Original subtitles

HANK: Okay, Jake, let's, uh,

give it a little gas.

(grunts) And that was the brake.

I know, Dad, but you told me to be careful

- with your car. - On the road.

We haven't even left the driveway yet.

Now, come on. Show me what this baby can do.

- What are you doing? - This is pointless.

I don't need to learn to drive.

What are you talking about?

How are you gonna get to school?

I'll take the bus. I like the bus.

What about after school, meeting up with friends?

I hang out on Discord.

Where?

It's onli... Look, forget it, Dad.

Listen, Jake, I know the world is changing

and I don't always understand it,

but trust me, some things never change.

Sooner or later, you're gonna have to drive.

(thump)

What the...

You've got to be kidding me.

You stay here.

Hey, man. You're gonna have to pay for any damage...

- Back off. - Whoa, man!

- Step away from the car. - It's cool. Forget I said anything.

Wait. What are you doing?

Don't hurt my son! Or my car!

- Drive. - (engine starts)

Wait. What the...

What are you doing?! Wait, wai-wait...

Hey!

Jake! No!

Jake! Jake!

Jake!

♪

And then if you read a little further down the page,

you can see where the coroner notes acute trauma

to the occipital bone.

Uh, in a front-on collision, why would there be an injury

to the back of her head?

I know, uh, seat belts weren't exactly a thing back then,

but even that wouldn't account for an injury such as this.

So, I hope you can understand why I thought it was time

to show you this.

You think my mom was murdered.

This does bring up a lot of questions.

In order to get answers, we may need to move on

to the next step.

I would need to exhume your mother's body.

With your permission, of course.

I don't understand.

W-Well, I-I would need to see her body in order to verify

- these injuries, and then... - No, no, Jimmy.

What I don't understand is why we're even talking about this.

- Now I don't understand. - I asked you

to find my mother's grave, that's it.

Not track down the death certificate

or the coroner's report, and I certainly

didn't ask you to make a federal case out of it

and share it with the entire team.

Well, no, of course you didn't, but I... I-I just saw

all these discrepancies, and then I did

- what Dr. Mallard trained me to do... - No. No, no, no.

Don't blame Ducky for this.

I told you I was looking for closure.

This is the opposite of that.

I wanted to close an old wound, not open a new one.

I am so sorry.

I-I did not mean to... I just thought

that you would want answers. Uh, this was your mother.

You didn't know my mother and if you had, you'd understand.

I don't want these kind of answers.

Nothing good can come from this.

(phone dings)

All right, we've got a case.

- I'll grab my things. - Don't bother.

We don't need you on this one.

(door slides closed)

What the hell kind of operation

is the Navy running anyway?

You don't have enough wars to fight overseas,

so you got to launch an invasion on Broadview Terrace?

Mr. Larson, I understand that you are upset,

but we need your help finding your son.

Does Jacob have a phone that we can track?

Yeah, but I told him to leave it in the house

during the driving lesson.

What about his car-- is there a GPS?

She's a '73 Mustang.

PARKER: Do you know anyone

that might have reason to kidnap your son?

What? No.

No, this wasn't a kidnapping, this was a carjacking.

You think this guy did all of this

just to get your Mustang?

Look at her. She's a thing of beauty.

You know how many offers I've gotten to buy her off me?

I'd never sell her.

Charlene's like a daughter to me. Mm.

Oh, it's just a nickname.

You people name ships, right?

- Oh, yeah. - KNIGHT: You know, how about we

- get back to your other child. - (phone rings)

Oh...

It's my wife.

Please... please, find my son.

- Hello? - Charlene, huh?

We have state police manning checkpoints

and every highway in a 20-mile radius.

- Everyone's looking for a paratrooper. - PARKER: All right, well,

- what do you think? Who we looking at? - I don't know, if you ask me,

someone who's watched way too many Tom Cruise movies.

Except it's, uh, not Maverick,

- it's Kingfisher. - PARKER: Paratrooper's

- call sign? - Ran it through our database,

real name came back.

Lieutenant Max Winger. He's a Leap Frog.

- I thought he was a Kingfisher. - Leap Frogs are the Navy's

performance skydiving team.

