Original subtitles

ZNN breaking news.

He's not breathing. Get the doc up here, stat!

I got the mayor breathing down my neck

and you two are out there blowing up half the city.

Doc! That scientist is the key to stopping that flesh-eating virus.

Dying is not an option.

I promise you, we're not zipping up any body bags today, sir,

or my name isn't...

...Dr. Pimmy Jalmer.

"As Dr. Jalmer worked "to revive his patient,

"using a locally harvested bee pollen remedy,

the KC3000 enters with terrifying news."

I have terrifying news.

Special Agent Rick Soares has contracted the flesh-eating virus.

I am sorry.

God help us.

Thanks so much.

I just knew Agent Soares wasn't really dead.

But I did not see the kidney transplant from that Icelandic archer.

Well, that's why they call it a twist.

That's why they call me your number one fan.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

No, really. I-I'm your number one fan.

Hi. Who, uh, can I make this guy out...

_

Synced & corrected by -robtor- www.addic7ed.com

Right there... that's creepy.

And you have no idea how this got in your book?

- No clue. - We should dust it for prints.

Eh, already tried that.

Only prints on it are mine. I'm, uh,

hoping I can make a handwriting match

from some of this old fan mail here.

"I know what you did."

- What exactly did you do? - I have no idea,

but the IP address here redirects

to the promotional website for my first book.

- Ah, well. - There you go.

- Mm-hmm. - There what goes?

Well, they're accusing you of copying your older books.

Okay. Explain.

Well, you know how in your first book, you had "L.J. Tibbs."

Tibbs, Gibbs.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Yeah, that was a coincidence.

Okay, is, uh...

Agent Rick Soares a coincidence?

Soares, Torres?

You pitched me Soares.

I pitched you a badass Miami detective.

This guy's wearing a cardigan.

And who pitched Agent Knightshade?

And why is she always sharpening a knife?

And what's up with this little gem?

Whoa. Looking good, McGee.

You should wear one of those to your meeting today.

- What meeting? - Your publicist called.

Accidentally got routed to my voicemail.

I guess you've got an interview with some big

muckety-muck book critic today?

Today?

After the beating I just got from these two,

paperwork actually sounds like a lot of fun, so...

Paperwork can wait. We got a case.

And we are going to get a special guest

today at the crime scene.

There's our special guest.

We'll make an agent out of you yet.

Uh, pass. I just wanted to see how the other half lives.

Mm, well, the other half is really smelly

- right now. - Mm-hmm.

Oh, this is nothing.

You guys want to smell something really, really bad?

Not particularly, no.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense.

Uh, C.A.P I'm guessing that stands for "captain."

Yeah, that's all we got until you get in there.

Chop, chop.

So, apparently, the dumpster hadn't been emptied in over three weeks.

Uh, it's been cold. Body could've been in there for a while.

Torres is out talking to the neighbors now.

Uh, so far, no one's seen anything.

Well, they're seeing it all now.

Taking a lot of pictures.

I know her.

You got to be kidding me.

- Are you following me? - No.

You sure? Because it seems like you're following me.

I-I only listen to the police band for my podcast.

I have a podcast. A-And when I heard "Navy captain,"

I thought there was a chance y-you might show up.

Is this you?

Did you write this? "I know what you did"?

- No. - You're sure?

Your eyes are your best feature. I would never scratch them out.

Also, you're scary when you get mad.

But also, kind of hot-scary?

Forget about it. I'm sorry.

Oh, forgotten.

I'm your number one fan, remember?

And if you really are sorry, I...

have an idea how you could make it up to me.

Is that something we do now?

'Cause that's a new one.

Uh...

- We got a new one back here, too. - Okay. Good?

Whoever this guy is, he's down two ears.

"Down"?

Yeah.

They're missing.

That's a new one.

Hey, Jimmy. I heard through the grapevine

you got something even better than missing ears.

Does the grapevine have an ID yet?

I like to know the person's first name before I remove their liver.

Meet Captain Seth Myers.

No relation.

- Oh. - He was assigned to NAS Pax River.

Oh, this file is...

- very brief. - You mean blank.

We noticed. It's not even like it's even classified.

It's just empty. Which is weird.

Do you want more weird?

I live for weird.

In addition to Captain Myers' ears being removed,

he was, also, apparently, uh...

