Original subtitles

A mother doesn't abandon her child.

I'm sorry.

Stop saying that!

He was just a young boy with a lot of potential.

So you took him in, trained him.

You were warned, brother.

My heart is black.

I should have protected him. From whom?

Myself.

Callen. I'm staying. What are you talking about?

We got to get you to a doctor. They have doctors in Cuba.

I knew when I signed up for this

I wouldn't be coming back.

Greetings and salutations!

There was a bank robbery this morning.

The robbers stole a security deposit box

that belonged to Veronica Stephens,

a former naval intelligence officer.

I mean, do you have any enemies?

That's the last 12 months.

So, you've been

keeping a record of all the people

that have been threatening you for the past 12 months?

I told you that LAPD could handle this

and that there was no reason for NCIS to get involved.

Why is that?

Because I'm a CIA officer.

Kens, gun!

Guys, you're never gonna believe this.

The Saudis never even opened it.

Oh, that's because it was never about what's inside.

It was about convincing Americans

that Iran had a spy in the government.

It's very clear there's a leak in your agency.

And somehow, NCIS has been dragged in the middle of it.

I did try to warn you.

♪ Ah ♪

♪ Come on, let's go, let's go, let's go ♪

♪ I think I wanna get gone... ♪

♪ Where are we going? Where are we going? ♪

♪ I gotta, gotta, gotta go ♪

♪ Gotta, gotta, gotta go ♪

♪ Let's go ♪

♪ Let's go, go, go. ♪

♪ NCIS: LA 11x12 ♪ Groundwork Original Air Date on January 5, 2020

== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man

Tom's a good guy.

He's a great guy. I like him.

So come hang with us.

How many other SEALs are gonna be there?

I don't know. Why?

Because at the last barbecue, everyone kept bombarding me

with inspirational quotes and workout routines.

You asked for advice.

I asked why no one was eating the potato salad.

Okay, well, this time, Tom's inviting some different people.

Oh, yeah? Like who? You know, wait. Let me guess.

Um, former Delta, former MARSOC, former Rangers?

Am I getting close here? One guy's a talent agent now.

Great. Not so fast, gentlemen.

Hetty called as you were pulling in.

She would like you both to meet her at the boatshed.

She say why? Nope.

Kensi and Deeks meeting us there?

You know how Hetty does that thing

where she doesn't give you all the pertinent information?

Only too well. Well, the Lord works

in mysterious ways. Just like Hetty, huh?

Can I get an "amen"?

Amen, sister.

Hetty?

Told you-- her car's not here.

Long time no see, boys.

What are you doing here? Where's Hetty?

Wow.

No "Nice to see you again," uh, "How you been?"

Nice to see you again. How you been? Where's Hetty?

I don't know. She just said to meet you here.

Why?

Well, as you may

or may not know, she helped the Agency out

with a situation in Cuba last year.

Yeah, we had a little...

little something to do with that.

Just a little.

All right, well,

I wasn't read into the Cuban mission,

so I don't know the particulars.

What I do know is the CIA agreed

to return the favor when Hetty asked for some help

getting a scientist out of Nigeria,

a Dr. Joseph Olonga.

Why did he need help?

Hetty believed he was a kidnapping risk.

The good doctor's on the leading edge

of agricultural engineering,

with patents in a number of emerging technologies.

The kind some countries prefer to steal

rather than pay for.

And where is the good doctor now? I don't know.

He arrived safely yesterday, but now I can't reach him.

Supposed to see him this afternoon at his hotel.

40 minutes ago, someone tried to grab me at the beach.

It could be completely unrelated, but...

What do you mean, someone tried to grab you?

I was in a Speedway parking lot in Venice,

about to take my kayak out,

when some guy in a mask just attacked me from behind

and tried to stick me with a syringe.

And I managed to get away and I alerted Hetty,

in case it had something to do with the doctor.

And, uh, she insisted that I bring you into it.

So you came here?

Well, I wasn't followed,

if that's what you're worried about.

Well, you were followed to the beach today without knowing.

He could have been waiting for me.

In that case, they knew your daily routine.

Either way, it's shoddy tradecraft.

And here I thought we were friends.

Stay here. You'll be safe.

If you weren't followed. We'll see what we can find out.

Wait, hold-- whoa-whoa-whoa.