They do shows for civilians.

You know, football games, air shows.

This guy was on the ground before 8:00 a.m.

Little early for a show.

McGEE: I spoke with his CO. Apparently,

Leap Frogs had a practice jump this morning out of Trapnell.

She said that Winger broke away from his team midair,

no warning, no explanation.

KNIGHT: We don't really think

he did all of this just to steal a car, do we?

Well, if he did, he's really bad at stealing cars.

- Incoming. Incoming, incoming. - PARKER: What the hell?

Stop!

PARKER: Stop! Stop! Hey! Stop! Stop! Hey!

Federal agents!

Jake! My baby!

- Step back. - PARKER: NCIS!

Out of the car! Hands up!

It's just me. I'm alone.

Oh, thank God.

Thank God. I was so worried.

Wait. Is that a scratch?

- What the hell happened? - PARKER: Uh,

more importantly, where's the guy who kidnapped you?

I-I dropped him off.

I guess he just really needed a ride.

Come here.

So, you're telling me that this guy dropped 15,000 feet,

hijacked a car, just to get a ride to his own house?

What, did he leave the stove on?

Not exactly. When we got to the house, we found a body.

Navy Captain David Cruz.

He was shot three times. We found three spent casings

and a gun at the scene.

Navy says it was issued to our Leap Frog.

VANCE: So, you think Lieutenant Winger

- was the shooter. - Looks that way,

but he was long gone by the time we showed up.

We put out a BOLO, but

Winger is a highly trained Navy SEAL.

You know, I thought that name sounded familiar.

Wasn't Winger captured by the Taliban

- during the withdrawal from Afghanistan? - That's right.

- PARKER: They held him captive for over two years. - Right,

until the State Department negotiated his return

last December.

This guy's a war hero.

Yeah. Now that hero looks like a murderer.

So, what do you think caused him to snap?

- Did Winger serve with his victim? - No.

There's no indication they even know each other.

Then what the hell was Cruz doing at Winger's house?

That might be a question for Mrs. Winger.

We found Cruz's body in the master bedroom,

shirt untucked.

- Sheets were a mess. - Hmm.

Maybe Mrs. Winger got lonely, and...

- he finally found out. - Might explain why

he was in such a hurry to get home.

- Oh, my. - SARAH: You think

I'm cheating on my husband?

I wasn't even home when this happened.

I was at a PTA meeting at my son's school.

There are dozens of witnesses.

Ms. Winger, we're not disputing your alibi for the murder.

We're trying to figure out why Captain Cruz was

- in your home. - I've never seen this man before

in my life, let alone in my house.

He must have been trying to rob us and Max stopped him.

There was no sign of forced entry.

I love my husband.

I took a sacred vow when I married him,

and I will never break it.

And Max would never kill anyone

unless they were a threat to him or to us.

He would do anything to protect his family.

Mrs. Winger, are you and your husband still living together?

When we were searching your house,

we noticed that all your husband's clothes were missing.

Like he moved out.

We've been...

...struggling since he came back from Afghanistan.

You can't imagine what he went through over there.

The Taliban starved him,

beat him, made him sleep in filth.

So, when he came back, he was

a different person.

Different husband.

We started counseling with the Navy chaplain.

And for a while, it was working.

Max was more affectionate with me,

he was playing with Oliver.

But three weeks ago, he just left.

Said it was for the best.

Do you know where he moved to?

Yeah, an apartment in Anacostia.

Address is in my phone.

You can check my texts, emails, whatever you want.

Thank you.

My husband is a good, Christian man, Agent Knight.

He's a not a killer.

JIMMY: Kasie confirmed it.

Based on her ballistics report,

the bullets that killed Captain Cruz

came from Lieutenant Winger's gun.

The irony is that Captain Cruz

was already knocking on death's door.

A bullet was not the only thing I found in his brain.

Look at this.

That is a glioblastoma.

- A tumor? - Yeah, an aggressive one.

My guess is he probably would have only had

about 12 months to live.

- Did he know about it? - His medical file

didn't mention any cancer at all.

Maybe Parker was right.

What you don't know can't hurt you.