...jack-o'-lanterned.

Am I supposed to know what that...

Right. Jack-o'-lantern.

Also, he's missing several fingers

and has burn marks over most of his body here.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was tortured.

Tortured for what?

Maybe has something to do with his job at Pax River, whatever that is.

Well, he had to report to someone.

Just have to find out who.

Uh...

There's actually something else I'd like to talk to you about,

Special Agent Parker, but since I chickened out,

I'm just gonna stand here for a few seconds like a complete idiot.

Yeah, Captain Myers is assigned to my team.

There's not much to tell you. Smells like soup.

Laughs too loud.

Is he in some kind of trouble?

What exactly does your team do?

Don't you have Myers' file?

Yeah, you-you were just holding it.

All that has is his service photo.

Yeah, we were hoping that you could maybe tell us why.

Um, I'm sorry, could you please remove the...

Sorry, I've got a VR meeting soon I can't miss.

It's been one fire after another since Myers took emergency leave.

When did he leave?

Oh, hold that thought. Duty calls.

Hey, everyone. Sorry I'm late.

Oh, actually, I'm on time, so whoever

isn't here is late.

Hello?

Hello? Oh, crap.

Um, I think there's something wrong with your Wi-Fi.

Captain Myers is dead.

Okay?

What happened?

You tell me. Starting with what Myers did for you

and why he took that emergency leave.

Now I feel bad about the soup comment. Um...

I'm the liaison between the Navy and a group of MIT nerds.

Okay, what do you liaise?

We're trying to cheaply retrofit old aircraft to be flown remotely.

Okay, it's 2025. You can-you can just say "drones," so...

Cheap drones.

We're hoping to give a second life

to decommissioned aircraft with off-the-shelf parts.

- Myers was our lead engineer. - Until he took leave.

Yeah, he said he had a family emergency.

I approved it myself.

I put it in his file, which was normal two weeks ago, by the way.

Well, somebody must have changed it.

I don't see how. Our security is pretty tight.

The Russians, Chinese...

they would kill to get our tech stack.

Maybe they did.

We think that Captain Myers

was tortured before he was killed.

Course he was.

What is that supposed to mean?

It means there's no way in hell

Seth would have given up any classified information.

The guy was a total Boy Scout.

But if the Russians did manage to get

anything useful out of him...

...then every old plane they have

is gonna find its way to the Ukraine front.

And they have a lot of old planes.

Yeah, I got to take photos at the crime scene

and everything.

No, I can't send them to you.

No, I didn't tell Agent Torres you got a crush on him.

Okay, got to go. Uh, duty calls. Love you, Mama.

Thanksgiving must be interesting at your house.

Ha, ha! You have no idea.

That more of our victim's blood?

Oh, no, this is just my cover for coming down here.

- We need to talk. - Look, dude,

I know you think I ate your glazed donut,

- but I would never... - Uh, remember the original notes

from the autopsy of Parker's mom?

- I finally tracked them down. - What'd they say?

Well, I won't get them till tomorrow, but I really think

we should tell Parker what we're doing.

Why? If the discrepancy on the report

is just a clerical error, no point upsetting him.

Upsetting who?

Upsetting lots of people who are gonna be very upset

about lots of upsetting things.

Uh, We think, uh, uh, you'll be upset by what, uh, Kasie found.

What did Kasie find?

Hmm. You should show him.

I will pull it up.

Your computer's not on.

Uh, well, no, 'cause I'm...

- just warming up my fingers. - Ah.

Ooh, they're warm. That was fast.

So, what I found

was on our victim's laptop.

Service logs show he downloaded massive amounts

of classified documents from work

right before he went missing.

That's no bueno.

More like grande uh-oh.

He then transferred the files

to a portable network drive

like this one.

He wasn't tortured for classified info.

He's the one that stole it.

We need to find that drive.

Well, thank you again for meeting with me, Mr. Gemcity.

Or should I say Agent McGee?

Whichever you want.

It's just, uh, it's a pseudonym, not a secret identity.

One second.

Um, is there anything else? I actually...

got to get back to the office.

I only have one more question.

Yes, I talk to my characters when I write.

That's true, that's true.

Sometimes I can't get them to leave me alone.

What do you say to the charges

that your readership is shrinking,

people fold laundry to your audiobooks

and while Deep Six works for

die-hard fans,

it's not winning any awards.