Slow your roll, boys. Look.

This was just a-a courtesy call for Hetty.

The CIA can handle this.

Last year, someone from your agency gave up your cover.

Have you found out who it was?

Well, I'm sure you can appreciate

that's classified information.

Well, that's an unclassified "no." Look.

From what I remember about you,

you have your fair share of enemies, okay?

The guy who attacked you is still out there,

so if you want our help, you're gonna stay here,

let us find out what's going on,

and send us everything you have on Olonga.

Make yourself at home.

At the tone, please record your message.

Hetty, it's Callen. Call me.

See? We wouldn't be having this trouble

if you were in charge of operations.

If I was in charge of operations,

I wouldn't be your partner.

Talk about a win-win.

Hey, Callen, what's up?

Nell, hey. Is Hetty there?

No. I thought she was meeting you guys at the boatshed.

Yeah, so did we. She didn't show.

Veronica Stephens did.

CIA Intel officer, Veronica Stephens?

Yeah, that's the one.

Did you actually speak to Hetty or did she just leave a message?

Yeah, I spoke with her.

Why? What's going on?

We're not exactly sure.

Can you dig into a Nigerian scientist

by the name of Joseph Olonga?

Uh, he's some sort of agricultural engineer.

- He got to L.A. yesterday. - Will do.

And see if Eric can find any footage on an altercation

that happened at the Speedway parking lot

in Venice this morning around 7:30.

Veronica Stephens said she was attacked

by an assailant wearing a mask.

Oh, geez. Okay. Anything else?

Yeah. Find Hetty.

No promises on that one.

You don't believe Veronica?

Do you?

Hetty does.

Hetty was supposed to meet us at the boatshed,

and we have no idea where she is.

Par for the course.

I don't trust the CIA.

No offense,

but they're not even supposed to be operating in this country.

For the record, I never operated in this country.

Wonderful.

Anna worked with the CIA. Yeah?

And where is she now?

Hmm?

I'm sorry.

But that's just the reality, right?

Yeah, well, she will contact me when she can.

I'll find her.

So, Veronica Stephens was right about Joseph Olonga.

He is a Nigerian agricultural engineer

who's convinced he can solve world hunger

through the use of artificial intelligence.

Wait, so you spoke with him?

No, but I confirmed that he, uh, flew into the country

via LAX yesterday afternoon.

Soon after, checked into the Hotel Erwin in Venice.

I've been trying his room, but no answer,

so I requested a wellness check.

Turns out, his belongings are there,

but he himself is not.

Hetty never mentioned this guy?

No.

But I'm afraid I no longer share the same level

of Hetty's confidence as I once did.

What about Veronica Stephens at the beach?

Eric has no evidence of what she says happened,

although there's not a ton of camera footage.

Kensi and Deeks are headed there now.

Maybe they'll find a witness.

This guy's important enough to Hetty

that she called in a favor to CIA.

The officer he was supposed to meet with was attacked,

and now the good doctor's missing.

Something's going on.

Yeah, but the only thing we know for certain

is that Hetty wanted to meet us at the boatshed.

Everything else came from Veronica Stephens,

none of which was verified.

And we still have no idea where Hetty is.

Maybe,

maybe not.

So, after everything Hetty went through with Ahkos,

I did a little digging.

Ahkos was cremated at Hollywood West.

Hetty paid for it, and she collected his remains.

Now, just six days ago, one of her alias passports

was used to enter Athens, Greece.

She's taking Ahkos home.

Mm-hmm.

So Hetty left the country and dropped this in our lap

without any explanation?

No, uh,

coded messages hidden in books

or secret thumb drives in brooches?

Not this time.

Look, we don't know that Hetty's absence

has anything to do with this.

Least we can do is do a cursory examination.

Go to Olonga's hotel, see if he's safe.

If we don't find anything, we drop it.

Okay.

What about Veronica Stephens?

She's chilling in the boatshed

until we tell her otherwise.

Are we sure about that?

It looks like she left right after you did.

This is precisely why I don't trust her.

Veronica's just doing her job.

You and I would have done the same thing.

She manipulates people for a living.

We don't?

Not people who are supposed to be on our side and helping us.

There are extenuating circumstances here.

She's under duress. I'm willing to give her

the benefit of the doubt here.

Of course you are. That's your kryptonite.