Yeah, I, uh, heard you talked to Parker about his mom.

I messed up, Tim.

He didn't take it well.

Yeah, I heard... heard that, too.

Listen, don't... don't beat yourself up, okay?

You-you thought that you were doing the right thing,

you thought you were helping him.

I did the exact opposite. I hurt him.

Parker said that I reopened an old wound.

Well, I'm sorry, Jimmy.

We should have been there to back you up.

Uh, no, you guys warned me that was a risky road to go down.

I just kept walking.

(scoffs) Please. You're a medical examiner.

It's what you do. Far as I'm concerned,

you got nothing to be sorry about.

But I'm still glad it wasn't me that he yelled at.

- McGEE: Uh, you got something, Kase? - Oh, yes.

I think I found a connection between Winger and our victim.

Using cell phone records,

I retraced both Winger and Cruz's locations

over the past week.

I discovered they coincided

at one place and one time.

Two days ago, at the Navy Yard chapel.

So, maybe the chaplain knows something.

- All right, thanks, Kase. Jimmy? - Hmm?

- It'll be okay. - Yeah.

Oh, yeah. I'm getting flashbacks

- to all the base chapels - (phone beeping)

my dad used to drag me to as a kid.

Uh, Torres and Knight just checked out

Winger's apartment. No sign of him there.

Sorry, gentlemen.

You just missed the pre-deployment blessing.

NCIS. We'd like a word with the chaplain.

Of course. Uh, he's currently taking confession

in the chapel right now, but he should be out shortly.

But I'm afraid there are

no weapons allowed inside the chapel.

You are the chaplain's assistant?

Seaman Morris, religious programming specialist.

Do you recognize these men?

Yes, I do. Uh, why? Is everything okay?

We think they were both here two days ago.

Do you have any idea why?

No, I don't, but, um...

Well, you can ask him yourself. He's here right now.

Lieutenant Winger is here in the chapel now?

With the chaplain. Yes, sir.

McGEE: NCIS.

PARKER: Chaplain?

I'm Special Agent Parker. Are you all right?

Oh, I'm fine.

But if, uh, you're looking for Lieutenant Winger,

he isn't here anymore.

He gave confession, then left out the back.

All right, I'm on it.

What did Winger say? Did he say where he was going?

Oh, I'm afraid I can't tell you that.

Excuse me?

Everything Lieutenant Winger told me,

including his whereabouts, is confidential.

It's protected by the seal of confession.

With all due respect, Chaplain, uh,

Lieutenant Winger murdered someone this morning,

so if you know where he's going, you need to tell me.

Well, then it looks like we have a problem, Agent Parker,

because the way I see it, I don't have to tell you anything.

I answer to a higher authority.

Well, you don't see that every day.

Am I missing something?

I mean, are we even allowed to interrogate him?

Technically, no.

- Then why is he here, McGee? - Because by the time

I got back to the chapel, Parker already had him cuffed.

- He handcuffed a chaplain? - Mm-hmm.

Oh, man, we're getting struck by lightning.

Or fired, but, um,

that seems to be a risk Parker is willing to take.

TORRES: Mm.

Commander Charles Gage.

Charlie the Chaplain.

Yeah, I've heard that before.

I'm more of a Buster Keaton fan, if I'm being honest.

- Fits you, though. - Why's that?

'Cause you're not talking.

(chuckles) That's very funny.

No, uh, we've been over this, Agent Parker.

SECNAV instruction 1730.11

protects private communication

between clergy and those seeking counsel.

Tell that to Captain David Cruz.

Nothing protected him.

He was murdered this morning by this man.

Lieutenant Max Winger, who was last seen

- talking to you. - Not talking. Confessing.

Yeah. Yeah, I bet.

Uh, murder, kidnapping, grand theft auto.

How many Our Fathers

and Hail Marys was that?

Are you a man of faith, Agent Parker?

- We're not talking about me. - Except I need you to understand.

We're not just dealing with the laws of man here.

The seal of confession is inviolable. It extends

- even into the hereafter. - And I'm talking

about the here and now.

This man is a trained killer.

What else is there to understand?

You like war movies?

