkland.
Worked at the Pentagon.
The driver's name, "Atif?"
Atif Nukunda.
Gesundheit.
Address listed as DC.
Tyre tracks. Single alignment.
Looks like a motorcycle.
Top choice of assassins
who often dump their weapons.
Look, Ziva.
- Duck.
- Well, this was no traffic accident.
- No kidding.
- Little doubt they were killed here.
Cause of death: multiple gunshots.
Any one of which
could have been fatal.
- Time?
- That's not gonna be a problem.
Onboard digital surveillance camera's
probably time-stamped.
Let's see it, DiNozzo.
What? You got a problem?
- Well, McGee has the cable and--
- McGee.
TONY: See, normally, I have the cable
and McGee has the other bag.
Recorded straight onto a flash drive,
probably on a 15-minute loop.
Let's see
the last recorded images here.
At 9:23, first shot was fired.
Cab crashed seven seconds later.
ZlVA: A turkey shoot.
TONY: Fish in a barrel.
DiNozzo, find out
where the admiral was coming from,
headed to, who knew about it.
If any of those files are missing...
All right, I'll take care of it.
That lipstick on your collar, McGee?
[SIGHS]
Well...
Good for you, Tim. Good for you.
Just don't ever get married.
[RINGTONE PLAYING]
- Hello?
WOMAN [OVER PHONE]: Mr. McGee,
- I'm calling to confirm your sofa order.
- I didn't order a sofa.
[WOMAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
Yeah, that's my credit card number.
Rear Admiral Kirkland's credited
with several innovative
efficiency programmes at the Pentagon.
Involved in developing
the Ready-Rapid Deployment model
for moving massive amounts of assets
with minimum delays.
Possible target for terrorists?
The admiral hasn't left dry land
since '02.
Not exactly
a high-value al Qaeda target.
Any admiral is a high-value target.
Taxi?
Kirkland was heading from home to
attend a budget meeting at the GAO.
- No government car?
- Broke down on 14th Street.
His aide stayed with the car,
admiral called a cab.
- Why through the park?
- Three-car pile-up on Connecticut.
- Driver was trying to make up time.
- Sabotage?
No. We checked
the Pentagon surveillance tapes.
- Nobody touched the car before it left.
GIBBS: Files?
Staff checked his briefcase.
Nothing was missing.
GIBBS: Personal?
- No enemies, loving family.
Devoted wife.
- No large insurance policies.
- No motive.
Every murder has a motive, McGee.
Not this one.
I thought you were quitting.
I did. It's no caffeine, no kick.
I could suck down like a half dozen
of these babies, no ill effects.
Gibbs, I'm steel.
No, I am okay.
I am better than okay, way better.
From the taxi, bullets.
The slug on the right
banMmam,
full metal jacket, high velocity.
You see by its deformation
that it went through metal, glass.
The other one?
Also 9 millimetre,
but just a standard hollow point.
The striations on the rounds
indicated they were using silencers.
Casings?
Ejection port marks show that
you're looking for a Glock or a Beretta.
You should really try this, Gibbs.
It'll change your life.
Motorcycle.
The tread on the bike
was only offered as an option
on the Yamaha R-6 series.
No hits on the sales record yet,
indicating that the bike
may have been purchased overseas
and then brought across the border.
- All that, no caffeine.
- Crime scene.
I'm working on some fresh oil drops
that were found near the tyre tracks.
GIBBS: Cab took a detour.
Car must have followed him.
Or they could have hacked
into the taxi's onboard
navigation system and were waiting.
Ambush.
Okay. Can Ijust have one little teeny,
tiny, baby booster sip, please?
No.
- Thank you, sir.
- Welcome.
McGee, garage, now.
McGEE: Boss, the navigation system
was definitely hackable.
All they would have needed
was the car's VIN number
and the owner's address.
He could have requested
a diagnostic test
and captured and cloned the signal.
- Who hacked it?
McGEE: No way to tell.
The signal doesn't ghost
and there's no recording
of GPS markers after the fact.
Does anyone have any answers?
- Ziva?
- No.
Ziva doesn't have any answers,
boss.
[CELL PHONE RINGS]
[SCANNER WHIRRING,
BELL DINGS]
You look into the cab company.
[RINGTONE PLAYING]
Hey, I can't really...
I can't really talk right now.
Sure, you can, probie.
You can talk right now.
Go away.
- Put her on speaker, probie.
- Get out of here.
WOMAN [OVER PHONE]:
Timmy?
[WHISPERS] Probie.
WOMAN: Tim?
McGEE:
There's something...
Oh, look at him.
He's all grown up, having his first fight.
Now, where did you get
my credit card number?
- From your credit card bill.
- You opened my mail?
Well, yeah. Sorry, is that okay?
Listen, I need to go,
but we'll talk about this later, okay?
Okay. Have a good day.
- You too.
- Bye.
[WHISPERING]
I'll see you later, Bumby.
[MAKES KISSING SOUND]
Bumby?
Well, we can't all be called probie,
can we?
What do you got, Duck?
A bullet from the frontal lobe
of your rear admiral.
Both bodies received multiple rounds
from a variety of ranges and angles.
Indicating?
Well, the first projectiles struck them
after deflecting off metal or glass.
And they were followed by two
close contact wounds with stippling,
indicating that they were shot
execution-style.
- Okay, that's it?
- No, no, no.
Come here. Take a look at this.
What am I looking at?
Between the second bicuspid
and second molar, lower left.
Missing tooth?
Freshly extracted.
And the lack of bleeding
around the gum tissue
indicates that it was postmortem.
There was no tooth
in his throat or in his stomach,
so he didn't swallow it.
And there was no tooth
at the crime scene.
They pulled his tooth?
Well, they could have used
a pair of pliers.
It's a crude if effective
means of extraction.
- Anything taken from our admiral?
- No, no, no.
But I found something
really interesting
on the driver's right hand.
What is that?
Abby ran the analysis.
It's a fingerprint salve.
Invisible until it's pressed on paper.
Fingerprints and tooth pulled. DNA.
Two of the best ways
to identify a body.
Yeah, your rear admiral
wasn't the target, Jethro.
No.
The cab driver was.
The dead driver's name
was Atif Nukunda.
Immigrated here seven years ago
from Burundi, in East Africa,
after his name was found
on a death-squad list.
A political refugee.
Employment records show he worked
two jobs: cab and pizza-delivery driver.
About 85 hours a week.
- Land of opportunity.
- Check his address.
Metro Police have been there,
done that. Vacant lot.
Attacks on other cab drivers
in the past 60 days.
Already working on it.
DiNozzo,
check out the cab company.
Go to, boss.
"Go to." It's the new "on it."
New catch phrase.
Just came up with it. You like it?
No. Cab company?
On it, boss.
Go to.
McGee, what do you got?
Well, boss,
the time-stamp footage of the killings
enabled us to track all cell calls
made from the park
in the two minutes after the shooting.
Ten calls in all. One that stands out.
It's a high-density
bandwidth transmission.
Almost certainly a video file.
Someone filmed the execution.
Proof of death.
Call is made from a prepaid cell phone,
then sent to a router in East Africa.
- Lost it there.
- Find it.
Well, it went to a series
of public pay phones,
all of which were answered.
It's impossible to tell which line
was actually the intended number.
Whoever these guys are, boss,
they're very good.
But so are we.
Nukunda's dead, Mr. Bayliss.
Oh, my God. Really dead?
- What happened?
- Have you not missed him?