Felt more like three questions.

Well, you know, I think it's just about

creating rich characters

that represent a universal part of the human psyche.

You know, you've got Professor Parkman,

he's the brains. Agent Soares, the heart.

- Knightshade, of course... - The brawn.

Exactly.

So you've basically ripped off Wizard of Oz. Can I quote you?

I didn't say that. You did.

So I did.

Well, thanks again.

I know your time is valuable. To some.

That was rough.

Want me to slash his tires?

Just kidding.

What are you doing here?

Wait, you are following me.

Okay, this time I was, but it's because I have a request.

What? What? No, what are you doing?

- Why are you sitting? - I'm about to do my podcast

about moonlighting authors,

and seeing you at the crime scene...

you'd be perfect.

Okay, I appreciate your enthusiasm,

but I am busy with work.

Work, work, work. I...

I really wish you could just write full-time.

Well, I can't.

But do you wish you could?

You need to leave me alone and stop following me.

Okay? For real.

Such a page-turner.

I'm your number one fan.

Number one fan.

Hey.

Hey.

Director?

Shake it off, rookie!

"Professor Parkman gazed into Agent Knightshade's eyes,

"which glittered like obsidian stars.

"'My dear Knightshade, ' he purred,

"as he straightened his elbow patches,

'you're far too dangerous for my syllabus.'"

Hey, I'm sorry I said no to your podcast,

- but... - My what?

Are you talking about that crazy fan

who was bothering you at the diner?

You're not a crazy fan?

No.

Well, I'm...

...I'm chained to a bed.

Clearly, I've been drugged and...

you're reading my book.

Got to admit, that's screaming "crazy fan" to me.

Sorry.

I'm not a fan at all, actually.

I think your characters are forced and your plotting is unrealistic.

So...

you don't want me to write something for you?

No.

Oh, God, you want me to read something you wrote?

Getting colder.

Okay, then what is it? What...

Why am I here?

Let's just say...

I'm after something else.

Someone is definitely after

those classified documents besides us.

This is our victim's house.

The entire place was trashed.

Our captain's killers must be looking for that hard drive, too.

And his car was missing.

Well, they probably didn't want to toss it out in the street.

Well, I doubt Myers kept that drive in the trunk.

Which means his killers haven't found it yet.

So all we have to do is find it first.

And then just wait for the bad guys to show up.

Keep me posted.

Oh, and, uh, please tell Agent McGee

that I hope the kids feel better.

Kids?

What, something wrong with Morgan and Johnny?

Didn't McGee text you, too?

No.

Wait, I got this yesterday.

"Kids sick,

working from home tomorrow."

That verbatim?

Is there a problem?

The kids are with Delilah visiting Grandma.

A thousand miles away.

That's water, in case you're thirsty.

And this is in case you need to...

Look, what I need is to know why I'm here.

And water.

Careful.

The drug I slipped into your coffee

has a really long half-life.

Who the hell are you?

- You might be feeling a little... - Oh.

I'm gonna be sick.

..nauseated.

You might also have a slight concussion.

I had to winch you up the stairs by your feet.

I'll get you some Tums.

That's okay, buddy. Let it out.

Thanks, but I got this, okay?

Hey, I know it's a lot.

But you can always count on your best bud,

Agent Soares, to have your back.

Look, just... Would you go away, okay?

I'm-I'm not workshopping a scene here.

I'm... I was kidnapped.

I know. And you did not deserve that.

Between that and the concussion,

you know, it's not surprising why you're having a moment.

Poor guy, right?

Okay?

You want to talk it out?

I don't need to talk.

I need to find a way out of this attic.

You think you can pick that lock?

Yes. You know what?

Um...

See if you can find, like, a, um...

a safety pin, okay? Or, like, a...

You know what, no, no, I got it. I...

We also need to figure out what this woman wants from you.

But I already have an idea.

Oh, yeah?

L.J. Tibbs' Rule 39.

Coincidences do not exist.

Soares, that's not helping.

Well, you were working a stolen documents case

when you were grabbed.

She has to be after that hard drive.

Actually, that's a good guess.

She must think you know where it is.

Well, I don't.

I would keep that to yourself.

Because even if your kidnapper's not a crazy fan...