(chuckles) Okay. This...

- Stop changing the subject. - No, I'm not.

When I was growing up, I loved war movies. Uh, Patton,

Platoon, The Dirty Dozen. I saw 'em all.

Then I saw the real thing. Iraq, 2007. The surge.

Lost a lot of good men.

But they taught me something no movie ever could.

In battle, you put your faith

in the men serving alongside you.

You trust them with your life.

So, when a service member

walks into my chapel

and tells me his deepest secrets,

he's trusting me with their life.

If I betray that trust, I put him in danger.

I put the entire unit in danger.

We're not just talking about protecting Lieutenant Winger.

We're talking about protecting

all of the men and women who serve.

Nice sermon.

My dad would have approved.

He liked war movies, too.

But this isn't Iraq, Chaplain,

and Lieutenant Winger is not at war, but still,

people are dying.

Chaplain Gage, I am NCIS Director Leon Vance.

I'm sorry you've been detained.

Please accept my apology for this inconvenience.

Seems that there's been a misunderstanding.

I agree, Director.

You're free to go.

And I assure you that

Agent Parker will get a refresher on Navy regulations.

No harm done.

Agent Parker was just trying to do the right thing. As am I.

Agent Paulson will see you out.

- The hell were you thinking? - I was thinking

that the last time a priest held out on me,

it turns out he was an international drug lord.

He's a base chaplain, not El Padre.

You should have cleared this

- with me. - Why?

I know what you would have said.

Same thing you've been saying for months.

"Tread lightly, keep it low-key, we don't need bad press."

- We don't. - Well,

imagine how bad it's gonna be

if Winger kills again.

Do you ever consider that I have a good reason

- to say those things? - Well, if you're

ready to share, Leon, I'm ready to listen.

(door closes)

- Wow. - Yeah. It was Biblical.

And it wasn't just the chaplain. It was Vance, too.

Mm, Parker's on a tear today.

He could have gotten into a lot of trouble

- for arresting the chaplain. - TORRES: Maybe it wasn't

about the chaplain.

Maybe it was about the chaplain's boss.

You think Parker's got a beef with God?

After the year he's had, wouldn't you?

Where are we at with Winger?

We have agents outside

his apartment and his house.

His wife and son have a full security detail.

What about bank accounts? He can't get far without cash.

Well, uh, no recent transactions,

but there's not a lot to draw from.

The Wingers are living paycheck to paycheck.

- Phone records? - That's where it gets interesting.

Winger preferred to use an encrypted messaging app.

Turns out he received a voice message just minutes before

his Leap Frog jump this morning.

Well, now we're talking. Play it.

Well, we-we don't have the actual message.

The company is citing customer privacy

and demanding a court order, so...

And I'm gonna get a court order.

Winger's psych eval. Go.

Uh, conducted by a Navy psychologist

after Winger's release from Taliban custody.

They diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress,

but found him remarkably stable

given the trauma that he'd been through.

Yeah, I bet they'd like to revise that assessment now.

Especially since I found more trauma.

This is Lieutenant Junior Grade Liam O'Brien.

He's a Leap Frog, just like Winger.

He fell to his death three months ago.

Parachute malfunction.

KNIGHT: According to the Leap Frogs that we spoke to,

Liam and Winger were really close friends.

And losing a buddy that soon after being a Taliban prisoner,

that's a lot, even for a Navy SEAL.

Sure, but, uh, parachute malfunctions

- don't happen every day. - Are you thinking foul play?

I think that, in light of what we now know about Winger,

we can't rule anything out. Keep digging.

Watch out, Katy Perry.

Jessica Knight is ready for blast-off.

Mm-hmm. Funny, but, uh, no, not quite.

This is NCIS: ELITE's new jumpsuit.

It's been five months.

Do you even know what you're training for?

Well, on some days, it is hostile extractions, other days,

it is CBRN response, but, uh, really,

I'm still just an astronaut waiting to go to space.

Well, it's better than plunging back to the earth.

- Just ask Liam O'Brien. - Oh, Winger's friend.

- These were his parachute rigs? - Yup.

- So what caused the malfunction? - Uh, for starters,

the main chute experienced some broken suspension lines.