No, he works the morning shift,
so usually he's sleeping all day long.
Where? In his cab?
In his apartment.
ZlVA: Fake address.
- Really? Wow, that is weird.
You know, I can't figure out
if you're DeVito in Taxi
or De Niro in Taxi Driver.
[CHUCKLES]
- What?
- Your acting.
I worked transit detail in Baltimore
for two years. Come on.
Okay, Nukunda was off-book.
- Off-book?
- Off-book.
It means he worked for himself,
not just the cab company.
It also means
he required an illegal hack licence.
Because there's a lot of places
the cab drivers won't go in the city.
So we let the gypsies
work those areas,
service the public, everybody wins.
The dead cab driver
was not a gypsy.
- What?
- No.
Gypsy means a cab driver
who works for himself off-book.
It's also a great way to take advantage
of immigrants
who are desperate for work, isn't it?
Dude, look, all I know is
that the guy worked his ass off, okay?
He never invited me to his house,
so I don't know where he lives.
I just can't help you out.
Listen, dude,
every dispatcher knows every driver
and everything about them, so...
[OVER LOUDSPEAKER]
I can have the taxi commission
come down here
and talk to you guys,
because I know
they'd like to meet every one of you.
- And I will--
BAYLISS: Wait. Whoa, whoa.
Look, okay, the Burundi drivers,
they hang out at a little cafe
on 18th Street, Northwest.
A little tip. Lime juice.
It cuts that just-barfed-on,
back-seat smell, smelly guy.
Ha.
How long have you been
in this country?
VVhy?
Well, you never heard of gypsy cabs,
you don't use contractions.
Assimilate already.
What are contraptions?
Never mind.
ABBY:
There's definitely a photo missing.
Any way to tell what was there?
Would I have you down here
to watch me fail?
Silver bromide particles
on any positive print
leave minute traces on any surface
when they're combined
with compression and heat.
Like, say, a wallet being sat on
for 10 hours a day in a hot taxi.
Abbycadabra,
your picture from the cadaver.
Oh.
That's sad.
Why would they take
the family photo?
More proof they got the right guy.
Any good news?
Yes, the oil.
Not from the taxi,
but from the motorcycle.
I was able to determine
the exact viscosity and degradation.
And I found
microscopic metal shavings in it.
- Trace the bike?
- Not exactly.
Well, actually, not at all.
But if you find the motorcycle,
then I can positively place it
at the murder scene.
Unless they changed the oil.
Unless they changed the oil. Hmm.
This is a gift for you. It's decaf.
I sleep at night.
I actually eat food.
It is so weird. You've gotta try it.
Abs...
Don't let that hurt your feelings.
[CHATTERING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
[CHATTERING STOPS ABRUPTLY]
You speak Burundi?
The official language
is Kirundi and French.
But these people speak English.
Theyjust don't wanna speak it
with us.
NCIS. Federal agents.
Looking for anybody who knows
this man, his family, where he lives.
Tell you, this is the hack section.
I'm just guessing.
And your work visas are in order?
Because I hate papenNork,
so how about a little help here?
MAN:
May I see the photograph, please?
I know the man you are looking for,
but his name is not Nukunda.
ABAKA:
You must forgive them.
Where they come from,
agents of the government
seldom bring good news.
Well, we have questions.
ABAKA:
Even worse.
These are delicious.
Then I won't tell you
what they are made from.
[CHUCKLES]
Mr. Abaka,
you say you're a professor?
At Waverly University.
I teach African Studies there.
How long you been in this country?
Seven years.
Same as our dead cab driver.
The same as many people in here.
It was a time of unrest
and upheaval in the region.
Thousands of us came here
looking for freedom and safety.
It is unfortunate that this man
and his family only found death.
Someone must know
where his family is.
If they're in hiding, no.
- What's his real name?
ABAKA: I don't know.
We keep secrets
because secrets keep us alive.
We don't put people in jail
for cooperating,
but we do put them in jail
for not cooperating.
- Tony.
- I have been tortured in prison.
I am not afraid of your legal system.
How do you feel about deportation?
Tony.
I will ask.
But it is not in their culture
to cooperate with the government.
They're too afraid.
He is lying about something.
He looked suspicious.
They all look suspicious.
I'm surprised
you could understand him, Ziva.
He spoke perfect English.
You're xenophobic.
I am not X ena—phobic.
It's one of my favourite shows.
Leather skirts, lesbian sword fighting,
female empowerment.
Maybe I'm a little Ziva-phobic.
Did you see what I see?
Crazy Israeli chick
with impulse issues?
The reflection.
Oh, we could go ask him
who he's calling.
Or we can have McGee ask for us.
McGEE: Okay, triangulating all traffic
from the towers closest to Cafe Butu.
Narrowing it down to all outgoing calls
at the time Abaka made his call.
Less narration, McGee.
Tracing.
Look at that.
It's incredible,
probie's lips are still moving
while he's working.
He's like one
of those Romanian orphans
who can't stop rocking.
You are so prejudiced.
I am not.
I'm not.
By the way, that's a contraction: I'm.
You should try it some time.
Got it. Ha.
Beat my old record by two seconds.
The cell number is listed
to Delphin Abaka of Georgetown.
Who did he call?
McGEE:
The Wilmont Hotel, Room 234.
Currently occupied by a Sayda Zuri.
African.
Accessing immigration files.
ZlVA:
Probably Burundian.
Cab driver's wife, maybe?
She came through customs
two days ago from Burundi.
Restricted travel visa.
- DiNozzo.
- Picking her up, boss.
Found her.
I have come
to claim my husband's body.
His name is Thomas.
Thomas Zuri.
Did he change it when he got here?
Many times.
I don't know
what he calls himself now.
But he'll always be Thomas to me.
You said he came from Burundi
seven years ago?
Yes.
But according
to immigration records,
this is the first time
you have been here.
VVhy?
The situation in Burundi
is very complicated, miss.
I have not been free
to come before now.
But it seems I am too late.
I am sorry for your loss.
Who told you to come to us?
A friend called me.
Professor Abaka?
He has been helping me
to try and find Thomas.
We are soul mates, Thomas and I.
Have you met your soul mate, miss?
You will know the minute you do.
[DOOR OPENS]
Ziva, ready.
No. This is not Thomas.
- Yes, well, there's considerable--
- May I see his body?
Thomas was tortured.
This man has no scars. No.
This is not my husband.
You gotta be kidding me.
Fifteen thousand dollars?
Twenty-five--?
GIBBS:
Is something wrong, McGee?
Computer glitch.
[COMPUTER BEEPING]
Better?
Much.
GIBBS: Where's Ziva?
ZlVA: Right behind you.
There have been 11 attacks
on cab drivers
in the past 60 days
in the DC. and Maryland area.
Three of them are very interesting.
DiNozzo, put them up.
All three were shot
with a 9 millimetre
and all three autopsies
showed a tooth missing.
- Enlarge the photos.
- Ah.
Ah-ah-ah. Oh.
Come on, tell me
you just didn't lose all that information.
[WHISPERS]
McGee.
I hit the space bar.
Just push the buttons
I tell you to push, monkey.
- Love is not treating you well, friend.
- Yeah, no kidding.
Bring up our John Doe
from the morgue.
Anybody see what I see?
- Black males.
- All in their mid-to-Iate 40s.
All local cab drivers. None of them
work for the same company, though.
Vitals?
ZlVA: Similar age, similar height,
similar weight.
They all have shaved heads
and facial hair.
