21.0022.00Continuing this evening is the hit drama series following a team of special agents who investigate Navy and Marine Corps-related crimes. In tonights episode, the deaths of two professional assassinslead the team into a perilous stakeout at a hotel. After husband-and-wife team Sophie and Jean-Paul Ranier die in a car crash, their bodies arrive at the NCIS morgue for examination. Initially confused as to the nature of his involvement, Ducky learns that the assassins were on their way to Washington, where they had reservations at a swish hotel due to host the annual Marine Corps Birthday Ball. Top military leaders, members of congress and agency directors, including NCIS chief Jenny Shepard, are due to be at the celebration, so the list of potential targets for the hit is long. Tony and Ziva go undercover, posing as the assassins and taking the Raniers hotel reservations as a married couple, in order to identify the target and unearth the origin of the hit. Ducky and Abby remain at HQ, uncovering all the details they can about the real Raniers to help Tony and Ziva in their mission. As the night of the ball approaches, Ziva and Tony get a call from their anonymous contact and arrange to meet at dinner in the hotel restaurant. As they eat, the pair are surrounded by NCIS agents and are in constant contact with Gibbs and Abby back at HQ.When they get a second call, the agents react immediately and track the call to a payphone within the restaurant. But as McGee, posing as a bellboy, rushes to the phones location, he is too late and the contact has disappeared. Jenny Shepard now finds herself in a tough position and asks Gibbss advice. My director side is telling me to flood that hotel with security and notify the FBI, she explains. But if I do that, we lose the chance to take down an enemy cell operating inside the capital. Gibbs advises that if he were director, he would give his men another 24 hours before handing the case over to the FBI.Really?, Shepard asks. No, but thats why Ill never be director. Back in their room, Ziva uses some high-tech sunglasses that can detect different light spectrums, and identifies a laser trained on them from across the street. Now aware that they are under surveillance from someone other than their own team, Ziva and Tony create a diversion while Gibbs and McGee race to the origin of the laser. As they burst into the room, they find themselves in an armed standoff with two FBI agents. But how could the FBI have found out about the case? Could Gibbs have provided an anonymous tip-off? At HQ, Shepard is still worried about dealing with the FBI so Gibbs tries to reassure her, claiming that he can also play politics. He does little to calm her nerves, however, when he ends the conversation with the phrase you cant make an omelette unless you break a few eggs! But Gibbs is true to his word and has soon smoothed things over with FBI agent Fornell. Deciding to buy themselves some more time before the agency directors get involved in the case, Gibbs and Fornell join forces. Tony and Ziva, meanwhile, receive further communication from their contact and arrange a meeting in the hotel lobby.
As Gibbs and Fornell get their teams into position, Ziva reflects that there is a big chance that the meeting is a set-up. Are you scared?, Tony asks. No excited, she responds, coolly. As a large, black car pulls up outside the hotel, Abby makes a breakthrough at the lab. Examining video footage from the hotel, she discovers that Ziva and Tony are not the only people undercover one of the waiters is a convicted murderer. And this is not the worst of the news.
When she discovers the face of Marcos Siazon an assassin wanted across the world hiding behind the kitchen door, things look even worse for Ziva and Tony. Its bad, Gibbs, she reflects. Very, very bad.
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