- In Afghanistan a Marine sergeant, a dog handler, dies of a single round, said to have come from a Taliban sniper; his widow tells Gibbs about her doubt and the reason; Gibbs and company investigate and solve, then Gibbs arrests the shooter.
- In Kabul, Afghanistan, a Marine sergeant, a dog handler, dies of a single round to his head, said to be from a Taliban sniper; however, his widow tells Gibbs about her doubt because of a mysterious message from her husband before he died; Gibbs and company investigate; Abby finds an object and an unpleasant implication. A lead causes Tony and McGee to meet Pitt, the dog trainer (and his dogs) from the Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Maryland, then they continue in the chat room. The widow delivers a piece of mail to Gibbs, and Abby analyzes it; Dex, the K-9 Marine, scares away a burglar; Gibbs, McGee, and Dex fly to Afghanistan, investigate, and solve the case, and they find the person who took the shot in question; they also figure out the circumstances leading to the shooting. Gibbs delivers a welcome surprise to the widow. Meanwhile Vance seeks a nanny for his kids.—DocRushing
- Open in a war zone as a bomb-sniffing dog helps get a kid out of a mine field. Just after the child is rescued the dog's handler is shot by an unseen sniper.
The team discusses Vance having trouble picking a nanny for his kid. A woman drops by looking for Gibbs. She is the wife of Ted, the man killed in Kabul in the opening. The military has told her he was killed by an enemy sniper, but she shows him a message he sent her about having done something stupid that "will piss some people off." It was sent the day before his death.
Ducky says the cause of death was a sniper wound and he's not sure the distance. The helmet trapped a small piece of metal.
Abby looks at the metal shard which is part of a armor-piercing alloy produced in the United States.
The team tells Gibbs that a James Virgil witnessed Ted's death. Word is that Ted's station had recently lost several clips of ammo.
Virgil tells the team he never saw the sniper, just heard it. He says Ted and his dog Dex helped save their lives. Virgil gets angry when he's asked if Ted had any enemies. Virgil said he had recently offered him a job and that Ted didn't want any trouble.
Gibbs asks Ted's widow if he had any issues at work, anything on the base with other Marines. She says he was easy-going, then starts to talk about a fight he'd had at the base six months earlier. It was with a trainer named Pit who Ted thought had been rough with Dex. Since he's only four, Dex will be headed by to the war.
Vance meets with yet another potential nanny. The team tells Gibbs that Pit's real name is Norman. He's a 61-year old civilian contractor, the Marines' dog whisperer who recently returned to the states. The incident report said that punches were thrown and the two were ordered to stay away from one another.
McGee and Anthony stop by to see Norman, who immediately lets two attack dogs lose on them.
Norman is brought to NCIS where he's questioned by McGee and Anthony. He says Ted was too overprotective of Dex but assures them there was no bad blood. He says he recommended Ted for the post he had because he thought him and Dex were "top shelf."
Vance interviews one more nanny, a young one with a social media obsession. Afterwards he tells Gibbs the whole nanny idea was a huge mistake. Gibbs gives him a brief update on the Ted case.
Ted's widow brings Dex to the office. She shows Gibbs an expensive-looking necklace she received from him in the mail. It was dated two weeks ago.
Abby analyzing the necklace and finds the goal and jewels are real. The design seems Middle Eastern.
Gibbs walks Ted's widow home and she thanks him for his help. She goes inside and Dex begins growling. He goes after a robber and is able to pull something out of hand and force him to drop jewelry. Gibbs doesn't think the intruder was after the jewels.
The team figures out the pendant on the necklace contains the crest of a wealthy Afghani family who owned a jewelry shop but has left the country for Pakistan. It's worth about $9,000.
Gibbs tells Vance he thinks the team should go to Afghanistan. He takes McGee and Dex.
The NCIS team arrives in Afghanistan and is told they believe they've found the sniper. He was killed and the Marines say it was Virgil and his contractors.
Back in the states Ziva talks to Vance about his nanny choice. He admits being worried that hiring someone will make it feel like he's moving on and make his wife's death more final. She tells him to use his own timeline.
Gibbs thinks the sniper would have targeted the dog before he would the handler. Virgil and another military contractor tell Gibbs the Marines were the ones who got the sniper. They both say they heard the shot come from the mountain, which is where the Taliban were rounded up. Gibbs tells him what they heard was the echo and the sniper is still at large.
Abby finds a dog hair on the shirt sleeve Dex ripped off the attacker. It's from a Doberman, the same breed Norman has.
It turns out Norman's uncle was the one who tried to break into Ted's place. He was working with someone to bring back jewels from Afghanistan but won't give Ziva a name.
Ted's replacement want to take Dex to a few locations Virgil says need sniffed out. Gibbs tells him to hold on.
Instead Gibbs and McGee bring Virgil to the location. They've figured out that Virgil was having Dex help clear buildings of bombs so they could take valuables left behind. Virgil gave Ted the pendant to try and buy him off and then had Norman's nephew try to steal it back to cover his tracks. Virgil's buddy, a former special forces sniper, was the one who killed Ted. When he realizes he's been found out the man pulls a gun on Gibbs. Dex helps save the day and Gibbs shoots the man. It appears that Dex is hit.
A final nanny candidate named Laura shows up at Vance's office. When he tells her he's no longer hiring she calls him out for wasting the time of some of her fellow nannies. She says she sympathizes with his plight but assures him she would never try to replace their mother. He then asks her to meet his kids.
After Ted's funeral Gibbs speaks with his widow. She says Ted would have liked to know that Dex helped. He tells her Dex was shot and has been officially retired. She is overjoyed.
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