Bad guys don't know exactly
what their target looks like now.
They only have
a general description.
Seven years, a long time.
People change.
Would explain the teeth pulling
and the videos.
DiNozzo, how many cab drivers
in DC. fit this general description?
Huh.
Well, I'd say dozens.
Thomas was a storekeeper.
He had no interest in politics.
But his words were so eloquent,
so passionate,
that his message spread
from village to village.
He became a symbol of hope
against a system
of injustice and corruption.
Extremists saw him as a threat.
Privately, many in the government
did not care if he died.
That was seven years ago.
What's changed?
There is a growing movement
against the old ways.
Some people
are openly calling for him
to return and lead
the new People's Party.
His enemies fear
he will do exactly that.
I have been told
they have sent people here to kill him.
You came to warn him.
Yes.
How did your husband get here?
He was smuggled out of the country
by your embassy in Burundi.
- Our government brought him here?
- Yes.
You see,
Thomas was pro-American.
That is why the extremists hate him.
Why did you stay?
I could not leave my family, miss.
My father was dying.
Thomas felt that if he left,
the extremists would no longer
be threatened by him.
He was right. They left me alone.
A year after he left, I received this.
No postmark.
It was smuggled to me
by the embassy.
He writes that he is working
in Washington, driving a taxi.
That he misses me.
That he wants me
to join him in America.
And then?
SAYDA:
Then there was another civil war.
I never received another letter.
The embassy
could no longer help me.
And now they have come for him.
I know men like these.
They will not stop until they are sure
my husband is dead.
- We need something from you.
- Anything.
The name of the embassy official
who helped him get away.
Are you aware that I no longer work
for the State Department, director?
Mr. Choyce, are you aware
that the State Department
and NCIS are part
of the same government?
I doubt if there's anything
I can do to help you.
You smuggled Thomas Zuri
out of Burundi seven years ago.
You set him up in DC.
Gave him a new identity.
- Don't know what you're talking about.
GIBBS: Talking about saving a life.
Maybe several.
I wish I could help.
Sit down. You're not done yet.
You're a consultant now,
with an Asian-based oil company.
What do you think would happen
to your value in the private sector
if I were to call ZNN
and tell them you refused to help us
solve the murder
of a United States Naval officer?
An admiral.
Off the record.
Zuri walked away.
Happens all the time.
Once we get a political asset
into the country,
we hold on to them
in case we need them in the future.
Zuri was very helpful.
But often the assets
don't like the restrictions,
so they leave the programme.
We have no control over that.
Zuri left.
That was five years ago.
How do we find him?
Anything I tell you is a violation
of the agreement we had with him.
I am sure he will understand.
I don't know where he is.
Last known address.
Look, he changed his address often.
All I can give you
is where I know he lived five years ago.
Do you understand?
Stop laughing. It's not funny.
What's not funny, McGee?
- Nothing. Personal.
- Well, don't tell me about it.
I want you to visit
the State Department's
Strategic Analysis Unit.
Visit? I'm gonna need clearance.
- Visit.
- Visit.
"Visit" Visit, that kind of Visit. Okay.
What exactly am I looking for?
Oil in Burundi.
I don't think there's oil in Burundi.
Well, yeah,
that's why I want you to look.
[TYPING]
[GROANS]
And run this.
Last known address
for Tommy Zuri.
Okay. Multitasking, boss.
TONY: Take my money,
take my money, take my money.
Give me my candy. Uhn!
You cannot buck the system, Tony.
Trade bucks with me?
If you stop forcing things,
they will come to you.
Thank you, Obi-Wan.
Why don't you like immigrants?
[CHUCKLES]
What?
My great-grandparents
came through Ellis Island.
Not the first class lounge at El Al.
I came here in the jump seat
of a C-130 with turbulence.
Whatever. My point is,
you're here on a weekend fun pass.
I'm the immigrant.
My family came here with nothing.
Just loads of charm,
talent and great looks.
My great-grandfather drove a truck
for $2 a day.
Took him 20 years to start
his own transportation company.
And now their great-grandson
is an NCIS agent.
So don't tell me
about the immigrant experience.
Until you are one.
Any of that true?
Parts.
Is this stuck in my teeth?
Nothing sticks to you.
[PACKAGE DROPS]
Do you ever think about soul mates?
They were on Decca, right?
Big hit mid-'70s.
Sort of a disco thing.
Sing a few bars, I'll get it.
You'll never get it.
McGEE [QUIETLY]: Boss,
I did that thing you told me to do.
You don't have to whisper.
I don't care who hears.
[LOUDER] Want me to tell you how--?
- Nope.
Because I can give you the short--
Forget I asked.
Classified satellite recon photos
of a petroleum exploration firm
linked to China.
Doing drilling
in the Dajee region of Burundi.
They find anything?
Considering the money
they poured into the region, yes.
Oil.
And guess who still has top-level
clearance in the State Department?
Choyce. He's still working for them.
Not as an employee,
but as a consultant.
Plausible deniability.
You run that address
Choyce gave us?
Yeah, construction site.
New condos.
Original building
was demolished two years ago.
Guess Zuri moved on,
found a new place to live.
Four drivers,
four different cab companies.
McGEE: Nothing in common?
- All attacked at different times of day.
Time of death of the first driver?
[TYPING, COMPUTER CHIRPS]
Two-thirty in the morning,
which was 90 minutes
after he clocked out.
Second driver?
Nine forty-five in the evening,
two hours after he logged off.
None were officially working
when attacked.
Boss, in two of the attacks,
the cabs had passengers.
In each case, including the admiral's,
the passengers called for a cab.
They didn't just hail it on the street.
Someone had to have dispatched it,
even if it was off the records.
Meaning Bayliss,
the cab company dispatcher.
He was working
when every attack happened.
Probably used a bypass
to channel the calls.
- Bayliss did not report to work today.
- Address.
Yeah, got it.
GIBBS:
NCIS.
Warrant.
- Clear.
McGEE: Clear.
DiNozzo, McGee.
- Ziva, pick it.
- No problem.
Fives and tens. Kerb cash.
What's kerb cash?
Fares. Small denominations.
- Street money.
- Kickbacks.
Lollipop from McLoverboy.
Are those real?
No, fakes.
But they're really good fakes.
The guy's a regular cab coyote.
Is that like a wolf
in sheep's clothing?
A person who exploits people
that come to this country illegally.
As opposed to outsourcing,
which is what you are.
[CLATTERING]
[CREAKING]
TONY:
Oh!
TONY:
That's Bayliss.
ZlVA: Attic space.
He must have been hiding.
Been shot. Still warm, boss.
Boss, M.P.D. shut down a 12-block
perimeter around Bayliss' apartment.
Nothing.
Got a BOLO out on the Yamaha.
Traffic cams?
Lost the bike after three blocks.
They took side streets.
How'd they know about Bayliss?
McGee, trace his bank records
and personnel files from State.
And find out who the hell
Choyce called after he left here.
- DiNozzo.
- Boss?
Bring him in.
Ziva, get Sayda.
[RINGTONE PLAYING]
- Yes?
MAN: Mr. McGee,
this is Coastal Credit--
No, I told you,
I don't wanna give you her name.
I just wanna cancel my credit cards.
ABBY:
Fifty-seven, 58, 59, 60.
McGEE: Why would you send
the IRS after me?
I haven't done anything.
- It's your credit card.
ABBY: McGee.
This is fraud.
Yeah?
Did you know that it's 365 steps
from my lab to your desk?
