The murder of a sailor on the freeway points towards an espionage ring.As Gibbs and the team arrive at the roadside scene, they are guided by local police to the bottom of a steep bank where a man’s body is trapped in a wrecked car.It seems that the victim, who is identified as petty officer Jerry Smith, was driving to work when he was shot by an unknown gunman. He lost control of his vehicle and it crashed through the barrier, rolled down the bank and came to rest on its roof.While McGee and Tony are reluctant to investigate the crash site, Ducky arrives and immediately sets to work, putting the younger officers to shame. With the threat of Gibbs’s involvement, McGee and Tony spring into action and set about making sketches and taking photographs of the car.Ziva, meanwhile, is kept away from the scene as punishment for her lateness in the morning, and is made to interview the victim’s wife, Wendy. It emerges that petty officer Smith and Wendy had been arguing on the phone when the shooting took place – it is the day of their six-month wedding anniversary.While undoubtedly a good agent, Ziva seems a little out of her depth when dealing with the emotional outpouring of a woman who has just lost her husband. Tony and Ziva head to Smith’s place of work to break the news of his death to the commanding officer, Robert Morris. On hearing the news, however, Morris insists that the Jerry Smith under his command arrived at work in the morning as normal.Assuming they are dealing with a case of identity theft, the agents set to work interviewing Smith immediately. They soon come to the conclusion that Smith is not particularly bright and seems to lead something of a solitary lifestyle.Why, then, would anybody want to impersonate him? Back at HQ, Abby and McGee examine the cellphone records of the now unidentified victim.

It appears that Wendy had told Ziva the truth – she and her husband had been in conversation at the time of the murder. Gibbs chooses to take Ziva with him as he heads for Wendy’s house, but their journey is not without problems.

While in the lift, the two iron out some personal differences and Ziva learns a few things about her boss’s working practices and idiosyncrasies. At Wendy’s house, the agents notice that there are no photographs on display showing Wendy’s husband in military uniform.

She admits to never having seen him at work and seems to know little about his professional life, but she attributes this to her belief that her husband hated his job. It emerges that the couple had only known each other for three months before they were married.

At the lab, Abby has been working on the forensics and has found a match for the victim’s fingerprints on a military database. Confusingly, the victim turns out to be the real petty officer Jerry Smith; the officer Ziva interviewed is in fact a John Kirby, and he has not turned up at work.

Kirby and Smith had been stationed together some time ago and must have plotted the identity switch together. To find out why, the team heads to Kirby’s house and seizes his computer.

Also recovered is Kirby’s bank book, which reveals that he had made several large deposits into his account. Analysis of the computer reveals that Kirby had been receiving anonymous emails making reference to times and locations in the months leading up to Smith’s murder.

It is Ziva who realises that this pattern of communication is reminiscent of espionage. She also notices that the last email refers to today’s date, so the agents must act quickly.

With McGee dressed in one of the Hawaiian shirts Kirby favoured, the team rush into the city to set up a sting. But can one intercepted drop-off unravel such a tangled web of intrigue?

Tagged in