Well, she's crazy enough to drug and kidnap a federal agent.

So what do you think she'll do

when she finds out that you don't know where the drive is?

Yeah, Director. It's McGee's car.

We traced his last text right to it.

All right, I'll keep you posted.

Doesn't look like it broke down.

Yeah, McGee doesn't miss an oil change.

Or leave his car overnight.

Well, unless he's going to a midnight Star Wars premiere.

Uh-oh.

McGee's cell phone.

Where the hell is he?

He left with a woman.

The waitress was looking out the window

and she saw McGee just sitting in the car.

And then a woman drove up, helped McGee out of the car,

and then they left together.

Helped him out? What does that mean?

She said that McGee looked drunk.

On a Tuesday afternoon?

Maybe the book interview didn't go so well

and he wanted to throw a couple back?

Then got in his car? No way.

Well, what's the alternative... somebody drugged him?

Well, that would explain why McGee would let

some strange woman drive off with him.

She could have sent that text to Vance.

Bought herself some time to get away.

All right, clock's ticking. We got to move.

I'll call Delilah.

I'll put out a BOLO.

I got a make and a partial print from the waitress.

Wait, this is the car that McGee left in?

I put out a BOLO on this yesterday.

That's Captain Myers' car.

His killer has it.

Well, the killer just used it to grab McGee.

Hey, hey, hey.

Nobody gets it the first time.

I know how to pick a lock, okay?

Thank you.

I once picked a lock after being blinded by a skunk.

Yeah, that was a pretty badly written chapter.

You know there's a faster way to escape.

Get the key.

Okay, and how do I do that?

Ask nicely?

Break your captor's neck and take them.

That's your solution?

Murder?

Self-defense.

The woman is dangerous.

If she's after those classified docs,

then she's probably the one who killed that captain.

Yeah, I know.

- We've all seen how this movie ends. - Oh, boy.

It's only a matter of time before she hobbles you.

Why would you say that?

You don't use the word "hobble" with a writer.

Ignore her.

She stabs first and asks questions never.

Okay, what you need to do is you have to gain

- your kidnapper's trust. - No.

You need to take her out.

You have the element of surprise.

Except I'm chained to the floor.

So unless you're hiding a hacksaw somewhere in that

very tight bodysuit of yours, just please be quiet

while I figure this out.

Figure what out?

What's going on?

Who were you talking to?

Myself.

I think I know why you brought me here.

Good.

Saves us some time.

You're after those classified documents.

Go on.

Torturing the captain didn't get you anywhere,

so you brought me here and you think I can get 'em for you.

Interesting theory.

But it suffers from one...

fatal plot hole.

Yeah? What's that?

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Oops.

Should've killed her.

You don't like my writing.

You don't know anything about stolen documents.

So what do you want from me?

I want you to find my son.

What do you mean, find your son?

He's missing.

Okay, so call the police.

I did. And the FBI.

Nobody would listen. They said I was crazy.

Gee, I, uh, can't understand why.

Look, I know how crazy this looks.

I-I wanted to ask for your help,

but I couldn't risk you saying no.

I came to you

because my son said you can solve anything.

He loves your books.

The one he preordered showed up just last week.

That doesn't seem like a sign to you?

Okay, it's-it's just a book.

But everyone knows you're also a real agent.

And a father.

Please. My son joined the Navy because of you.

You are his last hope. I'm running out of time.

All right, look...

if I promise to hear you out,

will you let me go?

If you find my son,

I'll let you go.

Okay, what if I don't?

Please, just try.

That's all I'm asking.

Okay. Deal.

I'm in.

Now tell me everything.

Six weeks ago, Matthew left for work and he never came home.

This is everything I've collected.

That's Matthew on the right.

Look at the other guy.

That's Captain Myers.

Her son knew our victim.

Who's this man standing next to your son?

Mm, that's Matthew's best friend.

They're besties, huh?

Want to bet they stole that classified data together?

Hey, you-you need to tell her the truth.

Because honesty, right,

builds-builds trust.

No way.

Lie to her

or you're a dead man.

Did I mention I was running out of time?

Those classified documents that I told you about...

your son's best friend is the one who stole 'em.

And I think your son may be involved, too.

No.

Matthew is a good boy.

He would never do anything like that.

She's holding something back.

You sure?