[ABBY SIGHS]
I'm trying to get my blood pumping.
What's wrong with you?
Nothing.
Okay, this is the new caffeine-free,
non-jittery Abby.
Still waters, deep.
You're hiding something
and I seek it. Speak.
I've been seeing this girl.
Oh, that's nice.
No, actually, it's not nice.
She stole my mail
and took out $65,000
in pre-approved credit cards
in my name.
Wow, you have really good credit.
FICA score of 750. Well, was.
So this is, like,
the best-worst love story ever?
Abby, What do I do?
It's like I'm nuts for this girl,
you know?
And she's just nuts.
She stole your heart.
She stole your money.
Arrest her.
That's the thing.
That's what she wants.
She admitted everything to me.
That is a cheque for $65,000.
Yeah, her father's Earnest Leonard.
He's worth billions.
She does this for fun.
She's been arrested twice.
She steals people's money.
She buys things.
The crazy ones are the best.
[SIGHS]
See, the weird thing is,
I kind of dig it, you know?
Okay, love is never having
to read her her Miranda rights.
But she's gonna do this
to somebody else.
Throw her psycho ass in the brig.
I love you, McGee.
That should be enough.
One, two, three, four, five, six...
Shall we try this again?
Has something changed?
Oh, you might say that.
Recognise these?
My banking details.
This is outrageous.
How did you get these?
Warrant. And this is what we found.
Two deposits,
one for $100,000,
the second for $150,000
from a bank in Burundi.
Now, we're still following
the paper trail.
But I think we all know where it's going
to take us, don't we, Mr. Choyce?
To Burundi political extremists
with well-oiled pockets.
You sold them information
about Zuri.
I want a deal
before I say anything else.
First, the truth. Then a deal.
CHO YCE: Look, I didn't sell them
anything useful.
It was information from years ago.
Old addresses and phone numbers,
that's all.
He was paranoid.
He moved six times in the first year.
There's no way they could find him.
Was one of these
old phone numbers
used by a taxi dispatcher
named Bayliss?
Zuri only drove cabs
for a couple of months years ago.
Then he quit.
Wrong. He went gypsy,
off the books.
You gave them Bayliss' name.
Bayliss is dead.
Gotta believe he told them
where to find Zuri.
Oh, my God.
How did you communicate
with them?
They contacted me.
By a phone?
Prepaid cell. They called me.
Non-traceable. I tried.
Name.
[EXHALES]
Tie him to Burundi terrorism,
send him to Gitmo.
No lawyer, no phone.
Good luck with that deal.
Delphin Abaka.
Delphin Abaka.
McGEE:
No luck, boss. Abaka's off the grid.
He's a damn teacher at a university,
McGee.
McGEE:
He also served in the Burundi Army
20 years ago and hasn't been teaching
since last semester.
Guess when he realised
we were involved,
he tried to use Sayda
to find out what we knew.
We probably know less
than he does.
The DMV needs a thumbprint
to get a driver's licence.
That means Zuri's in the system.
If we can match his prints
to DMV records,
we can get his current alias
and address.
Nice try, probie. If Zuri's still out there,
he's got his fake hack licence with him.
Sorry, I already looked.
I think I know
where we can get a fingerprint.
Sayda's locket.
ABBY:
Scanning.
Okay.
Let's see what we got.
It's a partial right thumb.
Degraded by age,
but I have enough whirls and deltas
to get eight points.
How long is this going to take,
madam?
- You know, it's hard to tell.
GIBBS: Tell, Abby.
Somebody needs to switch to decaf.
Could be seconds, could be hours
if he used his other thumb
for his driver's licence.
Okay, he's not in the DC. system,
or Virginia or Maryland.
Do you want me
to run all 50 states?
Yes.
Well, it's getting really late.
Not that I'm tired or anything from lack
of caffeine, mind you, because I'm not.
No, really.
My meter is running full blast,
Gibbs.
Relax, Abs.
I think you just solved the case.
ABBY:
I did?
Metres.
It's a form of measurement
used extensively in Europe.
Taxi metres, DiNozzo. Bayliss keep
meter records for gypsy drivers?
Yeah, without records, he wouldn't
be able to keep track of kickbacks.
Bayliss' laptop.
Every driver who hasn't reported
to work for the past 72 hours.
I'm only interested in metres
that are not running.
I don't follow,
but I'm willing to give it a try.
TONY:
I get it.
Zuri heard about other drivers
being attacked.
He knows they're after him.
Would've stopped driving
after the first attack.
Put it up.
McGEE: Dumping all females,
non-African-Americans,
every one over 50 and under 30.
Match the rest
against our victims' stats.
McGEE:
Five left, boss.
Sayda?
SAYDA:
That is Thomas.
That is my husband.
- Are you sure?
- Yes, I'm sure.
- Get me an address.
- I want to come with you.
I want to see him. Please.
No.
Please.
Yamaha's on the side.
Engine's still hot.
McGee, you're out front.
DiNozzo, you're with us.
ABAKA:
I will not have you ruin my country.
It's time to die.
If you're going to do this, do it,
but do not harm my wife.
Shut up, shopkeeper. Be still.
Be still
or she will end up dead like you.
If you think I would let you return
to my country, you are wrong.
NCIS. Drop your weapons.
[GUNSHOTS]
[GRUNTING]
[GRUNTS, GROANS]
[ABAKA GROANING]
ABAKA: You.
ZlVA: Hello again, Professor Abaka.
[SIREN APPROACHING]
- Thomas Zuri?
- Yes?
You're a hard man to find.
Perhaps not hard enough.
[PANTING]
My wife...
[INDISTINCT
POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
ZlVA: He is okay.
- Oh, thank you.
Seven years is a long time.
Thomas.
Sayda.
I have missed you so much.
You have been in my heart
every moment.
Sayda.
I wrote to you so many letters.
Hundreds.
But Ijust received one letter,
Thomas.
And then I heard that the army
had killed everyone in our village.
I survived. We both survived.
[DOOR OPENS]
I thought
I would never see you again.
I'm s-s-sorry, Sayda.
I'm so very sorry.
It's okay, Thomas.
I understand.
I am just glad you are safe.
[WHISPERS]
Sayda.
Sayda.
[ENGINE STARTS]
ZURI:
Let's go.
will be working.
You just doubled your tip.
It's Kirkland.
No, my car broke down.
I had to take a cab.
I should be there in 20.
Have Bob start the presentation.
Yeah.
Use the laser pointer.
The GAO guys
are distracted by shiny things.
That will keep them busy.
Be there soon.
[DRIVER SPEAKS
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
Be passing us already.
What the hell? Come on, come on.
Go, go.
[GRUNTS, GUNSHOTS]
Oh, oh, oh!
[TYRES SCREECH]
[GUNSHOT]
No, no, no, it's not you. lt'sjust...
Well, you know,
these things run their course and...
Well, you, you must accept that--
Personal call, David?
Yes. Go away.
TONY:
Somebody being dumped?
Oh.
How do you tell someone
you no longer want to see them?
Easy.
Listen, dirtbag,
this is Ziva's husband.
l have your phone number now.
I can find your address.
If you ever try to contact her again,
I will reach down your throat,
grab your intestines,
rip them and drive over your head.
Lose this number or lose your life.
- You're welcome.
- That was Aunt Nettie from Tel Aviv.
She was trying to stop seeing
her 86-year-old mahjong partner.
Why didn't you stop me?
Too stunned.
Where do | send flowers?
If you communicate with her again,
I will kill you.
