Royals and Loyals - Recap

A man calls the pool cleaner to come and clean up the hot tub so they
can sell the property. They banter a bit, and pool man gets to work.
When a bit of water has drained out, they discover a military man with a
few rows of ribbon on his chest, dead.

Tony is trying to figure out Ziva's password. He leaps out of her chair,
but not soon enough. She sees him at her desk and asks what he's doing.
McGee tells him he was caught red-handed, but Tony claims he's worried
about who she's seeing, only for the sake of National Security, etc.
Gibbs arrives and tells them they need to head for the crime scene.
David calls shotgun with Gibbs, Tony calls the same with McGee, and
Gibbs slaps Tony upside the head (as always).

A fingerprint tells McGee that Petty Officer First Class Edward Bick is
the name of the body in the hot tub. Gibbs puts McGee in the hot tub,
even knowing that the water is going to go over the top of his boots.
Ziva finds a partial round. Ducky discovers that Bick's chest and
abdomen were split open. They speculate that this body was dumped, moved
after death.

The victim was married to his high school sweetheart, so she's the first
person they set out to question. Tony & Ziva don't want to pair up, but
Gibbs insists. Tara Bicks tells them this wasn't supposed to happen. He
was being careful; they were about to start a family. A marine named
Jason Crosby pulls up, and the widow falls sobbing into his arms. He and
Ed were tight, and he always feared something like this would happen.

Jason said Ed had been nervous, which was really unusual for him. Tara
chimes in that Eddie is fearless. She tells Jason to tell them, and he
says he can't. Tara says if he doesn't, she will. He doesn't, so she
tells Tony and Ziva that Eddie was selected for a special duty
assignment. Tony asked if it was on the Lockwood. Jason said no, he
hadn't been there in over two months. Tony counters that he'd signed the
duty roster every day for the last two months. Jason advises him not to
believe everything he reads. He figures that the 'special duty
assignment' got him killed.

Tara tells them that Eddie thought he was being watched. Tony asks if
it's true, and she recounts that three nights ago, she heard something,
and Eddie was looking out the window. He told her that somebody was
watching the house. Ziva asks if she saw anyone, and she didn't; but she
did hear a car drive off.

Gibbs asks Duck if he has anything so far. He says no, but then goes on
to share that Bick's suffered a violent drowning, but not where the body
was found. Ducky doesn't understand why somebody would shoot a man after
they've drowned him. Gibbs asks Palmer if he's making lunch from the
lung, and he says no; Dr. Mallard noticed a slight irritation in the
tissue of the lining, indicating a possible allergic reaction, so he's
checking into that. The victim has an impression on his skull that looks
like - Gibbs says "a bolt, maybe?" Ducky says it was definitely metal of
some sort, as they found minute filings and traces of rust in the wound.
He finds something lodged between Bick's molars, and it turns out to be
a small piece of a $100 bill.

Abby is stuck under a desk and has a major leg cramp. Gibbs helps her
out and gets her back to her desk. The round is from a rare old gun,
English Webley, .38; they don't even make them anymore. The water in
Bick's lungs was both fresh and salt water, and contained metal shavings
and a type of cleanser which is not used on American ships.

Ziva and Tony are bickering about her email. She says he should have
just asked, and he says she knew he was curious, she should have just
been open. McGee looks fed up with it all. Gibbs shows up and asks what
they have, and that turns out to be absolutely nothing. Unless the
Sec-Nav gives them access, they can't get to Bick's CIA records.

Abby arrives with new news. The imprint on Bick's head matches a steam
control valve. Said valve is made by Barrish Industries, out of
Liverpool. They make transport vessels for the British Royal Navy. The
only BRN ship currently berthed in Norfolk is the HMS Sparrowhawk.
Technically, this means that the crime occurred on British soil. Tony
asks Gibbs if they have the authority to be investigating this case.

Vance introduces Gibbs and Major Malloy. Malloy is the British and US
Navy liaison. The Sparrhowhawk is scheduled to leave within hours, and
Malloy says it can't be delayed. Gibbs says it's a US crime scene, since
a US soldier was killed on board. Malloy claims that his ship is on a
mission that is deemed to be of a critical nature, therefore his mission
outranks their investigation. Gibbs leaves, saying "good luck getting
out of port." He sails right back in when Molloy asks if he's missing
something here. Gibbs says yes, you're leaving with my crime scene.
After a bit of back and forth, Malloy reminds Gibbs that they are
allies. Gibbs retorts that he should start acting like one. Vance
finally calls the Sec-Nav.

Gibbs gives a blanket introduction of Malloy to his team. He leaves it
to them to do the specific intros. Malloy lays on the charm. Vance
arrives with news that Sec-Nav gave NCIS permission to board the
Sparrowhawk. Gibbs is still pretty prickly, so Vance asks David if she's
ever been to Zurich, and she answers yes. He tells her today she is
Switzerland, between England and the US.

Abby has some good news for Gibbs. The segment of the bill found in
Bick's mouth was coated in an ultraviolet fluorescent powder that is not
visible to the naked eye. It's only detectable under black light, and
will transfer to anyone who touches it. Bick swallowed at least one
bill. But she found something very interesting; the cash emits radio
waves. If they can uncover the frequency, then they will have the
ability to track this cash, and anyone who touched it, for miles. Gibbs
says they can track it, but they can't. Abby tells him they would need
more cash to get the exact frequency.