My Kr-kryptonite?

You don't think I'm a good judge of people?

That, uh, a-after all these years,

I can't tell when someone's lying to me?

Oh, no, you're good at all that. Thank you.

Unless... Here it comes.

You gonna tell me you don't give certain types of people

more doubtful benefits

than others?

You lost me at "kryptonite."

Smart. Deceitful.

Beautiful. Deadly.

Sounds like the perfect Tinder date to me.

Yeah, it is for you.

You don't see a pattern among the few select people

that are able to dupe you?

I don't get duped.

You're like Fatal Attraction with unlimited sequels.

And for the record,

none of them have been fatal.

Not yet.

Word of advice: Don't get a rabbit.

Just watch the road there, Dr. Phil.

I got the road.

If you guys see or hear anything,

please don't hesitate to call.

Thanks, man.

Yo!

Whoa. Littering's a $250 fine!

Any luck? Punks.

Yeah, what-what does it look like?

It looks like you should've listened to me.

How many times do I have to tell you?

Surfers, skaters-- these are my people.

They see you, they see the Man. The Man?

And I'm the Dude. You're an idiot.

Exactly the kind of hostile language

you'd expect from the Man.

I am warning you, Deeks.

Along with the hostile, aggressive behavior.

On the upside, parking lot right here

records every license plate that comes into it.

They're gonna get that footage to Eric.

You want to know why? Why?

'Cause people love the Dude.

No. No. Yep.

Well, if he was smart,

her attacker would have ditched his car

and, uh, come in through the boardwalk or the beach.

Escape plan, then?

I don't know. Maybe her car

or, uh, had an accomplice on standby.

It could be anything, really.

Uh, a-a bike, a scooter, a skateboard.

A Segway or a pogo stick.

That would be hilarious.

This guy's been here since 7:10 a.m.

Great. Needle, meet haystack.

Ooh, maybe not. You seeing this?

Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it.

Could be a piece of a paddle.

May I present Exhibit A!

Look at that.

Uh, yeah, that could be anything.

And also, where's all the stuff that she said she left behind?

Anything worthwhile is probably already taken.

Think they have a lost and found around here?

Yeah, they do. It's called a trash can.

Okay, so if they were after the doctor,

why bother with Veronica?

I mean, all it does is alert her to trouble.

Only in failure. I mean, think about it.

In success, no one realizes the doctor's missing

until after they realize that she is.

Still, why risk it?

Maybe it's a misdirect.

Veronica's got lots of enemies.

I can name a half a dozen foreign agencies

that would love to get their paws on her.

What if Veronica's past finally caught up with her,

and this has nothing to do with the good doctor?

Ooh, interesting.

I mean, for all we know, he could be

at Knott's Berry Farm eating funnel cake.

Damn it.

What? What?

Now I'm craving funnel cake.

Oh, gosh. Kensi.

No, baby, wait.

There's funnel cakes right down at the pier!

It's the Man, always holding me down.

Clothes, cell phone, wallet, passport, toiletries.

If this guy left,

he didn't take anything with him.

Where's his laptop?

I can't imagine a scientist, of all people,

traveling without a laptop.

So, you're sure there's no security footage

of this guest leaving the hotel?

No, sir, there's no footage of him

ever leaving this room, but you're welcome to look through

our security archives yourself.

He had to have left at some point.

No guests, no room service, no phone calls?

Uh, no, sir. No record of any of that.

Well, it's too high to go out the sliding glass.

Doesn't open enough, anyways.

We need to know who's been in these rooms.

Let's go look at the archives.

Stop.

Back that up.

He's taking the stairs.

Well, either he likes the exercise, or...

Maybe these two are trying to avoid being seen together.

You got a better shot of that employee?

Yeah, he's got a laceration on his forehead.

Veronica said she hit her attacker with a kayak paddle.

You recognize this guy?

No.

He could've just started.

Yeah.

He could also have the guy we're looking for

stashed in that cart.

Hmm.

What are you doing? What are you doing?

What are you doing? What are you doing?

I asked you first. I am looking for Hetty.

Well, I doubt she's hiding in her office.

Although she is ninja-like.

No, you dingus.

I'm looking for clues,

as in an explanation for what the hell's going on here.

Why are we whispering?

I don't know.