McGEE:
Is it always this bright in here?
Wait a second. I recognise that look.
You had sex,
and I'm guessing it was with a girl.
- No.
- No, it wasn't a girl?
McGEE:
No, it's none of your business.
If the probie was probing last night,
I demand details.
Actually, it was this morning.
And it wasn't sex. It was coffee.
And it was good.
The coffee or the sex?
It wasn't sex. I met a nice girl.
We're hitting it off. That's all.
Where'd you meet?
Moved into my building
a few days ago. Right across the hall.
Proximity. That's convenient.
Very. Mm-mm.
[PHONE RINGING]
Wow. McGee is getting some.
Get it out of our head, DiNozzo.
Gear up. We got a dead one.
You know, repeated head trauma
causes brain damage.
Explains a lot.
- Is this side of my head bigger?
- Yes, but so is the other side.
[ZIVA CHUCKLING]
[INDISTINCT
POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
TONY:
Bonnie and Clyde.
[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING]
ZlVA: Who and what? Heh.
TONY: The movie.
1967.
Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway.
It's a classic tale
of crime and punishment.
Focus on this crime scene,
DiNozzo.
Nine-millimetre cartridges.
It's not a robbery.
Cash box is still under the seat.
Credit cards are here too.
Rear Admiral Kenneth Kirkland.
Worked at the Pentagon.
The driver's name, "Atif?"
Atif Nukunda.
Gesundheit.
Address listed as DC.
Tyre tracks. Single alignment.
Looks like a motorcycle.
Top choice of assassins
who often dump their weapons.
Look, Ziva.
- Duck.
- Well, this was no traffic accident.
- No kidding.
- Little doubt they were killed here.
Cause of death: multiple gunshots.
Any one of which
could have been fatal.
- Time?
- That's not gonna be a problem.
Onboard digital surveillance camera's
probably time-stamped.
Let's see it, DiNozzo.
What? You got a problem?
- Well, McGee has the cable and--
- McGee.
TONY: See, normally, I have the cable
and McGee has the other bag.
Recorded straight onto a flash drive,
probably on a 15-minute loop.
Let's see
the last recorded images here.
At 9:23, first shot was fired.
Cab crashed seven seconds later.
ZlVA: A turkey shoot.
TONY: Fish in a barrel.
DiNozzo, find out
where the admiral was coming from,
headed to, who knew about it.
If any of those files are missing...
All right, I'll take care of it.
That lipstick on your collar, McGee?
[SIGHS]
Well...
Good for you, Tim. Good for you.
Just don't ever get married.
[RINGTONE PLAYING]
- Hello?
WOMAN [OVER PHONE]: Mr. McGee,
- I'm calling to confirm your sofa order.
- I didn't order a sofa.
[WOMAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
Yeah, that's my credit card number.
Rear Admiral Kirkland's credited
with several innovative
efficiency programmes at the Pentagon.
Involved in developing
the Ready-Rapid Deployment model
for moving massive amounts of assets
with minimum delays.
Possible target for terrorists?
The admiral hasn't left dry land
since '02.
Not exactly
a high-value al Qaeda target.
Any admiral is a high-value target.
Taxi?
Kirkland was heading from home to
attend a budget meeting at the GAO.
- No government car?
- Broke down on 14th Street.
His aide stayed with the car,
admiral called a cab.
- Why through the park?
- Three-car pile-up on Connecticut.
- Driver was trying to make up time.
- Sabotage?
No. We checked
the Pentagon surveillance tapes.
- Nobody touched the car before it left.
GIBBS: Files?
Staff checked his briefcase.
Nothing was missing.
GIBBS: Personal?
- No enemies, loving family.
Devoted wife.
- No large insurance policies.
- No motive.
Every murder has a motive, McGee.
Not this one.
I thought you were quitting.
I did. It's no caffeine, no kick.
I could suck down like a half dozen
of these babies, no ill effects.
Gibbs, I'm steel.
No, I am okay.
I am better than okay, way better.
From the taxi, bullets.
The slug on the right
banMmam,
full metal jacket, high velocity.
You see by its deformation
that it went through metal, glass.
The other one?
Also 9 millimetre,
but just a standard hollow point.
The striations on the rounds
indicated they were using silencers.
Casings?
Ejection port marks show that
you're looking for a Glock or a Beretta.
You should really try this, Gibbs.
It'll change your life.
Motorcycle.
The tread on the bike
was only offered as an option
on the Yamaha R-6 series.
No hits on the sales record yet,
indicating that the bike
may have been purchased overseas
and then brought across the border.
- All that, no caffeine.
- Crime scene.
I'm working on some fresh oil drops
that were found near the tyre tracks.
GIBBS: Cab took a detour.
Car must have followed him.
Or they could have hacked
into the taxi's onboard
navigation system and were waiting.
Ambush.
Okay. Can Ijust have one little teeny,
tiny, baby booster sip, please?
No.
- Thank you, sir.
- Welcome.
McGee, garage, now.
McGEE: Boss, the navigation system
was definitely hackable.
All they would have needed
was the car's VIN number
and the owner's address.
He could have requested
a diagnostic test
and captured and cloned the signal.
- Who hacked it?
McGEE: No way to tell.
The signal doesn't ghost
and there's no recording
of GPS markers after the fact.
Does anyone have any answers?
- Ziva?
- No.
Ziva doesn't have any answers,
boss.
[CELL PHONE RINGS]
[SCANNER WHIRRING,
BELL DINGS]
You look into the cab company.
[RINGTONE PLAYING]
Hey, I can't really...
I can't really talk right now.
Sure, you can, probie.
You can talk right now.
Go away.
- Put her on speaker, probie.
- Get out of here.
WOMAN [OVER PHONE]:
Timmy?
[WHISPERS] Probie.
WOMAN: Tim?
McGEE:
There's something...
Oh, look at him.
He's all grown up, having his first fight.
Now, where did you get
my credit card number?
- From your credit card bill.
- You opened my mail?
Well, yeah. Sorry, is that okay?
Listen, I need to go,
but we'll talk about this later, okay?
Okay. Have a good day.
- You too.
- Bye.
[WHISPERING]
I'll see you later, Bumby.
[MAKES KISSING SOUND]
Bumby?
Well, we can't all be called probie,
can we?
What do you got, Duck?
A bullet from the frontal lobe
of your rear admiral.
Both bodies received multiple rounds
from a variety of ranges and angles.
Indicating?
Well, the first projectiles struck them
after deflecting off metal or glass.
And they were followed by two
close contact wounds with stippling,
indicating that they were shot
execution-style.
- Okay, that's it?
- No, no, no.
Come here. Take a look at this.
What am I looking at?
Between the second bicuspid
and second molar, lower left.
Missing tooth?
Freshly extracted.
And the lack of bleeding
around the gum tissue
indicates that it was postmortem.
There was no tooth
in his throat or in his stomach,
so he didn't swallow it.
And there was no tooth
at the crime scene.
They pulled his tooth?
Well, they could have used
a pair of pliers.
It's a crude if effective
means of extraction.
- Anything taken from our admiral?
- No, no, no.
But I found something
really interesting
on the driver's right hand.
What is that?
Abby ran the analysis.
It's a fingerprint salve.
Invisible until it's pressed on paper.
Fingerprints and tooth pulled. DNA.
Two of the best ways
to identify a body.
Yeah, your rear admiral
wasn't the target, Jethro.
No.
The cab driver was.
The dead driver's name
was Atif Nukunda.
