Special Delivery - Recap

Mall security guards see a probable pickpocket incident. They start
jumping through all the cams, trying to track the perp. When they see an
altercation in the parking garage, they notify the closest guard to
check it out. While he's doing so, he hears horrified reactions from a
couple, and goes to investigate. There is a body on the ground, throat
slashed and missing his right hand above the wrist.

G, Kensi and Sam are trying to decide what they should get Hetty for her
birthday. Martie shows up and tries to help them brainstorm. She always
says she doesn't want any gifts or a party, so they always do the
opposite (just in case she didn't mean it). When Martie suggest clothes,
Kensi sends the noncommittal "drop it" smile to indicate that Hetty is
listening.

The team gets summoned upstairs by Nell Jones to find out about the
latest case. The body on the floor is Corporal Porter from Camp
Pendleton. Hanna notes that the expensive mall where he was found is way
above his pay grade. Eric is trying to fill the team in, but Nell keeps
interrupting at all the best moments. The severed hand is missing, but
everything worth anything was left behind - watch, keys, and wallet
(which was full of cash and credit cards). Nell mentions that BHPD is
working up forensics.

Hettie states that Porter was working in Pendleton's G-2 office. Nell
proceeds to interrupt HER to state that everyone in that office has a
top secret security clearance. Even clerks. The team is holding their
breath, but Hettie finally smiles and says she was just getting to that.
Commander Vance wants them in charge to make sure that NCIS was not
compromised. BHPD has agreed to let them take lead.

Hanna asks about security footage. They see what the guards saw, and
wonder why Porter's hand was taken. Nell suggests that they might need
his prints for access to sensitive material. Hettie thinks that's a
strong possibility. Porter just got back from a tour of duty in Iraq a
few weeks ago. They came up with a couple of people to talk to, one
being his best friend and the other is possibly bad blood.

G tells Deeks and Kensi to work with BHPD forensics. Nell tells Hettie
she hears she's a tea drinker, and gives a quote about tea. Hettie looks
like she's about to say something, but she turns and leaves.

Hanna and G go talk to PFC James Winston. Turns out Porter owed him a
couple grand. Which is enough for bad blood, but not enough to kill a
man over. Winston says he was slow paying him back, but he'd lent him
money before and he always came through. Porter was supposed to have a
business deal coming through, was going to pay off big. Winston said he
was in the barracks at the time of the murder.

BHPD came through on the forensics. Porter bled out. His carotid artery
and jugular vein were severed by a very sharp blade between 7-12" in
length.

Peterson tells G and Hanna that Porter has a girlfriend, Diane Farley.
They were thinking about getting married, but she thought he was
cheating on her.

Eric tells Nell he really doesn't want her finishing his sentences. She
has a Type A personality, borderline ADD and control issues with men she
admires. It's something she's aware of. All Eric really heard was that
she admires him. She says stop, and he thinks she means talking, but she
meant stop the tape. They see Porter had a case cuffed to his wrist and
come to the conclusion that whoever cut off Porter's hand wanted what
was inside that case.

The handcuffs could have been snapped with a bolt cutter. Nobody needed
to take his hand off to get to it. So the $64,000 question is what was
inside the briefcase. Nothing sensitive has come up missing from
Porter's G-2 unit. Hanna runs through the possibilities of what could be
inside.

Deeks and Kensi arrive to question Diana Farley. She doesn't know
anything except that he was different when he got back from Iraq. He was
talking nonstop about high-ticket items. He wanted to replace her tiny
band and diamond with something bigger and flashier.

Eric and Nell are discussing Porter's last day on earth. When he filled
up his tank, he bought an herbal drink that calms. That led them to
conclude he was trying to calm down, he was nervous about something. He
took $60 out of the ATM. He made two trips to Los Angeles in less than
48 hours. The downtown garage is inside the California Jewelry Mart.

Hanna and G go there to find out if he was buying jewelry to sell, or
selling it. The guy behind the counter claimed he didn't recognize
Porter's picture, until G hauled out his badge. G asked him if somebody
was looking to sell something they shouldn't be selling, who would they
go to? The salesman said Jacob Rosen, third floor.

Jacob's office is closed at 10:15 a.m. The security panel isn't lit, so
G and Hanna let themselves in, guns drawn. They find a bloody hand on
the floor, but it's Rosen's - and he's dead. Hanna figures that the
second hand was cut off to send a message. LAPD lets them have the case.
Hanna thinks they're being nice, but actually Rosen didn't have a
computer. It's going to eat a lot of man hours to get through his records.

