S1Ep15 - Enigma

In a dark room, an older Marine is bound and forced to kneel on a dirt floor. The hood is whipped from his head and a single bright light shines in his eyes. His masked captors question him, asking for the location of three packages of money. He remains defiant in spite of their threats to kill him.

Behind his back, he manipulates a pocket knife to cut his bindings.

The marine's name is Ryan, and he's wearing the silver eagle insignia of a Colonel. He suddenly whips one hand out from behind his back, throwing the knife into one of his captors. The other captor strips off his mask and helps Ryan to escape. Before leaving, Ryan turns to the bright light and addresses his unseen interrogator. "By the way, it was four packages, not three." Ryan cheerily waves goodbye and leaves.

Opening credits.

The mail cart arrives in the squadroom. A package for Gibbs is left on his desk as Tony takes pleasure in anticipating the contents of two letters he has just received. He explains to Kate that he recently broke up with his last girlfriend, because she was under the impression that they were in an exclusive relationship. Kate smiles and asks what happens. "She broke into my apartment and filled my closet with dog crap." Kate laughs, and says she would have simply shot him instead. "That's the reason for Rule number 12", Gibbs says as he arrives, "Never date a co-worker." He sets the package aside, since they've all been summoned to meet with the Director in MTAC.

Director Morrow tells them that a Marine officer carrying $2 million dollars of cash recovered from Saddam Hussein was ambushed. His driver was found dead on the scene, but the officer and the cash are missing. "The officer was Colonel Will Ryan, Agent Gibbs." Gibbs is completely surprised, but Morrow continues. The FBI sent footage of Colonel Ryan entering the country at Dulles airport two days earlier. Ryan was traveling under an assumed name. The FBI believes he may have staged the ambush and kept the money for himself. "Not possible, sir," Gibbs says, "If he's back in the States I guarantee he's got a damn good reason." Morrow would like to know that reason. Their job is to find him and bring him in. "If he's turned on us, it could compromise half of our operations in Iraq." "The Colonel would rather die than betray our country, sir," Gibbs tells him. Morrow hopes that's true, but as of today Ryan has made the FBI's most-wanted list.

In Forensics, Abby has reviewed the airport surveillance footage. It looks like Ryan is talking to someone, but she can't tell who. She'll continue searching.

Kate notes that Ryan served as an instructor in the Corps' SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) school for three years. Tony is curious about Gibbs' package, and vigorously shakes it to guess what might be inside. Gibbs is not amused when he catches Tony with the package. Kate tells him that Ryan will likely be hard to find, but Gibbs has a good idea of where to start looking. He'll tell them on the way. Tony and Kate leave to get the sedan as Gibbs opens his package.

It contains a silver Marine pocket flask and a scrawled note. The note reads, "Millions being smuggled out of Iraq. Used to fund covert operations outside military and government oversight. I'll contact when I know more." The flask is engraved: it was a 1991 gift from Gunnery Sergeant L.J. Gibbs to Lt. Colonel W.D. Ryan. It contains only sand.

The NCIS car pulls up outside a rustic cabin deep in the woods. Gibbs explains that the Colonel always came to this cabin whenever he had leave. They see that the door has been broken open, and enter with sidearms drawn. No-one appears to be inside. In a bedroom, they find a man bound to a chair. He's been shot in the forehead, and died perhaps three or four hours earlier. A camera tripod is set up facing the chair. "Colonel Ryan didn't do this," Gibbs says. "Someone stormed this place. He wouldn't shoot the lock off his own door."

They see signs of blood and a struggle around the cabin, and speculate that Ryan may have been shot by unknown assailants while trying to escape through a back door. Gibbs hears some sort of beeping, and traces the noise to the bedroom. He looks underneath the bed and spots a bomb! They race out of the cabin, take cover behind the car and... nothing happens.

Some time later, they're still taking cover behind the car. Gibbs is whittling to pass the time while Kate types on her PDA. He assures her yet again that it really was a bomb. DiNozzo notes that EOD is taking a long time to arrive. Ducky and Gerald arrive in the ME van. "Gibbs thought he saw a bomb," Kate tells them.
"What do you mean, thought?"
"Do I really have to say it?" she asks.
"Say what?"
"Yes, Kate, say what?" Ducky urges.
"You need glasses, Gibbs. Are you happy?"
The bomb explodes.
When they recover, Gibbs looks back at Kate. "I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch that last part."