- Absolutely. - Absolutely.

Look, if you really want my help,

you got to be honest with me.

Honesty builds trust.

Yes.

I found a hard drive in my son's room

after he went missing.

That's the same drive used to download those classified files.

We don't know what's on it.

Maybe you can figure it out.

My laptop is in read-only mode,

so you won't be able to contact anyone.

I already tried brute force, hash collision...

nothing worked.

Well, you know your way around computers.

Question is, do you?

Okay, I'm in.

But... don't have full access here.

I can only see the name of the root folder.

Ruby.

Mean anything to you?

I think it's a code name.

For a woman, maybe.

I heard my son mention her.

Whatever's going on,

I think that woman is at the center of it.

Meet Frances Bates.

Thom E. Gemcity's number one fan.

And our number one suspect.

She was at the crime scene, right?

She was also at the diner.

The book critic ID'd her from a photo.

So, superfan was just a cover.

Probably trying to stay close to the case.

Hoping we'd lead her to the missing drive.

You don't think she got impatient

and grabbed McGee just to speed things up?

If it wasn't her, bet she's involved somehow.

All right, let's get Miss Number One Fan

on the hot seat and find out.

It's like medieval torture.

How am I... supposed to get into an encrypted directory

without a cracking suite?

It's impossible.

In a world of infinite probabilities,

nothing is impossible.

Don't have time for this, Parkman.

That's "Professor Parkman" to you.

And time is an artificial construct,

courtesy of the ancient Sumerians.

Well, can the Sumerians help me

hack into this Ruby directory?

What you need is to shut down that techno-gadget

and use some good old-fashioned human deduction.

Wow, you are one-note sometimes.

Oh, maybe that critic was right.

What do we know?

But you are good at moving a story forward.

Yeah.

Yeah, let's do this.

Okay.

Missing son is Lieutenant Matthew Sheldon.

Navy pilot.

Besties with the man who stole the classified data.

Aka Captain Myers.

They got to be in it together, right?

Now, proximity breeds conspiracy.

Lenin and Trotsky. Bonnie and Clyde.

And now Myers and Sheldon.

But...

how does this Ruby fit in?

Well, the mom thinks it's the code name

for the woman that took her son.

And the only lead we have is the encrypted hard drive.

The way forward is clear.

You must break into this Ruby folder.

What do you think I've been trying to do?

Maybe I can help.

Down here.

Encryption is my specialty.

Oh. Okay.

Uh, you, too, huh?

Check the cipher for weak spots.

Yeah, I already did that. It's-it's locked up tighter than Fort Knox.

Napoleon walked into Vienna without firing a shot.

Locks are only as strong as the people guarding them.

Yeah, except those locks weren't 256-bit.

Dump the memory.

If the private key was loaded before shutdown...

It may still be there.

Yes. Okay.

All right.

Dumping memory.

Scanning now.

Yes.

Encryption key right there in plaintext.

KC3000, you are a genius.

So much for human deduction.

Ha-ha. Ha-ha.

Okay, I'm in.

The crown jewels. Stolen in silence.

Yeah. Crown jewels all right, but...

I don't think Captain Myers was stealing them.

I'm Agent Knight.

- This is Agent... - Soares.

Oh, my God.

Huge fan.

I'm Special Agent Torres.

And most people are not this excited to be in this room.

Sorry, I'm just geeking out.

I-I can't believe I'm in the real MCIS.

MCIS?

The Major Case Intelligence Service.

This is NCIS.

As in naval crimes.

Emphasis on "crimes."

Will Mr. Gemcity...

Uh, I mean Agent McGee be joining us?

This is not a meet and greet.

Special Agent McGee has been kidnapped.

That's...

that's terrible.

But you came to the right person for help.

Nobody knows him like I do.

So who do we think did it?

Wai... Wait, me?

But I'm his biggest fan.

Or maybe you're pretending to be his fan

to stay close to the case.

Those stolen documents...

how much do you think they're worth?

About ten mil.

- With the right contacts. - Mm.

And you have the right contacts.

Your last job was with a defense contractor.

Finding buyers was your specialty.

Hold on. W-Wait.

This is like a terrible plot in a spy book.

Mm, yeah, not so fun when it's real, huh?

Yeah, it's gonna be even less fun when we charge you

with kidnapping and murder.