They snapped clean, sent Liam into a spin.

Don't Leap Frogs train for that?

They sure do, and Liam knew the drill.

He cut his main away, pulled his reserve,

it didn't deploy because of this pin.

It dislodged and caused a horseshoe malfunction.

That's where the chute won't leave the bag.

Leap Frogs train to clear those also,

but at that point,

Liam was under 400 feet and dropping fast.

Just didn't have enough time.

- So was it an accident? - The preliminary

investigation found no evidence of sabotage,

- but... - You did your thing.

I did my thing. Swabbed for touch DNA,

dusted for prints.

Only found Liam's DNA and prints,

except on this pin,

where I also found Winger's.

Damn, Kasie. Maybe you should be in ELITE.

Oh, count me in. You know I love a good costume.

Mm-hmm.

I agree, Jess, a little touch DNA

doesn't mean that Winger killed his friend.

But if he did, it means whatever was going on with him

happened long before he stole that car this morning.

You got to wonder what he's been hiding.

Uh-huh. Yeah.

(knocking)

Look, I got to go. I'll see you in the morning.

Okay.

Hope you don't mind the intrusion.

That depends. You here to confess?

In a manner of speaking.

Come in.

Impressive.

You're like Bruce Dern in Silent Running.

If you mean the guy whose garden becomes a crime scene?

Well, you're closer than you think, Padre.

Of course. That's actually why I'm here.

I owe you an apology.

I didn't realize it at first, but I know you, Agent Parker.

I helped arrange your father's burial at sea.

I even met your sister, the vice admiral.

She talked at great length about your father and you.

So that's it? You just came here to...

apologize?

- Well, apology accepted. - Agent Parker,

are you familiar with Hillel the Elder?

Uh, Jewish scholar.

There's a proverb of his that I find myself returning to.

"If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?"

- Meaning? - Help yourself

so that you can better help others.

Your, uh, pulpit is showing, preacher.

Losing a father is hard,

at any age, and especially the way you lost yours.

I was wondering if perhaps you talked to anyone about it?

Your sister found

comfort in faith, in prayer.

I thought it might help you, too.

My father prayed.

Every night.

Read his Bible, too.

This one.

Oh, yeah.

"The Lord shall fight for you...

...and ye shall hold your peace."

He was a man of faith.

PARKER: Yes, he was.

What good did it do?

Because he was murdered right here

in that chair.

So, thank you, Chaplain.

I don't need your thoughts and prayers.

I need your help in finding a killer.

Anything else is a waste of time.

I'll say good night now.

(door opens)

(door closes)

All right, we are casting a wider net for Winger.

Border patrol is doing searches at every crossing.

I still don't buy that he's on the run.

Doesn't fit his psych profile.

Guy was held prisoner by the Taliban for two years.

I mean, who knows what's going through his head.

So, post-traumatic stress?

That's not really much of a theory.

Unfortunately, it's the only one we have right now.

Except PTS doesn't make somebody violent. It has to be combined

- with other risk factors. - Sure.

Anger issues, alcohol, drug use, yeah.

And we have no evidence that Winger

has a history of any of those things.

(phone rings)

Special Agent McGee.

Oh, Chaplain. How can I help you?

Uh, no, I think we would have found it.

Yeah. No, we, uh, we will let you know.

Let me guess, the chaplain's looking for Parker's lost soul?

Funny. No, uh,

Chaplain's actually looking for his lost ID.

Thinks he left it here accidentally when he was

"visiting" for his interrogation.

- Or someone took it. - What makes you say that?

We weren't the only visit the chaplain had yesterday.

Winger?

All right, let me pull up the chaplain's ID logs.

Okay, last time his ID was used

was yesterday evening at the Navy munitions depot.

Security cameras?

Uh, yeah, trying to access them now.

Parker was right. Winger was hiding more than we thought.

I found a loose floorboard in Winger's apartment,

and these were hidden underneath.

- KNIGHT: A Quran? - Yeah, and a prayer rug.

But Winger's Catholic.

Yeah, but he was also a Taliban prisoner

- for two years. - Are you saying

- he converted? - I'm saying that

maybe he had no choice.