Gibbs meets with CIA Agent Tennison, Norfolk. She doesn't recognize
Bick's photo. He tells her about the marked bill. His theory is that CIA
marked funds were stolen, and whoever did that killed Bick. She tells
him that there was a cash shipment headed for Afghanistan, but the
mission was canceled. The area it was headed for is under British
control. Gibbs gets a call from McGee to let him know that Malloy is
trying to get permission from British HQ to leave immediately. Gibbs
tells him not to let him go.

Tony and Ziva are bantering as Malloy comes down the stairs. He tells
them that British Fleet Command has given them their marching orders.
Ziva asks for some time, while using double entendres with sexual
overtones.

She and Tony are checking out the ship, and they find the valve that
made the imprint on Bick. There's enough standing water nearby for Bick
to have been drowned in. Malloy tells them when they reach international
waters, their jurisdiction will end. An alarm goes off, and the British
need to run a diagnostic. Gibbs arrives. He's the one that caused the
alarm to go off.

Malloy accuses him of sabotage. They repair the damage, and the captain
tells Malloy to escort those people from his ship. Ziva and Tony turn
the room Bick was killed in to complete darkness, and the place lights
up under the black light.

Gibbs approaches Agent Tennison again. He opens the conversation by
telling her she lied to him. He shows her proof that the money was on
the ship, and she holds fast, telling him it wasn't. They scrubbed the
last mission. She finally admits that she worked with Bick. She says he
was a good guy and she liked him a lot. Gibbs notes that she has a funny
way of showing it. She says only three people knew about the money, and
she's out $3,000,000 of CIA-marked notes. Herself, Bick and Malloy.

Gibbs gets a call from McGee. They have video proof that Malloy left the
yard shortly after Bick was killed, and his phone records have him 1/4
mile form where Bicks body was found. Gibbs tells McGee to go with Tony
to pick him up, by helicopter from Norfolk.

Gibbs questions Malloy, and he says he's just a liaison. Gibbs asks him
about the Webley that the bullet came from, and Malloy says he has one,
in his flat in London. Gibbs points out that said flat is in
foreclosure. Malloy says he didn't kill anyone, and he didn't steal the
currency. In fact, Gibbs has nothing. No murder weapon, no eye witness,
no DNA, nothing. Gibbs gets up without saying a word and walks out,
carrying the teabag and cup that Malloy used. Abby gets a print off it,
and he doesn't match any database for what he does. He does, however,
show up in the MI-6 database.

Tony informs Gibbs that Malloy has left the building. When McGee tries
to track his cell phone, he finds that it's been turned off. He did make
several calls from the Drake, but in the time frame where he was
allegedly on his ship in Norfolk. Ziva and Tony go to room 238 of the
Drake to check it out. Malloy is gone, so they scan the room with a
black light; the cash was there.

Everybody is BOLO for Malloy, but nothing so far. Vance shows up and
tells Gibbs he's not only caused his own government but her closest
allies to be thoroughly unamused with his actions. The CIA doesn't want
the case solved, they want it to go away. The payments were earmarked
for people in Afghanistan that we're not supposed to be doing business
with. Vance overrides Gibbs and tells him he's done enough. Gibbs grabs
his weapon and heads out of the building, telling Ziva to "find him" as
he leaves.

Gibbs goes home and finds Malloy, who toasts Gibbs from the darkness.
Malloy tells him he needs Gibbs help, but he's not specific. Gibbs tells
him he has ten seconds to be open about what happened, and then Gibbs is
going to shoot him for trespassing. Malloy announces the CIA set him up.
The money was on the ship. He tosses Gibbs $10,000 for the beer and
tells him to keep the change. In payment, Gibbs tosses him the piece of
the ship that he stole. Malloy says the money there should be enough for
them to grab the frequency and find the rest. Once they find the cash,
they'll find the killer. Gibbs asks him what's in it for Malloy and he
responds that he won't get killed.

Tony announces to Gibbs that a guy fitting Malloy's description just
paid cash for a ticket to Glasgow. Malloy enters right behind Gibbs and
responds that it wasn't him. Malloy is handed off to Ziva to watch, as
Abby calls Gibbs with more news. Tony and Malloy bond over Peter Sellers
and Dudley Moore.

Abby got a new toy, and it helped her discover what was in Bick's lung
tissues. She gives Gibbs an elementary class on pollen, and more
specifically where the pollen came from that they found on Bick. It's
only found in one place on earth: Diego Garcia AFB. A place he's never
been. Whoever killed him has been there, though. Gibbs gives her a
'thank you' hug.

McGee does his magic and finds that there is a CIA station at Diego
Garcia AFB. McGee looks up the most recent station chief there. McGee
digs beyond what he can legally do, and finds out that it was Tennison.
They track the money and find that it's been spent all over town.
Somebody switched out the CIA's marked money with the Brit's clean
currency. Money laundering. Bick figured it out, so she killed him.
Gibbs asks where Tennison is now, and McGee tells her she has arranged
for transportation to the USS Tripoli. They find she has contacted a Lt.
Malcolm Dufresne, and assume he's her contact to do the money swapping.

Tennison arrives carrying a large silver case. She goes to meet
Dufresne, but it's Malloy. She pulls the gun that she used to kill Bick.
Gibbs walks in behind her and places her under arrest. She says that the
money was going to drug smugglers and opium growers, it all ends up in a
bad place anyway, regardless of whose side it lands on. She
half-convinces herself she was saving lives by keeping the money. Gibbs
says "Except Bick's."

Tony talks to Ziva as she checks her email. She logs out, and asks Tony
what he would say if he met her friend. He said "Handle with care:
Contents priceless." They say goodnight. He attempts to get into her
email again, and very loud alarms go off.

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