Worst Nightmare - Recap

A teacher of young adolescents asks what Satan’s most famous quote is.
Most students are either texting, sleeping or looking bored. After he
uses an air can to waken the slumbering student, he says “It is better
to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.” Adam and Eve are the two main
characters, and Paradise Lost is their story. Everybody slumps over, and
right after the teacher says “it’s not that boring”, he joins them.

The NCIS squad is noticing the new people in the office. DiNozzo asks
if they are being replaced by younger models, and Ziva says “I AM a
younger model.” She also notes that they are not being replaced, these
people are from Waverly University. DiNozzo says Gibbs won’t approve, he
doesn’t like new people. When one of the new people asks why, DiNozzo
says he’s not going to say because Gibbs will sneak up on him like he
always does, he slithers - and Gibbs slaps him upside the back of the
head with a manila folder. He then says the new people are staying, and
they will be there all week. The agents are going to investigate the gas
leak at Quantico.

The strongest thing on the school campus is bleach, which rules out an
accident. Strangely, the security cameras went offline before the
attack. Ducky shows up with the only female intern, Knox, as she
expressed a strong interest in seeing some field work. They walk off
together as she talks about the Netherlands.

DiNozzo and McGee find a tank in the basement that runs right into the
ventilation system. The intern Conrad is not at all interested in the
investigation. In fact, he wants to know when he can go home. He’s a
finance major, and this really isn’t his speed. While he was spending
the summer on his father’s yacht, he forgot to register for classes.
This was the only class that fulfilled his public affairs requirement -
at least, the only class that didn’t meet on Fridays.

Gibbs & David are speaking with the teacher. David reels off that there
are nine teachers and 105 students. The teacher says no, there are 106
students. A colorful backpack that says ‘Rebecca’ on it is hanging off a
chair.

DiNozzo tells Gibbs that the missing girl’s identity is confirmed as
being Rebecca Mason. She’s 13, and her parents are both deployed, and
she’s living with her grandfather. Mr. Mason says that Rebecca’s mother
just came into some money, and that her father just bought a brand-new
pickup truck. Rebecca was supposed to go fly-fishing with him that
weekend. He knows how lucky he is to have a grandchild who enjoys
spending time with her. He also knows the feds have a pretty crap
reputation for finding missing children.

The phone rings, and he says it’s a sad number; it could be her dad.
What should he say? Gibbs says he should tell him they’re doing
everything they can. Gibbs excuses himself so they can talk privately.

Abby tells the intern Seelus that he’s not allowed to touch anything,
and while she’s at it, no cameras or flash photography, either. He asks
how he’s supposed to do anything. She ignores that comment and informs
him that if he’s out of her field of vision, he is to immediately move
back into her field of vision. He sarcastically says that maybe he
should just wear bells. She thinks that’s an awesome idea, and grabs
some for him to wear. He refuses and she insists, several times. He is
rescued by the arrival of Gibbs.

She promptly asks Gibbs who he is and what he’s done with her Gibbs who
doesn’t like interns. She says that whoever placed the cylinder that
knocked everybody out was wearing gloves, so she couldn’t get any
prints. She was however able to lift a work boot print off of it. And
what was inside the cylinder - she’s never even heard of the compound
before. That means they’re looking for a chemist.

McGee makes a call to expand the Amber Alert to the tri-state area.
Conrad finishes the task McGee gave him, so McGee gives him another; one
he has already performed himself. Conrad saw him to it. McGee informs
him that this is part of the job. DiNozzo is grinning from ear-to-ear as
he tells McGee “Now you understand! Feels good, doesn’t it?”

Gibbs says there’s still no word on Rebecca’s BOLO. Gibbs says they are
looking for a chemist, McGee and David decide where they’re going to
start looking. The ship Rebecca’s parents are on is in radio silence so
they still don’t know what happened at home. Gibbs asks about the
grandfather, and David says Mr. Mason left when Gibbs went to see Abby,
he said he was going back home. Gibbs wants him back in, as he’d claimed
Rebecca’s dad called when he couldn’t have. David says she’s not getting
an answer, which is odd because the FBI should be answering. McGee ran a
diagnostic on forward, it is going to a Skype number, with no ID. Call
received 20 minutes ago. Because it’s an internet call, there is a cache
of the call; this means they can hear it. A heavily-disguised voice is
asking for $500,000 in cash. Mr. Mason is told where to go and to come
alone or she dies.

The team goes to the drop site and splits up. The rendezvous was ten
minutes ago. McGee says it takes a lot of guts for Mason to come there
alone. They find a body in the alley, and it’s not Mason. The dead guy’s
name is Eddie Lang, a gun for hire. Video surveillance shows him
entering the Quantico base with falsified credentials. Abby matched the
boot print from the cylinder to Eddie’s boot.

McGee shows up with some eerie news. Nothing about Mason is real. Not
his work record, tax returns, nada. If he’s a retired spook, he’s not
one of theirs. Conrad says the team is good, but they could be making a
killing in the private sector. DiNozzo asks him who’d catch all the bad
guys then.

McGee says Mason is routing the call through a military satellite,
somehow. Gibbs asks if they can trace it, and the answer is ‘no’. They
take the call from Mason, and the first thing he says is “It was self
defense”. Gibbs said he should come in so they can talk about it, and he
refuses. Gibbs tells Mason he knows he lied to him, and Mason says he’s
not the only one. They said Rebecca would be there, and she wasn’t. The
other guy started the fight, but Mason finished it. He says he called
Gibbs to warn him; these people cannot be trusted. He said they were
amateurs, and Gibbs asked if Mason is the professional. He answers “I am
what I am - bad luck for these guys”. Gibbs again asks Mason to come in
and he refuses. He says Gibbs has to work within the law, but he is a
bit more flexible. He then ends the call.