In Autopsy, Gibbs presses Ducky for a quick identification of the dead man they had found in the cabin. It will be a challenge, since the body is badly burned and mangled from the explosion. He might be able to match DNA, but it will take nine or ten days. "I don't suppose any of you bothered to take his photograph before you ran screaming from the place." Gibbs asks Kate to sketch the man with Tony's help. "Nobody talks about this case unless it's with me!"

Upstairs, Gibbs' phone rings. It's Ryan, calling from a pay phone in a bar, and he wants to meet with Gibbs. "Negative," Ryan says, "That's the first place they'll try to re-acquire me." "Who?" "That's kind of what I'm trying to figure out, Gunny." He wants to meet at midnight at the bar where Gibbs bought the flask. He cautions Gibbs not to be followed. After hanging up, Ryans returns to a booth where he talks with a companion. The other man urges Ryan not to trust Gibbs, because people can change. "What if you're wrong, sir?" the man asks. Ryan shows his handgun. "There's a first time for everything," he says.

Kate is struggling with the sketch. Tony offers to help, and sketches a simple stick figure. Gibbs arrives and wants them to concentrate on anyone shipping currency into or out of Iraq. He leaves for the bar, but notices two men in black suits following him. Gibbs strolls through a mall, purchases an umbrella, then leaves and blocks the door closed by putting the umbrella through the handles. He chuckles as he leaves the frustrated followers behind.

In the bar, Ryan talks with his companion. "There was a time you would have trusted Gunnery Sergeant Gibbs with your life, Lieutenant." "But what if he's followed, sir?" That would compromise both of them. Ryan agrees that they should split up. The man moves away. Gibbs arrives and helps the Colonel to his feet, noticing that Ryan has a wound near his knee. They talk near the empty pool tables, away from other patrons.

Ryan explains that his task force was charged with recovering cash that Saddam Hussein has stashed around the country. They found about $30 million dollars. But Ryan started noticing discrepancies, errors and missing reports. He believes that someone high in the chain of command has been stealing money. He set up a decoy shipment of $2 million in cash to draw them out. "It worked, just not the way I intended. They killed my man and captured me." "Who?" "CIA, NSA, hell NCIS for all I know. These guys have black ops stamped all over them. They're stealing money to fund -something- and they're killing anyone who finds out about it."

Ryan is surprised to hear that the man in his cabin was dead - Ryan had been interrogating him to find out what was going on. He's been in the country for the last ten days. Gibbs urges him to come into NCIS, but Ryan declines. He's afraid that the perpetrators have infiltrated every level. He did videotape his interrogation, but the cassette was damaged when his cabin was shot up. Gibbs will give it to Abby to see what she can recover. Ryan leaves.

In Forensics, Abby is frustrated. She has spent all day reviewing airport tapes. She was unable to find Ryan on other other tapes, she's determined that the video provided by the FBI was from a week and a half earlier (not two days ago). She's even more frustrated when Gibbs tells her those facts before she can tell him. "Did I mention that I spent all day doing this?" she asks. "The FBI lied to us," Gibbs says, "They've been using us to find Ryan this whole time."

The next morning, FBI Agent Fornell and his team arrive bearing coffee and gifts for the team. He and Gibbs begin to argue over who would be leading the case. Gibbs takes Fornell "to have a little chat in private" in the NCIS elevator. Gibbs doesn't appreciate that Fornell lied to NCIS, but Fornell says it was justified. One of the FBI men disappeared shortly after reported that he had seen Ryan. "Next time, just ask for our help," Gibbs concludes. "You don't exactly have a reputation for playing well with others, Gibbs." "Well, maybe I might have been able to help save him!" Fornell is surprised. "What do you mean, save him?"

In Autopsy, the FBI team decides that Colonel Ryan is now a murderer. The NCIS team disagrees, citing the evidence of the break-in and gunfight at the cabin. Unfortunately, that evidence was all destroyed in the explosion. Gibbs walks away saying that he'll get the necessary evidence any way he can; Fornell says that if Gibbs protects Ryan, then the FBI will charge Gibbs with being an accessory to murder. After the FBI team leaves, Kate and Tony ask Ducky for advice - they think Gibbs doesn't trust them. Ducky believes the opposite is true and that Gibbs is protecting them from legal charges by not telling them about Ryan. He suggests that they should tell Gibbs that they're willing to help him in any way they can.