Hettie wonders aloud how she put up a group that was so unappreciative
of the hand-written ledger. It has so much meaning to the writer, and by
extension to the reader as well. G thinks they're coming up empty, but
Kensi finds information showing he did work with four Rodeo Drive
jewelers on a regular basis.

Eric and Nell checked the four out, and none seemed to have any
relevance, exept one. That gentleman is a devout Muslim. Aziz Anshiri
was a prominent jeweler during Saddam Hussein's regime, serving the
President's family himself. During Porter's tour in Iraq, his squad
leader was accused of stealing valuables from a house they raided in
Baghdad. And not just any valuables: ancient jewelry looted from the
National Museum in '03. Over half the valuables are still missing to
this day. Jacob Rosen's phone records indicate that he called Anshiri
just a few days ago. G's guess is that Porter stole something in Iraq
that had already been stolen from the museum, and took it home.

Hettie hands over her prize possession; a Rolex rumored to be the most
collected ever. Deeks jokes about if it has any Bond-like capabilities,
and she retorts "you scratch it, you buy it." She provides Kensi with a
bracelet that went missing during the looting of the National Museum.
Both Kensi and Deeks stop themselves from asking how she got it.

When they arrive at the jewelry store, they pretend to be looking for an
engagement ring. When Anshiri catches sight of Kensi's bracelet, he
becomes very serious and asks where she got it. She says 'a friend'. He
tells her he can't help them, and they must leave. Kensi calls G and
tells him Anshiri is definitely sketchy.

Anshiri seems nervous, and G and Hanna follow him into a primo
restaurant. They were going to lie their way in, but Anshiri comes out
with three other men. G gets a pic and the men panic. He managed to send
it to Eric who took all of two seconds to get a hit. The guys name is
Salim Al-Jamal, and he's a major player in terrorist funding for Al-Quaida.

While G and Hanna are questioning Anshiri, Martie and Kensi are going
through his house. They are surprised by Mrs. Anshiri, who apparently
did not know they were present, despite the fact that they were there
with a warrant.

Anshiri is adamant that he has never met Corporal Porter. Hanna makes
the point that according to the Koran, lying is an abomination. Anshiri
continues to deny ever dealing with Porter. Finally he rattles off what
all America has done to Iraq, and given her actions, asks why they are
calling HIM a terrorist.

At the bottom of a small tool chest, Kensi finds a blood-stained knife
wrapped in a paper bag. She calls Hanna. Because it was wrapped in a
paper bag, he knows that Anshiri is being set up. If he had done it, it
would have been wrapped in a ceremonial cloth. A necklace was found in
with the knife, which belonged to an ancient Queen of Mesopotamia, now
known as Iraq. G concludes that whoever killed Porter and set up Anshiri
either knew Porter or Rosen; or both.

While checking the traffic cams, Nell and Eric find an SUV that was just
two blocks from Anshiri's. That same vehicle entered the parking garage
just an hour before Porter was murdered. Eric adjusts the angle and is
able to get the license plate. The car belongs to Winston, the one
Porter owed money to. When they question him, he's adamant. He wasn't
there. They ask who could have a key, like a washer or repair guy. He
said he washes it himself. The only person who had access to his keys
was Peterson, Porter's best friend.

Peterson didn't show up for work that morning, left them a man short.
One of the motor pool guys says that Peterson's girlfriend's name is
Ellen in San Ysidro, and that's all he knows. G calls Eric and asks him
to track her down. He and Nell run a reverse look-up on his call log and
come up with her name and address. G and Sam go out to question her,
Peterson leaps in his hummer and speeds away. They realize he's making a
run for the border. If he makes it, he's safe. They're in hot pursuit,
literally on his bumper.

When they stop him, Sam orders him hands out window. He puts out his
left hand, but the right hand comes up with a gun. They shoot first and
take him out.

Peterson was the missing link. Porter told his best friend about what
he'd stolen in Iraq. Peterson hooked him up with his old boss, who
hooked him up with Anshiri. Best friend kills Porter and Rosen, sets up
Anshiri, and uses Winston's car when he's in LA so he can't be id'd.

Hettie comes out with a small blue box, and gives it to Kensi. Says BHPD
found it in Porter's personal effects, and she should know what to do
with it. The gang finally let Hettie's birthday pass without incident,
but Nell wasn't on the same page. She dropped balloons from the ceiling
and gave Hettie a perfect scarf. She says it's from all of them, but
Hettie doesn't buy it. She invites everybody in her office for the
single malt.

Kensi hangs behind, and calls Diane Farley about her engagement ring.

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