Murder?

Oh, my God.

What happened to his ears?

You tell us.

What? No.

I... I-I'm not a killer.

I...

I'm just a Deep Sixie.

A-a Gemcity fan.

Cut the act. Where's Agent McGee?

It's not an act. I would never hurt Mr. Gemcity.

I love him.

In, like, a totally platonic,

"I love his brain" kind of way.

Why else would I run the biggest Deep Six fan site

in the world?

And after how steamy his last book was,

I even wrote a 20-chapter fanfic

where Rick Soares and Agent Knightshade fall madly in love.

What?

And people like that?

Everyone ships them.

I even coined their nickname,

SoarShade.

- Mm. - Ew.

And for the record, I quit my job

so I could run my site and do my podcast,

not commit treason.

In fact, I was hosting live in that diner

when Mr. Gemcity was taken.

And I have 22 listeners who can back that up.

I believe that's called...

a dead end.

We're not killing anyone, are we?

Oh, you ignore her.

Slow and steady, right? Am I right?

Wins the race?

Technically, that's a misnomer.

Slow and steady almost never wins.

You know, for my muses,

you guys sure are not doing a lot of musing.

Do you still need a muse?

I thought you figured out what that document thief was up to.

I did.

I also figured out where the missing son is.

Take a look at this.

So...

what conclusions can we draw?

We need to kill the mother.

Oh, what's with you and always the killing?

Oh, you know, the yoozh.

Family was slaughtered. Raised by assassins.

Blah, blah, blah.

Don't blah-blah-blah your backstory.

Come on, it's heartfelt.

She's not wrong, though.

The mother is not gonna like this.

Not gonna like what?

Oh, you've got my BLT.

Thanks.

You found something, didn't you?

Um...

how often does the power go out around here?

Never.

- That's got to be them. - Who?

The bad guys. Good guys don't cut the power.

They must have figured out you have the hard drive.

You need to hide it. Hide it.

Hey, come here. Unlock me.

Your son's best friend was murdered

by whoever's in this house. If you don't want to be next,

I suggest you unlock me. Come on.

- Come on. - Okay.

We listened to her podcast, and

that was an interesting alibi.

- At least we got rid of her. - Barely.

I had to bribe her with enough NCIS swag to open a gift shop.

Yeah, we also just got rid of our best lead.

Good thing I've got another.

I was thinking... McGee's kidnapping has to be preplanned,

- right? - Not really

a thing you do spur of the moment.

And how did the kidnapper know McGee would be at the diner?

Is that a rhetorical question?

I just found a bug on McGee's phone.

Remember that creepy card from McGee's book signing?

The one with the scratched-out eyes?

I think when he accessed this IP address,

it installed the bug.

It wasn't a threat.

It was a trick.

A trick that gave the bad guy access

to McGee's entire calendar.

Can you trace it?

Not to the bad guy.

But I was able to trace to one other site

the bad guy visited.

The biggest Deep Six fan page in the world.

Whoever took McGee accessed this site first.

Yeah. Probably doing a little research.

I can dig deeper, but I need to know who runs the site

- in order to... - Oh, we know who runs it.

McGee's number one fan.

I will go pick her up.

Again.

I'll go and get more swag.

Wake up!

Wake up! Where's the drive?

I didn't find it at Captain Myers' house because it's here.

What's wrong with him? It was just a flash grenade.

He had a concussion before.

And...

I drugged him, too.

Look, I don't care what you two were doing up here.

- I just want that drive. - We don't have it.

The homing ping I got when you plugged it in says otherwise.

Did you take my son?

Where is he?

One more word and it will be your last.

Or, what, you kill her like you killed Captain Myers?

Saw the documents.

Myers wasn't selling 'em.

He was trying to blow the whistle.

Enough.

Your retrofitted planes

had a fatal flaw.

You killed Myers to keep him quiet.

Where is my son?

I said enough.

Give me the drive!

Now.

Quit stalling and rush him, kid.

What, so I can get shot?

You won't get shot if you give me what I want.

Take the bullet.

We've taken 'em before.

You've taken the pretend bullets, McGregor.

I've taken the real ones.

Who are you talking to?

- It's a long story. - Shut up!

- Hey, what are you doing, man? - Come on!

Last time.

Come on, Timmy. Make your move.

The drive or I shoot!

