NCIS

Put your anchor.

Team one, go!

Clear.

Lieutenant, planning on joining us?

On my way.

- Hey. - Good morning.

- How was your weekend? - Let's see.

I paid bills, did laundry, went shopping, vacuumed.

- I bet you don't even own a vacuum. - I lease.

Okay. So what did you do this weekend

that left that smile plastered all over your face?

- I watched a great movie. - Let me guess, a horror flick.

Halloween 8.

I think it's the best Halloween ever.

Makes Halloween 7 look like Halloween 5.

God, I can't even believe they made one of them, much less eight.

That's got to be a Men are from Mars thing.

Arianna liked it.

Arianna? I thought you broke up with her.

- What makes you think that? - I don't know.

Maybe 'cause you came in the other day and said, "I broke up with Arianna."

You don't know much about dating, do you?

Why don't you enlighten me?

Well, there's always one phoney breakup that precedes the real breakup.

- Everyone knows that. - Yeah, got it. Thanks.

Grab your gear. Kate, get Ducky. Tony, gas the truck.

- Where we going? - With Gibbs, you never know.

ID.

NCIS Special Agent Gibbs.

- Clear. - Okay. Thank you, sir.

- Agent Gibbs. - Commander Rainer.

SEAL team eight.

- What happened here? - We were on a training exercise.

Lieutenant Johnson, the team leader, was rappelling down the cliff

when his D-link snapped.

- You secure the top of the cliff? - I did.

Is that the rest of Lieutenant Johnson's squad?

Yes, sir.

Appreciate it if you'd tell them not to talk to anyone till I talk to them.

Already taken care of, sir.

- What an awful way to die. - I can think of worse ways to go.

Like what?

Getting eaten by a shark, being buried alive,

falling into a wood chipper.

You've given this some thought.

- Yeah. So? - Nothing.

Someone moved the body.

After he fell, his squad members came to his assistance,

see if anything could be done.

Unfortunately, he died on impact.

Yeah, well, that would account for a few inches,

but someone's moved him further than that.

We pulled him away from the face of the cliff

because there was falling shale. It's an old mine.

We were careful not to disturb anything.

Was emptying his pockets part of the first-aid effort?

The intel was classified.

We removed it so the body could be transported.

That's SOP under these circumstances.

- DiNozzo. - Yeah, boss?

Top of the cliff. Shoot and sketch.

Boss, it's a long way up.

DiNozzo, was there something in my tone of voice

that made that sound like a suggestion?

On it.

Agent Gibbs, I realise you have an investigation to perform.

From what we can see,

that's pretty obvious that D-link had a catastrophic failure.

You're right, Commander. We have an investigation to perform.

What do you got, Duck?

Unfortunately for Lieutenant Johnson, it appears to be just what it looks like.

Well, eliminates the guesswork.

Is this a common occurrence, one of these breaking?

I've never seen it happen before. Doesn't mean it couldn't.

I think we can move him.

Gibbs, I got something.

That a piece of the D-link?

Sure looks like it.

Don't worry, my friend.

We'll get you cleaned up and presentable,

in a way that honours your service.

Special Agent Gibbs, Special Agent Todd.

We understand you were on a training exercise.

Yes, sir.

What was your mission?

You'll have to talk to the commander about that, sir.

Other than Lieutenant Johnson's accident,

anything out of the ordinary happen?

No, sir. It was textbook.

We were inserted by helicopter, secured our lines,

rappelled down the face of the cliff.

What was your order?

Vengal and Kenny went first, then myself and Pinkowski.

We can't believe this happened to the lieutenant.

After the four of you began rappelling down,

was anyone on top of the cliff other than Lieutenant Johnson?

No, ma'am.

Each of you will need to provide a statement detailing what you saw.

Yes, sir.

I'd like Lieutenant Johnson's service record

and the personal effects from his locker.

I'll have it in your office as soon as possible.