And it might have been more than

a religious conversion. Take a look at this.

Six minutes after the chaplain's ID was used

to scan into the depot, Winger came out of a side exit.

KNIGHT: And he wasn't empty-handed.

- What exactly is in that building? - Well, it's climate-controlled.

Typically, that means chemicals or...

Explosives.

Winger's wife said he came back a different man.

We are not just looking for a killer anymore.

We may be looking for

a terrorist sleeper agent.

And we'll need to start decorating for Christmas soon.

I'll show you where we keep the boxes.

You lied to me.

Give us a moment.

Agent Parker, even you must know

that bearing false witness is a sin.

One of the Ten Commandments, if I'm not mistaken.

You told me Winger gave confession.

- He did. - Except

Muslims don't give Confession.

We found this hidden in Winger's apartment,

- along with a prayer rug. - You know I can't speak

about the lieutenant's personal and private beliefs,

but he did request the sacrament of confession.

Well, then he was just using you to steal your ID.

Or did you give it to him?

Took you long enough to report it missing.

Agent Parker, I'd misplace my shadow if it weren't attached.

Winger used your ID to steal something

from a munitions depot.

- Possibly a bomb. - Wait.

You think he's a terrorist?

Last night, you said something to me.

"If I'm not for myself,

who will be for me?"

But there's more to that quote, isn't there?

"If I am only for myself, what am I?"

Are you just someone that listens to people

or do you want to help them, too?

What kind of man are you, Chaplain?

I'm a man of my word, Agent Parker.

Then whatever happens next is on you.

Agent Parker, I-I heard

what you said to the chaplain. The thing is,

um, I'm also bound by confidentiality, but

I-I don't want blood on my hands.

Look, Morris, if you know something...

Yesterday, when

you asked if I had seen Winger and Cruz, I did.

I overheard them talking in the chapel. Um...

It-It's gonna sound weird, but they were arguing

about something called the O.K. Corral.

What, like... gunfight at the O.K. Corral?

I don't know what it means, but Winger also said

there was gonna be a high body count.

Oshanbad-Kundarak Air Base.

Aka...

The O.K. Corral.

Just got the file from the DoD.

It was a top secret base located in northern Afghanistan.

- Winger served there? - Yes,

along with our victim, Cruz,

and the dead Leap Frog, Liam O'Brien.

Why wasn't any of this in their file?

Because the O.K. Corral was the launch pad for covert missions

to eliminate high value Taliban terrorists.

Looks like they were successful.

Until Lieutenant Winger

was captured on one of those missions.

So, Winger and his buddies kill a bunch of Taliban.

The Taliban captures Winger,

and now it looks like Winger's killing his buddies.

You think the Taliban are using Winger

to get revenge on the people that targeted them?

I think we need to find and secure anyone else

who served in Winger's unit

because he could be going after them next.

- I'll get the names. - (knocking)

- VANCE: Yes, come in. - Sorry to interrupt.

- You got something? - Remember the encrypted

voice message Winger received before his jump yesterday?

We just got access.

Does it explain why he killed Cruz?

Let's just say if I heard this message,

I'd jump out of a plane and get home as fast as I could.

SARAH: Max, it's me, it's Sarah.

There are some men in the house. They have guns,

and they're threatening to hurt me and Oliver.

You need to come home.

You need to come home or else... (screams)

MAN: Or else we kill your wife and son.

No cops. I hear a siren, they're dead.

Just you, Max. Better hurry.

Sarah, why didn't you mention this

when you spoke to us yesterday?

Because I didn't leave that message.

- Sounds like your voice. - Well, it's not.

And I think I would remember if I was held hostage.

If someone is still threatening you, we can help.

We can help protect you and Oliver.

It didn't happen. You have to believe me.

(knocking)

Agent Parker.

- Why are you here? - James 2:14.

What good is faith without deeds?

Great, more proverbs.

I thought about what you said this morning. I'm here to help.

- You'll tell me what Winger said? - No.

I'll let him tell you.

I reached out to the lieutenant, and he agreed

to meet with you, only you, Agent Parker.