Eric, I very much doubt

that she'll be jumping out of that bookcase.

That's what everyone thinks

until she springs out of a drawer

or drops from an air vent like an angry mongoose.

Sure.

You know, if Hetty's out of town,

maybe she's not as involved as we think.

Well, if she is out of town, then why did she have me

tell Callen and Sam to meet her at the boatshed?

Why didn't she tell them Veronica Stephens

was gonna be there?

Maybe she was afraid

they didn't want to get involved with Veronica again.

Thought a face-to-face would help.

I don't know. Something doesn't seem right.

Okay, it's Callen.

Hey, Callen. Hey.

I just sent you images of three different men from the hotel.

- Can you try and identify them for me? - Will do.

I take it you didn't find Dr. Olonga?

Not yet, but I have a feeling one of them may know something.

Oh, we also didn't find

his laptop, but, uh, maybe we'll get lucky, they'll go online

and try and transfer some of his research data.

Well, if they do, we will sniff 'em out.

G.

That's a live feed. She's here.

Have security grab her.

Go get 'em, tiger.

Sorry. I don't know why I said that.

Don't let her leave the building.

NCIS agents on their way to you.

Where is she?

She must have split.

She wouldn't have used valet,

in case she had to get out of here fast.

She must be parked nearby.

Veronica!

Veronica, stop!

Pull over!

I'm glad you stopped.

Yeah, so am I.

Like I was saying, Fatal Attraction, baby.

Oh, so now I'm in the interrogation room.

Mm-hmm, well, you have lost your cozy privileges.

I've got news for you.

There's nothing cozy about any of this place.

Smells like... dead fish and seagulls.

Yeah, well, that's called nautical charm. Sit.

Uh, yeah, I'm not staying that long.

You tried to run me over.

Sit.

You were in the middle of the road.

Well...

Didn't take you for a drama queen.

Mm-hmm.

Hey, where's Callen?

You know him?

No. Who is he?

I'll ask the questions.

You could've gotten out of my way.

Well, you know, you probably could've stopped sooner.

What is going on?

Basically, an ongoing game of chicken.

What about him?

No. Who is he?

Liar, liar, pants on fire. No.

No, huh? No.

At least I think she's lying.

That guy's name is Peter Sanders.

He's an American with the Department of Agriculture.

He's currently assigned to Nigeria

as part of some sort of development coalition.

Dr. Olonga traveled here with him. She would know that.

He's with the Department of Agriculture.

Yeah, uh, farmersonly.com really isn't my scene.

Hmm.

Nell, did you try reaching out to him?

Yeah, but all I got was an answering machine.

I'm still waiting for a cell number.

Did these two travel with anyone else?

Not that I can find.

Well, dig into his past.

If he came with Olonga, he could be a CIA escort.

I mean, Department of Agriculture

could be official cover.

Knock, knock. Anyone order room service?

Um, what?

I got an I.D. and an address on our bellboy.

His name is Dana Farnham. Originally from Belgium.

Uh, here on a student visa

studying hotel and restaurant management

at Glenforest College-- no police record.

Is he an employee of the hotel?

Strangely enough, no.

Are we done here? I am. You're not.

Yeah, I have to leave here in probably three, two, one...

Let's roll.

Let's roll.

Uh, Callen.

You know, um, if you want to hold me,

this is really not the way to go about it.

Really? Mm-hmm.

And, uh, how would I go about holding you?

Well, you see, that's just it.

You can't.

Really? Really.

Mm-hmm.

You just made a career-ending mistake.

And I was thinking the same thing

when you almost flattened me back there.

Last chance. One phone call and you're all fired.

- I could use a vacation. - We're sorry.

Your call cannot be completed as dialed. Mm-hmm. You got jammers in here.

What? No, it's-- you know, it's probably

just the seagulls on the roof. Look, we have to go,

unless there's something else you want to tell us.

You're gonna regret this. That's what I want to tell you.

Probably.

What if I have to use the restroom?

There's a trap door in the floor. Try not to fall in.

That'll work.

Dana Farnham?

Hello?

Uh, I got a package for you at my place on Plymouth.

I don't really want to leave it out here

for the porch pirates to find.

Hello?

Guys, I don't see or hear anything.

I'm breaching the house in three, two...

Southside window.

Federal agent!

I'll go around front.