There's no sign of tampering.

- That's it? - That's it.

- Then we can put this to bed? - Not yet.

I e-mailed the manufacturer for the specs on this particular D-link.

When I get them back, I can do a comparative analysis

and if nothing's hinky, then we can put this to bed.

Thanks, Abs.

- You okay? - I'm fine. Why?

You're not your normal, effervescent, cheerful Abby.

That's because she's been replaced

by the abnormal, dull and melancholy Abby.

- Something you want to talk about? - I don't want to bore you.

Who else you gonna tell? Tony?

McGee is all mad at me.

Why? What happened?

We went to Buzzed. It's a coffeehouse in Old Town.

- Sunday night's like a poetry night. - I didn't know you liked poetry.

McGee likes it.

So we're popping back double espressos

and all of a sudden, out of the blue, he says, "I really, really like you."

What'd you say?

"Thanks."

What was I supposed to say?

I don't know.

Then he gets, like, all quiet.

And we're leaving and he wants to know where our relationship is going.

I hate that. Why do guys have to push the issue?

- Because they're insecure. - What'd you say?

Well, I said, "Why does it have to go anywhere?

"Why can't we just enjoy what's happening now?"

- What'd he say? - "Fine. Whatever."

Typical passive-aggressive.

I know. I mean, what's next?

We're gonna be watching Sleepless in Seattle

on a rainy Sunday afternoon?

- What are you gonna do? - No, I'm not going to do anything.

I'm going to pretend like it never happened

and hopefully he's going to do the same.

The official cause of death was multiple traumatic injuries

but he was in horrible shape, Jethro.

Lower leg fractures, hip fractures, severe skull fractures.

- I could go on and on... - No, no need, Duck.

Have you sent the blood up to Abby for a full tox screen?

Well, that's what you were going to ask, right?

The lifetime odds of dying from a fall like this

are roughly the equivalent

of the odds of dying from a collision with an asteroid.

And?

What kind of a person would I be if I had this knowledge

and I didn't share it with you?

That's what you were gonna ask, right? About the tox screen?

You are late.

I am so sorry, Dr Mallard. I am so, so sorry.

Don't make me have second thoughts, Mr Palmer.

Second thoughts, sir?

About you coming to work full-time as my assistant.

It will never happen again, Doctor. I promise.

- It was an extremely unusual situation. - They always are.

You see, I was in the shower and the doorbell rang,

but I didn't know it at the time.

- That you were in the shower? - No, that it was the doorbell.

See, my head cold in combination with my tinnitus

made me think that it was the kitchen timer.

- How very unusual. - Yeah, so I spent several minutes

trying to figure out what it was I had finished cooking

and by the time I realised that it was the front door,

I'd almost forgotten I'd taken a shower.

It'll never happen again.

- Who was there? - Where?

- At the door? - I didn't answer it.

I hope this won't become a habit, Mr Palmer.

- No, see, I always answer my door. - I was referring to you being late.

Does this mean I have a job?

Any prints beside Lieutenant Johnson's?

I got a partial that isn't his.

Run it through AFIS. And any other database you can think of.

- Done and done. - What else you got for me, Abs?

The D-link is electrolytically coated with a protective oxide.

I used Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry

to compare the chemistry between the factory specs

and the link that failed.

Is all this necessary?

If I just came right out and told you what I found,

you would be bored.

What'd you find?

The chemical composition of the oxide isn't the same.

Couldn't that just be from two different production batches?

Possibly.

- I'm sensing a "but." - You are correct, O Great One.

I used a scanning electron microscope with an x-ray diffractive attachment

and did a composition analysis.

The one on the left is the D-link I got from the manufacturer.

The one on the right is Lieutenant Johnson's.

They're not the same.

That's because one is steel and the other is 66-3T6 aluminium.

So the manufacturer makes the D-link in both metals?

Actually, they don't.

- Then how do you explain that? - Easy.