SecNav Porter leads a presentation in MTAC to four defense contractors United Equinox Electronics, Galaxy Missile Corporation, Dearborn Dynamics System and Beringer Marine about a new destroyer class.
When she finishes, MTACs alarms go bonkers, shutting down at the sign of someone trying to hack into the system. The threat is coming from inside the room.
At his desk, Tony tries to make small talk with Norma, another agent. He tells her hes apparently dating a tennis pro she left her number on a tennis ball on his pillow.
Gibbs comes down with the crisis of the week not a body, but the breech in MTAC.
Upstairs, Gibbs sweeps the defense contractors and the room and they find nothing. But Tonys scanning wand goes off as SecNav walks by. Tony pats her down and they find a flash drive with a pinhole microphone hidden in her pen. Shes the breech.
In the elevator, SecNav tells Gibbs she has no idea where the pen came from and the last time she can remember using it is to sign a permission slip for her daughter yesterday. He believes her, explaining she gets the benefit of the doubt. She had classified briefings at three DOD facilities yesterday and the strategies she talked about could cause serious issues if they leak.
McGee reports on Abbys findings on the pen. Based on the battery charge left, they think its been recording for 30 hours or so. Its not transmitting, the information has to be downloaded, which they have to assume has happened already.
Tony gets off the phone with the NSA. They have a threat assessment two years ago on this exact situation. Gibbs and Tony go to talk to the analyst to talk to NSA Special Agent Todd Flynn Flynderling, who isnt thrilled to refer them to the person who wrote it.
Flynn takes them to see NSA Agent Eleanor Ellie Bishop, who is reading and rocking out to loud music. Flynn sneaks up on her, causing her to cite Rule 1: When my earbuds are in, flash the desk light.
She remembers the report, she wrote it after finishing Cocoa Pebbles and seeing the pen prize inside. She says she didnt give the report to anyone else. She plops back down and puts her earbuds in, explaining she not a field agent. But Gibbs wants her to come with them, they get a call of a second pen.
Gibbs takes her to the morgue, where and accountant for United Equinox is on the slab. The DC ME found the second pen on him after the alert. He died two days ago of myocardial infarction. But the pen is missing, collected by someone posing as an FBI agent. Ellie gets an idea.
Tony and McGee find Ellie sitting on the breakroom floor with her earbuds in, surrounded by papers. Tony notices a gold ring on her finger and wants to know if shes married. She says the person who stole the data has three options: release it in the name of freedom of information, which hasnt happened; sell it to an enemy country or sell it back to the US. Gibbs comes in to report someone just called to sell it.
SecNav got a demand for $10 million in an email. They have an hour. Ellie plops herself down on top of Zivas desk and suggests they pay him and follow the money. Vance says SecNav approved making the payment.
SecNav runs interference between Ward Davis with Beringer Marina and Marc Attencio, with United Equinox. They worry what the news leaking would do to their companys stock.
SecNav takes Gibbs and Vance aside and tells them shes calling in more NSA help because she wants to make it right.
Ellie drops in on Abby in the lab. She got a description of the fake FBI agent who picked up the second pen and ran it through facial recognition and IDd it as an American named Rudolph Stalin, with ties to Russia. Abby gets a call.
At the scene of the money drop, Agent Flynn has been shot dead. The bad guy accessed the money through coffee shop wifi, so Flynn came alone to check it out.
Ellie arrives in time to see Tony pull her report out of Flynns pocket.
Back in the office, they confirm the $10 million is still there. Bishop realizes what someone could get out of luring and killing a federal agent: proof that their intel is legit so they can sell it to another, bigger, buyer. She blames herself for not realizing it and starts to get frantic.
Gibbs suggests she take a break.
Down in Abbys lab, she presents Gibbs with a date and time stamp of when the pen info was downloaded 7:30 last night, when she was at dinner. Abby found Stalin on a traffic cam sitting outside the restaurant.
SecNav sits down with Bishop in the breakroom and Bishop tells her how hard it is not being able to talk to her family in Oklahoma about what she does. Tony comes to get her, they found Stalin.
At the movie theater, Gibbs orders Bishop to stay in the car as he and Tony go inside to find Stalin. Later, she sees Stalin run out the back door. Worried hell get away, she blocks him with the car and knocks him out. Tony comes out and says Gibbs had the exit covered.
Back watching interrogation, Bishop apologizes to Gibbs for hitting him. She remembered reading in his file that he was a high school track star. She remembers most of what she reads. She has an idea to pose as his lawyer, just being careful not to explicitly say she is.
She and Gibbs join interrogation, she lays out her business card. Stalin says he didnt do it, but Edward Gracie did. When she leaves, she points out to Stalin that she gave him her real card.
Down in the garage, theyre heading out to go to Gracies place, but Bishop gets called back to NSA HQ to debrief.
Gibbs, McGee and Tony bust into the office building rented to Grace, but its empty. They find lots of spy pens along with flyers for a heart disease charity. He sends the pens with junk mail in the hopes people will keep the pen. They find a shipping receipt to Sarah Porter and many others.
At NSA, Bishop gets an idea and looks something up. She likes what she finds. She drives to a mailbox store, she discovered Grace was an alias and had a weekly charge to the mailbox store. As shes about to walk in the door, Gibbs calls and angrily asks what shes doing there. Theyre staking out Edward Gracie hes inside.
He walks out and sees Bishops NSA tag. He pulls his gun and tackles her as Gibbs and Tony drive up and get out of their cars. By the time they get there, Bishop is sitting on top of Gracie with his gun in his back. She has three older brothers. Gibbs is annoyed with her.
Later, Bishop doesnt think their corporate pretty boy fits the crime. She thinks he wouldnt make the jump to treason without a good reason trying to impress his boss.
Bishop looks up the staff lists from the corporations in MTAC this morning. Bugs have been sent to every person on the list, except one: Beringer Marina, the one paying Gracie. They wonder what Beringer has against her.
Later, Gibbs meets with Ward Davis with Beringer. Gibbs pretends to be frustrated with Sarah Porter and Ward vents, saying he was on the short list for SecNav but he declined because he didnt have a military background. He thinks she should have done the same thing. Porter, Vance and Gibbs confront him with the pen. He says he was just trying to protect the military, but Porter says she doesnt have to be military to serve with honor.
Bishop goes to see Gibbs late at night to apologize for not being a team player.
He directs her to papers on Zivas desk Bishops NCIS application from years ago. He remembered her name and looked her up, which is why he brought her along today. He offers her a joint duty assignment.