Sam, you see him? No. G?

- Not yet. - House is clear.

I'm coming to you.

Got him! Federal agents! Stop!

Oh, geez!

- Wow, geez. - Damn. - Oh.

What happened?

Ugh.

He just became a human speed bump.

Wow.

I did, uh, not need to see that.

What about you?

You okay?

Better than that guy.

Yeah, well, at least it was quick, right?

I'm pretty sure he would disagree with you on that.

Fair enough.

All right, let's count our blessings,

go see what Statler and Waldorf are up to.

Yeah.

Only found one laptop.

It's password-protected.

The screensaver is definitely not safe for work.

Our guess is it belongs to the dead guy, not Dr. Olonga.

Van's registered to Farnham. Did you find his keys?

That works.

We gonna be able to get anything off the dead man's phone?

I'd say somewhere between highly unlikely

and damn near impossible.

But Eric Beale is the Harry Potter of data recovery,

so you never know.

Oh.

No.

Kens?

Ugh.

Ugh!

Son of a bitch.

You have no idea how much trouble you're in.

That makes two of us. You need to see this.

We have reason to believe that this man

is one of at least two individuals

involved in the disappearance

of Dr. Joseph Olonga.

We also believe that he is the one

that tried to attack you this morning.

Dana Farnham.

Was a Belgian exchange student.

He died an hour ago trying to escape from us.

Oh, so now we can't question him. Nice work.

Yeah.

We also found

Peter Sanders, or whatever his name is.

He was in back of Farnham's van. He's been dismembered.

Uh, he's the farm guy?

Oh, stop.

We know he's CIA.

Aside from being dismembered,

they also found a puncture wound in his neck.

My guess: the M.E.'s gonna discover that he was killed

with a poison, probably the same poison

they tried to inject into your neck this morning.

So they followed Sanders, they followed Olonga,

and they followed you.

One's dead and butchered.

One's missing, probably dead and butchered.

That leaves you.

And now you can go.

Hey.

Good luck.

All right.

So Farnham was in charge of disposing of Sanders,

which would lead me to believe that

this other guy over here is the one that's calling the shots.

He's not gonna get his hands dirty,

get caught in a van full of body parts.

Nell said he checked into the hotel

with a bogus credit card under the name "Adam Kline."

It's probably a one-off alias,

but she's looking into it.

These guys are good.

If Eric can pull something

from Farnham's phone, maybe we get lucky.

If we can connect the two, we're back in business.

And if not?

Can I make a suggestion?

We helped Olonga

bring prototypes of his designs with him.

I'm sure his kidnappers would love to get their hands on them,

weaponize them.

May even trade them for the doctor.

Where are they?

At a secure hangar

in the provisional section of the airport.

I don't know what that is.

Well, that's the point.

What's the verdict, Dr. Beale?

Is the baby gonna live?

Seriously, you got anything for us to use or what?

Uh, if I did, I would've told you.

Fair enough.

Well, no pressure. And I could help, you know what I mean?

I did rebuild a 1935 Indian all by myself.

That's a, that's a motorcycle.

Hmm, a vintage motorcycle and a brand-new cell phone--

totally the same thing.

Pretty much the exact same thing.

Good for you. Yeah, it was good for me,

until some Amish guy in a Hyundai pretzeled me.

Those guys even supposed to drive?

Beardo was probably hopped up

on alfalfa after an all-night barn raising.

Kelly Clarkson!

What? No. What are you doing? You're quitting?

Well, if you want to try, be my guest.

I don't want to try; it's gonna take

a genius to bring this roadkill back to life. G-Genius?

You know what I should do? I should send it to the NSA.

NSA?

Those big heads will know how to crack it.

Big-big heads?

Yeah, smartest guys in the room, you know, those guys.

Smartest guys?

Yup, those guys. We'll just send it to them.

No. You know, I actually, uh,

just-just-just-just thought-- no, you can let it go--

I just thought of something that I could, that I could try.

Yeah, but I could just

put it in an overnight bag, they can have it by the morning.

I just, uh, got an idea that I could--

I just could try one-one more thing.

Oh, what can you do? I think I'm gonna fix it.

Who's my favorite brainiac?

Yeah, who's my brainiac? Me.

Who's my favorite brainiac? Me.

You. Bulletproof.