Immigrated here seven years ago
from Burundi, in East Africa,
after his name was found
on a death-squad list.
A political refugee.
Employment records show he worked
two jobs: cab and pizza-delivery driver.
About 85 hours a week.
- Land of opportunity.
- Check his address.
Metro Police have been there,
done that. Vacant lot.
Attacks on other cab drivers
in the past 60 days.
Already working on it.
DiNozzo,
check out the cab company.
Go to, boss.
"Go to." It's the new "on it."
New catch phrase.
Just came up with it. You like it?
No. Cab company?
On it, boss.
Go to.
McGee, what do you got?
Well, boss,
the time-stamp footage of the killings
enabled us to track all cell calls
made from the park
in the two minutes after the shooting.
Ten calls in all. One that stands out.
It's a high-density
bandwidth transmission.
Almost certainly a video file.
Someone filmed the execution.
Proof of death.
Call is made from a prepaid cell phone,
then sent to a router in East Africa.
- Lost it there.
- Find it.
Well, it went to a series
of public pay phones,
all of which were answered.
It's impossible to tell which line
was actually the intended number.
Whoever these guys are, boss,
they're very good.
But so are we.
Nukunda's dead, Mr. Bayliss.
Oh, my God. Really dead?
- What happened?
- Have you not missed him?
No, he works the morning shift,
so usually he's sleeping all day long.
Where? In his cab?
In his apartment.
ZlVA: Fake address.
- Really? Wow, that is weird.
You know, I can't figure out
if you're DeVito in Taxi
or De Niro in Taxi Driver.
[CHUCKLES]
- What?
- Your acting.
I worked transit detail in Baltimore
for two years. Come on.
Okay, Nukunda was off-book.
- Off-book?
- Off-book.
It means he worked for himself,
not just the cab company.
It also means
he required an illegal hack licence.
Because there's a lot of places
the cab drivers won't go in the city.
So we let the gypsies
work those areas,
service the public, everybody wins.
The dead cab driver
was not a gypsy.
- What?
- No.
Gypsy means a cab driver
who works for himself off-book.
It's also a great way to take advantage
of immigrants
who are desperate for work, isn't it?
Dude, look, all I know is
that the guy worked his ass off, okay?
He never invited me to his house,
so I don't know where he lives.
I just can't help you out.
Listen, dude,
every dispatcher knows every driver
and everything about them, so...
[OVER LOUDSPEAKER]
I can have the taxi commission
come down here
and talk to you guys,
because I know
they'd like to meet every one of you.
- And I will--
BAYLISS: Wait. Whoa, whoa.
Look, okay, the Burundi drivers,
they hang out at a little cafe
on 18th Street, Northwest.
A little tip. Lime juice.
It cuts that just-barfed-on,
back-seat smell, smelly guy.
Ha.
How long have you been
in this country?
VVhy?
Well, you never heard of gypsy cabs,
you don't use contractions.
Assimilate already.
What are contraptions?
Never mind.
ABBY:
There's definitely a photo missing.
Any way to tell what was there?
Would I have you down here
to watch me fail?
Silver bromide particles
on any positive print
leave minute traces on any surface
when they're combined
with compression and heat.
Like, say, a wallet being sat on
for 10 hours a day in a hot taxi.
Abbycadabra,
your picture from the cadaver.
Oh.
That's sad.
Why would they take
the family photo?
More proof they got the right guy.
Any good news?
Yes, the oil.
Not from the taxi,
but from the motorcycle.
I was able to determine
the exact viscosity and degradation.
And I found
microscopic metal shavings in it.
- Trace the bike?
- Not exactly.
Well, actually, not at all.
But if you find the motorcycle,
then I can positively place it
at the murder scene.
Unless they changed the oil.
Unless they changed the oil. Hmm.
This is a gift for you. It's decaf.
I sleep at night.
I actually eat food.
It is so weird. You've gotta try it.
Abs...
Don't let that hurt your feelings.
[CHATTERING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
[CHATTERING STOPS ABRUPTLY]
You speak Burundi?
The official language
is Kirundi and French.
But these people speak English.
Theyjust don't wanna speak it
with us.
NCIS. Federal agents.
Looking for anybody who knows
this man, his family, where he lives.
Tell you, this is the hack section.
I'm just guessing.
And your work visas are in order?
Because I hate papenNork,
so how about a little help here?
MAN:
May I see the photograph, please?
I know the man you are looking for,
but his name is not Nukunda.
ABAKA:
You must forgive them.
Where they come from,
agents of the government
seldom bring good news.
Well, we have questions.
ABAKA:
Even worse.
These are delicious.
Then I won't tell you
what they are made from.
[CHUCKLES]
Mr. Abaka,
you say you're a professor?
At Waverly University.
I teach African Studies there.
How long you been in this country?
Seven years.
Same as our dead cab driver.
The same as many people in here.
It was a time of unrest
and upheaval in the region.
Thousands of us came here
looking for freedom and safety.
It is unfortunate that this man
and his family only found death.
Someone must know
where his family is.
If they're in hiding, no.
- What's his real name?
ABAKA: I don't know.
We keep secrets
because secrets keep us alive.
We don't put people in jail
for cooperating,
but we do put them in jail
for not cooperating.
- Tony.
- I have been tortured in prison.
I am not afraid of your legal system.
How do you feel about deportation?
Tony.
I will ask.
But it is not in their culture
to cooperate with the government.
They're too afraid.
He is lying about something.
He looked suspicious.
They all look suspicious.
I'm surprised
you could understand him, Ziva.
He spoke perfect English.
You're xenophobic.
I am not X ena—phobic.
It's one of my favourite shows.
Leather skirts, lesbian sword fighting,
female empowerment.
Maybe I'm a little Ziva-phobic.
Did you see what I see?
Crazy Israeli chick
with impulse issues?
The reflection.
Oh, we could go ask him
who he's calling.
Or we can have McGee ask for us.
McGEE: Okay, triangulating all traffic
from the towers closest to Cafe Butu.
Narrowing it down to all outgoing calls
at the time Abaka made his call.
Less narration, McGee.
Tracing.
Look at that.
It's incredible,
probie's lips are still moving
while he's working.
He's like one
of those Romanian orphans
who can't stop rocking.
You are so prejudiced.
I am not.
I'm not.
By the way, that's a contraction: I'm.
You should try it some time.
Got it. Ha.
Beat my old record by two seconds.
The cell number is listed
to Delphin Abaka of Georgetown.
Who did he call?
McGEE:
The Wilmont Hotel, Room 234.
Currently occupied by a Sayda Zuri.
African.
Accessing immigration files.
ZlVA:
Probably Burundian.
Cab driver's wife, maybe?
She came through customs
two days ago from Burundi.
Restricted travel visa.
- DiNozzo.
- Picking her up, boss.
Found her.
I have come
to claim my husband's body.
His name is Thomas.
Thomas Zuri.
Did he change it when he got here?
Many times.
I don't know
what he calls himself now.
But he'll always be Thomas to me.
You said he came from Burundi
seven years ago?
Yes.
But according
to immigration records,
this is the first time
you have been here.
VVhy?
The situation in Burundi
is very complicated, miss.
I have not been free
to come before now.
But it seems I am too late.
I am sorry for your loss.
Who told you to come to us?
A friend called me.
Professor Abaka?
He has been helping me
to try and find Thomas.
We are soul mates, Thomas and I.
Have you met your soul mate, miss?
You will know the minute you do.
[DOOR OPENS]
Ziva, ready.