In the evidence garage Kate, Abby and Tony confront Gibbs. They "lifted" ("borrowed", "stole") Gibbs' cell phone when he wasn't looking and traced the Colonel's call to the bar. They talked to the bartender, who recognized pictures of both Gibbs and the Colonel. They're willing to back Gibbs' play, but need to know what it is. All he has ever had to do is ask. "I'll remember that for next time," Gibbs agrees and turns Ryan's shattered video tape over to Abby for processing. "But Tony, the next time you touch my cell phone, I'll break your fingers."

In Forensics, Abby reviews what she can recover from the tape. Ryan is interrogating the FBI agent, demanding to know details of the organization stealing the money. While Ryan is visible on camera, gunshots ring out just as the recoverable part of the tape ends. On the recording, Ryan talked to someone off-camera that he called Lieutenant Cameron. Gibbs and Ryan used to work with someone by that name, but he died fourteen years ago. Gibbs has Kate try to find other Camerons in the Pentagon databases; Abby and Tony will transcribe the tape. Gibbs goes home to think.

In his basement, Gibbs is surprised to find Ryan waiting for him. Ryan says that he really is working with their former company Executive Officer, Lieutenant Cameron. Gibbs reminds Ryan that Cameron died in his arms, but Ryan claims it was faked. The shadow organization has existed ever since Desert Storm; they had recruited Cameron, but he tricked them and came back to Ryan. Gibbs wants to take Ryan in for help, but Ryan won't cooperate. Ryan finally has Cameron step out of the shadows. Gibbs doesn't move. "He doesn't look happy to see me, Colonel" Ryan says.

Ryan explains that the group has been influencing national policy for years, creating bad and misleading intelligence on Iraq and the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Lt. Cameron has been infiltrating the group as part of a small cell. Ryan and Cameron have been trying to trace the leadership of the organization. Gibbs says they should get help and that they're outgunned. Ryan says that he has "made preparations". The $2 million dollars has been well hidden, and wasn't in the cabin. Gibbs tells Ryan to trust him. "I trust you, Gunny. The question is whether you're prepared to believe it."

In the squadroom, Gibbs is two hours late. Fornell arrives with a warrant for Gibbs' arrest, certain that Gibbs is with Ryan.

Ryan has taken Gibbs to a dark warehouse that he calls their base of operations. He uncovers large stacks of weapons and munitions that had been smuggled out of Iraq. Ryan's plan is to expose the shadow organisation by force if necessary. Half of the missing money is there, the other half is at a different location. Ryan says that he's known the Lieutenant was alive for the last two years, and that Cameron is "close" but not present. Gibbs tells Ryan that he needs to call his team to see if they were able to recover any information from the tape.

Tony gets the call. "Where the hell are you? Fornell's here with a warrant for your arrest."
"Well then, it's a good thing I'm not there."
"This is serious. He thinks you're with Colonel Ryan."
"Well, he's smarter than he looks! I need you to get Abby to pull whatever she can off that videotape for me."
"What are we looking for?"
"Anything that will prove that Colonel Ryan did not kill that FBI agent."
(Someone is monitoring the call with high-tech equipment. "We've got a solid contact," a voice says.)
"Whatever you do, don't come back here," Tony tells Gibbs.
"Wasn't planning on it. I'll be in touch."
"I just hope you know..." Click. Gibbs has hung up.
The FBI team tracing the call has got the location. The interception team is dispatched.

Abby has managed to get one shadow image of someone off the video tape. Using a new enhancement program based on a NASA algorithm used on Mars, she's able to combine several video frames together to bring out more detail. Kate recognizes the man from the file work Gibbs had her do. He's a reserve army colonel with one of the units responsible for transferring money out of Iraq.

In the warehouse, Gibbs presses Ryan for more information. "I need to know what Cameron's been telling you."
"Enough to convince me they have people in every branch of our government."
"How do you know you can believe him?"
"He saved my life in Iraq. He has no reason to lie."

The FBI assault team arrives at the the warehouse and takes up their position outside.

Kate calls Gibbs. The reserve officer is Mike Granger, and she passes along the address of Granger's business.
"I know who's behind your conspiracy," Gibbs tells Ryan, "We ID'd him off the tape."
"That his address?"
"Yeah, it is. We can pick him up for questioning."
"No, no. You don't cut off conspiracy by cutting off foot soldiers, you -strike-. At the head."
"You've got to trust me..."
"Trust you? Like the Lieutenant trusted you? Or have you forgotten about Lieutenant Cameron?"
"No sir! I have not forgotten him! I think about him every night! Have you forgotten him, sir?"