Bulletproof. Bulletproof.

Bulletproof. I'm walking away.

Bulletproof. You got this, Beale. Bulletproof.

Who all knew it was here?

Olonga, Sanders and me.

What about your superiors?

No. I mean, they-they knew it was coming,

but none of them knew the logistics.

Olonga didn't have access without you?

No, only Sanders and I had access.

That's probably why they grabbed him,

after failing to get you.

And what exactly was in here?

Uh, harvesting drones, robotic tractors,

self-driving plows.

It was just all automated farming equipment.

How was it shipped? In boxes, crates?

Was it on pallets?

Everything was in airfreight containers.

They would've needed a truck, pallet jack, at least two men.

Sanders' I.D. would've got them in and out, but airport security

must have that truck on camera a dozen times.

Oh, it was probably stolen. Look, whatever was in here, I'm

sure it's already on a freight on its way out of Long Beach.

Wait a second, wait. So that-that's it?

What, you're just gonna leave?

What exactly would you like us to do?

I-I don't know.

Look around. Maybe-maybe they left something behind.

Like what?

Like a matchbook from the motel they were staying at?

Maybe one of them wrote down the phone number

of a stripper they met

on the inside cover,

and maybe she overheard a conversation they had.

Look, someone I worked with was butchered.

Then you should've been more honest from the get-go.

I'm on it. I'll keep you posted.

Is that Callen? Yeah.

So, apparently, Dr. Olonga

brought several prototypes along with him.

They were being stored in a secure hangar at the airport.

"Were"? Past tense? Oh, yeah.

They're gone now, but they would've needed

a really large truck to take them.

Hopefully, I'll be able to find it.

It's alive!

Anybody else hear that or is that just in my head?

Oh, yeah. We heard it.

I didn't think it possible, but I did it.

With these two hands,

I wrenched its cold, crushed carcass back

from the very frozen abyss of death.

Behold.

Mm...

That's gobbledygook.

I'm sorry, wha-- what are we looking at?

Oh, man.

No. No, it was, it was, it was working.

It was working downstairs, you guys.

Hold on. You know what? It's okay, Beale.

Um, hold on. Eric.

It's gonna be okay, Eric. No. It's-- Come on.

It was working perfectly downstairs!

It was good. Ugh! Come on!

All right, buddy, just relax. I am relaxed.

You relax.

Mm, I've obviously created a monster.

Mm-hmm. - All right, you know what?

We'll just focus on his laptop.

You think you're smarter than me, huh?

I got your number, phone.

- You're just a phony. - Cool.

Okay. Yeah. Maybe the three of us should just--

Mm-hmm. We should probably go.

Oh.

Well...

Well, there's the data.

Hello. Beale.

Abracadabra.

Wow.

As soon as I find something, I'll send it to your phones.

Thank you. Great work.

For making sense.

What's up, Nell?

So, good news.

Eric cracked Farnham's phone,

and we think we've I.D.'d the guy he was with at the hotel.

- Name is Nick Bardia. - Good work.

His home address is listed as an apartment on Ocean Park,

but he also runs a rug business in Van Nuys.

I've already sent LAPD to the apartment,

and Kensi and Deeks are on their way to Van Nuys.

That's where his phone is.

He's more likely to hold Dr. Olonga there

than in an apartment full of potential witnesses.

How big is his business space?

Something like 14,000 square feet.

It's a storefront with a workspace.

Big enough for our missing shipping containers.

You're gonna want to hold on.

Hey. Did you see anything?

No. Not yet. You?

No. The loading entrance is big enough, though.

They could've brought everybody inside.

Hey.

What's the sitrep? You're looking at it.

Tried to get closer; this place is festooned

with security cameras.

"Festooned"? Yeah, festooned.

Looking very new and very functional.

If we can get Eric and Nell to access it,

we may be able to hijack their system, use it to our advantage.

Sadly, no can do. It is air-gapped.

Options?

Well, we could stake the place out,

wait to see if anybody leaves.

Give us an idea what we're ultimately up against.

Every moment we wait is a moment closer to losing Dr. Olonga.

We know these guys have no problem butchering people.

Wow.

Who invited Little Miss Sunshine?

She's right.

All right, this is a big place.

We should call a REACT team for backup.

On it.