Not gonna happen. If he wants to meet, he has to turn himself in.

No. I vouched for you.

I told him you're a good man

who just wants to help.

Was that a lie?

Lieutenant Winger.

I'm Special Agent Alden Parker. NCIS.

I've got agents at every exit.

A bomb squad is on site, too.

I'm unarmed. I'm just here to talk.

And I'm willing to listen,

but if you try anything,

story time is over.

(chuckles)

Something funny?

Story time.

That's what my son calls bedtime.

But I let Sarah tell the stories.

I'm too afraid mine'll give him nightmares.

I'm not a terrorist, Agent Parker.

I'm a good, Christian man.

So the, uh...

...Quran and the prayer rug

we found hidden in your apartment, those weren't yours?

Are you a man of faith, Agent Parker?

People keep asking me that.

Well, I am.

Or was.

I don't really know anymore.

Something happened to me in Afghanistan, and...

...I lost God.

So, when I got back, I tried to find Him again.

Tried the old ways, church and prayer and good works.

And when that didn't work, I tried other ways.

The prayer rug and Quran, that was one of them.

But no matter what I try,

God doesn't seem to be listening anymore.

And, boy, I tell you, I could really use

His help now that I'm being framed for murder.

I don't expect you to believe me.

I do, Lieutenant.

You received a message from your wife

just before you jumped.

- That's right. - It wasn't her.

It was a deepfake. AI-generated.

Pretty good one, too.

Almost fooled our best scientist.

It sure fooled me.

I got that message and got home fast as I could.

Cruz was already dead when I got there,

and my service weapon was lying near the body.

That's when I knew I was being set up.

Why did you run?

You had to know that would make you look guilty.

Because it was the only way to prove my innocence.

That's why I stole this.

Slowly.

It's okay. It's not what you think.

I haven't killed anyone, Agent Parker.

This dirt is what's killing everyone.

And it's killing me, too.

So Winger didn't steal explosives,

he stole soil samples?

From the O.K. Corral base in Afghanistan.

Before the Americans had the O.K. Corral,

it belonged to the Soviets.

I'm guessing they left us a mess.

Yeah, Kasie analyzed it.

That dirt is a cocktail of jet fuel,

asbestos, and depleted uranium.

Winger thinks it made him sick, really sick.

Few weeks ago, he was diagnosed

with stage four malignant melanoma.

- What's his prognosis? - Not good.

Doctors don't think he has long to live.

How can he be certain that the base is to blame?

Because he wasn't the only one to get sick.

Captain David Cruz.

Served at O.K. Corral for over a year.

Our M.E. found a brain tumor while performing his autopsy.

- He never said anything to me. - We don't think he knew.

But your friend Liam...

He knew.

Eight days before he fell to his death

in a parachute malfunction,

he was given a terminal cancer diagnosis.

It wasn't a malfunction.

Liam didn't want to die slowly, so he took a quicker way out.

You're saying he sabotaged his own parachute?

I tried to stop him, tried to fix his reserve chute, but

he must have double-checked and dislodged the pin.

And you kept the truth secret

so his family could receive full benefits.

That's what it all comes down to, right? Money.

It's the reason I needed to clear my name.

And a murder charge would have voided your pension.

And if I lose that, I've got nothing

to leave my family when I'm gone.

Three people sick, but that's just a drop in the bucket.

There were almost a thousand service members

deployed to that base during the war.

McGee's running them down.

This is a massive health crisis,

and it's flown completely under the radar.

How's that possible?

WINGER: After I was diagnosed,

Cruz and I began to suspect it was related to the O.K. Corral.

So, Cruz began making waves at the Pentagon,

trying to open an official investigation.

Next thing I knew, Cruz was dead

and I was being framed.

Someone is trying to silence us.

That's quite a theory.

Pentagon murders a whistleblower

and then, uh, frames a war hero to cover up a health crisis.

Uh, talk about bad press.

I don't give a damn about the press.

Just follow the evidence where it leads.

- (door opens) - (phone rings)

Yeah?

What do you got, Kase?

Lieutenant Winger is wrong.

About the O.K. Corral?

No, that place is toxic as hell.