Ducky and Knox are singing over an open body when Jimmy walks in. He
asks when she’ll be leaving. Gibbs shows up and asks what new
information they might have for him. Eddie Lang’s body proves that a
major fight transpired, and a lot of damage took place when Mason dodged
Eddie’s attacks. The story of the body indicates that Mason was
extensively trained. Duck says given the damage he did playing defense,
he’d hate to see what Mason could do playing offense.

McGee finds a DVD of Rebecca begging to be let go, and a newspaper held
up to reflect today’s date. But the DVD has a trojan, and it’s relaying
information out. It causes Gibbs’ phone to ring, and they put it on
speakerphone. The caller is the same disguised voice, saying he’s angry,
because one of his men is dead. He’s going to deal with Mason later, and
the ransom has doubled to $1,000,000. They have 24 hours, and he ends
the call before it can be traced. McGee says there’s another super agent
pinging the cell tone. Gibbs says it’s Mason. McGee says if they can
find Mason, that means the kidnappers can, too.

Gibbs and David show up at Mason’s. The lock is broken, so they go in.
They find another dead kidnapper, but he’s bound and gagged so it was
obviously not self-defense.

NCIS finally gets in contact with the parents. Lisa inherited half that.
Nick wants to know what his dad has done now. He knows there’s a lot his
Dad isn’t saying, but he doesn’t know what. He says there’s a lockbox
under the floor in the bedroom of the trailer, maybe opening that will help.

Conrad sees Gibbs gathering some of the money for the ransom. He notes
that Gibbs could get in lots of trouble for what he’s doing. Gibbs says
it’s what he does. Like running into a burning building when most people
are running out.

The team is six hours from the deadline, and they’re going over all of
Mason’s information. It appears that they have kidnapped the equivalent
of Jason Bourne’s granddaughter. Seelus walks in (wearing the bells Abby
insisted on), and states that Abby may be able to help with locating the
kidnapers. The team looks at the bells, and Seelus says Abby wants to
see them; it’s urgent.

Seelus and Gibbs get off the elevator together. Gibbs stops walking when
he hears the bells. Seelus apologizes but states that he’s more scared
of Abby than Gibbs.

She found a similar compound to the one used at the school. It’s patent
pending. This one is for scented billboards. Gibbs says that whoever
filed for the patent is the same guy that made the gas? Abby says it’s
one Tim Greystone, from Greystone Compounding Pharmacy. Gibbs kisses her
on the cheek as he leaves, and Abby tells him to have fun, and take
pictures! When she turns back around, Seelus is most definitely in her
airspace. She tells him not to go there.

All four agents are staked out at the Pharmacy building, and they sight
Mason inside. He takes out two agents before Gibbs gets in there with
his gun drawn. He is told he is under arrest for murder of the
kidnappers. He says they’re not kidnappers, they’re part of his team,
and whoever killed them is playing both NCIS & Mason.

Gibbs asks Mason who he is, and he says Gibbs isn’t authorized. Gibbs
asks who can authorize him, and Mason says the President of the United
States. When Gibbs starts to make the call, Mason says “The one buried
in Simi Valley, California.” Gibbs asks again for information. Mason
gives his background which involved eight people inside the law, but
outside the chain of command. The project ended 20 years ago. When they
started there were eight on the team, when it ended there were three.
They hid their backgrounds and went on to with their lives. They were
ordered never to contact each other again.

However, when Mason’s granddaughter was kidnapped, he went to his team
for help, and that’s what the kidnappers wanted. It was never about
Rebecca, it was about finding Mason’s team. He fears that the ransom was
a diversion, and there will be no need to keep Rebecca alive.

Abby wants to see Gibbs, and when he shows up, she informs him that her
new #1 (Seelus) found something when they processed Mason’s vehicle. The
killers were saving Mason for last. There was a tear in his fuel line
and they were able to get fingerprints of the guilty party.

The teacher that was gassed at the top of the show is actually one of
Mason’s original team. He was allegedly killed in Sri Lanka. He took
some time off after the attack to recuperate. They’ve already gone to
his place with a forensics unit, and the girl was not there.

Gibbs goes to Ducky to find out how to find the girl. Duck has done some
reconstruction on why Carmichael did everything he’s done. There are
self-flagellation devices he’s used. When none of that worked to assuage
his guilt, he decided to eradicate his team for all the damage they’d
done. Gibbs asks about the girls, and Ducky says that unfortunately,
Carmichael believes he answers to a higher power. He says that you’re
not going to know her fate until his mission is accomplished.

Carmichael calls in, Ziva brings Gibbs the call. The team brings Mason
to Carmichael, cuffed. Mason breaks his cuffs and grabs an agent’s gun.
He is about to shoot Carmichael, because he believes Rebecca is already
dead. Ziva shoots him dead. Carmichael says the girl is in the trunk,
and when they open it they find her alive. While Carmichael is gloating,
Mason sits up. Carmichael is stunned, and Mason points at his chest
where he was ‘shot’, and says “corn syrup”. Ziva says “Blanks”.

Carmichael is taken into custody, and Rebecca is reunited with her
parents. Conrad is given an application for a full internship at NCIS,
all he needs to do is sign.

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