Well, cutting the power will kill the cameras,

but it wouldn't do much else this time of day.

Might even tip them off.

No, we don't have the equipment to back up their sewer.

Don't have enough time to bring in a garbage truck

as a Trojan horse.

It's a rug store, right?

So it's full of flammable stuff?

So you want to set it on fire? No, I don't want to set it on fire.

I want them to think it's on fire.

I'd rather smoke them out than us being blind going in.

If we could blind one of their cameras

just long enough for one of us to get on the roof,

pop some smoke in the ventilation system,

at the very least they're gonna have to

come down and investigate.

They might try to move Olonga before

the fire department arrives, assuming he's still inside.

That's why we're here.

Let's do it. Love it.

Great. Awesome.

All right, thanks. REACT team's en route.

They'll wait down the block for our signal. What's the plan?

You think you can take out

one of those cameras with a suppressive shot?

Behind my back or over my shoulder?

I don't care how you do it, as long as it's quiet.

Aye, Captain.

You ever use one of these?

Yee-haw.

Stick close.

We're on your mark, Kens.

Copy that.

In three, two, one.

All right. Fire in the hole.

Ooh.

What's taking these guys so long to react?

Kens, you see any movement?

Negative.

But it's smoking pretty good.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if nobody was here,

and we just ruined this guy's entire inventory?

That'd be amazing!

We don't let him out much. Ah.

Here we go.

Get the truck out of here. Go right to the port,

but stay under the speed limit.

Call the fire department and tell them it's a false alarm.

What if it's not?

Who cares? We're done here.

And for the love of God, would somebody find a way

to shut that damn thing off?!

I got Bardia and six other unfriendlies.

No sign of Olonga. Sam?

- Nothing here. - Deeks?

Yeah, same here.

Although I got to be honest, it'd be a lot easier to see

if there wasn't all this damn smoke.

Whose brilliant idea was that?

In all fairness, I don't recall saying

it was a "brilliant" idea.

I got Olonga, southeast corner.

Come on, let's go, let's go, let's go!

Kens, you got a truck coming out.

Do not let it get away. Not a chance.

Omar, where the hell is Ali?

I don't know. He went to see where the smoke was coming from.

Uh, get that idiot back here. We need to leave now.

What about Olonga?

I'll deal with him.

Federal agents! Drop the gun, put your hands where...

Don't even think about it.

One move and you're dead.

What? Whoa, what was that?

They're shooting at us.

I'd stay right there if I were you.

Dr. Olonga. NCIS Agent Sam Hanna.

Gonna get you out of here.

All right.

All right. Stay with me.

Thank you.

I got Olonga. I'm moving out.

Make it quick. Bardia's still in here and he's armed.

I mean, you know what it is, Sam?

I got to be honest. Divine intervention, really.

'Cause I can't see squat on account of all the smoke.

And then for the briefest instant, the smoke parts,

and there's our man Callen, and right behind him is, uh...

Bardia?

Bardia! Bardia's right behind him.

He's got him dead in his sights.

I mean, this is bon voyage for mi amigo,

so I-I don't have time to aim at this point.

I'm just like...

G's damn lucky you didn't shoot him.

You got that right.

Oh, come on, man. That was an epic shot.

You have to admit that's an epic shot.

Baby, was that not an epic shot?

Uh, you know, I didn't really see it.

Although, I feel like I saw it because you've been

talking about it for the last four hours.

Whatever.

All I'm saying is you know and I know I saved your life.

That is the definition of epic.

It was lucky, fortuitous maybe. I don't know about epic.

I mean, you didn't even save me. I still had to shoot the guy.

Well, that's on account of the zero visibility.

There was so-so much smoke that I--

And I was like, I was like 400 yards away, well--

What's your poison? Oh, uh, nothing for me.

I got to get back to Dr. Olonga.

I just wanted to thank you all for your help.

Uh, we may have gotten off to a bit of a rocky start--

my bad-- but you guys really came through.

Again.

It's what we do. Well...

Hooyah. Hooyah.

Cheers to that. Yeah.

Well, keep it up.

- And, uh, stay safe. - Mm.

Oh, and, uh, Callen,

you can expect a bill for my brake pads.

Yeah. Right.

I can expense that, right? Nope.

Definitely not. Really?

No.

I'm gonna need four dollars for that beer, too.

== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man