He's wrong about why Captain Cruz was killed.

It wasn't a cover-up. Cruz was being blackmailed.

After tracing some reoccurring bank transactions

to Cruz's crypto wallet,

I found some encrypted messages between Cruz and a blackmailer.

- Who is it? - Oh, the messages don't say that,

but they do say what this is all about.

Meet Ensign Riley Presenza. She's a subordinate

under his command. The blackmailer found out Cruz

- was sleeping with her. - Well, if that got out,

that would have been the end of Cruz's career.

So, naturally, Cruz was paying the blackmail payments,

until two days ago, when he wrote

the blackmailer, said he was stopping the payments

and reporting it to his superiors.

I bet that didn't go over well.

Oh, the blackmailer threatened to kill Cruz,

and the next morning, Cruz was dead.

So his murder had nothing to do with the O.K. Corral?

Doesn't look like it.

Except how did the killer know

to frame Winger for murder?

NCIS didn't even know about his connection to Cruz.

Yeah, it seems like the killer

knew a lot of peoples' secrets.

Almost like they confessed them.

GAGE: So, this part here is hanging a little low,

- if you want to pull that taut. Yeah. - MORRIS: How's that?

PARKER: Little early for Christmas decorations, isn't it?

GAGE Seem to go up earlier every year.

I take it you're not here to help me

arrange the nativity scene?

No, I don't come bearing gifts, only bad news.

It turns out your confidential conversations

- (RF detector beeping steadily) - haven't been so confidential.

We isolated a large data packet

coming from the chapel whenever you were taking confessions.

I'm afraid I don't speak tech, Agent Parker.

(device beeping rapidly)

Your chapel's been bugged.

And we have proof that these recordings were used

to blackmail service members.

I-I'm sorry, Agent Parker, are you accusing me

of blackmailing people I'm supposed to help?

No. I'm accusing him.

Morris?

It's not true, Commander. Uh...

McGEE: Oh, it is.

We traced the recordings to your phone

and the crypto to your bank account.

You tried to point us in the wrong direction,

but it was never about the O.K. Corral.

You murdered Captain Cruz after he stopped paying

and set up a dying man to take the fall.

McGEE: Even framed him with his own gun.

Not hard, considering he had to remove his weapon

before entering the chapel.

(scoffs) That's right.

No guns allowed.

- Stay back or I'll shoot him. - Drop your weapon!

You hear that, Agent Parker?

(screams)

(grunting)

GAGE: "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides

by the inequities of the selfish."

Ezekiel?

Tarantino.

I can't thank you enough for what you've done for me.

Oh, it's us that should be thanking you.

I mean, after what you started,

the Pentagon now knows that military personnel

at the O.K. Corral were exposed to contaminants.

V.A. plans to extend benefits

to the veterans who, uh, served there.

I know, in your case, must be, uh...

- small consolation. - No, no. Not at all.

I'm proud of my country for doing right

by its service members.

And thanks to you,

I have my family again.

I'm blessed, Agent Parker.

OLIVER: Daddy!

♪ ♪

I don't get it.

Winger served his country.

He sacrificed everything to...

...make the world a safer place.

He was put through hell trying to get back home, and...

(chuckles)

And then, when he did...

how does God reward him?

By killing him.

Painfully and slowly, in front of his family.

(sighs)

How does he still think he's blessed?

I mean, what...

what good can come from all of this pain?

What, no proverb?

I thought at the very least

you'd have an answer for that.

I'm afraid the answer you're looking for

only God can provide.

Well, that's great.

'Cause I've been asking.

But the man upstairs refuses to talk.

Can I offer a suggestion?

Perhaps the man upstairs is talking,

but it's you who refuses to listen.

Answers rarely come from a

burning bush or a booming voice.

Most of the time,

they come from the people closest to us.

If you're truly looking for answers, Agent Parker...

...then you have to be prepared to not like what you find.

Oh, my God. Agent Parker.

I am so sorry. I meant to put that away.

Believe me, message received, loud and clear.

Not yet, Jimmy. I'm gonna need you on this one.

(door closes)

Captioning sponsored by CBS

and TOYOTA.

Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org