No. This is not Thomas.
- Yes, well, there's considerable--
- May I see his body?
Thomas was tortured.
This man has no scars. No.
This is not my husband.
You gotta be kidding me.
Fifteen thousand dollars?
Twenty-five--?
GIBBS:
Is something wrong, McGee?
Computer glitch.
[COMPUTER BEEPING]
Better?
Much.
GIBBS: Where's Ziva?
ZlVA: Right behind you.
There have been 11 attacks
on cab drivers
in the past 60 days
in the DC. and Maryland area.
Three of them are very interesting.
DiNozzo, put them up.
All three were shot
with a 9 millimetre
and all three autopsies
showed a tooth missing.
- Enlarge the photos.
- Ah.
Ah-ah-ah. Oh.
Come on, tell me
you just didn't lose all that information.
[WHISPERS]
McGee.
I hit the space bar.
Just push the buttons
I tell you to push, monkey.
- Love is not treating you well, friend.
- Yeah, no kidding.
Bring up our John Doe
from the morgue.
Anybody see what I see?
- Black males.
- All in their mid-to-Iate 40s.
All local cab drivers. None of them
work for the same company, though.
Vitals?
ZlVA: Similar age, similar height,
similar weight.
They all have shaved heads
and facial hair.
Bad guys don't know exactly
what their target looks like now.
They only have
a general description.
Seven years, a long time.
People change.
Would explain the teeth pulling
and the videos.
DiNozzo, how many cab drivers
in DC. fit this general description?
Huh.
Well, I'd say dozens.
Thomas was a storekeeper.
He had no interest in politics.
But his words were so eloquent,
so passionate,
that his message spread
from village to village.
He became a symbol of hope
against a system
of injustice and corruption.
Extremists saw him as a threat.
Privately, many in the government
did not care if he died.
That was seven years ago.
What's changed?
There is a growing movement
against the old ways.
Some people
are openly calling for him
to return and lead
the new People's Party.
His enemies fear
he will do exactly that.
I have been told
they have sent people here to kill him.
You came to warn him.
Yes.
How did your husband get here?
He was smuggled out of the country
by your embassy in Burundi.
- Our government brought him here?
- Yes.
You see,
Thomas was pro-American.
That is why the extremists hate him.
Why did you stay?
I could not leave my family, miss.
My father was dying.
Thomas felt that if he left,
the extremists would no longer
be threatened by him.
He was right. They left me alone.
A year after he left, I received this.
No postmark.
It was smuggled to me
by the embassy.
He writes that he is working
in Washington, driving a taxi.
That he misses me.
That he wants me
to join him in America.
And then?
SAYDA:
Then there was another civil war.
I never received another letter.
The embassy
could no longer help me.
And now they have come for him.
I know men like these.
They will not stop until they are sure
my husband is dead.
- We need something from you.
- Anything.
The name of the embassy official
who helped him get away.
Are you aware that I no longer work
for the State Department, director?
Mr. Choyce, are you aware
that the State Department
and NCIS are part
of the same government?
I doubt if there's anything
I can do to help you.
You smuggled Thomas Zuri
out of Burundi seven years ago.
You set him up in DC.
Gave him a new identity.
- Don't know what you're talking about.
GIBBS: Talking about saving a life.
Maybe several.
I wish I could help.
Sit down. You're not done yet.
You're a consultant now,
with an Asian-based oil company.
What do you think would happen
to your value in the private sector
if I were to call ZNN
and tell them you refused to help us
solve the murder
of a United States Naval officer?
An admiral.
Off the record.
Zuri walked away.
Happens all the time.
Once we get a political asset
into the country,
we hold on to them
in case we need them in the future.
Zuri was very helpful.
But often the assets
don't like the restrictions,
so they leave the programme.
We have no control over that.
Zuri left.
That was five years ago.
How do we find him?
Anything I tell you is a violation
of the agreement we had with him.
I am sure he will understand.
I don't know where he is.
Last known address.
Look, he changed his address often.
All I can give you
is where I know he lived five years ago.
Do you understand?
Stop laughing. It's not funny.
What's not funny, McGee?
- Nothing. Personal.
- Well, don't tell me about it.
I want you to visit
the State Department's
Strategic Analysis Unit.
Visit? I'm gonna need clearance.
- Visit.
- Visit.
"Visit" Visit, that kind of Visit. Okay.
What exactly am I looking for?
Oil in Burundi.
I don't think there's oil in Burundi.
Well, yeah,
that's why I want you to look.
[TYPING]
[GROANS]
And run this.
Last known address
for Tommy Zuri.
Okay. Multitasking, boss.
TONY: Take my money,
take my money, take my money.
Give me my candy. Uhn!
You cannot buck the system, Tony.
Trade bucks with me?
If you stop forcing things,
they will come to you.
Thank you, Obi-Wan.
Why don't you like immigrants?
[CHUCKLES]
What?
My great-grandparents
came through Ellis Island.
Not the first class lounge at El Al.
I came here in the jump seat
of a C-130 with turbulence.
Whatever. My point is,
you're here on a weekend fun pass.
I'm the immigrant.
My family came here with nothing.
Just loads of charm,
talent and great looks.
My great-grandfather drove a truck
for $2 a day.
Took him 20 years to start
his own transportation company.
And now their great-grandson
is an NCIS agent.
So don't tell me
about the immigrant experience.
Until you are one.
Any of that true?
Parts.
Is this stuck in my teeth?
Nothing sticks to you.
[PACKAGE DROPS]
Do you ever think about soul mates?
They were on Decca, right?
Big hit mid-'70s.
Sort of a disco thing.
Sing a few bars, I'll get it.
You'll never get it.
McGEE [QUIETLY]: Boss,
I did that thing you told me to do.
You don't have to whisper.
I don't care who hears.
[LOUDER] Want me to tell you how--?
- Nope.
Because I can give you the short--
Forget I asked.
Classified satellite recon photos
of a petroleum exploration firm
linked to China.
Doing drilling
in the Dajee region of Burundi.
They find anything?
Considering the money
they poured into the region, yes.
Oil.
And guess who still has top-level
clearance in the State Department?
Choyce. He's still working for them.
Not as an employee,
but as a consultant.
Plausible deniability.
You run that address
Choyce gave us?
Yeah, construction site.
New condos.
Original building
was demolished two years ago.
Guess Zuri moved on,
found a new place to live.
Four drivers,
four different cab companies.
McGEE: Nothing in common?
- All attacked at different times of day.
Time of death of the first driver?
[TYPING, COMPUTER CHIRPS]
Two-thirty in the morning,
which was 90 minutes
after he clocked out.
Second driver?
Nine forty-five in the evening,
two hours after he logged off.
None were officially working
when attacked.
Boss, in two of the attacks,
the cabs had passengers.
In each case, including the admiral's,
the passengers called for a cab.
They didn't just hail it on the street.
Someone had to have dispatched it,
even if it was off the records.
Meaning Bayliss,
the cab company dispatcher.
He was working
when every attack happened.
Probably used a bypass
to channel the calls.
- Bayliss did not report to work today.
- Address.
Yeah, got it.
GIBBS:
NCIS.
Warrant.
- Clear.
McGEE: Clear.
DiNozzo, McGee.
- Ziva, pick it.
- No problem.
Fives and tens. Kerb cash.
What's kerb cash?
Fares. Small denominations.
- Street money.
- Kickbacks.
Lollipop from McLoverboy.
Are those real?
No, fakes.
But they're really good fakes.
