- A Marine lance corporal's car explodes; while Gibbs and company investigate, McGee finds radioactivity. Ducky says that the dead driver is not the owner. The people around DC panic about dirty bombs. The gang figure it out and wind it up.
- A car explodes during a chase; the registered owner is a Marine lance corporal; while Gibbs and company investigate, McGee finds radioactivity in the trunk. The gang catch a clue about the whereabouts of the brother of the owner, and they find him, then they run into "MAllison" Hart and two of Col. Bell's bodyguards. Tony and Ziva check out a vacant warehouse and find some radioactive evidence; Ducky concludes that the victim is not the owner of the car; McGee learns that the victim is a former sergeant who was dishonorably discharged. Tony and Ziva find the owner and deliver him to the chat room, where Gibbs questions him. McGee and Ziva talk with several dentists, one of whom takes a long lunch break. TV news speculates about dirty bombs, so the people of Washington shift into the panic mode; Gibbs and McGee seek a bomb, find it, and disarm it. Vance and the gang figure it out and wind it up. Gibbs receives a visitor at his home.—DocRushing
- A young guy tries to get up the courage to talk a girl in a bar. Then Alfonso sees a red car being chased by police on TV. It's his brother's car. His brother calls and tells him "it's happening" and where ever he is he needs to run, now. Then the car explodes.
In the office, Ziva and Tony are puzzled to see McGee standing in front of his computer in a tuxedo, wearing a headset. He's attending an on-line wedding. Gibbs lets him finish out the ceremony, but he's hitting the crime scene in his tux.
The car was registered to a Lance Corporal Roman Vega, just back from his second tour in Iraq. The car hit a pothole and exploded. Based on the explosive, they think it was an accident. The body's in bits all over and can't be immediately ID'd.
McGee finds a cell phone dead spot near the car. He pulls out a Geiger counter and scans the car. It goes bonkers.
Later the team gets hosed down for radiation as DiNozzo worries about his "little DiNozzo Makers." Abby joins them on site, to report that they're fine and can even have their clothes back. The car was used to transport Cobalt 60, a byproduct of a nuclear reactor. It can be used for dirty bombs.
Back at the office, the news already has wind of the possible bomb.
McGee briefs the team, saying that Roman and his brother Alfonso were from Peru and came to live with their aunt.
Vance introduces Gibbs (his shoulder still in a sling) to Walter Kane, who runs a private intelligence firm. We learn that the government outsources intelligence gathering for countries we're not at war with -- like Peru.
They're tracking a group called Libertad Nueva (New Liberty), freedom fighters. Vega has been seen with suspected members in Lima and has traveled there a lot lately. There's a cell in DC, Kane says.
They track Alfonso to a hotel using his email and bust down the door. They find themselves face to face with some other big dudes with guns, guarding Alfonso. Margaret Allison Hart (Rena Sofer), Gibbs' lawyer nemesis/flirt, is already there. She's Alfonso's attorney.
She explains that Roman came to her a few weeks ago and Alfonso called her after his brother died. She admits the security is courtesy of Col. Bell - the guy Gibbs sent to prison.
Back at the office, McGee and Tony eagerly observe as Gibbs talks to Alfonso, with Hart in the room. She won't let him answer anything. It's news to them that Roman was in Libertad Nueva. Alfonso hasn't heard of it and just knew his brother was scared.
His brother asked him to trace a few calls from a warehouse because he works for a cell phone company.
Ziva arrives late with the popcorn.
Hart wants Gibbs to release Alfonso, but he cites terrorism.
Ziva and Tony check out the warehouse. It's foreclosed so they bust in. Tony carries a Geiger counter, just in case. They find evidence that someone was building a bomb.
Abby runs tests on the stuff in the lab. She finds an encrypted video file on a lap top. It's Vega giving instructions to the camera, telling someone to wait to detonate until they hear from him.
In the morgue, Duckie tells Gibbs that he found a burn from a cigarette lighter on the body. They did a dental impression and it's nowhere near Vega's.