The FBI team storms the warehouse. Ryan is wounded in the leg when the FBI opens fire, but still manages to escape.

Outside the warehouse, Gibbs convinces Fornell to let Gibbs bring Ryan in, without the trigger-happy FBI squad. The two of them arrive at Granger's business just in time to hear a frighted shriek from the executive offices. Fornell reaches for his gun. "You take a shot at him, you answer to me" Gibbs says. "I can live with that," Fornell decides. They head for the offices.

Colonel Ryan has a gun aimed at Granger's head, and demands to know who Granger is working for.
Terrified, Granger says they stole the money for themselves.
"You think he'll talk if I blow his kneecap off, Lieutenant?" Ryan asks.
Cameron, standing in the doorway, nods.
Fornell and Gibbs are around the corner. "Who's in there with him?" Fornell asks.
"An old friend," Gibbs answers. "Stay here. I'll bring him out." Gibbs moves around the corner.

Ryan is still holding the gun on Granger and demanding answers about the organization. He finally clubs Granger with the gun, knocking him unconscious.

Unarmed, Gibbs walks down the hallway. He ignores Lt. Cameron, who has a gun pointed at Gibbs. "Colonel," Gibbs calls.
"I told you we couldn't trust the gunny", Cameron says.
"Put the gun down, sir," Gibbs tells Ryan. "There is no conspiracy."
Ryan is also aiming at Gibbs.
"He led them to the warehouse. You can't believe a thing he says, sir" Cameron says.
"The lieutenant's right," Ryan whispers.
"Put the gun down!" Fornell calls as he steps into the hallway.
Cameron quickly aims at Fornell.
Gibbs doesn't flinch. "I told you to wait in the hall," he quietly tells Fornell.
"As much as I'd like to, I'm not going to let him shoot you, Gibbs. Drop it, now!"
"This whole thing was a setup!" Cameron calls.
"Why would you do that, now?" Ryan asks Gibbs. "I don't understand."
"Neither did Lieutenant Cameron when he died, sir." Gibbs is very calm.
"I'm not dead, sir, I'm right here!" Cameron insists.
"I can see that, Lieutenant!" Ryan responds. He's sweating with tension, his gun still trained on Gibbs.
"Lieutenant Cameron bled out in my arms, sir. I couldn't save him."
"Shut up, Gunny!" Cameron shouts.
"Where is the Lieutenant, Colonel?" Gibbs asks.
The camera cuts to a view of the full room. We see Fornell, Gibbs and Ryan, but no Cameron.
"Is he behind me?" Gibbs asks. He turns to look back.

"I said shut up!" Cameron shouts again. He's weaker, less confident. He staggers back against a door for support. He looks down, and there's suddenly blood on his shirt. Cameron drops his gun, looks at Ryan. "Don't do this to me," he pleads. "Not again."

Ryan looks unsure.

"The Lieutenant died a long time ago, sir." Gibbs says. "There's a part of you that I know remembers that!"

Ryan's uncertainty grows. "That not.. no, that's not.. that can't be true. That, that can't be true" he stammers. He looks back and forth between Gibbs and Cameron.
Cameron is holding his hands against his wound. He starts to gasp for breath.
"Give me the gun, Colonel. Let me get you some help."
Cameron sighs and slides down the wall. His outline becomes blurry.
Ryan's tension increases.
Cameron slumps to the floor and fades from view.

"Sir?" Gibbs asks.
Ryan suddenly points the gun at his own head.
"Colonel! You want to shoot somebody, shoot me!" Gibbs calls. "Lieutenant Cameron died saving MY life!"

Ryan can't decide what to do. He trembles violently and finally holds the gun out to Gibbs. He starts to fall, but Gibbs catches him. "Colonel..."
Ryan sobs against Gibbs' shoulder. "I don't understand, Gibbs."
"It's OK. None of us ever do."

In the hospital, a doctor explains that it's rare for paranoid schizophrenia to strike so late in life, but that he hopes that the Colonel can recover with proper medication. "Any idea why the Colonel fixated on Lt. Cameron, Gibbs?" Kate asks. Gibbs believes so, and remembers Cameron's final words as he died in Gibbs' arms. "I don't understand."

The camera cuts to a close-up of Colonel Ryan in his hospital room. "I don't understand," he whispers.
"I don't understand."
"I don't understand."
"I don't understand."

End Credits