The guy's a regular cab coyote.
Is that like a wolf
in sheep's clothing?
A person who exploits people
that come to this country illegally.
As opposed to outsourcing,
which is what you are.
[CLATTERING]
[CREAKING]
TONY:
Oh!
TONY:
That's Bayliss.
ZlVA: Attic space.
He must have been hiding.
Been shot. Still warm, boss.
Boss, M.P.D. shut down a 12-block
perimeter around Bayliss' apartment.
Nothing.
Got a BOLO out on the Yamaha.
Traffic cams?
Lost the bike after three blocks.
They took side streets.
How'd they know about Bayliss?
McGee, trace his bank records
and personnel files from State.
And find out who the hell
Choyce called after he left here.
- DiNozzo.
- Boss?
Bring him in.
Ziva, get Sayda.
[RINGTONE PLAYING]
- Yes?
MAN: Mr. McGee,
this is Coastal Credit--
No, I told you,
I don't wanna give you her name.
I just wanna cancel my credit cards.
ABBY:
Fifty-seven, 58, 59, 60.
McGEE: Why would you send
the IRS after me?
I haven't done anything.
- It's your credit card.
ABBY: McGee.
This is fraud.
Yeah?
Did you know that it's 365 steps
from my lab to your desk?
[ABBY SIGHS]
I'm trying to get my blood pumping.
What's wrong with you?
Nothing.
Okay, this is the new caffeine-free,
non-jittery Abby.
Still waters, deep.
You're hiding something
and I seek it. Speak.
I've been seeing this girl.
Oh, that's nice.
No, actually, it's not nice.
She stole my mail
and took out $65,000
in pre-approved credit cards
in my name.
Wow, you have really good credit.
FICA score of 750. Well, was.
So this is, like,
the best-worst love story ever?
Abby, What do I do?
It's like I'm nuts for this girl,
you know?
And she's just nuts.
She stole your heart.
She stole your money.
Arrest her.
That's the thing.
That's what she wants.
She admitted everything to me.
That is a cheque for $65,000.
Yeah, her father's Earnest Leonard.
He's worth billions.
She does this for fun.
She's been arrested twice.
She steals people's money.
She buys things.
The crazy ones are the best.
[SIGHS]
See, the weird thing is,
I kind of dig it, you know?
Okay, love is never having
to read her her Miranda rights.
But she's gonna do this
to somebody else.
Throw her psycho ass in the brig.
I love you, McGee.
That should be enough.
One, two, three, four, five, six...
Shall we try this again?
Has something changed?
Oh, you might say that.
Recognise these?
My banking details.
This is outrageous.
How did you get these?
Warrant. And this is what we found.
Two deposits,
one for $100,000,
the second for $150,000
from a bank in Burundi.
Now, we're still following
the paper trail.
But I think we all know where it's going
to take us, don't we, Mr. Choyce?
To Burundi political extremists
with well-oiled pockets.
You sold them information
about Zuri.
I want a deal
before I say anything else.
First, the truth. Then a deal.
CHO YCE: Look, I didn't sell them
anything useful.
It was information from years ago.
Old addresses and phone numbers,
that's all.
He was paranoid.
He moved six times in the first year.
There's no way they could find him.
Was one of these
old phone numbers
used by a taxi dispatcher
named Bayliss?
Zuri only drove cabs
for a couple of months years ago.
Then he quit.
Wrong. He went gypsy,
off the books.
You gave them Bayliss' name.
Bayliss is dead.
Gotta believe he told them
where to find Zuri.
Oh, my God.
How did you communicate
with them?
They contacted me.
By a phone?
Prepaid cell. They called me.
Non-traceable. I tried.
Name.
[EXHALES]
Tie him to Burundi terrorism,
send him to Gitmo.
No lawyer, no phone.
Good luck with that deal.
Delphin Abaka.
Delphin Abaka.
McGEE:
No luck, boss. Abaka's off the grid.
He's a damn teacher at a university,
McGee.
McGEE:
He also served in the Burundi Army
20 years ago and hasn't been teaching
since last semester.
Guess when he realised
we were involved,
he tried to use Sayda
to find out what we knew.
We probably know less
than he does.
The DMV needs a thumbprint
to get a driver's licence.
That means Zuri's in the system.
If we can match his prints
to DMV records,
we can get his current alias
and address.
Nice try, probie. If Zuri's still out there,
he's got his fake hack licence with him.
Sorry, I already looked.
I think I know
where we can get a fingerprint.
Sayda's locket.
ABBY:
Scanning.
Okay.
Let's see what we got.
It's a partial right thumb.
Degraded by age,
but I have enough whirls and deltas
to get eight points.
How long is this going to take,
madam?
- You know, it's hard to tell.
GIBBS: Tell, Abby.
Somebody needs to switch to decaf.
Could be seconds, could be hours
if he used his other thumb
for his driver's licence.
Okay, he's not in the DC. system,
or Virginia or Maryland.
Do you want me
to run all 50 states?
Yes.
Well, it's getting really late.
Not that I'm tired or anything from lack
of caffeine, mind you, because I'm not.
No, really.
My meter is running full blast,
Gibbs.
Relax, Abs.
I think you just solved the case.
ABBY:
I did?
Metres.
It's a form of measurement
used extensively in Europe.
Taxi metres, DiNozzo. Bayliss keep
meter records for gypsy drivers?
Yeah, without records, he wouldn't
be able to keep track of kickbacks.
Bayliss' laptop.
Every driver who hasn't reported
to work for the past 72 hours.
I'm only interested in metres
that are not running.
I don't follow,
but I'm willing to give it a try.
TONY:
I get it.
Zuri heard about other drivers
being attacked.
He knows they're after him.
Would've stopped driving
after the first attack.
Put it up.
McGEE: Dumping all females,
non-African-Americans,
every one over 50 and under 30.
Match the rest
against our victims' stats.
McGEE:
Five left, boss.
Sayda?
SAYDA:
That is Thomas.
That is my husband.
- Are you sure?
- Yes, I'm sure.
- Get me an address.
- I want to come with you.
I want to see him. Please.
No.
Please.
Yamaha's on the side.
Engine's still hot.
McGee, you're out front.
DiNozzo, you're with us.
ABAKA:
I will not have you ruin my country.
It's time to die.
If you're going to do this, do it,
but do not harm my wife.
Shut up, shopkeeper. Be still.
Be still
or she will end up dead like you.
If you think I would let you return
to my country, you are wrong.
NCIS. Drop your weapons.
[GUNSHOTS]
[GRUNTING]
[GRUNTS, GROANS]
[ABAKA GROANING]
ABAKA: You.
ZlVA: Hello again, Professor Abaka.
[SIREN APPROACHING]
- Thomas Zuri?
- Yes?
You're a hard man to find.
Perhaps not hard enough.
[PANTING]
My wife...
[INDISTINCT
POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
ZlVA: He is okay.
- Oh, thank you.
Seven years is a long time.
Thomas.
Sayda.
I have missed you so much.
You have been in my heart
every moment.
Sayda.
I wrote to you so many letters.
Hundreds.
But Ijust received one letter,
Thomas.
And then I heard that the army
had killed everyone in our village.
I survived. We both survived.
[DOOR OPENS]
I thought
I would never see you again.
I'm s-s-sorry, Sayda.
I'm so very sorry.
It's okay, Thomas.
I understand.
I am just glad you are safe.
[WHISPERS]
Sayda.
Sayda.
[ENGINE STARTS]
ZURI:
Let's go.