They ID the body, it's John Cook, a former sergeant who was dishonorably discharged for looting. Abby found his finger prints on the bomb materials, so he was involved. They check his credit card statements and find a ton of visits to a dentist, which doesn't make sense for a man who had perfect teeth.
Vance is most worried about the panic and he's thinking twice about testifying against a big defense bill.
McGee and Ziva visit a dentist who raves about Cook's perfect teeth and asks if they think he had something to do with the robbery. A few days after his visit, someone broke in and stole all their X-ray machines, Cobalt-based units.
With as many machines as they stole, it's enough for five dirty bombs.
Hart pesters Tony in the office, making herself comfortable at Gibbs' desk. He comes back and Gibbs shooes her away.
She harangues Gibbs again and he surprises Tony by agreeing to release Alfonso.
Cut to Tony and Ziva tailing him, presuming Gibbs intended use him as bait. They see Roman coming out of a building and grab him. He says they're making a mistake.
Back in interrogation, Roman asks for his lawyer. Then he says he's not a terrorist. Gibbs plays the tape of him telling his fellow soldiers to wait for his order to detonate. Roman says he can explain it. But Gibbs won't let him talk until he signs an attorney waiver.
Roman says he's being set up. He said a guy approached him, saying he worked for the Department of Defense and needed a native Spanish speaker to participate in training videos. He ID's the guy as John Cook. A few days later he noticed someone following him and asked about the DOD program, but no one had heard of it. That's when he called Hart.
But then his recruiter Cook showed up and put a gun in his back, got him in his car and told him to drive. He bailed in an alley during the chase. He hopes Gibbs believes him, because he doesn't know a thing about the planned attack.
Tony confirms that Vega's blood was found on the street where he said he jumped from the car. The trips to Peru can be explained by a woman he was seeing. They believe Vega.
Ziva joins them to say they have new suspect: the dentist never came back from lunch. There's a news report purporting to be from Libertad Nueva, threatening to blow up a dirty bomb daily until the US stops its anti-drug efforts in Peru.
McGee finds pictures on a social networking site for dentists. There are several of a bus station, with IP addresses that trace back to Peru.
They race to the bus station where people are running from the building screaming. They've got less than five minutes. Tony and Ziva clear the building while Gibbs and McGee use sensors to track it down and find it in a suitcase with 40 seconds left.
McGee suggest they let it blow because there's low threat of contamination. Gibbs orders him out of the building but McGee ignores him. McGee is dithering over what wire to cut when Gibbs snips one - and they don't explode (it was the opposite of what McGee was going to suggest).
Back in the lab, Abby tells Gibbs that he should have blown up - the bomb had an anti-tamper mechanism. But it was mixed incorrectly.
The police found the dentist's body under a bridge. He left a note, taking credit for everything. There's another news report citing the panic gripping the city. He seems like a convenient fall guy.
Gibbs meets with Walter Kane and Vance. Vance tells Kane that he thinks they should do nothing about the supposed other bombs. Vance recaps the defense bill that is up for vote. He calls it a terrible bill, full of pork for defense contractors. But after the attack it looks like it might go through.
Gibbs accuses Kane's company of influencing the vote. All they could verify about Libertad Nueva was a web site, run by a 13 year old. They think Kane created the whole thing. They traced the bus station photos to an IP address in Kane's office.
Vance tells him to confess now to end the panic and they'll skip the death penalty.
He says he'll need to talk to his lawyer.
Ziva comes in to report they traced the photos to a computer in Kane's office. They were bluffing.
Gibbs comes home to find Hart on his couch. She's angry Gibbs used her client as bait. He asks her why she's defending "scum" like Col. Bell. Gibbs says he checked into her pro bono work and found she seems to take cases that put her in his path. He steps closer and closer to her as they talk until finally she's saying she has her reasons for the cases she takes and they're close enough to kiss.
And that's where the episode ends.
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