Fight. Pretend it's that critic.

McGregor, enough. I got this.

NCIS!

- Got him? - Yep.

- You okay? - Yeah.

As long as you don't start sharpening a brisket knife.

How'd you guys find me?

They didn't.

I did.

When the woman who kidnapped you visited my site,

she splurged on a platinum membership.

Ooh. I have a platinum membership?

Includes a limited edition Gemcity coffee mug

and signed photograph. $39.99.

Oh. So you traced her credit card back to my location.

You are so quick.

Oh, today was the best day ever.

I helped rescue Thom E. Gemcity

and met all of his characters IRL.

Although Agent Torres is nothing like Soares.

Talk about grumpy.

Actually, you know what, Torres is a lot like Soares.

Deep down.

Guess you see the real him.

All right, I'm gonna hand you off here. I got to get going

- to Interrogation, so... - Oh, I know.

You still have a killer to put the screws to

and then figure out what to do

with that horrible kidnapper whose son is missing.

You know what happened to him, don't you?

Ooh...

I'm his number one fan.

So the retrofitting system that Daniels was in charge of

didn't work?

Their prototype crashed last month.

Pilot on board was killed.

After the plane went down,

our captain found a fatal flaw in the design.

And he was gonna blow the whistle.

Yep. But Daniels killed him.

Tortured and killed, I thought.

No torture. Daniels was just trying to hide

the body's identity.

And what about the missing son?

We got any idea where he is?

Unfortunately, we do.

He was the pilot killed in the crash.

That woman didn't know that her son had died?

Actually...

...she did.

It's called grief psychosis.

It can develop when someone experiences something so terrible,

their mind refuses to accept it.

Nothing worse than losing a child.

It is hard for me to even hear those words.

When her son died,

she spiraled.

They put her on meds, which stabilized her.

Captain Myers would come visit her daily.

Bring her groceries, let her borrow his car.

Until he was killed.

She spiraled again.

Reality and delusion blurred together.

But her mind managed to reconstruct a reality

where her son was still alive.

I remember now.

Ruby was the name of his plane.

I thought it was a woman.

Someone who'd taken him away from me.

Feel like I'm losing him all over again.

Remembering hurts.

But, you know what, it's better than the alternative.

Now there's more I'd like to forget.

Like what I did to you.

You know, you were just trying to save your son.

Most people would've shut down.

But I read your file. You are a decorated

Navy intelligence officer.

When your world collapsed

and you thought your son was in danger,

you fought like hell to protect him.

In my book,

you're a hero.

A tragic hero.

Because my son didn't need protecting.

He was already gone.

Pilot error, they told me.

Plane crash was not your son's fault.

It was Daniels covering it up.

Doesn't make it hurt any less.

Well, maybe this will.

Matthew had a chance to eject

before his plane went down.

What?

Why didn't he?

'Cause the plane was headed for a school.

Your son stayed with Ruby,

brought her down

where he knew he wouldn't hurt anyone.

Oh...

Your son saved those children.

Of course he did.

Always putting others first.

He learned that from those books of yours.

Matthew was a good boy.

He was a hero, too.

"Gemcity has veered too far from his crime roots,

"focusing instead on a new cast and tone.

It is a shadow of its former self."

Whatever happened to journalistic integrity?

Yeah, this guy wouldn't know a good book

if it hit him in his stupid face.

Hope I'm not the stupid face.

Edison Eckhart.

His review of your book just dropped.

Yeah, and it's not the worst thing ever.

But also not...

not the worst.

Well...

He smelled like soup.

Wait, what?

That's it?

You're not upset?

I don't really care what this guy thinks.

Seriously, I write for my fans.

People like-like Kathy's son.

If I can inspire a guy like that,

well,

other people may fold laundry to my audiobooks,

but I'm gonna consider that a win, too.

All hail Deep Sixies.

Take those sad eyes elsewhere.

I'm enjoying the win.

I don't have sad eyes.

No, actually, you look more terrified.

Something wrong?

Yeah. I finally got the original notes

from the autopsy on Parker's mom.

And?

And...

it wasn't a clerical error, Kase.

His mother's injuries were not consistent with a car crash.

I don't want to jump to conclusions, but...

No.

I think it's time we jump.

Something's not right.

And we can't keep this from Parker any longer.